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the-bjd-community-confess · 3 years

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Dear 'Anime Bad' Anon: I Want To Help I pity your situation, so please have a list of weebshit that isn't moeified, or wherein the cutesy art-style serves a greater purpose. (Note: though they won't be soft marshmallow uguuuu, they may still have issues in other ways. Some may have aged badly with regards to how society views or portrays groups or beliefs, some may have upsetting content and dark themes, and some may simply not be to your taste. Note: Anime is a genre, not a monolith, and the disparaging stereotype that it's all cute girls uwuing over their brother s-s-senpai!!! is as much of a disservice as saying all western movies are just vapid cash grab superhero movie sequels with no inegrity or thought put into them. There are indeed a lot of superhero movies, but they're not all identical schlock (megamind vs venom vs kick-ass), but even more than that, there is a wealth of creative endeavor just beyond the veil of Marvel's cape: just as there are plenty of good anime if you dig past the isekai high school harem wish fulfillment genre that no one wants to keep making but people keep making because it prints money to a very small demographic of the animation equivalent of a mobile game whale thereby allowing this frankly quite-small industry to work on engaging and worthwhile series where the budget permits, Regardless,)

Mushi-shi: -Pros: gorgeous animation, tranquil vibes, episodic stories so you can cram in an episode between classes or on your lunch break. highly recommended by the literal-who typing this out. -Cons: some themes or stories may cause emotional distress, learning to tell apart Urushibara Yuki's characters is a learning curve.

Baccano-Pros: meticulously-researched 20s-and-30s-era mafia violence with a hint of the supernatural, as a treat, told anachronistically with flair and jazz music. practically made to be binge-watched. the novels are finally getting translated into english as well. -Cons: lots of characters to keep track of, fair bit of blood and violence, some scenes or themes may be upsetting, lots of jumping around between different time periods. See Also: Durarara, another series by Ryōgo Narita with a ton of characters and a plot with more threads an overpriced sheet.

Cowboy Bebop-Pros: incredibly well-regarded, space bounty hunters are cool, episodic series that slowly takes on a plot towards the end, fantastic animation, scoring, and even dub work. -Cons: some scenes or themes may be uncomfortable, some parts have not aged quite so well, the smart doll version of the main character is ugly, you're gonna carry that weight.

Trigun-Pros: starts lighthearted, develops an increasingly investing plot as the series goes along. fictional westerns are cool. this world is made of love and peace -Cons: some scenes or themes may be upsetting, and probably will be. gun violence is naturally present, but that ain't all of it.

Hellsing (standard or Ultimate. or Abridged)Pros: vampires killing nazis. the original adaptation isn't bad, the second adaptation (ultimate) is generally viewed as an improvement. abridged is a youtube parody version that was so popular the voice actors reference it in convention interviews.Cons: a Lot of violence, even trending to the gorey side of things. Uncomfortable Themes Everywhere, but it's a horror-tinged action series about killing nazis, so that's to be expected.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood-Pros: while the original anime was quite good, the second iteration is a large improvement. does to alchemy what naruto does to ninjas: It's Basically Battle Magic. the plot starts on a strong note and doesn't let up from there. -Cons: there are distressing scenes and themes that may or may not be tolerable to the viewer. there are moments of cheesecake and even an occasional joke or a moeblob here and there, and it's not all doom and all gloom all the time, but this doesn't detract from the abject horror-despair that comes to permeate this series as it progresses. finally understand why people on the internet respond so negatively to the name 'nina'!

[Mod: many more recs/reviews under the break, worth reading for those who like more obscure anime and animation]

Grave of the Fireflies-Pros: you will remember how to cry. it's a good reminder that one country's 'triumphs' often come at the expense of another country's people. -Cons: this movie is incredibly dark, do not watch if you are in a bad headspace. see also: Barefoot Gen, a similar tale but this time from the perspective of an actual survivor from Hiroshima.

Michiko to Hatchin-Pros: an actually diverse cast of characters tangled up in a messy and very humanizing story, interspersed with Shinichiro Watanabe's particular flare for adventure. -Cons: some scenes or themes are very likely to be distressing. can be tricky to find, too.

Mo no no Ke (not the ghibli movie, though it is also quite good.) -Pros: incredibly unique art style and pacing that draws heavily from japanese theatre traditions, every screenshot is wallpaper-worthy. -Cons: may cause motion sickness. it is a psychological horror series, and one that does not need blood, nor gore, to cause visceral emotional response in the viewer. scenes and themes will be distressing- as really, that's the point.

Tokyo Godfathers-Pros: a transwoman, a (self-identified) homeless bum, and a runaway teen girl find a newborn in the baby on christmas. incredibly wholesome, somehow, and grounded in reality, with wonderful animation from the tragically late satoshi kon. -Cons: it is grounded in realism, and sometimes, people are dicks. mild transphobia warning, too, but in-universe- the transwoman herself is portrayed with kindness and allowed to be her own (wonderful!!!) person. still, viewer be mindful.

Kino no Tabi (the first series is my preferred, the second is shinier but lacks emotional impact- in my onion.) -Pros: mostly episodic, very unique series that can be gritty where it counts and kind where it matters. -Cons: some scenes or themes might be disturbing. finding it's not easy, either, and unfortunately, i don't think the novels are being translated right now, either.

Spice and Wolf-Pros: it's mostly about economics. there are shenanigans, a harvest god, and a slowly burgeoning romance, sure, but it's still mostly about economics. -Cons: there are moments of cheesecake and comedy, and moments that may cause distress to the viewer. it may or may not be to your taste.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica-Cons: yeah i know, it's moeblobs. -Pros: you're gonna watch 'em die, though, in case that may interest you. it's quite a good subversion of the magical girl genre overall. somehow volks hasn't made an MDD of anyone from the series and i will never understand how that didn't happen.

Wolf Children: Ame to Yuki-Pros: watch a family grow together as a newly-single mother does her best to raise her twin children after the tragic loss of their father. -Cons: keep tissues handy. certain scenes or themes may be uncomfortable.

Lupin III (Red Jacket, Ghibli, and the new 3D animation are all A+) pros: heist comedy elevated to an art form before half (or more!) of the people reading this were born. the english dubbed series that used to air on adult swim is a treat. cons: this franchise started in THE SIXTIES, so naturally, some shit has not aged well. certain series (fujiko mine) are darker than others in themes and material. the 3d movie that released recently is an excellent starting point.

Samurai Champloo-Pros: breakdancing samurai, a fascinating roster of characters, and a superb soundtrack by the tragically passed Nujabes. -Cons: it was made in the weird era of the transition from analog to digital animation and so the /series master/ was animated at a painfully low resolution, so even if there's a bluray out there (I haven't looked,) it will be an upscale, which doesn't always look the best. as well, there are scenes and themes that may make the viewer uncomfortable here and there.

The Works of Studio Ghibli Oh, I'm sorry, Ponyo too suffused with childhood wonder for you? My Neighbor Totoro not depressing enough? In addition to the infamous Grave of the Fireflies, Studio Ghibli has made a wealth of movies that aren't aimed squarely at the kodomo (children's) sector. -Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: climate change existential dread, the movie -Castle in the Sky: government obsession with obtaining weapons of mass destruction destroys everything beautiful, the movie -Pom Poko: human-caused deforestation and urbanization is destroying the natural world and all that live in it, the movie -Princess Mononoke: industrialization will be the death of everything beautiful in the world, the movie, with a side of sometimes everyone (and no one) is the villain when everyone is simply trying to survive -Howl's Moving Castle: The Physical Manifestation of Depression is a Liquid Ooze, the Movie, also War Is Bad It's not all depressing, but let it never be said that Hayao Miyazaki was subtle. Whisper of the Heart is a good coming-of-age story, Kiki's Delivery Service is a classic, Tales from Earthsea is divisive among fans of Ursula K. Le Guin but I personally liked it. From one studio alone there is a wealth of opportunities.

And that's really the point. These are just some from the top of my head. There are so very many options outside of the cute-girls-doing-cute-things genre that I couldn't list them all if I was here for a week. Or as Madoka Magica so ruthlessly showcases, even series that appear a certain way on the surface might not be what you bargained for once you look into them! These are all (I think) mostly older, mainstream-appeal series that should be easy to track down, too -- there are all kinds of singular animations like The Diary of Tortov Roddle, crowdfunded experiments like KICK-HEART, Masterpiece World Theatre renditions of classic (western) novels that never get talked about, films like A Silent Voice that confront social issues- and of course, series like Rozen Maiden that helped popularize this very hobby!

There is literally an ocean of content to explore from Japanese creators alone, and it opens up even more if you look into works from other parts of Asia- just look at how popular manwha have become, or Chinese animations like Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild! It's a genre unto itself, with all the breadth of content and inter-industry problems that come with it, and without any of the respect that similar art forms have been granted over the years. The way an entire culture's art form is often disparaged, disregarded, and belittled- and by extension, the way most of Asia's animated endeavors are often rolled up into that reductive dismissal along with anime and manga- is honestly Not Great, and there is absolutely a thread of xenophobia that runs through it. The industry has so very many problems (low wages, poor training, overwork of everyone ever, archaic financial modules, the exclusivity and breadth of merchandising necessary to turn a profit and how it leads to consumer burnout and disconnection over time, and yes, the way minors are portrayed not just in anime, but in Japanese media in general- and how much of that is actually bad (some of it is indeed,) and how much if it is cultural difference (I've heard people call the scene where the family in Totoro bathe together problematic because of the nudity, but I've also only heard people say that from the West)

-- none of the actual problems affecting the people who produce this medium are gonna improve when the general response to "animators frequently have to live at home to survive" is "that's what happens when you're a weeb." It's 5am and I'm gonna point out the problems in the narrative around how we discuss this genre of entertainment because it's important, damn you! Regardless, thank you for coming to my unasked for and overlong TED talk about animation on a doll collecting drama blog, feel free to call me a pathetic weeb etcetera on your way out- but while you do so, might I suggest you also go watch a choice animated series! My current go-to is Bofuri, which is a cute-girls-doing-cute-things moefied isekai series that I refuse to apologize for watching. Be free. (The battle scenes are great and it captures the feeling of learning to play a new MMO with your friends better than most video-game-based anime I've seen in a long, long time. does anyone even still remember .hack? how about serial experiments lain...?)

~Anonymous

#BJD #ABJD #BJD Confessions #TrueBJDConfessions #Anime

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sinceileftyoublog · 3 years

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Georgia Anne Muldrow Interview: Rhythm Is A Form of Gravity

Photo by Antoinette A. Brock

BY JORDAN MAINZER

“The people keep you fresh. They keep you on your toes,” Georgia Anne Muldrow told me over the phone last month. The prolific L.A. musician, whose output ranges from experimental hip-hop to neo soul to jazz and everything in between, is releasing her fifth record in four years on Friday, and the third overall in her beats series. VWETO III (FORESEEN + Epistrophik Peach Sound) follows last year’s Mama, You Can Bet! (released under the name Jyoti), 2019′s collaboration with Dudley Perkins and VWETO II, and 2018′s acclaimed, Grammy-nominated Overload. Unlike any of the previous albums, it was put together with some “calls to action” in mind.

Thought some of the songs were around for longer, VWETO III as an entity was made last year, “over a course of time where things were changing in terms of different recording techniques I was trying,” said Muldrow, harking back to techniques and inspirations from her early years of music making. The record was also, obviously, formed during a global pandemic that caused folks to lock down, and Muldrow is conscious to giving listeners opportunities to reach out on her very active Instagram account. Each of the album’s singles have been paired with those aforementioned calls to action. “Unforgettable”, which combines 80′s-sounding synths with 90′s G-funk, calls for vocalists to submit performances to go along with Muldrow’s vocals on the song. “Mufaro’s Garden”, inspired by an illustrated folktale book called Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, asks for visual artist submissions. On the day of the album’s release, Muldrow will ask for dance submissions to “Slow Drag”, a throwback Hammond-guitar-piano ditty named after the juke joint dance of the same name. Next month, it’ll be “Action Groove”, with calls for turntable scratch ‘n’ sampling remixes from DJs. And it’s not just the singles that exemplify Muldrow’s desire to connect with listeners on a granular level. Many of the songs on VWETO III refer to or are inspired by specific eras, from the Afrofuturist jazz of “Afro AF” to the genre tribute “Boom Bap Is My Homegirl”. That the titles are clearly referential, too, like “Old Jack Swing” or “Synthmania Rock”, shows that Muldrow’s not winking and nodding or trying to fool us, earnestly inviting us to dive in.

Moreover, VWETO III is coinciding with what Muldrow’s calling the Teacherie, classes she’s trying to develop to spread knowledge of what she’s learned throughout her own career, everything from philosophy to instrumental-specific classes. Right now, from her saved Instagram story called “Teacherie!,” you can take an assessment to fill out what you’re interested in. “It helps me to see what skill levels people have and what they want to learn in the class,” Muldrow said. “I seek to continue to stay open enough to make relevant music and have relevant things to share with people.” Overall, Muldrow is the type of artist that uses online platforms the way they’d be used in an ideal world. Her use of NFTs, too, is noble; the album art by Cape Town-based Breeze Yoko is being auctioned off, with 50% of proceeds going to prison abolitionist organization Critical Resistance. Even when the offline world returns--Muldrow’s slated to play Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday, September 11th--Muldrow’s created a blueprint for navigating an increasingly isolating digital world, by seeking out real connections.

Below, read my conversation with Muldrow, edited for length and clarity, as she discusses making the record, being inspired by African rhythms, the influence of Digital Underground, and why her work logically extends into prison abolition. You can also catch her tomorrow on Bandcamp Live at 8 PM CST.

Since I Left You: Why did you decide this was a good time to revisit your beats album series?

Georgia Anne Muldrow: The people love it, you know? I always like to post beats on Instagram and share my poetry or state of mind of what’s going on in the world according to my people, and provide a place of joy and uplift. The voice of the people kind of determined what songs were on there. There are some songs that nobody’s ever heard. Different ideas, something a little bit more energized.

Something for the people. It’s really great that I have direct contact with them. Some of the songs are things I like to try based on the vibes I get from their feedback. It’s great; it’s a beautiful thing for me. I’ve gone through phases where critics love me, but the voice of the people that really support your work is really cool to hear. It’s like a little focus group. I just like sharing my music with folks because it’s my way of contributing love energy to the world in a direct, immediate way.

SILY: A lot of folks are still staying home and needing that connection. You’re connecting with them but also providing a platform for them to connect with each other.

GAM: Yes. I’m way into that and seek to be expanding that in an even more literal sense with my classroom project [Teacherie], like a live webinar sort of thing, that enables folks to speak amongst themselves. A more extended form of what I do on social media. An intimate look at what’s really going on in music. They can see where my emotions end and the music begins and try to make things seamless within their own music. Teach what I’ve picked up along the way, because I won’t be here forever. Spreading the love but the knowledge, too, with the music that I share. There’s a certain quality that you can achieve if you have patience.

SILY: Did you always know you wanted to do these calls for action, like for vocalists on “Unforgettable”? And how did you decide which tracks you wanted to do them for?

GAM: It’s definitely my way of trying to promote some sort of hip hop jam in lieu of the isolation that folks are weathering...I’m really inspired by the early age of hip hop where everyone had different dances. They brought their art books to the hip hop jams. The jackets with the art on it, the MCs rapping. The breakdancing, the DJs. All of the different things in place for it to be complete. That’s part of what got me hooked on production. One night years ago, [when I first played] my stuff, and folks started to dance, it got me hooked--to make somebody move. Somebody can rap over this, somebody can dance to this or draw to this. That’s the reason for the calls to action. Opening up a hip hop jam all over the world. I hope it gains some momentum. That would be nice, for more people to put themselves out there. But I do understand we live in different times right now and people are trying to get by. I still have to post some of the artists from “Mufaro’s Garden” and these rap videos from “Unforgettable”.

SILY: You’re giving people an opportunity, even if they’re just trying to get through the day, to take a break or have a beneficial creative exercise.

GAM: Yeah. Being creative together, and togetherness. The thinking that the songs aren’t complete without dance. Lyrics are a certain kind of fulfillment of music. But the movement of the body is another one. [It] goes back to gravity. Drummers harness the power of gravity and manipulate it so things can fall at a certain time. Same thing with dance--[dancers] don’t manipulate gravity, but interact with it and create an interdependence with it. When somebody’s dancing, they come back down to the ground, and you could let that go and let gravity guide what your dance looks like. Rhythm is a form of gravity--a form of gravity engaging with life. I feel like movement is the fulfillment of all the arts. I just seek to do my part.

SILY: You mentioned being inspired by a specific early era in hip hop, and there’s a lot on here inspired by genre or era-specific trends, like the G-funk in “Unforgettable” and “Boom Bap Is My Homegirl”.

GAM: [Boom bap] is one of the things that I specialize in. It’s a home base for me. In my experience, it’s a very African point of access. A lot of the boom bap rhythms are straight from Africa. Most of them are. Off the shores of West Africa. I heard so many of them, from The Gambia, Senegal, Mali. Over there, you hear so much of it. I want to be part of that. At the same time, I might wake up and make a free jazz record. I don’t feel like a traditionalist; I just want to preserve the culture of Black music from this hemisphere. I love traditional ideas, but it’s not like I’m gonna do this one idea for the sake of staying in a lane. There’s no place that Black music hasn’t influenced, molded, shaped, nurtured.

SILY: When was the last time you were able to perform in Africa?

GAM: I believe it might have been 2017. These years have started to run together. I don’t mind it, though. Keeps me young. [laughs]

VWETO III cover art by Breeze Yoko

SILY: How did the songs on here with vocals come together, whether the ones with your singing or the ones with featured artists? Did the words or beats/melodies come first?

GAM: The beats came first except for “Shana’s Back”. Shana Jensen is my sister; she’s the mother of my niece. Every time she’d come over and I had an idea to compose songs around her, they’d end up being huge songs. She’d be like, “Bye!” [laughs] I guess she wanted something a little more understated. I’d always end up doing big Motown sounds. There’s a song on The Blackhouse called “Shana’s Groove”. It’s a like a reoccurring situation and character. It’s kind of funny at this point.

The other ones, like “Unforgettable”, I’m very much matching the vibe, the punk-funk aesthetic. Sometimes a little hook just pushes it over the edge and gets them into the mindset I was in when thinking about it. Other songs like “Love Call” I just wanted to sound like it was in an arena. Arena rock, funk, Digital Underground-inspired, all the way.

SILY: Are you a big Digital Underground fan?

GAM: I think it shows in a lot of the music I make. I don’t think I can hide it. This record has so many examples of that. I love Shock G so much. He was so bad, as a thinker, a philosopher, a community builder, artist, pianist, maestro. The “Love Call” groove, “Unforgettable”, “[Old] Jack Swing”, you can hear it. I was raised with that kind of music in my head as a child. Unashamed to be funky and make a groove have extra grease on it. That’s what distinguished our sound from other region’s sounds. Getting greasy. While still doing the boom bap and all that other stuff. For me, it was always a goal to represent where I’m from in my music in a non-traditional way. Bringing what I love about the West Coast to whatever I was working on.

Shock G lives in all of us. He brought so many different vibes. A rhythmic pocket that breathes. Somewhat right under "Atomic Dog”. It keeps you moving. It has a breath of life in it. I’m so thankful to have lived in an era where I could hear and experience his work.

SILY: How did “Ayun Vegas” come together?

GAM: Ayun is my little brother. I think I’ve known him since 2014 or ‘15. He’s quite a talent. I love his style. He’s from [New] Jersey. I love his sense of rhythmic dynamic. His use of metaphor, double entendre. I feel like he’s really a gifted poet. He can do all types of different things. He’s an amazing MC--he just released a project with Jacob Rochester called Slaps & Hugs. I’m gonna lean towards people who are creative themselves and insert themselves into everything they do.

Ayun is very secure in being different. He came out to Vegas, and I had this song. Usually, when I play leftfield stuff, MCs want that beat they can crush and not feel challenged by. This song is really old. I feel like it was made in 2016. I feel like that was the first time when somebody was willing to rap on an idea that was out of the ordinary. It’s not just in your face. It’s something different, but I want you to rap for your life on this. Something more like a movie score, where you find your character. He did it! He didn’t leave one beat behind.

He’s rhythmically gifted and quite the poet. He almost went into pro football but he chose music. He’s a very enterprising brother, doing all types of apparel. He was working in the visual artist community, in the videographer community. Any time I can showcase what it is that he got to share, I’m there. He’s not afraid to speak the truth. This verse is impressionistic. It’s like somebody is taking a really big brush and making a beautiful image, strong-arming it. It’s dope. I love it.

We did another song together on the Overload album, but it didn’t make the cut. The Japanese version of Overload has a song called “What Can We Do Now”, and it has Ambrose Akinmusire, Ayun, and me. I’d love for that to be heard stateside, because it’s definitely about what’s happening over here.

SILY: Why did you choose to have the proceeds for this record go to Critical Resistance?

GAM: I’ve always wanted my music to be a tool for the motion of people. It doesn’t stop with dance and rapping and singing and drawing. It begins with that. Where it ends up, the movement of people coming into their powers, truths that in order to have a more humane society, we are going to have to throw some of this bullshit away. The spoils of enslavement. We’ve got to get rid of those spoils so we can get to a more realistic place of folks being cognizant of the activities that they take a part in. Jails ain’t gonna help people feel like they’re part of the community. They cage people and endanger their lives and run the risk of ruining somebody’s mental, emotional, and spiritual state even if they did commit the crime they’re in there for.

There’s a sense that all crime is committed from a place of fear. Many crimes people are locked up for is just folks trying to find a way. I don’t see how more fear is going to rehabilitate. The idea that punishment leads to enlightenment. People in the public school system are taught about some of the baddest people that ever lived--mass murders. But they’re not the type of people held accountable. They’re who brought over the imprisonment systems from their failed nations.

I don’t believe in reform at all. Critical Resistance seeks to abolish prisons as we know them. I love that their resolve is so sure and bold.

Photo by Antoinette A. Brock

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years

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Survey #381

“don’t try to be the one person who has stayed just to say they never left me”

Do you feel bored with your life? Always. Do you miss anyone who was mean to you in the past? I sometimes miss Colleen, but I know it's for the better that we no longer associate with each other. What’s the most weight you’ve ever gained from a medication? I don't know, but a fuck of a lot. Thanks, Abilify. Have you ever been suicidal? Yes. Do you pray? If yes, to whom? No. What do you miss about high school? Memories with Jason. What do you miss the most about college? Socializing. What was the best date you’ve ever been on? A triple date to an arcade w/ Jason and friends. What’s the last great song you discovered? The most recent one? I don't know, really. Do you feel free to post how you feel on Facebook? Yeah. Don't like what I post, delete me. Have you ever done cocaine? Yikes, no thanks. Do you think you’ll ever get married? Do you want to? I sometimes wonder if I ever will. I'm scared of just continuing to be an unemployed leech that is doing nothing significant with her life, in which case it's like, why even be with me romantically. I feel like such a dead end street. I want to get married someday. Who do you care about the most? When it comes down to it, probably my mom. Have you ever made out on a couch? Yeah. Would you ever get gauged ears? I want small gauges, actually. When it comes to clothing, are you the conservative type? Yes, because I hate my body and don't want others to see it. Do you enjoy eating? I wish I didn't. Have you ever ridden in a race car? No. Do you go out of your way to impress the opposite gender? No. Do you enjoy history? Not really, no. It bores me. Are you a pajama person or do you stay dressed all day? I'm just about always in my pjs. Do you value looks or personality more? Personality is way more important. Have you ever changed religions? Yeah. Born Roman Catholic, converted to Christianity when I further understood the differences, then I went to how I am now: I believe in something(s), but I don't quite know what. I wouldn't call myself a Neo-Pagan, but it's what I relate most to. Would you ever wear fake eyelashes? I would for like, my wedding. Foo fighters vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers: I'm actually not a big fan of either. Are you a fan of the SAW movies? I don't really watch them. Do you ever forget how old your siblings are? My two immediate sisters, I'm sometimes a year off. All my others, yes. :x Mountain Dew or Sprite? Mountain Dew, of course. I really don't like Sprite now, which is ironic because as a kid, it was my favorite soda. Could you ever give yourself a shot? Yeah. Have you ever worked as a cashier? That was one of my duties when I worked at a dollar store. If you are on birth control that allows you take pills and skip your period, how often do you opt to skip it? How come? My birth control doesn't allow me to skip, but rather, it regulates it. Is there a book series where you loved the first book, but for some reason the other books in the series just didn’t measure up? I can't say that, no, as most series I just kinda fell out of, like The Hunger Games. LOVED the first book, started the second, and even though I was enjoying it, I just stopped for some reason? Are there any stores/restaurants that you would like to shop/eat at, but there aren’t any located near enough to you? Haha yeah, like lots of west coast fast food places like Jack n' the Box or however it's formatted. If you were told by a professional that you were unable to become pregnant, how would that affect you? Is there something important to you about conceiving a biological child rather than adoption? And finally, if you even want to have children, would you choose adoption or surrogacy or would you go on childless? I don't even want kids, so honestly, I'd be stoked if I learned I was infertile. Wouldn't need to worry about the chance of getting pregnant and facing an abortion dilemma. Is there something that you did not used to take seriously, that you either now take seriously or wish that you had in the past (e.g., a relationship that you miss, your education, etc.)? Hm. I don't know. Are there any subjects that you are interested in so much that you would read whole books or academic journals about them? Meerkats, especially. I will read EVERY scientific article about them I find. Are you physically affectionate with your friends? I'm a hugger. When you were in middle school and high school, did you witness a lot of bullying? How did the teachers react to name-calling or violence? Not really, thankfully. Are any of your friends/relatives actually impressive artists or writers? Are you willing to share an example of their work? Yeah. I have a cousin who's really good at drawing, and my sister is a wonderful cake decorator. Do you drink more apple or orange juice? Orange. Could you forgive your best friend for sleeping with your gf/bf? My hypothetical bf/gf, no. Would you ever donate blood? I have before, and I would again if I knew I was hydrated enough and the opportunity was right there. Would you rather drink coffee or tea? Ugh, neither. Do you get easily embarrassed? YES. How long was your longest make out? TMI alert, like all night. If the person who hurt you most said they’re sorry would you believe them? I honestly don't know. Do you have sensitive skin? Very. What color is your mum's car? White. Do you live in an apartment? No. Do you have a pet fish? Nope. Are you happy with your eye color? I wish they were a more sapphire blue. Solid soap bar or liquid body wash? Absolutely liquid body wash. What color do you want your dream car to be? Baby pink. *-* Do you have more then one favorite band? I say I do, but at the same time I know Ozzy Osbourne will ALWAYS be #1. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship? In a relationship. But it's absolutely not something I'm about to force just for the sake of being in one. Would you be really upset if Facebook ceased to exist tomorrow? Nah. Have you or would you try shark meat? No to both. Do you know anyone that's pescatarian? No. Someone I watch on YouTube is, though. Are you shy or over confident around your crushes? Super shy. Do you think the govt. has a cure for cancer, but is hiding it from public? Hell, I think it's very well possible, but I lean more towards for financial hoarding, they simply don't further pursue potential cures that are discovered. I mean, just THINK about all the "future cures" you've read or heard about. It's fucking outrageous. It's all to fuel the medical industry. Okay, tin hat coming off. Last time you drank a diet soda? A very long time ago, because diet soda gives me a massive headache. Was your ex born in America? Only one wasn't. Name your favorite type of music and why. Metal. I for one just like the sound, and I find it very therapeutic when I'm especially mad or sad. Even when I'm in a good mood, I just enjoy it. I also feel that a lot of metal songs tell interesting stories and/or have very poetic lyrics. Do you own or have you read, or thought of reading any self-help books? I haven't, but I've considered it. Can you breakdance? Definitely not. Have you ever read a book and not understood it? If so which one? Yes. We were assigned this one war novel in middle school that was FUCKING AWFUL, like I was checked out the whole time. I don't remember its name or anything. Have you ever watched a movie and not understood it? If so which one? Yes; the Warcraft movie I mentioned in a recent survey. Orcs and their fucking deep-ass voice that I couldn't understand. Do you blowdry your hair? No. Tell me about your dream last night. Omfgggggg y'all. So, there's one invert pet that I've never understood the keeping appeal of, and that's giant centipedes. Their bites are notoriously excruciating, and they are just SO goddamn fast. Well, for some godforsaken reason, I wanted one as a pet. Got one, and it immediately got loose. Guess who wanted to shit herself lmao. Centipedes are very cool, but only from a distance, ya feel? Have you ever stayed in a fancy high-class rich hotel? No. Have you ever stayed in a rent-by-the-hour motel? I don't think so. Describe the worst fight you’ve ever been in whether physical or verbal. I'm not entirely sure about my *worst*, but I know it was with Mom. We've had a few. Have you heated any food in your microwave today? Yeah, a shrimp alfredo Lean Cuisine bowl. Do you own any items of clothing with cartoon characters on them? Yes. Have you ever played Animal Crossing? No, it doesn't seem like my kinda game. Do you own anything (e.g jewelry, accessories) with your initial on it? Yes, but none of which I personally bought because I don't really like them. Do you own any cats or dogs? What are their names? I have a cat named Roman. <3 Have you added any books to your shelves lately? Which? No. Have you bought any new cosmetics or toiletries lately? Which? No. Do your pets have a specific type of food that they prefer? Roman will eat whatever cat food he's given, while Venus, like your average ball python, is a picky eater. Like when I first got her, she wouldn't eat for almost a year because I just couldn't find a method through which she'd accept food. Now she consistently takes frozen/thawed small rats that have actually sat in warm water (versus doing it by hand under running water), and she generally won't strike it unless it's offered to her by tongs, but not dangling by the tail. Picky, picky miss thang. What's your favourite variety of apple? I'm not very particular about flavor so long as the apple is crisp. I canNOT do soft apples. Which of your physical features do you receive the most compliments about? My hair.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''orchids'' by stone sour

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ewankoseyo · 5 years

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good to you || yugyeom imagine

Yugyeom wants to be the man for you, but you won’t stop seeing him as a child.

A/N: She’s back! Slightly cheesy, but this is me trying to get back in the groove.

Yugyeom nearly jumped in place and spat out his water when he heard clapping behind him.

“Gyeomie, that was amazing!”

Instantly recognizing your voice, he felt his breath getting caught up in his throat.

“Noona! What are you—how long have you been standing there?”

You stood there in the doorway of the dance studio, giggling as you took in his flustered form. You didn’t know if his face was red from dancing or from getting caught. As sweat dripped down his neck, Yugyeom was still trying to catch his breath from the difficult routine he was practicing.

“Just a minute...or two or three,” you answered mischievously. “I was just passing by when I saw you through the window. I didn’t want to interrupt so I figured I’d say hi when you were finished. Is that what you’re going to perform at the festival?”

Yugyeom nodded bashfully, trying to avert his gaze to anywhere but you. “The festival’s already next week, so I need to put in as much practice as I can.”

He swore that his heart was going to explode right out of his chest as you beamed at him.

“I know you’re going to do great. You always do,” you encouraged. “And you can count on me to be right in the front row cheering you on.”

“Thank you,” was all Yugyeom could say as he casted his gaze downwards with a shy smile. His classmates often complimented him on his dancing but hearing your praise always made him feel like he won the lottery.

“Gosh, you’re so talented,” you continued, leaning casually against the wall. “I wish I could dance like you. Then I wouldn’t look like such a fool at dances.”

Little did you know, Yugyeom found your “bad dancing” quite adorable.

“You know Noona, if you want, I could teach you a dance...” He silently cursed the way his voice had cracked in the middle of his sentence but continued on. “I was going to stay here to practice until school closed anyway.”

You gave him an apologetic smile. “I wish I could, but I was actually on the way to see the breakdancing club.”

“The breakdancing club?”

“Yeah, Jaebum asked me to help record a video of them as promo for the festival,” you replied excitedly. “I should actually get going, but I just wanted to stop by and say hi.”

“Oh, right...” Yugyeom nodded with a thin smile, attempting to hide his disappointment. It was no secret to him that you had taken an interest in the b-boying leader. What girl at this school didn’t? Jaebum was calm, cool, and collected. He may seem intimidating and indifferent from his resting scowl, but he was actually quite personable and charming when you talked to him. He was handsome, smart, poised—everything Yugyeom believed he wasn’t.

If Jaebum asked you with his charming smile and eye crinkles to help him, you would have been a fool to refuse.

“Well...thanks for stopping by...”

“Yup, I’ll see you tomorrow!” Giving him one last smile, you left him alone once again in the studio.

Yugyeom collapsed to the floor, the fatigue of practice finally hitting him. He stared back at his reflection in the mirror, relaxing his jaw and furrowing his eyebrows slightly, mimicking the usual expression of the object of your desires. He groaned after a moment, realizing his expression could never hold a candle to Jaebum’s.

No matter what face he made, he would always look like a child.

You would always see him as a child.

——

Yugyeom’s mother used to tell him stories of how she fell for his father. While the other boys at school would try to impress her with game winning goals or the highest test score in class, his father was the only one to take the time to put his mother before himself. He often offered to carry her books to class, offered his seat to her on the bus when it was full, and always asked her about her day. These were the simplest things, but she appreciated the gestures nevertheless.

To Yugyeom’s mother, chivalry was what separated the men from the boys.

Yugyeom always thought of you before himself, but maybe he needed to be a bit more forward. So whenever the opportunity presented itself, he would take the time to seem more like a man to you.

“Noona, that looks heavy! Let me get that for you!”

“It’s okay Gyeomie, I got it!” Despite your protests, Yugyeom relieved the heavy box from your arms—which he would never admit was too heavy for him—and took it into the classroom.

“What’s all this stuff for?” Yugyeom asked with a huff as he put down the box onto one of the desks.

“The festival planning committee is having a little karaoke party to celebrate our hard work before we start setting up the school tomorrow,” you explained as you removed some mics and cords from the box. “You should join too since you’re dancing tomorrow! None of this would have been possible without our lineup of performers.”

“Sounds fun.” Yugyeom grinned, busying himself with untangling some wires to hide the redness that was surely on his cheeks. “Can I help you out with setting up the room?”

You beamed gratefully at the taller boy, the crinkles by your eyes sending his head spinning.

“I’d really appreciate that. You’re the best Gyeomie!”

The two of you spent the next hour putting the room together. Yugyeom danced around the room hanging up fairy lights, his antics eliciting a hearty laugh from you as you set up the karaoke system. Enjoying the delightful sound you made, Yugyeom did everything he could to get more laughs out of you. His impression of Jackson’s mishap at last week’s basketball game brought out more eye smiles while his story of how Bambam tried to get out of a presentation he didn’t prepare for by faking a classroom chemical leak had you laughing so hard, you needed to sit down from setting up the food to collect yourself. Yugyeom didn’t know how much help he was to you, since you seemed to work through your tasks fairly quickly, but he hoped the laughs made the work pass by pleasantly for you.

Soon committee members and performers began arriving and Yugyeom found himself having to share your attention with all of the other guests.

Including Jaebum.

Yugyeom realized he hated seeing your eye crinkles when they were caused by the older boy. When someone called for an upperclassmen group photo, you had slyly positioned yourself right next to Jaebum. You scooted closer to him, seemingly to make more room on the couch for others to get in frame, but Yugyeom knew better.

He wondered if you’d ever look that happy in a picture next to him.

There was a point during the impromptu photoshoot when someone called for a silly photo. While everyone around you goofed off with the person next to them or made funny faces to the camera, you could only stare fondly at the boy on your right laughing at who knows what.

Yugyeom wanted nothing more but for you to look at him the same way.

Thankfully another opportunity to put himself out there presented itself when your friends announced that it was your turn to sing.

“Fine,” you finally agreed with hesitation after much nagging from your friends. “But there’s only one song I can really sing. And I need a partner. A guy partner!”

Before your eyes could wander over to Jaebum—who was not even paying attention to the karaoke, busy watching some video on his phone with some older boys in the corner—Yugyeom quickly put his hand up.

“Noona, I’ll do it! I’ll sing with you!” Yugyeom volunteered as if his life depended on it. If you were disappointed at all by his proposal, you showed no sign of it, as the hesitation on your face was replaced with the relief of not having to sing alone.

“Thanks Gyeomie,” you beamed.

If he had you, you’d never have to sing alone.

After countless songs—including a stirring rendition of a One Direction song performed by Bambam that surely got the crowd hyped—the party soon began to die down. Slowly friends bid you farewell and trickled out of the room. You were just finished seeing off Jaebum and his friends when you noticed Yugyeom was the last one in the room.

“Gyeomie, you don’t have to. I got it,” you insisted, shooing him away from the table he was clearing off. “You should go home, it’s getting late.”

Yugyeom simply smiled, ignoring your orders and beginning to put the karaoke equipment away instead. “It’s no problem. I couldn’t leave you alone to clean by yourself.”

You returned the grin gratefully before helping him to clean in peaceful silence. You were secretly glad for the help. Taking down the lights that he put up would have been a nightmare to do by yourself with your short stature. Despite it being a small party even with the addition of the performers, the classroom had somehow managed to look like a tornado ran through it.

Plus you enjoyed your younger friend’s company. Time seemed to fly by when you were with him.

“Thanks for saving me from embarrassment and singing with me tonight,” you finally said as you tossed some trash into a garbage bag he was holding. “If I’d known you could sing just as well as you dance, I would have made you sing the whole night. Have you ever thought about auditioning for one of those big companies?”

Yugyeom rolled his eyes playfully, brushing off your last comment. “You weren’t that bad at singing,” he kidded. “But if you asked me to sing the whole night, I would of.”

You laughed at this, but he wasn’t joking.

“It’s just a shame that we couldn’t get everyone to sing. Like Jaebum! I wonder what he sounds like when he sings.”

Right, Yugyeom thought. Him.

He cleared his throat as he followed you with the trash bag. “You know...I’m surprised Jaebum-hyung was even here. I feel like he and the rest of the breakdancing club were kind of off to the side by themselves the whole time.”

“Yeah, I noticed too...” Yugyeom noticed your face fell a little before you shrugged and smiled to yourself. “But I’m glad they still came! I know how busy Jaebum can be so his presence in any shape or form is all right with me.”

You didn’t notice the frown on his face as you said this, too busy with the spilled drink you were cleaning up. Yugyeom sighed to himself. Now was as good a time as any to talk to you about this.

“Noona, what do you like about Jaebum-hyung?”

You froze for a moment before looking back at Yugyeom and giggling nervously.

“Me? But everyone likes...” The way Yugyeom furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips told you he could see right through your facade. You sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

Yugyeom smirked. “Getting closer to him as an excuse to make room for everyone? Noona, that’s the oldest trick in the book!”

“And here I thought I was being sly.” You pouted, a small whine escaping the back of your throat. Yugyeom nearly melted at the sound. “Well...there’s a lot I like about him...”

“Like what exactly?”

“Umm, well...” You tucked a loose piece of hair behind your ear as you thought of the words to say next. “Jaebum’s handsome and he’s smart...he’s pretty nice and he’s—he’s really good at breakdancing! And such a good leader to his club...yeah...”

The same things everyone else likes about him, Yugyeom thought as he gave you a skeptical look. “Right...and what does Jaebum-hyung like about you?”

“What kind of question is that? Just ask him—”

“Noona, not to burst your bubble, but I feel like your crush is one-sided and not that deep...” Yugyeom fought back a giggle as you instantly lunged towards him. He dropped the garbage bag in trying to run away from you.

“Gyeom, get back here!”

“I’m just telling the truth!”

You chased Yugyeom around the room, his long legs making your strides looking like scurrying, before you had him cornered. You jumped up to wrap your arm around his neck, bringing him down to your chest in a loose chokehold.

“Take it back!”

“I’m just telling the truth...” Yugyeom repeated softly, tapping your arm gently from his bent position as a sign that he was tapping out.

You looked down bashfully after you let him go, tracing your toe over an imaginary line. “Jaebum just isn’t the easiest to get close to since everyone else always wants to be around him. But I’m slowly getting there! I mean, he actually showed up to this party....and why else would he have asked me to help him record a video?”

“Because you were conveniently available for him?” Yugyeom tensed up as he tried to dodge the inevitable slap from you. “Kidding!”

You went to pick up a broom and started sweeping the room before mumbling under your breath. “Give the kid one compliment about how good he is at dancing and then suddenly he thinks he knows everything...”

Yugyeom chuckled before picking up a dustpan and following you. “I guess what I’m getting at is that you should put your energy into someone who is paying just as much attention to you as you are to them. One-sided pining gets you nowhere, Noona.”

You’re one to talk, Yugyeom thought to himself.

You were silent for a moment before turning to gaze up at Yugyeom with a mischievous look in your eye.

“What about you, Gyeomie? Do you have someone you’re pining one-sidedly after?”

His eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Me? We’re talking about you, not me—”

You took a step closer to him, a smirk forming on your lips, forcing him to stumble backwards. “You sure have a lot to say about love and pining, you must be experiencing it yourself. So tell me Gyeom—who’s the lucky one you’ve got your eye on?”

Yugyeom gulped as you stood a mere few inches from him. He inwardly crumbled under your scrutinizing gaze as you attempted to read his face for the answer you were looking for.

“I—there’s no one I’m interested in right now,” Yugyeom stuttered, causing you to raise your eyebrows at him in suspicion. “I’m just talking from, um, past experience...yeah...”

You narrowed your eyes, silently scanning his face for a moment, before backing off.

“With all of your little fangirls looking forward to watching you tomorrow, I don’t think I believe you,” you said as you went back to cleaning, letting the matter go for now. “All I know is that whoever you end up with, I hope she knows how lucky she is to have you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You’re the full package, Gyeomie! You were so sweet in volunteering to help with this party, you always know how to compliment a girl—I mean, you were the only guy who noticed I trimmed my hair—and you’re pretty much the best dancer at this school. Girls love dancers!”

Yugyeom smiled bashfully. “Oh, well...”

“And plus...” You motioned for him to come down to your level and reached out to cup his face when he did. You playfully patted his cheeks. “You’re sooo cute! This face is why all the girls like you. I can’t believe you already have your own group of secret admirers. Our little Gyeomie is all grown up.”

Unbeknownst to you, Yugyeom was relatively quiet for the rest of the clean-up, your words silently eating him away even after he bid you good night.

“Our little Gyeomie is all grown up.”

“Whoever you end up with, I hope she knows how lucky she is to have you.”

Would it ever occur to you that she could be you?

——

The next day at the festival, you had kept your promise to Yugyeom. You purposely volunteered to take pictures of the performances so you would be in the front row.

You always loved watching Yugyeom dance. At any other moment, you knew him as the tall and awkward bean of a boy whose math class you would tutor, but when he was performing, Yugyeom was a completely different person. He was full of passion and charisma, evident from the small drops of sweat that was left on the stage. His fierce facial expressions alone when he’d hit a killing point of the dance was enough to send the girls next to you swooning.

He moved so quickly and intricately, you wondered if your pictures of Yugyeom would be any good.

Same went for Jaebum. It was a wonder how you were even able to hold the camera properly. Seeing Jaebum up close in general was intoxicating, but seeing him up close breakdancing was absolutely lethal. The way his members would hype him up in the background when he did a move made your heart swell with pride. With the way he was panting when he finished, you knew he had left it all on the stage. For lack of better words, Jaebum was just so freaking cool when he was in his element.

You also swore he was looking at you a couple of times during his performance. Maybe it was a secret sign that he felt the same way about you too?

Moving through the crowd after the first half of the performances were over, something inside you told you that you needed to talk to him before the end of the festival, though you didn’t know what exactly you were going to say to him. Maybe it was what Yugyeom had said to you the night before. One-sided pining was going to get you nowhere. You weren’t going to straight up approach Jaebum with a declaration of love, but you just needed to feel out whether your feelings were as one-sided as Yugyeom said.

You were going to talk to Jaebum to prove Yugyeom wrong, that’s all.

You finally spotted Jaebum standing in front of one of the food vendors.

“You’re just going to ask if he’s free to hang out this weekend,” you prepared yourself, feeling your heartbeat beginning to race at the thought of approaching him with this proposal. “And if he says yes, that means he’s interested and Yugyeom can go shove it.”

It was at that moment when you noticed her standing next to him.

You knew Yeji as the girl who sits near you in chemistry, not as the girl who currently had all of Jaebum’s attention.

Yeji was pointing to something on the menu board and smiling sweetly at Jaebum. He paid the cashier before reaching out for Yeji’s hand.

“Oppa!” She swatted his hand away and looked around frantically. “What if someone sees?”

Jaebum smirked at the flustered girl. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him. Her struggle to shrug him off only made him hold her tighter.

“Let them. I don’t care who knows about us anymore.”

Your feet seemed to have a mind of their own, walking you anywhere but there to save your eyes and heart the trouble. You didn’t know where you were headed but you had to get out of there as quickly as possible.

It made no sense. Yugyeom was the only one to catch on to your feelings, right? No one saw that you saw the two of them together. They didn’t even notice you were close behind them. So why did you suddenly feel so embarrassed that you needed to leave the festival and walk yourself home?

Because for someone who usually had their head on straight and everything under control, for once, you felt foolish.

Your absence in the middle of the festival didn’t go unnoticed. Youngjae suddenly found himself left with your camera as you quickly brushed passed him, hurriedly hanging the strap around his neck and muttering something about being right back. When you didn’t return before the second half of the performances, Youngjae thought something was up.

“What are you doing with the camera? I thought Noona was taking pictures of the performances.” Yugyeom sat next to Youngjae in the front row, expecting you to have been in his position. He silently hoped the older boy would take the question as mere curiosity and confusion rather than as disappointment that he wouldn’t get to enjoy the second half with you.

“I guess she wasn’t feeling so well after the first half and went home,” Youngjae replied, reading a text from you. “She wants me to take pictures of the other performances, but that’s going to be a problem because I don’t know how to use her camera and also she lives on the other side of town from me. I don’t know how I’m going to get her camera to her tonight, and she needs it as soon as the festival is over so she can start editing the pictures.”

“Not feeling well?” Yugyeom frowned. He knew how hard you worked to put the festival together so not being able to see to the end of it because of some nasty sickness probably made you feel even more terrible. He decided to somewhat put your mind at ease and took the camera off of Youngjae. “I can take the pictures, I’ve used her camera before. And don’t worry about bringing back her camera, I can take it to her when the festival is over.”

Yugyeom contemplated picking something up on the way to your house. Food? Medicine? Flowers? Were you allergic to flowers? What if you were, and the flowers just exacerbated your sickness? He shook his head, deciding to see you first instead. If you were feeling a little bit better, maybe he could take you to get dinner if you hadn’t eaten yet.

“Gyeomie, what are you doing here?” You were rubbing at your eyes when you finally answered the door. Yugyeom had to ring the doorbell a few times before you finally answered.

He held up your pouch. “I told Youngjae-hyung that I’d finish taking pictures for you and that I could return the camera so he wouldn’t have to come all the way out here.”

You pursed your lips for a moment before smirking and nudging your head at his parked car. “No bike?”

“Yes Noona, I’m a grown up! I even drive now!” Yugyeom playfully rolled his eyes before meeting your smile, though he silently noted that it didn’t quite reach your eyes like it usually did. “May I come in? Are your parents home?”

“Um...sure...” you replied hesitantly but moved so he could step inside. “My parents are on a date right now.”

He took a seat on your couch. “How are you feeling? Hyung said that you had to leave because you weren’t feeling well.”

You instantly froze as you took a seat next to him. Of course Yugyeom would drive over to return your camera and check up on you, he was just that nice.

“I’m...feeling a bit better, I guess...” You gave a nervous laugh, only to be met with Yugyeom’s worried gaze.

And of course he’d see right through you, just like he figured out your crush on Jaebum.

“You’re not actually sick, are you?” Taking a good look at your face now, Yugyeom finally noticed the red in your eyes. “Have you been crying?”

You were doing fine at first, but hearing that question out loud caused the dam to break once again. You were silent for a moment. Yugyeom watched as your lower lip began to tremble, a soft whimper escaping the back of your throat before you broke out into sobs.

“Hey...hey it’s gonna be okay...” Yugyeom cooed softly, pulling you into his warm embrace. He rocked you back and forth, allowing you to bury yourself into his sweater. “Noona, what happened?”

It took you some time to control your sobs before you could answer. You sniffled, moving your face so you could answer properly. The hurt in your eyes made him want to hold you even tighter.

“This is so stupid...” You hiccuped, gazing down as his chest ashamedly. You slowly let his sweater out of your tight grip, smoothing out the fabric with regret.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

You stared at him for a moment before looking back down again. “...You were right.”

“What was that?”

“Gyeom, you were right,” you repeated louder with frustration. “My feelings were completely one-sided. I thought that there might at least have been a tiny chance that Jaebum could feel the same way but I’m...nowhere on his radar.” You let out a spiteful laugh, more tears escaping from the corners of your eyes. “God, how could I be so stupid?! You even warned me but I didn’t listen. I’m such a fool...”

Yugyeom gave you a sad smile as he began to wipe the tears away from your cheeks with his thumb. Used to seeing this put-together girl all the boys in his class secretly hoped to have as a tutor, this was the first time Yugyeom had seen you look so broken. He decided against asking you what brought on this realization, not wanting to rub salt in the wound. “You’re not a fool, don’t ever say that about yourself. This happens to the best of us.”

“But I just didn’t think—”

“—It would happen to you?” Yugyeom chuckled a little. “Noona, even someone as perfect as you is still human. You should still experience human heartbreak just like the rest of us normies.”

“I’m not perfect,” you protested after a moment, though unable to fight the small smile that had made its way to your lips. Yugyeom always had a way of making people smile when they didn’t feel like it.

“Says you.”

“Why are you like that?” You laughed while sniffling, wiping your cheeks dry with your sleeve. “You’ve helped me out this whole week, took pictures at the festival, drove all the way here to bring me back my camera, and now you’re comforting me. You could easily be roasting me and telling me ‘I told you so’ but you aren’t. Why are you being so good to me?”

His smile slowly slipped away from his face. Suddenly hyperaware of how close you two were, Yugyeom let his arms go limp around you. He gulped, mentally preparing himself for the words he wanted to say next.

“Why can’t I just be good to you?”

“Gosh Gyeom, what a line.” You laughed to yourself, beginning to feel a little better in good company. “I think I need someone like you because I clearly don’t stand a chance with Jaebum.”

Suddenly feeling agitated, Yugyeom let you go completely.

“Why can’t you just have me?” It had come out as a low whisper.

“What?”

“You keep talking about how great I am and how you need someone like me, when you could just have me.” His arms were now crossed, a frown etching its way across his features.

You scooted away from him, slowly processing his words. You didn’t know where this was coming from and never had you seen Yugyeom looking so upset.

“Wait Gyeom, do you like—”

“Yes!” Yugyeom bellowed with exasperation. “Noona, I’ve liked you so much for god knows how long and I still can’t believe it’s taken you until now to realize!”

“But I never thought—you were always so nice, I thought you were just being a good friend—”

“I’d be a good friend to anyone, but I’d go the extra mile only for you,” Yugyeom whispered, his face becoming as soft as his voice. He looked exhausted, as if bottling away these feelings had taken every ounce of energy he possessed. “I thought that doing so would stop you from seeing me as a child.”

“But Gyeom, I’m older than you...”

“I’m well-aware of that,” Yugyeom replied sadly, the realization that things would never be the same between you two hitting him all at once.

Just as Jaebum didn’t return your feelings, you obviously didn’t return his. Already defeated from letting his secret slip, Yugyeom decided to tell you exactly how he felt. It would probably be the last thing he’d say to you before you completely cut him out from your life.

“I meant what I said to you last night, that you should put your energy into someone who’s paying as much attention to you as you do to them. It’s what you deserve. And it doesn’t have to be with me, but...Noona, even though you’re older than me, I want to be the one to take care of you. If you had me, I’d treat you right.”

——

Just as Yugyeom predicted, you didn’t talk to him after the night at your place. After he had confessed to you, you just said you would think about it before wishing him a good night and escorting him out the door. But Yugyeom knew better.

You were too nice to outwardly reject him, so this was your way of letting him down gently.

Not seeing or speaking to you for a week felt like a lifetime, but Yugyeom supposed he’d have to get used to it. You were a grown woman with other matters you needed to attend to—matters that Yugyeom was too immature to understand. The incident was but a small speck in the universe that was your life. You had other things to worry about and already moved on from it, so Yugyeom needed to as well.

He sighed to himself as he approached his locker after school, only noticing the photo taped to the door when he was right in front of it. Yugyeom pulled it off of his locker, noticing that it was of him dancing at the festival. He was smirking at the camera, a playful look in his eyes clearly meant for—

“The pictures came out better than I expected,” you said behind him, causing Yugyeom to jump in his spot. “I was afraid I wouldn’t get any good pictures, you move really fast.”

Yugyeom turned to face you, leaning against the locker for fear that his knees would give out from beneath him.

“I, um, yeah—it’s, um, nice...”

You stood with your hands behind your back, chewing on your bottom lip as if you were nervous about what you were going to say next. Yugyeom would sometimes see you like this when you were about to talk to Jaebum, but why were you looking so shy in front of him?

“I thought long and hard about what you said,” you finally spoke, deciding not to tiptoe around the matter any longer. Without thinking, Yugyeom leaned down closer to you, hanging onto your every word. “Gyeom, I like you a lot...”

“But..?”

“You said you wanted to be good to me, but I don’t think I’m good for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You should follow your own advice,” you said sadly, your eyes wandering to your feet. “You should put your energy into someone who pays just as much attention to you as you to them. I don’t deserve you and you deserve so much better. You’ve been so good to me and all I’ve done is brush you off for some guy who’s never going to give me the time of day.”

“Noona.”

“Hmm?”

“Look at me.”

Responding to his warm touch against your shoulders, you looked up, your eyes meeting his soft ones.

“I think I’m old enough to decide what I deserve,” Yugyeom asserted. “But I’d be in the wrong too if I didn’t admit that me treating you well was for pretty selfish reasons.”

You shook your head. “It wasn’t completely selfish. Like you said, you’re nice to everyone but you just went the extra mile because I was too stupid to notice you.”

“What did I say about talking bad about yourself? You’re not allowed!” This elicited the delightful laugh from you that Yugyeom had missed. The atmosphere growing warmer between you two, Yugyeom’s smile met yours. “So...do you?”

"Do I what?”

“Notice me.”

You slowly nodded, a sheepish smile inching its way on your lips.

“I guess it just took getting heartbroken by some one-off crush and you knocking some sense into me for me to finally realize. But there is one thing though...”

Yugyeom quirked an eyebrow playfully. “Oh? And what is that?”

You reached up squeeze one of his cheeks. “No matter what you say, you’re always going to be the baby. You’re just so cute!”

Before you could register what was happening, you were suddenly flipped around, your back now against the locker. Yugyeom had his hands pressed against the cold metal next to both sides of your face, restricting you from going anywhere. You noticed his eyes had gone dangerously dark and his lips were just barely ghosting over yours.

“Noona, I’m going to show you how much of a man I can be for you.”

——

#got7 #got7 imagines #got7 imagine #got7 scenarios #got7 scenario #kim yugyeom #im jaebum #mark tuan #jackson wang #park jinyoung #choi youngjae #bambam #got7 oneshots #got7 oneshot #got7 fic #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop fics

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real-jaune-isms · 5 years

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RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 11 Review/Rundown

And here we see how RWBY continues their tradition of Chapter 11 being the most tense and depressing part of each Volume. I hope and pray it will get better next week, but we’re two episodes away from the finale so I don’t know how much of this can be fixed in even 40 combined minutes of well paced run time. Still, at least the episode started with some cool satisfying fight scenes and a relative triumph for the heroes.

First and foremost is the duel between Ironwood and Watts in Amity Coliseum. Ironwood pulls out his second pistol which has more black detailing than the other one and fires it behind him. Turns out it fires Gravity Dust, which he uses to propel himself through the air towards Watts’ platform. Watts fires at Ironwood a few times, counting down how many bullets he has left much like Deadpool did in his first movie. But Ironwood keeps using the gravity gun for midair dodging and the two start melee combat on the platform mixed with the occasional gunfire if one can get a little distance from the other. Watts dodges and jumps back to another platform then uses his rings to affect the gravity of the one Ironwood is still standing on, then makes him gravitate to a vertical platform giving off its own artificial gravity. This becomes the gimmick of the fight, Ironwood landing some hits as he chases Watts around and Watts in return messing with the gravity to screw with the General. Ironwood adapts quickly and uses the recoil of his guns to help keep his balance a few times, while Watts keeps making hard light tiles to use as shields or stepping stones to go from one Gravity biome to another. We get a new song by popular cover artist Caleb Hyles, and it helps set the mood of the fight. After the mad genius knocks his black gun away, Ironwood gets the bright idea to just go back to the stage in the middle and get ahead of Watts while he’s busy jumping across a volcano biome on his little Hard Light tiles. Watts falls for it and doesn’t realize James is sneaking up behind him until he gets shot in the shoulder. He retaliates by freezing Ironwood’s foot, since his gun actually does have other dust types than just hard light despite the initial appearance. With the General temporarily indisposed, Watts jumps up to stand on the bottom of the platform directly above (he really must love using the complete gravity control). Ironwood of course gets loose and the two run at each other and wrestle in the air for a few moments before they both hit the ground. Watts tries to jump away but Ironwood grabs him by the ankle and throws him back to the ground hard enough to break his Aura. Before he can recover Ironwood comes running at him and tackles him off the edge where they both go tumbling and flying through the air and land back on the center stage. The entire route of their chase/duel was mapped out in artwork shown during the credits and it’s very helpful. Watts uses his hacking rings to start raising the stage into the middle of the scaffolding for the lights and what we can assume is the incomplete communication equipment, and starts complaining about how Ironwood didn’t appreciate his genius and chose Pietro’s project over his own. Arthur was given so much for his accomplishments, but he was outraged that he wasn’t entitled to every little thing he ever wanted. Truly, if Hazel is the embodiment of Wrath then Watts is Pride. That would likely make Cinder Greed for power and Tyrian Gluttony for death and carnage in particular, which also seem rather accurate. The brawl starts anew and Watts is pushed back to a metal scaffold near the edge, though he does get his pistol against Ironwood’s head. Too bad for him, Ironwood was keeping count too and knows Watts is out of bullets so he drops his gun in resignation. But he does still have a trick or two left, and when the General drops his guard his opponent turns him around and shoves him against the scaffold instead, furthermore trapping his left arm in a hard light tile Watts had formed from placing his rings on the beam. If Ironwood moves his arm at all his skin will be burned badly and too much activity trying to escape might sever the appendage all together. Watts just laments how close the fight was and how he’ll have to make new rings, then goes looking for the communications equipment so he can mess with it. But to his shock, Ironwood forces himself to endure and pulls his arm out. It’s unclear if he will have use of that arm anymore but for the moment he’s at least burned the skin off and can’t seem to move it much. But he doesn’t need it to choke slam Watts and drag him along the floor to the edge of the platform. Now with a friction burn around his right eye and a mouthful of blood, the mad genius is hanging over the lava biome with only Ironwood’s hold on his collar keeping him from falling. James Ironwood declares that he will do whatever it takes and sacrifice whatever he has to if it means stopping Salem, and that seems to delight Watts. Smug even in defeat, he hopes to see just how dedicated to that promise he will be.

One fight down, and one with ominous but satisfying resolution, onto the other. Clover tries to declare that Tyrian is under arrest but he just starts laughing. I have to agree in this instance. You know this man is a vicious serial killer, he’s not going to surrender just because you tell him to, so such declarations are pointless. I guess you could argue it can add to Tyrian’s charges since he’s now resisting arrest, but he’s already done worse things so it’s just a drop in the bucket. Qrow charges in to attack and when the faunus proves to still be agile enough to dodge and counter him the other two engage as well. The fight is incredibly fast paced and there’s so much action from all four people I can hardly even describe it without going into tedious play by play. Robyn keeps her distance to shoot her crossbow at Tyrian, but he always seems to catch or dodge them so it does little. Clover keeps hooking him and keeping him from moving around as much as he would like, but he’s not landing many attacks either. Qrow’s slashes and stabs do next to nothing aside from keeping the tricky bastard moving, but for whatever reason he can still punch the bastard with satisfying regularity. All these complicated weapons and tactics, and Tyrian can never defend against fisticuffs. There are definitely some noteworthy team tactics, like Robyn ricocheting a few bolts off a fire escape and then off the broad side of Harbinger to hit Tyrian in the face and make him fall head over heels backwards. Clover also manages to bind Tyrian’s tail to his back with a pair of bola-cuffs and pin his arm and tail in an inconvenient spot with his fishing line so Qrow can punch him in the gut with minimal trouble. That just pisses the killer off though, as he knocks them both away and does a breakdancing move to get loose of the bola. But then he starts laughing insanely again and Robyn takes that opportunity to shoot him in the mouth. He catches the bolt in his teeth, unfortunately, but it was an explosive and he’s too slow to avoid the blast. It’s enough to break his Aura and make him dizzy enough to fall on the ground. Still barely conscious and laughing, he gets a boot to the head courtesy of Robyn herself, who triumphantly asks the knocked out man to try and smile now. The huntsmen are amused and impressed, and Clover radios the others to say they need a transport to take Tyrian into custody.

Ironwood has made his way back to his office with his arm in a sling, and for whatever reason took Watts’ bag with him. He breaths a sigh of relief that the threat to their Kingdom is finally over with Tyrian being caught too... until he sees something that shocks and surprises him enough to drop the bag. We cut to the outside of the Academy where Winter is giving orders to the students to stay indoors and consult upperclassmen or faculty for guidance... until she gets contacted by the General. His tone is cold and serious, we’ve never heard him this emotionless and blunt before. Did anyone get caught sneaking into the school. No? Then they have a serious problem. Winter seems panicked and sprints inside, with Cinder watching from an upstairs window. If Winter is going to make sure Fria is still secure, as is likely her chosen duty in such matters, then Cinder can easily follow her and take what she wants~ God I hate that woman... Penny gets a notification too, but we don’t hear what they say, and she flies up to Atlas as well. Joining her in that journey are the Ace Ops minus Clover, RWBY and JNR. The kids are wondering why they were called back up under such vague circumstances, but the Ace Ops don’t much care. Orders are orders, and you have to follow orders. Besides, the worst of the Grimm are taken care of and the evacuation ships are still going so Mantle will be okay for now. Oh if only that were the case... Still, they do decide they’ll split up: JNR will go get Oscar from his room and meet Team RWBY up top.

When RWBY and the Ace Ops do come to the office, Ironwood is facing away from them and wordlessly turns around in his seat to place something on the desk. A black Queen chess piece, the sign of Salem’s triumph over Ironwood from Beacon. He’s got some real paranoia about something so basic if he called them back here just for that. But it’s not just that, it’s that someone left that in his office without being seen and now he wonders if they’ve made a major mistake and played right into Salem’s hand. He’s doubting everything they’ve done, wondering if bringing everyone to Atlas just made it easier for her to wipe them all out at once, if making them all go down to Mantle was just a distraction so the enemy could strike Atlas without opposition. Weiss tries to reassure the General that they’ve done good things, they’ve united the people, but he’s too concerned with what Salem’s grand scheme is and how she’s always thinking ahead of them. Slamming his fist on the desk hard enough to crack it, he also knocks the black queen over and sends it rolling across the desk top. Ruby takes notice of the sound it makes and looks at it more closely. In a stroke of intelligence we don’t often see from her outside of battle, Ruby recognizes that it’s made of black glass and thus must have been left by Cinder. The revelation only exacerbates Ironwood’s paranoid theorizing, because if Cinder is in Atlas then Hazel might be as well. And with how hard they all fought to contain Watts and Tyrian’s trouble they are in no shape for heavy hitters like those two. We in the audience know that Hazel is just back in the Grimmlands being a father figure for Mercury and Emerald, but the characters do not.

However, I do want to go on a bit of a tangent for a moment about Cinder, and more specifically about how the other characters think she’s acting on Salem’s behalf here and it’s all part of her master plan. She wants them to believe this is all going according to plan, because making Ironwood panic and rush to protect the Maiden is part of HER plan. But if there was someone in that office with the common sense and clear mind to point out what I’m about to, the stress might be lessened a bit. Her win/loss ratio is rather awful all things considered. What were her big victories? Having Emerald use her Semblance to influence fights so Beacon students would seem to act viciously, using Watts’ virus to hack the CCT Tower and later Ironwood’s robot soldiers through Neo bringing a Scroll with the virus onto an airship, making a deal to have Adam and the White Fang attack the school along with ships of Grimm. All things reliant on other people’s hard work or assistance. She did do a few things herself of course: kill Amber and get the Fall Maiden powers, kill Headmaster Ozpin, control the Wyvrn to have it destroy Beacon Tower, and kill the celebrity fighter Pyrrha. But this came with great sacrifice, the temporary loss of her voice and the more permanent losses of her eye and her arm. And she didn’t get the Relic of Choice from the Vault, something Salem wanted very badly. Then she went to Haven and got some assistance for the attack there from Hazel and Adam leading the White Fang again, and recruited Raven and Vernal. The attack failed, she couldn’t get the Spring Maiden powers or the Relic of Knowledge, and she was presumed dead. Salem would not tolerate that much failure, and our heroes should realize that. So if Cinder is in Atlas there is no way it would be by the will of Salem, she would be there purely of her own volition and for her own purposes. Her history of killing the last Fall Maiden and murdering who she assumed was the Spring Maiden would show she’s hungry for power so she would totally be here for Fria and the Winter Maiden powers. And since Yang was able to get the lamp she clearly didn’t get the Spring powers or she would have taken it first, so they would feel safer in knowing she only has the power of one maiden. But they’re all under a lot of stress and can’t really think about all that right now. I’m just saying it might help to think about who they’re dealing with... Okay, rant over.

Blake tries to calm Ironwood down a bit by saying the night isn’t done and they’ll be on his side to help with whatever comes next, but that was the wrong move. Because it reminds him that Robyn found out about Amity Tower early so one of them must have told her. Yang admits that she and Blake told Robyn the night they were supposed to ambush her, which pisses off the Ace Ops something fierce, not to mention how Ironwood feels. These guys take orders and loyalty more seriously than the air they breath, and it shows. Yang stands by her choice, it was the right thing to do and they wouldn’t have gotten Robyn’s support for everything that had gone so right tonight without that tip of the hand. There are some great background details, like Blake’s ears pinning down to her head in discomfort and fear as the arguing starts, Marrow being the first and most visibly upset at first, the music getting creepy and tense... and Watts’ bag visibly bulging and moving on the desk as all the negativity ramps up. Weiss tries to divert the conversation since they need to worry more about the future than the decisions made in the past, but Ironwood can out yell her and insists loyalty will always matter. And if you can believe it, things only get worse.

Watts was apparently hiding a Seer in his bag and it explodes out to catch everyone off guard, including us. But we don’t just get a hazy image of Salem in the Grimm’s dome head, the damn thing’s tentacles start spasming and curling up while the head begins to crack as Ironwood points his gun at it and backs up into a corner... before it falls dead to the floor and black mist starts pouring out. No, not smoke, it’s mist. And from that mist rises the form of Salem herself, ethereal and larger than life to further the inhuman intimidation factor. Team RWBY and the others hear her voice for the first time as she patronizingly congratulates them for beating Watts. Ruby stands her ground and says they beat Tyrian too, and can beat anyone else she sends their way... but that’s not what matters to Salem. Watts and Tyrian weren’t trying to win, they did what they were sent for and have set the stage... For what, Ironwood asks? For Salem herself~ Time is a luxury an immortal like Salem has an abundance of, while Ironwood and the people of Atlas and Mantle have a very short life ahead of them. For the sake of ending their suffering, James would find it in his best interest to just give her what she wants so she doesn’t have to hurt more people to get it. He still tries to defy her, but she leans over him and gives her best loving mom smile... which is unsettling at such a close view. The sooner the General accepts how futile his struggle against someone as unstoppable as her is and surrender, the sooner it can come to an end. But Ruby has other ideas. They’ve seen Salem’s past, her history of strength and her immortal curse... but they also know her pain and losses. They know she is capable of failure, and Ruby is determined to make that happen here too. It’s very inspiring, and shows how she’s thinking outside the box for the solution no one else was realizing. She is not the little girl she was in Volume 1. Unfortunately, Salem hates being criticized and having her flaws pointed out so she goes for the mortal wound. Not physically, but emotionally. She says she heard this same speech from Summer Rose, and Summer was wrong. Ruby will be wrong too. The poor girl can’t handle this, the thoughts and memories of her mom flooding back again, the clifftop scene from last volume becoming stormy and sad as horror movie music plays. Salem probably killed Summer herself, and she’s counting on the grief and sadness and despair to overwhelm Ruby. And it does, she starts crying and her silver eyes flash for a moment involuntarily before she falls to her knees weeping. Her job of breaking her enemies by striking at their vulnerabilities done, Salem just fades away. It’s a very uncomfortable scene and the CRWBY absolutely made it that way on purpose. I have seen a theory here on tumblr that suggests Ruby has repressed memories of being there to see Summer die in person and Salem has made them surface to try and break Ruby’s spirit. It ends on the positive note of saying if Ruby can process and deal with those memories it may be the key to unlocking her full Silver Eyed potential, but still. What a damn tragic reveal that would be.

Regardless of theories, Yang immediately drops to her knees to hold and comfort Ruby, though you can see she’s really upset too. She’s the one that remembers Summer raising her and being her mom, but she has to be the big sister and rolemodel Ruby can depend on so she can’t show her emotions. It’s very unfortunate for her, they both need some grief counseling. But we don’t even get time to deal with Ruby’s mental state because the Ace Ops are freaking out about seeing Salem for the first time and realizing how screwed they probably are. Elm thinks that if Salem was leading a massive force of Grimm their way the coastal proximity alarms would detect it, but Vine reveals those have been down for a few hours without them noticing in all the other chaos. Ironwood grimly counters that the sensors may have already been destroyed and the Grimm are closer than they think. This does not make the Ace Ops feel any better, and the General himself is just blankly staring out his window. Blake asks if the communications tower is really complete like he had told everyone, but Yang realizes it was a bluff and they’re in even worse condition than they thought. Weiss can’t believe it, she wants to hear it from him, but instead he drops another truth bomb: Winter has been instructed to claim the Winter Maiden powers immediately, which may very well mean killing Fria herself. Blake is shocked, Yang is pissed, but Weiss is utterly aghast. She had the most faith in Ironwood since Winter had trusted him too, but this is horrible. He’s made the decision that they need the power to access the Vault so the Staff and the Lamp can both be locked away. Ruby has recovered a bit, and she’s confused since Ironwood had said they could keep the Lamp... but he’s changed his mind now that he knows they lied about so many important things and their unstoppable enemy is at their doorstep with all his forces exhausted. So he’s making some changes. The biggest is that they will no longer be lifting Amity into the upper atmosphere but all of Atlas itself. The people who still haven’t been evacuated from Mantle will be left to fend for itself and be annihilated in the process, and Atlas will live in complete isolation and “safety” under their artificial climate. Ruby refuses to go along with that, she still believes the old plan of uniting the world with the completed Tower would work. But Ironwood is done listening to optimistic speeches like those, the Tin Man has lost his heart. The tough times call for tough decisions to make the right thing happen, but Team RWBY stands firm that the right thing is to stand their ground against the coming storm no matter how hopeless it seems. They are unfortunately alone in that, the Ace Ops are obedient soldiers who support their boss and believe it’s more important to be sure they can save who they can now vs hope and dream everyone can be saved. The smaller more honest soul cannot stand up to such cold realism. The romanticized aspiration of being Huntsmen and Huntresses means jack shit when the facts are plain to see and those facts spell disaster if they risk it all on a final stand with so much of the war left to win. Weiss rightfully points out the council will not allow this, but Ironwood is well past that. He’s declaring martial law and MAKING this happen, and even if it’s just because they’re thinking about people like Robyn, Team RWBY is standing in the way. The four stare down Ironwood, until Ruby suddenly gets a call from Jaune. She reaches for her weapon, but instead dashes around Ironwood when he was expecting to try and outdraw her and hides behind his desk. She uses an open communication channel to tell JNR, Winter who has been joined by Penny, and Qrow along with Robyn and Clover, about Ironwood’s plan to declare martial law and abandon Mantle by raising Atlas with the Staff, and of Salem being on her way. The important bit gets across, but the mad tyrant disables her Scroll remotely before she can completely declare Mantle’s doomed fate. Robyn and Qrow glare at their companion turned foe(?) while Tyrian just watches in amusement from his cuffed seat. Ruby gets up from behind the desk just in time for Ironwood to declare Team RWBY under arrest until the danger is over and his plan is complete, and he knows damn well they won’t go quietly. That’s why the Ace Ops will stay and fight them while he gets started. I really don’t want to see Team RWBY fight their new role models and surrogate parental figures, but I also really hope they can surpass them and win. There’s also the hope that Marrow will betray his own team and help his FRIENDS escape, he’s been the one with the most conscience of the Ace Ops. We will have to wait and see what happens next week, but I don’t like how it’s going...

But of course, Jaune had a reason for calling Ruby and he’s very concerned when the call dies out before he can really say anything. He remembers the last time things were going badly and he couldn’t contact one of his friends... And as we see, things are definitely bad. He, Nora, and Ren are at the door to Oscar’s room, which is filled with destroyed Atlas robots. Either Oscar unlocked his Semblance and used them as practice, or Neo abducted him just like we worried she would. And that’s the other unfortunate thing about Cinder’s plan, siding with someone as low down the totem pole as Torchwick’s former sidekick. But Neo is still dangerous as hell and no one knows to expect her or have any way to prepare themselves for an enemy they can’t identify. Hopefully JNR can find Oscar and get him back, though I worry if even they can beat Neo. And there have been rumblings on Twitter of a new model for Pyrrha being made and Neo doing something this Volume that will make us really hate her... Hmmmmm...

One way or the other, this was an amazingly made episode that takes you for a wild ride and uses every scene and moment to the fullest. I’m emotionally rattled and nervous as hell, but I can’t deny it’s one of their best works.

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artificialqueens · 5 years

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The Ballerina and the B-girl (Branjie)

a/n: hey there kids this is my first fic on here. Hope you enjoy! A new chapter will be out as soon as I can write it if you guys want a continuation

Vanessa Mateo, simply “Vanjie” to her friends, was never one to be on time for anything. She was usually that girl rolling up 20 minutes late, coffee in hand and complaining about the earliness of the time, no matter how late in the day. However here she was at the small studio attached to her gym, 15 whole minutes early for her breakdance team rehearsal. Now you may assume Vanjie had simply gotten the time wrong, or God forbid actually been early for practice by her own good will. It was in fact, neither of those reasons. Vanjie had come early specifically so she could watch her…her being the blonde haired, bitchy faced ballet dancer who had the time slot directly before the team.

The way that the blonde ballet dancer’s body moved fascinated Vanessa. The pure technical accuracy and precise movements were mesmerising. Vanjie tried her hardest not to stare, sure didn’t help that she also looked sexy as hell in her sports bra and tiny shorts. The way her strong leg muscles flexed. Her toned yet graceful arms. Her washboard abs, tendons forming a mouth watering V that disappeared below the waistband of her little shorts, prompting all kinds of fantasies that Vanessa probably shouldn’t be having about a stranger at the studio. She chuckled to herself under her breath, feeling like peeping Tom Tease standing in the doorway shamelessly admiring the other girl.

Vanjie had first caught a glimpse of her when she had been given a lift to the studio with her teammate Silky, hence had been on time to see the blonde leaving. Immediately taking an interest, Vanjie had been on time every week since but this was the first time she had been early and experienced the full on ballet fantasy that hot blonde was giving. Fuck, Vanessa could feel that she was definitely getting a situation down south and that just spiked her interest more.

“Who are you kidding girl?” she berated herself mentally with a duck of her head, “This girl is so far outta your league that you’d need a fucking spaceship”. Vanjie looked back up, and was unexpectedly greeted with bitchy blonde’s blue green eyes staring into hers. The girl tilted her head to the side and opened her mouth slightly in a confused yet still incredibly bitchy expression, and oh Gay God did it do things to Vanessa.

“Ehhh, hi” Vanjie managed to stammer out, trying to gain her composure to act as cool as possible. Blonde raised a single perfect brow and Vanjie realised that she looked like a bit of a creeper.

“I’m sorry for intruding and that, I’m just early for my breakdance practice and I just couldn’t not watch, damn you’re good at that thing where you’re up on ya toes n stuff” she tried again to seem cool, and more importantly not creepy.

Blondie rolled her eyes playfully, however the bitchy demeanour remained as she replied in a distinctly Canadian accent, “I know that I am, there’s a lot of mirrors in here”, before turning on her heel and sashaying over to where her bag was. ‘Fuck’ Vanjie thought, ‘Hot, bitchy and with an accent’ Blondie sat down and began to untie the ribbons on her pointe shoes, so Vanjie took this as her opportunity to try to continue the conversation before her friends arrived.

“Well you sure as hell put on a good show, how long you been doing that?” She asked, trying to walk over and place her bag on a chair as casually as possible. Blondie looked over to her with surprise that she was still wanting to talk, and Vanjie could have sworn she saw the ballerina’s eyes do a quick elevator scan of her body. Vanjie smirked, she knew she looked good as hell in her crop top and sweatpants, she’d even been bothered to brush her dark hair and put small braids into one side.

“A while”, blondie returned her smirk “why, you interested?”

Vanessa almost choked on her own tongue, before realising she had meant interested in ballet. “Nah girl, not the tea for me. Y’all too graceful and precise and shit, I like to go with the flow and get down”, she immediately regretted her words, worried the ballerina would get offended. She was relieved to hear the blonde let out a chuckle at her words.

“I see” the blonde stated, standing up with some gym shoes now on her feet. She took a couple of graceful strides towards Vanessa, and the small Latino girl felt her heart in her throat. “Although it sounds like you have some incorrect presumptions about ballet dancers, I for one am very into getting down”.

Vanjie couldn’t help the physical reaction that overcame her at the innuendo of those words, she let out a small splutter that seemed to greatly please the blonde. ‘Damnit Vanessa you useless lesbian’ she berated herself.

Bitchy blonde held out her hand to Vanjie, coming across as even more sexy and confident, “Brooklyn” Took Vanjie a couple of seconds to compute what was happening, after which she gasped Brooklyn’s hand and spluttered out “Vanjie…no shit Vanessa, my name’s Vanessa but my friends call me Vanjie”. She felt herself starting to ramble, thankfully stopping herself there but glad to see amusement and interest dance in Brooklyn’s eyes. The blonde withdrew her hand and shamelessly looked her up and down with a devilish smirk. Vanjie felt like a gazelle Under a predator’s gaze, and her instinct was practically confirmed that this bitchy blonde was just the kind of dominant top that a big ole bottom like Vanjie loved to fuck with. Loved to get fucked by, to be technical about the matter. Just as it looked as though Brooklyn might say something else, loud voices shattered the mood with the arrival of her teammates. Brooklyn let out a sigh, not taking her eyes off Vanjie.

“Well Vanessa, I assume these are the friends you’ve been waiting for”, she moved to stride past Vanjie with her bag, stopping right next to her and whispering in her ear, “See you next week I guess”

A shiver ran down Vanjie’s spine and into her centre as she watched Brooklyn’s perfect ass stride it’s way out the door as though she was walking a runway.

“Vanjie girl? You finally talk to that blonde bitch you been drooling over the past few weeks?” Silky questioned, taking Vanjie outta her Brooklyn induced haze.

“Her name’s Brooklyn” Vanjie mused, Silky chucking and shaking her head.

“Brooklyn the blonde ballet bitch, gotta love some good alliteration! Girl, you see the way she was looking at you like you were a snack she wanted to eat up?” Silky shouted.

“Girl, she can come get these cookies any day” Vanjie replied with a laugh. She began to stretch to warm up, her mind on how flexible Brooklyn was and how that might come in handy during certain activities. God she felt so thirsty, but hell Brooklyn was her type down to her fucking perfect eyebrows. Vanjie couldn’t wait to be early again for practice next week, that was for damn sure.

Tags: #branjie #brooke x Vanessa #lesbian au #opposites attract

#rpdr fanfiction #branjie #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #lesbian au #opposites attract #submission #the ballerina and the b girl #starsha #dance au #s11

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devintrinidad · 6 years

Text

10 GIFs of Anime that You Love, Then Tag 10 People

Just got tagged by @chemicalflashes.

Durarara

One of the first few anime I watched. I adored how the intricate stories were intertwined with others; how a bystander in one scene could be a hero or a villain in another. A choice that one makes can easily have devestaring consequences. And of course, the mastermind himself: Orihara Izaya.

Death Note

Oldie, yes. Overrated, probably. Completely worth watching and still able to discuss a decade after completion? Along with a few movies, musical adaptations, and a live action remake? Oh, yes!

Favorite characters are Near and Misa. The former for his cool nature that resembles L’s, but ultimately serves as a better allegory for Justice because he doesn’t find Kira for fun. No, he captures and probably would have him imprisoned for life because it’s his duty as L’s successor. He’s also heavily under-appreciated by the fandom. The latter for her adaptability and unpredictability in situations. Did you guys watch the Yorsuba arc? The girl was calculating how cute she was going to be. Plus, she’s not mentally well (her parents were murdered in front of her), but she still managed to handle herself SO WELL during her time as a prisoner under L’s inhuman methods to seek out the Second Kira. Again, she’s under-appreciated.

Death Parade

Brilliant idea. Has a possible tie in to Death Note. The opening was laughably so misleading!

There are some flaws, like plot holes and unfinished storylines, but it held up pretty well. We learned about the characters through how they interact with one another—especially when put under pressure. The Arbiters are amazing in that they can’t question the system, and yet, in the end, Decim tries to understand and formulate how Chiyuki is going to be finally put to rest.

If nothing else, just watch for the skating scene and the opening sequence.

Cells at Work (Hataraku Saibou)

How could I not add this show??? I’m not that great science, but I have been intimately acquainted with how the body works (I’m frankly disappointed no one has called 1146 a granulocyte yet and we haven’t seen any neurons in the manga 😞). Also...3803 is basically me: I’m terrible at directions, I’m continuously learning new things because I moved away, and the way she met 1146...is kind of how I met my best friend, hehehe.

That said, I’m really in love with this anime/manga fandom and hope to continue writing for it. (Insert self promotion: please read my fanfics on my main platform which is ffnet!)

Another reason why I love CAW...

The neutrophil squad.

...and wbc x rbc...and by that, I mean any or all of those wbc squad can get paired with 3803. Because I have a soft spot for reverse harems. *cough Ouran High School Host Club*

Hetalia: Axis Powers

This show made me love geography and my country so much. It’s funny, it’s hilarious, and it’s so heartwarming how the fandom likes to make all sorts of fanmade stuff to expand on what Hima-papa gives us. (YES, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2018, I SHALL REFER TO HIMARYU-SENSEI AS HIMA-PAPA. FIGHT ME.)

Is Hetalia dead? I don’t know, but the fandom and one particular FanFiction by @cultureandseptember really helped me out a few years back.

Bungou Stray Dogs

I love literature, good looking animation, and smarmy little know-it-alls who like to play the fool. Hehehe, I’m planning on reading No Longer Human when I get the time. Does that mean Osamu Dazai is my favorite character? Well...

Can you blame me if I said yes? He’s so charming and enigmatic that you can’t help but love him. However, I think I really love him because I struggle with dark thoughts and suicidal ideation from time to time. I haven’t actively sought it out quite like he has in the past, but well... hehehe! I can also relate because he’s kind of like an outsider in the Agency due to his past—he’s different because he can’t actively cancel out your abilities, which always makes him a threat.

Anywhoozles, I’m still waiting to see the movie...Le sigh.

K Project

This. This is not the best anime out there. Seriously.

The animation gets wonky here and there, they do the women in here a huge disservice, and they put too much emphasis on how great Mikoto Suoh. Like, he’s great and all, but the dude has no effect on the story except for the last season.

With that said, I think the main selling point here isn’t the anime, but the side materials like the manga/novels. You get to appreciate the backstories of so many of the characters and you get to feel for them because some of them have suffered so much! (Read: Fushimi Saruhiko).

I think you can get the same amount of enjoyment if you stick to the novels/manga.

Favorite characters: Scepter 4 Alphabet Squad. They are the best boys. Also, Lieutenant Awashima Seri. And Fushimi Saruhiko. You know what? Just put down Blue Clan here. They’re all nerds and they enjoy it.

Also: Domyoiji Andy reminds me of U-4989 from CAW. So...

Violet Evergarden

Remember how I said that I liked literature? This entire anime is about the power of not only the written word, but of also the act of writing, sending, and receiving those words. The anime may be episodic in nature, but you can really connect with the character through her terrible backstory and really feel for her when she realizes that she needs to face her past. PTSD is real and I think the anime really handled the post war aspect of this torn down world really well.

I’m also a sucker for typewriters, steam punk, and characters that don’t really know how to function in society (but learn over the course of the story).

Watch this if you want feels...and get ready for episode ten.

Samurai Champloo

This takes place in feudal era Japan.

But there’s rapping.

And breakdancing.

And guys spraying paint everywhere.

Also, there’s a sunflower samurai we gotta look for???

Hahahah, while episodic in nature, this was a joy to watch. You never get to know the characters really well and when we reach our mission’s end, it seems to fall short, but it’s not about that. The journey is what makes this anime worth it simply because the characters interactions are rife with hilarity and all three mains balance each other out. There’s a fanfic out there that describes them in detail, but in a succinct manner that had me melting. (https://m.fanfiction.net/s/2351750/1/The-Order-of-Things) check it out when you have the time.

Anyway, for those of you who have watched it, I sincerely hope that they meet again in the future.

(But, let’s be real. They probably didn’t).

Tokyo Mew Mew

Guys.

This isn’t a joke.

I have a soft spot for this anime because this was my first ever anime I watched where I realized that this was anime. This was like my gateway anime. Not Sailor Moon. Not Naruto.

This.

Looking back on this, it wasn’t the best—it’s your typical monster of the week deal with some environmental activism involved but for what it’s worth...it’s good??? Like, even the 4Kids dub (DONT CRUCIFY ME) even added some songs that were really great??? Bree Sharp’s Don’t Wake Me Up was my jam??? It fit better than the original Japanese counterpart???

TMM also introduced me to shipping, FanFiction, and amvs. That’s right, without this little gem, I would be writing/writing/thinking about FanFiction. I probably wouldn’t have been an anime watcher without this magical girl anime from the early 2000s.

So, yeah. This anime will always have a place in my heart because without it, I probably wouldn’t have become the person I am today. Thank you, Tokyo Mew Mew.

(This was also the birth of my first OTP before I knew what OTPs were: Kisshu/Ichigo...although nowadays, people are calling them Quiche/Strawberry? Hehehe, there’s so many things wrong here, I only like interactions, not the implications. That’s why I’m completely okay with Aoyama/Ichigo being endgame—and they’re actually really cute in the sequel manga???)

Honorable mentions (because I only thought of these now after I wrote analyses and gifs):

Five Centimeters Per Second

Ouran High School Host Club

Kimi no Nawa

Wolf Children

Psycho Pass

Trigun

(There’s like a dozen more, but nah. I’m good).

Aaaaaaaaaand that’s a wrap!!!

I’m tagging everyone who reads this! MWUAJAHAHAH!

I’m kidding; I don’t have that many friends here (if any) who are into anime so, umm...try it!

Thanks to @chemicalflashes for this amazing opportunity to find out why I love anime so much!

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frederator-studios · 7 years

Video

vimeo

Montreal-based animator Jonathan Ng has done it all: co-create an innovative breakdance battle video game, Floor Kids, for Nintendo Switch; supply visual effects to major features like The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008); and animate his own stunning short films, including Requiem for Romance, above, which blew away festival audiences and earned its place on the Oscar-shortlist. This film took my breath away. A heart wrenching break-up call in the modern day interweaves with beautiful water and ink visuals of martial arts combat in feudal China; Requiem is an unprecedented piece of art. Watch it, then watch it again, then check out our conversation with Jonathan, below. And then maybe watch it one more time. I know I will.

How did you come to pursue animation?

It was a process, and it always came back to drawing. I don’t want to say I’ve been “drawing forever,” but I just never stopped. A teacher encouraged me to go to an arts high school. I was skeptical at first; I came from kind of a rough area in Toronto, and being artistic - being ambitious at all - was looked at strangely. But I fell in love with my arts school.

And then you went to college for art?

Traditional animation at Sheridan. And around the time that I was there, the industry was restructuring, with 3D, new techniques becoming more common. I didn’t feel like switching would be worth it, so I stayed focused on hand-drawn animation. I knew I’d be most satisfied with my work if I did. Over time, I’ve gained experience in those other areas as well.

How was it starting out as an independent animator?

Starting out was patchy. But I got by, trusted in the work, and things began falling into place.

Did you ever want to work at a large studio?

As a freelance animator I’ve had a hand in studio projects, mainly features, on a production by production basis. And being a guest at studios has satiated my curiosity; it’s sort of closed the loop for me on what might have been. There are upsides and downsides to working within a studio organization, and to working independently. But once you’re established as an independent filmmaker, there’s almost a mutual understanding between you and the studios, that you probably wouldn’t be a fit.

When did you first consider yourself a filmmaker?

In school, submitting work to festivals—that felt like preparation, an introduction to the world and the work required. But when I began working on my first film with the NFB - Asthma Tech - then, I was a filmmaker before I felt like one.

How has your experience been with the NFB?

It’s very competitive to receive funding, because so many artists are deserving. But if you do get to make a film, it’s an incredible opportunity. I do think that if you apply for funding and don’t get it, the best thing you can do is just make the thing anyway. Because if you’re at rock bottom, with no funding, no support, and you’re still making the work - you’re invincible at that point.

But competitive as it is, we’re very fortunate to have an organization like the NFB in Canada. It’s also a very supportive environment; everyone helps each other out on their films. There’s great work being done. While making Requiem, opportunities to contribute to other people’s films kept cropping up, and it became tough to balance. I wanted to do everything.

What inspired Requiem for Romance?

Story-wise, it was personal. I was seeing a girl, and she was also an artist. Both of us were inspired by water ink animations, which we were culturally connected to, because our families are from Shanghai. It wasn’t an art form that I learned in school, so it was a lot of independent exploration: researching the style, discovering the significance of different colors in ink drawings, learning the history of water and ink animation—which is fascinating, and intrinsically tied to China’s history with the Soviets. Throughout it all, I kept having, “How come I don’t know this?!” moments.

How is it, working with water and ink?

It’s very performative. I shot the water ink under a camera, so I really performed the splashes that you see in the film. It involved a lot of composition: of the direction, the speed and the movement of the ink. I treated the ink as if it were its own character.

Speaking of the characters - what inspired the combat elements of the film?

Growing up, I’d watch a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Naruto—so I envisioned creating my own martial arts piece. That, too, led to more cultural exploration: I watched a lot of Chinese martial arts action films, primarily live action. I think Chinese kung fu exists most perfectly in an animated ink film, where it’s totally real within the world. No wires necessary.

So there were really three elements: martial arts action films, water and ink animation, and love stories. This is a hopelessly romantic breakup story, after all. For that, I turned to Chinese cinema too, watching a lot of the classics from Wong Kar Wai (In the Mood for Love, Happy Together).

Over email, you mentioned that it’s important to you that Requiem is re-watchable; why is that?

I definitely think short films are meant to be rewatchable. I don’t want the films I make to just roll by for people. There are things in Requiem, layers of meaning, that I expected only I would get—but I’ve been continually surprised by how much people pick up on. The use of distance, differences in fighting style, how the film is structured and designed for color, the way the water ink was controlled. The presence of choreographed movements that reflect the mood—a touchstone of 1980s Hong Kong martial arts films.

How was it taking Requiem around festivals?

It started off doing better at live action festivals. It was amazing how differently screenings could go; some, people would find it really funny, and others people would be crying at the end. Sometimes both. I did try to make it both funny and sad.

What did people tend to laugh out loud about?

Oh, man - the part where she tells him that they can’t both be artists because they’ll be poor. That got people.

But festivals are great, because you get to see the most amazing films. A lot of work that you’d just never have the opportunity to see otherwise. I’ve loved living in downtown Montreal, because the artistic community is so alive, everyone is doing their own thing; it’s impossible not to be swept up in it. There’s a festival just about every week here.

That sounds amazing. Your current project isn’t film though, right - it’s a video game?

Yeah, I just launched a game version of an idea that started as animated shorts, “Floor Kids”. In 2007 I partnered up with Kid Koala, a DJ and musician. We didn’t know what we’d make yet, but we knew we wanted to collaborate. That turned into the first “Floor Kids” short, and it went viral. And years later, it’s become a Nintendo Switch game. People have really come out for the game, it’s been an outpouring of support. It’s my first foray into gaming, and one of the most interdisciplinary art projects I’ve been a part of, combining game design, graphics, coding, art. The animation required about 1500 hand drawn frames per character, with 8 characters total, and hundreds of dance moves. The game coders had to design new systems, they were so unused to this much animation.

Being about hip hop dancing, and having this graffiti art style, did you draw inspiration for “Floor Kids” from your upbringing in Toronto?

Yeah - it’s grounded in street culture. Forms of expression like breakdance can draw people away from the worst of where they come from. My part of Toronto had this notorious, street-fighting reputation, that was only escalating as I got older. Going to an arts school was a shield, and it created an alternative for me and other kids.

There was a no-violence policy, so at a certain point, if you loved this stuff enough, you weren’t going to bother anyone. I remember once there was a goth kid who was being bullied by the jock-ish kids for how he dressed. The Vice Principal thought the solution was to punish him, and he ordered him not to wear dresses to school anymore. The next day, all the guys in the school wore dresses. And the kid was left alone after that.

And the area around my school was where all of the best graffiti artists would hit. It was incredible visual inspiration, but the administrators weren’t having it. They gave the taggers a truce: they could take a 3 story stairwell and do whatever they wanted on it, but nowhere else. You can imagine - it became a damn cool stairwell.

youtube

Thank you for the chat Jonathan! We’ll be on the look-out for your future projects.

- Cooper

#The Frederator Interview #Frederator #Requiem for Romance #Floor Kids #Canadian animator #Canadian artist #NFB #short film #interview #independent animator #Canadian animation

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hellospunkiebrewster · 6 years

Text

NoHo - Portraits of In-Between

Author’s note: This is probably the most New York thing I’ve written. All the places really exist and showtime is a real thing, that New Yorkers hate. You can see it here. I seriously cannot get the image of Maxwell joining in on it out of my head and I love it. Written for TRR Appreciation Week. Other Portraits of In-Between can be found here:

Ivory (Liam x Hana) - Football (Drake x MC) - Apple Pie (Maxwell x Drake) - Tabletops (Liam x Olivia)

The characters belong to Pixelberry, I’m just playing with them.

Summary: The night after Liam breaks off his engagement, Maxwell and Hana take advantage of their free night.

Tags: @madaraism, @butindeed, @crayziimaginations, @boneandfur, @decisso

The streets of the small, upscale New York neighborhood of NoHo buzzed with electricity and smelled faintly of craft beer at this time of night. It was a mostly residential neighborhood but on a Friday night that meant people were out and about at their local bars. Maxwell tugged at her hand, pulling her up the final steps from the Astor Place subway station. In his other hand, Maxwell held his phone, turning it this way and that trying to determine which way they were facing.

“Almighty Google says, ‘this way!’,” he chirped as he pulled her east along 8th Street. Just over a block’s walk from the station Maxwell pauses, looking up at the simple sign, iron with red lettering. Barcade. He drops Hana’s hand to take a picture of it, his mouth slightly open in awe. When he lowers his phone, he turns to her and motions to the door.

“Shall we?”

“I wouldn’t want to take the first glimpse of this legendary place away from you.” He had been talking about going here non-stop for the past couple of days and tonight provided the best opportunity, even if it was only the two of them. He nearly vibrated with sheer giddiness out of the hotel when she suggested it. On the ride there, he joined in with some guys who insisted it was “showtime” breakdancing on the train before dropping some cash into their upturned baseball hats. She’d been laughing for a while now, probably since they’d gotten on the train to head downtown, her cheeks were flushed and her sides were beginning to hurt.

“Hana Lee. How are you so gracious?” He pulls her to him by grabbing her around the shoulder, knocking into her when they’re side by side. He raises his phone suddenly.

“Candid!” She sees the photo flash on the screen just briefly, she looks utterly confused and a bit delirious. Maxwell turns back to the door and reaches out for the handle. Hana moves to step in behind him, but he’s frozen in the door.

“Hey man, keep moving,” someone calls from behind them and Hana puts both of her hands on his back to force him through the door. The walls of the dimly lit bar are lined with vintage arcade machines, lights of all different colors flicker around them. In front of them is a starkly decorated bar, rather plain as it wasn’t the main attraction. Hana can’t believe it but Maxwell is speechless.

“Do you want to get some change and I’ll get us drinks?” She points at one of the many change machines near the bathrooms. Maxwell nods and reaches for his wallet.

She returns from the bar, two beers in hand. Maxwell is struggling to fit all the quarters he just exchanged his cash for in his pockets. A few coins fall and bounce off the well worn floor of the bar.

“So what first?” She turns to take in the room again and Maxwell steps to her side. He scans the room, looking around at all the machines: Donkey Kong, Millipede, Mortal Kombat, and Ms. Pac Man.

“Something for two players to get us warmed up?” She shrugs.

“I never played many video games.” Hana smiles at him, bringing her beer to her lips. The cool foam tickles her upper lip. “So whatever you pick is fine by me.”

After playing a couple of rounds of Joust, Maxwell pushes back from the machine and faces her. “Is there nothing you aren’t a natural at?” Hana shrugs and a laugh bubbles from her lips. He cheeks are hurting from all the laughing and smiling. She and Maxwell were friends but they rarely spent time together like this. She enjoyed it, it was nice to feel like there were no worries. With her name cleared and the engagement off, Liam was finally able to publicly be with Riley. He was off giving her the proposal she deserved right now. Riley deserved it. She worked so hard and endured a lot of ridicule at her expense. All the while helping each of them with their own problems.

Maxwell moves over to another machine. A single player game, Punch Out!!, he fed the machine a couple of quarters and started to play. Hana leans against the machine, watching the screen for a few moments before she looks at Maxwell.

“Where do you think they are now? You said he shared his plans with you.”

Maxwell is concentrating hard on the screen, biting on his tongue as he hits the buttons. He nods at Hana’s words before he speaks, “He said he was going to take her to the place they met and then the beach she took us to after her shift. He said he had some other plans, but wouldn’t tell me no matter how much I. Bugged. Him.” His final words are punctuated as he bangs on buttons on the console.

“He probably didn’t want you to spoil the surprise.” Hana chuckles. “You two are thick as thieves and you could have let it slip.”

“I would not have let it slip!” Maxwell presses buttons with an indignant look on his face. “You spoil one surprise…”

“It was a poodle shaped birthday cake for Penelope.”

“But… IT WAS SO CUTE! I had to pictagram it.” Maxwell drops his hands to his side as he loses the game. He pouts. “Does everyone really think I’m a ruiner?”

“You’re not a ruiner. You just have a hard time controlling your overwhelming enthusiasm. And it’s infectious. That’s probably the first time in the history of New York that there was a standing ovation for a Showtime performance on the Subway.”

“It was a lot of fun, but that conductor was so angry!” He’s grinning from ear to ear, the mischief from before shone in his eyes.

Hana is laughing again. Her cheeks ached. “Maxwell, I’m really glad we did this.” He feeds the machine a couple more quarters and starts playing again. Her phone buzzes in her pocket, when she pulls it out a simple message shines on the her screen.

‘He proposed!’

#playchoices #play choices #the royal romance #trr #choices fanfiction #trr fanfic #trr appreciation week #maxwell beaumont #hana lee #long post

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ddaddsprompts · 7 years

Note

Headcanons for Dadsona being in a intense dance team in his past life. (He had trophies for first and second place) and he kept that hidden, and (DAD) finds out by snooping in his stuff? (He finds pictures, trophies, ribbions, books, magizian articals and videos)

🥃 Robert laughing has becomeless of a rarity these days, but hearing a hearty laugh coming from theguestroom still takes you by surprise. Curiosity wins over your sense ofself-preservation and you walk over to see what’s gotten into your boyfriend.You find Robert standing between the wardrobe doors; he pulled one of the boxesout from the back of the wardrobe and whatever had been inside of it is nowstrewn all across the floor. Your gaze follows the trail of books and magazinesto a photo that unmistakably shows you and your crew celebrating a victory.Robert’s still laughing. You kick him in the shin, which doesn’t even seem tofaze him. “What’s so funny?” The question comes out sharper, more aggressive,than you intended. Robert immediately stops laughing. “Come on, tell me. Is itthe idea of me in a dance crew or dance crews in general?” You could have goneon for hours, letting out old insults you had got over the years, but Robert’shand covering your mouth prevents that. You glare and he shakes his head. “Notthat, kid. I think dance crews are cool. It’s just…” He visibly tries not tochuckle. “You. The person who literally stumbles over their feet once every twoweeks. In a dance crew. Doing breakdance moves.” He starts laughing again. Pouting,you let him pull you close and bury your face in his neck. “I’m still angry,”you tell him.

🍸 Most of your belongings already migrated over to theChristiansen house, you’re just carrying the last boxes, to be put somewhere inthe back of the wardrobe or under the bed to be forgotten. Maybe you shouldhave taken Joseph up on the offer to carry them for you, but Dad PrideTM wonover practical knowledge. The one in your arms is heavy, you stumble everystep, trying not to give in under the weight. You make it to the living roomand already feel a rush of accomplishment, just to step on one of Crish’s toysand fall. Joseph is there in an instance, alerted by your yell, and pulls thebox off your chest. “Y/N! Are you okay?” After you nod, he starts putting theitems that fell out back into the box. He pauses. “Are those yours?” You situp, ignoring your hurting back, and look at the thing he’s pointing at. Yourface goes red. “This one has your name on it,” Joseph continues, oblivious toyour embarrassment. He picks up a trophy and traces the engraving with hisfinger. “Now I know why you can do sick dance moves like the ones you showedoff at the youth party!” Joseph leans forward and kisses your cheek. “You haveto tell me everything.”

☕ Mat wraps an arm around you from behind and kissesyour temple. The scent of vanilla, coffee and cinnamon that clings to his skinno matter how often he showers washes over you and you nearly melt. “DidCarmensita find the album?” He nods and kisses your cheek. “Back of thewardrobe. Next to some boxes I didn’t recognise, so we looked inside.” There’san undertone to his voice that tugs on your thoughts, but you can’t figure outwhy. Mat is silent; you feel his jaw shift and hear him swallow, as if togather his courage. Then he speaks again. “Didn’t know you used to be in adance group, man.” He runs his fingers down your spine, coaxing the tensionthat came at his words away again. “It’s no big deal.” Mat squeezes your side;his chin comes to rest on your shoulder. “Kind of is, though,” he disagrees. “Youwere in the World Championship.”“We didn’t win, though.” Mat tuts. “You were second, baby. If that isn’t impressive,I don’t know what is.” You can tell there’s something else he wants to say, cansee it in his anxious expression, but you don’t ask. You give him all the timehe needs for his silent pep-talk, patiently waiting. Eventually, he releasesyou, just to turn you around and embrace you again. “Want to show me somemoves? I’ll play for you,” he whispers. His deep, rich voice sends a shiverdown your spine.

🌹 When you step into Damien’sstowage room, he’s on the floor. “What happened here?” You gesture to thethings lying about. “Lucien and I had an argument,” he replies. “He let outsome steam here. Don’t worry about it.” He smiles at you; it seems like he andLucien already made up again. “The argument wasn’t about anything serious, itjust escalated.”“Shouldn’t he be helping you, if he caused this mess?” Damienmakes a dismissive gesture. “He’s making dinner downstairs. Cooking has alwayshelped him calm down more than cleaning up.” Slowly you get down to help him.There are a lot of old, damaged or even broken things, objects one only doesn’tthrow away because they hold memories, but also other stuff, like Halloweendecorations or IT equipment. You’re trying to figure out what the gadget inyour hands is for when Damien gasps in surprise next to you. You look up. He’sholding a blue ribbon and turns it over in his hands to read what’s written onit. “Y/N, Best Individual Dancer.” He turns his head towards you and wigglesthe ribbon, as if you didn’t already notice it. “How delightful! I didn’t knowyou were a competitive dancer.” Blushing, you rub the back of your head. “I wasin a dance crew. Lucien must have knocked over one of the boxes with my…things.” Damien reaches out and squeezes your shoulder. “You’ll have to show mesome of them at a suitable opportunity. I’d enjoy hearing all about it.”He pauses. “Unless you don’t want to talk about it? I’d understand, Y/N.” Youshake your head. “I’ll tell you about my crew.” His excited smile makes yourheart skip a beat.

🎣 Other people would probably have approached the topicwith more finesse and sensitivity, but this is Brian you’re talking about. Ifyou hadn’t seen him deal with Daisy, you would think he doesn’t know what tactfulnessand softness is. You’re chilling on the bed when he comes barging insidecarrying a box on his shoulder as if it weighs nothing, bringing with him acomplete shift of the energies in the room. You sit up and scoot aside to makespace for him, but Brian drops the box on the bed and stays standing, hands onhis hips. “Y/N! Here you had something you’re a whole lot better at than me andyou never brought it up!” You’re confused until you peer into the box and findyourself and the rest of the crew gracing the front page of a magazine. Youblush and duck your head. “I can’t dance,” Brian continues. “My ex always toldme I have two left feet and the sense of rhythm of a stone. But you-!” He putshis hands on your shoulders, looking so excited, his eyes are sparklingbrighter than any emerald. “Not only can you dance, but you won prices!” Hetakes out a random trophy and presents it to you. You have no choice but totake it. “Where was that? What song did you dance to?” He finally sinks downnext to you, with an expression reminding you of a young Amanda waiting for herbedtime stories. You chuckle and read the engraving. “Okay, so that was 1997,in New York—“

👟 “Did you find it yet?” You call down to Craig, whohas been in the stowage for half an hour, searching for something (you alreadyforgot). A muffled sound is the reply you get, and you’re already about to walkdown to see what he’s doing when Craig comes sprinting up, holding—Your eyes gowide, then, you blush. “Bro!” Craig proudly presents you the trophy he found –you can’t even remember putting your old stuff down there. “I didn’t know youmade your hobby into something so serious! Why didn’t you tell me?” You shrug;honestly, you don’t really know yourself. It’s not like you’re embarrassed, it’sjust something you don’t feel like shouting from the rooftops. “That’s so sick.”He turns the statue over to read the engraving. “First place in the United States Dance Group Competition… Bro!” He’sso excited, you can’t help but grin back at him. “Can you still do some of themoves?” Craig tries to show you what he means, but what comes out is so farfrom a dance move, you struggle fighting down a hysterical laugh. “Yeah, I can,”you say. “Want to see?” His eyes light up like a Christmas tree.

📖 “Y/N? Could youcome here for a moment?” Lowering your book, you frown, but put it aside andfollow the sound of Hugo’s voice. It didn’t sound urgent, but still, you hurry.The moment you see him kneeling next to a box filled with ribbons, magazinesand a photo album, your already rapidly beating heart takes it up a notch,hammering against your chest. Hugo finally lifts his gaze and merely raises aneyebrow, the expression that brings every student to their knees. “Care to tellme what this is?” A smart-ass response comes to mind, but you brush it off yourtongue before it can get out. “My old stuff.” You move to sit on the floor nextto him and look at the book in his lap. It shows your whole crew after yoursecond win of a major competition in a row; your old self grins back at you. “Whydid you hide those, Y/N? I hope you know it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Au contraire, it’s…” A faint blushcolours the area around his nose pink. “Awesome.” He points at another pictureof your crew. “It actually explains a lot. You might be out of practise, butyour body still remembers the moves. It’s evident whenever we wrestle.” Hiswolfish smile turns you on as much as it worries you. “That means I can takeoff the training wheels.”

- Mod Mare

#dream daddy #dream daddy: a dad dating simulator #dream daddy a dad dating simulator #ddadds #ddadds imagine #Anonymous

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agirlhasnonamehotd · 7 years

Text

Designated Driver

Mark x MC

With appearances from Cole, Horatio, and Ben

(I’m so sorry I’ve been missing from the LH world. It was Homecoming week, and I’ve been swamped with work… but I managed to write this short fic. I’m still working on rewriting Chapter 3 of Book 1…but enjoy this in the meantime!)

It’s 3:00 a.m. when you finally get the call. You roll over and grab your cell phone.

Mark.

“Babe?” you answer sleepily.

“Wha…what…d-don’t call me baaabe”

There’s rambling in the background. You recognize Ben and Cole’s voices.

Oh, boy.

“Hello?” you say patiently.

“H…shhhh, quiet you guuuys…. Hi is this Uber?”

No, jackass, this is your girlfriend-you want to say. However, in the depths of the early morning hours, you’re feeling particularly wicked. Your mouth curls into a mischievous grin.

“Why yes, it is,” you reply, “Do you need service?”

“WHOA…whoa, lady,” Mark slurs his warning, “Calm down with the service…we need…rides.”

“Okay, sir. Where are you?”

“We’re…guys, where are we?”

You sit up in bed and roll your eyes as you hear the three of them trying to make sense of their surroundings. You know where they are – Mark told you he was having boy’s night at the usual spot. You also know he must be shitfaced if he confused your number for the Uber App.

“We’re…at….at the Double Tap,” he finally answers. “Be there shortly,” you say

Once you hang up you rub your hands together. You feel like you did when you were five in a candy store: This will be a treat. From your closet you pull a pair of glasses and a blond wig – part of last year’s Halloween costume. You put them on along with an old college sweatshirt. One look in the mirror, plus knowing how wasted they are, confirms they won’t notice a thing.

Driving to the bar you are in good spirits. It’s not often you get an opportunity like this. When you get there, you see them.

It’s hard not to.

Ben, Mark, and Cole all attempting to breakdance on the sidewalk. Chaperoned by Horatio. You know it’s horrible. You know. But you pull out your phone and take a quick video. Blackmail.

When you get out of the car and approach them, Horatio does a double take. You put your finger to your lips and wink; he understands.

“Uber transportation for Mark Collins?” you say in a bored, tired sort of voice.

Mark gets up from a bad attempt at floor rocking and nearly falls back over. He looks at you sideways and blinks several times.

“That’s…that’s me,” he points to himself, “I’m …. that dude.”

You point to your car and directly avoid Horatio’s stare. If you look at him you’ll dissolve into a giggle fit. This is too good. You watch the boys stumble towards your car. Ben tries to open the car door. And tries. And tries.

“Ben,” Horatio calls to him, “that’s the gas compartment!”

Ben looks at it for several seconds before moving his hand to the actual handle. He opens the door and throws it open with such force it makes you flinch. The three practically climb over each other to get into the backseat. When they close the door you see Cole press his face to the window. Horatio then turns to you.

“Dani, what are you doing?” he asks.

“If I must be D.D,” you explain, “I might as well have a little fun.”

You expect Horatio to express dissent. However, when you turn around and Cole now has his ass pressed to the glass he nods.

“Are the child safety locks on?”

“Nope, I want to see at least one of them tuck and roll from the car,” you respond in jest.

“I want to hear this tale tomorrow,” he says to you with a small smile.

You give Horatio a pat on the shoulder and go back to the car. Once you ensure your passengers are wearing seatbelts (it takes Mark three tries and a pinched finger) you head first to Ben’s place.

“So, gentlemen,” you begin casually, “did you have a good evening?”

“Oh…we…. yes. That’s a yes,” Ben nods vigorously.

“We…are…we’re….” Cole laughs at himself “motherfucking legends. Youuuu…. lady… are driving….l…legends.”

In the rearview mirror you see Cole attempt to high five Mark. Instead, he hits him in the face. Mark screams bloody murder.

“OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, dude…,” he cries out, “that hurt…you…you broke my face! How will D…D…Dani like me now?”

At this you smile. Mark’s face is fine, but he claws at it as if he’s been mauled.

“Mr. Collins, who is Dani?” You ask curiously.

The back seat gets quiet. You see the three boys look at each other.

“Dani’s my girl…person,” he says with a drunken grin.

“But you’re not like…exclusive, are you, handsome?” you say suggestively.

Ben scoffs from the backseat. Cole looks outraged. But Mark? Mark gets this soft look on his inebriated face.

“I…a-am…off the…market,” he stutters, “We are…ex…ex… you can’t have me.”

“Dani’s the bestest,” Ben adds in, “trust me, I kinda know see when…M…Mark and her were…well before they were …”

“Ben Ben Ben,” Cole spits out, “do…don’t talk about that time you bent Dani ov- “

“WHOA!” Mark interjects holding his hands over his ears. You are intensely grateful for this.

“Guys…guys…” he says. He then looks at you through the rearview mirror. Though his eyes are bleary from the alcohol, you see purpose in them.

“Dani…. Dani’s like…my bff…and my gf…she’s…like…. she’s like my….”

“Sex goddess?” Cole fills in with a hiccup.

“Well…that tooooooo,” Mark agrees, “but she’s so…. special…and I just love her…so so much…”

You hear a sniffle from the back seat. Ben. With a tear slipping down his face.

“That’s…. sooo beautiful man,” he murmurs as he wipes his face.

“Yeah…but…but let’s not forget that boooodaayyyy,” Cole sings drunkenly, “she’s so scrumptious- OW”

Mark punches Cole’s arm. Hard.

“Don’t… you talk about her like that.”

You feel Mark’s eyes on the back of your head.

“L…listen lady,” he says pointedly, “I’m fl…fl…it’s cool you think I’m attr…hot, but…I’m a one-man woman.”

It takes everything in you to refrain from laughing.

“I understand, sir.”

Shortly after you arrive at Ben’s apartment complex. He tips you, and crawls up the steps to the front door. After three attempts with his keys he finally gets in. From there it’s a short drive to Mark and Cole’s place; most of it is spent with the two attempting to sing the theme song from Cheers. It’s mostly gibberish. Finally, you reach their complex. You stop the car and turn around in your seat.

“This Dani sounds like a lucky woman,” you muse.

“No….wroooonggg…” Mark declares with a forceful head shake, “I’m luck…lucky. She’s my world.”

He looks at you and then at Cole, who is fumbling with the door. At last Cole gets it open and the two exit with difficulty. You get out to watch them – afraid of them falling down the steps. As they open the door Mark turns and waves.

“Nighty night Uber lady!” he exclaims.

And then he’s gone.

You stand out there a few minutes; pull the wig from your head. A huge smile spreads across your face. Laughter and a good joke were your goals for the evening. Instead, even in his drunken state, Mark’s left you with that warm, fuzzy feeling of which he is a master.

Eventually you get back to your place and crawl into bed. You find it hard to sleep, though, because his words replay in your head.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next afternoon, Mark appears at your door. He’s in sweats, holding his head, looking a little worse for the wear. You open the door wide and watch him walk past you and plop down on the sofa. He groans when his head hits the pillow.

“Rough night?” you ask him.

His only response is to nod and pat the cushion beside him. You follow his gesture and as soon as you’re beside him, his head is on your lap. He places a hand on your knee and lets out a content whimper when you massage his temple.

“I…will never drink again,” he mutters.

“Well, that’s a lie,” you laugh, “what happened?”

“Cole …. seven rounds of red Herring.”

“None of you pulled a Jack of Hearts, did you?” you tease.

Mark groans again.

“Dani…I love you,” he replies, “but for that I kind of hate you.”

You smile down at the precious, hungover, hunk of man.

“Anything else happen?”

Mark opens his eyes and squints against the light, deep in thought.

“Yeah…actually,” he muses, “our Uber driver hit on me.”

You do your best to sound surprised.

“What?! Was it a dude?!”

“No, a chick…blond….and she asked me if I was available, sorta,” he tells you.

“Oh, that’s awkward,” you respond with a chuckle.

Mark turns over on his back and looks straight up at you. He reaches up and touches your cheek; presses his fingertips to your lips. You kiss them gently.

“It was, but …I told her I have the perfect woman. I don’t need anyone or anything else.”

The words warm your heart all over again. Mark sits up momentarily to kiss you; then flops right back onto your lap. You spend the afternoon caressing his face and playing with his hair as he slips in and out of slumber. It hits you as you watch him smile in his sleep. Whether Mark is drunk, hungover, or sober… You’re certain. You are his world just as much as he is yours. Life will always be amazing with him in it.

#pixelberry #play choices #choices the stories you play #lovehacks #lovehacks mark #mark collins #lovehacks cole #lovehacks ben #mark x mc

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