#PROMO. → ⸢ the dead need company. ⸥

[tiredead]

‎‎‎ AFTER ALL... WE WERE YOUNG, AND UNAFRAID... AND WE, WERE READY TO START.

[tiredead-a]

tag dump hours. i havent written a doc for him yet though so fuck me

[magicshopaholic]

Words Unsaid (Jungkook x OC)

Summary: Jungkook has something he wants to ask you, but the timing just never seems to sit right.

Pairing: Jungkook x OC

Genre: Fluff

Rating: 18+

Word Count: 7.3 K

Warnings: none

A/N: This took longer than expected to post (but a surprisingly short amount of time to write). Savour it, for the angst will be back in full force next fic :D Takes place a couple of weeks after Unfinished Business and can be read standalone.

Tagging: @bbl32 @ggukkieland @bangtannoonalvg @pb-n-juju @juciu @jeoncookie-bts @quarter-life-crisis2 @dreaming-with-happiness @meirkive  @faearchives @margopinkerton @sumzysworld @purpleseoul7 @kflixnet (italics cannot be tagged. If you want to be added to the taglist, drop a comment or ask)

Listen to: "thinking out loud" by ed sheeran

jungkook masterlist | main masterlist

The sun is near setting when lunch comes to a natural end. Namjoon places his credit card on the bill out of habit and, somewhat conscious that it’s not just the two of them here, Jungkook drops his on top of it.

“All good, kid.” Namjoon good-naturedly flicks Jungkook’s credit card off the bill just before the waiter picks it up.

Feeling Lia’s eyes on him, vaguely amused, Jungkook feels his ears heat up and quickly pockets his credit card. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” he asks, desperate to change the topic.

“Not much.” He shrugs. “Probably pick up some stuff at this store we saw earlier today, then maybe a walk down the Han if it gets cooler…” He turns slightly as Kaya returns to her seat, fluffing out her hair a bit.

“Seoul has never been this warm, has it?” she remarks. “I’m glad I cut my hair before I came here.”

“It should rain soon,” answers Lia, in her accented English. While her grasp on the language hadn’t necessarily been a surprise to Jungkook, the way it sounded - and how much he liked it - definitely was. She hadn’t ever spoken much English around him, for there was never much of a need, but when Kaya visited and they’d finally met, Jungkook discovered he was obsessed with her English accent. It made her sound older, unattainable and - ironically – more Korean.

“Maybe it will,” says Namjoon, nodding and looking out the glass windows at the sunlight.

“Maybe it will while you’re walking down the Han river,” points out Jungkook. 

“Looking forward to it.”

“Oh, that reminds me - can we make a detour home before we head to the market?” Kaya asks him. “I need to pick up my power bank. My phone’s almost dead.”

Namjoon nods. “Sure. You guys need a ride?” he asks Jungkook and Lia.

“Oh -” They exchange a look, for they were dropped by a company car after Jungkook finished filming a promo. “Actually, yeah,” says Lia, nodding. “We also need to stop by, uh, Jungkook’s house for a minute. You’ll want to change, I guess?”

Jungkook nods mutely, his neck getting hot again. He avoids Namjoon’s eyes; the older member’s subtle questioning a couple of days ago, about how serious is this getting, had been one thing. That, coupled with the abrupt way he and Lia had stopped talking when Jungkook had returned from the men’s room earlier during lunch, made him uneasily conscious that something was still unsaid.

They head out of the restaurant, waiting until Namjoon’s car is brought out by the valet before ducking inside quickly, Kaya in the driver’s seat and Namjoon in the passenger seat next to her. Jungkook notices a few phones out in the open and pointed towards them as they drive away.

“See you tomorrow!” Lia waves at them as they drive away from the porch of Jungkook’s building in Hannam-dong, where his new penthouse sits tucked into the top floor. As the car disappears around a corner, both of them turn around and head inside together.

In the lift, Jungkook watches the numbers increase, his hands in his pockets and his bottom lip between his teeth. The words are there, somewhere, in moments at the tip of his tongue and in others, so far away that they may as well be someone else’s.

“Hey.”

He’s jerked out of his reverie. “Yeah.”

Lia is looking at him, frowning slightly. “Everything okay? You’ve barely said two words since we left.”

“I’m fine,” he answers as the lift stops and they step out, the doors opening right in front of his apartment. “I just, uh…” He pats his pockets and pauses. “... forgot my keys. I think. Shit.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she mutters easily, reaching into her small sling bag for her own keyring and selecting the shiniest one. “This is when it helps to have a spare set with someone else,” she points out.

Jungkook nods sheepishly and steps aside so she can unlock the door to his home. “Actually, Lia…” He takes a deep breath as Namjoon’s face swims to the forefront of his mind, the familiar raised eyebrow and chin tilted upward that, irritatingly knowing but unwilling to give him the answer. No, he would want Jungkook to come up with the answer himself. 

He clears his throat as Lia pauses. “Yeah?”

“Um, I was wondering -” He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Just say it. Say it. He makes the mistake of glancing at her again, her raised eyebrows and - to his slight anxiety - hopeful expression.

Shit.

“Would you, um… do you think you would you like to…” 

Come on now, Jungkook, Namjoon would say sternly. Say it already.

“... try a beef bulgogi tonight? I know we usually do pizza on Sunday nights but I saw this recipe online and I really wanted to try it. Plus, we won’t even have to shop - we have that fillet in the freezer so part of the work is really already done, if you think about it…”

He’s rambling, he knows, but it’s only to try and distract himself from the annoyance at himself as well as the brief but clear disappointment in her expression. Her shoulders fall slightly and she bites her lip, turning back to the door and pushing it open halfway.

“Beef bulgogi sounds great,” she says finally, looking up at him after a moment’s hesitation, and giving him a small smile. “Thanks.”

He follows her inside, still deflated. Lia goes straight to the fridge for a bottle of cold water while he heads into his room, shedding his t-shirt on the way. Turning on the bathroom light, he grabs his facewash from the wall-mounted shelf, half-stocked with haircare products, face scrubs, masks, serums and a tub of scrunchies and claw clips. A Dior perfume he’d gifted her earlier this year was also there next to his own Calvin Klein cologne. 

Realising he’s been staring at her belongings for over a minute with emulsified facewash on his face, he quickly scrubs it off and hurries out, passing by her chest of drawers next to the closets. 

Jungkook wishes he wasn’t such a coward. He wishes he had the exact right words and that his mouth moved on its own to deliver the message to her. She’d helped him set up the apartment when he’d moved in last month; most of her belongings are here, she returns here more often than not after work, half the groceries in the pantry are stocked by her. She has a set of keys, she uses his extra parking space - but none of it matters as long as it’s still Jungkook’s house. 

In the kitchen, Lia is standing by the counter with a bowl of watermelon in front of her, scrolling on her phone. She looks up when he enters. 

“I cut the other half that was in the fridge,” she informs him. “Rest of it is inside.”

He swallows. “Thanks.”

Jungkook doesn’t know what he would do without her. The house feels far too big and empty when she isn’t around and he wishes there were some way for her to get that message without him having to spell it out.

But if you do spell it out, comes Namjoon’s voice again, what’s the worst that could happen.

She could say no and then I could die, he thinks, shuddering.

He stands on the opposite side of the counter and leans over to examine the pink fruit. Lia raises an eyebrow and pops a piece into his mouth. 

“Wow. Sweet,” he comments, voice slightly muffled. 

She half-chuckles and nods, going back to her phone and taking a piece as well.

Say it. But is this really the moment? Does there need to be a moment? What would that moment even look like? What would she want that moment to -

“Kook,” says Lia, slowly placing her phone down. “I was thinking… I’ve been coming over here after work the last few days. And I’ll probably be here tomorrow as well, so…” She bites her lip.

“Yes,” whispers Jungkook breathlessly. If Lia were to ask the question - nothing like it. No chance of rejection, no scope for awkwardness. Of course, if any of the guys got wind of the fact that she had been the one to ask, they wouldn’t let him live it down, especially Jimin. Suddenly, he half-hopes she isn’t asking.

“Do you think it would be weird if, you know…”

Holy shit. Screw Jimin and his opinions. Despite a crappy first date a year ago, if this is really how far they’ve come since then, he should consider himself the luckiest man in the world. Unexpectedly, Jungkook’s heart begins to race. 

“… if I went home on Monday evening? It’s been a while and I have an important meeting on Tuesday and all my blazers are at home so in a way, I have to…”

Jungkook nods mutely, barely hearing her, for his heart is hammering so loudly he can hear it in his teeth. It occurs to him that Lia might have been anticipating the same question and subsequently felt the same disappointment, and it only serves to make him feel worse.

“… take my car, too. Jungkook?”

He looks up warily, irrationally worried his shame might be written on his forehead for her to see, possibly triggering her to pull the plug on this entire thing, this whole relationship, to save herself the embarrassment of dating a silly pop star who can’t string six words together -

“Hm?”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m fine,” he chokes. “Thanks for the, uh, the fruit.”

Lia raises her eyebrows, but there’s a flash of knowing in her eyes. Not wanting to decipher it, for there’s no telling where his mind will take him, he shakes his head slightly and leans forward, kissing her on the cheek.

It doesn’t end there. Later that evening, Jungkook is still reeling from his horrendous inability to pluck up the courage to ask his girlfriend a simple question. The general mood between them seems to have gone back to normal, somewhat, but it nags at the corner of his mind.

They are heading to the executive floor gym in his building, accessible only to the handful of residents on the top floor, when another opportunity seemingly presents itself.

It’s a glorious workout in one of the best gyms in the country; in fact, Jungkook is rather upfront about it being one of the main reasons he chose to buy a property in this particular building in Hannam-dong. Towards the end of a particularly difficult set of reps on the bench press station, Jungkook looks up to see a face, upside down and hovering above him.

“Shit!” he gasps, gripping the barbell tightly so it doesn’t fall on him. 

Eunwoo grins. “What’s up? Wasn’t expecting to see you here today.”

“I could’ve died,” points out Jungkook, sitting up and giving him a friendly dap. “No, Lia wanted to work out, too, and it’s been a, uh… somewhat stressful day.”

“Yeah?” Eunwoo, also sweating and glowing, looks around the gym with his hands on his hips. “Lia is here? Oh, there she is…” He nods at the treadmills where she’s jogging fast, AirPods in and the rest of the world shut out.

They chat for a bit about nothing in particular, catching their breath. Somewhere during the conversation, while they’re at the water station and filling up tiny glasses with fruit-infused ice water, Jungkook wonders if the time has truly come to pick another’s brain. Eunwoo is a good friend and they’ve known each other a while, but it would be the first time he’s actively confided in someone else about his love life. From his experience, it could go either way.

While he’s pondering this, Eunwoo nods and flashes a smile at something over his shoulder.

“Hey, guys.” Lia walks over and pours herself a glass. Her skin pale and glowing, her cheeks flushed lusciously. The ends of her high ponytail stick to her damp collarbones and Jungkook bites his lip without thinking, ridiculously attracted to her at the moment.

“Noona, do you agree with JK’s plan of building a home gym?” Eunwoo asks, seamlessly continuing their discussion. “It’s going to be so much maintenance of equipment,” he tells him, shaking his head.

“Really?” Lia turns to Jungkook, frowning. “When did that happen? I thought you were happy with this gym.”

“I am - and I’m not planning on building a home gym,” he clarifies, suddenly anxious with both sets of eyes on him. “I was just discussing the merits of possibly having one.”

“Such as?”

“Well… privacy, for one. I know the building has good security but they're also fairly lax with allowances,” he points out, not wanting to specify the incident last week that had prompted this train of thought, when he was half-certain he’d spotted someone pointing their phone at him and Lia. 

“Allowances? You mean guests?” Eunwoo wrinkles his nose. “They don’t allow guests in here.”

“Yes, they do.”

“No, they don’t. They don’t allow anybody but residents in the gym.”

There’s a brief but painful pause following his words. 

“They do, actually,” says Lia.

“I don’t think so.”

“Yes, they do,” adds Jungkook tightly, glaring at Eunwoo and moving his eyes deliberately in Lia’s direction, hoping to God he’ll drop it.

Eunwoo frowns slowly, apparently working this out. “What?” he mutters, shaking his head at Jungkook. “No, I’m just saying… wait, how are you so sure?”

“Because I’m technically a guest,” says Lia lightly.

“You are?” Eunwoo raises his eyebrows. “But I thought you were - oh.” To Jungkook’s horror, a blush creeps up his friend’s face. Lia goes still next to him and it takes every ounce of Jungkook’s strength to not turn in her direction.

For the next few seconds or so, the three of them stand there in silence, scarcely making a movement. 

“Excuse me? May I?”

“Yes! Of course, of course -” Jungkook immediately blurts out while Eunwoo practically trips over himself to take a step back and make way for another patron. 

“I’m going to stretch and cool down for a bit,” says Lia, touching Jungkook’s shoulder. “How far along are you?”

“Oh, I still have a bit to finish,” he answers, a bit apologetically. “I was going to box for a bit before ending with cardio.”

“That’s fine, I'll just head back h- uh, to your place and shower… if that’s okay?”

Not least because she hasn’t needed to ask such a question in months, Jungkook nods wordlessly. She gives him a small smile and moves away, and Jungkook watches her leave before turning back around to see Eunwoo giving him a look.

“Shut up,” he mutters.

Eunwoo chuckles as they head over to the boxing bag. “Man, I am so sorry about that. I really thought you’d asked her to move in with you - I thought part of the reason you bought a new house was because you wanted her to move in. You were asking about bathrooms with his-and-her sinks, man. What happened?”

“Okay, first of all, I only asked if you’ve ever seen one in real life - not that I wanted one,” he corrects immediately, strapping on his gloves while Eunwoo gets behind the bag, ready to hold it. 

“And the other thing?”

“I’m working on it,” mutters Jungkook, going into stance and holding his hands up. “I just want to do it right. Make sure it’s a good time, that I’m not hurrying anything - that kind of thing.”

Eunwoo hums and nods. “Well, if it helps, she didn’t seem freaked out. If anything, she looked a little annoyed.”

Jungkook freezes. “She did? She looked annoyed - wait, really? Are you serious?”

His eyes widen. “Wh- no. Not - not annoyed like that. Not like a pissed off annoyed, more like a… like a chill annoyed.” When Jungkook says nothing, he shakes his head. “You know what? Don’t worry about it. Maybe it is too soon. Or maybe it isn’t,” he amends quickly. “What do I know? You know my last three relationships lasted, like, four months each - so I’m probably not the best person to be giving you any kind of advice.”

“That’s the most airtight thing you’ve said so far,” mutters Jungkook. “Alright, I’m coming in.” Waiting a moment for Eunwoo to grip the bag, he cocks his elbow back and punches it.

—

Despite his deadly faux pas, Eunwoo had inadvertently provided Jungkook with a rather helpful bit of direction. Perhaps it is time for him to lean on a friend for advice, but Eunwoo was also right that he is not one of them, not with his flighty flings and lack of depth in them. The advice matters and so does the friend, prompting Jungkook to ask himself: which of his friends is the expert on the opposite of short-term flings?

“Namjoon hyung!”

Namjoon stops in his tracks at the sound of his name and turns, waiting for Jungkook to catch up with him. 

“Oh, thanks,” says Jungkook, taking a cigarette from the pack Namjoon offers him and leaning forward so he can light it. “Thanks for getting us the evening off, by the way.”

“Kaya is leaving this weekend,” is all Namjoon says in response, shrugging.

“Right.” Jungkook nods, taking a drag and blowing it out, wondering briefly if he should care that they might be seen smoking right outside the Hybe building. “Won’t this make you a couple minutes late, though? If you want to make the best of the next few days?”

Namjoon chuckles. “I don’t want to smoke inside the house.”

“Uh-huh. Speaking of which…” He exhales, suddenly nervous. “I was hoping for some advice.” He clears his throat. “Regarding… relationships.”

Namjoons raises his eyebrows but says nothing else. “M-hm.”

“I have reason to believe,” he begins slowly, “that Lia might want me to ask her to move in with me.”

“Okay.”

Jungkook pauses, searching his leader’s face for a hint. Finding none, he continues. “Well… I want to ask her. But I also don’t want her to feel like I’m asking her just because she wants me to ask her. And I also don’t want to mess it up.”

“How would you mess it up?”

“I don’t know… maybe I’m completely off track and she doesn’t want to move in with me at all? Maybe she thinks it’s too soon?”

Namjoon nods, hearing him out. Then he shakes his head. “Well, personally, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“What isn’t? You think she wants to move in?” Jungkook’s momentarily relief is interrupted by a horrifying thought. “Oh, my God - did she say something to you? Yesterday, at brunch, when I went to the men’s room?”

“Jungkook, you were gone for two minutes.”

He’s about to argue but stops himself. He knows Lia and she is hardly the type to secretly vent her feelings to his friends behind his back, hoping it will get back to him. No, she’s more straightforward than that.

Somewhat satisfied, he takes a different turn. “Okay, let’s get down to it, then. How did you ask Kaya to move in?”

“Well…” Namjoon frowns thoughtfully. “Actually, I didn’t.”

“You… what?” Jungkook squints. “Wait, so… you didn’t ask? You both just knew, telepathically, when to start living together?” he asks incredulously, thinking privately that it could just be believable.

“No,” says Namjoon patiently, chuckling again and flicking some ash off his cigarette. “I didn’t ask because I didn’t have to. Where else is she supposed to live when she comes to Seoul? Where am I supposed to live when I go to see her?”

“Yeah… okay, but… well, would you say you live together?” he presses. “Or do you just, like, crash at each other’s place when you visit?”

“Well, we definitely don’t crash at each other’s place,” he mutters. “Maybe we did right in the beginning? I guess I’d say we live apart, but it’s only because we have to. I don’t know - when she came to Seoul for work last year while I was in service, she stayed at Hannam even though her aunt lives in the city, too.” He shrugs. “If that helps.”

“Huh.” Jungkook considers this. “So, like, do you guys ‘go home’ or do you go back to ‘your place’?”

“Home,” he answers casually, not skipping a beat. “Even her apartment is home. ‘Home’ is what you make it, to a large extent. It’s a place of comfort - an apartment is only part of that,” he says wisely. “I feel more at home in her studio apartment in London with her than at Hannam by myself. The people make the home - and that’s for you to decide.”

Jungkook stares, feeling his cigarette burn away in his hand. “That’s really not the kind of thing I’m looking for, hyung,” he states, before dropping his face in his hand.

Namjoon clicks his tongue and stubs his cigarette on the tray atop the trash can next to him. “Don’t overthink it,” he says, clapping him on the shoulder. “Go about it logically: she’s been your girlfriend for six or seven months now, you bought a new place which is significantly bigger than your old one and she’s in her thirties, meaning she’s most likely thinking long-term.” 

Jungkook gazes at Namjoon’s raised eyebrows, quite certain he’s meant to pick up some meaning out of this. “So…”

“So… if you’re worried she might say no…”

“Chances are… she probably won’t?”

Namjoon grins and nods. “Exactly. Just be yourself, be genuine, be honest - and remember you’re both together for a reason. And I think - I think - she has a thing for you, too,” he adds seriously.

“One can only hope,” he mutters, albeit slightly mollified. “I really don’t want to mess this up.”

Namjoon observes him - for too long. For a moment, it seems as though he’s about to say something that makes Jungkook’s stomach jolt unpleasantly, but at the last second, he shakes his head.

“Impossible to mess it up. Honestly,” he says reassuringly, and Jungkook almost believes him. “It’s a part of the journey and if you think she’s expecting it, just take the plunge. Don’t add unnecessary pressure by trying to make it perfect.”

While the last bit simply isn’t in Jungkook’s DNA, he nods anyway. 

—

“Damn it.” 

Lia doesn’t look up from the email she’s writing, despite Dal’s repeated exclamations from the kitchen. Finally, he sticks his head out around the door.

“Did you know the faucet is leaking?”

“Yes,” she mutters, still not looking away from her screen.

“And did you know it’s dripping out of the sink zone and onto the floor?”

“Yeah?”

“And did you know it’s fucking disgusting?”

Lia sighs and finally turns her head to glance at him. “Yes, I know. I mopped it up this morning.”

Dal steps out, frowning. “So this much water leaked in the last six hours?” When Lia nods, he sighs heavily and trudges into the living room, falling onto the sofa. “I suppose we can text the landlord but I don’t know what good that will do.”

“Probably as much as it did when we told him about the seepage in the bathroom ceiling.”

“Yeah. Didn’t realise the kind of shoulder strength you need to baste upwards.” A moment later, he chuckles. “Helped that there were three of us there, though. Jungkook was really looking for any excuse to be around you back then, wasn’t he?”

Without meaning to, Lia feels a smile creep up her face at the memory. “It was cute,” she says, slightly defensive. “And we really needed the extra hands, especially to clean up.”

“Oh, sure.” There’s a comfortable silence, the only sound being the clicking of Lia’s keyboard. “Speaking of,” he speaks, and his tone is slightly different, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

Lia doesn’t look up, but she’s certain she knows where he’s going with this. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. You haven’t been around much.”

“You think so?”

“M-hm. In fact, I was starting to wonder if you’d moved out or something and I missed the memo.”

“You were still paying only half the rent, though, weren’t you?”

“Lia.”

“‘Sup.”

From the corner of her eye, she sees a movement and ducks out of habit.

“Lee-lee,” he says again, and she finally meets his gaze.

“I know what you’re getting at, and no,” she says dryly, “no updates on that front. I’m still your roommate for the foreseeable future.”

Dal raises his eyebrows. “Okay.”

Lia turns back to her laptop but doesn’t resume her typing. “What?”

“What what?”

“You’re still looking at me.”

“No. I’m just looking in your general direction.”

She gives him a look. “Just say it.”

“I thought you were moving in with Jungkook.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because he told me last time he came over that he wanted you to move in with him.”

Lia scoffs. “No way did he say that. Liar.”

“Fine, he didn’t use those exact words,” he admits, rolling his eyes. “But he just happened to mention that his new place is bigger, that the gym is fantastic, that it has a really good running trail or something…”

“Maybe he was just making conversation?”

“... and how much closer it is to the Hybe office.”

He works at Hybe, too, technically. The words are on the tip of her tongue, but she can’t deflect anymore; Dal will see right through it. She sighs and puts her laptop away.

“What do you want me to say?” she asks steadily. “We aren’t living together. It’s not the end of the world.”

“I’m not saying it is, at all.” He holds up his hands. “Do you want to, though?”

Lia is silent for a moment. “He needs to ask first. But… yeah, I guess. Could be fun. We’ll save on a lot of fuel.”

“Ooh, stop, I’m swooning.”

She flashes him an embarrassed sort of smile. “You know what I mean. We basically do live together already - but this is a big deal for Jungkook. He’s never done the long-term relationship, adult couple milestone thing before. The last thing I want to do is scare him off.”

Dal nods thoughtfully. “Well, hopefully it’ll go better than your last adult couple milestone thing.”

She snorts, covering her face. “Hey, to be fair, I did move in with him,” she points out. “Kind of.”

“You lasted less than a month before you were back here.”

“Yeah. God, he was such a manchild. Can’t believe I was ever attracted to him.”

“I told you he had an asshat kind of face. But you didn’t listen. Didn’t he have a shrine to his ex-girlfriend in the bathroom or something?”

“It was a couple of bottles of her shampoo and lotion, not a shrine,” she corrects him, “but, sort of. He was so blown away when I asked him to get rid of it - like, sue me, I don’t want to live with my boyfriend and sentimental haircare products belonging to his ex. It just goes to show, you never know enough about your partner until you actually share a living space together.”

“You think there’s more to Jungkook? Because I like him for you, honestly. But he seems to be a more…” Dal grimaces, trying to find the word, “... what you see is what you get… kind of person.”

“That’s a good thing,” she remarks. “Means there’s no lying, no games. None of that shit.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Well, it’s good you know what you want. How long are we planning to wait for him to pop the question?”

“We are not waiting for anything. I, on the other hand…” 

It’s a good question, unfortunately, one that Lia has deliberately tried not to think about because there’s simply no correct answer.

“... will take things as they come.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She narrows her eyes at her oldest friend, recognising both teasing masking genuine concern. “I’m not going to pressure Jungkook. And I’m not going to get my hopes up either,” she states, trying to ignore the quiet tugging at her heart and standing up, stretching.

“Hey, just say the word and I will -“ Dal makes a flailing kind of gesture and flexes his triceps, “- whip him into shape.”

“Oh, really? Not only will it probably be evenly matched, but who’s going to help you both carry cartons of beer into each other’s houses if you’re both maimed?” She taps her temple sarcastically.

“Well, you’ll be a resident in one of our houses at any given time so I guess we’ll be looking at you.” Dal shrugs in satisfaction as Lia chuckles and starts heading inside her bedroom, considering a shower before bed.

“Oi, Lia.” 

Lia turns in her doorway, recognising the subtle change in tone once again. It wasn’t surprising that Dal and Jungkook got along easily enough; despite her boyfriend’s initial reservations, most of which were based on Dal’s gender and inopportune timing, he had eventually moved past it to begin actually enjoying his company. Oh, he would never admit it, but Lia had woken up more than once in her own bed, alone, while hearing two male voices laughing in the living room with the television on.

As for Dal, the only thing he had needed to say was “Lee-lee, for once, you’ve found a good boy.”

Therefore, while Lia prefers to handle her relationships herself, she recognises the value of her oldest friend’s opinion.

“I just want to let you know,” he begins seriously, and she feels the muscles in her face go slack. He bites his lip. “I just wanted to let you know,” he repeats, “that if Jungkook has a shrine to his ex in his house, you can always move back in here.”

There’s relief, and Lia doesn’t want to admit there’s relief. “Shut up,” she mutters, turning back around as Dal laughs at his own joke behind her.

It’s not the greatest comfort, but Lia uses it as such after that. Worst case, I move back in with Dal, she thinks. We stay roommates until we’re eighty, when either I die first from stress about work or he does driving his car like a maniac. Jungkook brings a carton of beer to the funeral and shares it with whichever one of us is still alive.

It’s a mildly depressing train of thought, especially when she imagines her eighty year old self heading back to her apartment while seventy-seven year old Jungkook, in his infinite wisdom, still hasn’t asked her to move in with him.

Nearly a week later, Lia has successfully kept her desires to herself, while Jungkook has continued trying to pretend he isn’t thinking about it just as much.

“Remind me again why we’re going to this club?” she asks him as they walk to his car in the basement parking. “It doesn’t really sound like your scene.”

“It isn’t,” he admits. “But the DJ tonight is a friend of a friend… of an acquaintance, who’s also kind of an ex-colleague.” He wrinkles his nose. “I wouldn’t normally go but he helped me out during the production of my debut album and I accidentally told him I owed him.”

“Ah. Mistake number one.”

“It might be. You look quite club-ready for someone who doesn’t really enjoy clubs either,” he remarks, playfully smacking her backside. “Leather pants and everything.”

“Faux leather,” she corrects, leaning over and bumping his hip with hers. “I figured I may as well look the part of a popstar’s girlfriend. Plus,” she adds after a moment, as they climb into the car and begin strapping in, “it’s the only party outfit I have at your place.”

Predictably, Jungkook freezes for a moment before clumsily buckling himself in. He doesn’t meet her eyes and swallows as he looks ahead.

“By the way, I hear the gin martinis at this club are to die for,” he declares, completely transparent. “Did you know, the martini is one of the top five drinks people order on a first date?”

Abrupt subject change coupled with a random fact that doesn’t sound completely true; Jungkook is nervous. It’s exasperating and endearing all at once.

“That’s… interesting. Maybe you should’ve invited your single friends tonight. Or if this DJ is an ex-colleague, at least the ones in your group.”

“What, all two of them?”

“Isn’t it three?”

“I don’t think so.” Jungkook shrugs as they pull out of Hannam Hill. “Or maybe it is. I don’t know. Yoongi hyung isn’t very forthcoming about his dating life and I’m too afraid to ask.”

Lia chortles as they turn into the main road, reaching for her party clutch for her phone, when she realises…

“Oh, no,” she mutters under breath.

“What?”

“I, uh…” She bites her lip, internally swearing at herself. “I was moving stuff from my regular bag to the clutch and I forgot… you know what, can we make a quick detour to my apartment? It’s on the way.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is. If you take a right after the signal then you can take the parallel road to the church at the end of my street.”

“That’s not the same road - and come on,” he whines, his shoulders falling. “I don’t want to take a detour. What did you even forget? Power bank? Because my phone is fully charged.”

“It’s not a power bank - look, it’s kind of important, Jungkook. It’ll take, like, five extra minutes.”

“But -”

“Kook!”

“What? What did you even forget that’s so important? Is it make-up or something? Because you look -”

“It’s tampons, Jungkook.”

“It’s -”

“Tampons,” she repeats. “And I don’t want to stop at a drugstore because they may not have the exact brand that I use and most of the others chafe… down there.”

There’s a few seconds of silence while Jungkook stares out of the windshield as the car zooms down the road, his ears turning red.

“Which signal was it again?”

True to her word, they reach her three-storey apartment building a few minutes later and jog up the stairs together.

“I swear, I just need to pick up a couple of extras,” she promises him. “The last time I was caught without any on me and then I had to borrow one and it was just the worst time I - oh, my God!”

Lia gasps as she stops in her tracks in the doorway of her apartment, Jungkook right next to her. 

“Is that -”

“Water,” she sighs, shaking her head. “Shit, it came into the living room? I thought we fixed that damn leak,” she mutters. She places her hands on her hips and looks up at Jungkook.

“Well?”

Jungkook looks blank. “Well… what?”

“Well… I’m going to have to wade in there,” she says slowly, already dreading it. “Do you want to come?”

“Ordinarily, I would love to because that sounds so fun, but these are Balenciaga.” He raises his right leg to show her his shoes, mimicking her position until Lia looks away.

“Alright. Wait here then,” she tells him, before gingerly placing one heeled foot into the water and cringing in anticipation. It reaches ankle deep, missing the hem of her pants only due to the height of her heels. With no specific attachment to her shoes, she takes a couple of more hesitant steps.

“Ugh, I can hear the faucet dripping from here,” she grumbles. “Sure you want to just wait out there?”

“Totally. You’re doing great, though, baby.” He grimaces as she walks further in. “Is it cold? It looks cold.”

“No, it’s room temperature. I’m just glad it hasn’t reached the sofa or the cushions or anything in the - whoa!” Lia grabs the arm of the chair beside her as she slips, thankfully saving her ankles as her knee breaks the fall.

There’s a sound of splashing before Jungkook is right next to her a second too late. “Shit, you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. No injuries, I think.” She twists to see him kneeling next to her. “What happened to your Balenciagas?”

It seems to have occurred to him only now. “Oh…” He looks down at his shoes, now submerged. “I can try blow drying them, probably?”

“Probably.” She tries to hide a smile before giving up. “Take them off before they get any more damaged, though.”

He takes her advice this time and they both rid themselves of their shoes, tossing them on the chair before splashing their way into the kitchen.

Jungkook whistles. “Wow, that’s some leak,” he remarks, following her as she falls to her knees to get a good look at the thin but steady stream of water spilling from a crack in the pipe. “Is this the only leak?” he wonders out loud before pressing his hand against the crack so the water suddenly stops.

“No, there’s a small one here, too,” she answers, squinting at something on the other side of the pipe, a little higher up. “It’s only a few drops out of this one but it’s still bad enough.”

“Maybe we can -” Jungkook grunts and tugs at the pipe, “- wrench it into place? To block this crack?”

“Doubtful. It’s a really old pipe, too, so I’m afraid it might break.”

“It’s metal - can metal break?”

“I mean… yeah? I guess? Look, it’s all rusted up here.”

“Oh, yeah…”

In his effort to look, Jungkook’s hand slips off the crack and the flow of the water resumes. 

“Okay, this can’t go on - we need to block this for now so we can get rid of this fucking flood,” she decides, noting in worry how the water level is slowly rising. “And I’m calling the landlord tomorrow and giving him a piece of my mind.”

“Um -” Jungkook looks around from his position by the pipe. “We have a towel, some flour and stuff… maybe we stick some dough onto it?”

“Worth a shot but I don’t know if it’ll hold till tomorrow. Maybe we should try moving the pipe,” she admits, holding the top of it and wondering if it’ll work.

“Okay, let’s do that. Worst case, we find a plastic or metal box, cut it in just the right dimensions to cover the crack and fix it around the pipe.”

“Worst case.” 

Jungkook waves her over and they grip the pipe together. “If this goes south, just remember that I love you.”

Despite the chaos and the fact that her faux leather pants are damp and disgusting, Lia snorts. “Shut up, you dork. Come on, let’s do this.” Both of them pull the top part towards the lower one to try and close the gap.

“A little to the left, come on…”

“It’s - not - moving -” Lia bites her lip and jerks the pipe back, accidentally slipping again and falling back onto her boyfriend. The jolt makes Jungkook tip over and the pipe twists on the rust, bursting.

“Oh, my - “ Jungkook’s words are cut off when a jet of water hits him square in the face. Lia gasps and reaches for the pipe as he fumbles, sputtering, and lunges towards the pipe to turn it away.

“Jungkook, no! It’ll break if you -” 

But Lia is cut off as well and almost knocked backwards by the force of the water. It’s everywhere now; her clothes, her hair - she’s fully drenched. Next to her, Jungkook looks like he’s been dunked into a lake, his long thick hair sticking to his forehead.

“Take cover!” he yells, pulling open a cabinet behind him with one hand and yanking something out, while the other hand covers the jet of water uselessly. He replaces it with the lid of a cooking pan and tosses her another one which splashes into the water next to her.

“Thanks! I - Jungkook!” She brandishes the utensil while trying to dodge the water. “It’s a sieve!”

“What?”

“It has holes!”

“I can’t see! Wait -” He crawls towards the cabinet but slips midway, swearing loudly. 

“Careful!” She ducks and tries to get to the pipe but feels him grip her forearm and pull her back.

“You’ll hurt yourself!” he yells, handing her another pan. “Jesus - how did you guys let this stupid faucet get this bad?”

“I told you - our landlord is a jackass who ghosts us if we bring up fixtures!”

“Well -” Jungkook pauses, wincing a little as the water continues to ricochet off the pan he’s holding up. “In that case, this is probably as good a time as any to ask you this, but do you want to move in with me?”

Lia almost swallows a mouthful of tap water. “What?”

“Just - I mean, this apartment is unlivable!” he says loudly. “And I’m a much better landlord! And also -” He gags and spits out some water, “- I love you and all!” He shrugs awkwardly, drenched to the bone with his oversized t-shirt sticking to his shoulders and chest.

Lia tries - she really tries - to keep a straight face, to attempt to understand what goes on in Jungkook’s head. But it’s a lost cause, for at the end of the day, whatever it is, it just works. Through the irritation at her landlord and the general shock of being waterboarded by a broken pipe, she sees it. A shine in his doe eyes, a hint of nervousness. 

She doesn’t realise immediately why the water hits her suddenly with force or why Jungkook’s eyes widen belatedly.

“What are you doing? The water is - oh.” The anticipation turns into the beginnings of a smile when he works out why she has knee walked all the way towards him and he stands on his knees as well, just as she reaches him and places her arms around his neck, and kisses him.

When she pulls away, he’s grinning. “That’s a yes?”

“That’s a thank God you finally asked.” 

Jungkook nods sheepishly. “I wanted it to be perfect, honestly. I was just waiting for the right time and -” He sighs, shaking his head so droplets of water fall from his hair.

“You know what? I think this, unexpected as it was, is pretty perfect,” she says honestly. “So… I guess that’s a yes,” she clarifies, meeting him in a kiss once again.

There’s a muffled sound and then a splash, followed by a gasp.

“Oh, my God! What the fuck?”

Jungkook jerks away, pursing his lips. “As long as he is never allowed in our house,” he declares, glaring and pointing in the direction of the living room.

She gives him a look. “Pretty sure you’ll crack before I do on that front,” she guesses, just as Dal appears in the doorway of the kitchen, looking incredulous.

“What the fuck happened in here?”

“What do you think? That damn faucet,” she snaps, pointing at it. “This is the landlord’s problem now - he and his insurance can handle it.”

“I agree, but - God, are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we were using lids…” Jungkook picks his up and places it in front of the stream of water, much more unfazed about it now than he was before. 

“Lids? Why didn’t you guys just turn off the water?” Taking a long step across the flooded kitchen floor, he reaches for a panel behind the left-most cabinet and twists a lever - and the water stops.

Speechless, Lia turns to look at Jungkook who is looking back at her with equal dismay. “We thought of dough before we thought of turning off the water,” he mutters, shaking his head.

“And we’re taking it to the grave,” she replies, squeezing his hand.

He’s wet, his designer clothes ruined - but Jeon Jungkook is glowing. A moment later, he squeezes her hand back.

“Deal.”

—

Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to leave a review :)

[theoutcastrogue]

[From a 2014 article by John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats. He's talking about how a random spam email ended up inspiring a part of his book Wolf in White Van. Later, in 2020, the album Getting Into Knives came out, and I think it inspired its artwork too.]

"It took years for me to be able to just reflexively delete spam, or filter it so that I never see it at all. I blame the spammers for this; the quality of their work took a sharp nosedive at some point. But during whatever period of the internet’s growth you’d call the early 2000s, it seemed like you’d still get some winners: things that had been typed up by a person, sent out to a bunch of email addresses they’d bought or rented for 5 or 10 bucks from the only guy who was ever going to make any money in this particular exchange. Most of them went directly, if manually, into the trash; but once in a while, there’d be one that seemed to earn, at the very least, the minute it’d take me to read it.

The one I’m remembering here was subject-lined SUPPLY OF KNIVES. [...] The subject line opened on an all-caps email that boasted, in ornate, antiquated English appealing to the reader’s more refined sensibilities, about the high quality of the knives on offer at an external website. You shouldn’t click on links in spam email. I live my life on the razor’s edge! I clicked the link.

I want to tell you about these knives: They were beautiful. They were weird. They had elaborate designs in the handles, moons or stars of wolf heads, and special grips, and a variety of points. They were made from metals whose pedigrees were described lovingly, and had been struck — smithed? wrought? — via processes I knew absolutely nothing about, but that sounded fantastic, difficult, arcane. It’s the joy of specialized language: When you’re an outsider to it, it can’t help but sound cool.

Of course this is the whole idea of any operation like this. SUPPLY OF KNIVES could well have been, and probably was, a company in Ohio who’d stumbled across an old warehouse full of knives, and knew enough about sales to describe these things in the most exotic terms they could find. I’m pretty immune to pitches: Who likes to feel like he’s being pitched? But somebody involved with SUPPLY OF KNIVES had had just enough authorial flair — that, or true faith — to caption each knife’s mysterious, blurry accompanying JPEG with a description whose constant recourse to specialized vocabularies seemed to say, “You’re not even reading this unless you already know about this sort of thing. Let us therefore speak like the fellow travelers we are.”

It was like a trade catalog for roadside bandits in need of knives.

I can’t speak for everybody, but I know that when I was a child the life of the roadside bandit seemed like a pretty romantic way to go. I looked at all these knives and read the descriptions and was just generally delighted about the whole thing, so I saved the email in a “memorable spam” folder I used to keep that had maybe two other emails in it. A few years later, Apple came out with this robotic-arm-screen iMac you never see any more, and we were long overdue for a new computer so we got that; and then, after a while, I got myself a laptop, because I was traveling all the time, and eventually both the old iMacs ended up in the basement, and they were both asleep but alive until fairly recently, as far as I knew.

But when I went to check for the email, it was gone. The old blue iMac is dead, bricked, lifeless. Searches on the term “supply of knives” on this laptop and on good old robot-arm-screen find nothing. The backup CD for the blue iMac drive is probably in a drawer around here somewhere, but that’s like saying, “The coin I had in my swim trunks’ pocket is probably somewhere in the ocean.” There is no SUPPLY OF KNIVES. There’s only the memory."

[source]

And this is the wonderful cover art of Getting Into Knives. Back cover and promo material below. Note that "Knives International" and "Knives Wordwide" are not real companies, they appear to be a callback to that elusive spam email.

[mamirhodessxox]

Can you do dating Cody Rhodes headcanon pls?

Cody Rhodes x Fem!Reader Headcanons

MDNI

Contents: Mentions of smut, Fluff, Alcohol, hints of violence (wwe), mentions of age gaps (LEGAL age gap, Reader is in her mid 20’s) oral sex & a size kink,

🏷️ list: @alyyaanna @ginswife @coolpastelartshoe @greatkoalawizard @cokolin044 @kotoriarlert @alicerosejensen @bunnybot55 @agent-dessis-posts @adollonyourshelf @mini-rhodes @southerngirl41 @harmshake @femdisa @kabloswrld @claymoresofinfamy23

Fluff

Codys love language is definitely acts of service & gift giving so whether you ask for it or not he’s always giving you gifts. Like a ridiculous amount. He can’t help it!! He’ll be at the store on his way home & sees something that reminds him of you so he gets it <3

The man is absolutely addicted to spending time with you, he doesn’t matter what you are doing he always wriggles himself into the current activity so he could be included, whether it’s cleaning, cooking, watching a show, he does not care

Cody is a Christmas lover, it’s all he thinks about, the minute November hits you’ll see him pulling decorations out of the garage & start setting up for the holidays.

He absolutely loves physical touch, if he’s cooking in the kitchen he 100% expects for you to be sitting all pretty on-top of the counter so when he has the chance he could stand in-between your legs and pull you into the warmest hug ever, if you two are in bed he holds you next to him no matter what, in public he refuses to let go of your hand and if he ever has to he literally becomes the biggest whiner over it.

Cody often makes jokes about your guy’s age difference since you’re in your mid 20’s and he’s in his late 30’s so anytime you catch an attitude you always hear him yell out from across the room “Well back in MYYY day..-“

Usually after his matches or promos at WWE your always waiting in his dressing room & help disinfecting any possible cuts that are on his face or arms even if they’re tiny cuts germs can always get into them & you did not need him getting wound infections

Cody loves going to the dog park with you & Pharaoh, he loves watching you play ball with the white furred husky & have a good time while he follows behind you. Sometimes you two just sit there in silence watching pharaoh have fun while you guys just enjoy each other’s company.

NSFW

He’s so open to trying new things especially when he knows he’d like some of the things he’d be willing to try, for example, You two tried out cock warning 1 TIME‼️ and now almost everyday he somehow fits time for you too just sit on his cock & watch you whine and pout when he refuses to give you any sort of friction.

Cody is a missionary man, he can do other things than missionary of course but he likes the intimacy, being ontop of you & putting his entire body weight on you as he’s quite literally balls deep inside of you & gets to see the facial expressions on your face when you cum really gets him off, knowing he’s pleasuring you & seeing it happen with just the way your face contorts & your body is convulsing is all he needs to make him cum. “I know baby, I know, it feels good doesn’t it? go on sweet girl cum for me, I know you can.”

He loves talking you through an orgasm, when he’s literally fucking you to the point of crying he’ll hold you close to him mid-fuck and remind you how good you’re taking his cock. “Y’doing so good for me princess, taking my fucking cock like the good little girl you are.”

In Cody’s eyes you’re a goddess to him. At first you think he’s just messing around when he acts obsessed with your body but you then realize he is dead serious. He’s obsessed with everything attached to you, he doesn’t USUALLY have overly rough sex with you unless he’s really eager, greedy or upset but MOST of the time he takes his sweet time to even fuck you, his hands get explorative he often leaves hickeys ontop of your breasts & then starts to eat you out & leave hickeys on your thighs & inner thighs before he actually gets to the point

Cody’s aware of the hand kink you have for him, he takes it to his advantage by keeping you full of his fingers “Yeah? Oh I know baby everything just feels so good that your so overwhelmed but aren’t you happy? Your pretty pussy is being fingered so fucking good.” He would shove his fingers in your mouth sometimes or even choke you the more you wanted his hands getting involved.

The man loves getting his dick sucked let’s be serious, but he loves it even more when he notices you literally get off on giving him a blowjob, if you ever acted up beforehand he would use that against you just as you start begging for him to use your mouth. “I don’t know baby do you think you deserve my dick? You know I don’t like brats that talk back and you were being a little bit of a brat today weren’t you?”

xtripleiiix’s Masterlist

[respectthepetty]

The Monster Next Door & Livid Lad

I squeezed in all three episodes of Monster Next Door while traveling with a 7" Chromebook, so now that I have truly no time and no patience (because this thirty image limit is stifling), I'm jumping straight into what I came for - COLORS!

The promo for this show gave me introverted Diew in blue and extroverted God in yellow/orange, which would make perfect sense for the characters and this story!

And the first episode started with God bursting onto the scene with his orange bike and yellow lightning bolt helmet versus Diew walking in his gray.

But I've seen this color-story before from another WeTV offering!

And in this story (Cooking Crush), there was a Blue Boy who didn't like people touching him, had a difficult time communicating, and lived a pretty isolated life.

But . . . that's because he wasn't really blue. He was livid!

Some history and a little bit of science: *deep breath* Livid is the term for the color "blue-gray" and comes from a Latin word meaning "a dull gray blue" however, we associate livid with red because red means anger which we also connect to heat and flames, but the hottest part of a flame is its center which is actually blue not red, so although in color theory we say warm colors are red, yellow, and orange, and cool colors are blue, green, and purple, in the universe, it's the opposite, so our Sun for example isn't that hot because it's only red, yellow, and orange because if our Sun was really hot, it'd be blue (or even white!), and we'd all be fried and dead because that'd be super duper uber hot! Make sense? *another deep breath* The point is that Diew is a Livid Lad.

He is gray-blue.

He is calm and stable like a Blue Boy. He is sad and lonely like a Gray Guy. He is rigid and smart like both.

But just like his fellow Livid Lad Ten in Cooking Crush, who gave the sweetest compliments then punched a guy, Diew is not to be toyed with.

So we see his notes in his color scheme telling God to stop being loud, stop giving him snacks, and stop drawing on the table.

Which brings me to God, who should be this bright and loud yellow/oranege extrovert according to the promo material for the show, but . . . once again, I've seen this color-story before, and as colorful as I thought Prem was compared to his Livid Lad, all roads lead to pink.

In Cooking Crush, it was stated often that Prem put his heart into cooking which is why people could taste the love in his food. Interesting.

The American baseball team Cleveland Indians changed its name and mascot in 2021 because it's the 21st-century and we need to stop doing offensive shit, but even with the name change to Cleveland Guardians, the team has always been a vibrant red.

I noticed immediately that the show is softening the red on God's body so it almost becomes pink when he gets help from Diew in the beginning, and it happens again when he reads the time-traveling romance novel Diew suggests since God is wearing a shirt from the American soda company Dr. Pepper, which its color is maroon(ish), yet in the show, it is soft.

But much like Cooking Crush's Prem, God seems like a Multicolored Menace compared to his Livid Lad.

He wears different colors while Diew wears mostly grays and blues.

His apartment has colorful cool lighting while Diew's apartment has warm natural-looking lighting.

And when he has a bad day at band practice, he loses his color.

But when God asked Diew to date him, he was wearing that soft Dr. Pepper shirt, and when Diew agreed to it a few nights later, Diew was wearing pink on his shirt, which is the first color we have seen on his body, and God was wearing gray. Diew also wore this shirt when he got Khun Shy, his turtle.

And when God just stands in complete silence eating a chocolate bar even though he doesn't like sweets but remembers that Diew likes eating chocolate to make himself happy, he is wearing blue.

But the thing is, Diew isn't just blue and God isn't all colorful, which is why this blueish-(purple) pink doesn't work.

God's core is pink because he puts his heart into what he does. He loves being with his friends (and hates being alone! Don't think I didn't pick that up when he mentioned he originally intended to have a roommate). He loves being on stage and playing music. He loves meeting new people and helping them. He's a lover!

He is bright pink when Diew takes care of him.

But he is also pink when he is giving his friend advice to sit in his feelings and to share them.

And that's why his sticky notes are pink.

These color-coded boys are communicating to each other in their own language and their own color by exchanging the notes. God is a kind and caring (and sometimes immature) Pink Person who gives love in all these tiny ways, and Diew is a calm and quiet (and sometimes a little pissed off) Livid Lad who puts up a fight in all these tiny ways, but when the wall between them (and their balconies) come down, they'll have to create a new middle ground between the Monster Next Door and a Livid Lad because wanting to put so much love into everything versus being so terrified to put love into anything is going to make them re-evaluate how to show love to each other.

They'll have to find ~balance~ not only with each other, but also within themselves.

[akane171]

­­­Things about Ron Speirs that live rent free in my head

-“SPEIRS, GET YOURSELF OVER HERE!”

I don’t know what I like most about this scene. The fact Dick just furiously passed Sink and ignored his commander, because his boys were getting screwed? Speirs running to him and then without a single word sprinting to do the job? Or Nixon with his binoculars liveblogging the whole  battle? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-The change in his voice and intonation between “I’m taking over” and “First Sergeant Lipton!”.

-The church scene, when Lipton says Easy men didn’t care about the gossips… It was HILARIOUS. Like, Lip? Sweetheart? Ron scared the shit out of Christenson and some poor innocent kids in the same damned ep. I could hear Pat’s sobbing in the background during that scene, mixed with the nuns’ chorus.

-A man needs a hobby and his was trolling people. Aside of the whole “did he or did he not shot the prisoners”, he enjoyed the gossips, appearing suddenly out of nowhere, while giving creepy speeches and traumatizing people. And he did it fabulously. Legend.

-His little, millisecond pause, when we watch his back while Lipton says “Well, maybe they keep talking about it because they never heard Tercius deny it”.

-And two things about this scene. Lipton knows Speirs was trolling people and it was amusing him. And Ron’s answer “Well, maybe that’s because Tercius knew there was some value to the men thinking he was the meanest, toughest sonofabitch in the whole Roman legion” - he knows Lip knows he was trolling people and (not directly) admits it. He never did that to anyone else, what also means he really respected Lipton (gross sobbing).

-Anyway, this whole church scene is a pure love and I adore every second of it.

-He was a history nerd ;_; I’m kind of sad, we didn’t see him and Buck taking about some ancient battles in Gaul.

-He kept tabs on Easy xD how much he’s learnt from creeping in the shadows and eavesdropping – no one knows xD

-The fact real Speirs was shot in the ass on some of his solo patrols proves he was just meant to be Easy’s CO. Fucking destiny.

-His favourite sergeant was Grant (ok, ok, put the pitchforks DOWN, I said sergeant NOT lieutenant, geez).

-The fact no one called him “Sparky” in the show is a crime against humanity. But at least we got one “Ron” from Winters. Still…

-I think I read somewhere here, that he wore his helmet so low, because it was too big and… yes? Absolutely? Whoever noticed it – I bow to you.

And it reminds me all the promo pics where we have most of the characters standing together and he stands on the side, a little farer and looking awkwardly like “mom said I have to socialize more, so here I am, ugh…”.

-Also, he looks tiny compared to the other guys on many shots/pics, what is hilarious on many levels.

-I realized it after the second watch, that he not only stole cigarettes from Buck, but he offered them to the German POWs. Not his cigarettes, but the shit he stole. I don’t know why, but it’s just so super HIM xD

-I wonder when exactly Easy Company did realize that their new CO is not exactly the meanest, toughest sonofabitch in the army, but a big ass weirdo, with poor social skills, suspicious hobbies and sticky hands.

-Ep 8 look >>>>>>>>>>>>> everything else.

-The moment when Webster throws himself to the ground and Ron just stands in the background, watching the missile like it was meh (he had a personal ranking of “Things that almost killed me” and that missile was not even on the Top 10).

-“No. You don’t have any experience.” How the fuck Jones didn’t drop dead right after is beyond me. Also, A+++ acting.

-The fact is that Lipton was his social-skills-only-working-brain-cell and it’s beautiful.

-The moment Perconte asked him to give him back his lighter, I guess it was the moment Speirs knew his reputation crumbled to dust xD

-Unpopular opinion, but I don’t think Malarkey scared him on a purpose. I think it was accidentally, what for me, makes it even funnier. But the fact Don started as someone who was scared of Speirs like no one else and ended scarring him – it just warms my heart.

-And that pure annoyance on Ron’s face when Malarkey’s approaches him a second after he scared him, will never stop making me laugh. It the look could kill the bottle in Don’s hands would explode.

-On some point Lipton was sitting with his head in his hands and moaning that he was not paid enough to keep his crazy CO with suicidal tendencies alive and Luz was there-thereing him.

-All the things he's done to keep Grant alive.

-Basically, Speirs gives me a stray cat vibes and the fact he kind of, adopted Lipton and whole Easy proves it.

-And finally, the way he went from “we are all dead, just accept it” to “ok, I guess I’m going to stay in the army to keep the idiots alive (sighs)” is one of the best character developments and is so… sooo … you know? ;_;

Anyway, the thing I like the most about his character is how unexpected he is. I didn’t expect to like him so much. I didn’t expect him to change so much in such splendid way. But here I am.

We meet him in the show as  “a cold blooded soldier” stereotype and we learn in the end he was just deeply compassionate man (and a weirdo), who applied being a sociopath to be a better man of war. It just makes him very human - thanks to the fact his character was based on a real man, I guess. And that applies to all BOB’s characters.

And BIG kudos to Matthew Settle for doing such a great job and creating an iconic character. I read and watched some interviews, where he admitted he had a big problems with grasping the role, but damn, in the end he absolutely NAILED IT.

EDIT: Part II (x)

[welldonebeca]

(un)Holy Gift**

Summary: After endless nights of prayers, two boys show up in your garden in need of food, love and care from a motherly figure, and you know they are a gift from God. When two decades pass, you have to face the possibility that a different supernatural being could be what brought them to you. Warnings: Puritans AU. Angst. Tension. Hurt/Comfort. Patreon Promo.

Your fingers squeezed the sheets painfully of your bed as you spoke your prayers in silent whispers. It was cold and getting even colder by the day, and you knew you had to sew yourself gloves before it got even worse.

After six months, it was getting easier to move on and do things on your own, now.

William had left.

Three failed pregnancies were enough for him.

You had come to this country together right after you got married. You were still mourning for Henry, but God forbid a widow be left to cry over her dead husband's body after spending the good half of her last decade with him.

Henry was good in a way William had never been. He had his children already, he didn’t mind not having another and just wanted company, which you happily gave him. But death took him from you, and his son kicked you out without caring for your feelings.

But you were a good wife to William, and you tried your best to give what he wanted and needed from you. Over and over again.

The doctors had no answers for why you couldn’t have a child, and it only pained you more when the priest said your barrenness must only be a punishment from God. You had always been a good wife and a good daughter, and would have been a great mother, so why would you be punished? But the priest just spoke more of pride and doubts that you supposedly had.

The next morning, William was gone, taking his clothes and his horse with him.

He also took all the money you two had brought and made, and left you with your garden.

At least he had the decency of leaving you with a gun to protect yourself from invaders.

But how long would that last you? How long until some man saw your house and wanted to take it from you? Everyone told you that you were alone, and you weren’t strong enough on your own, and that was true.

So you prayed to God every night and every day, begging for His help or a sign, or anything!

But when you heard the sloshing of footsteps near the back of your house, loud against the deafening silence of the night, you didn’t immediately associate it with any help.

So you grabbed your gun and crept into your garden, finding a dark and small figure over your carrots, tugging on them.

Damn pests.

“Hey!” you shouted, knowing how sounds were quick to scare anything that size.

You were surprised, however, when your shout startled into a gasp the figure, and it fell onto the mud, and another voice started crying.

You stepped closer, and the light of the moon was enough for you to realise you weren’t seeing any pests, but just two children.

“Good Lord,” you whispered.

The bigger child - a boy with bright green eyes - glared at you, and tried to grab the smaller one, but the baby just continued to wail and refused to get picked up again.

“I’m sorry,” you spoke softly. “I won’t hurt you, I was just scared.”

You moved to them and knelt to their levels.

The boy was dressed in something too thin for someone walking around in such cold weather.

“Are you cold?” you asked. “Hungry?”

His eyes glared at you, mistrustful, but his belly growled loudly, and the baby continued to cry, and you offered a hand to them as the older boy watched you.

The baby crawled into your embrace, skin cold, and you held him close. You would have cried hadn’t you been worried about the boy. He was soaking wet, but it hadn’t rained for days. You had also never seen any of the two kids around in the whole year you’d been living here.

“There’s a fire going inside,” you whispered. “I have food. Real food.”

He blinked and just nodded.

So, you picked up the baby, and walked inside, letting the boy follow you home, and sat in front of your fireplace, taking the whining baby in his arms to warm up, and let you wrap them in a thick quilt.

“Sammy needs food,” he outrightly demanded, reaching just to hold Sammy tightly. “He’s hungry.”

You chuckled a bit, but nodded.

“I’ll warm up some soup,” you assured him.

You were pulling your pots when the boys whispered to one another.

“De?” the baby called. “When can we go home?”

You tried to pretend you weren’t hearing them, feeding the fire to heat up the soup you’d made for yourself earlier, adding a bit more carrots to it.

Was he older than a baby? He talked like a child. Maybe he wasn’t fed well, that was why he was so small.

“No, Sammy. I can’t let daddy hurt you!” the boy affirmed.

Hurt them?

“He didn’t mean to…”

The whispers became too soft for you to hear, and you tried to focus on your soup, waiting for it to boil. They needed food, yes, but those boys needed clothes.

After your second child, you had coped with sewing, and even sold clothes to the families with kids in the town - it was how you made the little money you had. You had a few winter clothes here, you knew they would fit in them.

There were still clothes you couldn’t sell away, the ones you made for your own babies.

You filled two bowls with soup for them, and placed the bowl in front of them with spoons.

"Don’t eat too fast,” you instructed him. “I’ll be right back, I’m just going to grab you some clothes."

You wondered if Sammy was old enough to feed himself, but dean quickly took his spoon and started to feed the little boy as you strode away, going to your chest and taking some pieces that probably fit them.

You were surprised to find one of the bowls empty, and the boy - Dee - feeding Sammy more out of his own.

“Hey,” you called.

He shot you a look, and then moved back to feed his brother.

“Sammy is hungry,” he mumbled.

You shook your head. Oh, what a selfless big brother he was.

“It’s alright, there is enough food for the two of you,” you assured him, picking up the empty bowl. “Did Sammy like fish?”

“Yes,” the baby affirmed quickly.

You smiled, and moved back to your soup, making sure to add more of the fish - the meat you’d put inside it - and the vegetables into it, and walked back to them.

“Now eat your soup,” you told the boy. “I’ll feed Sammy, and then you can have more too, okay?”

He nodded, and Sammy looked at you with big hazel eyes, and you blew on his soup to cool him before moving back to feed him, and he hungrily took every spoon of his soup.

Behind him, Dee ate his food hesitantly, but it was clear he was just as hungry as his brother - if not more.

The boys ate nearly half the pot before their tummies were full, and you smiled at that, proud.

"Oh, my, you ate a lot!" you praised them, poking their bellies.

Sammy giggled and Dee blushed, clinging to the sheet around his shoulders.

“Let’s dress you up, now,” you offered them. “I have something warm for you.”

You picked Sammy up and Dee followed you, scratching his eye as you showed him the clothes.

“I can do it!” Dee whined, trying to stop you from taking Sammy.

The smaller boy whined, but his brother was insistent, and you didn’t fight as he pulled his little brother back.

“You’re a stranger!” he huffed.

It was clear that the boy was very mistrusting of you, even if you were nice.

“Oh dear,” you sighed, sitting down, trying to understand it from his side. . “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He shot you a look, shielding his brother with his body as he undressed him from his clothes and put his new clothes on quickly.

“I guess I do seem a bit strange, don’t I?” you asked him. “I never even gave you my name.”

He threw you another very quick glare.

“I’m Y/N,” you told him.

His glare suddenly disappeared, and his look softened.

“That’s… that’s a pretty name...” he muttered, putting on Sammy’s trousers, and the boy giggled as his brother tied them in place.

He was quick and did it with ease, as if he had already done that many, many times before.

How much had those boys gone through together?

“My name is Dean…” he affirmed, “And this is Sammy, but only I call him that!” he stated stubbornly.

You smiled a little.

“And what should I call him?”

Dean frowned, looking at your face.

“Samuel,” he told you. “Sam.”

You nodded along.

“Okay,” you told him. “Why don’t you change, Dean? You need to warm up too.”

He threw you a hesitant look, and you smiled a little.

“I can turn around,” you offered.

Dean nodded, accepting it, and you turned away from him, just listening to him fumble behind you, and Sam giggled at something when his brother grunted.

“You’re stuck,” Sam giggled.

You looked back, and held back a smile when you realised that Dean was stuck taking off his tunic, though he still had his trousers on.

“Do you want help?” you offered.

“No!” he squirmed.

He stopped, and you knew he was very upset.

“Yes,” Dean mumbled, at last.

You moved to him and unbuttoned his collar, helping him out of the old piece, holed and old, and you wondered when it was the last time he had even changed out of it.

“Tomorrow, I’ll draw you a bath,” you told him, taking the new shirt and dressing him up. “Do you remember the last time you had one?”

Dean jumped away from you as if you had just suggested throwing him into the fire.

“No!” he shouted, grabbing Sam and shielding him with his body. “No bath.”

Your eyes widened in shock. He was completely terrified.

“Okay!” you said quickly. “No bath! You don’t need to have a bath.”

He squeezed his brother, and you ran your hands on your skirt.

“We can clean you with a wet cloth, okay?” you offered him. “It works the same, it’s alright.”

Dean shifted his jaw, still scared.

You sighed. It pained you that something so horrid could have happened to those little boys.

They didn't even seem to worry about their parents, except for their father - though he didn't sound like he had done a good job.

"It's getting late anyway," you changed the subject. "You can sleep on my bed."

You could have offered to share it, the bed was very big, but you wanted them to be comfortable. So when they lay down, you took yourself one sheet and put it on your rocking chair, walking back to them when Dean wrapped himself around his brother.

The boys looked at you with curiosity and exhaustion, and you tucked them in silently, sitting back away.

They were quick to sleep, and you let yourself drift off after them, but as soon as you closed your eyes, there was a tug on your leg, and you looked down to find Sam right there.

You looked back at Dean, clutching a pillow as he slept, and picked Sam up in your arms.

“What is wrong?” you asked softly as he hid under your blanket, curling against you. “Can’t sleep, Sam?”

“Want to sleep with you,” he mumbled. “You’re very soft.”

You smiled a little. Yes, you were very soft.

You watched the boy get comfortable before your mouth was quicker than your brain.

"Sam... why were you and your brother all alone?" you asked.

They were so little. It was a surprise they had survived a single day on their own.

Sam looked at your face and then at Dean.

"Dee took me away," he yawned. "He said daddy hurt me."

You brushed his dirty hair back, watching his face. What kind of father would hurt his children?

"He tried to give me a bath but it itched, and he held me down inside, and I couldn't breathe," he told you, and his tone turned cryptic. "Daddy wanted me to be clean, but I can't be clean."

You watched him. Itchy water?

And he held him down... to kill him. Drown him.

"Do you have a mother, Sam?" you asked her.

People went mad when grief struck them. You'd seen that many times.

Sam looked a bit shocked at your question, but calmed down quickly.

“De said not to talk about her,” he whispered. “I was a baby when a fire took her, but daddy said something else was there too. He never said it to me or Dean, only to himself when we were sleeping."

You watched his face. So many big words for a baby no older than two.

"I don’t have a mama, but you don’t have a baby," he affirmed.

. . .

"(un)Holy Gift is a Puritan AU fully posted on my Patreon. To read it now, subscribe to my page! It's just $2 a week and I promise you won't regret it.

[haastera]

A Potential Explanation for the Murder Drones Situation Involving TADC

I've been trying to think of an explanation for this entire situation, and while this will probably be a controversial post, I think everything can be explained by a simple question.

What would Glitch have done if the TADC pilot flopped?

As unlikely of a scenario as it was, especially looking back now, Glitch as a company needed to have a backup plan for the worst-case scenario. A lot of artists' livelihoods are on the line if leadership is caught unprepared. That backup plan was Murder Drones Season 2.

Put simply, Murder Drones S2 was left on the table as an insurance policy if TADC was a dud. Glitch didn't want to outright commit to it, but they wanted to ensure that the infrastructure for S2 was in place in the unlikely event they needed to rapidly greenlight and announce it. If said TADC nightmare scenario came to pass and Murder Drones had been explicitly created from the beginning as a single-season series, Glitch would have been stuck with a dead-on-arrival TADC and no plan B.

TADC turned out to be the exact opposite of a dud, so MD S2 was no longer needed, as it makes more sense for Glitch to focus their limited production resources on the far more popular and profitable series.

This hypothesis lines up with the available evidence. For over 2 years most promo material for MD described it as S1, even as late as the Glitch X stream in Nov 2023.

However, around the beginning of 2024 when TADC S1 was announced properly the wording around MD began to change. Now it was simply Murder Drones instead of Murder Drones S1. In other cases, the word season was quietly replaced with the word series.

Why? Because with TADC being a stunning success Glitch didn't need to keep the backup plan alive.

Sadly, I doubt we'll ever know for sure whether MD was truly created as an 8-episode-and-done series or if a blueprint for S2 was shelved for any number of reasons.

[tiredead]

tagged poste

[megafreeman]

I know we said we aren't talking about Eurovision at all not to give them engagement, but I'm gonna be honest, that was before the entire shitshow even started.

Now, I think we should talk about it. All the time really. This is one of the worst organized music events in the history and the worst Eurovision ever organized. Just to make it clear, they hosted a Eurovision when USSR and Yugoslavia collapsed, and it was better organized and more peaceful than current Eurovision. All because they want to let alt right terrorists perform a song about how much they love terrorism.

Which is why we have to talk about this. We need to make this the taint in Eurovision's record. We need to make sure this disaster of an event is never forgotten, and to become a synonym for Eurovision "united by music". I want to see videos about Eurovision 2024 in the same vein I see videos about Fyre Festival.

From multiple countries threatening to drop out, to israel harassing everyone who doesn't wanna do a promo video, to Ukraine putting israeli rep on a pro-putin extremist watchlist, to Netherlands being disqualified for allegedly beating up a woman, only for it to come that he gave a woman making fun of his dead parents a nasty look, to non-binary flags and traditional palestinian wear being banned for being "too political", to snipers on the roof outside the venue, the disaster that was semi-final 2 press tour, israelis terrorizing people on the event, italian rep doing an improv press release in the middle of all this mayhem where she breaks into singing Imagine by John Lennon, the boo-ing so loud it made one of the supervisors consider quitting, Netherlands possibly sueing EBU and Spain possibly quitting Eurovision (they're one of the main funders).

Absolute disaster of the event. 10th May will go down in history as the day that forever altered Eurovision, possibly even killed it. They had 12 emergency meetings over last 3 days. Just to avoid banning israel because their company is a major sponsor.

[staryarn]

curious what you mean by don quixote, hong lu, and ryoushuu's promos? I vaguely remember them and I definitely think there's some elements that. Need to be talked about, but I don't want to miscontrue what you're trying to say about them.

To preface this it's entirely like my own theories and while there definitely could be foreshadowing (in sinclairs he's vaguing demian and Ishmael mentions 'if that bastards really dead than I have nothing left to chase after' (summarizing it) ). This is all a theory a ga-

I'm just very intrested in Don's because of how she reacts in it. On the actual limbus company site she has delusions of grandeur in hers (under particulars) and I really think that we'll eventually see how shee sees the city and the justice she wants vs how the city actually functions

For Hong Lu and Ryoshu they escape me both because I haven't read their source materials and because (moreso with hong lu) they're hiding themselves (ryoshu has her shure nice to meet you pun at the end of her promo vs Ishmael having something lore related in hers)

I can guess more about Ryōshū due to knowing the general plot of hell screen but can't say a lot on Hong Lu due to not fully getting tye plot of Dotrc (that and due to reading leviathan I can at least guess her beef with the fingers and how she sees art)

(For other sinners context rodion talks about wishing to undo things as easily as you can earn back lost money and how she just wanted everyone to feel some warmth, and outis talks about her oddest and how despite needing to go back she hasn't been able to take one step)

[iamadequate1717]

OFMD S3 (Manifesting!)

I think we've all seen Casey Bloys' comments on an OFMD S3:

“What’s a little bit different in a linear world than here is… how a show performs over a longer period of time than three weeks or something,” Bloys stated. “So we’re figuring out how it’s doing, what it’s looking like.”

My reaction:

Really, HBO? HBO, after running one of the worst, most spoilery, most front loaded marketing campaigns I have ever seen, wants to talk about the long term?

The question that was driving everyone feral for an S2 was, will Stede and Ed find each other again? HBO/MAX put their first face-to-face meeting in the trailer. Why watch the show when the marketing will just toss a greatest hits reel out to the public before the episode even releases?

The showstopping set piece of 2x3 (MerStede rescuing Ed) was spoiled in their "marketing" since they released the concept art for MerStede days before the episode aired in a BTS video.

Let's look at the finale:

The beach kisses and the inn were spoiled in BTS videos released days before the episode was released after putting a week between 2x7 and 2x8 releases. Yeah, yeah, they didn't show the kisses exactly, but what else would that pose be for? It really enforced that 2x7 and 2x8 should have been released together, but HBO/MAX choose to create a cliffhanger while immediately posting the resolution in their marketing

Ed thinking Stede was dead was spoiled by the episode promo

Ed and Stede running toward one another on the beach was spoiled by the trailer. (It didn't show them in frame together, but it was obviously the same location and the direction they were going in matched.)

Ed reading one of Stede's letters was spoiled by marketing a few days before the finale release for no discernable reason

Izzy's climatic speech to Ricky (and that he was saying it to Ricky!) was spoiled in the trailer. It could have been a good hype VO, and they didn't need to spoil whom Izzy was talking to

The crew in the British garb and taking out soldiers was in the trailer. This plot begins nine minutes before the credits start.

The Revenge Crew working with Spanish Jackie and Zheng at some point was well spoiled beforehand in their BTS promo material. Zheng saying they should team up is three minutes before the credits start.

(Has anyone seen this amount of BTS material of episodes, including the season climax, released before an episode releases instead of after? Just holding this BTS material until after seems like a no-brainer to extending a show's interest after the finale is released.)

The reason the pacing felt super "off" on your first watch is because HBO/MAX already released a bulleted run through of the episode beforehand, and you were mentally ticking it off as you went instead of watching it organically. Watching it a second time really improves the flow of the episode.

This is a show whose popularity was raised created entirely through word-of-mouth excitement. The greediness of these streaming companies is why we couldn't have the actors doing promo, but then they took away the show's next most powerful tool, the word-of-mouth discussion, by releasing large swathes of the climax of the season before it aired, and the social media hype and discussion was front loaded to before release instead of after.

S3 was set up to show Ed and Stede as a solid couple and to show the pirate community against the British, and the season climax of these two points was released by HBO/MAX before the episode, and it was excitedly discussed then. Now, a week after release, we're stuck in some horrible gravy basket of discussing the part of the last five-ten minutes that HBO/MAX didn't outright spoil (though they tried their hardest with the grave promo stills and Ed's bloody hand in the promo!): Izzy's death. No one is having fun!

There is a lot of story setup for an S3 but DJenks and company had to set up a season that could double as a series finale in a pinch, so we also lost the "What happens next??" fervor because HBO/MAX wouldn't greenlight two seasons at once of their biggest new IP of 2022. The bizarre marketing strategy didn't lend itself to a long term success, and it's up to the fans once again to do HBO/MAX's job for them.

[bumbumzumzum1996]

Interview With Obehag

Ladies and Gentlemen! Depression is good, depression is great! If you don't have your own depressive black metal band, it's better to create one before the second coming of Jesus. In the meantime, you can read this interview with Obehag, a guitarist and vocalist from Sweden. A new and one of the finest offerings in depressive/drug black metal is Apati.

- Hello! How are you? How is it in Västerås and Fagersta? By the way, these are two different cities?

- Hello, I'm fine, a little hungover at the moment. Westeros and Fagersta are two different cities, yes. Not much going on in these small towns, they are pretty dead.

- Is this your first interview, or have you given them before? Do you read webzines or print fanzines? Which one do you prefer?

- Me and Patient C were interviewed for "Funeral March" a few months ago, other than that - nothing else. Personally, I do not read magazines, it is difficult for me to find time for this. But if I have to choose, I'd prefer print magazines, actually.

- Tell me about the beginning. Why and how was Apati founded and what is its purpose?

- Apati was created by me and C9H13N because we both felt the need to express our feelings, and lack of feelings. We wanted to create very emotional music that could touch the listener. Professor X joined us a few months later, and after a while Patient C also joined us. But for X, there was so much going on around him that we had to let him go. Apati is now a way for us to express our feelings in different ways. It's about trying to break down barriers, musically.

How did you meet Hekan, how did you work out the deal for the album? How important is cooperation with your record company for you? Did you sign the deal just for the debut, or for additional releases?

-I emailed Hekan and asked if he would be interested, he asked for a promo. I sent him a promo and he liked it. Just. Hekan is very easy to work with and we are very grateful that we were able to work with him.

- If I'm right, the band members are very young. When was the first time you picked up an instrument and why did you decide to play in a band?

- I picked up the guitar for the first time when I was about 15, but I still have not been able to become a master in the game. Haha. Patient C, on the other hand, has probably been able to play instruments since the day he was born.

- Did the whole band contribute or is your music made up of individual ideas?

- All members have contributed to Apati. But almost all the songs are written by Patient C, sometimes with my help.

- Some people compare you to "Lifelover". What do you think about it? Lifelover's influence is obvious, I think. But at the end of the day, Lifelover wasn't the epitome of originality, as in terms of music, they also had a lot of influences. How do you feel about criticism in general? Do you read something like this, does it mean anything to you?

- Well, I personally don't care about all this Internet warrior, all sorts of shit is said on the forums. Lifelover is a great band and they have done great things. We are not trying to copy their music or steal their style. We do what we do and don't give a fuck what other people think of us.

- Where do you find inspiration, or what do you think about where people should get inspiration? What are the influences of other bands when it comes to music, concept, image, etc.?

- Inspiration comes from everywhere, especially from within. And besides, inspiration comes from other people, drugs, nature and of course other music. When it comes to other bands that I have to name, "Woods of Infinity" is a great source of inspiration for me, the feeling they deliver in their music is great.

- One of the band members is named C9H13N, which is the chemical formula for amphetamine. Your debut is called Eufori and the lyrics are in Swedish, I have a feeling that the concept is based on drugs or drug abusers. Please tell us about the concept of Eufori, and about the songs in general.

- The lyrics are very personal and I would say for me it represents an escape from reality and a pursuit of happiness and euphoria.

- Apati (apathy) - Eufori (euphoria). This is a sharp contrast between the two words. Was it planned, was it part of the concept, or did it just happen, without any intention?

- It wasn't planned. When we were doing an album that we didn't know what to call, we had a song called Eufori and I thought that would be a great title for the album.

- Your logo is associated with a more classic black metal logo, with trees, branches, roots, while the band's music and image is much more urban. How do you think the logo connects with the music and lyrics?

- When I first saw the logo I didn't care about it at all, it was the idea of C9H13N who asked his friend Etorigan to make a logo for us and he wanted the logo to look creepy like autumn - the time when flowers die and leaves fall to the ground, everything is cold and gray. But the logo has grown on me and I think it's different from most of the other bands' logos.

- The depressive black metal scene has become huge and most of the time the band is looking for someone other than making real art. Apati - agree or not - is part of the scene, although I like to think of you better than the rest. What do you think makes you special in this overgrown and suffocating scene? Why do you think someone should buy your album?

- Well, the scene that we, against our will, have become a part of, is mostly shit. But sometimes a beautiful flower can grow from smelly feces. Haha. No, but seriously, we're not special, we're not just trying to do our thing and trying to do it well. We try to make an opponent to make sure that what we are doing makes some sense.

- I saw a photo of one of the band members wearing a Ronald McDonald mask. Does it matter, or is it just for fun?

- The mask you saw is the mask of Chania. It's a theatrical mask representing a jealous female demon, I think. The reason why C9H13N decided to wear it is unknown to me. He probably just felt the need to stand out from the crowd of uniformed metalheads.

- What is the situation with concerts? I understand that you have not had concerts to this day. Are you getting ready to play live, if so, will there be anything special in your show?

- We haven't played any shows and probably won't do it in the near future. Although, who knows what we will do in the future. But now it is not the most important.

- Eufori was only released on CD. Are you planning a vinyl release? Are you interested in more underground formats like vinyl at all?

- Eufori will be released on vinyl very soon I think. I love vinyl, the feeling when you listen to vinyl is so different from a CD or mp3 on a computer.

- Does it annoy you when people download your album on the Internet instead of buying it?

- I welcome the free download. It's a great way to distribute music. We don't make music to make money. So to answer your question, no, it doesn't annoy us at all.

- Sweden is a beautiful country - I mean, there are hundreds of ugly and dangerous places to live, and your country is quite safe and very beautiful. Cities are good, everything is "almost perfect". Still, a lot of depressing and sometimes strange music from Sweden. How do you explain it? Are the Swedish people more contemplative, more profound?

- Wow, this issue cannot be resolved by me. Maybe we're just losers? I read somewhere that Sweden has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, so something must be wrong with this country.

- What is your goal in life as a creative person and as an ordinary person?

- I don't have big goals as a creative, I want people to react to my music, I want them to feel, whether it's feelings of joy, depression, anxiety, anger, love or anything else. I want the feelings that I'm trying to communicate through my music to be conveyed to you.

- The second album is under development. Tell us what we need to know about him!

- We are almost done with our second album, it is very different from our previous work. I am very happy with the tracks and I hope people will like them too.

- Thank you for your time. If you want to say something, anything, this is your space.

- Thank you. Obehag.

Interview taken and translated from a site

[bagginshieldweek24]

Bagginshield Week is fast approaching!

We’re less than a week away from the beginning of Bagginshield Week 2023, keep reading to find out everything you may need to know and remember!

All kinds of platonic, romantic and sexual relationships between Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield are welcomed, included open relationships, so long as they are the focus. Likewise, all canons and headcanons are accepted!

All mediums are allowed, included mixed media, and there is no official minimum that your work must fill! Also, all ratings and warnings and such are accepted, so long as you tag accordingly!

Two prompts are given for each day of the event as well as two alternate prompt lists, and you can use as many of them, combine any of them as you wish, I only ask that you mention which ones you’re using in any specific work. You can also make as many works as you want/can.

You can post in any platform, but as the event mod, I will only be able to work with Tumblr and Archive of Our Own: for Tumblr you can make a post containing your work or a link to it, and you have to tag your posts #thilboweek23 so that I can find them more easily; for AO3, you can find the collection here https://archiveofourown.org/collections/bagginshield_week_23

You can post your works from June 4th to June 12th (the official event dates are June 4th to June 10th, plus two extra days).

The prompts are: Fairytale AU and Domestic for Day 1; Bilbo in Erebor and Piercings & Tattoos for Day 2; Pride & Prejudice AU and Blade/Sword for Day 3; Nautical/Pirate AU and The Moon/The Sun for Day 4; Ghibli AU and Hobbit Culture for Day 5; Erebor Never Fell and Flowers/Flower Language for Day 6; Everybody Live/Nobody Dies and Haunted House/Castle/Palace for Day 7.

The prompts for the Whump Alternate List are: Believed to be Dead; Nightmares/Hallucinations; Silence; Left Behind; Hidden Injury.

The prompts for the Regular Alternate List are: Courtship; Secret Relationship; Thorin is an Errant Smith; Meeting the Family; Enchantments/Spells.

If you need more specific information look here: https://www.tumblr.com/bagginshieldweek23/710619673617629184/bagginshield-week-2023-guideline-dates-prompts?source=share

Now, as for posting in Archive of Our Own, a word or two:

If you already have works ready and want to leave them to cool in drafts, ready to be posted on the day, for the moment, a friendly reminder to reset the date of it once said day comes! Otherwise it will be posted considering the date in which it was uploaded and will appear along with those stories, and might lose momentum, sort of speak. You can readjust the date of publication in the Associations section when you’re uploading/editing your work:

On the other hand, with the rise of AIs and, more importantly, with the “threat”, for lack of a better word, of your work being used by third parties through them, AO3 has given the general advice to private works, that is to make them accessible only to other signed users. If you wish to do so I have no issue, and you can set it up in the Privacy section in the uploading/editing page:

For those posting in other platforms, I can only ask you to tag accordingly, and to either make a promo post on Tumblr, or send me any links you wish to share through asks, and if you don’t use Tumblr but an acquaintance of yours does, they can send it in instead. As you may see if you’ve read the previous event post, I didn’t set up an email address nor a Discord server; I have my reasons for that, but hopefully this should be solve by the next event.

Other than that, I can only say that I cannot wait to see what any of you make, and to wish you best of lucks, Company!

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Round 2A

Jayne Houdyshell (1953) "JAYNE HOUDYSHELL (Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn). Broadway: King Lear; A Doll's House, Part 2 (2017 Tony nomination); The Humans (2016 Tony Award); Fish in the Dark; Dead Accounts; Romeo and Juliet; Follies (2012 Tony nomination); The Importance of Being Earnest; Bye Bye Birdie; Wicked; Well (2006 Tony nomination and Theatre World Award). Off-Broadway: Lincoln Center Theater: The New Century; Playwrights Horizons: The Pain and the Itch; The Public Theater: Well; Roundabout Theatre Company: The Language Archive; MCC: Relevance; Manhattan Theatre Club: The Receptionist; Shakespeare in the Park: Much Ado About Nothing. Jayne has received two Drama Desk Awards, two Obies, and the Lily Award. Regional credits include classical and modern plays at Yale Repertory Theatre, MacCarter Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and many others. Film: The Humans, Little Women, The Chaperone, Everybody's Fine, Changing Lanes, Garden State. Television: "Only Murders in the Building," "The Good Fight," "Evil," "Law & Order: SVU," "Elementary," "Blue Bloods."" - Playbill bio from The Music Man, February 2022

Stephanie J. Block (1972) "STEPHANIE J. BLOCK (The Baker's Wife) Broadway: The Cher Show (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award winner), Falsettos (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Anything Goes, 9 to 5: The Musical (Drama Desk nomination), The Pirate Queen, The Boy from Oz, Wicked. Off-Broadway: Brigadoon (Encores); Little Miss Sunshine (Drama Desk nomination); By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Drama Desk nomination). Film and television: "iMorcecai," "Bluff City Law," Rise, "Madam Secretary," "Orange is the New Black," "Homeland," "It Could Be Worse," "Stephanie J. Block Live From Lincoln Center" for Great Performances on PBS. She currently co-hosts and co-produces "Stages Podcast" with Marylee Fairbanks and can be accessed wherever you get your podcasts. Twitter and Instagram: @stephaniejblock." - Playbill bio from Into the Woods, September 2022.

NEW PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT: ALL POLLS HERE

"Despite her beating out Jan Maxwell, my beloved, I feel no lingering bitterness because Jayne Houdyshell is one of those divine character actresses who elevates every project she's in. Her Music Man nomination came as a wild surprise, but looking back, it just makes sense. She was exactly what we needed post-reopening."

"Once again, I am asking which of you is going to be contributing to the Send DroughtofApathy to London this Summer to See SJB in Kiss Me, Kate Fund? They released a little promo for it, and damn she looks good. Why is everyone going to the West End to do their shows? Do them here so I can see them, dammit. Who needs the West End and their strange tastes anyway?"