#bei buns

[gomzdrawfr]

OI YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSE TO EXPOSE ME LIKE THI- yeah

Price is also, a menace when he wants to be

[clouds-by-me]

𝓞𝓬𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓫𝓻𝓮𝓮𝔃𝓮

Characters ;; Kazuha X gn!mer!reader Warnings ;; being caught in a net, PDA(kinda) Word count ;; 1.4k An |not this being in my wips for a long time and just now getting it done. And I’m probably gonna go back and edit this

As a creature of the sea, you were naturally beautiful. Who wouldn’t want to see a creature of your kind? Across Teyvat, your kind was told in many ways, but every single time your kind was depicted as beautiful with an angelic voice.

Their voice carried feelings, and emotion. However had gone extinct long ago, mers, mermaids, and mermen had became only stories. Tales of fantasy and beauty all across teyvat. Though native to Fontaine, only some merfolk traveled outside of there homeland.

————-

The sound of the wind and waves crashing onto a ship mix into a beautiful song to Kazuha’s ears. A wonderful symphony of sounds mixing and colliding to create a sound that only he can understand. Made just for him. Though people laugh, and sing in the background, the only thing he can hear is the soothing sound of the wind.

His guide, and friend. The loose fabric of his clothes flows in the wind along with his white hair with his streak of red. Carefully his red, amber eyes watched the water, he noticed the waves crash against the boat, and shift at the movement of fish in the water. The way that the water reflected the sun’s rays looked majestic.

Kazuha felt himself be guided into a trance like state. No thoughts entered or exited his mind, he felt peace. For a while he watched the waves, unblinking, until he saw something splash out of the corner of his eye. Quickly, he turned his head to see what’s he had saw, but there was nothing.

Leaning forward, he tried to look closer, keeping a hold onto the boat so he wont fall. After about a minute or so of seeing nothing, he turned away from the water, leaving his own world and returning to the real one.

His crew mates still chatted, and yelled. Laughter filled the breeze. Kazuha softly smiled at the sight, it was nice to see everyone enjoying themselves.

His thoughts went back to water, did he see something? Had he been hallucinating? He doesn’t know. The sound of someone yelling caught his attention.

“Hey, Cap! Something big just got caught in the net!” The sound on the ship lowered, as everyone looked to one person. She stood tall, long brown hair flowed down her back, some of it put up into a bun, with her bangs covering her left eye. She dressed in reds, and browns, with gold italics. Thigh high boots, and an electro vision on her hip. She held a relaxed expression, but somehow still looked serious.

“Bring it on board! Let’s see what it is.” Her voice sprung people into action, and the crew scattered to pull a giant net onto the ship. The struggle to get the net onto the ship, wasn’t expected to say the least.

Once in the middle of the ship, Caption Beidou, and Kazuha along with everyone else on the ship surrounded the net. Something large moved around inside, yet was hard to see due to the light that reflected off of its scales, and the seaweed that was tangled in the net as well.

As Beidou stepped closer, most poeple were quick to assume that the newest catch would be their next meal. Kazuha watched the caption closely as she inspected it.

When she pulled out a small knife, thats when whatever was inside started to trash, and squirm violently. The sudden commotion caused everyone else on the ship to draw closer.

From a short distance, Kazuha watched the scene unfold. From his perspective, everyone else was overreacting, yet he had expected this. A gust of wind blew towards the group, causing the white haired male to continue to stare, this time much more intensely. Then he heard a sound, one that sounded almost like a cry, or gasp.

A hushed sound that swam through the wind. At the sight of skin under the thick green kelp, Kazuha’s eyes widen. He didn’t know what he was doing, but the next thing he knew, was him immediately being close to the net. The male ushered his crew mates, and caption away from the net, and after a few seconds they moved away.

“Kazuha? What are you doing?” The voice of Beidou didn’t seem to have processed in his brain, because he didn’t respond, nor did he move away from the now slightly damp net.

Carefully his hands grazed over the kelp, to which the already moved thing inside continued to violently thrash. The mocking. Voices of the people around didn’t males it to Kazuha’s consciousness. His red eyes scanned the kelp as his hands worked to remove the long green strips. When his eyes meet met another, he froze. Whatever was within the net stopped as well.

Time seemed to have slowed to an abrupt stop. Curious eyes, met scared ones, and they seemed to have connected by some invisible string. When the scared eyes blinked, all the weird and uncomfortable kelp was off of their body. As the sun beamed onto them, they struggled to keep their eyes open, had been under thick layers of the oceans grass.

Kazuha stared in awe, at what had been in front of him.

A being with the upper body of a human, a fin with shining scales replaced their legs. Scales came in clusters around the human part of their body. Their nails were sharp, and they had webbed fingers.

As soon as the net had been removed from their body, they had brought a hand over their eyes. A feeling of longing washed over Kazuha at the sight of them shielding their eyes. Just as his hands twitched to reach out to the person before him, the sound of his caption stopped him.

“Alright crew! Everyone listen up! We’re going to set them free, everyone set about to their normal business!” A rumble of groans echoed throughout the crux, yet everyone did as told and event about their own business. Kazuha, however didn’t, still crouched down before the beautiful creature.

“I trust that you’ll be able to care for them?” He looked up to find Beidou looking down at him, something like a smirk was on her face. “Just be sure to be careful.” He wordlessly nodded, not really understanding what she meant, as she walked away.

When he looked back in fro at of him, he was greeted by a pair of curious eyes. In shock, he flinched back, falling onto his but. Water dripped onto him from the mer still being wet, seeing as the creature had gotten really close to him. Their eyes flickered from his, then to his hair. Wordlessly, they slowly moved their hand to his head. Kazuha watched their hand, and stayed still as if frozen in place.

He felt them grab a peace of his hair and pull it closer towards them. Kazuha leaned closer, now understand what they were reaching for. In their hand, was his strand of red hair. They played with it intently, as if it was the most interesting thing they’ve ever seen.

“I need to get you back into the ocean…” With a heated face, his voice trailed off, something about the lack of distance, and the look of innocence in their eyes made Kazuha slightly flustered. It wasn’t like they were in some secluded area either, which didn’t help him any.

At his words they looked at him, disgusted almost.

“I….don’t wanna go back.” They mumbled under their breath. If it weren’t for Kazuha’s incredible hearing, he would’ve missed their angelic voice. Their voice was like air to his lungs, it felt wonderful o hear them speak. For a shor t while, he was beginning the wonder if they could talk. The male didn’t understand the imploring sound in their voice, but his heart sunk at their words. He tilted his head slightly, and they avoided his gaze, opting to look at the sea instead.

He wanted to ask why they didn’t want to return to the water, but figured that it would be best to leave it be. Instead he began looking around.

“Well, doubt you need to get back into water? Before your fins dry out?” They didn't say anything, only nodded as a response. Them not using their words to express themselves was disappointing to say the least. the male sighed, as he stared at the being before him, the wind blew.

His hair blew in the wind, and as he sat there with the majestic creature he made up his mind. His friend, the wind, didn’t guide him to this decision. Looking at the being who refused to look ay him, he had made up his mind.

“I’m gonna take care of you. I’m going to protect you, and keep you safe.”

[soulc-hilde]

Ch. 05 - Locked Down

Pairing: Jey Uso / Josh Fatu x Aries / Ezmeralda Bey

Synopsis: Devoted to her craft and her family, WWE Superstar Ezmeralda has a library of accolades accomplished on her own and by the side of her family like never before. As she leads the Women's Revolution to glory, romance seems to find her at the most unexpected moment... in the ring.

Warning(s): SFW, OC is a black woman, swearing, WWE-canon violence, Non-scripted fights, body shaming, body insecurities, WWE's consistant misogyny is blatant until later chapters, etc.

Cross-posted: Wattpad

Ch. 01 | Ch. 02 | Ch. 03 | Ch. 04 | Ch. 05

Atlanta, GA 

Unfortunately, Ezmeralda couldn't attend Jojo and Eva's housewarming party as she originally planned to spend time with her family and spend some time with a certain man. For the afternoon, the triplets had set out to teach their eldest nephew, Leon, how to drive and out of all the cars they had, Ezmeralda's had to suffer.

And to think, she just replaced the breaks on her Ford F-150. 

The custom painted evergreen and silver accented truck was filled with Ezmeralda, Ezra, Ezekiel, Leon, and their older brother and his father - Elijah while Josh and their other older brother, Emry, sat in the bed. Pulling into the empty parking lot, the boys begin to set up their own course of cones while Ezmeralda turns on the cameras.

Once everything was set, they begin the video with Ezmeralda in the passenger seat as Leon takes over the driver seat. Emry and Josh sit in the backseat while Ezekiel and Ezra sit in the bed of the truck. 

"Alright, nephew," Ezmeralda starts. "If you can drive a pickup truck, you can drive damn near any car on the planet. Now, with my truck, the gear shift is in the steering column. That is known as a column shift, not every car has this design, but the function is universal. You just grab and pull down."

Leon nods, "okay." 

She points at his feet. "There are only two pedals. On the left is the brake which your foot's already on and the gas is on the right." Emry cuts in, "no, the brake's not... what?" 

Josh laughs, trying to appear relaxed. "Nope, she's right. Brake's on the left, gahdamn."  "Yuh," she resumes her lecture. 

"So, when you remove your foot from the brake, the car will move. Not full throttle, but it will roll forward. Go ahead and give it a little, right now." He begins to press on the gas, forgetting to shift the vehicle into drive. The engine revs, its healthy growl was loud and deep as it settles in their bones.

"Oh, it's still in park," Emry notes. "Ok, a little rev. Little rev. How'd that feel though?" Leon laughs, "that felt like it was about to take off."

Ezmeralda shakes her head, "gahlee, you got a heavy ass foot. I know y'all felt that shit." The two men laugh, Josh's eyes widening with fear he tried so hard to play off. "What you mean did we feel that? Hell yeah!"

"Aye, son," Emry leans forward, tapping Leon on the shoulder. "You remember that episode in Spongebob? Where they were like 'big toe. Only the big toe?' You gotta do that, son. Do that, just your big toe." 

"America," Ezmeralda huffs, rubbing her face with frustration. "We gon' die. And I just fixed my truck, too!" 

Ezekiel and Ezra sit in the bed, chewing on honey buns while singing: "Guess who's gonna die, tonight? Uh, die tonight."

Ezmeralda's House

After spontaneously gaining the car back with no markings and unanimously declaring that Leon could not drive until he's reached the age of 40 which is a good age seeing as the whole Bey crew would be dead and gone, Ezmeralda and Josh decided to have a little date night to about, well, them.

"So," Josh starts, sipping some of the peach flavored Moscato. "When you think about us and our relationship, where do you see us? What do you see?"

Keeping her eyes on her plate, Ezmeralda nods and takes the moment to answer. "I can see myself being happy when I think of us. I don't know if it's because of how long we knew each other or what, but there's an unsaid understanding between us. Like, I know what you're thinking or feeling before you even say a word and vice versa."

"Before you, I never thought of myself with someone and felt real happiness and infatuation," her voice falls into a whisper as her face slowly begins to turn red. "Seeing the way you get along with my family, treating them as if they're yours and the way you don't judge me for my career and my looks. I just... I feel loved."

Josh grins, taking a hold of her hand from across the table. "Baby, gon'head and look at me," he coos. Once her toffee brown eyes meet his dark ones, he begins to speak. 

"Ezmeralda, since like '08, you've been my rock. Now, don't tell Jonathan that cause he'll throw a fuss, but from the moment we stepped into FCW and you became our mentor, I'd fallen in love with you." Her eyebrows raise, ellicting a soft chuckle.

He shrugs, "I already had a little celebrity crush on you beforehand, but seeing you in person, watchin' you work in the ring, and getting to actually have a conversation with Ezzie - The Chaotic Beauty instead of Aries - The Future Hall of Famer... I knew I had to make you mine."

"It for sure doesn't help that our families are so connected, girl, you can't get rid of me even if you tried," Josh giggles. "I know being vulnerable ain't your thing and expressing yourself like this is something new, but I want you to know that I see you. I see the effort you put in letting me know that you're feeling me, too. I see you opening your heart for me despite your fear. And I appreciate you, okay?"

A tear escapes down her cheek as she nods. Josh's grin, if possible, stretches even further as he walks around the table and pulls her into a hug. "I appreciate you, boo," he pecks her on the forehead. "And I love you." She whispers in his chest, voice trembling with her tears. "I love you, too."

"Joshua," she sighs, a timid smile taking over. "As a little girl, I've always wanted to find happiness like parents have and that includes their marriage, you know? And for the longest, I could never find it. I never found someone who looked at me like I was something valuable or treated me like so. I was always too masculine or aggressive or looking for too much - hell, there's one who complained that my family and I was too close!" 

Ezmeralda bites her lip, "and for a long time, I believed that my career was going to be my first and my last love. I even made a to-do list of accolades I wanted to do before I retired or died, but meeting Josh was like a blessing, I guess. My first love introducing me to, probably, the love of my life. I'd say that it's very poetic."

After dinner, the two were cuddling on the couch, watching tv. "Since TJ and Nattie's bachelor party's comin' up and we're officially locked in," Josh jokes with a light giggle. "How do you wanna go about the vacation?"

"For one, we can definitely share a room," Ezmeralda hums. "Ezra's bringing Charlene, rightfully taking personal time for themselves from the kids, while Ezekiel's a freak. I'on't, no, we're not kids being forced to share a room anymore." Josh laughs, shaking his head at the adorable yet disgusted grimace that takes over her round features. 

"Okay, what else?" He laughs. She adds on, "we can fly out together. Instead of us meeting down there, you can just bring your bags over here and then we can leave together." 

He nods, "say less. I'll probably start packing either tomorrow or the day after." Josh leans more of his body weight onto her as an exaggerated pout shifts onto his face. "You gon' help me, boo? You know, I forget things. Please?" 

"Yes, yes," she laughs, pushing him off. "All up on me." He kisses his teeth, side eyeing her. "Girl, please. You love when all this delicious caramel is all up on you," he rubs up and down his puffed out chest. 

Ezmeralda snorts, her head falling back as the outburt switches into a hyena laugh. "Get away from me before I kick you out my house, JJ!" He shakes his head, smiling. "Nah, come on and get you some girl. Last night, you couldn't get enough," he begins climbing on top of her as she screams, laughing. 

"Omg! Josh!" She laughs. She wraps her thick thighs around his waist and her arm around the back of his neck, rolling their bodies off the couch. He begins fake choking, arms wiggling as he goes to tap out. "Nah, go to sleep. Take yo' Niquil."

Las Vegas, NV

Touching down in Vegas, both the bride and groom's parties road to the hotel in a shared limosine. As they infiltrate the hotel, rowdy and disturbing the poor patrons, they make their way to Natalya and TJ's room. The room was decked out with a bar and an open space living room where everyone settled for the moment. 

Josh and Ezmeralda sit down at the table as Jojo and Justin check out the shower room with a stripper pole incorporated in the center while Bri and Nikki sit with Bryan, accidentally popping open the bottle of champagne. Ezra and his fiance, Charlene, sat beside, laughing at the chaos that surrounds them.

Nikki starts a quick toast, "oh, here's to boners, shit. Bachelor and bachelorette, yay!" Everyone laughs, joining in. 

After everyone settled into their rooms, they decided to head down to soak in the pool. Ezmeralda was dressed in an emerald bikini with gold accents, the swimsuit came in a set with a sheer skirt, and matching flip flops. Her and Charlene walk side by side, flanked by Josh, Ezekiel, and Ezra. Both of their men kept an arm around their waists, eyeing down any man who dared look their way. Ezekiel, on the other hand, trailed after them mindlessly as his hands rub over his pecs and his torso, hoping he didn't appear ashy. 

The group settles beside Trinity and Jon's shared layout. While Jon, Ezra, and Ezekiel set out for the water, Josh lays beside Ezmeralda, his eyes staring her down. "Look at you," he hums, moving his sunglasses up. "All glowy, girl yeh look goodt."

She laughs, nudging him with her shoulder. "Boy, hush," she playfully scolds. He shakes his head, "you want me to be quiet while you here, lookin' like a full course Michelin Star meal."

He leans over her ear, "I won't lie, though. Some folks got one more time to be starring like they got eye problems or else they really gone need that vision checked." She snorts, smacking his chest, "ignore them. At the end of the day, you the one that finna eat this meal."

"Oh," he leans back, eyebrows raised. "Is that so?" She raises her eyebrows, shrugging. "Depends... if you're hungry." He cheeses, nodding. "Girl, I'm always hungry." 

She shakes her head, "well you just ate breakfast this morning, so you gone have to wait. In the meantime, gon'head and take yo' ass for a swim. You look dehydrated." Charlene snorts, leaning away from them as Ezmeralda lightly pushes the younger Fatu away from her.

Pre-Game | Hotel

Everyone was dressed and back in the party room, pre-gaming before the parties were to separate for the night. Ezmeralda dressed in a dark purple dress that stops at the knee with a cheeky slight on the side, the top of the dress was off the shoulder with thin long sleeves and paired with black booties. They all cheer Nattie to take a shot before mingling.

Trinity, Ariane, Nikki, Charlene, and Ezmeralda sit on the couch beside Bri, talking. "So, are we gonna see Bri Mode, tonight?" Trin asks. The twin smirks, "maybe not tonight," before taking a sip of her champagne. 

Ariane and Ezmeralda laugh while Trinity groans. "She's like, 'maybe not tonight,'" Ariane mimics the Bella twin, the group laughing. 

TJ calls for a toast, raising his pink solo cup. "A toast to Natalie Neidhart, who has definitely kept me level," everyone 'aw's at his moment of vulnerability. "And from flying off the deep end. And, the one person who's the reason I'm still here and still kicking, so..." Everyone raises their glasses, sending their praises for the childhood sweethearts. 

Nikki then stands, walking off to the side. "I'm sorry, but, us girls, are getting ready to go to Chippendale and we can't be late for the show. We love you guys, but you gotta go." 

Josh shakes his head, arms gripping Ezmeralda's waist. "Y'all really kickin' us out, twin." Nikki shrugs, laughing, in response. Josh turns to the older woman, pecking her on the lips repeatedly. "You just gone let her kick us out?" 

Ezmeralda shrugs, laughing, "aye, that ain't my fight, Uce." He playfully glares at her, pinching at her sides. "Girl, shut up and give me my kiss." She does so, laughing against his lips. "Be safe, alright? And call me if you need, I love you."

"I will and I love you," she whispers, gently backing away. She watches as he leaves out the door with the rest of the men, trying to ignore Trinity's bouncing eyebrows.

While Jojo couldn't participate in the activities because of her age and Eva personally stayed away from alcohol, the two decided to just walk around and enjoy each other's company while the others partied and enjoy the show. As the night continues, Bri becomes lost in the alcohol and the music as her, Nikki, and Ariane dance on top of the mini tables in the section. She even ran across the couch with the drink in hand. 

"Oh, Lord," Ezmeralda laughs, shaking her head as Nikki falls off the couch. Trinity shakes her head, "y'all we gotta wrestle next week." 

Before the girls... Bri, could get too far gone, they decided to retreat back to the bachelorette room where they continued to drink and have fun in a safer space. Bri and Ezmeralda sit beside Natalya, noticing that her mood turned dark quick. 

"I don't know what it is," Natalya laughs, "but Brie, Ezzie, please don't get mad at me.  I know you guys are gonna get so mad. But, I honestly can't get Jaret out of my mind. I don't know what it is and what's wrong with me?"

Both women's faces drop, eyes slightly widening at the bomb. They don't say anything yet, allowing the woman to continue. "I don't know why, but I wanna text back and Nicole told me not to text back. But I already have."

"This is your bachelorette party," Brie points out. Nattie takes a seat, "Yeah, I feel so overwhelmed to be honest. I feel like there's nobody on the planet that I love more than TJ. Bit, I feel like I'm not ready for it." Her phone vibrates. 

Brie and Ezmeralda follow her to the master bedroom. "What's wrong with me?" She asks, eyes tearing up. "Like, I wanted to have this fairytale wedding, but part of me is like so scared." 

"When we were seeing the Chippendales, I was not looking forward to it. But when we went there, it was something fun, right?" Brie speaks. "The way the guys looked at you and it was like... ugh and you're just like, 'whoa.' You feel wanted. And you just feel like, 'wow, in these guys' eyes, we're it.' And that's what Jaret's making you feel."

Ezmeralda chimes in, nodding. "Nattie, you and TJ have been rocking with one another for 13 years," her eyebrows raise, "there's some marriages that don't even last that long, but y'all have. You guys have spent so much of your lives with one another, that a part of you becomes jumpy when this new spark of attention is given to you."

"Once TJ had his injury, your relationship took a bump and he wasn't willing to actually hear you. Instead, he kept shoving you onto the back burner. So, when a guy like Jaret comes through and he's saying all these nice things, he's giving you the attention that TJ should be."

Nattie nods, "and it's funny to me because no matter how many times, Jaret tells me all these nice things, at the end of the day, it's just TJ that I love. A part of me, though, feels like, scared to totally seal the deal."

"And you have the right to be," Ezmeralda smiles. "For all these years, you both had the opportunity to leave one another. Try to find someone else to start over with, but you didn't because y'all are meant for each other. With marriage, that's not something you can just get up and leave when things become tough."

Nattie nods, wiping her face. "I think I'm just becoming overwhelmed with everything." Ezmeralda nods, "that's okay, I'ma head to my room with Josh. Have a goodnight, Nattie."

Ezmeralda makes her way out, reaching the hotel room. Unlocking the door with her card, she walks in, trying to be as silent as possible with every step. Just as she turns the corner to the bed, Josh's body flashes from behind the wall as he screams. Her body freezes, leaping in the air as a delayed shout explodes from her lungs. 

"Oh my God," she pants, hand over her heart as it pulses against her ribs. Josh laughs, clapping his hands before pulling the woman into his chest. "I'm sorry, mamas. I'm sorry, I had to."

Calming down as her soul returns to her body, she sends a chop to his chest, teeth gritted together. "Joder tu madre, cabron!" She curses as he laughs, following her to the bed. "I'm sorry, baby!" He apologizes once again, collapsing on the bed beside her.

"How was your night?" He asks, lightly stroking her exposed thigh. She smiles, "it was good. Brie went into Brie Mode, I ain't never seen someone run across a couch with heels on and a full cup of liquor in hand." 

He laughs, shaking his head at the image that pops into his head. "Y'all was cutting up, huh?" She shakes her head, "I was not cutting up, sir. Do not add me into that equation, I was innocent."

He hums in disbelief, pulling her in closer. "However, I ain't worried about all that. Since you back and we both got some energy left, how about that meal I was promised? What's on the menu?"

She hums, making her way to her feet, slowly stripping herself from the dress. "The chef has yet to prepare the food, sir. Not even the meat has been cleaned." He jumps to his feet, "don't even worry about the mean. Salmonella ain't never killed nobody."

"Shut up!" She laughs, backing up for the bathroom. "Just wait, it won't take long, just like 20-30 minutes." He takes slow steps forward, "nah. I want my meal now." He goes to lunge but she evades him, ducking into the bathroom.

As she goes to shut the door, he bursts through, arms wrapping around her naked waist. "Joshua!" She screams as he kicks the door closed. 

◼︎◼︎◼︎

How are we liking the story so far? I've always wanted to do a fanfic based off of Total Divas since I got into wrestling, but nobody was making Jey Uso fics except for like a few quick imagines on Tumblr.

I'm happy that my man is getting his shine in the spotlight; however, it's coming at a great cost because he still has yet to win a solo match for a solo title whereas Baby Fatu is spearheading a main event storyline with Roman, chasing after the title and he's only been in the main roster for about a year, I think. 

Like, what's the purpose of being Main Event Jey Uso if y'all not finna give him a winning chance? He's leaving his family for damn near 5 days a week to put that work in and nothing to say for it except the crowd reception. 

And don't even get me started on the rumors folks have been starting about his marriage. Like, Ms. Takecia has never been one to have her face all up in a camera even before Jey's big solo push. Even at events such as HOF, there's photos on Pinterest of her posing with Trinity and Galina, but there's none of her being caught on live camera because she's not into it. 

But she was there by Jey's side in one of those WWE vlogs, her and both of his sons. Leave that family alone and stop making lies about his marriage because Takecia is that man's high school sweetheart and doesn't owe y'all her damn appearance. She's living her life as a wife and a mother, leave them alone!

[dramatea88]

Kill Me Love Me - From the "Mad" Third Prince to a Pure Young Man: Liu Xueyi Only Needed One 春花焰

This is an English translation of an essay I found on Weibo. I thought they made really good points about why Liu Xueyi's performance is so effective. Though you'd enjoy it.

Original text: https://card.weibo.com/article/m/show/id/2309405092963368960235?id=2309405092963368960235

The impact of Chunhua Flame continues to rise.

According to Huan Net's big data statistics, Chunhua Flame has seen a steady increase in large-screen viewership, now topping the large-screen broadcast rankings. For a historical drama to rank this highly, the costumes, makeup, and cinematography must have passed rigorous visual tests, making it a superior production.

Looking back at this year's historical romance dramas, the concept of a "big hit" is no longer something that can be achieved solely through effort; fate plays a role too. The quality of the production is still key, but for a drama to become a blockbuster, everything must align perfectly—timing, location, and people.

In this market environment, pursuing "effectiveness" is more practical and meaningful than chasing after a "big hit." An actor's role is largely about portraying a character with precision and detail. A drama doesn't need to be labeled a blockbuster; being a hit is enough. For actors, if they can leave a lasting impression through a well-crafted role, then the drama is effective. For the production, assembling a great cast and creating memorable scenes is an achievement in itself.

From this perspective, the effectiveness of Chunhua Flame is worth discussing, especially with regard to its lead actor Liu Xueyi. The theme here is "contrast." By now, viewers have likely forgotten the appearance of Prince Jing in the first episode.

1. The "Mad" Third Prince

A great fire burns Qingzhou City to ashes.

The once-heroic General Wei Bei, after the fire, becomes despised by the people as a butcher. Unable to defend himself, exiled by the court, the flames of that fire continue to smolder in the chest of Murong Jinghe (played by Liu Xueyi), now burning with vengeance.

Far from the court, he crafts the image of a debauched, wastrel prince, biding his time like a predator awaiting his moment. He plans his revenge carefully, scheming to bring down the crown prince who framed him, thereby clearing his name.

The marriage alliance between Xi Yan and Da Yan sets the stage for his revenge.

Prince Jing has endured humiliation for so long, hiding everything behind a façade of madness, deceiving everyone.

It’s the madness when he welcomes the marriage envoy by scattering paper money into the air.

It’s the madness when he brazenly returns to the capital, laughing maniacally as the people pelt him with vegetables and buns, swallowing a bun whole.

It’s the madness when he deliberately provokes Meilin, knowing she seeks revenge, luring her into trying to assassinate him.

Liu Xueyi’s portrayal of madness is fueled by deep-seated hatred. The abandoned prince returns to stir chaos, half-jokingly deranged yet still harboring genuine malice.

"You will all pay for the stain on my name. You will pay for denying me a final moment with my mother."

When a character blends brooding madness, bloodthirsty vengeance, and eerie calm, it tests an actor's ability to control emotional release. Overdoing it might dilute the insanity, reducing it to mere anger. Being too subtle might lean too much toward restraint.

Liu Xueyi’s balance is perfect. He knows when and how to go mad. His performance makes viewers want to peel away the layers of his madness to understand his reasons. It’s nuanced and intense, embodying madness to its extreme.

2. The Pure Young Man

When Prince Jing and Meilin fall into the village, starting a "farming" subplot, the madness fades along with their lingering tensions.

At some point, Prince Jing, now dressed in simple clothes, transforms into a pure-hearted young man. The flirtatious banter from the beginning of the series seems like a scene from a different drama.

It's common to see male leads who go mad for love, but rare to find one who remains calm.

As they spend more time together, surviving their ordeals, Murong Jinghe’s feelings for Meilin become clearer. What started as a somewhat forced romantic dynamic grows into genuine love. His change is obvious as he desires to share his journey with her, even feeling grateful that she’s by his side.

The core of Chunhua Flame is that Murong Jinghe gradually opens his heart. This transformation is reflected in the change in his personality.

Fate chooses your companions on your journey.

Fate makes you shed your disguise, returning to your true self.

Initially, the two are bound by hatred. Mutual manipulation becomes the truest form of affection they can offer each other. Both Murong Jinghe and Meilin understand that someone raised on hatred isn’t worthy of sincere love.

Later, whether through palace intrigue or the revolutionary friendship formed in the snowy mountains, their true feelings eventually blossom in the peaceful village.

At this point, the pacing of Chunhua Flame slows, giving viewers enough time to savor the subtle growth of love between the two. Once cold and indifferent to the world, Prince Jing now gets jealous when the humble farmhand Er Niu helps Meilin with chores. The once-commanding prince, now fusses over Meilin’s carelessness in making meat buns.

When he tells Meilin that once everything is over, he wants to return to Qingzhou with her, where she’ll run her bakery and he’ll resume his role as General Wei Bei, it’s clear he’s no longer the solitary “butcher general” he once was. He’s ready to claim all that he deserves, including happiness with the woman he loves.

3. Contrast

The stark contrast between these two phases of the character is a double-edged sword for an actor. Done well, it’s a major asset; done poorly, it spells disaster.

Liu Xueyi successfully captures the “reasonableness” of this transformation.

When Meilin is imprisoned, Prince Jing notices her unusual resilience. Hatred alone cannot fuel revenge, but hatred is the necessary starting point, and in Meilin, he sees someone who shares his burning vengeance.

From this point, through their bonding during their captivity, to his eventual confession of love, Liu Xueyi skillfully portrays this gradual progression. His gaze toward Meilin evolves from curiosity to surprise, then to tenderness, and finally, longing.

In Liu Xueyi’s portrayal, there is an orderly melting of the "iceberg."

In the content market, this Chunhua Flame allows viewers to see that Liu Xueyi is capable of much more.

In the normal course of things, being able to prove oneself through a single drama is something every actor aspires to. Before being criticized for playing too many similar roles and tiring audiences, no actor would shy away from establishing their place in a particular genre.

If an actor can demonstrate versatility in one work, then the drama becomes a high-value production for them.

Through the contrasting role of Murong Jinghe in Chunhua Flame, Liu Xueyi’s potential is now clearly visible.

Even though the drama isn’t finished airing, Liu Xueyi’s value is already cemented. What’s more, the real drama is just beginning in the second half, and there’s still much to look forward to in Chunhua Flame.

Published in Beijing.

[nomoreessays]

Es ist Sonntagabend. Da niemand in meinem näheren Umfeld so etwas wie einen richtigen Job hat oder generell ein ehrbares Leben führt, sind alle offen für Drinks. Die Kneipe, in die wir wollen, hat zu, aber die Betrunkenen schützt der liebe Gott und so weiter, also finden wir eine Andere ganz in der Nähe. Die haben Sonntags alle Getränke unter drei Kröten, sie wissen, wie man sich Studenten fängt. Sie wissen allerdings auch, dass sie bei dem Preis mit guten Getränken keinerlei Umsatz mehr machen würden, dementsprechend schmeckt das Bier. Mein deutscher Nationalstolz meldet sich, ich schwinge eine kurze wenn auch leidenschaftliche Rede zu dem Thema. Meine Mitsäufer folgen mir mehr oder weniger konzentriert, all (wo)men are not created equal und sie spüren schon die Drinks zischen.

Im Hintergrund läuft währenddessen ein Best Of White Girl Pop von den Neunzigern bis heute, wir gehen alle trotz prätentiösem Musik-Snobismus ordentlich mit. Am Tisch neben uns ist ein (eben noch knutschendes) Mädel aufgestanden, um in der Mitte des Raumes ihrerseits ein Best Of darzubieten, und zwar eins von den zu den Songs gehörenden Just Dance Choreos. Ihr Date lächelt starr und betont supportive, wünscht sich aber offensichtlich, wieder zu der für ihn deutlich spannenderen Beschäftigung von eben zurückzukehren. Ich scheitere derweil daran, mir alle Lichter auszuschießen.

Nachdem unsere letzte Runde leer ist und zum vierten Mal ein gruseliger Song kommt, den wir nicht kennen, beschließen wir, dass es Zeit wird, zu gehen. Da ein Teil unserer Truppe das Bedürfnis nach Eiscreme verspürt, ist unser nächster Halt einer dieser 24-Stunden-Märkte, in denen bekanntermaßen das Raum-Zeit-Kontinuum außer Kraft gesetzt ist. Da mir mehr nach salzig ist, verschwinde ich in einer beliebigen Regalreihe und schaue dort zweifelnd eine Packung Hotdog-Brötchen an. Ein Kerl Ende zwanzig, auf welche Art auf immer bewusstseinserweitert, taucht neben mir auf und fragt mich nach der Uhrzeit. Nachdem ich sie ihm nenne, bedankt er sich und schaut nun seinerseits auf die Brötchen. „Fucking love these, bro. Hotdog buns, yeah?“. Ich stimme ihm zu, sind ja in der Tat Hotdog-Brötchen. Er verschwindet und ich habe den plötzlichen, wenn auch starken Impuls, sie zu kaufen.

Zuhause angekommen setze ich mich hin und probiere zweifelnd ein Brötchen. Es ist eine außerkörperliche Erfahrung. Fast möchte ich weinen. Ich esse die ganze Tüte. 24-Stunden-Markt-Mann; die Welt war noch nicht bereit für deine Vision.

[daegutowns]

bff!svt and your nicknames for each other

ags: bff!seventeen, established friendship, childhood friends, best friends, gn!reader, josh’s is fem!reader because he gives old-timey vibes, svt has a crush on you, dino's is also fem!reader for the bit, you may or may not have a crush on them, y/n syndrome good luck not falling in love with them

seungcheol

your nickname for him: baby. ever since you met as kids, you’ve always made fun of him for being a big baby. he’s the youngest child in his family despite being the oldest out of his friends, so he kind of liked the nickname for a while… until he felt like he wanted to take care of you more. when would ‘baby’ mean more than just a childhood joke?

his nickname for you: berry. when you were younger, cheol’s nickname was cherry, so he called you berry so you could match. it’s not very close to your actual name, but it makes him feel connected to you. plus, it’s so accurate. you’re sweet and cute, just like a berry. 

jeonghan

your nickname for him: angel. he was born on 10/04, the day of the angel! even if he was always so mischievous and naughty, you couldn’t ever see him as a bad person. he was the sweetest in the world, the only angel. 

his nickname for you: halo. in the wise words of beyonce, “‘cause you’re my halo.” just like he’s your angel, you’re his halo because you’re always in his thoughts, just hovering over his head always. 

joshua

your nickname for him: GI-Jo[shua]. well, his nickname for you is “doll,” but you couldn’t really understand why he liked it. you wanted to call him “doll” too, but he said that guys didn’t go by that nickname, so you decided to compromise. he’s GI-Jo because he’s a male doll. 

his nickname for you: doll. he always liked old-timey movies, where the gentlemen would call their girlfriends ‘dollface’ or just shorten it to ‘doll’ affectionately. it was very endearing, and to him, you were perfect, just like a doll. even as a kid, he could tell that much. now, it’s so much more clear. 

jun

your nickname for him: bao bei (bao). similar to cheol, jun’s nickname means “baby.” but, it eventually shortened itself to bao, like the bao buns. his cheeks were squishy like the bready dumplings, filled with his sweetness. you adore him so much. 

his nickname for you: xingan. in chinese, it means “heart and liver,” because the nickname refers to someone so important, they’re like your heart and liver! you’re as important to jun as his vital organs, so it’s only natural that he calls you something that can compare. 

soonyoung

your nickname for him: tiger. you always told him, “go get ‘em, tiger!” this was before his whole horanghae agenda, but it was originally inspired by you! he is always a sucker for words of encouragement, but your words were always the most important to him. it’s only natural he made it his personality to really showcase to you what it meant to him. 

his nickname for you: duckie. since he’s a tiger, he wanted you to have an animal-related nickname too. you two once watched an old movie, where one girl called her best friend “duckie,” and it stuck with the two of you ever since. it fit you, since he wanted to scoop you into his hands like a duckie. 

wonwoo

your nickname for him: meowie. he had always reminded you of a cat, and he acknowledged this. for halloween, you had even dressed him up as a cat (while you had been a frog) in the 9th grade. you had joking called him ‘meowie’ as a joke, but the name ended up sticking for longer than you had both thought. 

his nickname for you: catnip. he didn’t mind being meowie as long as you could be ‘catnip’… of course because you drove him crazy. but, the real reason why is because around you, he couldn’t ever think straight. 

woozi

your nickname for him: mr. chu. nicknamed after the apink song, your nickname for him is a way of making fun of his nickname for you. he doesn’t mind, because it makes him think you two are married. you’re chou, and he’s your mr. chu. it works out for him. 

his nickname for you: chou. in 1600s france, lovers would call each other “mon petit chou” or…. “my little cabbage.” of course, he only told you that you were a cabbage. it was the only way he could hide it from you. even if it was a secret, he wanted it to be unique in a way that no one else could possibly think of it for you. you deserve to be special. 

dokyeom 

your nickname for him: sunshine. you’re convinced dokyeom is just a ray of sunshine, and he doesn’t mind it coming from you. it makes him feel loved and appreciated. he wants to continue radiating and giving his warm to you. he wants to be the light of your day. 

his nickname for you: sugar plum. it’s only fitting for him to also pick some cheesy ass nickname for you too. he liked sugar plum, because to him, you always look like a majestic sugar plum fairy. you both listened to the sugar plum fairy lullaby growing up, and you made him feel comfortable, just like a lullaby. 

myungho

your nickname for him: shagua. in chinese, it means, “stupid melon.” it’s a playful, teasing nickname because sometimes he feels too serious. the nickname reminds him to let go and just laugh sometimes. he likes whenever you say it because it brings a smile to his face… and for some reason, no one else has that same effect. 

his nickname for you: bengan. in chinese, it means, “dumb egg.” no one else is allowed to call you their dumb egg! in fact, how dare they call you such a thing. it’s disrespectful and you shouldn’t stand for it. it’s okay when he does it, though. you’re matching, and that’s what matters. 

mingyu 

your nickname for him: mingoo. you loved how goofy he is and how soft he gets around you. that’s why you softened out his name too, changing a harsher “gyu (규)” to “goo (구).” just with the removal of one line, you shaped him into a cuter and more warm person in your mind. 

his nickname for you: hot stuff. as much as he was a physical touch person, he’s also a words of affirmation person. he likes gassing you up like that. he means it every time, too. 

seungkwan 

to be honest, you wouldn’t have any nicknames for each other. (seungkwan just isn’t a nickname kind of guy.) but, you would affectionately refer to each other as each other’s “work husband” and “work spouse.” hopefully, one day, the ‘work’ part would naturally fall off�� 

hansol 

your nickname for him: sweet cheeks. nothing else really fit him the right way. every time you call him anything but this nickname, he thinks you’re mad at him. nope. sometimes you’re just in a classroom. 

his nickname for you: loser. he can’t make it TOO obvious he likes you… he needs to be subtle. unfortunately, it gives middle school boy. coincidentally, that’s when he started calling you loser. so, i guess, everything fits. 

chan  

your nickname for him: M. it was short for michael… as in michael jackson. you always admired his passion for dance, and as good as he is, he deserves that nickname. he always felt flattered by it -- even to this day -- and it was a motivator for him all these years. 

his nickname for you: B. because he’s your michael, you’re his billie jean. but, billie jean shortens to BJ (since his nickname would’ve been MJ). adjustments had to be made. of course, he thought he popped off with that one, but the lyrics go… “billie jean is not my lover. she’s just a girl who thinks i am the one.” nice going, chan.

[aulwil]

finch (untitled)

Rating: Teen Pairing: Charlie/Lucifer | Morningcest | Charcifer | 🌈🍎, Charlie & Angel Dust Word Count: 962 Archive Warnings: N/A Relevant Tags: Excerpt, Funny

An excerpt of Angel Dust trying to help Charlie get her man.

"Alright." Angel steps back, looking over Charlie critically. "Check the mirror. Not bad, if I say so myself!"

Charlie obeys, shuffling to the side a little to stand in front of Angel's tri-fold mirror, the lights bathing her in pink and white as she shifts her weight, unused to the person she sees in the glass.

Angel's outfit that he's chosen for her — apparently named the "totally gonna be able to seduce your dad, promise" outfit — follows the same lines as her normal hotel uniform, though the red suit jacket and pants are better tailored, accentuating the line of her shoulders and her long legs. Over the crisp black button-down is a pure white leather harness, encircling her waist with golden chains over the hips that glint when she moves and the suit jacket shifts, little apple charms hanging at the center of them (Angel was very proud of those). He's switched out her normal ponytail for a bun, somehow managing to wrangle all of her hair into a sleek topknot, leaving the short parts that curl up over her cheeks to frame her face.

"Wow," Charlie says, because she doesn't know what else to say. "It's..."

"Not what you're used to, I know." Angel waves one of his top hands. "Check the red eyeshadow. It matches your eyes perfectly."

Charlie decides not to ask how he found a shade of eyeshadow that perfectly matched her eyes and looks a little closer, blinking a few times and watching as the candy apple red shade glitters on her eyelids. She rarely wears eye makeup beyond a little swipe of mascara, but she has to agree with Angel that it's a nice shade on her. She pulls back and turns from side to side, watching how the outfit moves and shifts. It's not that she doesn't care about her appearance — she was raised as a princess; of course she cares about her appearance. It's just that she's gotten so used to her usual hotel uniform that this is...

Well, Angel was right: it's not what she's used to. She's a fan of it, though. It sticks close enough to her usual style not to make her feel uncomfortable, like when she used to force herself into dresses and heels to live up to what she figured a princess needed to be. She tugs at the edge of the jacket approvingly, pulling out a few creases that had formed.

"I like it," Charlie says eventually, and she turns to smile at Angel. "You did a great job."

"Fuck yeah, I did!" Angel grins, his gold tooth flashing. "I can't spend all that time around that bitch Velvette without picking up a few things. Alright, you know what this means."

Charlie's newfound good-outfit confidence withers away to approximately nothing when she remembers why she's wearing said outfit. On second thought...

But Angel is already pushing himself up from his position lounging on his bed, ushering Charlie out of the room and yammering on the whole time as he motions with three arms and locks the door behind them with the fourth.

"—okay, so I know you're not exactly the flirty type, which is probably a good thing, 'cause your daddy has the emotional intelligence of a pretty rock and I don't think he'd recognize flirting if it jumped up and bit him in the ass." Angel slings an arm around Charlie's shoulders. "You gotta just talk to him. Like a person."

"Mmm, well, I—" Charlie stammers eloquently.

"And the nice thing is that ya don't even need to get to know each other!" Angel somehow manages to make that sound like a positive instead of the thing that made Vaggie recoil in horror. "Right, remember to smile — not like Alastor, he's great at the smiling thing but he smiles like he wants to eat you, and not in the fun way — and greet him. You ever call him daddy? No? Probably not his name, either, huh? Aw, you two are so cute. Okay! Here we are!"

And just like that, Charlie is abruptly being shoved out into the lobby. She turns, suddenly desperate to back out of whatever the hell she apparently agreed to, but Angel just gives her four thumbs up and a wink.

"Go get your man, sweetcheeks!"

Finally, Charlie thinks frantically, something that can end my immortal life: embarrassment.

"Charlie?"

Yeah, Charlie is for sure going to die right here and now.

She turns to face Lucifer with a smile that hopefully doesn't look as panicked as she feels. "Hi, Dad."

"You look nice," Lucifer says. He's sitting in his usual spot that he's taken to in the lobby where he can watch everyone coming in and out. "Going out?"

Charlie catches movement from the corner of her eye: Angel has sat down at the bar, out of Lucifer's line of sight, and he's furiously mouthing a phrase that Charlie's pretty sure is something along the lines of, Invite him out for drinks!

"Nope!" Charlie says, and she laughs. It sounds horribly forced even to her ears. "Uh, yes. I mean. Yes! Do you...want..."

Angel nods encouragingly from behind Lucifer. Husk, behind the bar, rolls his eyes.

"...to help me decorate for the event next week?"

Angel's jaw drops. What the fuck?!

Before Lucifer can respond to the first sentence, Charlie plows on: "And also come out to dinner with me?"

From the looks of it, Angel barely resists whooping. Lucifer, of course, sees none of that, and instead just stares at Charlie for what feels like an agonizingly long time. Charlie not-so-briefly considers finding a closet to die in.

But after a second, Lucifer grins and holds out an arm. "Yes, of course, and yes, of course. Where to, little lady?"

[imongkoneho]

𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐂 | 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐎𝐟 𝐑𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐤 𝐗 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥! 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤.

𝟒.

Göll sobbed in [Y/N]'s lap. Everything was terrible, humanity lost two times causing

the God's egos to fuel. Brunhilde sat next to the two girls, a blank face was the only expression she can muster.

"We will win the next round. I'm sure." The angel comfortingly rubbed Göll's back and pushed the hair away from her face. The girl in her lap sniffled, taking a big inhale to calm herself down.

[Y/N] turned to look at Brunhilde, with a comforting smile. In turn, the tall woman gave her a small smile.

The angel had befriend the two Valkyries as they were caring and kind.

After enjoying the angel's company, the two sisters told their goodbyes and left to find the next fighter of man kind. Smiling, the angel wished them good luck.

Currently, Lü Bu was in a coma, while Adam - the second fighter for human kind was also in infirmary, badly injured. His wife was keeping him company, and was always there to send smiles to the angel. They were indeed such sweet couples. Sighing, the winged girl walked, keeping her mind off things.

Humanity wasn't doing good, and she truly hoped that less humans would suffer. Her train of thought suddenly got caught off when a hard figure suddenly bumped into her, causing her small body to stumble and fall on her butt.

Blinking, she turned to look a the person - God. He glanced at her, cold blue eyes stared back at her. She froze, the figure she had just bumped into was Poseidon, King of the Seas.

The God let out a 'tch' and continued walking. How rude. She thought, but quickly forgiven him as he must've have his reasons to be so cold.

Standing, she dusted herself and continued walking. Poseidon, was indeed hard to befriend. She tried to befriend him slowly, by smiling at him whenever they meet eyes, but all she ever received was a blank and cold expression.

Her wings flapped - she was annoyed. With a 'huff' she stomped her feet. She wanted to be friends, which is something she would get easily, with her kind and comforting demeanor.

But Poseidon was just a hard shell to crack. She passed by the infirmary, embarrassingly, the window to the door was a bit high up, so she needed to flap her wings to take a peek.

A few inches off the air, she saw Lü Bu through the window, his shallow breathing and heart monitor was visible. She wanted him to wake up as quick as possible.

His army and Red Hare was worried sick for him. The angel remembered Chen Gong - a member of Lü Bu's army, sobbing helplessly as he recalls the moments of his master suffering.

"Do you know our Master?" A boy who's hair is in a bun and is wearing a military uniform asked, an eyebrow raised. With a smile, the girl answered. "Yes, we are friends."

"Lü Bu? Friends with a girl?" Liu Bei said, amused and was smirking. Zhang Fei took a big gulp of his alcohol and laughed deeply. "Lü Bu's got a girlfriend!!" He laughed, the girl only blushed in response.

"Do you know him?" She asked, as Chen Gong smiled widely, "Of course! We are my Liege's Army! B-but, he's hurt and in a coma.."and we couldn't do anything...! the boys happy demeanor quickly became sorrowful as he weeped and instinctively leaned into the girl for comfort.

Of course, [Y/N] comforted him. But, also she was worried sick, humans were just delicate and fragile. Her heart ached, they didn't deserve to be treated like this.

Thor can't get his mind off of Lü Bu, he was a very good fighter. He had almost beaten him. He finds himself wanting to fight with him again.

The God passed by the infirmary, and there was an angel, hovering and peeking through the narrow window. He blinked. That's Lü Bu's room. Does she know him?

With eyes narrowed, he continued walking.

"Don't worry yourself with such things, pyaar." Kali - One of Shiva's wife said, as she embraced the angel softly from behind, caressing her skin.

"She's right, [Y/N]." Durga agreed, smiling at the girl. "You can't just worry all the time. Calm down, party, read, find love." Parvati's comment earned a glance from the angel.

"..you guys are kind to me. Why?" Gods were.. egoistic. And could not help but berate and think less about others who don't agree with them. Such as opinions about Humans.

"Pyaar, we don't care about your opinion about Humans, what we do care about is what's inside your heart." Parvati smiled warmly, touching the angels hand, rubbing her knuckles.

"When we fell inlove with Shiva," she started - "We thought that he was egotistical and smug." Durga continued, a smirk on her lips.

"But when we got to know him longer," "we learned that he was loving and soft." Kali softly added. "What's in the heart is what matters. No matter how different we view things. We care about you, [Y/N]."

The door opened behind the girls and out came the tall God, "Girls, let's go." Shiva claimed, as he looked at the scene Infront of him. The wives, soon bid their goodbyes to the angel. Kali, hugs her one more time before walking away with her fellow lovers.

Shiva looked at [Y/N], smirking. "Don't steal my wives now, little angel." He joked, walking away, leaving the said angel to ponder for awhile.

She was sitting on a thick stone window frame of the castle, gazing down she looked at the garden. As troubling as the situation of the humanity is in, she really should worry less.

Plus, it is the God's advice. And what's better than a God's advice? So, the angel decided to focus on other things. And that thing is to befriend the cold and cruel Gods: Thor and Poseidon.

"You like fighting, why?" The angel asked the God with long red, beautiful hair. She had found him in the garden. The said God glanced at her and walked away, ignoring her. She blinked, but her determination did not waver.

"It's very rude to ignore questions, my lord." She catched up with him but failed to do so, as her small legs can only make her reach a small amount of speed - compared to the large and tall God.

So, she flapped her wings to match paces with him. The 'flap' of her wings caught the attention of the God, and so he looked at her.

His eyes faced her, which left the angel's mouth agape. Her wings stopped functioning for a second and she staggered down.

Thor stopped, awaiting for her to fall. Something he had done instinctively. The Angel catched herself on time to stop her from falling and flapped her wings, flying next to Thor.

"Your eyes - they're beautiful." She said, whispered, eyes shining in amazement. The God blinked and opened his mouth to answer. Somehow her straight forwardness got Thor to talk to her.

"When you fly, what do you feel?" [Y/N] stopped flying and softly landed on the ground, now, they weren't eye to eye. Thor had to look down, to look at her eyes, as the angel needed to also look up, to meet his.

".. I feel free and happy. Like there's no one can stop me." She answered with a truthful and warm smile but was only responded with a cold and expressionless one.

He stares for a while and continue walking, alarmed, the angel quickly flapped her wings to keep up. "That's the feeling I get when fighting. The beauty of doing what you want, no one to stop you. Gives me - 'happiness' and 'freedom'."

She nods, listening to Gods voice. This is good, she finally got him talking. Thor was a bit curious, this girl was talking to him. Smiling and a bouncing around like a cat. But still, he can smell her sadness. Why? He wonders.

Poseidon walked the halls, and gazed outside the window. And looked down to gaze at the garden, only to find two figures.

That angel and Thor, his brother. He narrowed his eyes, what's he doing, talking with her? Poseidon blinked, and what's he doing, caring about them?

He should do other things besides this. He doesn't care anyways, he took one more glance at the two and he swore - swore that he saw Thor's cold eyes soften.

I upgraded my stories aesthetic!

Also, I'm so sorry if this story getting a bit boring. I wanted to start a slow burn with Thor, Poseidon and MC.

[444namesplus]

Ba Baa Baas Bae Baes Bais Bam Ban Bao Baos Bau Baus Be Bees Bei Beis Bem Ben Beo Beos Beu Beus Bi Bias Bie Bies Bii Biis Bim Bin Bio Bios Biu Bius Bo Boes Bom Bon Boo Boos Bou Bous Bu Bua Bues Bui Buis Bum Bun Buo Buu Buus Chi Chia Chias Chie Chies Chii Chiis Chim Chin Chio Chios Chiu Chius Chu Chua Chuas Chue Chues Chui Chuis Chum Chun Chuo Chuos Chuu Chuus Da Daas Dae Daes Dais Dam Dan Dao Daos Daus De Dea Deas Dee Dei Deis Dem Den Deo Deu Deus Dha Dhaa Dhaas Dhaes Dhai Dhais Dham Dhan Dhaus Dhe Dhea Dheas Dhee Dhees Dheis Dhem Dhen Dheo Dheu Dhi Dhia Dhies Dhiis Dhim Dhin Dhio Dhios Dhiu Dhius Dho Dhoa Dhoas Dhoes Dhois Dhom Dhon Dhoo Dhoos Dhou Dhous Dhu Dhua Dhue Dhues Dhum Dhun Dhuo Dhuu Dhuus Di Die Dies Dii Diis Dim Din Dio Diu Dius Do Doa Doas Doi Dom Don Doo Doos Dous Du Duas Due Dues Dui Duis Dum Dun Duu Fa Faa Faas Fae Faes Fai Fais Fam Fan Fao Faos Fau Faus Fe Fea Feas Fee Fees Fei Feis Fem Fen Feo Feus Fi Fia Fias Fiis Fim Fin Fios Fius Fo Foa Foe Foi Fois Fom Fon Foos Fous Fu Fua Fuas Fue Fues Fui Fuis Fum Fun Fuos Fuus Ga Gaa Gaas Gae Gaes Gam Gan Gaos Gau Ge Gea Geas Gee Gei Geis Gem Gen Geo Geu Geus Gi Gia Gias Gie Gies Gii Giis Gim Gin Gios Giu Gius Go Goe Gom Gon Goo Goos Gous Gu Guas Gue Gui Guis Gum Gun Guo Guos Guu Guus Ha Haa Haas Hae Haes Hai Hais Ham Han Haos Hau He Hea Heas Hee Hees Hei Heis Hem Hen Heo Heu Heus Hi Hie Hies Hii Hiis Him Hin Hio Hios Hius Ho Hoe Hom Hon Hous Hu Huas Hui Huis Hum Hun Huo Huu Huus

Ja Jaa Jae Jaes Jai Jais Jam Jan Jaos Jau Jaus Je Jea Jeas Jee Jem Jen Jeo Jeos Jeu Jeus Ji Jia Jias Jie Jies Jii Jiis Jim Jin Jio Jios Jiu Jo Joa Joas Joe Joes Jois Jom Jon Joos Jou Jous Ju Jua Juas Jue Juis Jum Jun Juo Juos Juu Juus Ka Kaas Kae Kai Kais Kam Kan Kao Kaos Kau Kaus Ke Kea Keas Kee Kei Keis Kem Ken Keo Keos Keu Keus Ki Kia Kie Kies Kim Kin Kio Kios Kiu Kius Ko Koe Koes Koi Kois Kom Kon Koo Koos Kou Kous Ku Kua Kue Kues Kum Kun Kuos Kuu Kuus La Laa Laas Laes Lais Lam Lan Laos Lau Laus Le Lea Leas Lee Lees Lei Lem Len Leo Leos Leu Leus Li Lia Lie Liis Lim Lin Lio Lios Liu Lo Loa Loas Loe Loes Lom Lon Loo Loos Lou Lu Lua Lue Lui Luis Lum Lun Luo Luos Luus Ma Maa Mae Maes Mai Mam Man Mao Maos Mau Maus Me Mea Mee Mei Meis Mem Men Meo Meu Mi Mias Mie Mies Mii Miis Mim Min Mios Miu Mius Mo Moa Moas Moe Mois Mom Mon Moo Mous Mu Mua Muas Mues Mui Mum Mun Muo Muu Muus Na Naa Naas Nae Naes Nai Nais Nam Nan Nao Naos Naus Ne Nea Neas Nee Nees Neis Nem Nen Neo Neos Neu Neus Ni Nii Niis Nim Nin Nio Nios Niu No Noa Noas Noe Noes Noi Nom Non Noo Nou Nous Nu Nua Nuas Nues Nui Nuis Num Nun Nuo Nuos Nuu Pa Paa Pae Paes Pai Pam Pan Pao Pau Paus Pe Pea Peas Pee Pees Pei Peis Pem Pen Peo Peos Peu Pi Pias Pie Pii Piis Pim Pin Pio Pios Piu Po Poas Poe Poes Pois Pom Pon Poo Poos Pou Pous Pu Puas Pue Pues Pui Puis Pum Pun Puo Puu Puus Ra Raa Raas Rae Rai Rais Ram Ran Raos Rau Raus Re Reas Ree Rees Rei Reis Rem Ren Reo Reos Reu Reus Ri Ria Rii Rim Rin Rio Rios Riu Rius Ro Roa Roas Roe Roes Roi Rois Rom Ron Roo Roos Rou Rous Ru Rua Rues Rui Ruis Rum Run Ruo Ruos Ruu Ruus Sa Sae Saes Sais Sam San Sau Se Sea Seas Sees Sei Seis Sem Sen Seos Shi Shia Shias Shie Shies Shii Shiis Shim Shin Shio Shios Shiu Shius Shu Shua Shuas Shue Shues Shui Shuis Shum Shun Shuo Shuos Shuu Shuus Si Sia Sii Siis Sim Sin Sio Sios Sius So Soe Soes Sois Som Son Soos Sous Su Suas Sui Suis Sum Sun Suo Suu Suus Ta Taa Taas Taes Tai Tais Tam Tan Tao Taos Tau Taus Te Tea Teas Tees Tei Tem Ten Teo Teu Thi Thia Thias Thie Thies Thii Thiis Thim Thin Thio Thios Thiu Thius Thu Thua Thuas Thue Thues Thui Thuis Thum Thun Thuo Thuos Thuu Thuus Ti Tias Tie Tiis Tim Tin Tio Tios Tiu Tius To Toas Toe Toes Toi Tom Ton Toos Tou Tous Tu Tua Tuas Tue Tues Tui Tuis Tum Tun Tuo Tuu Tuus Va Vaa Vaas Vae Vaes Vai Vam Van Vaos Vau Vaus Ve Vea Veas Vee Vees Vei Vem Ven Veo Veos Veu Veus Vi Vie Vii Viis Vim Vin Vio Viu Vo Voa Voe Voes Voi Vois Vom Von Voo Voos Vou Vous Vu Vue Vues Vui Vuis Vum Vun Vuo Vuus Wa Waas Wae Wai Wam Wan Wao Waos Wau Waus We Wea Wees Wei Weis Wem Wen Weos Weus Wi Wia Wias Wie Wies Wii Wim Win Wio Wiu Wo Woa Woe Woes Woi Wois Wom Won Woos Wou Wu Wua Wuas Wue Wui Wum Wun Wuo Wuos Wuu Wuus Za Zaa Zaas Zae Zaes Zai Zais Zam Zan Zaos Zau Zaus Ze Zea Zeas Zee Zees Zei Zeis Zem Zen Zeo Zeos Zeu Zeus Zha Zhaa Zhae Zhaes Zhai Zhais Zham Zhan Zhao Zhaos Zhau Zhaus Zhe Zhea Zhee Zhees Zhei Zheis Zhem Zhen Zheo Zheos Zheu Zheus Zhi Zhia Zhie Zhies Zhii Zhim Zhin Zhio Zhios Zhiu Zhius Zho Zhoa Zhoas Zhoe Zhoes Zhoi Zhom Zhon Zhou Zhous Zhu Zhuas Zhuis Zhum Zhun Zhuos Zhuu Zhuus Zi Zia Zias Zim Zin Zio Ziu Zius Zo Zoe Zoes Zois Zom Zon Zoo Zoos Zou Zous Zu Zuas Zue Zues Zuis Zum Zun Zuos Zuu

[9durchschweden]

Göteborg Tag 1 - Von Tandems und Walen

Gestern Abend sind wir in Göteborg gelandet. Nachdem wir gegen 1 Uhr Nachts unser Hostelzimmer bezogen hatten, sind wir schnell ins Bett. Vorerst gab es nur ein wichtiges Ziel für den nächsten Tag. Ein leckeres Frühstück in Göteborg.

Heute stehen wir also auf und das Ziel ist schon klar. Bevor wir losziehen präsentiert uns Felix noch stolz sein Bambus Schneidebrett, dass er sich extra für diese Reise zugelegt hat. Nach einem leckeren Frühstück, dass alle Erwartungen erfüllt hat, schlendern wir gestärkt und motiviert durch die Stadt, ohne ein bestimmtes Ziel zu haben. Wir schauen uns ein schönes Viertel an und laufen an einem Kanal entlang.

An einer Kreuzung entdeckt jemand ein Red Bull Auto und wir beschließen die gleiche Richtung einzuschlagen. Zuerst entdecken wir dann ein kleines Fest auf einem Marktplatz an dem nachhaltige Produkte und leckeres Essen verkauft wird.

Aus der Ferne hören wir dann aber einen tiefen Bass hämmern, der sich für uns nach Festival oder Sport Event anhört. Kurze Zeit später laufen wir durch Zeltaufbauten in denen ein Tandem-Rad neben dem nächsten aufgereiht ist. An Kreativität fehlt es hier nicht, denn jedes ist mit aufwändigen Anbauten versehen. Raketenrad, Büro-Schreibtisch und Hotdog Rad. Von allem etwas dabei. Als wir noch etwas weiter laufen vervollständigt sich auch das Bild. Wir sehen eine etwa 50 Meter lange und etwa einen Meter schmale Stecke, mitten in einem der Kanäle von Göteborg. Der Hindernissparcours beginnt mit einer Startrampe und geht über Hügel, Wippe und ein schmales Streckenstück.

Nadine als Frau der Stunde findet heraus, dass das Event in Kürze startet und sichert für jeden noch ein kostenloses Red Bull. Also beschließen wir einen noch freien Platz direkt an der Kaimauer zu sichern und das Schauspiel aus erster Reihe zu beobachten. Die nächsten Stunden verbringen wir dann damit, den "Athleten" zuzuschauen wie sie versuchen mit einer kurzen Showeinlage und ihrem Outfit Punkte zu sammeln um sich im Anschluss auf die Strecke zu wagen. Dass es geschätzte 80% nicht ins Ziel schaffen und vorher ins Wasser stürzen macht das Event natürlich noch amüsanter.

Nachdem das letzte Tandem im Kanal gelandet ist macht sich der Hunger bemerkbar und wir spazieren weiter durch die Stadt. Auf dem Weg zu einem Restaurant beobachten wir noch einen Touribootfahrer der sein Boot erst in einem Pfeiler lenkt und anschließend fast dessen Markiese abreist. Die Liveband auf dem Boot scheint davon aber nicht beeindruckt zu sein und spielt einfach weiter.

Zur Feier des ersten Tages lassen wir uns dann noch leckere Buns schmecken, welche bei allen sehr gut ankommen. Dementsprechend zufrieden verlassen wir dann irgendwann das Lokal und begeben uns noch auf einen kleinen Exkurs. Tim hat zufällig ein Holzwal auf dem Weg entdeckt, der Teil eines großen Outdoor Spielplatzes ist. Dort kommt bei allen nochmal das Spielkind raus und wir klettern erst auf den Wal und probieren dann fast jede Spielstation einmal aus. Das ganze endet erst als Felix fast einen Highspeed-Crash auf einem kleinen Dreirad baut und Nadine und Julian schon mulmig von der Rotation auf einem Karussell wird.

Mit einigen Lachern auf dem Spielplatz in der Tasche gehen wir dann Richtung Unterkunft wo wir uns mit David treffen. Ausgepowert und Happy hauen wir uns danach ins Nest.

[newkatzkafe2023]

Masterlist

Genderbend Villainous Disney Princesses x yandere reader

Bio

Name: (Y/n) (L/n)

Gender: Female

Eye color: (e/c)

Hair color: (h/c)

Age: 21

Personality

You are a whole enigma. You are calm, but energetic, you are gentle, but firm you are Curious, but cautious you are smart but not very bright. Everything about you is Contradicting but But one thing for sure you are very Terrifying when ready and being a selective mute doesn't help much and you always able to weaponize something Whether it be a pencil or somebody's rusted keys. You once killed a squirrel with your own teeth therefore the prey animals avoid you but the predators of the forest seem to like and respect you and help you out when things get tough. You can be very protective of yourself and anyone around you and will do whatever you can to help out. Though if anybody ever double-cross you, well they won't find the body. Even with your feral predator and serial killer like instincts you are very logical and critical thinker you are able to solve puzzles and create tools you can use for your everyday life. More then anything you want find love and have a big family. You developed a love for children because the predators would let you babysit their offerings every time the need to hunt. Overall you are a universal yandere where you love and want to keep anybody who comes across you and you treehouse home.

Powers/abilities

Weapon Creation: if you Familiar with the video game Dead Rising. You can create weapons to kill zombies.you make weapons and tools to help you with your chores Or to hunt for prey or defend yourself or your household.

Photographic memory: you can remember the things you see even if you don't remember the name.

Night Vision: you trained yourself to see and hunt in the dark.

Animal Kingdom: you are very close friends with the Animal predators of your home

Aguculture: you can gather resources to help you survive you can Collect different herbs and Spices. You can also grow Fruits and vegetables you even can grow Fruits trees even faster.

Hyper awareness: you can hear from miles away and pinpoint what your trying to hear.

Slight Super strength: you are strong but not to strong you can carry heavy furniture in your home like a couch or bed frame.

Basic Fighting skills: you've had altercations over the years and have picked up a thing in the streets or have playfully play fight with the predator animals.

Basic First Aid: you have First aid kit full of bandaids, Bandages, alcohol pads, and Medicines for various illnesses.

Appearance

Your mostly seen a pure white dress and some black mary jane flats. Your outfits change along seasons and can go back to your original white dress in the spring. You hair is put up into pigtails alot of the time or a messy bun in other times. You also wear glasses with some cracked lenses so it's somewhat difficult for you to see.

Relationships

Jasmir: When you First Met Jasmir he was Arrogant and Greedy. He wanted your attention constantly and he quickly started to semi- annoy you and he was super cute to you but when you got sick of him the second the Sultan heard you voice, Things began to change between the two of you as you went to Apologize Jasmir did so first. Jasmir became determined to prove himself to you and Spoiled you with treasures that you never seen before and started doing repair jobs in you tree house, he's found in your home so much at this point he practically lives with you. When You fell in love you both became very possessive of each other.

His Nickname for you is my Sultana

Elson: You found this baby boy by your Fruit trees. You took him inside, cleaned him up, fed him food and Bandage him injuries. He was so soft to you and Skiddish around you like a fragile little kitten He was a baby. A beautiful Precious frozen Baby who needs to be pampered and taken care of so he never has to do anything. You fell in love with each other when Elson saw how gentle you are with him and had no problem being your Baby. You will keep this baby boy at home safe with you forever.

His Nickname For you is Ice cube Mommy

Adrian: You met this red head baby in the river you catch fish in, but he was the biggest brat you ever met. He would hiss and try to fight you he was even problematic when you bought him to the treehouse. You weren't having it so you put him over you lap and spanked him for a good 20 mins instead of crying or yelling he was quiet and had a deep blush on his face. He was far more Obedient then before and when you tried to release him he begged and cried. He's still with you now and obeys you no matter what.

His Nickname for you is Silent Mom

Rasputin: This guy is Nuts, baby he's mad, the craziest husband that you ever had. Rasputin is a delusional and unhinged industrial having the an unhealthy love for you. He is disturbing and distrust the world with sweet innocent you. He feels that he should protect you from the cold, dark Nasty place known as the outside world but if his serial killer vibe didn't turn on your own predator loving Instincts then he would be dead by now. Husband knows best

His Nickname for you is Wifey

Auren: You two meet in a dream, no I'm not kidding you two met in a dream. You two build your bond by singing and slow dancing together and cuddling is a love language for you two. You two also find a romantic vibe from the silence in the dream Meadows, one night you were under the impression that this is the last time you were going to see each other but you soon found out what you had was very much real.

His Nickname for you is my dream darling

Minsheng:🔒

Melancton:🔒

Winter White:🔒

Moano:🔒

Mateo:🔒

Andy:🔒

Merid:🔒

Ok so this is your bio for the story the genderbend Villainous Disney Princesses the mean boys I stared to call them on chapter 2. Anyway leave comments below if you want to add something to your character bio.

Ps the 🔒 means that you didn't meet them yet.

[ask-flame-fugitive-eclipse]

aw what a sweet lil bunny boi

Your adorable all you need is ears and a tail

*yeets a snowball at him*

Bey bun boi

”Is there a way for me to shut you all up?” Snowball knocked a book off his desk out of annoyance

[misiwrites]

Mayblade Day 10

[previous: chapter 1 & 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5 | chapter 6 | chapter 7 | chapter 8 | chapter 9]

CHAPTER 10 prompt: maid characters: hiromi, max, mathilda, emily, giancarlo, mao, rei, takao, yuuya (+ mentions of others) pairings: max/rei, hiromi/takao

Tsuki, the prodigious one-person textile factory, did indeed finish all the bake sale costumes on time. When the day of the event came, Hiromi put on a maid dress of pink and white and baby blue, complete with an apron and a little headdress.

The dress was frilly, flowy and had puff sleeves, the skirt bell-shaped in a way that made her waist look small. Perhaps it was a bit too anime for her general tastes, but even she couldn’t resist how cute it looked. The part that she wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about was a pink buckle choker she was meant to wear around her neck, but belts seemed to be Tsuki’s trademark and she didn’t have the heart to refuse it after all the hard work Tsuki had put into making the costume for her.

The costume proved popular with other people as well; the compliments started coming the minute Hiromi and Salima began putting up the vendor stall for 1-A in front of the school. The baked goods were mostly handmade by students and their families, now swarming in to bring their freshly baked products to display. Bey Town High had never smelled as good as it did that Saturday.

At this point, it didn’t even surprise Hiromi anymore when the people in charge of the stall for class 1-B arrived and one of them turned out to be Max. The other was a girl with short pink hair, Mathilda. She hadn’t changed her clothes yet, but Hiromi could tell she would look aorable in the dress. Mathilda was like a doll, slightly shorter than Hiromi and cute as a button.

“I feel like we are cursed to become friends,” Hiromi told Max while he was helping Mathilda assemble the stall opposite 1-A’s.

He grinned at her across the aisle between the stalls. “Yeah, I have that kind of effect on people.”

Fifteen minutes before opening the school gates to the public, a van drove over with a cargo of pies and buns from a local bakery and Hiromi volunteered to help carry and distribute the goods to all the different class stalls according to the inventory, nine in total crisscrossing on both sides of the pedestrian aisle. Since the first-years were at the very end of the aisle, they had a nice view of an open area where the public would be entertained by whatever shows the clubs had come up with for the event.

When she returned to her stall, Hiromi saw the 1-B vendor getting ready across her. In an identical dress to hers but with pastel orange in place of her pink, it was Max counting the change in the tin box placed on the counter. No sight of Mathilda anywhere.

Okay, well. He was bold, she had to give him that.

The bake sale ran smoothly. Hiromi enjoyed serving customers and got a lavish amount of flatteries for the cute look, something she wasn’t used to at all and made her self-conscious yet happy; she was glad everyone else wore the same cute dress, for she couldn’t have dealt with sticking out on her own.

Emily came over with one of her sports friends in tow. The latter decided to buy an entire cake, but Emily said she had to keep a close eye on her calory intake because of the enhancement program and couldn’t eat sweet pastries. What a bleak existence, Hiromi thought but didn’t comment anything beyond “I see” out loud.

“Oh, no.” While her friend was busy with the cake, Emily had been surveying the aisle. Now she frowned. “The Casanova is here. Hiromi, pretend you’re dead, quick.”

“What?” Hiromi tried to lean over to see what she meant. “Who?”

“The Tornatore guy. Probably caught the scent of girls in short skirts from a mile away. I’m out of here, catch you later.”

In a moment, Hiromi understood what she meant: a guy with fair hair appeared to be moving from stall to stall, stopping to chat with the vendor girls, borderline leaning into their booths with no intention to buy anything. So he was flirting with them all in turns, based on the Casanova nickname?

Hiromi didn’t pretend to be dead. She’d been emboldened enough by the Shell Killer and Hiwatari Kai shenanigans to not be fazed by a guy approaching her. Instead, she assumed the most charmingly fake customer service smile and greeted him with a “Hello, how can I help you?”.

Giancarlo Tornatore’s pale blue eyes lit up at the sight of her. “Hey, you’re new,” he said in a nasal voice.

“I recommend the pecan pie. It’s locally produced, all green.”

“Where have you been hiding up to now, lass? You’re from A.” He’d found the plaque featuring the class name. “Huh.”

“Personally, I’m partial to banoffee pie. There’s a pinch of salted caramel in it, too. It’s delicious.”

“The type to play hard to get, aren’t you? I like that. It’s feisty.” Giancarlo flashed her a sleazy smile.

Hiromi’s fake grin widened further, her face threatening to split in half. “Too bad - our booth doesn’t seem to have anything for you, sir. Maybe next time.”

He gave up faster than she’d expected; Giancarlo settled with winking at her, grinning, and turned away. Then gave a long, hard look at Max who waved at him from behind the opposing stall, smiling as bright as the sun. In Giancarlo’s defense, he did seem to weigh his options for a bit, as if seriously considering whether he wanted to go for it or not… before moving on and leaving without another word.

“Ouch.” Max raised a hand over his aproned heart. “My fragile ego just took a hit.”

“Guy’s got poor taste.” Hiromi snuck a few crumbs of the banoffee pie into her mouth in stealth. She’d reserved one to buy for herself – she hadn’t lied, it really was her favorite.

The next familiar faces to pass by were Mao and the purple-haired boy from her club. Mao was thrilled at the sight of the 1-A stall, beaming from ear to ear. “You have banoffee pie! Yes!”

“You have great taste.” Hiromi smiled back at her.

“I’ll take two. And you!” Mao turned to the 1-B stall, arms spread wide. “Max! Come on darling, show me – get out of there, I want to see your legs, boy. Woo!”

She clapped in excitement as Max did step out of his booth to do a little pirouette in front of her, the dress twirling around him. The maid costume did suit him oddly well, and he looked like he was enjoying it, too. Now Hiromi wanted to twirl as well, see the pink and blue hem open like an umbrella around her.

Alas, she had customers to serve. Hiromi packed the banoffee pies into a plastic bag and handed it over to Mao. “There you go.”

“Thank you! These will last me at least five minutes.” Chuckling to her own indulgent tendencies, Mao turned to the boy she was with. “You getting something, Rei-nii?”

He stood by the other stall, his back and long ponytail to Hiromi, evidently taking his sweet time choosing. “Yeah, yeah.”

“There’s cheese croissants here. We could take some to Rai-nii.”

“Yeah.”

Max leaned out of his booth, pointing at some of the assorted pastries. “All these donuts are amazing, for your information. These heart-shaped ones have a raspberry jam filling. I just had two mocca ones…”

“Are you supposed to be eating the inventory?”

“Ssshh, nobody needs to know.”

A new batch of customers rolled in, and Hiromi sold almost all the remaining pies. While stepping out to rearrange the goods and replace the empty space left by the sold-out pastries, she noted that Mao had already left but the purple-haired boy still remained, apparently still undecided… or maybe not. He sure looked like he was just there to chat with Max.

It was looking obvious now that this was the person she’d seen Max texting before – or attempting to text. She’d also seen him linger around the wushu club twice already. Hiromi pretended to have trouble finding the perfect placement for some random pretzel, all the while spying on the boys over her shoulder; she couldn’t hear what they were saying anymore but Max, who already looked like an angel in the effeminate costume, wore the damn smitten smile of a giddy girl talking to her crush on his face. Fragile ego has been patched, I assume.

After a while, Mao came around a second time, this time with Ayaka. She couldn’t believe Rei was still choosing, grabbed the back of his shirt, and dragged him out of there.

They had one hour left of the bake sale. Whenever the stream of customers dried up, Hiromi spent the time watching the performances taking place at the opening next to their stalls. By far the most impressive one was a combined dance and acrobatics performance by what Hiromi could only assume was the circus club, because who else would have been able to do such tricks with a hoop of metal and bowling pins that were on fire. There were only two performers and they looked so much alike, they had to be siblings, if not twins. Their number was over far too soon, and Hiromi clapped along with the rest of the spectators.

When the acrobats were replaced by Brooklyn doing card tricks to children, Hiromi took out her phone to check the notifications. Then she checked her socials, then did the dailies in one of the mobile games she played. Then, once out of digital entertainment, she ended up passing the time playing around with the skirt. She wanted to get it to twirl as nicely as Max’s had.

She started out small, moving back and forth to make the airy fabric move in fun ways. Eventually, meaning only seconds later, it escalated into her spinning uncontrollably in the confinement of her booth; when the space got too narrow, she stepped outside – and stumbled, her head swimming and feet tripping all over themselves as she went. She wobbled like a drunk, fell backwards, and crashed right into someone. That someone caught her by the shoulders.

“Hey, wow wow, look out!”

Blood drained from Hiromi’s face at the sound of that voice. She turned just enough to see Takao’s face. For what felt like an awkward eternity in her imagination but must have lasted only a second in reality, their eyes were locked into each other’s.

Then she moved away, hastily, despite the world still nauseatingly spinning inside her skull. What were the chances of her bumping into Takao there and then? Probably close to zero, yet that was exactly what she’d just done.

“Sorry,” she mumbled and knew her face had gone beetroot red. She swiftly returned to her booth and sat down on the lone stool, breathing in slowly through her nose in an attempt to calm down and clear her head. Why did she keep embarrassing herself like this? And why did Takao have to, like, exist? He made her feel so many chaotic things in her small heart.

Max, on the other hand, had started laughing over on his side. “I totally get you, the skirt is addictive,” he told her. Then he proceeded to greet Takao – and Kane and Zeo who tagged along, of course, Takao wasn’t ever alone anywhere – and ask if he was there to buy something.

In addition to her classmates, Hiromi heard a fourth voice start talking, one she didn’t recognize. “Hello, I’m from the photography club! Could I snap a few pictures for the school paper?”

Hiromi stood up and saw a short, thin boy with plain brown hair and a camera hanging from his neck. It was rare to even see anyone carry a camera around in an era where phones had all but replaced such trinkets and many others.

The camera boy didn’t seem very impressed by the sight of Max who was preoccupied chatting Takao and the rest up. He turned to Hiromi instead. As soon as their eyes met, his were filled with one-sided recognition that said absolutely nothing to her.

“Ah! You!”

“Me?” Hiromi raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, who are you?”

The boy, who was dressed oddly formally in a suit-and-tie attire reminiscent of Professor, came over to her stall. He spoke fast and with inexplicable agitation to her: “Excuse me, my name is Yuuya. I’m from the photography club and we haven’t exactly ever met face to face, but I saw you – a week or two ago, I think? You were at a park in the east district, weren’t you? The large one with the pool. You were with Hiwatari—”

Hiromi yelled. Or it wasn’t so much a yell as a prolonged “ah!” sound to drown out Yuuya’s voice. Hopefully for ever.

“No I wasn’t,” she immediately said.

“Oh… Is this not you?” And the pesky photographer boy took out his phone and, to her horror, showed half a dozen paparazzi-like shots of her and Kai in the park together.

“Wha— Why do you have these? Isn’t it illegal to take pictures of people without their consent?!”

“Um… No, in public spaces it’s not, miss.” It was Yuuya’s turn to become flustered. “Sorry, I only took them for personal use. But it is you, isn’t it?”

Hiromi coughed.

“No,” she said and pulled at the collar of her dress.

Yuuya looked at his phone. Then he looked at Hiromi again.

“You are not Hiwatari Kai’s girlfriend?” he then asked.

She shoved a hand in front of his mouth.

“No, I’m absolutely not,” she hissed at Yuuya’s face, leaning in closer and mustering all the intimidation she could while wearing a frilly pastel dress in a stall full of cakes. “Don’t say that ever again and don’t show those pictures to anyone. Actually, I want you to delete them, okay? Understood?”

He nodded with so much vigor, his head would likely have come off its hinges soon if Hiromi hadn’t let him go a second later; once her hand left his mouth, the boy let out a heartfelt sigh of relief.

“Good,” he said, soothed. “I really thought he had gotten a girlfriend for a while there. All right.” He put the phone away and grabbed the camera proper again. “Anyway – could I snap a few pictures of you for the school paper, miss?”

This, she gave her consent to. But she felt sick to her stomach for a good while afterwards, feeling like her heart was about to climb up her throat and out of her mouth any second now.

[thesinglesjukebox]

BEYONCÉ - "MY HOUSE"

Beyoncé drops too late for the Jukebox revival? Never mind, Wayne’s made sure we’re across it…

[5.43]

Aaron Bergstrom: It can be disorienting to remember that Beyoncé exists on the same plane of existence as the rest of us. After all, she's the alien superstar. She's one of one. Imagine Beyoncé eating a sandwich. It's not like she doesn't have influences, or contemporaries, but she's taken great pains to create a personal aesthetic of otherworldly perfection, and to position her most recent albums as self-contained objects that arrived fully formed, the product of a singular genius. She is above us, beyond us. Then you hear the first thirty seconds of "My House" and you realize, "Oh. Right. Houston." Beyoncé is from Houston. She comes from a lineage that is Southern, Texan, and influenced by identifiable strains of late-'90s and early-'00s hip hop. She does it better than pretty much anyone else, and by the end of the song she has transformed those fairly mainstream reference points into something that probably only she could make, but still. Real person, from Houston. Probably eats sandwiches. [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: We tend to grade artists on a curve after a certain point. Beyoncé has been making hits since two months before I was born -- how am I supposed to compare her to anyone aside from her? In this context "My House" is too much and not enough all at once. Beyond its literal status as an end credits song, the song still feels like a multilayered rehash -- emulating not only the thrills of Renaissance but also her long tradition of tossed off, post-album cycle excursions in swag rap. "My House" is fun but in its own way slightly threadbare -- it piles on boasts and hooks with an almost haphazard glee, with little regard to how these parts hold together. It's impressive, but only to the extent that "My House" feels like Beyoncé operating at roughly 50 percent of her usual capacity. [6]

Alex Ostroff: A slightly less fluid version of the "Pure/Honey" trick of stitching together two disparate songs. "Pure" started off as a cunty ballroom track, then shifted into the impeccable Vanity 6 riff of "Honey" -- and, importantly, Beyoncé convincingly embodied both modes perfectly. "My House" begins as aggressive rap and pivots into a minimal blippy-bloopy house track. Historically -- since at least a decade ago -- one would expect Bey to pull off the first half of this off more easily than the second. But after immersing herself in the sounds of Renaissance, she's more compelling imperiously telling the audience to get the fuck up out her house over top of chanting vogue crowds and gospel choirs. The first section has promise, but I can't help but wish the instrumental loop was a Homecoming-style marching band with a full drumline and a bunch of tubas instead of synths. Mostly, it makes me wish that Act II fulfills the promise of that "I Been On (Remix)" with Bun B, Scarface, et al. by giving us an entire chopped and screwed Houston rap album of Bey spitting fire. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: The drum programming on this starts off frustratingly bad. If it had been done by an actual drum line before cutting the coals, it would sound good, rather than demo arrangements done to prepare for the rehearsals. The actual arrangement below the chant sounds good -- it's just so flat it can't move, pump or jam. The mediocre choir chorus does work a cappella - it sounds full by at least four voices and ends on a warm note -- and the delicious bass stab towards the back end of the song does help, but it's already too late. This is why we rehearse, and why some songs have good ideas but don't make the album. Would you take off "Plastic Off the Sofa" for this? [3]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang:

Alien Superstar [10]

Heated [10]

Pure/Honey [10]

Plastic off the Sofa [9]

I'm that Girl [9]

Cuff It [9]

Cozy [9]

Virgo's Groove [8]

America Has a Problem [8]

Break My Soul [8]

Church Girl [8]

Thique [8]

Energy [8]

My House [7]

Move [7]

All Up in Your Mind [7]

Summer Renaissance [7]

*Subject to change [7]

Katherine St Asaph: One producer Beyoncé continually re-hires is The-Dream, even as her former, once-feted collaborators disappear from her unsparingly curated house. Hey, about that, remember how he was accused of assaulting his pregnant ex-girlfriend last decade? But it's not like this was enjoyable before I knew who produced it, either. [3]

Will Adams: Basically Renaissance's "7/11": a throwaway track, only mildly fun, ultimately a distraction from its otherwise exquisite parent album. That alone is enough of a disappointment from Beyoncé; in light of recent pushback, though, a lyric like "let's heal the world, one beautiful action at a time" makes it that much more eyebrow-raising. [4]

Taylor Alatorre: When I was young, I used to annoy my dad all the time during TV commercial breaks, asking why McDonald's or Coca-Coca had to run advertisements when every living person on the planet already knows what they are. Of course, at the age of seven, I had no knowledge of concepts like brand perception, market share, consumer loyalty -- for me the only purpose of an ad was to inform you that a product exists. However, there is something to the idea that companies often devote an excessive share of resources to marketing and PR as opposed to improving the quality of their goods and services, so maybe my seven-year-old self wasn't completely off-base. It is in that spirit that I ask: why does Beyoncé need to release a song like this when she is Already Beyoncé? [3]

Alfred Soto: Enough already. [5]

Brad Shoup: She's most believable on "get the fuck up out of my house": she strings the vogue and Dirty South sounds together like a top-of-the-line security system. I guess anything could be a revolution if you're the sun. [5]

Ian Mathers: I think the thing that most surprised me about "My House" is that it doesn't just sound like an end credits song, it sounds like a whole bunch of them. The part where the track downshifts feels just like when the credits cut from the maximalist, triumphant "credits song" that tends to get promoted as such to another track (usually by another artist, or maybe even just from the score). You can practically hear it switching to the part where each line of the credits has like four people in a row. But, crucially, it sounds like it does so for one hell of a movie. [8]

Micha Cavaseno: Y'know, of all the nostalgia ticks for Beyoncé to hit on a recent single... I wouldn't exactly have figured we'd get proto-crunk Atlanta Rap in the style of Hitman Sammy Sam while doing the cadence of Chuck Roberts to be something she'd go for. Transitioning it into electro-house rather than indulging in a brief detour over to Atlanta Bass is understandable, but I can't help but that might've been a perfect piece de résistance. Nevertheless, it's perfectly solid music that features Knowles really continuing to rely on dancefloor rollers instead of pop smashes or R&B storms to keep her concerts heavily anchored. She's clearly transitioned into a touring event rather than a mainstream presence, and it makes perfect sense the more she transitions into her "mother" stage: career, personal life, Beyhive Queen analogies, the gay icon definition... whatever perception you prefer. Beyoncé is now a force to herself in the way that few pop stars are lucky to solidify themselves as, and Knowles knows that her ship runs on fuel and showcase, less on staking and striving. [6]

David Moore: I didn't begrudge Renaissance its world-beating rep, but at the same time there was something inaccessible to me about the project; the whole thing seemed like if you ever tried to really touch it, someone would brusquely remind you to stay behind the rope. More than any other celebrity archetype, Beyoncé reminds me of a television star of the '90s who made the prestige move to cinema and never looked back, even as television and cinema merged into the same formless blob of Engaging Artistic Narrative Content: she's like George Clooney or Jennifer Aniston, carrying the torch of a pop culture upward mobility that everyone says they've moved past even though they still treat the legacy holdouts with the reverence of a bygone era. Of course, Beyoncé's music is usually much better than anything George Clooney or Jennifer Aniston does. (Usually.) [5]

Oliver Maier: A microcosm of the Renaissance experience: expertly put together, more structurally inventive and surprising than the vast majority of pop music currently doing the rounds, never electrifying. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[ijustthinkevilunoisneat]

What's your dream champions for each promotion you watch?

I do watch other promotions here and there but I'm just gonna stick to Impact, AEW and ROH

Impact World Championship: Maclin. I'd love Josh eventually become champion again when he is healthy but I thought Maclin was the perfect person to dethrone Josh and I feel like he will become champion, just not in the way once believed.

Impact X Division Championship: Mike Bailey. Just can't say enough wonderful things about his first reign. Him against Gresham for the Championship would be god tier.

Impact Digital Media Championship: Leave it on Hendry. He is the perfect person for that championship right now.

Impact World Tag Team Championship: Leave it on Ace and Bey. They are just getting started and they are having such a fun reign already.

Impact Knockouts World Championship: Gisele Shaw. She is so talented and imagine her against Deonna for the Knockouts Championship, that would also be god tier, I really believe she is ready to take that next step.

Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: The Coven just got it and honestly looking forward to seeing more of them. Death Dollz will always own my heart tho.

AEW World Championship: Basically feels impossible but I really want Uno as World Champion. He is amazing and I feel like we've only scratched the surface of what he can do in AEW.

AEW International Championship: Realistically this is the championship I've been hoping Uno can get a reign with as I don't trust TK to let Uno become World Heavyweight Champion but this is my dream and with Uno on top of the company, Kip Sabian would be perfect for the International Championship.

AEW TNT Championship: Keith Lee. There isn't really much to say other than it would be nice to see him with a championship.

FTW Championship: Leave it on Hook, you can't really take it off him, he is the perfect for the championship.

AEW World Tag Team Championship: John Silver and Alex Reynolds. I hope they get a run with championships someday soon, it's not that unrealistic.

AEW World Trios Championship: Dark Order. Would love to see them finally win the Trios Championship and use the Freebirds rule so all of them can defend the championships.

AEW Women's World Championship: The Bunny. Bun Bun has been there from the beginning and really deserves a championship run someday.

AEW TBS Championship: Taya Valkyrie. I feel like this might be the most realistic out of all the ones I've mentioned on the AEW side, go Tay Tay.

ROH World Championship: Stu Grayson. Imagine Uno as AEW World Heavyweight Champion and Stu as ROH World Heavyweight Champion 🥹

ROH World Television Championship: Eddie Kingston. Would love to see him with a championship, he deserves it so much.

ROH Pure Championship: Angelico. He is so underrated, would be awesome to see him with a championship.

ROH World Tag Team Championship: Top Flight. I don't mind any of the teams in the Reach For The Sky ladder match but they are the future and it would be a great start for them.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Adam Cole and The Kingdom. Adam on ROH would bring eyes to ROH which is really needed and be cool to see him back with The Kingdom.

ROH Women's World Championship: Leave it on Athena, she is amazing and deserves a lengthy run with it.

[sokraaat]

Ein Tanz in der Dorfschenke: Mephistos kaputte Geige

Der Beifall zum Ende seiner Rede war, mit bestem Willen geäußert, mittelmäßig. Das Publikum wirkte träge und nicht betrunken genug, um auf Nazi-Witze zu reagieren. Der Witz an sich war natürlich eloquent und zynisch getragen, um die Widersprüche der Nazi-Ideologie zu akzentuirien und dabei Nazi-Gedankengut, altes und neues, ins lächerliche zu ziehen.

Der Standup-Comedian ist, nach seiner eigenen Aussage, ein Deutscher. Vielleicht deswegen hatte niemand seinen Humor verstanden.

Ich war einer der wenigen, die mattig und leise geklatscht haben.

Ich schaute auf meine digitalen Handuhr, Elf Uhr. Das erklärte womöglich ihr langes und wiederholtes Gähnen. “Bist du schon müde?”, fragte ich sie. “Nein, alles ist in Ordnung." “Magst du noch etwas trinken?", "Ich hole mir eine Limo.” “Nein", antwortete sie knapp und fing an den nächsten Stand-up-Comedian zu applaudieren.

In Lissabon, vielleicht auch in ganz Portugal, trinkt man Limonaden ohne Zucker, was mich am Anfang sehr gestrört hatte, und mich an die zahlreichen und zuckerlosen Tees und Limonaden, die mir meine Mutter damals jedesmal schenkte, als krank war. Ich hasste zuckerlose Limos. Seit etwa zwei Jahren jedoch trinke ich ausschließlich Limos ohne Zucker.

Ich holte mir eine Limo und warf mich gedankenlos auf den Hocker neben ihr, als der MC anfing zu sprechen.

“Unser Format, wie wir das eigentlich bereits mehrmals erklärt haben, besteht nicht nur aus Witze, wir möchten hier in dieser schönen Stadt eine Community gründen, nicht nur aus Comedians und Barkeepern und Türstehern, wir möchten, dass ihr, und das ist eine komplett neue und einzigartige Idee, auch ein Teil dieser Community sein werdet, wir möchten kein weiteres Standardformat, in dem jemand auf der Bühne steht, irgendetwas plaudert, dann applaudiert wird, dann die nächste Person darauf und die nächste darauf und so weiter; nein! Wir möchten euch auch dabei haben, das hier ist kein Monolog, sondern ein Dialog, eine Diskussionsrunde unter Freunden!” Der letzte Teil wurde von ihm deutlich geschrien, und scheinbar kam das bei den meisten an. Selbst Mikkaela, die müde blonde Schönheit neben mir, war kurzzeitig sichtlich begeistert. Im Nachhinein dachte ich, dass dieser Moment der Einzige im ganzen Abend für sie war, wo sie Spaß hatte.

“…Folglich, ist dieser Abschnitt hier nur für euch, und mit euch.” redete der MC weiter. “Es heißt: Schlechter Rat, und es geht so: ihr habt ein Problem, ein Dilemma, wo ihr dazu einen Rat braucht, ihr fragt uns hier und jetzt und wir versuchen euch diesen Rat zu geben, es wird lustig und es wird wahrscheinlich auch von den Comedians nicht ernst gemeint, dennoch zeigte diese humorvolle Anregung ständig, dass sie weiterhilft.” Der Beifall war nun stark, sehr stark sogar.

“Fangen wir nun an, wer hat ein Problem und braucht einen Rat?” fragte der MC.

Ein mittelalter Mann, groß und schlank und mit langem, nach Man-Bun-Stil geknotetem Haar stand auf und fing an zu sprechen.

“Ich bin ein Science Science Mann…” Das Publikum unterbrach ihn kurz mit Gelächtern. Der MC und alle anderen Comedians, die auf der Bühne im Hintergrund saßen, lachten auch mit.

“Was bedeutet denn (Science Science)? Gibt es auch Nicht ganz Science Science? Wird damit vielleicht alle liberalen “neuen” -dabei machte er die Quotation-Bewegung mit seinen Fingern in der Luft- Studiengänge gemeint oder so?” fragte ihn der MC.

“Ich meine eher experimentelle Wissenschaft, genauer gesagt ich habe Biophysik studiert und arbeite in der Forschung seit ein paar Jahren.” antwortete der Mann.

“Aha! Verstehe; und was ist das Problem dabei? "Wo liegt dein Dilemma?” fragte der MC erneut.

“Ich habe eine starke künstlerische Neigung, die mich langsam erstickt; nein, ihr Fernbleiben aus meiner täglichen Routine erstickt mich; ich meine, ich liebe meine Arbeit und das Labor, dennoch fühle ich mich gerade unvollkommen.”

“Mit künstlerischer Neigung meinst du etwas besonderes? Spielst du Musik oder bist du vielleicht auch ein Stand-Up-Comedian?” fragte der MC.

“Genau, ich spiele Bass.”

Einer aus dem Publikum sprang und sagte laut, dass seine Band einen Bassisten brauche. Alle lachten, der Mann mit dem Problem auch.

“Löst das dein Problem?” fragte der MC ihn heiter.

“Es ist ein tolles Angebot, vielen Dank dafür!” Er nickte respektvoll in Richtung des Mannes aus dem Publikum, bevor er weiterfuhr.

“Ich bin nur zu Besuch hier, ich arbeite in Brüssel.” Er machte dabei kurz eine Pause, als hätte er seinen Gedankengang verloren, schaute zu Boden, hob alsdann seinen Kopf und schaute den MC an. Es sah aus, als fiele ihm im Nu eine überzeugende Eingebung ein.

“Ich möchte Bass spielen, immer im Hintergrund, immer unwahrnehmbar, ungestört, das gelingt mir im Labor nicht.”

“Bist du etwa berühmt?" fragte der MC.

Der Mann errötete und fing an zu stottern.

“Ja, ist er! Er hat ein wichtiges Papier vor zwei Jahren zur (Biolumineszenz von Bakterien) geschrieben, es wurde auf (Science Magazine) veröffentlicht.” sprach eine junge Frau neben ihm… Vermutlich seine Freundin.

“Oh, wow.", erwiderte der MC. “Also ziemlich berühmt." “Ziemlich heikle Sache… Zum einen bist du ein Science Science Mann erster Klasse, und zum anderen magst du lieber auf der Bühne im Hintergrund stehen und Bass spielen, was keiner wahrnimmt.” versuchte der MC seine Gedanken zu formulieren.

“Bass ist die dritte Dimension in der Musikwelt, ohne Bass ist die Musik zweidimensional, ohne Tiefe, nur eine Scheibe, kein Raum.” Schrie ich.

“Hmm, das werde ich wohl nie verstehen.” erwiderte der MC in meine Richtung.

“Dieser versteht es!” sagte der Mann lächelnd. “Wir bekommen die Frauen nie als Bassisten, wir bewegen uns jedoch in 3D."

Eine leise Empörung war im Saal zu hören.

“Nun, was ist dein Rat diesbezüglich?” fragte der Mann den MC.

“Es ist schwierig, so etwas zu beantworten, lass mich kurz nachdenken.” antwortete der MC.

“Darf ich?” hob ich meinen Arm.

“Aber natürlich, vom Bassisten zum anderen, nur zu!” sagte der MC und lachte herzlich dabei.

“Ich bin kein Bassist.” sagte ich, bevor ich weiterfuhr.

“Ich bin nur der Meinung, dass Musik ohne Bass einen wesentlichen Teil ihrer Tiefe verliert.” “Eigentlich hast du deine Frage selbst beantwortet, als du sie ausgesprochen hast.”

“Sag mir jetzt bitte nicht, dass du auch Biophysiker bist..” fragte der MC sarkastisch.

"Nein, nicht ganz.” antwortete ich. “Ich habe zwar Physik studiert, habe jedoch das Studium nach einer Weile abgebrochen.” antwortete ich darauf.

“Ok, ich verstehe nicht, wie ich die Frage beantwortet habe.” fragte nun der Mann irritiert.

“Wir hören selten auf uns, unsere Körper, unsere Gefühle, wir achten, in einer momentanen Situation, beziehungsweise in einem momentanen Geisteszustand, spärlich auf das, was wir fühlen.” Ich machte kurz eine Pause und versuchte meine Gedanken zu sammeln.

Die plötzliche Ruhe im Saal verunsicherte mich.

“Wir versuchen meistens das anfängliche Gefühl, welches wir mit uns in die Situation getragen haben, beizubehalten, es gehört immer zum Omniplan, das wir für unser Leben haben, selbst wenn es unbedingt bedeutet, dass wir dabei Zeit und Ressourcen und Energie verlieren, Gelegenheiten verpassen, oder auch uns dabei unglücklich machen, dieses Etwas, was wir vor langer Zeit in einer komplett anderen Situation und einem anderen Zusammenhang gefühlt haben, krampfhaft zu erreichen.” “Kennst du die Geschichte mit dem Liebespärchen und dem kalten Glas Wasser?" fragte ich den Mann.

“Ich denke nicht.”

“Es gab mal ein Pärchen, die beiden waren noch frisch zusammen, aber der Mann liebte die Frau sehr, sie jedoch, obwohl sie ihn durchaus mochte, war nicht auf demselben Level.” “Als ihm das nach ein paar Monaten bewusst war, hatte er beschlossen, die Liebesbeziehung zu beenden." erzählte ich weiter. “Sie protestierte und verlangte eine gute Erklärung dafür, wie plötzlich sich seine Meinung derart geändert hatte."

Der Saal stummte weiterhin, alle schauten zu mir, außer ihr, sie saß zwar neben mir, ihr Gesicht schaute nur zu Boden, mit kleinen kurzen Gähnen hier und da.

“Der Mann erzählte ihr die Geschichte… Es waren einmal zwei Liebenden, die zusammengelebt haben, der Mann liebte, wie unser Protagonist, seine Frau sehr, sie jedoch war nicht auf dieser gleichen Gefühlsebene wie er, und auch dieser Mann beschloss, die Beziehung zu beenden; seine Erklärung dafür war diese: “Ich kann warten und warten, bis du mich liebst, ich weiß aber schon jetzt, dass selbst wenn es passieren könnte, wird das meiner Liebe nicht gleichen, ich kann mich bemühen, dir alles bereit zu stellen, all deiner Wünsche zu erfüllen, immer für dich da sein, das wird jedoch nichts an deinem Gefühl mir gegenüber ändern… Es ist so, als bräuchtest du ein kaltes Glas Wasser, jetzt, welches wir nicht haben, also mache ich ein Glas voll mit Wasser und wedele darauf mit meinem Handklappfächer kräftig hin und her, damit das Wasser kühler wird, was mir natürlich nicht gelingt, dann stelle ich das Glas Wasser in den Kühlschrank, es ist jedoch heiß und der Kühlschrank ist voll bepackt, also hole ich alles aus dem Kühlschrank heraus, wir warten dann sehnsüchtig danach, dass das Wasser kalt wird… Du brauchst es aber jetzt, nicht später und ich kann das, im Jetzt, nicht erfüllen, obgleich ich mir alle Mühe gebe… Zufällig kommt jemand anderes vorbei mit Eis.” Es mag allenfalls absurd klingen, die Wahrheit ist, dass es nie ums Wasser ging, es ging eher um das momentane Gefühl in der Situation.”

“Ich verstehe den Zusammenhang immer noch nicht.” sagte der Mann und lachte samt dem Publikum. “Das anfängliche Gefühl… Das momentane Gefühl… Wie ich meine Frage selbst beantwortet habe.. Das alles steht für mich in keinem Zusammenhang.”

“Die Frage nach einer Lösung, zeigt dir schon, dass du nur den Bass spielen magst, das ist dein momentane Gefühl, was du aber gerade versuchst, ist eher eine schöne und in Takt klingende Begründung dafür zu finden, dass du weiter das machst, was du bisher gemacht hast, nämlich Forschung und Science Science, das ist dein anfängliche Gefühl.”

“Aha..” flüsterte der Mann.

“Du siehst es jetzt… Und wer weiß, vielleicht findest du auch nach einer Weile eine Methode, wie du Beides verbinden kannst, sodass beide Beschäftigungen Arbeit und Hobby in einem sind, vielleicht bestrahlst du eine Kolonie von Bakterien mit bestimmten elektromagnetischen Wellenlängen, das sie glänzend erstrahlen, dann dieses Licht aufnehmen und in eine Liste von Frequenzen verarbeiten, diese dann als Bassfrequenz ausspielen."

Ich nahm kurz Luft und beobachtete, wie die Augen des Mannes erleuchteten, auf seinen Lippen malte sich ein sanftes Lächeln.

“Was ist die Frequenz-Range des Basses? 50 bis 400 Hz?” fragte ich den Mann.

“Ja… Streng genommen schon 20 bis 250 Hz, aber es ist im Bereich.” antwortete der Mann.

“Dann musst du wohl mit sehr schwachem Licht anfangen, ich weiß, deine Freundin sprach vorher von Biolumineszenz, und ich spreche jetzt von Biofluoreszenz, ich denke jedoch, dass du das gut hinkriegst.” erwiderte ich.

Der Mann sagte nichts und setzte sich nur daraufhin auf seinen Stuhl.

“Na, dann haben wir es, vom Physiker zum anderen, ich habe zwar nichts verstanden, aber scheinbar haben sich die beiden gut verstanden.” sagte der MC mit seinen beiden Armen in der Luft schwingend.

Ein knappes und verlorenes “Ja” folgte aus dem Publikum. “Vielleicht funktioniert es auch andersherum.”

Sie gähnte weiter mit dem Gesicht zu Boden.

Vor dem Saal auf der Straße fragte ich Mikkaela beim Abschied, ob wir uns wiedersehen.

Sie zögerte ein wenig, dann sagte sie schließlich nein.

“Ich hatte wirklich einen schönen Abend, sehr schönen Abend, jedoch denke ich nicht, dass wir beide viel gemeinsam haben.” sagte sie. “Ich schätze sehr all diese Planung deinerseits für den Abend, es hat dir bestimmt viel Zeit und Mühe gekostet….”

Ich schweifte im Moment von ihrer Erörterung ab. Meine Augen wurden ins Leere geschleudert, während ich tief in meinen Gedanken versank. Ich konnte nur an der Stelle mit "Die Planung kostete dir viel Zeit und Mühe” denken, ich fand das erheblich eitel und selbstbezogen, dass sie denkt, dass der Abend allein für sie geplant war. Ich habe den Abend in erster Linie für mich geplant. Ich werde bestimmt kein Date planen und dabei vergessen, was ich mag und was ich machen möchte, dachte ich. Sie ist nur ein Teil von Zwei in dieser Gleichung. Ich dachte an Carl Tausig und seine Überheblichkeit, die in seinen virtuosen Stücken glänzend widerspiegelt war. Hatte er etwa gedacht, dass Franz Liszt den Mephisto-Walzer nur für ihn geschrieben hatte? Er selbst starb erst 10 Jahre nachdem Liszt den ersten Teil geschrieben hatte und hatte von dem zweiten und dritten Teil in seinem Grab nichts mitbekommen. Oder dachte der Bauer, der in der Dorfschenke mit der kaputten, halbgestimmten Geige saß, dass Mephisto den Walzer für ihn gespielt hatte? Oder dachten vielleicht die hübsche Frau und Johann Faust, dass in jener Nacht, als sie den Liebesakt mitten im Wald leidenschaftlich vollbrachten, dass der Gesang der Nachtigall für sie erklingte?

“…Also nochmal vielen Dank.” endete sie gerade ihre Erörterung und fügte noch hinzu:

“Ich brauche jetzt das kalte Glas Wasser."

Ich lächelte.