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syncogon · 4 years ago

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[QZGS meta] what’s in an OP? dawning glory (pt 3)

(part 1) (part 2)

This is the third and last post in my little series analyzing the opening theme of The King’s Avatar Season 2! Honestly, this whole thing became way longer than I was expecting. I guess this is what happens when all my immense amount of love for this series, accumulated over years of no-donghua-updates, overlaps with my immense amount of love for anime openings.

Watched the first and second episodes yesterday, and they really sparked a lot of joy. :D I missed Blue River so much :D

Yesterday, they released the OST for Season 2, which includes the TV cut and full versions of the OP and ED, as well as two insert songs, and the instrumental versions of all of the above. I’ve yet to find anywhere that lets me download the audio files (hoping they’ll be reuploaded to youtube or bilibili soon), but in the meantime you can listen here. They’re really good songs! https: //www. kuwo. cn/album_detail/15792659

Anyway, let’s finish up this OP analysis!

Now here, we reach the true climax as we enter the chorus section. This next segment is definitely the highest-energy part of the entire opening. It’s a montage of Happy’s characters showing off their moves, timed to the music; there’s not too much deeper meaning, but damn if it doesn’t look fantastic. The animation flows from one character and scene to the next so smoothly, so beautifully, it’s just incredibly hype to see. This is what you get when you specifically choreograph/animate sequences for the opening instead of just reusing shots from the main show! (Parts of some of these shots appeared in episode 1, but I do honestly think that it’s more likely that the show reused shots from the opening than the other way around, just because of how perfectly the OP fits together. I also don’t think it’s super noticeable in-show; I’ve just been watching this obsessively.)

In particular I love the line that kicks this all off: “just put on your battle armor and step onto the road to the unknown.” Specifically, though, the rhythm of the lyric is, “jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang,” with emphasizing accents on the -ang sounds. This isn’t how you would divide the phrase naturally, but because the (syncopated!!) melody accents these notes/syllables, the rhyming effect really stands out and it feels as clever and satisfying as a rap lyric. Moreover, the emphasis times juuust right with the attacks of Soft Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion, and Windward Formation, a perfect example of how music and visuals mutually reinforce each other for maximum cool effect.

It’s generally easier to rhyme in Chinese than English, because of a smaller phonetic vocabulary. From the chorus onward, the key rhyme is on the “-ang” sound (think “ahng” or “ong”, not “aang” like the Avatar), which is a good choice - powerful, reverberant. The asymmetry of the syllable’s use in this section - the song’s lines are all different lengths at this part, so you’re kept on your toes as to when the pattern will reappear - helps add to the engaging excitement of the song. This is also the syllable used for most of the rhymes in the second half of the first OP.

jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang

hui qi shou zhong wo jin de na shu guang

you ni men zai lu shang__

shi li liang

I really love One Inch Ash’s design. Concealed Light had a big redesign for this season, and honestly I like it as well. And notice here that he’s holding a book - exactly how we left Luo Ji when we saw him last!

“Waving the light clenched tightly in our hand” - that is to say, brandishing our light as our weapon, no matter what form it may take - a sword, a book, our hope and determination.

On a purely musical note (ha), right at this point, specifically the measure beginning with “那束光,” you can hear a three-note “ooo” harmony line in the background, and wow it’s so subtle but I love it so much! A similar three-note line actually appears earlier too (during the “crossing the frozen finish line,” right as the music is building up), also to great effect.

We follow Concealed Light’s gaze upward to the building to see Deception running along the wall, from which he does a flip and slashes downward with twin blades. I love that transition a lot, but my favorite transition of this entire sequence has to be the following one:

Yes! Deception’s cross slash resolves perfectly into the cross held by Little Cold Hands. It’s so fast and so natural you don’t even notice it, and that’s the absolute beauty of it. The first time I saw this, I was in awe - the animators really brought their A-game to this, far better than I ever would have dared hope for this series.

And Little Cold Hands is so pretty! When we got our first art of her official design, the comments were filled with people simping for her, and honestly, valid. I’m surprised her hair is purple instead of pink, but that’s just a minor thing.

There’s something especially powerful about how she raises her cross in time with the lyric “having you all here [with me] on this road,” and then the cross flashing brilliantly with “it’s power.” More than any other role, the healer is a team player. And this theme of team togetherness is particularly important for An Wenyi, who is deeply moved by the team’s perhaps illogical faith in him. Remember that analogy Ye Xiu tells him, of the straw tied to the deluxe mitten crab?

An aside: listening to this, I always thought the line should be 有你们在身旁 instead of 有你们在路上, because it still fits the rhyme, because my past experience has somewhat conditioned me to expect that phrase, and because the full message of “having you by my side is power” just makes me wanna tear up like what a good line! So it felt like a missed opportunity that they didn’t use that. But as it turns out, the final iteration of this chorus in the full version of the OP does, in fact, use “by my side”! And I think making this tiny tweak to the lyric the final time you here it just makes it that much stronger :’)

I’m also just a big fan of the “it’s power” melodic flourish in general, since it comes as a surprise. You kind of expect the melody to end with the previous phrase, but the extra notes here add a really nice emphatic beat to finish off the line.

So to recap the transitions: we see Soft Mist falling from the sky and get a close up of her face as she stabs her spear; this takes us to a closeup of Steamed Bun’s face facing roughly the same direction before we zoom out to his torso and he slashes from lower left of the screen to upper right; following the motion of that slash we see Windward Formation’s torso rotate in that direction as the camera zooms out farther; we follow the rays of his attack to see One Inch Ash drawing his sword; we zoom in on the flashing blade and zoom out on Concealed Light’s glowing book; we follow his gaze upward to see Deception running along the building behind him; Deception leaps and slashes and the slash becomes Little Cold Hands’ cross, which raises up and triggers an explosion. It’s just so dynamic and smooth even without taking place in one continuous setting, and it just really, really gets you hyped.

Also, starting from Happy’s team picture at the start of the chorus, which is during the day, it feels like Soft Mist and Steamed Bun’s moves are at late afternoon, Windward Formation and One Inch Ash take us to nighttime, and then you can see the first rays of morning in Concealed Light and Deception’s segments. This continuity also definitely helps with the feeling of natural flow through these scenes.

Anyway, this entire action segment is just so beautiful, I could watch it on loop. But we still have the final segment of this OP to analyze, so let’s keep going.

After the action sequences of the climax, we settle down a bit now as we approach the end. Here we see the Excellent Era team picture, in the same style as the team pics we saw earlier, but presented separately. It makes sense, as the role they play in the story is different from the roles of all the other teams.

Sun Xiang, Liu Hao, and Cui Li are at the bottom. Because we’re panning up, these three are the first we see. At first glance, the way they’re positioned is fairly consistent with the team pics we’ve seen already: Captain Sun Xiang at center-right, the largest figure; vice-captain Liu Hao, manager Cui Li in the background.

Sun Xiang’s position and expression is really the only one that fits the healthy pattern of the teams we’ve seen already - looking toward the camera, a confident (though arrogant) smile. He might be misguided, but there’s hope for him yet. Notice how Liu Hao isn’t even looking at the camera, which as we’ve seen before is somewhat of an indication of how unified and focused the team is toward its goal; instead, Liu Hao is doing his own thing, determined to prioritize his own desires over what’s best for the team. And manager Cui Li is in this image too, despite not even being a player. His sinister presence reflects the unhealthy interference of the business side in the gaming side. Excellent Era’s downfall comes about because of its prioritization of profit over victory.

As we pan up, Excellent Era’s logo comes into view. It’s larger than any of the other team logos we’ve seen so far, spanning around three-quarters of the screen whereas the others looked to span no more than half. Excellent Era’s legacy is a weighty one, to date the only team to have ever won three championships, and consecutively to boot.

It’s this immense, shining logo that seems to be casting Tao Xuan on the left into shadow. He cuts a large figure, reflecting the deep impact his actions have had upon the main plot of this story, even though he’s only now appearing for the first time in the donghua.

However, he’s also turned away from the camera, such that we can barely even see his closed eye. Because of that, it’s difficult to read his expression, but the impression given by this pose is not one of vindictive pride, but one of shame, as though he can’t quite bear to face what he’s done. On some level, no matter how he might try to rationalize it as necessary, Tao Xuan knows that his profit-driven betrayal of Ye Xiu was a pretty awful thing to do. It might be this amount of guilt that leads him to offer Ye Xiu a wish granted, a tribute to their years of friendship and partnership before their ties are severed completely.

In the end, Tao Xuan’s greed leaves him with nothing really to show for it. What had he gained? What had he lost? Those realizations are still a ways off in the story, but I like how this OP is already hinting at the depth of his character. Tao Xuan isn’t some glasses-flashing, evil-laughing, one-dimensional antagonist; he is in fact very realistic for the setting. We can condemn his actions and priorities, but at the same time we can understand how he ended up here.

As for Su Mucheng, her eyes are closed as well. She’s brightly illuminated, but pointedly turned away from all of the others in Excellent Era; she knows the direction of her future, and that it no longer lies with Excellent Era. Her loyalty was always to Ye Xiu, and as soon as he was banished, her relationship to the team was professional and nothing more.

“This light hidden in my heart is burning” - there are many ways to read this lyric and what exactly the light referenced here is, but because the line is paired with this image, I naturally think about Su Mucheng’s situation. Despite her pretty-vase, sweet-girl appearance, she holds a deep, profound anger at everything that happened regarding Excellent Era. It’s a testament to her immense strength of character that she lasted the remaining one and a half years of her contract in this hostile environment.

Yet even as she resolves to cut ties, there’s a sadness in her expression. She was here from the very beginning as well, when Excellent Era was no more than an internet cafe, and it pains her immensely that the powerhouse, championship team that they and her brother had built from the ground up would ultimately meet this tragic end.

It’s interesting to note that both of the “redeemable” characters here (namely Su Mucheng and Sun Xiang) are on the right, more brightly-lit side of the screen, so there’s a nice little dividing line you can draw there. Sun Xiang’s eyes are still looking toward the left, though, revealing how his character development still has yet to play out.

From there we cut to Ye Xiu holding Lord Grim’s account card. He’s standing back on top of the roof from the beginning of the OP, now in full daylight.

As mentioned… the animators really went ham on the bangs animation.

Ye Xiu turns away from the railing, the camera cuts to an image of Happy’s logo on a flag waving in the wind, and then we zoom out to see the current members of Team Happy gathered together in uniform, standing proud in the light of day. Left to right, Steamed Bun, Tang Rou, Luo Ji, Ye Xiu, An Wenyi, Wei Chen, Chen Guo. Presumably, this will be Happy’s lineup by the end of the season.

Up until now, we’ve only seen the real players separate from each other - they’ve all been in different places, never even in the same frame together. (This, of course, also contrasts the pro team pics that we have, which show everyone together.) Halfway through the OP, we got the group shot of them meeting in game with their characters. And now, they’ve finally met up in the real world as well.

One thing I like about this final pose is how it compares to the final pose of the OVA OP. It’s the same kind of power-pose vibe, but there we only had Ye Xiu, Chen Guo, and Tang Rou. Look at how we’ve grown since then! They’re well on their way to being a proper pro team!

And that’s a wrap! With this final image of Team Happy gathered together, we’re ready to enter the episode proper.

So let’s talk about the OP as a whole. Generally, an OP serves a couple of main roles: a) tells you a bit about what the show is about, b) gives you an overall feeling / mood for the show, c) gets you hyped and ready to watch the upcoming episode.

How well does this opening achieve those goals? Pretty well, as we’ve seen. Past OPs did a pretty good job of setting the mood, but they honestly just put some pretty visuals on the screen, only vaguely aligned to the music, and called it a day. This OP, however, has a cohesive storyline to tell, framed around Team Happy’s coming together (following the tagline of this season). Even in such a short span of time, it manages to convey so much information about its story and characters, both overt and implicit (as I hope this series of posts has managed to convince you). Paired with the music, which has its own deeper meanings encoded in the lyrics, the OP becomes incredibly effective and memorable as it makes its statement.

I mentioned an “interest curve” earlier (interest in the sense of interesting, not the money); this is part of the standard formula for anime opening songs, in my experience. I’m a little too lazy to draw a graph myself, so take a look at this image:

(source: https: //www. researchgate. net/figure/Example-of-an-interest-curve-for-a-successful-entertainment-experience_fig1_333917625 )

Although not all of the relative heights and segment lengths are accurate in this specific case, hopefully the general shape of the interest curve is enough to demonstrate my point. You’ve got the A-B peak at the opening instrumental segment, the C-D peak/arc over verse 1, the D-E-F peak/arc over verse 2, then the sharp F-G-H peak over the chorus before dropping off for a smooth landing right into the episode. This general pattern is effective at holding the viewer’s focus and managing their excitement over the course of this one and a half minutes.

Visually, the OP is just such a treat for the eyes. I’ve already talked about many of the little details I love - lighting, character designs, animations, transitions, etc. - but all in all the new animation studio is doing a really good job here. An OP is how you hook people, and I’d definitely feel comfortable using this to try and bait people into watching this show.

One comment I want to add is about the incorporation of the credits, which we didn’t see until the episode premiere. I don’t think there’s anything too exciting to say (and I also don’t have access to any images right now since the OP was only shown in episode 2), but the fonts and styling were a nice choice - it gave a gaming vibe, but if I recall it still used a serif font, so it didn’t feel overly modern - and the text positioning generally complements instead of distracting. I also liked how they showed the lyrics! I didn’t really expect them to include them onscreen, or if they did, I thought they would just be plain subs like they were in this video. But in the actual OP that plays at the beginning of the episode, they’re as much a part of the art as the credits!

If I had to make any criticism, my biggest complaint about the OP is, I think, the singers. I think having two different singers trade off can work nicely, but in this case, the switches are jarring because their voices are so different. The first singer has a lower, gravely voice, while the second singer’s voice sounds much brighter and more nasally. Furthermore, the first switch doesn’t come until we’re fully halfway through the song, which means that by that point we’re already used to this first singer. It’s also strange that they’d switch back to the first voice at the climax of the song, when I think the second voice would suit the high-energy segment much better. Switching from second to first right at this point feels like we’re actually taking a step down in energy, which is the opposite of what should be happening here.

Still, my main problem isn’t with the voice switching but with the voices themselves, and I think the voices are something I could get used to. The third switch, going from the first voice back to the second voice during the shot of Excellent Era, is much less jarring than the others - I actually like how it feels like the solo is passing naturally from one person to the next, emphasizing the ideals of this not being a single-player game and all that. For that transition in particular, I think (because of the added “it’s power” flourish) it happens too quickly for one person to sing it comfortably, so having another person pick up the line works best. And I do like how the voices sound when they overlay together for the final lines of the song.

So, overall? Overall, this OP is really damn good. It’s everything I could have asked for and more. After such a long wait, the OP, at least, does not disappoint, and I’m extremely excited to see what the series has in store for us.

If you’ve read to this point, thank you! I like this series a lot, as you can probably see, and I’m treating it as my glory :)

#quan zhi gao shou #qzgs #the king's avatar #tka #全职高手 #mine #qzgs commentary #synco talks

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blazinbeautywrites · 5 years ago

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But You’re Not Mine

Note: Due to the rampant uprising of plagiarism on this site and others I am stating once and once only that this is my ORIGINAL work. If I find out that you have stolen/taken any part of my work I will handle you and the situation the way I see fit.

None of the pics of gifs I use belong to me so full credit goes to the originators of said gifs and pics.

Length: 1,667 words

Genre: Slight smut/Angst

They both knew it was wrong but here they were hot, sweaty messes tangled up in the sheets of a high class hotel. Yugyeom knew that going after his bandmate’s girl was fucked up but he didn’t give a fuck.

“I bet JB doesn’t fuck you like this.”Yugyeom grunted as he thrusted in and out of Zanai at an inhumane pace.

“God no...OH MY GOD!” Zanai yelled as she reached an earth shattering orgasm. Slick with sweat, Yugyeom finally exploded and as his body shook at the release of his own orgasm. Zanai moaned at the aftershocks of her own. She closed her legs at an attempt to dull the aching between her legs but to no avail.

“That was amazing. I love your pussy so fucking much.” Yugyeom breathed out as he turned to face her. Zanai gave him a weak smile then got out of bed in search of her clothes.

“You always say that.” She let out a small laugh. The guilt never failed to hit her after an amazing rendezvous with Yugyeom. She thought back to the first time she met the group when JYP flew her to South Korea to choreograph JUS2’s comeback. After a few months she and JB started dating yet she always felt drawn to Yugyeom. She was helping him perfect a move one night when he kissed her.

“Hey, you okay?” Yugyeom asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah just thinking about the first time I met you. JB and the guys.” Zanai said.

“Why are you thinking about that?” Yugyeom asked.

“Cuz I feel like shit Yugyeom! I’ve been cheating on my boyfriend for the past year with his bandmate. This is so wrong yet I keep coming back to you. You’re like a fucking drug I don’t know how to quit.” Zanai yelled. She quickly put on her clothes and moved to grab her phone when Yugyeom stopped her.

“Please don’t go. I love you.” Yugyeom pleaded.

“I’m sorry. I need some space. Please don’t call or text me.” Zanai said. With that she left him a mess in the dirty sheets to wallow in his own hurt and anger.

“Well if that’s the game you’re gonna play.” Yugyeom muttered under his breath. He pulled out his phone and sent a few pics and screenshots of texts to a place he’d never thought he’d contact: Dispatch.

******************

When Zanai arrived to her apartment she saw JB’s car and dreaded seeing him, especially in her current state. She did her best to look like she didn’t just get the common sense fucked out of her and walked into her building and up to her floor. Upon opening the door she saw JB sitting on the sofa and her heart immediately dropped at the sight of his bright smile.

“Hey baby. How was work? Are you okay?”JB asked as he surveyed her. He got worried she’d overworked herself.

“I’m fine, just a bit tired and a little hungry.” Zanai replied.

“I ordered some Indian food for us. Practice ended early since Yugyeom decided not to even show the fuck up. I don’t know what’s been up with him but for the past year something in him completely shifted. He seems more smug.” JB said.

“I mean he is the maknae and yall let him get away with too much shit.” Zanai said. She shifted where she stood, hoping he wouldn’t notice her nervousness.

“You okay? You seem a little nervous. You sure nothing happened today?”JB asked.

“No it’s just been a long ass day. I need to shower.” Zanai said. As she headed towards her bedroom, she was stopped dead in her tracks by his next words.

“Who is he?” JB asked. Zanai turned around and looked him dead in the eyes. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were dead. Fuck she’d been caught.

“What are you ta-” He cut her off.

“Don’t fucking lie to me. I can fucking smell the sex on you. Who have you been fucking cuz it sure as hell wasn’t me.” JB said.

“JB-I-I’m sorry. It meant nothing I swear.” Zanai tried to grab his hand but he recoiled in disgust.

“How long?” JB asked.

“What?” Zanai replied.

“How long have you been fucking him?” JB asked. He really didn’t want to know the answer but he was sick of being in the dark in his own relationship.

“A year.” Zanai felt so ashamed. She’d hurt the one person she’d never thought she’d hurt and now she was going to lose him.

“Woooooow. So for half of our relationship you were with another man? What the fuck is wrong with you? Am I not enough for you?” JB asked.

“You are enough for me. Don’t say that.” Zanai cried.

“Obviously I’m not since you went out and got another dick. Tell me, does he fuck you better than I do?” JB demanded.

“JB………….” Zanai looked away.

“Well I guess I have my answer. Have a good life Zanai. We’re done.” JB said. He grabbed his things and moved to leave when Zanai grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Please don’t go.” Zanai pleaded.

“I SAID WE’RE FUCKING DONE!” JB yelled. With that he walked out and slammed her door.

Zanai was numb. She couldn’t believe that she just hurt him like that. She hated cheaters and knew how much that shit hurts from experience and now she’d inflicted that pain onto someone else. She was disappointed in herself and hated the person she’d become. Zanai finally headed to her room to shower and go to bed. She just wanted to sleep and never wake up.

*******************

The next morning Zanai woke up feeling like shit. She was completely drained and void of all emotion and feeling. She reached for her phone but soon remembered she’d left it in her bag.

Walking back to her living room, Zanai went to her purse to retrieve her phone. Once she pulled it out she saw that it was lit up with notifications. She was getting mentions and tags in all kinds of tweets and instagram posts. Choosing to ignore it she went back to her room to get ready for work. After what seemed like forever she was finally heading out of her apartment. Upon walking up to the JYP building, Zanai noticed that her key card wasn’t allowing her to open the door. She saw one of her fellow choreographers and waved to get her attention.

“Hey Yeojin my key card doesn’t work, can you let me in?” Zanai asked.

“Ummm sure.”Yeojin said. As she let her into the building, Zanai noticed how quiet everyone seemed and how they all stared at her.

“What’s going on?” Zanai asked.

“Uhh maybe we should go somewhere more private.”Yeojin said. Yeojin walked them to an empty practice room to talk.

“Okay what’s going on? Why was everyone looking at me like that?” Zanai demanded.

“Did you not check your phone this morning? It’s all over the news. Dispatch reported on it.” Yeojin said.

“Reported on what?” Zanai said. She was panicking.

“Your affair with Yugyeom. There’s pictures, texts, and even a video of you guys in bed together. All the major Korean news sites have reported on it.” Yeojin.

“Oh my fucking god. Has everyone seen it?” Zanai asked. Before Yeojin could answer there was a loud commotion in the hallway.

Zanai and Yeojin left the practice room to see JB throwing different objects and trying to get to Yugyeom. It took Jinyoung and Mark to hold him back. Once Zanai saw Yugyeom she walked up to him and gave him a hard smack across his cheek.

“Really? You just gon hit me?” Yugyeom said, holding his cheek.

“You’re the one that leaked the shit! How else would they have gotten all of that information? Why the fuck would you do that?” Zanai yelled.

“I fucking told you I loved you and you barely even acknowledged it. I got tired of you having your cake and eating it too.” Yugyeom said.

“So, what you leaked all of our business to teach me a fucking lesson? You’re fucking pathetic.” Zanai.

“No. What’s pathetic is you fucking your boyfriend’s bandmate then turning around and fucking him with my cum fresh on your tongue. How my kids taste JB?” Yugyeom bragged. JB lunged at him but Jinyoung andMark held him firm.

“Wooooow. You’re an asshole. I fucking hate you with all my heart.” Zanai said.

“I’ll be an asshole but you’ll forever be a cheater and now the whole world knows it. And if your key card wasn’t a hint, JYP fired your ass.” Yugyeom said. He walked away and right out of the building. Shocked at what her life has come to, she turned to face JB and the rest of the group.

“I’m so sorry guys. I never meant to hurt any of you. I promise this is the last time you’ll see me.” Zanai said. As she made her way to the door JB spoke out to her.

“Why wasn’t I enough for you? 2 years. I gave you 2 years. Why wasn’t I good enough?” JB asked.

“It wasn’t you. It was all me. I-I was drawn to him since the beginning and I let him draw me in. I knew it was wrong and I still did it. I’m a shitty person and you deserve better than me. You deserve a woman who won’t fuck your best friend and breakyour heart and humiliate you in front of the world. I really am sorry JB.” Zanai said. She said her goodbyes to her former co workers and headed out onto the streets of Seoul.

She knew her career in South Korea was over and she had no one to blame but herself. She’d destroyed her career and the man she loved. That’s something she’ll always have to live with.

She’d made her messy ass bed and now she had no choice but to lay in it.

#bre speaks #text posts #yugyeom #got7 #kpop #yugyeom scenarios #got7 scenarios #kpop scenarios

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belladonnaandulriched · 4 years ago

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the artist | chapter seven

“Thank you for the ride home, Lars,” I said as I climbed out of the car. Will had told him to borrow his car in order to take me back home to Tacoma; Will himself meanwhile remained back at the speak easy with Joey. It was after midnight by the time Lars had arrived at my parents' place.

“It is my greatest pleasure,” he told me as he gave me a sly lopsided grin and a whiff of that minty gum. Even in the darkness, those green irises glimmered and sparkled like the mint flavor of the gum. “Shall we meet up again soon?”

“I'd love to!” I declared. “I'm not doin' much of anything tomorrow so—come on over and I'll introduce you to my parents.”

He winked at me and blew me a kiss, and then I closed the passenger door. I headed up the walkway and slipped in through the front door. My parents had already gone to bed, and I knew I would have to explain it come the morning, but for the time being, I needed to plug in my phone and hit up Chris again.

I sidled into my bedroom and opened my phone. I sent a message to him in hopes to smooth things over after that evening.

I set down my phone on my nightstand and stripped off my jacket and my jeans when the phone went off again. I reached behind me to check it: I stood there in my underwear and my socks as I checked the screen.

“What took you so long,” Chris had replied back to me with. I rolled my eyes and chuckled at him; I stood there in the middle of the floor in order to text back to him.

“I told you, I was busy.”

“Get busy, baby.”

“Get busy with what?”

“It.”

“What's it?”

“IT!” he wrote in all caps.

“Ah, you just wanna see me with either Joey or Lars, don't ya?”

“I don't, I don't,” he insisted.

“Well, what was that then?” I demanded with a grin on my face.

“I was sayin' to get busy with the art thing,” he clarified.

“Hence, you wanna see with either Joey or Lars,” I quipped. “You wanna see some flowers blossom.”

“I wanna see some flowers blossom and give it a bit o' tongue,” he retorted, to which I gasped and felt my face grow warm.

“Chris!” I laughed out loud.

“What?” he replied with a smirk.

“That's not what I meant,” I scoffed at him.

“What did you mean?” he hit back.

“I was talking about using Dave and Stone's plants as references for the next round of coloring. I wasn't talking about—that.”

“Wait a minute, you started it.”

“No, I didn't!” I couldn't help but laugh some more.

“Yes, you did! You started it! You said something about getting together with Jory and Lars.”

“Joey.”

“Huh?”

“His name is Joey, not Jory. And I was teasing you.”

“Ah, you wanna play that game, don't you.”

“What game?”

“You wanna tease me.”

“Maybe…” I shuffled my feet on the carpet. I glanced down at them, surrounded by those colorful stripes making up the soft fabric. I wiggled my toes: I had seen three guys naked and ventured into a brand new garden with two more. I was about to get down over the phone with another one.

“You know—I'm in my undies right now,” I told him as I took a seat on the edge of my bed.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. My undies and my socks… and just a T-shirt, too.”

As soon as I hit send on that, I received another text.

“Hey, Holly, are you still up?” Will!

“Yeah, what's up?”

“Joey gave me your number—I'm taking him and Lars back to my place for the night. The two of us are waiting for Lars to get back, so we just wanted to tell you good night if you're not in bed already.” He followed it up with a little kiss at the end of the message.

“Aw, thank you. And good night to you boys, too. My models.” I followed it up with two little yellow hearts.

A reply from Chris. I opened it up.

“Care to share a pic?”

“You want me to take a picture of myself for you?”

“...if it's not too much trouble?”

I fetched up a sigh but I still set the phone on my nightstand on its end and pointed it towards me. I set the timer on the camera and on the send button, and then I leaned back against the wall. I pushed the button and held still for a moment.

It sent.

I waited a moment until Chris hit me back again. “So?”

“So what?”

“Did you fall asleep?”

“No. Did you get it?”

“No.”

“I took a pic, though,” I insisted.

“Didn't get a ring or anything,” he said.

“Huh. Let me try again—”

I leaned back again and pushed the button and waited. It sent. Another moment. And then—

“Oh, my,” he replied. “Oh, me.”

“You like it?”

“So simple and yet—oh, man.”

I still remained quiet about my age, and I wanted to have fun with it.

“I'm thinking of taking a shower,” I said to him.

“Oh, mannnn—don't fall!”

I actually wasn't going to take a shower until the morning, but I wanted to see his reaction to that, especially since it was late and I felt like falling asleep right there in my T-shirt, my panties, and my socks. But then, as I was about to take off my shirt and my bra, I got another ring from the phone.

I figured maybe it was Chris hitting me back for a kiss good night.

“You tryin' ta give the dog a bone?”

And then I realized I accidentally sent the first picture to Joey.

I froze in place with the screen of the phone right in my face. I didn't know what to say to him right then, other than the obvious “it's not what it looks like!” but what was done was done. My heart leapt into my throat and butterflies whirred up inside of my stomach. I nibbled on my bottom lip as the phone buzzed again.

“I'm gonna tell Anthrax about you,” he teased me; I could envision that sly lopsided grin of his. “And then we're gonna spread the word about you to Tom and Dave, too—unless Lars has done it already. And when I say that, I mean how amazing you are.”

Moreover, I read that in his voice. It got me thinking right then: I wondered what Chris' voice sounded like when he was turned on by the sight of me earlier. I also started to wonder what Joey's voice sounded like in the same context. Two boys with long beautiful jet black curls and incredible voices.

I set my phone back down on the nightstand so I could change my clothes and spit out the now used-up piece of gum Lars gave me, but I decided to crawl into bed in nothing more than my panties and my socks. I fell asleep within mere seconds of setting my head on top of the pillow.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my phone going off. I rolled over to pick up my phone again to find that usual message, like clockwork no less.

“Good morning, Hollywood,” Chris greeted me.

“Good morning, Corn man,” I replied, and he pinged me back with a laughing face. I opened the photo folder and checked the one of Mount Rainier he had sent me before. It took me a moment to realize that the snowy slopes of Mount Rainier reminded me of something from Georgia O'Keeffe. The fact the mountain had a bunch of bright and bold colors made me think of one of her paintings. The ridges and folds juxtaposed underneath him made me wonder some more about that particular picture.

I was about to write back to him when the phone went off again. I opened up the message to find Joey had sent me something.

“Hey, hi, what's up, what's going on?” he sputtered, like he was nervous.

“I—I just kinda—forgot.”

“Forgot about what?” he asked, nonplussed.

“Forgot to get back to you,” I clarified. “I saw your messages this morning. I fell asleep when I got home.”

“Oh, it's okay!” he assured me. “Really. It is.”

“So—you really wanna tell your band mates about me?”

“I do! You're amazing, Hollywood. The bunch of us might wanna do some dealings and shit with you.”

“Oh, yeah?” I raised my eyebrows at that.

“Yeah, Charlie and Frankie went ape shit over the drawing of me that you did, Charlie did especially.”

I wondered if he was going to mention the picture I sent him by accident in between his telling me what happened earlier.

“They don't know if they're gonna come up here, though,” he continued. “So... as far as we know, we might just do this whole thing over messages and whatnot.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip.

I was laying in bed and with the blankets over my otherwise naked body. The only piece of clothing was my underwear. Laying in bed and texting two boys.

My phone buzzed again.

“Good morning, min kære.” It was Lars.

“What'd you call me?” I teased him.

“That's Danish for 'my darling',” he replied.

“Oh, so we're going that far, aren't we?” I teased him.

“Yes, we are!” he retorted. “You have good taste, Miss. I hope I am not intruding.”

“Not at all! I was about to get out of bed and have breakfast.”

“Go eat up, love,” he told me, to which he accompanied it with an “xo” at the end. “I should introduce you to an authentic European breakfast. You know those nutritional columns on the sides of food cartons here in the U.S.?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“That right there—a European breakfast—would go off the charts.”

I pictured Lars eating up a European breakfast, whatever that was, and eating to his heart's desire.

“Go right to the heart!” I teased him.

“Right to the heart and to the love of the stomach,” he retorted, to which he followed it up with a wink.

“I might get some breakfast,” I told Joey.

“I'm about to, too!” he said. “Big ass stack of waffles with butter and blueberries.” I pictured that slim belly of his feeling extra full of waffles and berries, and there was something quaint about that image. So quaint I thought about drawing it in my sketchbook. These boys I drew the night before eating a bunch of food and getting their bodies nice and relaxed…

I rubbed my eyes and sat upright in the bed with the phone in my lap. I thought about texting Chris back but then again, I needed something to eat. I slid out from underneath the covers to fetch some clothes and take to the kitchen. I set the phone back on the nightstand and I decided to leave it there for the time being.

My mom put on a pot of coffee and proceeded to make herself an omelette. She showed me a smile once I padded onto the linoleum in my bare feet.

“So what happened last night?” she asked me.

“I was hangin' out with some friends and making some drawings,” I promptly replied; I thought about what Joey told me prior to then. “I think—I think, anyways—I can do some commission work.”

“Oh, good! I was hoping you would go far with your work, baby.” She put her arm around me and kept the smile upon her face. I wondered if the boys were willing to keep things under wraps, especially since I wasn't eighteen as of yet. But then again, it might have been my own imagination and my own post pandemic paranoia doing the trick. But it was still necessary to keep things a secret between me and them.

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itslovewithyouthings · 6 years ago

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You guys. This is truly a Dining Room progress report today I don’t have one thi… http://bit.ly/2Xsb77a

You guys. This is truly a Dining Room progress report today I don’t have one thing finished for this space yet! However lots of things are in the works so I’ll show you what I’ve been up to and where we are. (If you missed my “Before” and plans with design board last week go ahead and catch up here.) I’m thrilled to be part of the group participating in our Choose Your Own Adventure (3 week!) Refresh hosted by Jewel of Jeweled Interiors. We’ve got and awesome variety of 12 stunning projects in the works I can’t wait until all of the reveals next week! (This post may contain affiliate links read myfull disclosure policy here.) Alright as of last night here’s where we are. I took most of these photos yesterday… this project is truly happening real time friends! HOST CHAIRS- Ta-daaaa you saw them above!! I’m in love! We had one perfect spray paint day on Valentine’s Day (the only day in recent history it’s been over 50 degrees and not crazy windy) and I took advantage of it and knocked these chairs out. I sprayed the frames without removing any of the upholstery! Here’s a look at how I did it and I saved my process with more details in my Instagram Story highlights under “Chair Painting” if you want to see more. (Chair Color here) I removed the seats (they unscrew from the bottom) and pulled the double piping off of the back side (surrounding the floral fabric) that I planned to switch out anyway. Then I completely covered the upholstery on both sides of the back with tape and plastic. Needing a way to hold the edges of the foam back away from the wings a bit I used some strips of stiff foam board and wedged them down between the padding and the wing then pulled the two pieces together and secured with tape to hold them back a bit. It ended up working great and my upholstery came out unscathed when I later removed the plastic. I just need to make and add the new cording to the backs and these will be complete. TABLE- Remember I bought a vintage Thomasville table off of Craigslist that was in good condition it just had a couple of water damage spots and scratches on the top and the finish was way too shiny. I sanded down the top enough to take off the glossy finish and the edges where they were scuffed then just finished staining it yesterday. I will be starting to put the final top coat of polyurethane on it today and finish with a second coat tomorrow. I didn’t touch the legs at all just freshening up the top. I’m loving the table the lighter color is a nice change from my former super dark one and you can see how big it is with all of the leaves… We’ll be able to fit 10-12 people around it! For every day I’ll just keep one of the leaves in and seats for 8. That photo is after I sanded but before any staining. I’m doing that inside since it’s continually so cold outside but we ended up having to move it in the Study where I can close the doors. The cats occasionally hop on it to look out the window don’t want them doing that when I’m waiting for the poly to dry!

We’ll run some fans in there also to help cut down on the fumes and keep them contained. SIDE CHAIRS- I hired my son to strip off the upholstery and it was worth. every. penny!!! (He was happy to get some extra cash and with the school holiday this week and an extra snow/ice day we had he had plenty of time to knock them out.) I’m getting new foam for the seats since the old wasn’t that good and had really broken down and that will be ready to pick up tomorrow. Today we’re having one more decent weather day thankfully! so I’m planning to get the frames all sprayed white today. Last week I shared that I’ll be adding more Chiang Mai Dragon fabric to the backs and I wanted to give you a bargain tip today. This is an expensive designer fabric so I always look for remnants at a discount online. While searching I came across some 17″x17″ sample pieces for sale. They were the perfect size to trim for the back of my chairs and they were only $13 each! (Way less than purchasing yardage.) This is such a great option if you’d like to have a touch of this fabulous fabric. It’s not quite big enough for a good pillow but I could see it running down the center of a lumbar with another color blocked on the edges. The only drawback is that you don’t really get to choose the design on the piece you’re getting so I ordered one extra just to have an option if I needed it. Here’s the big change of plans from last week/surprise for this week… I said that I would probably use a pretty chambray colored solid chenille for the inside back and seats of the round chairs but I couldn’t get super excited about it. After searching hours online and coming up empty I checked out a few local fabric stores one more time and hit the jackpot! As soon as I saw this navy and green geometric fabric I knew I had to use it. Granted I hemmed and hawed for a few days trying to decide if it was a sensible choice- even though my heart was totally in it- but finally decided to go for it! I’ve never seen this fabric before and there wasn’t any identifying information on it so I know nothing about it sorry! The color is a bit off in the photo it’s a true kelly green velvet/chenille mixed with a smooth navy. Floral Fabric sample || Floral Fabric yardage || Dot Curtain Fabric My biggest drawback when trying to decide whether to use it or not was that it’s such a strong pattern it might be difficult to work around with all of the tablescapes that I do. Ultimately though I decided I’d rather have something exciting to look at every day than design around an occasional tablescape that’s set up!

LIGHTING- We haven’t had a chance to install the new Garden City sconces from Hudson Valley yet but I have a feeling they’ll be one of my favorite parts of the room! There will be one on each side of the China Cabinet. ARTWORK- Although our group is super grateful for our sponsor Minted I wanted to use some personal artwork in my space. I would have loved to select some abstract art but since my DIY abstract painting is just across the hallway adjacent to this wall I didn’t think it would work. I spent plenty of time looking though and these beauties caught my eye! I’m planning to do something a little different with a couple of family photos but am still trying to decide which frames and arrangement I’ll use. Here are my options (with a rough photoshop of the sconces added in): I have a pair of bamboo frames (pic on floor is same frame as top border edge just isn’t painted black like top one) or a pair of the chunkier plain frames. I really want to use the bamboo but am trying to decide if they’re big enough. If I use the bigger frames I’d probably paint that dark wood toned inset another color. Regardless of frame I’m planning to use a white mat for the photo I put inside. (Total rabbit trail… that framed picture on the floor was by Joni Eareckson Tada. Did anyone else grow up hearing her story and reading her biography like I did? She was paralyzed as a teenager from the neck down after a diving accident but learned how to draw and paint by holding a brush in her teeth. She has lived such an inspiring life! I bought the picture at a thrift store because I knew I’d want the frame some day but it was a neat surprise to find her label on the back. I didn’t even realize until I dug this out to the attic that I already had the exact frame hanging in my bedroom with my kids’ picture in it must have been another thrifted purchase!) If I end up using the bamboo frames I could add a platter over the artwork to fill the space a bit more. Decisions decisions! So there you have it a whole lot is happening but nothing is complete. My goal to be finished by Tuesday so I can style and photograph for Thursdays reveal. I’d say I have my work cut out for me don’t you think? To Do: Make cording for side chairs and host chairs Side Chair Upholstery seats and backs Complete table refinishing with 2 coats of polyurethane Select family photos to frame cut mats and assemble Assemble and install Hudson Valley sconces Freshen up China Cabinet Styling Style the table and photograph! We all want to give a huge thanks for our sponsors can’t wait to show off my installed sconces to you next week! Now head over and check out the progress from these other lovely ladies. I’m sure everyone else is farther along than I am! I’d love for you to join my email list! You’ll receive a notification straight to your inbox any time there’s a new post on Dimples and Tangles. Simply enter your address below. EMAIL Instagram || Facebook || Pinterest || Twitter source www.dimplesandtan…

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You guys. This is truly a Dining Room progress report today I don’t have one thi… http://bit.ly/2Xsb77a

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