#absolutely flattered its got you jazzed though

[silverskye13]

You: *casually dishing out RnS chapters that would probably change the chemical makeup of my brain if I gave in and googled any lore about the hermits* Me: *dodging with increasing desperation, sweat on my brow, knowing I absolutely cannot afford a new obsession* MERCY PLEASE I BEG YOU

Ahaha I don't ! Want to put a damper on your enthusiasm ! But unfortunately the hermits don't drop banger lines like that often [unless you're Doc or Rendog, in which case you drop lines like that all the time specifically because you know it makes people go nuts lol]. Helsknight is a very, very small character in the grand scheme of things, and Tanguish is an OC. An OC heavily inspired by one of the hermits! But still.

This is a bit of a "Writing Casting Rain using two characters who barely exist in cannon, let alone interact in canon" kind of scenario lol

One could argue I should just start writing my own goddamn books, but that would require finding a publishing company, and who has time for that?

[ghostpajamas]

Danny Fenton loves his parents. he does, really! sure, he cringes when they tell him about their newest project, he chuckles under his breath when someone at school pokes fun at their latest failed attempt at catching Phantom, whatever. Danny Fenton loves his parents.

Danny Fenton hates the scientists, Madeline and Jack Fenton. well. hate is a strong word. fears? despises, for making his home life a live-wire of tension and a slip up from dissection? that about summed it up.

he was scared to step an inch out of line and his parents didn’t even know they’d drawn that line there. it was like he was doing a tightrope walk for a blindfolded audience. but, in this case, they'd kill him if he fell (if the fall didn’t first). Danny knew that, in all but the absolute best circumstances, this would not end well. he had no outside perspective on his situation though so all circumstances seemed risky at best. so he still kept up the walk.

he wasn’t one for psychological profiling. Jazz did it to him enough without his knowledge that he hardly needed to see a psychologist for that. he could just knock on her door and say "what’s wrong with me?" and she'd give him a bulleted list. maybe she'd even recommend coping methods. he was pretty sure he'd developed some kind of stress disorder over the years. any murmur, any loud noise, any hint of anger in a remark not even directed at himself, his brain would always so readily translate 'you made them mad. you're in for it now. they're after you now.' it was nauseating to sit through while his mind spiraled into a concealed panic. he would just sit there and wait to be attacked. the blows never came. he was still just regular, human boy, Danny Fenton. (for now.)

even before the distinct sizzle of an ectoblast, the smell of ectoplasm in contact with something it should not contact, became engrained into his instincts. even before then he was always a little...scared of his parents. maybe it was the goggles. or how they chose to hunt something they were so certain was a wholly malicious and incredibly dangerous race of being. maybe it made him nervous how easily his father's hugs could crush someone his size. How readily his mother pulled a gun when she suspected spectral activity. ’they’re perfectly harmless! These cant hurt humans at all, only ghosts, don’t worry, Danny!’

Danny dealt in a lot of maybe's these days. some nights when he would lie in bed, feeling like his heartbeat was maybe gone, he would hear what sounded like his name from his parents' mouths downstairs. then he would feel his heartbeat start again. maybe.

when did it happen, how every time you hear them speak about you, to you, you fear for the worse? (there were empty bottles of ibuprofen in his desk drawers, for migraines and the ache of fresh injuries.)

Danny understood deep down, this pressure had been building for years. (his parents' research was still far from the truth but going down a dangerous path in its misunderstanding.) it wasn’t a matter of if, he always felt it coming, a blurry shape on the horizon. it was when. - Maddie Fenton knows there is something wrong with her son. no, not in a mean way. he looks fine (usually), he acts friendly and normal (for him) and well. he's Danny! she's sure he's Danny. but sometimes he- he didn’t look like how she remembered.

day-to-day, he was her son, he looked exactly how he always did. but sometimes it was like he was someone entirely new. like over the last 3 years there had been an imperceptibly small change made every day and in those single, staticy moments, she could see the difference. maybe it was a trick of the light. maybe she had missed her son growing up, spending all her time on researching to the point that she paid no mind to her own family.

she was proud of her work. she loved her work so, so dearly. but- she still felt guilty when she'd notice ‘oh Danny’s so tall now’ (he's been this tall for years) ‘oh Jazzy's hair looks so nice tied up like that’ (she’s been wearing it that way for months). she had the constant aching pull in her gut, that she had missed her children growing up. that they went from babies to practically adults and now she hardly knew them because they didn't fill the role they used to.

it made her sick to think she needed her children to fill a role for them to feel like her children but, here she was.

there was a disconnect between them from so early in their childhood and it only grew when Danny entered highschool. she'd assumed at first that it was just a teenager thing, distancing oneself from your 'nutjob ghost hunter' parents and feeling rebellious. she knew she’d been wrong then but Maddie Fenton, though a seeker of knowledge, was stubborn in her feelings. rather, she didn't want to acknowledge what she noticed. she didn't want to examine what was wrong.

Maddie Fenton knows there is something wrong with her son. and shes scared, not of him, but what she'll have to do if she ever says it out loud. it would be real then. Maddie Fenton was scared of herself, and that made her sick. - Danny came home at 8 pm. his skin was blistered and his shirt was stained. brown-red blotches, a spray on his chest and sleeves, large drops dried around the neckline. the blistered skin; puffy, pink, and peeling on the back of his left hand, arm, fingertips- good god, what happened to him?

the question was on Maddie's lips when Danny spoke up instead. he'd closed the door behind himself in the time she'd taken evaluating his appearance. she'd forgot to even remind him what time it was.

"there was a grease fire at Nasty Burger. someone poured water on it." his tone was so much flatter than Maddie was used to from her son. no humourous lilt, just... empty. she felt like he wasn't even seeing her when he looked up. It was like he’d been reminded of something he’d have rather forgotten a long time ago.

"oh- oh no Danny, we've gotta get that arm patched up and- what's... the stuff on your shirt?" her words betrayed her discomfort but Danny showed no sign of minding her tone. (please don’t be blood. please d-)

"some sauce packets got squashed and sprayed all over me and Tucker. I think this is barbeque?" he scraped at the stain below his collar as he walked to the cabinet in the kitchen that a first-aid box was kept in (there were plenty in the house, most of which Maddie didn't remember buying but was grateful for nonetheless when she needed one).

she made a start to help with the box, knowing Danny’s hand was hurt, but he was already deftly applying antibacterial gel and wrapping the skin gently. he hardly even winced. Maddie felt a hollowness wash not over her, around. like fog rolling in, separating her from what she was seeing. she distantly wondered how often her son must get hurt to be so good at this. how often she didn't even notice he was in danger.

Maddie Fenton loves her son, her family means the world to her and she would protect them through hell and high water. but now she was realizing, through her instinct and her doubt- do I know my son? - Madeline Fenton loves her son. and she fears what she doesn’t know. - Danny Fenton loves his parents so, so much. and he's terrified of what he knows so very well.

[myownprivatcidaho]

HOWS THE CRUSH GOING GIRL IVE BEEN GONE FROM TUMBLR SO LONG I FEEL LIKE IM TOO BEHIND ON THIS

HIII EL OMG. so sorry it took me a minute and a half to answer this. ok SO. like im about as expressive as darcy pride & prejudice and emotionally available as bruce springsteens dad so its taken me a while to convey any type of interest. but i did it. it took WEEKS but basically heres what happened (and ik you know some of this stuff but yknow theres shit i gotta call back to for reference ashgsdg)

- realized he had a thing for me after he tried getting my number and so i sat next to him every week in ass flattering jeans thinking that was me making advances. this was done as i also never looked him in the eye never talked to him never looked at him when he talked and generally just didnt acknowledge his existence. (like reflexively ive just found it imperative to never ever let on that i like someone so i had to like. really really really jump that hurdle & overcome it)

- realized he was sort of backing away like he didnt think anything was gonna happen because. yknow i wasnt ACKNOWLEDGING him. meanwhile he was always being sweet and helpful and all that jazz. so i was starting i was STARTING to mope about how everyone leaves me because i can never show that i want them etc just total victim complex stuff before i Shut That Shit Down. i decided i was gonna get this guys number and on god i was gonna TALK to him and then he would see. then he would fucking see.

- finally was able to get his number but i made it as impersonal as possible just reflexively. this was right after getting another classmates number and then i approached him (by lowkey running after him) and said smth like "hey can i get your number. .. i need more people in this class's number" so. yeah so i got it and texted "hi! this is sia" so he had my number but this was 2 seconds after as i was walking away so.

- was totally distraught he never responded even though thats really not the type of thing you necessarily respond to. so i was so TORN UP like i was totally making advances by sitting next to him in ass flattering jeans i got his NUMBER so whats he waiting for im totally doing all the work here. and then it hit me .... this guy has absolutely no reason to believe that i like him. ive never ACKNOWLEDGED him i never looked at him i was twirling my hair over him on here but meanwhile in person i seemed like the most indifferent fucker on the planet. also that meant i wasnt showing interest by sitting next to him every week in Jeans but giving him just an extremely hard time instead. shit.

- so i talked to my sister about it. which i never do like she tells me everything i dont tell her everything but. like shes got a gf so she knows SOMETHING about emotional availability in intimacy so. i spilled my problem and basically she was like. flirt with him i was like NAUR. and she threw out other suggestions and i kept rejecting them and she was like jesus christ sia. she settled for saying "how about you start out with looking at him when he talks" and i was like "BUT PEOPLE WILL SEE" and she was like. "so?" i was like. hm. good point. so there was that and then she was like "check him out maybe too. and let him see it" and i was like OKAY. OKAY I CAN DO THIS. so i DID IT. and he SAW. i was on about it here for days like he saw i was acknowledging him and THEN he caught me looking at his hands. his nice ass hands. and SO he started flexing them more hes insane. hes insane. and THENNNNN he started doing fingering gestures hes bonkers hes batshit (i was straining my peripheral vision to watch so i couldnt tell if it was his index & middle finger or middle & ring. but either way. hes fucking crazy.)

- so i was like OKAY. im gonna wear my slutpants. and thats when i sent you the pics for an Opinion much appreciated bless you :')

- HE WASNT FUCKING THERE. so i was like OKAY. OKAY. fuck it im texting him and so i DID.

- turns out he is comically slow at responding. every fucking time id respond id get torn up over him taking fucking 5ever to respond. this was about the time The Anon came into my inbox and blessed me with encouragement that their now-boyfriend used to take SUPER slow to respond and they, also, would be crying pissing throwing up etc until hed respond again. so i was like OKAY I CAN DO THIS

- the next class after our slow ass conversation sorta ended after taking a literal week to exchange a net total of like 8 texts like. we sat next to each other again and we were able to just talk a little. he is SO easy to talk to and so friendly and so FUNNY its like. i like you so bad. and then i did my scene and basically i was crying on the floor and shit and like he was super helpful and encouraging as always and at one point he was like giving notes and he looked me in the eye and i looked HIM and the eye and it was so nice to have that. we werent iffy or nervous and he didnt seem worried about Saying The Wrong thing it was just. peaceful and still. yknow. ALSO his pupils were dilated as hell ive said it before ill say it again ppl with light eyes are SEETHROUGH. bless him

- SO i wore my slutpants AGAIN the next week. that day like i think we both got so iffy we barely talked. after some sorta musical chairs he ended up sitting in front of me AND I WAS WEARING NY SLUTPANTS. musty wail dot jpeg etc. we started that class like sorta talking and then i think we both got so iffy and nervous we barely talked and like. when id say something he Would Not turn around to look like even when everyone else did (pretty small class) like he was looking Dead Ahead like. girl. and then i was crying and throwing up again before realizing like. the times he DID look at me were. holy shit. like i mean he was just. 🧿👄🧿 like he looked So. idk i dont want to say head over heels cause that feels egotistical but. jesus its like. wow. keep looking at me like tgat please. not even a horny type of looking it just kinda. :'). like made my heart melt. still not over it. ALSO he like straight up smiled at me while i was talking. i think he really likes kids and especially now bc this was one of the few times he turned around to look at me and i was talking about one of my neices and he was just :') like straight up like grinning and has SUCH a beautiful smile. i used to think "your smile makes my day" was one of the cheesiest most obvious romantic compliments but. jesus christ man its TRUE.

- so after that i wore the slutpants One Last Time before it got too cold. this was a couple weeks ago before thanksgiving break which was this past week (so no class :/). BUT. so he was about to sit in front again and then Noticed my pants and then like. backtracked JUST in time. like he went to the front abd then was about to walk along the front row and was gonna sit right in front of me but THEN i heard him go "is this someones pencil?" and i looked up and he picked up a pencil lying right next to the chair next to me and then he SAT. DOWN. IN. THAT. CHAIR. it was a nice save. sorta clumsy and would be indiscreet if anyone knew we've been eyefucking for like 3 weeks now but fortunately thats not the case.

for reference:

- SO. that class went well. he didnt even try being discreet checking me out cause he KNOWS i was wearing them for him because its part of What We're Doing. like i wore the slutpants and he returned the favor by flexing his hands/did fingering gestures for me to look at cause he knows i like that. at this rate its like we've been playing a game where we do something the other likes to look at and then the other returns the favor by doing something they like. also we'll purposefully mirror each others body language a lot but ESPECIALLY before and/or after we're like. being Playful. its all flirting if youre insane enough.

so yeah thats all the recent shit and i have COME TO THE CONCLUSION. if nothing happens before the end of the semester then on the last day im GONNA ASK HIM OUT!!!!!!! stupid excited also he made some jokes im still laughing at a week later hes so funny also it turns out he was homeschooled which kinda follows i wondered once or twice but. idk how to explain it just sorta Makes Sense. like at least in texas leftist dudes are already usually pretty sweet but hes like. kinda Extra sweet like theres another component there. was kinda surprising cause otherwise he doesnt initially give off HomeSchooler Vibes cause hes just really laid back and also clearly fucks (and is a fast learner who returns favors and generally likes making people feel good and has nice hands that he knows how to use man this is gonna be GOOD). but yeah i can see the homeschooling influence. he seemed kinda surprised tgat i was homeschooled because i Do Not give off those vibes yknow i put in effort to purposefully seem more confident and assertive and sure of myself and experienced than i actually am. but just as well because tgat wall has Got to come down i feel like half of whats made this take so long is im way too guarded and quick to shut down my emotions or even just my own general authenticity so. YEAH thats been that HOW ARE YOU DOING?? id love to hear how lifes been for you :DDD

[sanstropfremir]

episode 9 baby!!! dear lord that was a lot!!

frankly, i'm still in shock that i full on manifested an opera stage, AND it was a rock opera stage at that! plus i got a jazz stage AND a taemin stage??? if they’re pulling out all my favourites now then what on earth are they gonna do in the finale??? this was a very overwhelming crop of stages, i thought i was going to be prepared, but oh no i was not prepared. i'm just going to get right into it because this one is gonna be long and i have many words. i'll discuss in airing order first, and then put my personal rankings for this round at the end.

btob

costume

changsub, you absolute king. spectacular. stunning. incredible. zoot suit riot playing in my brain on repeat. will i finally get the zoot suit revival of my fucking dreams instead of this current drab ill-fitting suit trend? for those who are wondering why in the fuck changsub is dressed like that and what on earth i’m talking about, the specific cut of suit that he’s wearing is called a zoot suit, which were popular in mexican, black and italian american communities in the 30s and 40s, until they were outlawed by the united states war production board as a fabric rationing method as part of the war effort in 1942. there was a huge amount of mob violence surrrounding the wearing of them (there were actual zoot suit riots) as they were direct counter culture fashion to the predominant drab trends of white americans at the time. i'm actually very impressed they got a proper (modernized) cut of zoot suit instead of just putting him in an oversized one; there are actually specific structural differences. the pegged trouser legs, large should pads, and knee length single breasted jacket are key features, and they were often in much more flashy fabrics than a pinstripe, but they get points for effort. i wish they had put all of them in zoot suits but he’s playing the ‘lead’ actor so i will begrudgingly forgive them.

eunkwang those are the stupidest sleeve garters ive ever seen i love them never take them off. they’re like someone decided to repurpose a suspender in the worst way. excellent. i do love that they’ve got three of them in oxford saddle shoes, another great touch.

love the three piece and the fedora* on peniel. it's also in a relatively close period cut; waistcoasts (vests) were generally cut much higher in the neck pre-war, we only start seeing the neckline slide down in the 60s (i think? i don’t remember when exactly). also love to see a proper sleeve and jacket length, it's good practice to have at least a finger’s width of sleeve cuff visible ahead of the jacket sleeve when hanging at rest. also looks like there’s french cuffs on everyone, which is also great.

minhyuk in his slutty lowneck shirt....thank you. in addition to the zoot suit revival i would also like a revival of those ultra low necklines on mens’ shirts from like 2010-2011. i don’t think those are the same boots from the backdoor stage but those are some beautifully cut boots. i also loved the little details of his crewmember look, especially the chunky watch and the string bracelets; those are super realistic, i know so many crew with them and i had several for many years. and who doesn’t love a visible button fly?

none of any of the other costumes are period in any way shape or form but i’m forgiving it because there’s several layers of meta in this stage, and they explicitly based it on la la land, even though we don’t respect la la land in this house. do i wish they had gone more strictly period with at least the jazz club ‘actors’ a little more? absolutely, but i'm not mad about it.

set

again we’ve got a good delineation of the two different ‘stages,’ there’s the club itself in the smaller stage and the soundstage set in the larger space. you can pretty clearly see all the ‘pieces’ of the set on the soundstage, especially the obvious set painting techniques on false prosc frame and the window facade from that first little scene. also the you can see the castors (wheels) on all the setpieces too, which is another nice little versimilitudinous** (triple word score!) touch, as old hollywood movies were made still using theatre stagecraft techniques.

i love how the visual shorthand for ‘this is a set wink wonk’ is just...leaving a ladder on stage. i see it all the time and it's so funny. it doesn’t always make sense because as soon as there’s actors on set the ladders are the first thing cleared because actors cannot be trusted, but yes there are always ladders, so. also psa ladder safety is no joke, please be careful on ladders.

nice streamline of the mnet deco into the club. i’m consistently surprised at how well the designers have been able to mask it or use it to their advantage, because in the normal kingdom stage lighting it is SO obvious and stylistic that it always sticks out.

i'm going to ignore the fact that they implied changsub and miyeon were drinking wine out of martini glasses.

lighting

no complaints, it does its job. everything is visible and super clear. love that the ‘scene’ changes are made through the lighting, it's a really simple and effective device to change atmosphere. purple/blue/amber are the most flattering colours on human skin and that’s why you see it so commonly in stage lighting. also blue/lavendar is the best way to show nighttime/moonlight.

really nice and subtle projection work, especially with the billboard bit and the blue moon sign in the club. despite being obviously meta/’world breaking’ it’s actually very seamless and fits well into the flow of the stage.

sound

i love love love the big band feel in the intro, combined with the piano lead. very duke ellington, as all things should be.

no complaints. i love big band. i love eunkwang’s voice. i have nothing else to say.

staging

i LOVE this movie within a movie within a performance meta nonsense! it's such a fun concept and it is exactly what i wanted ikon’s first round stage to be! i also love to see btob consistently coming up with concepts that are inventive and fun and allow them to showcase their technical performance skills without the aerobics the younger groups are putting themselves through. it provides a really lovely variety and it just goes to show that you can make impressive, dramatic stages without having to be serious or ‘dark.’

i do wish they had leaned into the band director/lead singer with eunkwang a bit more; this could have been a really excellent place for a tap number a la the nicholas brothers or an homage to cab calloway. i know i know this was meant to be la la land themed but la la land is a cheap and whitewashed version of jazz and look me right in the eyes and tell me this isn’t the greatest tap routine of all time. i know i’ve typed this out somewhere before but la la land is just a conglomeration of old hollywood tropes and so stylistically cheap that this would have such a better visual core if they had actually looked back at the real old hollywood musicals like stormy weather. even singing in the rain and an american in paris have such phenomenal visuals and are really beautiful examples of the scope you can pull off with a limited technical capacity and sticking to these old techniques.

now that i'm thinking about it, oh my GOD i would DIE for a lindy hop routine in kpop PLEASE. i know it would never happen because kpop doesn’t like partner dancing and not a single kpop boy has the chops but oh you think fourth gen has too many acrobatics?

this got off track but i think you see my point.

---

ateez

costume

these are really sharply cut suits. and the detail work on the beading??? so beautiful. i'm disappointed that they gave me a rock opera stage without the true ridiculousness of rock opera costuming, because they could have pushed this a lot farther if they really wanted. a tragic lack of gay little outfits, seonghwa’s lace choker is just not enough! two favourite suits: hongjoong’s and yunho’s.

that being said i do actually really like these. this stage is actually very modern opera with a kpop twist and i'm a little surprised by that? i continue to be impressed by the ateez team who are clearly doing their research.

i'm absolutely not going back through their stages to check all the choreography but i wonder if you can track all the ‘wound’ placements to places they’ve been ‘hit.’ i wouldn’t put it past them to have put that thought in but also i’m not expecting that much either.

who is this white grim reaper bdsm executioner chain arm man. where did he come from. i have no idea and i love it.

why is honjoong blindfolded. it was such a fast beat, if youre gonna blindfold someone give it a little longer and some more obvious narrative weight!

seonghwa does that quickchange, runs across that massive stage to the smaller set, and gets into places in like 45 seconds. it's not the hardest quickchange in the world but still, under a minute is fast for any quickchange, especially when there’s travel time involved. i think the fastest, most complex quickchange i ever did was in university which was a 50s cocktail dress into a flannel and culottes with a shoe, hair, and jewelry change in 35 seconds. and that took three dressers. quickchanges are always impressive. the added bonus of this review being later is that i can specifically reference that you can see him book it the fuck off stage in the full cam!

cute moment with the backup dancers dressed in costumes from the previous stages. i'm assuming this is a time travel reference? i'll get more into my thoughts on this in the staging section. regardless, love to see that iconic seonghwa moment again.

set

this is such a restricted space! they really pared down their dancing space with those staircases and ....arms? honestly i have NO clue what these are supposed to be. the only thing i can maybe think of is flying buttresses??? but why?? i mean, i'm 90% sure theyre just there for drama and i agree but i do still have questions.

there’s a lot of moving parts in this set? the buttresses, and the upstage centre staircase. i don’t think the staircase is totally automated because i spotted some dancers securing it in place, but it’s still a moving part. i do really like that we get that expanding upwards energy, because it's really tough to get functional level movement in this kind of a performance, mostly because of its length and because it moves so quickly. so seeing the downward vertical movement and then the upward movement was actually a really nice visual contrast that made use of how tall those fucking ceilings are, and the fact that they had less horizontal space. in sort of similar way to sf9’s jealousy stage, using long, narrow vertical lines really makes it feel like a castle space. the interiors of castles, especially the really old ones, are a lot smaller than you think they would be.

i’ve actually seen that type of small house/tent/thing several times in various types of performances before, but i think this is the first time i’ve seen it used as a time travel device (other than in the say my name mv). aesthetically it's a bit incongruent but i dont really mind because i'm used to watching rock operas that look a lot weirder than this.

lighting

there is so much happening. i have NO clue what the projections are doing. i dont hate it though, so that’s a plus? there’s a clear-ish colour arc even if it does get a bit funky in the middle, which is why the projections dont feel as insanely distracting as some of the other stages we’ve seen.

the climax is a perfect example of how to light a busy stage with primarily red but still maintain clarity on the performers. a little bit of red goes a long way; the spark stage from last week would have looked so much better if they had done what the ateez designers did here.

sound

i know it's only ode to joy, but answer already gets my motor running and then i get so gassed by the guitars and then by the time those vocals come in i'm inconsolable. i don’t know why i wasn’t expecting a rock opera stage but i'm so glad i got that surprise because i genuinely love rock operas so much. it's two of the most dramatic genres in music, what more could you possibly want?

staging

the choreo for answer is so goofy that I'm kinda glad this was mostly terrible mnet boom shots. i love it, but you can't deny that it's goofy. i spotted a couple of moves from their other choreos as well?

choreographing dance fights is just as difficult as choreographing real fights and i think they did a fairly good job here. i think it was a solid mix of dance and conflict that erred on the side of dramatic rather than accurate and i prefer that over trying to be ‘realistic.’ i’ve only ever seen one truly realistic fight scene on stage and that was for a deeply naturalist play (boring and a waste of the medium), but the best fight scene i’ve ever seen was in the prague national ballet’s adaptation of kafka’s the trial where three ballet dancers beat the absolute snot out of the main character with the most beautiful leg extensions. that whole show was probably one of the best pieces of dance i’ve ever seen, holy fuck it was so good.

despite how insane the music and the visuals were going, i actually really liked how sedate this was, on the part of ateez’s performance. there was a really sophisticated and resigned energy from them that is very different from what we’ve previously seen and i think that was a pretty admirable risk to take. reaching the top and then throwing away the crown? especially in a competition where every other stage has involved stealing crowns or royalty and there’s a group competing that got here through that very concept? that shows a real maturity, peace of mind, and foresight that i did not at all expect from a bunch of 22 year olds.

here we come to a very interesting comparison. both ateez and tbz are very heavily leaning on previously established group lore. we all know my thoughts on why it isn’t working for tbz, but here’s why i think it is working for ateez: it's because it doesn’t matter to the audience’s understanding of the stage. i had absolutely no fucking clue what was going on the first time i watched this, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the music and all the weird shit they were doing. i totally believed that they understood what was going on. there’s a loose enough established conflict right at the beginning that draws us in, and really it doesn’t matter who they're fighting because they win in the end. the key here is that they’re so earnest. they believe 100% in every move they make on that stage. there’s no winks to camera, there’s not a drop of irony. they really deeply care about the ridiculousness of it all and that’s what makes it work. i sure as fuck dont know what’s going on, but i can see that they do, and i trust that. this is what i meant when i talked about convincing the audience you belong on stage in my stage presence post. i’ve never once believed that juyeon was anything other than an idol. he’s talented and very beautiful and he may occasionally stand on that stage like he owns it but it's always as juyeon. as an idol. but when hongjoong flaps around in that gigantic fur coat i 100% believe he’s a pirate captain. I believe he’s a punk rebel leader. i believe him a resigned king. there’s always a level of irony you have to fight as a performer because we all start from a place of disbelief. acting is not just lying to the audience, it's lying to yourself too. and if you succeed in convincing yourself? well, you’re already halfway to convincing us.

i checked it out because i wanted to see if they did the blindfold how i expected them to and was genuinely surprised by hongjoong’s fancam. the boy is EMOTING even when he knew the camera wasn’t on him; that’s a real dedication to craft.

ok i'm finished talking about this stage, this is over two pages in my document, there’s so many things i have not covered here but that’s fine, i'm quite sure any further thoughts will end up out there at some point.

---

sf9

costume

let’s get it out of the way......crop top. crop top? crop top. crop top.

ok, besides the crop top, i think i might actually like the backup dancer outfits more...? i find mannequin adjacent looks really fascinating and i thought there was a lot more they could have done here in connecting the two thematically. i actually think a change of costume on the boys would have been very interesting, especially because there was a lot of inference and direct reference to changes of colour.

ALL the backup dancers are wearing the same wig and i LOVE that.

special mention zuho’s.....jacket? the right idea but it absolutely should have been one of those extreme french cut bodysuits, you COWARDS. don’t come at me with this ‘male version of venus’ if you don’t have your whole torso out! come on!

set

not sure if this is meant to be a department store, a factory, or a white cube gallery. honestly you could make the case that they’re all the same place anyways. more on this later.

i loved the movator and wish they had used it more! that sequence was so good and they could have done some more interesting repetition sequences to further highlight the ‘sameness’/the breaking of that sameness.

i feel like the set could have been used more as a whole? i would have loved to see some mannequin interactions with those boxes, because all they did was dump colour everywhere.

....why did they feel the need to include the rain bit? i know it's likely because it's in the mv and at the 2018 dream concert taemin does perform move in the rain, but with the standing still and the box walls with the words it just looks like a department store ad. which i...dont think is what they were intending?

lighting

nothing really to say here. it has a similar feel to the mayfly rap stage, which is fine because the lighting for that was good. i could tell what was going on all the time and that’s the most important part. notable standouts are the lips sequence, that's fun use of pop iconography and very effective, and the scanning lasers at the beginning.

the repeating sequence in the edm dance break is actually done pretty simply, it's just what happens when you point a camera that’s livestreaming to a monitor directly at that monitor. it's a very cool effect and it was neat to see it used intentionally, especially with the handheld leds.

actually i also really liked the lightbox tables, those were cool.

sound

the remix was fine for the most part, it was about what i expected it to sound like. i did however greatly dislike that unnecessary edm break in the middle. what was the point of that? it didn’t add anything to the overall sound or arc of the stage because it was SO out of place. there was no connective tissue around it.

oh i was also not a fan of the effect on zuho’s mic. no one else had a discernible vocal effect so it felt a little out of place. also for some reason his cadence and tone right at the end made me think of some of the voices that bo burnam uses for his vocal masque sketches/songs, especially repeat stuff, weirdly? took me right the fuck out of it. i listened to it again after i slept and i’m still getting it, so maybe i’m just going insane so best ignore this part.

staging

loved the mannequin tree, not a clue why it was there.

do actually think this is a successful cover because it does what i was hoping it would, which is take move completely out of the taemin context and put it into an entirely new one. however, i’m really struggling to figure out what exactly that new context is? and what theyre trying to say with it?

obviously they went for a ‘show your own colours/individuality’ vibe, like i said in the set section, where exactly is this supposed to be? from the start i get factory/mechanized environment, which is fine and grand because mannequins and making repetitive motions and products and all that, makes sense. but then there’s stacked shelving type units happening and curtains and that combined with the mannequins give me pretty big department store vibes, which is also fine, because that’s still a comment on commercialization and the mass production of product. but then we get to the movator and the repetitive movements of the dancers say pretty clearly factory, but the lighting and projections are very pop art referential, plus combining that with the white set, just makes me think of an art gallery. so now is this a comment on the commercialization and commidification of contemporary art? are they making a statement about being ‘real’ artists among the others who have lost the critical understanding of why pop art was even a thing in the first place? and then the rain bit at the end literally looks like a department store ad, so are they then making another statement that they still are that packaged product? maybe the episode has more clarity in it but i’m genuinely a bit baffled by what the underlying statement is here.

i suspect it is not as deep as i'm making it, but i did say that i was likely to be hyper critical of this stage AND i am a grad student, so here we are.

---

tbz

costume

ok of all the ‘fourth gen’ style costumes we’ve seen, i actually like these ones more than most. i'm not entirely clear on the theme but i'm assuming it's meant to be post apocalyptic, and i'll take that.

backup dancers in black!!! we’re beyond this!!!

this will be a running theme with this stage, but i’m disappointed these don’t have more depth.

set

compared to every other stage, the set here seems especially plain. there’s so little set dec that it's disappointing. i do like the movement of the pieces themselves combined with the blocking; that first slide underneath the arches was slick and i would have liked to have seen more of that.

yea ok the big snake was cool and also a fairly complex build, but the transitions around it were a bit awkward for my tastes. especially the turn around, why did they even show that at all? you have control over what the audience sees, you can totally not show scenic transitions. skz were super smart about hiding theirs in last week’s episode.

also if you have a bigass puppet like that, i wanna see some more movement from it! it doesn’t have to be complex, we literally just saw a kraken balloon arm wave around aimlessly, but at least there was movement! that snake had a long ass body, why didn’t they at least take a pseudo dragon dance movement with it, that would have been such fun to watch with the iridescent scales. there was a lot of opportunity here!

lighting

i don’t hate it but also.... not a lot to say about it on the whole.

there were two really smart ideas here, the first being the front projection section, which i was SO glad to see! i explained in a previous review, but the projections in kingdom are not actually projections per se, because they’re actually massive led screens. there are two common types of projections in performance, rear projection and front projection. rear projection is when the projector is behind the screen, and front projection is ‘normal’ projection. rear projection can produce a crisper image because you have full control of the light values, because the projector is in a separate room from the performance space. but the downsides are that the projector has to be in a separate room from the performance space. so if you’re short on real estate, it's not ideal. front projection is much more common, because the tech is a lot cheaper and easier to access, especially now, and it requires less real estate because you can ceiling mount about the audience (you can move a projector wherever, this is just the most common spot in commercial theatres). but! in order to get an actually crisp image, you have to be really careful with your light bounce. it’s exactly the same principle as how you kinda can't see a projected screen when you have all the lights turned on, but when you turn them off it's a lot clearer. front projection works best in pitch dark, so when you use it in a theatre you gotta be smart about it. i use front projection a lot in my personal art practice as a singular light source, and that’s what tbz did here in that traveling/snake intro sequence. it’s a really fun technique that they used as a good gimmick because it’s not something we’ve seen before, and you get some great shadow effects because the projector is throwing light directionally at the performers (they have it set up close to the floor, it’s probably on a wheeled cart of some kind). however i did not like the snake intro. a bit too cheesy and out of place, especially because the asset quality didn’t match the rest of landscapes that we have been seeing.

the second smart idea, which is partially also a set and blocking thing but whatever, was that final image of the eclipse within the circle architecture with all the members standing in front of it. it was a great shot and a great ending pose, but it felt like a concept photo. like someone had that image as the idea that they then built the stage around, instead of a narrative first and then imagery after.

sound

this remix had SO much promise! those first two minutes were SO GOOD. i love that dirty discordant strings bit, it's gross and right up my alley. but it really fell off in the back half and i'm sad about that.

staging

i'm sorry tbz but.....what did you actually do differently than exo here? with the exception of the continual game of thrones references? nothing here felt transcendentally different from the original monster. and especially coming RIGHT after sf9’s move, which did go beyond its original context. this feels more like an awards show stage cover than a stage at the level of the others we’ve seen just this episode.

again like with the skz stage, there’s no conflict here. no tension. yes they do a great job covering the dance but it just isn’t enough! this is obviously personal preference and i'm sure lots of people liked the fact that it was uncomplicated, but even just a hint of narrative tension could have pushed this into more engaging territory. and if they didn’t want to do that, i would have loved to see them make up for that with extra visual spectacle. this is the no limits round! ikon is putting a full jungle on stage and these are grey cubes!

i think this is a perfect example of what i talked about at the end of my tbz section in my episode four review; this is a good performance, there are good elements at play and good ideas at their genesis, but the core of the issue is that nothing about this is transformative. all of the ideas here are just exaggerations of the original song. fuck, the snake was even IN the mv! and they didn’t even include the best part which is the lip chains! ive said before and i'll say it again; being a good artist has two steps, the first is understanding the material and its context, and the second is elevating the material from that context and synthesizing something new. tbz are really good at the first step, but terrible at the second.

---

ranking

btob - the cleanest and the most fun of the round. everything i wanted.

sf9 - fun and a good cover, despite being conceptually baffling.

ateez - very extra dramatic nonsense with an unexpected dose of sincerity. and it’s rock opera, of course i love it.

skz - fun, with some good thematic devices but generally lacking in arc. also australian accents, that’s an automatic ding.

tbz - honestly the first two minutes of the remix and the costume are holding this above 6th. it just wasn’t fully formed.

ikon - aesthetically this is a great set design and although i do love the opening and closing moments, everything else scrapes me the wrong way. super personal preference here, i’m not expecting anyone else to agree with me.

i feel like my rankings were probably pretty easy to guess if you’ve been around reading the reviews for long enough. i do have very specific tastes after all. i know sf9 ranked first in the episode but i have no idea what the other slots are. i’ll find out when i watch the episode in a couple of days, but i think yea a first for sf9 is fair. i do think its mostly because it’s a taemin song and you have to do something horrendous in order to fuck up a taemin song, but there is a lot of thought and work that went into that stage.

ok i'm done now, sorry this was later than usual, but i was busier and there were four stages that i had to review. also technical difficulties because tumblr is a garbage platform and nothing works properly. comments/questions/opinions always welcome, i know i didn't expand on a couple of points that i could have so hopefully y'all have some thoughts too!

* the type of hat that ~society~ has told you is a fedora is actually a trilby. what peniel is wearing is a real fedora, i felt the need to correct this unjust hat malignment.

** meaning ‘the appearance of being true or real.’ you do sometimes hear it used by normal people, but it’s more commonly used as a descriptor in film and theatre. it’s also one of the five rules of neoclassical theatre, which are: versimilitude, purity of form, five act structure, decorum, and purpose. the most prominent playwrights from that era are moliere and racine if youre interested in what those look like in an actual text.

[meow-bebe]

Elusive

The First installment of my Neo Classics collection, ‘Elusive’ is set in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

“Ten Lee throws the most extravagant parties in New York, though he rarely seems to be in attendance himself. When you find yourself in his mansion one warm June evening, you aim to find the elusive Ten Lee and get a bit more than you bargained for.”

Paring: Ten Lee x reader, Jung Jaehyun x reader

Genre: Roaring 20s au, Jazz Age au, The Great Gatsby au

Warnings: quite a bit of alcohol, general debauchery, mentions of adultery, mentions of smoking, this one gets a bit suggestive (heavy make out session, removal of outer layers)

Word count: 6.4k

Tonight’s soundtrack: Booty Swing - Parov Stelar, It Ain’t Over - Monsta X, Catgroove - Parov Stelar, Miss Jackson - Panic! at the Disco, Love Talk - WayV, Nicotine - Panic! at the Dicso

A/n: hiya! before you read, i’d just like to say that this fic is my pride and joy. Its my child. It took me over a month to plan out and write, is the longest thing ive ever written, and im very very proud of it. so please, if you enjoyed elusive give it a reblog! send me an ask! just scream in the tags, but let me know you enjoyed it! ill appreciate it more than you can ever know, and it will definitely help to give me motivation to keep working on the next parts of neo classics. 

“The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

In all of New York, fanciful, expensive, outrageous New York, there was one man known far and wide for his parties. Those in attendance always returned touting fabulous stories of more liquor than an army could drink in a week, of the celebrities that shamelessly showed their faces, and of the cover that night and perhaps hundreds of people could offer to those wanting to make a fool of themselves or sneak off with a mistress. It couldn't be denied that they were possibly the best parties in the whole state. 

And the man behind it all? The elusive Ten Lee. 

Ten was an enigma, a figure shrouded in mystery despite opening his property to all those who fancied a wild night most weekends. Very little was known about him to the general public. Even many of those in his own social circle knew little to nothing about the man. Supposedly he had inherited most of his fortune, and having only begun taking up residence in New York in the past year or so there was quite a bit of speculation that he was foreign. Despite being the topic of many a gossip column, Ten wasn’t exactly a public figure, and it seemed that this absolute lack of information about him bled into the atmosphere of his extravaganzas as well. Many of his regular partygoers never bothered to question his presence, or lack thereof. Ten had always interested you, and upon your invitation to one of his grand functions, you had decided that this was the night you would meet the little known Mr. Lee. 

Not that you were truly invited, but not many people were. Most just came anyway, saying they knew someone who was involved with Ten, or they had known him before he claimed his inheritance and became the Mr. Lee that all high class New Yorkers knew of. (Or was there a time before? Perhaps he had started out just as anyone else and his sudden acclamation of a large sum of money led him to spend on the most frivolous of things. Or maybe the man had arrived from his mother’s womb as the classy and expensive bachelor he was known as. No one seemed to know.) No matter what their story was, each attendee often brought along several plus ones. Automobiles would bear them out to Long Island, and they would flood onto the lawn, ready to dance and drink and make good use of all the expensive treats Ten provided. 

It was through a friend that you found yourself being driven out to the island one evening in late June. This was not your first Lee party, and it would not be your last, however you, unlike many of the other guests, held on to some shred of dignity and only showed up when invited. Even if you were only brought along because Irene didn’t want to be seen alone, it was something. Not that she ever kept to herself for long. 

Irene, a close friend of many years, was a self proclaimed rising starlet, although in reality she had been a very minor character in two films. She could be a bit dramatic at times (as her “profession” called for), and her title as “actress” was certainly an exaggeration. Still, she was a dear friend to you no matter how much she liked to stroke her own ego. And using her small claim to fame, Irene had managed to worm her way into the heart and car of a man who was also trying to make his way in the film business. You suspected he was about as in the public eye as Irene. Nevertheless, he had managed to get an invitation through one of his higher-ups and invited Irene to accompany him, which of course meant you would be tagging along as well. And truly, it wasn’t as if you minded. You enjoyed a night out as much as the next person, and Irene was your ticket into many affairs you wouldn’t otherwise find yourself attending. 

There were a few others driving out with you, all chattering amongst themselves and buzzing with excitement for the coming night. Irene, placed strategically in the front seat,  appeared to have latched onto the driver as her catch of the night. This was expected, after all he had been the one to invite her. You didn’t fool yourself into thinking she would stay by your side for very long anyway, Irene was notorious for ditching you as soon as a particularly good looking man showed up. You were fine on your own, and didn’t usually mind being left to your own devices. Depending on where you were you often got the urge to explore, after all the rich lead different lives, and getting a glimpse of that was always a good time. Irene often encouraged you to find someone of your own to pass the time with, and while sometimes you would find someone who could hold a half decent conversation, it was never very high on the night’s agenda. Though it seems tonight, in a rare break from your usual habit of flying solo, you had found someone. An attractive young man who had been introduced to you as Mr. Jung was seated at your side, and had begun talking quietly with you as the automobile sped along towards the island. 

“You look quite dashing tonight, Miss一?”

His voice was deep and soft, gentle and just a tad bit sultry.

“Y/l/n. Y/n Y/l/n,” you fill in.

“Miss Y/n Y/l/n,” Mr. Jung muses, and though you’ve heard them many times before the familiar words feel different when he says them like that, perfectly proper in his every action  except for the slight seductive tone slipping through his barriers. A pleasant shiver runs down your spine as he takes your hand and presses a chaste kiss to your gloved fingers, the black of the silk making a nice contrast with his pretty pink lips. “A beautiful name, though not as beautiful as the one who holds it.”

You giggle, raising the hand not grasped in his to cover your mouth, and reply, “Oh Mr. Jung, how you flatter me.”

“Please,” he lets your fingers slip out of his, “just call me Jaehyun.” 

Well, perhaps not entirely proper, but there was no denying that you were enjoying the attention he was laying on you. Finding Ten Lee might be the final goal of tonight but he could be notoriously hard to find, and even if you did have ulterior motives there was no reason you shouldn't enjoy yourself in the meantime. Jaehyun had been nothing but gracious and flattering, and it never hurt to have a gorgeous man’s arm to cling to. You chat idly with Jaehyun for the rest of the ride out to Ten’s mansion, words flowing freely between you the whole time yet each learning not a single note worthy detail about the other. 

By the time you arrive, just before dusk is preparing to settle herself over the bay, the party is already in full swing. Though the real festivities begin once night falls, many guests arrive in the afternoon, early enough to enjoy the section of the beach that falls on Ten’s property. They swim in the green glass waves of the bay and generally enjoy everything that the mansion has to offer while it's still light out before changing into evening wear in one of the many spare rooms and coming down the wide marble staircases in pairs, ready to throw themselves into the pulsing energy of the night. 

The beach is now empty as the unfamiliar man in the front seat pulls into the long drive snaking up the lawn and tries to find a place to park amongst the crowd of other automobiles. People dressed to the nines, still in their swimming suits, and everything in between trail up the lawn, bright light and the sound of many people talking all at once enticing them towards the house. 

The car comes to a stop, finding a lucky spot not too far from the house, the excitement rolling off each and every person surrounding you palpable in the air. Jaehyun opens the door and steps out before offering a hand to help you down. You take it with a slight smile, T-strap heels clicking against the pavement as you dismount and shut the door. The hand placed on top of Jaehyun’s quickly found its way to his elbow as he leads you up the lawn towards the french doors, thrown wide open and spilling the bright light that illuminated the inside and the growing noise of the party as people traversed in and out of the house. 

Irene and the driver were not far behind you, a familiar flirtatious bounce in her step as they traipse up the lawn. You knew from the way she looked at him一predatorial, like she was going to devour him but make him feel like he was the one doing the stalking一that you wouldn’t be seeing much of her after a certain point in the night. This wasn’t uncommon for Irene, she always said she liked the “thrill of the chase without having to do the chasing.” You supposed your own plans for tonight weren’t all that different, what with your search for the host. Usually that would’ve bothered you, as you didn’t particularly approve of Irene’s galavanting at events she shouldn’t really be present at in the first place, but tonight you were too wrapped up in the events unfolding to care all that much. 

The tiered silk of your dress swished against your calves, the heavy beading giving it a swing which accentuated the swing of your hips that grew with your confidence as you made your way up the wide steps leading to Ten’s front door. With each stride you take forward the noise inside seemed to dull a bit, fading away until it was just a buzzing murmur in the background. Your vision zeroes in on the mahogany doors, a small window to what felt almost like a whole other universe contained inside the mansion. You tended to get star-struck easily, but there was something different about the feeling tonight. An excitement burned in your veins, one you had never felt before, as if your body was in the know about some mysterious outcome or event of tonight. It felt as though you were surrounded by a bubble of water that hazed over the silhouettes of people and faded the harmonies of the symphony buzzing somewhere inside, laughter and the faint clinking of glasses tinny in your ears. 

There was something about the atmosphere that drew you in. You would never quite be able to explain the feeling, that odd tugging deep in your chest yanking you forward by some invisible string of fate. All feeling seemed to have left you except the aching want to throw yourself into the fray and dance until your feet fell off, drink until the sun came up, feel the burn of others’ cigarette smoke in your lungs until you choked, search for a companion until you found the right one. 

Time had slowed, and the usual clacking of your heels deepened to a hearty thud for each step you took. Every movement dragged you farther down under the surface, your sense of anything outside the confines of the house melting away until you had been utterly consumed by the muted liveliness of the party before you had even joined in. Everything happened so fast for being in slow motion, and before you could get the gears turning once again and recognize that you were no longer on the path leading to the steps Jaehyun was leading you through the double doors. The bubble popped. Imaginary water came crashing down around you, streaming off your hair and down your dress. The sensation was so strong you could swear that you felt the rivulets on your arms, the dampness of your hair on your neck. 

Everything was suddenly crystal clear, blurred forms regaining their sharp edges and an almost overwhelming surge of music and din of conversation assaulting your senses all at once. You look down at the ground, somewhat disoriented and almost expecting a puddle of water underneath you, drips falling from the hem of your dress, but there was nothing. The ground was dry, as it should be, and you shook your head slightly to yourself in hopes it would draw you back to reality a bit. 

As Jaehyun tugs you along, slipping nimbly through the crowds gathered in the tastefully decorated foyer, you simultaneously began to regain your wits and let your thoughts drift. An odd mix of cigar smoke, lust, and overbearing perfume hung in the air, threatening to put you in a trance and drag you away. There was always a feeling of disconnection with the world around you that creeped in at Ten’s parties. Often you would let it carry you away, but tonight you were here for more than just your own enjoyment, and so you clung to Jaehyun like a lifeline. He would glance back at you every few seconds, a reassuring smile on his face as your hand on his arm began to squeeze just a little tighter, the tiniest bit afraid you would lose him in the kinetic chaos of dancing and laughing. 

No guest goes without a glass of something to wash their inhibitions right down the drain, and many swipe the tiny sandwiches or pastries offered by butlers expertly balancing platters of hors d'oeuvres in hand as they expertly navigate through the throngs of people. You’re no black sheep tonight, for Jaehyun presses a glass of expensive champagne into your hand as you seek a somewhat less crowded place to enjoy the night, a replica clutched in his own. There are none who stand alone in this crowd, either surrounded by a group just as free spirited as themselves or paired off, hanging off their partners’ arms and not so subtly sneaking suggestive glances at each other. 

For each corner you turn you see a familiar face一an old acquaintance from school, a friend’s sister, the man who works at the bank. But just as quickly as you recognize them their  identities slip from your mind, partly from a combination of the overwhelming amount of people crowding around you on every side and the buzz of energy and alcohol. 

Ten’s parties were known for being quite anonymous to those looking for a good time. Those in attendance would always see people they knew outside the bubble of safety Long Island offered on night like these, yet no matter how scandalous their behavior it would never become public knowledge. Gossip was unavoidable, yet that was always how it stayed一mere gossip for the wealthy ladies to discuss over tea. As darkness fell over the bay so came a cloak of anonymity that drew in people like moths to a lightpost. 

An hour or so of aimlessly wandering the three story mansion, people have dispersed a bit which means that the rooms are a bit easier to navigate, though there is still no lack of bodies. You trail along through the groups of dancers, some getting drunk, all throwing caution to the wind (perhaps a little too much). The symphony had changed songs, now playing something with a bit more of a sexy tone to it and you sway slightly along to the beat as you walk. Idly chatting with Jaehyun, one hand on his arm and the other filled with a glass of something sticky sweet to replace the long gone champagne, the two of you traverse through Ten’s mansion, both surveying the rooms and glancing at the people passing by. 

He’s got quite the handsome face, and most people wouldn’t look past that on a night such as this. But he’s looking for something tonight, you can see it in his eyes. The subtle way his gaze flicks up and down the figures of women in dresses fancier than yours as he uses eyeing the crowds for a clearish path as an excuse to not be looking solely at you. The slight desire he holds as his eyes take in the people milling about matches exactly with the look he gave you when you first sat down next to him in Irene’s friend’s car, and the way he flicks nervously between observing the other women in the room and you, still holding fast to his arm, lets you know that he’s not yet sure if you’re what he wants. 

It doesn’t bother you though. He’s not what you’re looking for tonight either. 

You’re looking for Ten. Though you only vaguely knew what he looked like, you always kept one eye sliding over the many people you run across, hoping to see a face that would strike you as the one person that intrigues you most. You’ve always heard rumors that he never seems to be present at the parties he throws, but personally you have a hunch that he likes to hide in the cover of the crowds. You’ve done your fair share of research about the man, not that drunken recollections and idle gossip are much to go off of, but none of the people you’ve asked about him seem to care all that much. Free drinks, a good time, and the beautiful people that crowded into Ten’s mansion was enough to make most forget about the mysterious host within a matter of minutes. 

But not you. He intrigues you too much, and though you’ve been tempted to drown yourself in the pleasure offered up on all sides, your quest to find Ten is more important. 

Not so important that you can’t enjoy yourself as you search though. Jaehyun is good company, and the two of you mingle amongst the other guests. As you drift along, you meet people you would never believe were really there, had really talked with you, were it not for the reputation that Ten’s extravaganzas held and the fact that you had seen them with your own eyes. Actors, musicians, the richest of the rich, all to be found in the same house at the same time. Supposedly he knew many of them personally and had genuinely invited them. Many of the stories you’ve heard sounded more like they were just fantasies that had been made up with the help of some strong liquor and many expensive looking partygoers, but it seemed as though there was more truth to them than expected. Ten was a strange figure, and while most just take advantage of the numerous bars and sensually lit gardens, you’re itching to get to the bottom of the mystery that is Ten Lee. 

After several hours of drifting here and there in the house, you and Jaehyun find your way down to the gardens. The party still rages on the lawns, though there are a few less people and a bit more space. It's just as well lit as inside, and the alcohol flows just as plentily. Your surroundings are somewhat more tame, as people have more space to move around and less reason to do so. 

After exploring the gardens for a while, you nudge Jaehyun and tell him that your feet have begun to feel tired, after all standing around in heels for several hours isn’t exactly the most fun you’ve ever had. The two of you find a place to sit quickly, and you settle at a table already set up with a small group. A company of eight gorgeous figures sit there, several paired off with a partner equally as stunning on their arm. (You have to wonder; were only those perceived by the host as beautiful invited? What of those who just showed up?) Irene is among them, the reason you had decided on this particular table. She shares a drink with the driver from earlier, talking with you when necessary though most of her attention was focused on the man on her right. You sit to her left, with Jaehyun on yours. Swirling your drink around, you do your best to pay attention to Irene, although it’s not going so well. 

Something, or someone, has caught your eye. 

Your attention is brought back to the conversation you’re supposed to be participating in when Irene laughs一a high pitched sound that could be perceived as either mellifluous or grating depending on your temperament一as tonight’s beaux says something that’s supposed to be funny. You don’t think he’s particularly humorous but half heartedly play along anyway, eyes unabashedly set on the man sitting across the table and to the right a bit. 

He’s truly ethereal, both in looks and mannerisms. With a sharp and elegantly curved nose, dark hair swept tastefully to the side, and a sparkle of something dangerous you can’t quite place but find attractive anyway in his catlike eyes, he draws stares not just from you, but all across the garden. The sharp contrasting colors of his tuxedo seem to brighten his honeyed skin, his every movement graceful as he entrances you, all dazzling smiles and pretty features. 

You can tell that he’s so much more than that though. There are layers and layers to this man, all hidden just below the surface, and you feel the desire to claw your way into him and analyse every bit swelling somewhere in the back of your mind as he catches your eyes locked on him. His smile grows just the slightest bit before he turns back to the light flirtation he seemed to be pressing upon the woman next to him.

Though he had been an ideal partner for the earlier parts of the night, Jaehyun is almost forgotten in the presence of this new man. However, not so much that you don’t notice his attention drifting to another table. Watching his line of vision, you locate the young woman he has his eyes set on. She’s not hard to find, beautiful even compared to the other guests she’s gathered with. Wearing a slinky red dress topped with a fur shawl, she’s certainly quite the sight to see, and your companion has been observing her for a while now. 

It appears you weren’t what he was looking for after all. 

“Jaehyun,” you say, sipping on your drink delicately, “You should go on without me for a bit. I see how you’re eyeing the bar over there.” 

It’s a lie. His eyes flick from you back in the direction the woman in red was for just a second, and though it barely happened, a subtle movement that seemed instinctive, ot’s enough to give him away. Though he does his best not to show it you can see the recognition that you’ve seen through his show of keeping his eyes solely on you dawning in his eyes. 

“Ahh, but I shouldn’t leave you alone.” Still the same gentleman you met in the back of the automobile. Or perhaps he was just putting up appearances, there was no way to tell. It didn’t really matter anyway, you had your sights set on something higher than the possibility of the deeper fragments of this man’s personality. 

“I’ll be fine,” you wave off his concerns nonchalantly. “I’m not alone anyway, I’ve got Irene here!” At the sound of her name your friend looks over, leaning on the tabe slightly as she sends a wink at you and Jaehyun. 

You read the wink as more of a “I see you eyeing your man, if you don’t disappear with him it’s quite a shame and I might just take the responsibility upon myself,” although you were hoping Jaehyun, who you assumed was unused to Irene’s wiley charms, would see it as more of a “I’ve got Y/n, you go on now.” 

Either way, he seemed to take the hint, although he remained reluctant. 

You pat his arm, “You go and have fun, Jaehyun, I don’t want to drag you down.”

“Not at all,” he replied gently, and it seemed to you almost calculated the way his eyes didn’t stray from you in the moment. You weren’t sure why he was bothering to keep up the premise that he would be returning, that his interest in you hadn’t evaporated the moment the fur shawled woman pulled his attention to her the very first time. You both knew, and no one around you was aware enough of their surroundings to pay you any attention. But no matter, it wasn’t important to you.

“Well,” his words are hesitant, as if unsure of his decision, “if you insist. Would you like me to grab you anything?” 

“No, no, thank you but I’m alright.”

As he stands up and pushes his chair back into place, Jaehyun gives you one last look. It’s apologetic, he isn’t particularly proud of the way he was just leaving you for someone a bit more flashy and boisterous. But again, you don’t care. He can either deal with the guilt in the morning or drink enough to forget the whole night, it was no longer your problem. It hadn’t been since you locked eyes with the pretty man across the table. 

Before Jaehyun was even out of sight the man you had been watching across the table catches your gaze once again. This time he stands and sidles over to the chair on your left that Jaehyun had abandoned moments before, sitting lightly beside you. 

“Good evening.” His voice, low and silky with a hint of an accent you can’t quite recognize, would have knocked you right over if you were the swooning main character of some unrealistic romance film. He takes your hand and presses it to his lips, a coy smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

“Might I ask whose presence I’ve been graced with tonight?” he inquires, and you tell him your name. “Miss Y/n,” he repeats. "Pretty." You raise an eyebrow at this, enjoying his efforts nonetheless. 

“And you? What’s your name?” 

He merely hums in response. “Has anyone told you that you look gorgeous tonight darling?” You let his avoidance slide, momentarily moving on. Some people wished to not reveal themselves, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t continue to enjoy his company.

“They have, in fact,” you say, thinking back to Jaehyun. You glance across the room but he’s long gone, the woman dressed in red having disappeared as well. 

“As it should be.”

Your attention is drawn back to your current suitor, and the nights former flirtations are quickly forgotten as conversation strikes up between the two of you. Every other word out of his is some flirtation or another, and you absolutely bask in the attention that the cat eyed man lays on you. His forearms are leaned on the table, and he’s staring up at you as if you’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. You’re sure that your face mirrors his, but in your case it’s true. He really is the most strikingly beautiful human being you’ve ever had the pleasure to set eyes on. And for the moment, he’s all yours. 

There’s something oddly familiar about him though, and the fact that you can’t figure out why is rubbing you the wrong way. It would be quite impossible to forget a face like that. The feeling is not so much recognition as it is that odd niggling feeling of deja vu that plagues your thoughts in a situation that you know you’ve never experienced before. You try to stay slightly wary of his presence, but he’s downright entrancing and your focus slips to his stunning features every time you feel like you’re approaching the answer as to who he is. 

You’re unsure of how much time has passed when he leans closer to you, lips brushing lightly against the hair falling over your ear. “Perhaps we could find somewhere we could talk a little bit more一” He sets a hand on your waist and a shiver runs up your spine一 “privately.” 

You grin slyly as he pulls away, awaiting an answer with his own smirk. 

“It would be my pleasure.” You glance over to Irene, thinking you should let her know that you would be sneaking off for a while, but she was already gone.

And so, all suspicion tossed right out the window, you follow this handsome stranger. His arm tucked securely around yours, the two of you dash up through the bright gardens, whisking by the tables full of couples making eyes at each other and under the pretty strings of lights, up the lawn and once again through the french doors, still wide open, although with less people flooding in and out. You duck through the crowd of people still meandering around in the foyer, expertly weaving around dancers and drinkers. He takes you through the ballrooms and up a few grand sets of grand staircases, which you certainly would have tripped down were it not for the tight grip he had now moved to your waist. 

“You seem to know your way around quite well, do you come here often?” you inquire as you slip down a hallway that was mostly devoid of guests. 

That odd, dangerous glint you saw when you first caught sight of him reappeared in his eyes. “You could say that,” he chuckled.

Before you could wrap your head around what that meant he was pulling you into a spacious bedroom at the end of the hall and letting his hold on you cease to draw the door shut behind him. You turn away from him and marvel at the bedroom he had chosen. The room (which you assume to be a spare) is although fairly simple obviously belonging to someone extremely wealthy. 

A pretty chandelier hangs from the ceiling, and you have the feeling that the cufflinks scattered across the desk and the edging of the mirror above the vanity might just be real gold. You can see expensive velvet peeking out of the slightly ajar wardrobe, and just from glancing at them think the bedsheets to be silk. 

The only light in the room comes from the golden gleam of the gardens spilling through the french windows. The pretty glow gives the moment a sensuous and romantic feel, and you turn back to the cat-eyed man. He basks in the golden light, as if he knows that it's good to his complexion, accentuating the honeyed tone of his skin and shining in his hair. 

A hopeful smile works it’s way across your face, a gleam of eros in your eye as you take a step closer to him, hoping he doesn’t turn out to be a total bore like many of the men you meet at parties. A matching desire shows on his face, fingers reaching up to begin working at the black material of his bowtie. He expertly undoes the knot, and tosses the inconsequential scrap of fabric to the side. 

Placing a hand on your waist, he draws you towards himself as he takes small steps backwards, eventually landing against the wall with a slight thud. Your arms wind their way around his neck, and you press yourself up against him, sandwiching his lithe body between yours and the wall. 

As he traces your features with his eyes, a slight change occurs deep within them, a darkness pooling in his pupils and that familiar hint of danger from earlier making itself present once again. 

The corners of his mouth tug upwards slightly, and as he leans forward you tilt your head to nudge your nose against his, eyes fluttering shut. You meet him halfway, lips pressed together in a light kiss, almost as if you were just testing the waters, unsure as to whether you were truly interested. 

And, come to find out, you definitely were. His mouth was soft on yours, keeping your pace for the moment. You draw back for a moment, taking a breath and reinitiating the kiss, plunging yourself into his mysterious depths. 

He tastes of secrecy and some sweet cordial you can’t quite place, and you have never known something quite so heavenly. The heavy feeling of his mouth on yours is addictive, all your senses alight at once, and your hands grasp the lapels of his jacket, trying to draw him closer despite there being no space left between you. 

“What should I call you?” you whisper against his lips as you come up for air. His eyes flick open, meeting your own as you take a step back and pull him along to slip your hands under the shoulders of his jacket. He chuckles slightly, detaching your hold on him to undo the button and slip out of his jacket, hanging it over the back of the chair before the vanity. 

“That doesn’t matter.” His hands resume their rightful place on your waist, one sliding down to your hip and drawing you into his figure. “Just enjoy yourself.”

“Oh, trust me,” you press a kiss to his jaw, taking his hand and slinking out of his embrace to place yourself on the end of the bed, “I am.” (You don’t notice until later, but the sheets were in fact silk.)

You tug him along to where you sit, bringing him forward and between your knees. You tilt your head upward as your hands come to rest on his waist, sealing your lips together again. 

You lose yourself to him, the feeling of his thin, wandering fingers tracing your silhouette and the way he pays the same amount of attention to every inch of your body, as if he was trying to memorize every dip and curve of your figure under the silk of your dress. The sweet taste of his mouth entrances you, and when he moves to press his lips to your neck or the line of your jaw between long winded kisses you feel as though you’ve ascended. 

Time no longer exists in the muted bubble of a third floor bedroom in an unfamiliar house. Perhaps it’s only been seconds, and maybe you’ve been locking lips with a handsome stranger for hours, the party melting away to make way for dawn to dutifully traipse her way into the sky. Nothing matters anymore, you’re far too immersed in the passion of the moment to pay much attention to anything other than your unnamed lover. 

Though in reality it’s only physical, he’s explored you so much that you feel with each slide of his tongue against yours he reveals another one of your secrets, one of your stories, something only you know. Despite the intimate impersonality of finding a lover in a stranger, despite the illusion of invasiveness that his careful movements bring, you want to fully surrender yourself to this feeling. Breaking a particularly lengthy kiss, he presses on your shoulder to get you to lean back, and you rest your weight on one hand behind you, the other busy clutching at the silky strands of his hair. 

“You know,” you say, words broken in between the slotting of your mouths back together, “I came to this party in search of the ever so elusive Ten Lee, but goodness一” you press a particularly sloppy kiss to his lips, and he hisses as you tug gently on his hair一 “I do believe I’ve found something much better.”

“Oh, darling, don’t you see?” He presses on your shoulder again, and you fall back to sprawl yourself across the bed. He hovers over you, dipping to kiss the corner of your mouth. “I am Ten.” 

With a smirk that would haunt you for the rest of your days, he gives you one last mindblowing kiss before evaporating into the shadows of the room, straightening the black vest he wore and slipping his suit jacket back on. As you pushed yourself back up so you were supported by your hands behind you, dazed and trying to comprehend what he had just whispered against your skin, Ten turned to look at you. He threw you one last look, a dangerous, beautiful look, before slinking out the door, back into the whirlwind of dancing and debauchery. 

That night would never leave your mind. 

No matter how many parties you attended, no matter how many men circulated through your life, no matter how much you drank, you could never forget Ten. And you’ve tried. He would forever live in your mind, fleeting thoughts of a bedroom flooded with golden light, of his discarded suit jacket, of that gleam in his eyes the first time you saw him.

It would take you many years and much consideration to finally figure out what that look in his eye was, that strange mirth you had never seen another wearing. Later in life, when you’re much wiser and have experienced more than your younger self who met Ten could even imagine, it comes to you one day. You realise that he seemed to find as much pleasure in the facade he presented to the world, the fanciful rumors and scandalous whispers that followed him like a shadow, as he did in the heated intimacy you shared in a darkened bedroom one night of the Roaring Twenties. 

You would attend many more parties held in that mansion, sometimes dragged along by Irene, sometimes finding yourself there alone and unsure of why a somewhat faded memory keeps leading you back here. Every time, you held onto a fleeting hope that you could see just a glance, a sliver of the man you met that fateful night. But as much as you held onto the notion that you would see him again someday, you knew it was foolish. Ten’s reputation preceded him, and he liked to uphold that reputation. 

True to your logic, Ten would never make himself known to you again. For years you would search, a futile attempt to prove to yourself he wasn’t just something you dreamed up in the haze of alcohol and the feeling of weightlessness one can only find on Long Island Sound on Saturday nights as the extravagant parties thrown by a man who rarely showed his face rage on. 

Ten Lee, larger than life, beautiful, nebulous Ten Lee, truly was elusive, barely more than a shadow to his grand reputation.

[dolphin-enthusiast]

why hello again amore!! 💌🌺✨ today was so so long and exhausting, i'm very grateful that i can finally unwind with you and rest!! hopefully your day was calmer and more relaxing hehe 💞 also, it's okay to take breaks from completing requests deary!! everyone needs a day to take it easy once in a while 💖 (1/8)

"before i tell about how my brother's university move-in day went,, i truly must say that i adore that mafia submission!! those picrews were so pretty (especially your's 😘) and i couldn't stop rereading those headcannons!! oh my stars, they were so cute!!! i couldn't stop smiling, quinn also saw them apparently and wouldn't stop texting me about how she wishes they were real ahaha 😖 thank you so much for all of that hard work you put in op, i really enjoyed it!! you all are so creative 🌸 (2/8)

if i'm being completely honest, i'm a sucker for mafia related stuff/au/ect,, ive always been fascinated with its history and such, mostly because many of my distant ancestors were members of the sicilian mafia (la cosa nostra) that's actually one of the reasons why lots of my family immigrated here, to escape from the mafia itself,, (3/8)

it's interesting to hear the stories passed down through my family of how they lived, died, we're arrested, all that jazz. i would never join the mafia myself (its way too far out of my moral compass!) but i enjoy learning more about my familial history! 🌹though,, if you join the mafia its a different story, of course i'd go with you~ 💗 (4/8)

now then, aside from that,, today was full of chaos,, i had to wake up super early,, to the point where i had no clue what was going on hehehe,, so according to my siblings, my dad had to carry me to the car since i was that sleepy 😖❤ then we drove for over an hour to the university, got some breakfast, and waited for an hour to get into the apartment complex 😅 (5/8)

most of the day was spent bringing stuff into his bedroom and organizing the entire place, but we also got to go shopping and eat lunch together! it was lots and lots of work,, oh, and i found out that one of his roommates brought a kitten to live with them, he was so so so tiny and adorable!! (6/8)

i also got to listen to music with my brother and we messed around a bunch,, when we finally had to leave, i gave him the card i made, and he smiled at the envelope (i decorated it with stars and smiley faces hehe!) i don't know if he has opened it yet, but i hope he likes it!! going home was a bittersweet feeling, but i know he'll come visit soon enough ✨ (7/8)

ah mamma mia,, i feel exhausted!! i should probably rest now, make sure to get some good sleep during the day honeybun~! goodnight morgy dear, see you tomorrow 💋 - lots, lots, lots of love! waifu xoxo 💌💘💌💘💌💘 ps: oh darling, of course i'd love to drive around with you, listening to our favorite music of course 💗 (8/8)"

Unfortunately my day was kinda dreadful and also stressful but then again that aint anything new🤡🤡🤡 its good to hear u had things to do tho...moving out is never easy but at least ur bro liked the card 👁️👁️

Also im almost not even surprised to hear u have mafia ascensors i mean....ur family seems so huge and full of history its amazing really and i totally agree i too am lowkey fascinated by mafia history and all of that jazz, and to say you'd join it if I were to join it?? Im FLATTERED dear that's peak fuckin romance right there😳😳😩😩

And im tellin u...someday on god i will drive u around as we listen to absolute b a n g e r s 💜👀

[mermaidmafia-official]

{Part III: A COLLAR OF SPIKES}

tagging @bebemoon​, @ayzrules​, @interluxetumbra​, @bubblingbeautifully

the aftermath of march 18th, or: aaargh

‘So, you just kidnapped a werewolf.’ ‘Oh, I’m sorry, did my saving your furry little butt interrupt your dying-in-a-cellar-while-the-whole-island-burns-down party?’ He stumbled, and the vampire grunted under his weight. It was dark, and the air smelled musty and damp. ‘Alright’, he managed, between gritted teeth, ‘Why?’ ‘Why what?’ ‘Did you help me?’ There was a pause. He could sense the faintest traces of human presence, of booze and cocaine. A century old, at least. ‘I didn’t like what they did to you’, she said. ‘And I make very bad decisions.’ ‘Obviously.’ He grimaced. The pain he could take - that dull, reassuring ache - but he hated feeling this dizzy and limp. Ruddy vampires. They shouldn’t have known about the wolfsbane - no one had known for centuries. The wolves had made sure of it, ever since - ‘I’ve had worse’, he said, and she scoffed like someone who had never been tortured for information on the Borgia family in a Milanese dungeon. ‘Even so, shouldn’t you be healing by now?’ ‘Your friends had a little too much fun with me.’ ‘Not my friends.’ There was a thudding noise and he was doused in a cloud of dust. Coughing, he reached for something to hold on to and found rough brick. He could feel the darkness reaching for him, and fought. She was tugging him into a room filled with ghosts of scents - oak, perfume, whisky, and sweat… If I die here, he’ll never find me… Then, the darkness claimed him.

///////////

The smoke cleared slowly, retreating from broken city walls and leaving the corpses exposed. Raf licked the coppery taste of blood from his lips, and felt the adrenalin slowly drain out of his body. A dull pain raged in him, and he realised a deep cut in his shoulder had almost cleft his arm from his torso. He waited for the sharp sensation of flesh knitting itself back together, and came up empty. A wave of nausea washed over him. I have to find the others. Ten paces, with the world spinning around him, and then he was on his knees. I don’t understand. Someone calling his name. Ferrando, with black hair and blood-stained features, suddenly next to him, cursing and slapping his face. Raf growled. ‘Wolfsbane’, Ferrando explained, his face grimy with dust, as he pulled him to his feet, ‘laced on their blades. The one poison that may affect a werewolf. It dulls the senses and stops the healing.’ ‘How did they know?’ Ferrando shook his head. ‘That I don’t know, my friend, but you may be assured that I will find out - as soon as we get you out of here. You’ll heal as soon as the poison wears off.’ Raf grimaced as they stumbled across the battlefield, the scents of scarred flesh, smoke, and blood loud in his nostrils. ‘Cesare?’, he asked. ‘Spanked Sforza’s arrogant little arse. We’ve earned him a resounding victory, old boy, and the Borgia Pope will have no choice but to throw us one of his feasts!’ Raf grinned. That was good news indeed.

/////////////

Well, thought Nessa, watching a pale, amber-coloured whisky swirl around in her glass, as far as insanely stupid ideas are concerned, this one has to be my fucking masterpiece. I should get a trophy. She looked across the room to where the huge werewolf was curled up on one of the deep, plush sofas. In their best times, these sofas had easily carried six flappers and a dandy - now, the biggest one ached under just one wolf. She had draped one of the curtains from the Really Private Booths over him, feeling a little foolish. Did werewolves even feel cold? Nessa sipped her hundred-year-old whisky knowing it would do absolutely fuck-all, and remembered the sound of bones breaking, that night on the ice. He had healed in less than a minute then - so why not now? Well, if he dies on me, at least no one will ever know, and not just because I know how to dump a body. Her thoughts turned towards the coven. Had they all got out? If anyone took care of their own, it was certainly the Bloodmother… but there had been so much chaos. And all because one sleazy, pompous old fart without even one shred of substance or style - well- plenty substance, just not where it counted. Nessa knew a gang war when she saw one, and this one had just escalated. A sound interrupted her thoughts, and when she turned, the wolf was looking at her. ‘You’re still here’, he said, taking in the plush furniture, the old-fashioned chandelier, the curved ceiling, the bar. Nessa found herself wondering if he liked the place. ‘Don’t flatter yourself. It’s daylight out, which means I’m stuck here.’ He stared, annoyingly handsome even when dishevelled. Or especially then. Focus, Nessa. ‘Either you’re incredibly cocky’ he said slowly, ‘or you have the survival instincts of a dodo.’ Nessa huffed. ‘What do you know about dodos?’ His shrug turned into a wince. ‘Met them. Madagascar, 1694. They’re pretty dumb.’ ‘Well, I’m not… a dodo.’ How the fuck did we get here? ‘I’m just counting on your sense of fair play. And don’t tell me you don’t have one, I saw you race.’ He relented. ‘Won’t your coven miss you?’ Given they survived that mess. She shrugged. ‘Probably. They might just think I got lost, which isn’t that far from the truth - happens surprisingly often-’ ‘You don’t say.’ ‘-once, I landed in the middle of a rave in St Petersburg…’ Nessa squinted at him. Haha, funny werewolf. She was this close to poking her tongue at him. ‘Anyway, they’ll expect nothing less.’ Let’s hope that’s true. He leaned back on the sofa and crossed his arms. If he was still groggy, he didn’t show it. ‘So- what is this place?’ Nessa swivelled around on her barstool, trying to hide a fond pride under assumed casualness. ‘Used to be a speakeasy.’ He nodded, annoyingly unsurprised. ‘Run it yourself?’ ‘Oh you know, it was all the rage back then, every girl wanted one.’ ‘How come it looks like a time capsule?’ ‘You remember that crashing sound when we came through the door?’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘That was a wall.’ ‘Ah.’ ‘This used to be a railway tunnel, in the 1880s. I guess they just bricked it back up…I haven’t really been here since the fifties, but you should’ve seen the place in its heyday.’ He nodded. ‘Smells like it.’ Now he was just showing off. ‘No way you can smell that.’ Ah - wolfish smile. And a spark of mischief? Or the thrill of the chase? ‘Self-made moonshine, from the back. The very stuff you’re drinking right now, although I can’t say why… A smuggling tunnel to the harbour. Dancing and a band. Cocaine, quite a lot. And jazz.’ ‘Oh come on, even you can’t smell music!’ He grinned. ‘No, but the odds of guessing that one wrong were slim.’ ‘Granted.’ She leaned back on the bar. ‘By the way, do you want some? There’s nothing to eat down here and we’re all out of shirts, but if you’re thirsty, I got you covered.’ The wolf shook his head, apparently done with smalltalk. He got up slowly, grimaced, and started pacing to and fro. She didn’t object. ‘You go by Pixie, right?’ ‘With my human friends, mostly, but yeah. You can also call me Nessa.’ He tilted his head. ‘Since when do vampires have human friends?’ She crossed her arms. ‘Look here, wolf boy, I’d like to see your primary food source course through the veins of something that won’t shut up about cars and the economy and… fucking Game of Thrones. Of course, I would never drink Ian.’ ‘What the hell is an Ian?’ ‘Oh, he finds my food for me. You’d be surprised how many weirdos out there want to see their own blood in a wine glass. I think it’s a goth thing.’ Wolf boy looked confused. Luckily, she was used to getting that reaction from people. ‘Anyway, what do I call you?’, she asked, politely steering the conversation into more stranger-friendly territory. ‘Raf.’ There was a pause. ‘Oh, that’s it? That’s not your whole name, is it?’ ‘It’s enough.’ Only for Nessa, it wasn’t. ‘What’s it short for?’, she asked, and then, drawing a blank on names in general, suggested the only thing she could think of: ‘Rafaello?’ He stared at her, and said ‘no’ in that deadpan voice people sometimes assumed when dealing with her. She didn’t mind. Already, she was filing him away as Rafaello in her memory, even though he seemed to have little in common with a small, coconut-flavoured sweet. She took in his broad, bare shoulders, the movement written into every sinew and fibre of his body, and the keen green eyes that kept her in view. ‘You don’t seem the zealous type’, she concluded, finally. ‘I thought you werewolves were all about the blood war.’ He shrugged. Bruises shone in the half-light. ‘I’m a mercenary. Always have been.’ ‘Even in your first life?’ ‘Especially then.’ It wasn’t a joke or a brag, just a statement. Perhaps it was that this old speakeasy, with all its memories and the century-old shadows of party-goers, awakened her nostalgia, but Nessa felt something click into place. ‘Ah’ she said, with a little smile. ‘I always did have a soft spot for the stupid boys.’ Raf’s face darkened a little. ‘First off, I’m 550 years old, and second- you know nothing about me.’ She looked into her empty whisky glass. ‘True’, she agreed, ‘but you do kind of remind me of the ones I did know. Rakish and reckless, the lot of them.’ Cocky, and brave. ‘Nothing to lose and nowhere to go, and rage deep in their bones. Not like yours, of course, not the kind that comes out at full moon. It just… went into knuckle rings and switchblades and tommy guns.’ Rakish, and reckless, and needlessly dead before their time. ‘They wanted to run with the wolves, too - metaphorical ones, these ones, street gangs and rum runners and mobsters.’ She paused. ‘They tended to die badly.’ He stared and paced and said nothing. ‘And I know what you’re thinking, wolf, but I had nothing to do with that’ she went on. ‘I could never stand to watch all that spark- all that life- go to waste.’ She gestured vaguely at the empty space, which seemed for a moment to be filled with the spectres of long-dead dancers, and felt sad. ‘Even tried to turn some of them, back in the 1940s, when that seemed a very romantic thing to do. So much pain when they died, torn to shreds on the battlefields of France. Never tried it again, after that.’ In the ensuing silence, the dancers slowly faded back into darkness, and with it the faces of those young men that had come and gone for over a century. The wolf looked away when he said, ‘You still don’t know me.’ Her gaze wandered gently over his furrowed brows, the tired, yet defiant look in his eyes, the half-heeled cuts on his torso, and the hand clenching restlessly. ‘If you say so, Raffaello’, she said, with a shrug. And then he looked back at her, with just a flicker of a smile. She grinned. ‘Do you want that drink now?’

.

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Viridian Vanguard (Part 10)

… And when Weiss woke up again, she was warm, tucked into soft and silky blankets, and laying on something exceptionally comfortable, like one of the top of the line mattresses she’d had back in Manor Schnee, only better.

She also felt like complete, absolute shit.

“Ugh...” Weiss groaned, trying to shift around, found herself unable to move her limbs, her muscles too weak, the ebb and flow of the magic inside her so faint she could barely feel it.

“I would advise you not to exert yourself in any way, shape, or form for quite a while, Weiss,” Penny said, from somewhere beside her.

Weiss tried to turn to her, found she couldn’t—there was something sturdy wrapped around her neck, keeping her from turning more than a few degrees to either side. “Penny…?” she asked, her voice hoarse, “where are you…?”

“Right beside you, Weiss.” Penny replied. “Here, this should help.”

There was a series of whirring, stretching, and crawling sounds beside her; a fast-growing vine soon hovered above Weiss, sections of it wrapped around wooden rods for structural integrity. At its end was a projector, whose holo showed her an almost golden ball of various minerals, the grooves and runes on it faintly pulsing a familiar green.

“Penny…?” Weiss whispered.

A still image of Penny’s smiling face appeared in a corner of the holo. “Hello Weiss!”

Weiss’ face fell. “Oh, sweet Shepherd, I am SO sorry…!”

“Do not feel guilty, Weiss, and know I do not hold anything against you, either,” Penny replied, her image still smiling. “As the Keeper’s personal mender, and one of her watcher supports, the destruction of my body in the line of duty is a very likely hazard, and one that carries little consequence.

“Rest assured: a new, better body is being designed and manufactured as we speak.”

“What about the others?” Weiss asked. “How are they...?”

“First, please calm down, Weiss, excessive excitement and stress will not be good on your already fragile state.” Penny replied. “Second, they are all healthy and back at the Grove, in stable conditions, or well on their way to full recoveries. Is their anyone whose state you would like to know about specifically?”

“How’s Fireki?”

“Stable, if still unconscious," Penny said. “The staff are concerned about how deep the damage was, but Fireki has quite the record of surviving worse injuries in less ideal circumstances as this.”

“What about Feroki? What happened to him?”

“I don’t have much information on him, unfortunately,” Penny replied, her avatar now looking apologetic. “He was here visiting Fireki earlier, but aside from that, I’ve received no news from him; I had inquired with Bee, but she has no leads, and Primal Aeilana is too occupied with the clean-up for such a minor inquiry.”

“So what about Bee and the others, then? Are they okay?”

“They all are,” Penny replied, her avatar smiling again. “Though we will require regular, long-term check-ins to be sure of Nami’s psychological health, Cheska’s rig is the only real casualty among them. Speaking of which, she would still appreciate some form of assistance with its repairs.”

“Remind me when I get discharged...” Weiss said. “What about Blake? And Ruby? How are they?”

“Blake is back at the Grove, resting,” Penny said. “She was suffering from severe chills and a very bad landing beside, but as you destroyed the titan soon after, we could immediately evacuate her and treat her here.

“As for Ruby…” she hesitated for a moment “… she’s uninjured physically, as you would expect by now, but emotionally, she’s in a fragile state. Rest assured that both Yang and Taiyang have and are continuing to give her the support and comfort that she needs.”

Weiss paused. “… Did I die back there…?”

“You did,” Penny said, back to the sheepish image. “Ruby was the one that extracted you from the water and attempted first aid, before the rest of the menders caught up with her."

“… Oh.” Weiss said. “How bad was it?”

“You can access the other chroniclers’ records of it if you really wish to see, but it was extremely bad, and I do not think there’s much to be gained from learning the exact details."

"I suppose I’ll take your word for it...” Weiss muttered. “Wait, have you told her I’m okay?”

“I sent a message with chronicle evidence to her, alongside the medical staff!” Penny said, her avatar now looking especially pleased with herself. “It was not the most flattering images of you I’ve recorded so far, but I think we can both agree she will not mind, especially with how long you’ve been unconscious. 8 hours, 12 minutes, and 43 seconds, beginning from the time the menders in the operating room declared you stable, by the way.”

Weiss’ eyes widened.

“The injuries you sustained were VERY serious, and recovering from excessive exposure to water magic is an inherently slow process,” Penny said. “Among other treatments, you needed to be slowly defrosted over the course of several hours for safety reasons.”

“So where am I now?” Weiss asked, looking past the holo and at the shimmering shield above around her, just like the one post-Eve of the Ether. “Back at the high-security ward?”

“Oh no, you’re actually at the weaver’s ward, alongside Winter—she’s recovering well from her injuries in the battle with Qrow, as is he, and also Jaune with his accident.”

“Can I speak to her?” Weiss asked. “Can you call her up on your comms?”

“One: she is currently asleep, and I believe I would need to request another mender to wake her, which might take some time,” Penny replied. “The Weaver’s ward requires very specialized training and qualifications that not many menders have, or are willing to work to, so their numbers are relatively small.

“Two: I am unable to use my regular comms—the barrier that is around us is blocking any incoming or outgoing magic, including the signals used by most comm-crystals.”

Weiss frowned.

“And three: we actually set-up a device that would bypass that and allow you to communicate still, if we can wake her.” Penny continued. “It’s audio only, however. Would you like me to continue still?”

“Yes please!” Weiss replied. “I’m sorry, I just… I really need to talk to her right now.”

“Attempting to establish a line of communication now!” Penny chirped, before her holo went dark, she retracted her vine-arm, the glow of her core fading in and out like a loading icon as jazz music began to play softly.

Weiss frowned, waited, and fidgeted, unable to do much but listen to the music, and stare up at the ceiling and watch the currents of magic gently shifting and dancing across its surface.

Then, Penny made a sound like a bell. “Contact successfully established!” she chirped as she grew a second vine-arm, pushed it through the barrier, and came back with the device she’d mentioned.

“Is that a fucking can on a string?!” Weiss snapped.

“A professionally engineered and designed can on a string!” Penny replied as she brought it over to Weiss’ mouth.

“Are you sure you’re not shitting me right now?” Weiss asked, eyeing it with annoyance.

“She most definitely is not, little sister.” Winter’s voice came through the can.

Weiss’ eyes widened. “Winter!”

“Hello there, Weiss!” Winter said warmly. “How are you feeling? I heard your first day at your new class didn’t go so well...”

“No, no it did not!” Weiss cried. “I caused who-knows-how-much in property damage and cost in munitions and supplies; injured and almost directly, or indirectly killed several folks; and I died, got revived, and possibly traumatized my girlfriend, too.

“I can’t move or feel much of anything, I’m trapped in another magic bubble and these blankets beside, and I feel like complete and absolute shit in general, but I am so glad to be talking to you again! Sorry for waking you up, by the way.”

“Weiss, if anyone should be sorry right now, it’s me,” Winter said. “Challenging Qrow to a duel was a poorly thought out idea, and I’m ashamed that I went through with it, especially because it kept me from joining you at the Terrace today like I was supposed to.”

Weiss relieved smile faded. “Oh yeah... I’d forgotten all about that…”

“I’m not surprised,” Winter said. “Anyway: I was acting stupidly and impulsively, and more from leftover resentment for my and Qrow’s first tango than the nobler reason I had in my mind. I promise to be more cool and level-headed from here on out, and if I do get into any new fights, I swear they will be for much better motivations.”

“And what was that ‘nobler reason?’” Weiss asked. “I also remember you didn’t explain why you decided Qrow and you just had to go tearing at each other’s throats.”

Winter sighed. “Well, I had wanted to keep this secret, but given recent events and how my plans are no longer feasible, to say the least, I may as well tell you over this unencrypted channel: I was trying to gauge how strong he was, and how much of a chance I’d have against him, or any of the other senior watchers if ever I had need to face them in combat.”

“Why for?” Weiss asked. “Are you planning to become one of the sparring watchers at the Roost?”

“No, it was if we’d ever need to resort to violence during an escape from the Viridian Valley.”

Weiss blinked. “Pardon…?”

“Again, it was if we’d ever need to resort to violence during an escape from the Viridian Valley.” Winter said. “As you might have guessed, I don’t really trust the Eldan Council and what they say, their care and treatment of you, and the genuineness of your friends and…” she struggled for a while “… your girlfriend’s fondness for you aside. Just the whole… Keeper thing… was enough to make me want to investigate the feasibility of an escape plan, as Taiyang had attempted long ago.

"But, it seems that trying to go AWOL on the Eldan Council never ends well, as even Fate seems to be conspiring against us.”

“Winter, I’m here in the Valley because of my own free will.” Weiss said.

“I know that, Weiss, but just because you chose to do something by your own volition doesn’t mean it’s automatically the right, or the ideal thing to do—not to mention the fact that the best, most successful manipulation is when you make your target believe they’re acting of their own agency.”

“Ruby promised me that they’d let me go if we don’t work out!”

“And what exactly would that entail on the Council’s end?” Winter asked. “I don’t blame you for not thinking of these things—protecting intelligence assets in covert operations never really comes up in even the most prestigious curricula—but, really think about it: will they really just turn us loose in the human territories again under new identities, probably with an allowance and support network for the first few months, before they stop dealing with us entirely, trust we’ll keep their secret and manage by our own devices?”

Weiss was silent.

“This WAS originally the part that I was going to try to convince you to make an escape plan with me, just in case, but honestly, with both our powers and how out-of-control yours are, there’s only one thing we can do right now: stay here, enjoy the free food, lodgings, and opportunities; try to get a handle on our powers with the help of the Fae; and just make an entirely new life for ourselves.”

Weiss tried to nod. “This is a real mess I’ve gotten ourselves into, huh…?”

“Yes it is indeed, sister.” Winter replied. “However, Weiss, know that I love you, and that there is no fate I won’t endure, if it means that you can be safe and we can be together. I mean, I’ve been trying to look at the bright side of all this: we can see each other every day than every couple of months, and we’re both free from Father’s control!

"I could do without the threats to the realm and our lives targeting and hounding us both at the same time, but I suppose soon enough, we’ll be learning how to defend ourselves and then some, and we’ve got plenty of allies willing to come to our defense beside. I also doubt the motivations and intentions of many of them are entirely altruistic, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers...”

Winter chuckled. “Sort of like Grandpa, Grandma, and their original expedition team, now that I’m saying it out loud.”

“I wonder what they would have to say if they saw us here now...” Weiss muttered.

“Well, we can’t know for sure, but I’ve certainly got a few guesses...” Winter said.

[popliar]

K-Con Australia, 20170922-23

The first Australian K-Con was held over the last two nights in Sydney, and @proteinscollide​ and I were there. I'm very behind on everything else as a result! I need to watch Knowing Bros! ANYWAY, short version: IT WAS SUPER FUN. Lots of rambling under the cut as usual.

22 September: SF9, Pentagon, Victon, Girl's Day, Exo

23 September: SF9 (again!), Up10tion, Cosmic Girls/WJSN, Wanna One, Monsta X

Overall this was an extremely well produced show and a really fun show - I had such a good time! Okay, the "convention" part not so much (I'll talk about this a bit at the end of the post) but at both evening shows, the concert ran like a slick machine, stage following stage with no pause, good sound and no technical hitches. Visually the show looked great, with massive screens giving good views of every performer as well as fantastically atmospheric backdrops.

It didn't sell out on either night, and again I'll talk about possible reasons for that more later, but as a vehicle for hallyu and for promoting Korean culture this is potentially such a powerful instrument. One of the most striking K-Con images for me is the footage of K-Con Paris from 2016 - the pan from the section of the crowd for the French dignitaries and delegates, all politely seated and clapping, to the massive auditorium of French youth going absolutely wild for these pop groups from the other side of the world. This show didn't have that element of official endorsement, it was much more a straight-up pop show, but hey you never know, that might come…

Soft power has its limits, for sure, but within those boundaries Korea is working so very hard at being the very best it can be. I admire the gumption, and more importantly to Korea I am happily consuming the product! Give me more product! I'm here for this!

As far as line-up goes, this K-Con wasn't the best. Exo are absolute stars of course and there were other notable groups like Monsta X and Girl's Day; on balance however this was a really rookie-heavy sausage-fest. The prevalence of rookies is probably partly bad timing - the show coincided with the DMC Music Festival (which was eventually cancelled anyway due to labour disputes, argh, we could've had it all!).

But the boy-heavy line-up? Frustrating. Apparently WJSN and Girl's Day are the first girl groups to perform here since 4 Minute some three-four years ago. WHY? Perhaps there's a perception that since Western fans are mostly girls then they'll only turn out for boybands - I know in Korea the audience for girlgroups is skewed towards boys. However, here in the West, pop as a whole is coded so heavily female that I'm sure wouldn't be a problem. I've been to many Western female pop star concerts and trust me, the girls SHOWED UP. Hell, at this very same arena, Little Mix are performing later this year. Besides, this argument falls flat if you look at other K-Con line-ups which, although boy-heavy, still manage more than a measly 2 girl groups. Gosh I'd have been so happy with the addition of any ONE of Red Velvet, Mamamoo, Blackpink, Pristin, Gfriend, Twice, etc…

...that was a long intro. Let's talk the show.

Chanyeol (EXO)

Night 1

The first night of K-Con began with a pre-show of kpop dance cover groups (they were all good but some were REALLY GOOD) and Kevin from U-KISS as MC (did u know he looks like Lee Pace around the eyes?), doing his cheesy best to hype up the crowd and also promote the con's primary sponsor.

Then the show got started with a VCR, featuring Monsta X's Minhyuk in a sort of spaceship-themed narrative? I don't know what I saw but apparently K-Con's first Oceanic showing needed heroes or defenders or something, i.e. kpop groups? Whatever cool. I do know it involved Minhyuk looking at a picture of a kangaroo so we're all good.

Also apparently Sydney is the city of "arts and culture" and also "romance"? I'm flattered on behalf of my home, and I can assure you we have plenty of all three, but really?? Those are not, like, the first words I associate with Sydney. But ok, you do you K-Con!

Exo's Suho and Sehun then came on as the night's special MCs to deliver a brief introduction and be cute together and make the crowd scream. Naturally, there were Exo jerseys and banners and lightsticks all over the place; earlier in the day I got handed a cute banner to celebrate Chen's birthday, which I then promptly used to test proteinscollide's knowledge of Exo band names. (She improved greatly through the evening!)

First group up were rookie boyband SF9 - I've enjoyed their songs and MVs without knowing much about them. This rapidfire 3 song performance made me more of a fan! They just hit all their beats really well, both in terms of performance and in their brief introduction ment, advantaged by one member who was a fluent English speaker. Their line distribution is kind of weird - there's maybe three members who dominate the vocals and the dancing, especially Taeyang who I kept thinking of as "that one guy who looks like Shinee's Jonghyun" - but not enough to detract overall. I have no favourite but maybe my favourite is the rapper with currently red hair who reminds me of SVT Jeonghan and Pentagon's E'Dawn.

Something like K-Con is the perfect platform for a rookie group to get this kind of exposure. My own first exposure to kpop (aka the reason for my eternal downfall) was winning free tickets to a Boyfriend & JJCC show - I knew nothing about them, knew next to nothing about kpop, and JJCC were a hot mess sorry - but seeing the groups in person and live was enough to make me want to know so much more. I feel like this SF9 set functioned in much the same way. It was SO much more impactful than just an MV or a youtube clip or a gifset. This is how fans are made! (That said… I'll get to it, but SF9 got two bites at the cherry. Why?)

Next up were Pentagon and their brief set was great. Their songs are such bangers - I SAID BANGERS, DON'T AT ME - and they were really polished and powerful. Kino's opening dance solo was super charismatic, and E'Dawn (aka the only one I can consistently recognise) was working that jawline of his so well, lol. He does the bad boy thing very well! I admire it! For their ment, they played the "Pinata" game as seen at other K-Cons this year, i.e. a random game was selected. (Would the game be 'Propose'? It was not propose, but one member did get down on one knee to E'Dawn anyway, good job good fanservice.) In this case it was a random dance play, and it was very amusing and silly.

Probably my favourite thing about Pengaton is how far and fast proteinscollide has fallen for them. Can you believe at this time last year she didn't even know all the MX member names? Now the student has exceeded the master! Post your Pentagon post bro!

Sehun and Suho came back to introduce a special stage: Exo's Chanyeol in duet with WJSN's Seola, for his OST track Stay with Me. This was a nice, pretty interlude and a bit of a breather after the fast pacing of the first two sets.

Seola (WJSN)

Third rookie group Victon bopped cutely to a very Australian-themed video backdrop and they were very entertaining, without necessarily making me want to seek them out further. I think that's more to do with their concept being more cute than Pentagon and SF9's, so less appealing to me on those grounds. But they have their charms and most importantly one had a mullet! I'm HERE for the mullets, don't even think I'm joking.

Next up were Girl's Day. They're down to 4 members now but their experience and their casual confidence made them so enjoyable to watch. They played their hits including Something, Expectation and Ring My Bell with such a sense of fun and sexiness, dominating the stage and playing to the crowd with the relaxed ease of vets who have nothing to prove. There was a hunger to the rookies that gave them more edge but sometimes you just wanna watch really talented ppl relaxedly doing their very talented thing.

With everyone acutely aware there was only one act left to take the stage, a couple of SF9s came out to MC a special stage. They did the usual "how are you guys enjoying the show" and "we love Australia" and all that jazz, and then made the fatal mistake of asking an open-ended question:

SF9 MCs: so who is Australia's favourite boy group? Crowd: BTS!!! MCs: Yes, Exo!!! #awkward

I lol'd! I am sorry! Bless you Exo but c'mon!

This was followed by a brief VCR of Australian fans naming their favourite boybands, and then a really fun special stage of boyband covers:  Pentagon covered GOT7's Hard Carry;  SF9 covered Exo's Monster; and Victon did BTS's Fire.

At last it was time for EXO - MUCH CHEERING FROM CROWD!  Exo-Ls were out in force. There were also tons of lightsticks in the crowd and everyone was hyyyyped.

Now some context for my reaction: I can name all the Exo's and I like some of their songs, but I don't quite click with their aesthetic/dynamic in the way that I do with BTS, etc. They were also at something of a disadvantage, with D.O absent from the line-up (I had to count them twice to make sure sob) and Lay MIA from this entire comeback (though I guess that's no longer surprising).

So let that be the background for me saying that I was totally entertained and impressed by their set. Starting with Power and ending with Ko Ko Bop, they came out and gave a great show. They are after all professionally charming and who was I to resist?

For me again it's that idea of a live show being so much more powerful than a video, even for something as preplanned and artificially constructed as pop. A concert is such a powerful reminder that it's more than the performer, and it's more than the audience too - it's about the relationship between the two, that alchemy of atmosphere and act that you only get in that specific environment.

Yes, Kai was deadly with his fucking winks and seductive looks (how dare you sir), but the way the audience reacted to his performance is what made the show go off. Xiumin aka Cat Pirate was also a scene stealer for me, and it was very darling when Chanyeol threw confetti at his head at the end awwww.

(I just wish, like, SM were less SM-y. I got a message from proteinscollide after the show - "Girl walking thru car park: shout out to SM who never give reasons for why members aren't there and if they're ok". Um, yep. I had to check on twitter to find out that D.O was off filming a movie.)

Ending stage was as usual with everyone coming out as tons of confetti rained down. I think a SF9 hugged a Victon? AWWW FRIENDS. A good night.

Night 2

We started again with dance cover groups - colour me EXTREMELY impressed by IME Dance Studio - and Kevin from U-KISS giving away a prize to whoever in the crowd did their best impression of their favourite thing to do in a hotel room. This led to a really hilarious scenario as the cameras zoomed in on 2 girls "dancing" together. "Yes, they're dancing!" Kevin said, "of course they're dancing!" Everyone just cracked the fuck up, Kevin included. They got the prize, bless them, which was - ofc - a free hotel stay!

The show started with the same VCR as the day before and then I was EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED by Monsta X's Jooheon and Shownu taking the stage together to drop an absolutely fire performance. Jooheon's duality is amazing - cuddly scaredy-cat off stage, fucking monster on stage - he was SO GOOD. Shownu's dance break was great as expected and I cried tears in my heart bc I love them.

SF9 returned for the second evening - again, they were slick and impressive, and they namedropped kangaroos and meat pies in their intro ment, good work on ticking off those keywords lol. But I really don't know why they got sets on both days? Did FNC decide they really wanted to build that fanbase and made the necessary commercial arrangement with the promotors? Like I said, stages like this can be real turning points in making a fan. So that's fascinating. If anyone knows, lemme know?

Daehwi (Wanna One)

Three Wanna Ones then took the stage to briefly MC. It was definitely Kang Daniel and uh, two other Wanna Ones! *hastily googles* It was Daehwi, who was the most fluent in English and was super cute & cheesy, and Minhyun, who was also cute but I don't remember much? Sorry team. The only Broduce bro I can 100% identify is Daniel, and sometimes Jaewhan. But! I think I'll remember Daehwi from now on - he was pretty memorable and did the most heavy lifting in the ments. Anyway they delivered some potted intros and then on to the next one.

WJSN then performed a special stage, covering two Kylie Minogue songs as two subunits - Locomotion (which I note came out in 1988, older than every single K-Con performer except for Sojin of Girl's Day) and I Can't Get You Out Of My Head (2001 - there are rookies debuting born in 2001! And younger! God i'm so old). Firstly much love for preparing a special stage with local appeal that didn't feel pandering and really spoke to the long history of amazing women in pop, and secondly THEY WERE SO GOOD. Fun, bright, poppy - I love them.

They were followed by Up10tion who did a high energy set and I remember why I liked them! They're good! I don't quite click with all their songs, especially their more recent ones which I feel are a bit hit and miss, but just like every other group in this K-Con they delivered their set with professionalism and skill and charm.

There was then a brief interlude with MX's Kihyun and I.M, MY TWO LOVES, MCing an audience dance game. We got to see Kihyun doing the Twice TT dance and my world was made. Gosh I love them.

WJSN

WJSN then came back for their set and I just really like them so much. They have that sleekness that I've come to associate with Starship because of them and MX, with both groups always having good choreo and catchy hooks. I like their concept a lot too - they're cute sassy cheerleaders, yes, but I also feel like there's this very cool edge to them, they could easily cut you! I love that! As they acknowledged in their ment, 2 members couldn't make it due to filming schedules (I think it was Cheng Xiao, the dancey/gymnastic one? And Mei Qi, possibly? I'm sorry, I don't remember) but they were still very good and I enjoyed their set a lot. And their main rapper - god, I'm sorry, I don't know if it was Bona or another member - she was SO GOOD? She had so much stage presence. Gosh. I need to find out her name.

Next up were Wanna One. Now, ofc, Produce 101 never officially aired in Australia. We had to watch it on the internet like a bunch of animals. And yet out of all the groups on both days, their fans were definitely the most intense and the most scream-y - yes, more intense than the Exo-Ls and the Monbebes!

I only ever saw snippets of P101 and as I said I can only ID Daniel with certainty, but I was, hmm, not surprised I guess that they turned out to be endearing? CAN U IMAGINE, a group of young men voted for according to their charms turns out to be extremely charming?! The shock!  (From a purely commercial standpoint, what a brilliant exercise this has turned out to be. I think the limited timeframe for Wanna One to make bank lends an edge of urgency to their fandom and means their machine is also geared to maximum efficiency. Make! Bank! Now!) And because they're young and new, there was a certain edge of rawness and spontaneity to them which is naturally part of their appeal too. I still don't quite know what I feel about Kang Daniel - like I know he's very fond of cats and therefore a good person, and he has this easy, cocky stage charisma which makes his appeal seem very straightforward. But I think I found him most endearing when he missed a step at the end of his dance solo and there was just the cutest expression on his face, like "my bad."

For their Pinata game, they did photo time with hyung line posing "cutely" and maknae line posing "sexily" followed by some kind of free for all - A HOT MESS, lol.

Daehwi also went off script - or at least, he said he went off script, but can you ever really know? We need to go deeper! - and wished happy birthday to Kuanlin, getting the whole audience to sing along too, awww. As I said: what a group of charming young men; the self-awareness that they were constructed to charm ultimately means nothing.

FINALLY MONSTA X. They're, like, my second favourite group after BTS so I think I would've been just fine if they'd shown up and waved at us and sang like a song or two. But they didn't! They were really, really good. As headliners they had a signficant chunk of time and I think I was smiling from start to end, non stop.

They've turned into such good performers - with something similar to that same easy confidence that Girl's Day and Exo had - and I felt like they really did the most, on the second night, with connecting to the audience. Their performances were all on point, and everyone of them looked and sounded great but Jooheon especially killed me with swag and Wonho's collar & cleavage can fuck right off, ISTG. It just made me so happy to see them doing these songs and choreo I love so much - Shine Forever and Beautiful and Fighter - and they ended with Hero, my very first MX song, which was amazing. (I am a little sad they skipped All In but ok I can live with it.)

For their ment, they played the proposal game, with three members doing their very best fanservice lol. A very happy woman in the standing area got to be audience surrogate as I.M laid on cheesy lines (something about angels and heaven, IDK, why is he like this and why do I love him so much), Kihyun sang a ballad to her (next to me proteinscollide died a death), and Wonho came down to the barrier to to give her a heart, selfie & cheek kiss. It was so! Cheesy! And Wonderful! #the selfawareness does nothing

Everyone then came out for the goodbye, though MX were the only ones who felt relaxed enough it seems to actually get silly with the confetti and do some more spontaneous bows & waves to the crowd. By comparison to every other group on the 2nd night, they must be the old hands at K-Con by now - they've done SO many. Gosh I hope they come back to Australia for a full show. I love them so much.

Fuck, I'm now at 3300 words so let's wrap this up quick:

Unlike other K-Cons which seem to have a proper programming and convention stream, the "convention" part of this was really a disappointment. Minimal programming, minimal stalls (less than 10 vendors), all in one room. It was free entry which is fine I guess except that people were queuing up forever to get inside due to the limited capacity and it was H O T (over 30 C each day) out there. In the end I queued for an hour, and spent about 15 minutes inside. It was really not worth it. Luckily proteinscollide & I had options and just went away for a few hours to pass the time before the show, but I imagine there were a lot of kids left hanging around Olympic Park all day with nothing to do.

The shows didn't sell out. What does this mean? Possible thoughts:

-It was really expensive and the audience skews young. Like, the premium tickets were REALLY REALLY expensive and good tix were expensive. I could afford decent tix, but if I were in my teens? No way. I'd have had to ask my parents for it.

-Sydney has had a run of shows including an Australian-exclusive BTS show. If you're interstate and you already spent $$$ going to BTS, or for that matter $$$ to go G-Dragon in your own state, how much money do you have left over for concerts in this year? There is a limited capacity for this audience to keep spending. Promoters should be careful not to spread us too thin. Put more shows on in Melbourne! (Though I don't know - are there more Koreans and east Asians in Sydney? I suspect there are. The audience, again, skews heavily to those of us who are Asian-Australian.)

-Exo, MX, and Wanna One are very popular but don't have the same mainstream reach in Australia as BTS. BTS also had the advantage again of being earlier in the year, only the 2nd major kpop tour in the year I believe. Since then there's been other kpop and khip-hop shows for people to spend their money on. I really thought Exo would give BTS a run tho, given how well their latest album performed on Australian iTunes charts.

...that was not a quick wrap-up.

TO CONCLUDE: I HAD A GOOD TIME, THANK U FOR READING.

[rkroyalsurvival-blog]

Episode start.

A familiar scene materializes: thirteen talented girls form a single-file line at the center of a well-lit stage. The contestants’ expressions vary when the camera exposes their most vulnerable emotions bubbling up to the surface. From intimidated, to anxious, to eager -- it’s easy for the audience to feel just as nervous as the girls when they hear their fates read off one by one by Royal’s CEO.

“Eunae, you may go join the Majors.”

“Jiwon, you may join the Major group.”

Ahn Hyojin appears and Jisub casts her a measured glance. Thoughtfulness is affixed to his handsome face as he speaks without hesitation: “It’s your talent that got you here, however... sheer talent alone will not be enough for anyone to win a place in the Major group. Elly, please go stand with the others in Minor.” A clear warning to all.

“Welcome, ladies, to... Royal Survival.”

In the next second, the VTR music hits hard. A strong beat accompanies the show’s title, Royal Survival, as it flashes on screen and the girls appear next, absolutely striking in their visual line-up of bright reds and whites. All eyes are drawn to the center to focus on Jo Eunae as “Team” explodes in full force. Her face appears in a close-up, followed by her name scrolling below to identify her to all those who watch. In the next group shot, all girls are seen moving in sync together, the energy of the choreography making the hard work look seamless; for those who make mistakes, it goes unseen by expert editing. A professional has cut away major flaws before they’re visible, covering one girl’s lack of stamina and another’s missed step with closely timed edits to make the resulting performance look perfect. Yang Jiwon is seen up close, then Park Chaeyoung. In group formation, Kim Seolhyun takes over the spotlight when it’s her turn to be in the center, her name appearing below her face before the rest follow in succession: Manoban Lalisa, Ahn Hyojin, Kim Yubin, and Jung Soojung. When Jegal Seoyoung appears, the focus goes straight to her as she pulls in viewers with her charm alone. In the seconds afterwards, the audience is introduced to all who are left: Nam Dawon, Lee Soohyun, and Lee Jihyun. The best dancer, Lee Jieun, is saved for last -- the final image of strength and talent Royal wants the world to see before the song is over.

It takes just one minute and twenty-four seconds to create a worldwide sensation.

Yoo Jaekyung appears next, a flashback to her first appearance behind So Jisub as she introduces herself and the previous challenge. “All of you will learn and film a dance VTR for the opening of this show,” she explains concisely to the gathered girls. The camera hones in on her serious expression and the cool delivery of Jaekyung’s parting, warning words to them: “Work hard, obey my instruction, and I will turn all of you into stars worthy of the Royal name.”

The audience isn’t to be disappointed. Immediately after Jaekyung’s announcement, the girls are seen dispersing from the stage to return to their dormitories. Glimpses are given of the girls’ luxurious living environment, including the state-of-the-art practice studios and the gym they’re all allowed to utilize at their leisure. However, these elegant surroundings aren’t enough to mask the serious mood that afflicts most of the girls; the question of what next? hangs heavily in the air -- pungent and all-consuming.

Park Chaeyoung, identified by her stage name “Rose” for the first time on the bottom of the screen, is the first one who’s asked outright, the camera settling on a shot that highlights her from the shoulders up as she sits in the interview room. Behind her, a dark-shadowed background has been superimposed to bring her face forward in a flattering contrast. “I’ve only been a trainee for eight months, and that isn’t a long time compared to a lot of other trainees,” she tells the camera directly. “It’s scary to think that I could debut at the end of the program. My Royal sunbaes-- Jihyun unnie, Jazz unnie, Seolhyun unnie and Soohyunnie… we aren’t very close but I look up to them immensely.” Rose’s breath is heard hitching in her throat. “I’m still in shock if I’m being honest.”

“Rose hasn’t been training too long, but we’ve met a few times,” Lee Soohyun explains further as she comes into focus next. The professional lighting has been set-up to shine at a perfect degree upon her face, emphasizing the charming round curves of the young girl’s cheeks. “I think musically we’d sound good together so I hope to sing with her soon!” The epitome of youthful exuberance, Soohyun raises her brow and hints cheekily, “Want to know a secret? Lee Jihyun is my rival, while also being my role model.” An image of Jihyun appears briefly: the older girl awaiting her judgment as Jisub stares piercingly back at her. Soohyun’s voice continues, “She’s the one in my eyes to beat. Jihyun unnie… I have a head start, keep up!” she challenges, and the camera returns to Soohyun to catch the way the girl shoots a finger gun towards her unseen opponent. “I’m just going to be myself, and work hard! It’s all I can do right?”

Time races forward, a flurry of behind the scenes as the girls are seen waiting in the practice studio for their choreographer to arrive. When Jaekyung finally does, the woman doesn’t waste a single second before sweeping her judgmental gaze over each one of them in turn. Clad in her trademark head-to-toe black ensemble, she asserts to the group in an icy tone, “Line up. We have a lot of work to do.” And so they do, as clips flash by of Jaekyung teaching the group the Team choreography over a span of several days. Some of the girls are seen making visible mistakes in their steps, Lee Jihyun especially, and many more of them are seen with flushed faces and pained expressions as they rehearse together and alone. One evening, Ahn Hyojin is seen in the studio by herself, staring at her reflection in the mirror as she goes through the choreography repeatedly to sharpen up its movements. Not a perfect performance by any means, it’s nevertheless a perceivable improvement from the first days of Jaekyung’s teaching.

“Honestly, I was hoping for Major,” Kim Yubin admits honestly as the camera switches over to her. The audience is reminded of her brutal setback as a previous scene of her walking over to the Minor side of the stage appears. “I didn’t want to let my heart get excited,” she continues once she’s seen again in the interview room. The same image contrast is given to Yubin’s visual, a shadowed background and lights serving to complement her appearance in the best way.  “A part of me knew I wouldn’t but I still hoped. So when I was put in Minor it brought me back to reality. I still have a ways to go.” She’s seen hovering near the wardrobe racks on the VTR’s fitting day, her hands combing through the clothing and shoes to select the right look for her.  “We don’t know how many girls will be in the group and we’re already trying to climb ranks... I know my talents on stage, so I hope to show them I’m a hard worker.”

A date appears on screen: September 15th, 2017.

So Jisub’s confident walk takes him through the large central aisle of the stage venue’s seating. He heads directly to the table situated in the middle where the audience can see Yoo Jaekyung has already taken an extra chair to wait for the CEO to arrive. Additionally visible on the table’s wooden surface are single profile sheets of the contestants, each paper accompanied by a picture of a girl on the upper-left corner and comments written in lines below. So Jisub takes his seat, and also takes a sip from a cup of water placed out for him, before addressing Jaekyung directly. “So, what did you think?”

She answers without skipping a beat. “Some are decent,” the choreographer acknowledges while pointing to the photo of Lee Jieun. “Others were more disappointing than I thought.” A wave of her hand towards Park Chaeyoung’s sheet has So Jisub’s eyebrows skyrocketing upwards. “I can teach a few but the rest have a long way to go,” Jaekyung taps one silver-painted fingernail against Manoban Lalisa’s sheet. “Some might be impossible.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” So Jisub murmurs in assent. There’s thoughtfulness and a vivid shade of reluctance on his face as he tosses his next words to the nearby staff. “Bring them in, please.”

The stage manager nods and quickly moves behind the grand stage to where the girls have already been assembled, their makeup and styling finished an hour prior to the CEO’s arrival. The manager directs the contestants to come out on stage and line up at their respective sides: the ‘MAJOR’ team on the stage-right side and the ‘MINOR’ team on the stage-left side. Behind the girls’ backs, the names of the teams stand out brightly on their LCD screens. At the very back center of the stage, a third screen is revealed and the dance VTR can be seen on it, paused and ready to be played.

“Hello, ladies,” So Jisub greets them all politely. “When I call your name, please come forward for your evaluation,” he instructs. “Lee Jieun, first, if you please.”

For each girl, her individual screen time in VTR is what’s shown to all: several seconds of Jieun’s solo close-up is seen first, followed by her placement in the group formation. When Jieun’s clip finishes, Royal’s CEO clears his throat to redirect attention, and the camera’s focus, back to him. “Jieun, I told you last week that your dance talent is what landed you here. I’m glad, really, not to be disappointed by seeing it on camera. There’s no doubt that when you dance, all eyes go to you and stay there.” He nods in Jaekyung’s direction, the choreographer who offers up a small smile of agreement. “Jaekyung has agreed with me that, even though this first challenge was almost too easy for you, your place on the Major team is unquestionable for now. Well done, Jieun.”

“Yang Jiwon,” he calls next. Jisub plucks out Jiwon’s profile sheet from the papers in front of him and glances over it intently. “Jaekyung here gave you one of the center spots, I see.” He pauses, taking a moment to scan over the written comments before releasing a quiet sigh. “Honestly, you have much less training in dancing than I was hoping for, Jiwon, and it revealed itself in the group number especially. I tell all of you now that the group I intend to create out of Royal Survival will be expected to dance constantly and well to a lot of different styles. Jiwon,” he says, pausing to collect his thoughts before continuing, “I would like you to switch to the Minor group, please. In your time there, I’d like you to brush up on the dance basics until the next time I see you.”

“Ahn Hyojin.” When Elly’s name is called, Jaekyung leans over abruptly to whisper in Jisub’s ear. A quick, unheard exchange is followed by the CEO’s slow nod of acknowledgment. He bends a considering stare on Elly before finally addressing her. “Your dance training is lacking, too, Elly,” he observes regrettably. “Your current technique is lower than I’d like to see but, the energy you’re giving off on camera is surprisingly good. Jaekyung here assures me that you’re one of the ones who has been rehearsing the hardest on the choreography. It’s not good enough to move into Major just yet, however, it’s a step in the right direction. Keep practicing your dancing, Elly, and I will reconsider.”

“Jung Soojung, please come forward.” Jisub watches the video behind her with a discerning eye, choosing not to speak for several seconds until he’s collected his thoughts. “Unlike the others, I can tell you have basic grasp of technique when you dance, Soojung. It’s not bad, really, and Jaekyung here thinks she can work with you on it.” A quick glance to the female choreographer confirms this opinion. “Unfortunately, though, Soojung, your presence on camera is severely lacking,” he points out, not unkindly. “In the group formation, you practically disappear.” Jisub pauses here, the look on his face revealing a conflicted decision. “Stay in the Minor group a bit longer, Soojung, and try working on how to distinguish yourself a bit more.”

“Jo Eunae,” he calls next and beckons her forward with his hand. “Our first center. Your dancing is undoubtedly the level I was looking for. Any thoughts?” He directs the question to Jaekyung, the latter who shakes her head with a rare smile. “She’s one of the better dancers,” the woman admits openly, “I wouldn’t mind challenging her with a tougher choreography.” Jisub looks back at Eunae, a warm smile affixing itself into place. “If that’s so, then that’s all that needs to be said. You’ve protected your place in Major team, Eunae. Congratulations.”

“Park Chaeyoung.” The male sighs deeply, clear reluctance visible in his gaze. “Rose, I’m going to be honest with you. After viewing the VTR, it’s become clear to me that what I was hoping to see from you was not there. Your audition had given me hope that you’d be more well-rounded but, after seeing this performance, I’m not convinced now that you’re capable of handling the level of choreography you’re going to have to do in the future. That, combined with a total lack of presence in the group is incredibly worrisome.” He lifts a hand to rub at his chin, visibly warring with the decision he’s about to make. Jaekyung meets his eyes and Jisub nods, conceding the unspoken opinion. “Rose, please go to Minor group.”

“Manoban Lalisa,” he calls out, and Jisub waits until Lisa has taken her directed place on the stage before opening his mouth to speak again. “What a hard time I’m having with you, Lisa. Unlike Rose and Soojung, you have absolutely no problem standing out when the camera is on you. I doubt anyone could look away even if they wanted to.” The CEO casts her a sidelong glance, taking his time to consider his decision carefully before he makes it. “Sadly, though, ‘standing out’ isn’t always a good thing when your weaknesses are more visible than everything else.” There’s no hesitation in his voice as he gestures towards the Minor side of the stage. “You still have time to improve, Lisa, and I suggest you do so. Go stand with the Minors, please.”

“Nam Dawon, come up here, if you would.” Jisub peruses the papers on the table until he finds her sheet, studying the outlined profile with an intent gaze. “Well, the good news is: you’re not the worst.” Amusement bubbles up from Jisub’s direction and this jesting tactic is just as much to diffuse the stressful tension filling the room as it is to tease Dawon good-naturedly. “It’s not bad, either, considering dancing isn’t really your forte. As it is, you already have more visible technique in your movements than most of the other singers. As expected of Hyun Bin’s trainee.” He offers her a small smile and nods to the Minor side of the stage. “I advise you not to let those Nova roots go to waste just yet, Dawon. Please keep practicing your dancing until we meet again.”

“Lee Soohyun, next.” The VTR plays Soohyun’s segmented clip after she has arrived to the front and Jisub watches it critically, his expression remaining stoic up until the very last second. “It’s become clear to me that finding a singer who can also dance is going to be problematic for this CEO,” he jokes idly. “I shouldn’t, in all good conscience, keep you in the Major team when the dancing you show me in that VTR is such poor quality, Soohyun. It’s absolutely crucial that idols, even those who aren’t the main dancers, be able to keep up with choreography that’s taught to them. Luckily, you do have a saving grace. You alone, among all the singers here, don’t completely disappear from sight whenever the group line appears.” He places her profile sheet aside and nods towards her. “It’s enough to keep you in Majors for the time being. You may go over there.”

Jaekyung lays the next contestant’s paper in front of Jisub and he takes it unhesitatingly. “Jegal Seoyoung,” he reads off aloud. “Your center part was rather short in this one, wasn’t it? Jaekyung has told me that, despite you not being one of the better dancers here, there’s apparently enough natural ability in you for her to tap into.” He glances to the choreographer, who flashes Seoyoung an approving smile as she nods in agreement. “I can work with it,” Jaekyung agrees. “If she remains willing to learn.” Jisub nods and keeps eye contact with Seoyoung as he waves towards the Major side of the stage. “You heard her, Seoyoung. You’re safe for this week.”

Kim Seolhyun’s sheet comes up next and Jisub motions for her to come to the front of the stage. “You also did well this week, Seolhyun. I’m fully aware that this style of choreography isn’t the usual I see from you but, despite that, Jaekyung and I are both in agreement that the end result on camera was the quality level we’d hoped to see from you. You delivered it well. You and Jieun got off easy with this first challenge, so I’m especially looking forward to seeing how you both survive the next one.” A mischievous gleam shines in Jisub’s eyes as he waves his hand towards the stage. “Your spot is safe in the Majors, Seolhyun. Please go and join them.”

“Lee Jihyun.” A senior trainee whose skill levels are not unfamiliar to him, her lackluster dance performance on the LCD screen inspires no real surprise from Jisub as he watches her clip all the way through to its conclusion. “It goes without saying that there’s still a lot you need to work on, Jihyun,” he observes finally. He is careful to keep his tone neutral as he addresses her with a stiff expression. “Nobody is expecting that a main vocalist should also be a lead dancer in her group, but it’s my wish that she not be an eyesore in the middle of a group formation either. I’d like you to stick it out in Minor and keep practicing, Jihyun. You may have a chance at a comeback very soon.”

“Kim Yubin,” he calls out last. A consummate professional, Jisub would never let his weariness appear on his face, but there’s no denying he’s pleased to have arrived at the final contestant. Especially this one, whose appearance in front of him encourages a small smile to appear. “I told you last week that I wasn’t sure what to do with you, Yubin. This week, I’ve changed my mind. I can tell that you have a higher level of training in your dancing despite it not translating perfectly with this difficult style of choreography. Being one of the longer trainees is a benefit in your case as you clearly have more technique, as well as more experience, in performing on camera. That is something I have a use for, Yubin, so you may switch into the Major team this week. Congratulations.”

The end of the reassignments comes with a relieved sigh from the CEO as he rises from his seat to stand up to his full height. Beside him, still seated, Jaekyung leans back and folds her arms over her chest. The two seniors both analyze the newly-sorted groups on stage before So Jisub clears his throat loudly. “It’d be unfair, I think, to eliminate anyone today based solely on this first challenge. There’s still more that I’d like to see from all of you and I intend to.” The camera fixes on Jaekyung, who nods in agreement with the CEO’s words. “Your second challenge is going to show me exactly what each one of you is capable of… and also exactly where you’re lacking.” A handsome grin appears on Jisub’s face as he explains further, “Idols need to be able to perform well as a group, pooling together their strengths as one in order to pull off a successful performance in front of their audience. For the next challenge, you will be put into groups and be asked to perform a Royal senior group’s song in front of an invited audience. Your best efforts at singing, rapping, dancing, and the extent of your stage presence -- I will be watching for all of these specifically. For many of you up there, this will be your comeback opportunity to be considered for the Major team.”

He waits for this news to sink in first, pausing for dramatic effect before the final ax is dropped: “After your performance is over, I will be deciding who has shown herself to be the weakest member of your group overall. Of these girls that are placed into the ‘bottom three,’ one of you will be returning home. Do your best, ladies. I look forward to seeing what you’ll show me next time.”

End of episode.

EPISODE 2, Writing Prompt:

With the intention of testing every contestant’s performance skills on the stage, as well as seeing how they perform within a group dynamic, So Jisub has decided to split the girls up into smaller groups to cover one of Royal Entertainment’s senior group’s songs. The songs he has chosen embody two of the most frequent girl group concepts that are seen on stage: cute and ‘girl crush’. Well aware that at least one of these concepts is not in every contestant’s comfort zone, each group has been carefully selected by So Jisub so that members can prove their adaptability to concepts that’ll likely be asked of them in the future. Don’t be too surprised by an uncomfortable placement: it is on purpose!

The assigned groups and songs are as follows:

Group 1: “Goodbye Baby” (Brave Girls) Lee Jihyun, Lee Soohyun, Jo Eunae, Kim Seolhyun

Group 2: “Over U” (Brave Girls) Nam Dawon, Kim Yubin, Jegal Seoyoung, Lee Jieun

Group 3: “Be My Baby” (H.A.M.) Jung Soojung, Park Chaeyoung, Ahn Hyojin, Yang Jiwon, Manoban Lalisa

All groups are expected to perform all vocal, rap, and choreography parts that are found in the reference videos. You do not have to limit one person per part if you do not wish to, but every contestant should at least sing or rap during the performance. Royal Entertainment’s costume staff will provide the wardrobe, recycling the same costumes as the senior groups and tailoring the fit to the contestants who will wear them. This will include shoes: if your senior group wears heels in the video, the girls must also wear heels on stage. Choreography for the songs will be taught to your group individually by Yoo Jaekyung and no part of the choreography can be modified (this includes the removal of aegyo parts!) Jaekyung will teach all the groups their choreography starting on September 19th, with two hour blocks for each group. Group 1 will learn from 10AM-12PM, Group 2 will learn from 1PM-3PM, and Group 3 will learn from 4PM-6PM. After this date, the groups will be expected to arrange their own practice schedules and you may call on Yoo Jaekyung to supervise rehearsals, if needed. Dress rehearsal for the pre-recording will occur during the afternoon of October 1st, and the actual recording will be done in front of a small invited audience shortly after. Each group will get to record their song twice, with the best take being chosen as the one that airs on the following episode.

For this episode’s writing opportunities:

Required: write a 300+ word performance solo about your muse performing the cover song for the filming. Optional: write a 300+ word preparation solo about any event leading up to the cover song filming. This can include learning the choreography, rehearsals, costume fittings, dress rehearsals, etc. Optional: write a 250+ word interview with your muse reacting to the events unveiled during this episode. As before, you do not have to answer all of these, and you are allowed to come up with your own questions for this interview. However, all questions for this episode’s interview should relate to these following topics:

What did you think of seeing your performance on the final version of the VTR?

What would you change, if anything, about your performance?

Who do you, personally, believe should be on the Major and Minor teams?

Tell us about your personal motivations/inspirations that led you here today.

Tell us a little about your family/friends/those who are supporting you on the show.

The reward for writing the required solo is +5 SKILL POINTS TO BE DISTRIBUTED AS YOU WISH, +5 DANCE POINTS, +10 CHARISMA POINTS, and +5 DEBUT points, as well earning +1 week of a RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENT. Additionally, all girls will automatically receive +1 week VARIETY achievement for being present during Episode 2. Point forms will always be due the Wednesday after a deadline passes; this means for Episode 2, verification forms should be submitted after the Activity Check post on Wednesday, October 4th. These form dates have been added to the writing schedule, so be sure to refer to it periodically to make sure everything is being submitted on time!

ROYAL SURVIVAL EPISODE 2 (for the Oct 4th form)

[ x ]  *one 300+ word performance solo

+5 ___ POINTS

+5 DANCE POINTS

+10 CHARISMA POINTS

+ 5 DEBUT POINTS

+1 WK RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENT (CURRENT LEVEL + NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN)

+1 WK VARIETY ACHIEVEMENT (CURRENT LEVEL + NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN)

+ NEW DEBUT POINTS TOTAL:

The deadline for all solos is midnight EST at the end of October 1st, and please tag each solo (including the interview) with #royalsurvival2. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to the Royal Survival inbox!

[fanfictionformost-blog]

CATB insecurities imagine

Van: In general you were a very confident person, you weren’t cocky but you didn’t have any major complaints about your appearance. Except one that is, and it wasn’t really about you appearance as much as it was your eye sight. You had to wear glasses, but you hated the way they made you look. So you always made sure you had contacts in, your boyfriend Van didn’t even know you needed glassed until one night when you unexpectedly stayed the night at his place and one of your contact fell out. “Oh shit!” you exclaimed while getting down on your hands and knees. “Whats the matter love?” Van asked taken aback by your behavior. “I lost a contact and I dont have any spares on me.” you answered him sounding more panicked then you meant to, “Contacts, I didn’t know you needed contacts.” he said intrigue heavy in his voice. “Well I do, i’m blind as a bat without them.” You told him then sat on the floor realizing that finding the contact was a lost cause now since it would be dried out. Van helped you up then asked “Do you have any glasses with you or am I going to have to be your seeing eye dog?” You groaned and hid your face in Van’s chest, for a moment you considered just taking the other contact out and going without but then you remembered the headache you would get without having aide to see, You looked up frowning at Van, “Whats with the long face?” He giggled out. “I look really bad with glasses... they don’t suit my face. I have some on me but I don’t want you to see me looking all nerdy with slightly magnified eyes.” you admitted feeling quite ridiculous. “I very much doubt you look bad in anything, I cant wait to see your huge nerdy eyes.” Van said in a loving yet entertained tone. You let out a sigh then made your way to the bathroom so you could take out your other contact and put your glasses on, Van followed behind you with a huge smile plastered on his face. Once you both were in the bathroom you took out he remaining contact and then squinted at the mirror hoping for some miracle that would restore your vision, when no such miracle happened you took your glasses from your purse and slipped them on your face. Van stood quiet for a moment really taking your appearance in, “You look absolutely adorable love, truly I loved your eyes before but your glasses really make them pop!” you scoffed and tried to walk around Van but he stopped you. He lifted your chin gently so you were looking up at him “You’re beautiful” he said quietly before kissing you softly on the lips. You believed him this time and smiled into the kiss feeling much less insecure.

Bondy: You were standing in the bathroom with the door opened just inspecting your face in the mirror when Bondy walked by and poked his head in, “What are you doing beautiful?” he asked sweetly but at the moment you were not feeling very beautiful. “Nothing” you said quietly before slinking past him. “Woah why so dismal?” Bondy questioned “Its not a big deal.” you answered with your back to Bondy. “It is to me, anything that’s bringing my girl down is a big deal.” he said sounding honestly bothered by your disposition. “I just feel a bit insecure I guess. I’m so plain looking...” You opened up and answered Bondy honestly. “Plain?! My dear you are far from plain.” Bondy told you seeming utterly confused by your words. You just looked up at him not saying anything but sadness and embarrassment were written all over your face. Bondy’s expression then switched to a sad one which made your heart drop. “I would choose to look at your “plain” face over any other face I’ve ever seen. You are so beautiful that it hurts to hear you don’t like your appearance.” Bondy told you sounding far more serious then usual. His tone caught you off guard “I just don’t see what you do I guess.” You said feeling quiet small. Bondy pulled out his phone and quickly showed you his background picture, It was of you. The picture was taken when you were not looking , you were sitting cross legged on the floor with no makeup on and you were laughing. “Your stunning Y/N! So stunning I have to look at you everyday or I don’t feel right.” This made you blush, even though you could not see your beauty Bondy’s words made you feel truly Beautiful. “Thank you” you said slightly under your breath. Bondy hugged you and kissed the top of your head. “Anytime you need to hear that just let me know. Now lets go dance to some funky jazz and make love till morning.” Bondy said in and overly posh voice making you laugh. “There is that smile.”

Benji: You had always been a very excitable person, when you spoke about things you loved your whole face would light up and you would speak a bit louder then necessary. Because of this people would laugh or tell you to calm down when you would get so excited. Years of that left you quite insecure so you would try to get excited as little as possible. One day Benji noticed you were holding back “Y/N why do you always stop talking when you get excited?” he asked. “Uh... I don’t know, I just don’t want to sound stupid I guess.” you answered feeling more stupid then ever. “You wont sound stupid. Passion is never stupid.” Benji told you his voice laced with kindness. “Yeah but I get a little loud when I get excited, I cant help it. So its better for me to not say anything at all.” you looked down trying to avoid eye contact. “Well you get quiet when your sad but you still talk then. Its natural Y/N.” This made you smile, Benji always knew what t say. “I always want to hear what you have to say, even if you yell it at me.” Benji said with a laugh. “Okay wanna talk about how much I love you?!” you yelled “Yes I never get tired of talking about that.” Benji yelled right back causing the two of you to burst out in laughter. From then on you never let yourself feel insecure while talking to Benji about anything. Whenever you got excited about anything you would run and tell him. Benji loved it, he would sit back and watch as your eyes lit up and your voice got louder. He told you it was his favorite way to see you.

Bob: You had always been a bit over weight, you usually didn’t let that fact bother you but some days you just felt unattractive because of your extra pounds. One morning you were sitting in the kitchen wearing some lounge clothes reading and drinking tea when Bob walked in with his camera, he started to take your picture “Oh Bob please don’t, not today.” You said raising your book in front of your face. “Okay but why?” Bob asked sounding genuinely confused. “I...I just fell unappealing today. Plus i’m still in my pajamas, They aren’t exactly form flattering.” You said the last bit a little quieter then the rest. “Y/N, you look amazing in everything you wear. I don’t know what your talking about.” Bob said still seeming confused. You just rolled your eyes in response then stood up to take you tea cup to the sink. “I’m serious Y/N, I’ve never seen you in something I didn’t like.” Bob said with a little more conviction then before. “Well you biased because your my boyfriend. To the everyday person I look fatter then usual in these shorts.” You told Bob without turning to look at him. Suddenly you felt Bobs hands on your hips “I love your body, in these shorts or out of them. Your gorgeous at any size in any article of clothing.” Bob whispered in your ear then kissed your cheek. The tenderness of the moment and the sincerity in Bob’s voice made you tear up a bit. He somehow made you feel confident after years of insecurity. You wiped the tears from you eyes, spun around, and kissed Bob on the lips. Then you grabbed his camera and took a picture of you kissing his cheek. “That’s better.” Bob said with a laugh.           

[followingkale]

Lets Talk About Hot Brown.

I got my first job in coffee kind of by accident.

My Mom was in line at Second Cup at Carlingwood Mall and was eavesdropping on the two girls working, talking about job interviews for later that afternoon. She texted me immediately, knowing I wasn’t happy in the current job I had, telling me to go drop off a resume as soon as I could. I obliged, and a few days later had my first training shift.

I was given one three hour shift a week for the first month or so of me being there. That was all the time I was given per week to prove to my then manager that I was worthy of being scheduled more, that I really wanted to learn and be there and impress her. It was totally foreign to me, food service and really getting to have a conversation with the people I served, but I quickly got good at it, and with time was one of the core members of the team there.

My coworkers were wonderful, and the owner loved me. They split me between the Carlingwood branch and the Rideau centre branch, so I was commuting between the city, working with different people, making shitty lattes fucking around with little barista rats I’d befriended.  

I quickly learned that baristas come from all sorts of backgrounds. There are die hard lifers who live for coffee and the culture around it. There are part time students who just want something on the side. Old retired ladies who want something easy to kill time a few days a week. Little hipster arty rats who are drawn to the buzz of working in a café. People with absolutely no direction, who fall back on coffee because of the simplicity and how its not as stressful as working in a real restaurant. Everyone had a different story, completely different ways of spending their paychecks at the end of the day.

I spent my days serving the mall walkers and befriending all the other staff of the mall. I came to know everyone because everyone flocks to coffee, I couldn’t walk a loop of that mall without running into someone to talk to. It was a simple time, and I still look back on it fondly.

From Second Cup I transitioned to Illume Espresso Bar, the epitome of a hipster’s haven.

Chalkboard menus with leather couches and jazz music, local art scattered on the walls. Gluten free, dairy free, egg free, sugar free pastries littered the display case, catering to every dietary need under the sun. I spent my afternoons making soups, packaging homemade salad, delivering coconut cream lattes to people’s tables, leaning on the counters while watching the inhabitants of Welly West meander idly by.

Illume was different. I remember the first afternoon I spent in that café was probably a year before I worked there. I took the bus down to Wellington in the dead of winter, and sat with a notebook at a long table by the window for the entire afternoon. Binge drinking soy lattes, I felt very comfortable there. It was an exceptionally quiet place, and working there had me bored to tears working full shifts by myself, regardless of being able to enjoy the silence from time to time.

It was too good to be true though, about a month and a half into my time there, I woke to an email from the owner telling us that unfortunately the café was to be closed. As disappointed as I was, I knew it didn’t quite feel like a long term fix, that I was waiting for something real to come along next.

From there I began kicking at the doors of Bridgehead. I had known from a young age that I always wanted to work for Bridgehead, and the fact that my at-the-time partner was already working there, I knew it would be my turn next.

I applied three times before getting an interview, and it broke my heart to have to turn down the gig. I was offered a job at the location in New Edinburgh, and I knew I couldn’t get there for 6am opening shifts despite wanting this more than anything.

I burst into tears after I turned down the offer over the phone, but I was still determined. It wasn’t for another few weeks that I got another offer from the location at Kent and Slater, and I was offered a full time contract that guaranteed me my weekends off. Upon telling Jenn Noseworthy at the end of my interview that Erin Cobb from Beechwood had offered me a job with her less than a month ago, she had me scheduled in to work the next day.

I was so stoked to finally get to work and train with people that looked at coffee as a craft, that had access to training facilities and the resources to really get their staff excited about the industry. I lived and breathed Bridgehead core values before I even worked there, and finally getting to work in that environment had me so psyched for life. I was working in a community based hub, every location scattered around the city, giving me ties to so many people and neighbourhoods. I had so much pride to say I worked for Bridgehead, and it felt good to be part of the community. I represented a company that believed in supporting local businesses, believed in ethical farming practices, cared about their environmental impact, supported their staff well, and was looked at so fondly by the city they sprung up from. Bridgehead was an institution, an empire that had sparked so fast and spiraled like no one had expected.

It didn’t take long to network from within, and since the beginning I’d had an in. My first shift at Slater I met the second in command of the entire company, who my at-the-time partner had worked with alongside for some time at the warehouse. She was quick to shake my hand and tell me how wonderful it was to finally meet me.

I was always one to say yes to picking up shifts at other stores, so my Bridgehead network began to splay out rapidly. I knew people all over the city, there was so much cross contamination of bridgehead staff that knew people from my high school who knew people I went to college with. Almost every single person I met in Bridgehead had a mutual of some sort, and I got to know and befriend and love so many different people.

I spent my mornings up at the crack of dawn to ride my bike into the middle of the business district, to run around in chaos serving people in suits all day. My boss was insane but had a heart of gold. I worked with the most bizarre team of centretown rats, spending our nights together going on bike ride pub crawls and dancing to obscure music no one knew at house parties at Tom Allans every other weekend.

I was doing well in Bridgeheadland, and after a month and half of employment it was already being suggested to me that I consider applying for training on the management team. I was learning so much training with Harriet at Slater, getting to then train new staff, taking on more responsibility.

In February of  2016, I applied for a transfer shops as much as it broke my heart. I was over Slater, I was tired of the constant rushes and the same customers every day. The Fairlawn Plaza location was set to open beginning of March, and seeing as I lived right across the street, it seemed silly to not transfer over. Harriet and the team were sad to see me leave, but understood that my time had come.

Fairlawn quickly became the most at home feeling job I’d ever had. I got to meet a brand new team, open a brand new shop, and help set the tone of the store and the staff as someone coming in with moderate Bridgehead seniority. I got to run coffee tastings with new staff, complete the follow up bar training, babble about proper espresso calibration and how different milk temperatures affect the taste of the coffee. I sensed that I could shift the attitude of the team and the day, purely by coming into work my best self, feeling good, getting everyone else psyched, and I reveled in that.

I had the best team at Fairlawn, and there was not a single member on the team that was not comfortable coming to talk to me, we were all on an even playing field, we were all such good friends.

August of 2016 I was offered the chance to enter the management apprenticeship program at one of the new locations opening up that fall. My district manager had been hinting I apply for months, and my name had been buzzing about management meetings for some time. After a meeting with my potential trainer, and getting involved with scoping out the new location, I turned down the offer. I had been with Bridgehead for just shy of a year, and I knew I wasn’t ready to step up to that plate yet. I would have been the second youngest employee to ever go through the manager apprentice program, and I’d felt like I’d been pushed into it too fast. I was beyond flattered, but told them to give me a few months to mull it over properly and make the right decision. In the end, the timing was never right, and I don’t at all resent not choosing to advance further in the Bridgeheadworld.

I loved the pace of that shop, with the speed of rushes and the layout of the bar, it was like it was built for conversation. I look back at all the people I’ve met, and I look back on all the conversations I’ve had with nothing but admiration.

I loved hearing what brought people in for coffee, because people are drawn to it for so many different reasons. How people take their coffee is such a personal question.

You get the people who could care less about the taste, and are there entirely for the dependency on caffeine.

The ones who are there purely for work, that use the café setting as their out of home office.

The social drinkers, who use coffee as a setting for awkward first dates and catching up with friends.

What I call the pretentious coffee twats, who sit and order their pour overs and admire the contrast of floral and fruity tasting notes that the bean produces.

Everyone is drawn to coffee for a different reason, or different combination of reasons.

I learned just how much total strangers would open up about their lives, just if you give them the chance to. The stories people have told me purely after being asked “so where are you off to?” or “tell me something good about today”.

There is hardly an era of professionalism needed in the barista world, since the stereotype is generally obscure young people hyped up on caffeine. Every single person who comes into my shop I get to greet like a friend, asking them how their day is, probing for any sort of communication.

Whenever I get a chance to talk with someone who is also passionate for coffee, I instantly get excited, hearing all the reasons why they’re personally drawn to it.

Every barista has their own spin on how they brew coffee and pour drinks. The element of craft, especially when texturing milk and espresso calibration is so important I cannot stress it enough. You treat every drink you make as the first coffee the person you’re serving to has ever had. If your milk is stretched too much and over heated, with expresso dosing too little and pulling too long, that’s going to be a fucked up drink. That very well could be that persons first latte, and after having a shitty first latte they’re likely not going to order one again, since they’ve been jaded by shit coffee.

Any time I’ve gotten to make someone’s first drink like that I take it with such personal pride, for I am the one giving them their first experience of the specialty coffee world. My skills demonstrate exactly what specialty coffee can or cannot be.

I get so much gratification when someone comes in wanting the perfect drink and I make it for them effortlessly. Perfect example. I had a woman come into Bridgehead a few months before I moved to Alberta. She asked me at the cash register if Bridgehead makes a better cappuccino or a flat white. I told her simply that it depends on who’s working, that as much as we try to standardize, some people still have better strong suits in certain areas than others. I went on to promise her that I could make her an incredible flat white.

So I headed over to the counter and started making her drink. I finished my pour with a flourish, leaving a rosetta shining on the surface of her drink. She took a sip and smiled at me, complimenting the perfect temperature and milk to foam ratio. I stood there beaming, trying and failing to not let my ego get the better of me.

I want that every time a customer comes into my shop, I don’t need to hear the physical compliments every time, but I want their expectations to always be fulfilled.

Working in coffee, I get the chance to make peoples day with a two-minute interaction, hundreds of times a day. I have the chance to establish a connection to total strangers, to build a relationship and have the potential to impact their lives, even as silly as it sounds.

I’ve met some crazy people, and have had some crazy experiences through the people I’ve met through my jobs in coffee.

 I’m a glorified drug dealer, but I use it to my advantage. Cafes are a hub, a hub for interaction and community and comfort. I want you to always feel at home coming to see me, to trust me for a drink as well as for a conversation. I’m serious when I say I want to hear about your life, where you’re going, and how you’re really feeling today.

People that have their coffee for here are a special kind of people. Most baristas usually bitch and moan about the people that linger in the café, accumulating dishes for them to later wash. I’ve always respected the people that stay awhile, that understand the value of taking a moment for themselves to indulge in something warm, read a book, write awhile. It’s a living room that’s not yours, so I respect those who are comfortable enough to make a space their own for the afternoon.

Human beings like to feel rushed, to feel panicked and in a hurry. We feel important when walking down to road holding a to go cup of coffee, that we have more important things to do than idly sit in a coffee house and sip our lattes from a mug like a chump.

I so love the people that make time for their coffee, who come, sit, sip, watch, read, and think.

There are fewer places I feel more at home than in the confines of a café, and spending the first summer in four years not working in a café has really made me keen to come back home and find my new niche. I’m keen to find a new place to call home, with new coworkers to befriend, new customers to learn the stories of and memorize their orders.

With distance, I’ve learned how much the industry means to me.

This summer, for the first time in my life, did I get the chance to buy a bag of ground coffee. Since I was 18 I’d worked in the industry, and had been comped free beans and free coffee whenever I worked, there was never a need to BUY coffee for home.

Sitting in the Snowdome Café in Jasper, Alberta, sipping a flat white while cradling the first ever $17.00 bag of medium roast coffee I’d bought in my adult life, I so looked forward to brewing my first cup at home.

And it became such a routine for me, such a silly little thing that brought me so much calm when I first settled down here. I’d wake up, assemble my aeropress while boiling water in a pot on the stove, and wait. Wet the filter, scoop the coffee, fill the chamber, wait, and then plunge. And there I’d sit, feet tucked under my legs while curled up on a camping chair on the deck outside the common room. Sometimes with company, sometimes in silence, I’d watch the mountains breathe. Sometimes it was sunny, sometimes it rained, sometimes it snowed, but most mornings on that deck with a mug of coffee is where I wanted to start my day.

There was so much change happening in my world, I had so little to rely on for pattern and routine, that cup of coffee became the rock I needed to start my morning.

I’d reach a point of drinking in the evenings, where all that tipsy Kayla wanted to do was make coffee and teach people about it. I’d stumble over to my pantry, assemble the aeropress and start to babble, brewing coffee for all my friends, yapping about acidity, versus aroma, versus body.

I don’t just love coffee like the “DON’T TALK TO ME UNTIL IVE HAD MY COFFEE” people, its always been so much more to me.

I’ve found a type of work I’m passionate for and I love doing.

I’ve found a hobby through coffee, something to continue to learn about, trying to perfect my own ability.

I’ve met some of my closest friends through coffee, as well as some of the strangest people I’ve ever met.

I’ve learned about caffeine and stimulants through coffee, how society romanticizes being tired and how caffeine dependency is toxic.

I spent 6 months of my barista life totally dry, drinking decaf, to prove to myself that I do not rely on coffee for its caffeine benefits.

I’ve learned to be a leader, how to shape and train others, developing my own personal leadership and delegation styles through coffee.

I’ve enriched my flavour pallet, learning how to taste and sip and cup coffee.

I’ve learned how to turn my stress into something efficient through coffee, and how to work with it as opposed to against it.

I met my partner through coffee, through the social networking hub that is a coffeehouse. He met me for our first date after a shift with me coffee stained and sweaty after one of my more stressful Bridgehead days.

I owe so much to coffee, it has been such an influencer for the person I’ve grown into, and sparks such passion from my core.

My last shift at Bridgehead was harder on me than I thought it would be. I’d had the title of Barista for so long, I wasn’t sure what to call myself anymore. “Hi I’m Kayla I’m a barista” was my thing for four years, and now all of a sudden I’d lost that token term for myself.

I knew when I left though that it was far from over, I knew I would be back, I knew I had more to learn, more people to meet.

I’m anxious to see where I’ll choose to go with this drive of mine, because I know this is something I care so much about.

Will the theme of hot brown follow me throughout my life? Or is this just some quippy trend, a chapter of my journey?

I suppose we shall have to see, but in the meantime if you need me I’ll be watching the mountains drinking coffee from a yogurt container awaiting the day I get to pull shots again.

[zetsubourealitybreak]

Begin at the Beginning (Prologue Part 01)

They say Hope’s Peak Academy is the future of this world. The youth who attend that school contain more potential than is measurable. To excel in a field at such a young age… I suppose we’re considered geniuses.

I stand outside the school, its hardwood front doors larger than life. In fact, everything about this school seems too good to be true. But so are we, the students. I, too, am among them. One girl too incredible to seem real.

Though maybe I’m being arrogant. I’m only the Super High School Level Pianist, Subaru Shiina. Just a pianist. There have been some before me, and there will be some after. But for now I’m the only student with this talent. 

Subaru Shiina, Super High School Level Pianist.

They call them ‘talents,’ which makes sense. Even someone who’s incredibly dedicated, who works hard every day to be the best in their field, will never match up to anyone with raw talent. That’s what sets me and the others apart.

I place my hand on the door handle, then pull it open. It swings open easier than I expected. And similar to how I didn’t expect that, I also didn’t expect to be met with a blinding light.

Subaru Shiina: “Tch!”

I raise a hand to shield my eyes from a light I expect to fade. Yet it doesn’t; instead the light gets warmer, brighter. I freeze, squeezing my eyes shut. It seems to seep through even with them shut. In the distance I hear a woman’s laugh, though really it’s more of a cackle. But I don’t have time to locate the source of the sound, nor even think about locating the source, because someone immediately pushes me forward.

Subaru Shiina: “H-huh? Watch it!”

I stumble forward into the foyer of the school and fall to my knees. I open my eyes slightly, squinting, but still can’t see. The light is everywhere. The same laugh echoes throughout the room. My heart is racing. 

Subaru Shiina: “What’s the meaning of this?”

The room begins to spin, faster and faster. I’m thrown off-balance, falling from my knees onto my side. It’s getting hard to breathe and I’m not sure if it’s because of fear or something more sinister. My vision’s getting spotty, black marring the white light.

Is this what it feels like to die? I wonder.

Throughout all this, the woman’s cackles continues to echo through my mind. And as the laughter and darkness overwhelm me, I hear someone whisper in my ear.

???: “It’s time.”

Zetsubou: Reality Break.

…In the distance I hear rain. My eyes open slowly, afraid I’ll be assaulted by another blinding light -- or worse, absolute darkness. Though after blinking a few times, I realize everything is normal.

My joints crack as I sit up. My vision is blurry even as I rub my eyes, but slowly the world comes into focus. Nevertheless it still takes me a moment to take in my surroundings. I’ve been lying unconscious on worn-out wooden floorboards. How gross.

The wood-paneled walls surrounding me are made of equally dated panels. They’re a stark contrast to what you would have expected of an elite school. The lighting is dim, the only source of it being a shadeless light bulb. I have absolutely no idea where I am. But based on the smell of cleaning products and how cramped the room is, I’d say I’m in…

Subaru Shiina: “Ugh, is this a supply closet?”

I finally spot the door, adjacent to shelves lined with cleaning supplies. I stand up. The world begins to spin again, and I’m half-worried I’ll hear another laugh. Instead, there’s only rain. I take a deep breath in to calm my nerves, before stepping towards the door. If this is Hope’s Peak, it’s a sick joke to put one of their students in a closet. I take another step. However, instead of feeling the floor beneath me, I step on something uncharacteristically soft.

Subaru Shiina: “Eek!”

Only after I slip do I realize it was just a mop. I stumble backwards, knocking into the brooms leaning against the wall. They fall like dominoes, causing me to lurch forward. I latch onto the doorknob. It turns, the door creaking open and taking me with it.

Several brooms and mops spill out into the hallway, myself among them. Some prodigy I am, I think as I just barely stop myself from landing face-first on the ground. My hands scrape against the coarse floors of the hallway, which are made of equally old wood. Ugh. I grit my teeth and sit up, just in time to see a looming shadow approaching me.

Naturally, I scream.

???: “Ah! Oh dear, are you okay?”

The soft voice sounds husky, much different from the voice I heard earlier. A boy comes into view a moment later, having rounded the corner. And said boy seems to mean no harm, if his outstretched hand is anything to go off of. When I look up to meet his gaze, I find sleepy green eyes staring back at me. He smiles. I offer a blank stare in return. Is there something he wants with me? I wonder.

And though I don’t particularly want his help, it’d be rude not to accept an act of kindness. I slowly grab it, letting him pull me to my feet. As soon as he’s done, I let go. His hand wasn’t uncomfortable to hold in the slightest, but that doesn’t stop me from brushing my hand off against my skirt as I bow. I can only hope he doesn’t notice.

Subaru Shiina: “I’m fine. Thank you for helping me up, I guess.”

He waves his hand dismissively. Now that I’m on my feet, I notice just how tall the boy is. He’s even taller than my father, his hair messier than his as well. It’s tied back in a low, short ponytail.

Boy: “Don’t worry about it. Are you sure you’re okay? That’s quite the spill you took there...”

Is he trying to make fun of me? ...No, his timid grin seems apologetic. He looks more worried for my sake than anything else. It’s eerily kind. If anything, it makes waking up in an unfamiliar supply closet even more unsettling. Is he a kidnapper, trying to get on my good side? He doesn’t look like the type to do anything cruel, but one can never be sure. There’s a reason why there’s a term for that.

I’m about to ask him what he’s doing here when I hear a loud stomping noise. Another shadow passes across the wall and a moment later a girl enters the scene. She’s dressed in a red and white floral yukata. Her geta seem to be the source of the clomping. She grins brightly, hurrying over to the scene.

Girl: “Hm hm! So you found someone, did you, Hazuki-kun?”

She stops next to the boy and makes no effort to hide her curiosity. She looks me over a couple times, eyes narrowed. I shift uncomfortably, staring her down. The girl seems not to mind, instead taking her time examining me. Eventually she takes a step back, nodding.

Girl: “I’d say she’s with the rest of us, mhm. She at least has the aura of a Hope’s Peak student! Though… what kind of exemplary student makes such a mess, I wonder?”

She giggles. I scowl, knowing she’s referring to the brooms and cleaning products all over the floor. I surely would have come up with a scathing retort, but something the girl says catches my attention. I’ll have to get back at her later.

Subaru Shiina: “Wait, did you just say Hope’s Peak Academy?”

The girl nods. The boy, who has been quietly watching our exchange, bobs his head up and down as well.

Boy: “She did. We’re both students from there. And if Kagami-san’s right, then you’re a student as well, yes?”

Subaru Shiina: “So what if I am? Do you have any idea what’s going on? You’re not kidnappers, are you?”

The questions tumble out of my mouth in rapid succession. As I speak, I wrack my brain to see if I recognize them as being from Hope’s Peak Academy. They certainly don’t look like older students, so they must be in my grade.

Think, Subaru, think, I tell myself. This could be the difference between life or death. If they’re lying, then they’re obviously malicious. But as much as I concentrate, I can’t figure out who the boy is. At least the girl looks somewhat familiar.

And when she laughs again, it clicks.

Girl: “That’s a good one, hehe! Unfortunately, even I have no indication of what’s going on. But we’re certainly not--”

Subaru Shiina: “You’re that girl from TV!”

My cheeks turn red. I interrupted her, didn’t I? But instead of looking offended, she looks flattered. I had recognized that sickeningly cute giggle from that reality show my grandmother loves. The girl is the host of it, her name being Ryorin or something. Now, what was the name of that show… Ugh, I’m so forgetful today.

Girl: “Who, me? Hm hm, I suppose you’re referencing Dating Developments? Because yes, I’m the star of that. Ryorin at your service!”

She bows, making a peace sign with her fingers after straightening up. Well, that answers that question. I stare at her, suddenly feeling nervous. Though I’m famous in the jazz world, being around a mainstream celebrity suddenly feels unnerving.

Her smile softens, as if she can sense how worried I am. Am I really that easy to read? I try to harden my stare, but I still feel intimidated.

Girl: “Ryorin is my stage name, by the way. I’m actually Kagami Ryoko. You can call me Ryoko-chan if you want, or Kagami-san if you’re as formal as you look, hehe!”

I instinctively bristle, though in the back of my mind I figure she must’ve meant that as a compliment. Well, it’s her fault she wasn’t clear enough! The boy, whom I may or may not have forgotten was with us, clears his throat.

Boy: “Kagami-san doesn’t mean any harm by that, I’m sure. Right, Kagami-san?”

It’s clear he wants to keep the peace. I decide to humor him, content with seeing Ryoko’s smile waver. She seems just as taken aback now as I was a moment ago. Hah, so I got the upper hand, didn’t I?

Ryoko Kagami: “Mhm, I didn’t mean anything negative by it. My apologies… ah, what’s your name?”

Right. I have yet to introduce myself. Since the boy and Ryorin-- er, Ryoko -- now seem harmless, I decide to comply.

Subaru Shiina: “I’m Shiina Subaru.”

Short and sweet. A look of recognition flashes across the boy’s face, but Ryoko just continues to smile cluelessly. Ah, so she really is dense...

Boy: “Oh! In that case, may I ask if you’re the pianist? I heard a pianist would be in our class, so it makes sense it’d be the Shiina Subaru.”

He twirls a strand of hair around his finger as he talks. Meanwhile, I try not to appear panicked. I never thought my reputation would precede me. Instead of feeling excited I’ve reached that level of fame, I only fear for the worst. Hopefully he hasn’t heard anything bad about me.

Subaru Shiina: “Oh. Ah, yes. I’m the… yes.”

Idiot.

Subaru Shiina: “As in, I’m the Super High School Level Pianist.”

Their blank expressions change into smiles at the same time, both of them nodding in understanding. The boy looks like he wants to say something, but Ryoko quickly interjects.

Ryoko Kagami: “Hm, that reminds me! I haven’t told you my talent. I wonder… can you guess what it is, Subaru-chan? Since you know of my show and all, hehe.”

I give her a deadpan stare as I wonder if I’m allowed to say I don’t want to guess. The casual use of honorifics is off-putting enough, plus she totally steered conversation back to herself. I feel bad for the boy, who still hasn’t shared his name. However, her question sounds like an interesting challenge, so I decide to bite.

I think for a minute. The show my grandmother watches -- the one Ryorin stars in -- is called Dating Developments. It follows the lives of couples who have been paired together by a mysterious matchmaker. The whole gimmick is to see if the relationships work out. So far the matchmaker has only had six couples break up, which is an amazing track record for a show that’s been airing for a few years, having featured countless pairings.

Recently there’s been a lot of speculation lately on who the matchmaker could be. All the celebrity gossip columns (not that I read any of those) say the season finale will include the big reveal. My grandmother says they say that every season, and up until now I believed her.

But now with Ryoko attending Hope’s Peak Academy, I’m willing to bet this will be the last season. She’ll probably be too busy with schoolwork to continue hosting that frivolous reality show, so the producers might as well share the details.

Subaru Shiina: “Hmph, okay. Are you a TV personality, Kagami-san?”

Ryoko Kagami: “Hehe! Nope. But you’re close. It definitely has something to do with the show.”

Oh. Well, that narrows it down. She gives off a celebrity vibe, and though I doubt she could keep a secret to save her life...

Subaru Shiina: “So then you have to be the mysterious matchmaker. Is that your talent?”

She claps her hands together, which causes the boy with us to squeak. Even I’m a bit startled; the sudden sound is incredibly loud compared to the drumming of rain and our hushed conversation.

Ryoko Kagami: “Ding ding ding, that’s right! I’m the Super High School Level Matchmaker. Hm, you’re more intuitive than you let on, Subaru-chan.”

Ryoko Kagami, Super High School Level Matchmaker.

I wrinkle my nose at her back-handed compliment. I also make a mental note to tell her she should call me ‘Shiina-san’ until we get to know each other better. And that’s not just because I’m a bit scared that she’s incredibly famous.

I’m more concerned with the boy. Compared to Ryoko, he seems very reserved. He’s been quiet this whole time… what a doormat. But I’m pleased he knows who I am (even if it’s weird), so I still have to ask…

Subaru Shiina: “So what’s your name anyway? And since you’re from the same school, you should share your talent while you’re at it. I don’t really feel like playing any more guessing games.”

Ryoko giggles at this, which is starting to get annoying. If she’s hurt I insulted her playful nature, she doesn’t let on.

The boy stiffens, now looking more awake than he has this whole time. Maybe it’s because his eyes are so wide. Is he really that nervous to introduce himself?

Boy: “I’m Hazuki Iehisa, Super High School Level Architect. It’s nice to meet you, Shiina-san.”

Iehisa Hazuki, Super High School Level Architect.

Iehisa Hazuki: “Ah, and of course I mean it! I’ve never met someone as gifted as--”

Ryoko coughs loudly, cutting Iehisa off mid-sentence. This time I’m grateful for her wanting to take center stage. Even though I enjoy being talented as much as the next prodigy, I don’t particularly like direct compliments. They just seem like a way to cozy up to people, especially if it’s a stranger doing the flattering. If you’re complimenting me, I should have done something to earn it.

And since I haven’t done anything yet, I’m sure this Iehisa boy is faking it. He’s way too timid! If he wants my autograph, he should just ask for it outright.

However, it’d be rude to reject his compliment. He’s obviously a fan. I dip my head, trying not to look unhinged by his unbearable kindness.

Subaru Shiina: “Likewise, Hazuki-san.”

Iehisa gives me another smile, this one less frightened. I can’t help but smile back, even if it probably looks more like a grimace. He seems so pleased that I’m giving him the time of day that it’s sort of endearing.

...Wait a second, maybe I’m being held captive after all. No way would someone my age recognize my prowess as a star pianist, no matter how dorky he looked. They might just be trying to win me over. I should be more cautious.

Subaru Shiina: “Hold on, are you sure neither of you have any idea what’s going on?”

Ryoko tilts her head to the side and Iehisa stops smiling. They look unsettled, as if they’re now even doubting themselves. I feel like it’s too genuine a reaction for liars to have. That being said…

Subaru Shiina: “You’re both from Hope’s Peak Academy, but how’d you find that out about each other? And why did you assume I was going to be from Hope’s Peak too? It doesn’t really make sense.”

???: “There you are!”

Before I can continue deducing what’s going on here, someone else rounds the corner. The floor shakes as a brightly dressed, white-haired girl comes dashing towards us. It probably would’ve been a much more impressive entrance if she didn’t have to slow down to pick her way through the cleaning supplies.

White-Haired Girl: “Ugh, we’ve been waiting for you guys forever! Fujimori-kun thought you got lost, so I had to go find you… But hey, who’s this?”

She turns her attention to me just as I give her a curious look. As we stare at each other, I realize something: there are other people here. And based on how unsurprised Ryoko and Iehisa look, they’ve known that all along.

I study the girl, similiar to how Ryoko studied me when she first saw me. She looks to be the same age as us. Huh, weird.

Subaru Shiina: “No, first I have a question for you. Do you go to Hope’s Peak Academy too?”

The girl smiles and gives a thumbs up.

White-Haired Girl: “Sure do! Hey, Hazuki-kun, does this mean she confirmed your theory?”

Iehisa nods, remaining quiet. I glare at them. What theory is she referring to? Did I answer a question without realizing it? When he notices my mean look, he pales and speaks up.

Iehisa Hazuki: “Mhm. You see, Shiina-san, everyone here is a student at Hope’s Peak. Before Kagami-san and I found you, we were talking with all the other kids here. We’re all starting our first year this Spring, so we must be in the same class. In fact…”

Ryoko raises a hand, as if she’s a student eager to be called on in class. Of course she wants to interject during a crucial moment like this. And of course Iehisa lets her.

Ryoko Kagami: “Please hold! I want to tell her the scary part! When we were all comparing stories, everyone’s had something in common, mhm. Subaru-chan, what was the last thing you remember before entering the closet?”

I furrow my brow, worried about where this is headed.

Subaru Shiina: “Hmph, I didn’t go in the closet on purpose! I just woke up there after… Tch, I’m not actually sure. The last thing I remember is entering the school, and then there was a bright light. I was pushed to the ground, and things got brighter until… hmm. I guess I fell unconscious.”

A wave of dizziness washes over me as I recall what happened. I stumble, nearly tripping over a fallen broom. The white-haired girl grabs me by the arm to steady me. I nod at her as thanks and try to ignore the world spinning around me. It’ll probably pass.

Ryoko Kagami: “Ah, there you have it! Everyone here has the exact same story -- passing out on their first day and waking up somewhere in this building. But the strangest part is… We all heard the same thing. Did you hear it too?”

Oh my god. I’m relieved the girl is still holding onto me, because suddenly everything seems far away. Did they really all hear that laugh too? And the whisper?

This is all fake, right?

But… I feel I have to be honest.

Subaru Shiina: “I think so.”

My voice sounds distant. Ryoko adopts a triumphant look, seemingly proud she guessed correctly. Lucky her. I’m just trying to remain standing. She’s staring to look far away, as do the others. The world around me is starting to grow hazy as it turns a grayish hue. Everything feels like it’s slowing down.

I wonder if I’m about to pass out again, when I see something out of the corner of my eye. In the midst of all the gray is something a deep blue. I look closer and spot a blue notebook amongst the cleaning products I had knocked over earlier. It’s plain aside from something written in the corner on the cover. Yet I can’t make out what it says.

Even as I bend down to pick it up, nobody around me reacts. I feel strangely calm though, figuring time has stopped or something. The thought doesn’t feel unnatural. Plus this notebook is infinite times more important than the people I’m with. I know I have to read it. It’s imperative I read it! Because if I don’t, everything will--

Just as my fingers brush the cover, I hear a voice.

???: “No do-overs…!”

The world turns bright, and in the distance I hear rain.

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