#croatia best performance

[warlenys]

croatia spain finland moldova serbia

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Christina Aguilera - Candyman 2007

"Candyman" is a song by American singer Christina Aguilera from her fifth studio album, Back to Basics (2006). "Candyman" is described as a pop and jazz song that imitates swing music whose lyrics are about sex. It received praise for its musical style while some criticized the sexual references. Commercially, the single peaked within the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Romania, as well as the top 20 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK. In the US, it peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling one million copies in the country. "Candyman" is also certified Gold in seven additional countries.

The music video for the song was co-directed by Aguilera and Matthew Rolston, and received an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Direction at the 2007 award ceremony. The single achieved a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2008.

"Candyman" received a total of 79,8% yes votes!

[cutielando]

Heyy, im not sure if you're doing requests or socmed au's,,But if you are... I was wondering if you could do a socmed au with max verstappen in which he's secretly dating a nurse or a med student; where he likes meets her on vacation in croatia where she's studying; she sings in a klapa (a traditional acapella group) and he ends up at one of her performances, and there is like media coverage on how he was seen with an unknown girl,,, they keep their relationship secret until some gossip site gets pics of them together infront of the hospital with her in uniform and they soft launch after that

i know this is like a bit detailed, but i CAN NOT write for the sake of all that is holy

Anyways... Absolutely LOVE your writing❤

loving a nurse | m.v.

synopsis: in which your summer loge blossoms

my masterlist

Instagram

liked by yourbff, yourbrother and 391 others

yourusername a little time away from the hospital🦋

📍Split, Croatia

view all 16 comments

yourbff i forgot what time off felt like😩

yourusername you and me both😭

yourbrother what's with that swimsuit????😯

yourusername i don't know what you mean

yourbrother you make it so hard to be nice to you

yourusername i know, but you love me regardless

friend1 you look so good!!!❤️ hope you enjoy your vacation!!

yourusername thank you babe!!!❤️

friend2 how does it feel to finally breathe outside of the hospital 🥲🥲

yourusername i kinda miss it, to be honest 😂

yourbff don’t listen to her, she’s drowning in mimosas

yourusername don’t out me

liked by landonorris, alex_albon and 483,175 others

maxverstappen1 summer break has never felt so good

📍Split, Croatia

view all 78,174 comments

landonorris i bet you're enjoying it more than we are ;)

maxverstappen1 shut your mouth

landonorris don't hate me for speaking the truth

maxverstappen1 shut up

alex_albon getting some extra sun in there, maxie boy

maxverstappen1 you're a menace💀

alex_albon i’m speaking the truth 👍🏻

redbullracing hope you have a wonderful break, champ!❤️ you deserve it!! liked by maxverstappen1

user1 he looks so good, Jesus😩😩

user2 why are lando and alex teasing him in the comments???😭

user3 they're probably just trying to embarrass him because he never posts topless pics or something lol

user2 or maybe he met someone while in Croatia??

user3 possible, yeah

georgerussell63 I see you've taken a page from my book on that first photo there ;)

maxverstappen1 i have to learn from the very best😂😂

georgerussell63 you’re doing good for your first time

charles_leclerc where did you disappear last night?

maxverstappen1 i didn’t?

charles_leclerc bro, nobody could find you for hours

landonorris he was up to no good, charlie :))

maxverstappen1 i’ll block you

user4 i wanna live his life so badly 😭😭

user5 same🥲imagine being him

user6 he’s glowing ever since he ended it with Kelly

user4 that bitch was milking the life out of him. he seems to be doing well now

liked by formula1wags, racingforever and 12,184 others

formula1gossip Max Verstappen was spotted at a klapa music night last night in Croatia where he's currently on vacation. Moreso, he was spotted having dinner with one of the members of the group. Is there something going on in the World Champion's love life, so far away from home?

view all 724 comments

user1 MAX???

user2 this is the most Max thing he could ever do

user3 kinda wish this was true, he needs someone after the whole Kelly drama

formula1wags detective mode activated

user4 doing God's work, thank you admin

charles_leclerc so that’s where he was

user5 hahahahaha CHARLES

liked by maxverstappen1, yourbff and 415 others

yourusername back to work 🩺

view all 20 comments

maxverstappen1 nobody can pull off wearing scrubs like you do🫶🏻

yourusername staaaaawp

yourusername who gave you permission to be this sweet???😭

yourbff what about me?

maxverstappen1 i only have eyes for Y/N

yourusername atta boy 😊

yourbrother i don’t like all of this flirting in the comments 😒

yourusername okay

yourbrother did you hear what i said??

yourusername no, i read it

yourbrother stop being a smartass

yourusername never 😋😋

charles_leclerc glad to see the mystery girl has a name

maxverstappen1 stay away

charles_leclerc calm down

yourusername baby, be nice

charles_leclerc yes baby, be nice

liked by formula1wags, maxiesbaby and 11,482 others

formula1gossipp Is Max Verstappen off the market? The reigning F1 champion was seen outside the hospital getting cozy with a nurse. We can confirm Max was NOT a patient at the hospital, seemingly only spending a few minutes with her before he departed and she rushed back into the emergency room. Is our World Champion officially a taken man?

view all 572 comments

user1 no way he bagged a nurse😂

user2 even though this is an incredible invasion of his privacy, if this is true then i'm so happy for him🙏🏻

user3 i hope they're together, whoever she is☺️

user4 finally, we're free of kelly

user5 i honestly thought he wouldn’t get away from her 🥲🥲

iMessage

maxie💙

i'm sorry..

y/n🩷

?????

what happened?

maxie💙

there were some paparazzi at the hospital last night, they took some pictures of us and posted them online

they can't see your face

but they definitely know it was me

y/n🩷

babe

it's okay

it was bound to happen eventually

maxie💙

i don't want you to lose your privacy because of me

you need to focus on your studies

not deal with this

y/n🩷

babe

i knew what i was getting myself into when we started dating

i'm almost finished with my studies

nobody is distracting me from anything

don't worry, i'm good

maxie💙

so we can tell the world about us?

y/n🩷

if you want, then yes

maxie💙

i want everyone to know i have the hottest and smartest girl😮‍💨

y/n🩷

you’re making me blush

baby

i miss you so much

i can’t wait to join you 😭

maxie💙

not more than me

i’m counting down the days until i see you 💙

Instagram

liked by yourusername, landonorris and 2,194,573 others

maxverstappen1 yes, the rumors are true. i have a girlfriend, and she is indeed a nurse at the local hospital in Croatia. we decided to keep the relationship to ourselves because i didn't want her privacy taken away from her, or her focus shifted from her studies. i wish we could have had the opportunity of announcing this on our own terms, but the paparazzi got the best of us this time. i urge you all to be respectful towards her, any hate towards her will absolutely not be tolerated by me or anyone from my team. i hope you will come to love and respect her as much as i do

comments on this post have been disabled

comments and re-blogs help us grow!

much appreciated!!

REQUEST HERE

[jokeroutsubs]

[ENG translation] The love status of the members of the most famous Slovenian band.

Joker Out has finally been revealed!

Original article written by Iva Mila Brigljevic for net.hr and published on the 5th of November 2024 on NET.hr website.

English translation by IG marija_rocen, review by @moonlvster and IG mia_djordjevic_ig, proofread by @flowerlotus8 .

FOR NET.HR / The love status of the members of the most famous Slovenian band Joker Out has finally been revealed!

Their Balkan tour will start soon as well.

Slovenian band Joker Out wins the audience over with their infectious indie rock sound and energetic performances. Founded in 2016, the band quickly gained popularity in the Balkans due to their authenticity. They gained European fame after their performance at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, when they represented Slovenia with the song 'Carpe Diem' and got in the finals. In the finals, they finished 21st with 78 points. Despite the fact that they weren't as successful in the finals, they won the hearts of the audience, so 'Carpe Diem' was on numerous music charts throughout Europe, including Croatia.

This month they will perform at Tvornica Kulture in Zagreb for the second time, and on this occasion we spoke with the band's frontman, Bojan Cvjetićanin.

How has your daily life changed after the Eurovision Song Contest?

Well, I think that certainly none of us have travelled as much as we have travelled in the past year and a half. We've been to a lot of new countries and cities, so we've experienced a lot of new cultures. It was interesting to see where these people come from to our concerts. What is their reality? What is their daily life like? What do they watch? What do they see? What do they feel? What do they hear? So, I'd say that the biggest change happened in the transformation from our wardrobes into suitcases.

Where do you perform most often, which performance would you single out as your best?

We've performed the most in Finland, Poland and probably Germany and England, but there are quite a few places where we played a lot. Honestly, it would be hard for me to single out any performance as undisputedly the best. I know there were a couple of performances where we were very surprised by the reaction of the audience. These were, for example, our concert at Belgrade Beer Fest, our concert at Šalata in Zagreb, and our concert at Ruisrock in Finland. Poland also knocked us off our feet, and so on and so forth.

Do fans stop you on the street?

They stop us sometimes. Especially in Slovenia, and it also happens in Finland and the Balkan countries, but it's a very positive thing.

Do you plan to focus only on the Balkan scene or the European scene as well?

The next tour, where we will present our third studio album, starts on the 22nd of November, and it will only be in the Balkans. Our plan and wish was, kind of, to enjoy the tour as much as possible, and that's why we chose this region where we are at home, but next year we will surely return to Europe.

Which performer from the Balkans would you like to collaborate and record a song with?

Given that I'm currently the only one answering, I wouldn't want to answer on behalf of everyone, but I can say for myself that I'd like a song with Zdravko Čolić¹.

¹Zdravko Čolić is a Bosnian-Serbian pop singer and is widely considered one of the greatest vocalists and cultural icons of the former Yugoslavia.

How do you spend your free time?

We spend our free time in different ways, but let's say we do sports. We like reading books. There are some chefs in the band and we love fishing, too.

What's the love status of the band members?

We're absolutely in love with each other and ourselves.

[whencyclopedia]

Messerschmitt Bf 109

The Messerschmitt Bf 109, also known as the Me 109, was Germany's most important single-seater fighter plane throughout the Second World War (1939-45). Produced in greater numbers than any other German plane, the fighter was a match for the RAF's Supermarine Spitfire in the Battle of Britain and was employed on a range of fronts from North Africa to Russia.

Design

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the second monoplane design of Wilhelm ("Willy") Messerschmitt (1898-1978). The "Bf" refers to the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke company, which made the planes and where Messerschmitt was the chief designer. In the mid-1930s, a single-seater fighter project was set up by the German government to find the best possible design for an airplane that would become one of the most important aircraft of the Luftwaffe (the German airforce). Also known as the Me 109, Messerschmitt's design won the contract, beating other established manufacturers like Arado, Focke-Wulf, and Heinkel. The latter company did impress with its Heinkel 112, and so the state ordered ten prototypes of this plane as well as ten of the Me 109.

The prototype Me 109s had British Rolls-Royce engines and the plane impressed at trials in Augsburg in September 1935. The first production models had a Junkers Jumo 210A engine. The German public got its first view of the Me 109 in a procession at the Berlin Olympic Games in the summer of 1936. In the spring of 1937, the first planes were operational. The Jumo engine was upgraded several times, and the aircraft saw their first military action in the Spanish Civil War (1936-9). Willy Messerschmitt took over the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in July 1938 as Germany geared up its armaments manufacturing ready for war. The company was renamed Messerschmitt AG, and by September around 600 of the fighters had been built. Some planes had a superior Daimler-Benz engine fitted early on, and by 1939, this became the standard. By the end of 1939, the Luftwaffe had some 2,000 Me 109s at its disposal. By 1940, over 150 of the fighters were rolling off the production line each month. The plane was continually developed throughout the war in attempts to increase performance, stability, and firepower. In total, some 35,000 Me 109s were built.

A two-seater version of the Me 109, the Bf 109G-12, was used for training purposes. Besides the Luftwaffe, the fighter plane was flown by the air forces of Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, and Hungary, amongst others.

Continue reading...

[growingstories]

The X-factor

Once upon a time in a small village in Croatia, there lived a talented and popular 21-year-old singer named Miho. Known for his handsome looks and captivating voice, he would perform shirtless and impress the crowds, especially the girls of his town. Although he loved going to the gym and taking care of his body, he wasn't very ambitious and hadn't finished university. Miho lived with his strict mother, who insisted on him paying rent.

One day, an opportunity knocked on Miho's door when he was given a chance to audition for the popular TV show, X-Factor. Excited yet nervous, he gave his best performance. While the jury was impressed with his voice, two of them remained unconvinced due to his arrogance. However, Miho was granted the benefit of the doubt and advanced to the next round.

With each passing round, Miho wowed the audiences and eventually reached the finale, where he won the entire competition. As a reward, he embarked on a tour across Croatia for a whole season. The journey was tough, and the contract demanded countless shows without much monetary compensation.

When his contract ended, Miho decided to hire a manager named Vlad, who was experienced in dealing with young and arrogant stars. Vlad dedicated himself to making Miho famous. He orchestrated his appearances on various shows and magazines, ensuring that Miho earned a considerable amount of money. The following year was incredibly busy for Miho, with him being literally everywhere.

As New Year's Eve approached, Vlad approached Miho with a proposal to participate in Eurovision. Although Miho was initially unimpressed, believing it wouldn't be worth the investment, he eventually accepted the offer. Much to his surprise, he won Eurovision, with his performance being adored by the LGBTQ+ community. He was then scheduled to perform in major European cities during their gay pride celebrations.

The attention and fame started to go to Miho's head, making him more vain and arrogant. Working with him became increasingly challenging, prompting Vlad to come up with a plan to humble Miho. He pitched a short Netflix series to him, supposedly about a young soccer player. Intrigued, Miho signed the deals right away, and the press and fans went wild with excitement over his upcoming role as a Netflix star across Europe.

However, when Miho received the script, he was furious and immediately called Vlad. The story revolved around a soccer player who retired and fell into a life of partying, gambling, dealing with the mafia, and ultimately gaining weight. Miho asked Vlad to request changes to the script, particularly removing the part about the character gaining weight. But Vlad refused, stating that Miho had become impossible to work with. He presented Miho with a choice: accept the deal and continue being successful or decline and risk fading into obscurity.

Confused and torn, Miho considered his options. With the Netflix deal, he could potentially stop working within a few years and maintain his fame and wealth. Reluctantly, he chose to accept the deal, much to Vlad's satisfaction.

Miho started indulging in larger portions of his mother's cooking, opting to skip the gym as the compliments about his newfound body became more frequent. He began gaining weight, and soon his little pudgy belly became a recognizable feature in the media. Insecure about his changing appearance, Miho decided to stop performing shirtless.

Surprisingly, his fans loved him even more in his new body, finding him more huggable and relatable. He attracted more attention and found himself with more female admirers, leading to more intimate encounters. Miho's eating continued to escalate, and he even made appearances on cooking shows. The filming of the Netflix series proceeded smoothly, and he quickly achieved his goal weight thanks to his mother's generous portions.

Once the filming was completed, Vlad assigned a trainer and implemented a rigorous workout regime for Miho. However, Miho found it challenging to control his eating habits. The food his mother prepared was simply too delicious. Vlad grew strict and instructed the trainer to focus on bulking up Miho's muscles rather than helping him lose weight. When progress seemed too slow, Miho was given steroids, resulting in increased muscle growth. He relished in his new appearance, and his fans went wild over his transformed look. Unfortunately, the steroids also brought along anger issues.

The Netflix series became a massive success, prompting the announcement of a second season. Miho was hesitant due to the weight gain involved, as he felt unfit. However, the thought of the incredible compensation made him reconsider. He decided to proceed with the second season, much to his own dismay.

Once again, Angela, Miho's co-star in the series, embraced her role as the catalyst for his weight gain. She not only supported his eating habits but also sparked a romantic relationship with him. They moved in together, which made filming more convenient. Angela cooked large Italian dinners and even hand-fed him tiramisu on the sofa after their meals, resulting in Miho rapidly gaining weight. Their love life was remarkable, filled with passion and desire.

When filming is over Vlad orders him to get in shape again. Angela dislikes it as she is very jealous. She does everything she can to not let hem lose weight. She even stops the sex until he eats. Vlad is annoyed, he gives Miho another steroid program. Miho is getting anger issues again but he gets in shape. Cant get thin like he was but bigger muscle, absoute beast.

Netflix offers season 3, Angela really wants it as he would get fat again. Miho dislikes the thought, he was too heavy. Unfit, lazy, slow, out of breath. But again, the money is so much better. He decides to do it. The fat cells immediately fill up again and he reaches his goal weight very fast.

When the third season concluded, Vlad proposed another opportunity for Miho to get dit. A Men's Health cover shoot and a significant sum of money. Angela strongly opposed it, fueling her jealousy. She did everything in her power to prevent Miho from losing weight, even withholding sex until he ate more. Vlad grew frustrated, but Miho ultimately agreed to the offer. He returned to taking steroids, despite his own misery, and posed as a muscular beast for the photoshoot.

Angela moved out, she couldn't handle the anger issues from the steroids and she really wanted Miho fat.

Although Miho received immense praise, he yearned for Angela's presence. As soon as the shoot was over, he abandoned the steroids and workout routine, pleading for Angela to come back. She returned bearing food, and within weeks, Miho regained his weight, surpassing his previous size. He aimed to keep Angela happy, believing that a happy wife meant a happy life

[janeofcakes]

One Night in Palermo: Chapter 1

Hi, Everyone! I haven't done this in ages and I hope you'll all jump on board again for another story. It's 18 months after Sherlock jumped from Bart's and he's busily taking down Moriarty's web. He's also pining and worried for John, who thinks he's dead. Sherlock's trying to make his way to the Moran, the web's center, when another assassin comes on the scene. Find out what happens!

----------

One year to the day Sherlock leapt off Bart’s, his best friend watching in horror, found him creeping into a dank warehouse in the middle of Belgrade, Serbia. The dead detective had been all over the country in the last year, as well as those sharing its borders. Hungary and Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro; all extensively traveled in the name of destroying Moriarty’s web of terrorists and murderers. He had just come through Kosovo from an assignment in Albania and tomorrow would take him to yet another location.

James Morairty may have died on the roof of Bart’s one year ago, but his criminal organization remained intact and Sherlock could not rest until Greg Lestrade, John Watson, and the beloved Martha Hudson were safe. Then maybe he could return to his old life of London and 221B and cases and John. Sherlock missed John most of all and had not been dead long before realizing the true extent of his feelings for his flatmate. Every moment not chasing down Moriarty’s criminals was spent wondering about John and what he was doing, or how he was doing. Worse yet, he dreamt of his flatmate as well, and they were becoming increasingly explicit in nature.

Sherlock gave a slight shake of his head to clear it. This was certainly not the time to go down that route of thinking. Mycroft’s intelligence indicated ten men in this building, making Sherlock’s full attention to the matter at hand imperative. The year’s assignments marked the longest period of time the detective had ever worked with his brother and there was at least another year to go before it would end. Remarkably, it had not been utterly intolerable as Sherlock had expected. Mycroft understood how Sherlock’s mind worked and gave him only the relevant information for each assignment. They met over virtual calls on a secured platform after each assignment was finished to discuss the next. Sherlock had needed serious medical attention on only two occasions and was immediately taken to a secret facility possessing everything required to address his injuries. The same short, blonde doctor cared for him each time, no doubt hand-selected by Mycroft to ensure Sherlock’s cooperation. The elder Holmes even made an appearance in both situations to make sure his baby brother was all right. He did not make himself tiresome either, much to Sherlock’s surprise, despite spending quite a lot of time by the detective’s side the second time around.

Sherlock had been caught during his last visit to Serbia. His captors quickly determined the usefulness of keeping him alive, but had no compunction with torturing him for the six weeks before his rescue. Mycroft even deigned to perform the extraction himself, he and his team infiltrating the base and killing every man in the bunker before carrying Sherlock out. It was at least a week before the detective could hold his eyes open for more than a few blurry moments at a time. When his senses and powers of deduction had returned, Sherlock was certain Mycroft had not left his side once. Oddly, the two brothers had grown closer as they worked together, but neither spoke of nor acknowledged it. 

Having found no one in the warehouse thus far, Sherlock proceeded down a long hallway that led to a large meeting room. Intelligence supplied by Mycroft’s spies had shown it was where the ten men spent most of their time. A door at the left side of the room opened into an office used by a man named Markovič, the indisputable leader of this terrorist cell. He had worked closely with Moriarty on more than one occasion and murdered countless people around the world.

Two other doors entered the meeting room; one that opened to a hallway of small rooms wherein the men slept and the one Sherlock was steadily approaching. The ideal situation for Sherlock was finding all ten men in the meeting room. Slightly less ideal, was Markovič in his office and the other men in the meeting room. Some of them having a kip in their individual rooms was the least ideal, but this time of night typically saw them all together planning the events of the following day. Regardless, Sherlock was prepared for any eventuality, or so he thought.

Sherlock slowed his step as he approached the room’s half-open door, rendering his footfalls completely silent. While each of the ten men was a very skilled killer, all were also dim-witted. Even Markovič, though intelligent, was no more than slightly above average. Sherlock knew his appearance would be surprising, but once the first few shots were fired, he would have to act quickly to avoid retaliation. A scant few feet from the door, Sherlock angled his body for the best view of its occupants and what he saw boggled his mind.

Eight men lay sprawled on the floor, face down on the table, or slumped back in chairs. All of them were covered with blood still oozing from pin-point bullet holes in chests, throats, or heads. None of these men had a chance to do more than consider reaching for their own weapons before they dropped. Sherlock analyzed the scene and deduced the events as they had happened while he moved through the room to Markovič’s office.

The door was also ajar. Sherlock pushed it open slowly, already knowing what he would find. Markovič was sat at his desk, leaning back unnaturally in the chair. His eyes were wide open and unseeing as they stared blankly at the ceiling. A hole was perfectly placed in his forehead, creating an isosceles triangle with his eyes. Blood stained his face where it ran down his nose and cheeks, over his throat to soak his shirt. Significant spatter and gray matter decorated the wall behind him in a sickly red glow.

Without delay, Sherlock went to the third door in the meeting room to check bedrooms for the final missing man. Finding him was not difficult. The first door in the hall was the only one open, so Sherlock let himself in cautiously. He found the man on the floor in a pool of blood, bedsheets twisted around one leg, and a pistol held loosely in one hand. He had obviously been only halfway out of bed when the door was kicked open and fired one shot quickly, the evidence of which marred the door frame next to Sherlock’s left shoulder. The intruder had not done more than twitch his head slightly to the side before expertly placing a bullet in the man’s forehead and watching him drop.

*****

Hours later, Sherlock sat at a desk in a safe house across the border in Hungary. He had changed into jeans and a plain t-shirt in dark green. His eyes were fixed on the screen of a laptop as he waited for his brother to accept the call. When the connection was made, it was Anthea’s face that appeared instead of Mycroft’s.

“Sherlock,” she greeted him. She looked tired. Perhaps the last year had weighed heavily on her shoulders as well. “He wasn’t expecting you for another hour.”

“Nor was I,” Sherlock replied dryly. “The assignment did not go as anticipated.”

“But you’re alright? It’s done?” Anthea asked with a touch of concern in her voice. The two of them had become far better acquainted over the course of Sherlock’s assignments and now had a certain rapport.

“Unconditionally,” Sherlock answered and watched as the subtle creases at the corners of her eyes smoothed away, only for them to return when he asked, “how is John?”

Anthea opened her mouth to reply, but Mycroft entered the room before she said a word. He moved to the screen swiftly and sat, studying Sherlock’s face. He was wearing his usual three-piece suit minus the jacket, and his sleeves were rolled up. A haggard expression dominated his features, but a sense of overall relief washed over them at seeing Sherlock in one piece. Mycroft let the indifference that hid whatever modicum of emotion he had slide into place and sat ramrod straight, his typical persona fully recovered.

“You were able to complete the mission,” Mycroft said with only the hint of a question in his tone.

“In a matter of speaking, yes,” Sherlock replied vaguely.

Mycroft cocked an elegant brow and leaned in.

“What do you mean?” He asked with keen interest.

“I found the bodies of all ten men upon entering the warehouse,” Sherlock said simply.

“An opposing faction?” Mycroft speculated, sounding unconvinced.

“No,” Sherlock said flatly, “it was precise and clean. None of the torture and delay seen between these enemies. A single man walked in quietly, just as I did, and murdered them all with one shot each.

“He killed all eight men as he moved through the room, three before they could rise from the table. Markovič was in his office and posed no challenge to dispatch. The last was in a bedroom.”

Mycroft had narrowed his eyes while Sherlock spoke, considering each word carefully. When the detective finished, his brother raised his gaze to regard him in silent contemplation.

“The work of an assassin where there should only be one,” Mycroft muttered.

“Indeed,” Sherlock agreed, “and it had occurred within the hour.”

Mycroft caught Sherlock’s eye and considered him carefully. 

“Sherlock,” his tone took on a condescending characteristic that always made the younger roll his eyes, “while the situation is unusual, it is not out of the realm of possibility.”

“Oh, please,” Sherlock began, but Mycroft cut him off quickly.

“You have a mission that cannot be delayed by a… mystery, no matter how intriguing,” Mycroft said snidely. “Need I remind you of its particular importance to you, brother mine?”

Sherlock closed his mouth with a snap and pressed his lips into a thin line. Closer though they may be, Sherlock hated his brother for consistently adopting this air of superiority at a perceived weakness.

“Fine,” Sherlock spat, “but you will find out who it was. If I’m known to this assassin, I want to know his every movement. I will not tolerate interference.”

“Of course, Sherlock,” Mycroft assured him smugly. “I will use every resource at my disposal.”

****

As confident as Mycroft had been, his channels found out nothing about the assassin in the coming weeks. No one was able to determine where the man came from or where he got his information. One thing became abundantly clear, however. He also seemed to be dismantling Moriarty’s criminal organization one piece at a time. 

Sherlock completed two assignments over three weeks before encountering the assassin again. The circumstances were much the same as the first time. The target called Romania home and spent most of his time terrorizing every community within a fifty mile radius. He had assisted Moriarty several times over the last decade and had often welcomed the man into his home. If James Moriarty ever had anything even vaguely approaching a friend in his adult life, it would be this man.

Sherlock watched silently from the shadows as his target entered a small room and closed the door, leaving his guard outside in the dimly lit hall. They were inside a massage parlor not far from the man’s home. He spent four nights a week in this place, making rather dubious visits to a certain masseuse. Fortunately for Sherlock, the man’s guard made similar visits to the owner of the shop. 

A quiet whistle echoed through the hall twenty minutes after Sherlock’s target entered the masseuse’s room. He watched as the guard looked right, then left, and then disappeared down the hall. Sherlock waited another five minutes to be sure the guard would not return before moving silently toward the door his target had entered. He stood next to it for a moment, his back to the wall, already knowing it was unlocked. He had spent the last seven days watching his target and tracking his movements. Sherlock knew every habit and routine in the man’s life, right down to leaving the door unlocked while he got a massage and a blow job so he could exit quickly if one of his enemies interrupted. 

All Sherlock needed to do was open the door and pull the trigger. He had become quite a good markman over the last year and his gun was equipped with a silencer. He wouldn’t miss and no one would hear a thing. The only thing that made him hesitate was the masseuse. He had not yet decided what to do about her. He could kill her along with the target to prevent anyone being alerted by her screams, which were certain to follow her lover’s untimely demise. He could find some quick way to render her unconscious while she and the target were distracted. He could simply shoot his target and run, risking a successful escape. Sherlock was likely to be tortured if caught, a situation he could not afford. He scowled, the words ‘a bit not good’ echoing through his mind. The only option was knocking out the masseuse and hoping no one noticed him before he did it.

Sherlock looked up and down the hall, just as the guard had, and then moved to face the door. He twisted the knob silently with his left hand and pushed it open. The scene before him was nothing like he expected. Instead of finding the two of them fucking on the massage table, the woman was lying on the floor, unconscious and fully clothed. The target was clearly dead on the table, a bullet hole in his temple. Spatter decorated the wall next to the table and Sherlock could hear the quiet drip of blood as it fell from the headrest to the floor. Curious, he entered the room and squatted cautiously next to the woman. He might have risked touching her to find a pulse, but could see it clearly enough on her neck. The assassin had left her alive.

Sherlock’s gaze darted around the room until it came to rest on a small window near the top of the back wall, the only outside wall in the room. It opened on a hinge, a glass pane that lifted up and it was ajar. Several telltale scuffs left by opening and closing it marred the bottom of the pane. The assassin’s entrance and exit point.

Sherlock narrowed his eyes and stood. The guard would not return for another ten minutes, but the detective could not afford to be seen by anyone. He walked swiftly out the door and closed it behind him, looking up and down the hall again. Seeing no one, but hearing faint footsteps, he crept into the shadows to wait. Sherlock heard a faraway door open and the footsteps fade away slowly. After a few minutes of silence, he left the building and made his way to the next safe house.

A few hours later and a good two hundred miles away from the massage parlor, Sherlock stood in front of a laptop set in the small bedroom of a cozy flat. He had just relayed an account of the evening’s events to his elder brother and moved on to deductions made about the assassin. Mycroft’s less-than-enthusiastic response was quickly grating on Sherlock’s nerves.

“He has a conscience,” Sherlock argued vehemently. “He could have simply killed the woman, but chose not to.”

His brother’s unimpressed face looked back at him from the laptop screen, thoroughly unconvinced. Sherlock wished, just for a moment, that they were in the same room so he could grab Mycroft’s lapels and shake him.

“Very informative, brother mine, but I fail to see how it will help to find this mysterious assassin,” Mycroft intoned dismissively, glancing at his perfectly manicured nails.

“Finding him, no, but it goes a long way in determining what kind of man he is,” Sherlock sneered. “He is not a heartless killer and that tells us quite a bit.”

“Oh, very well,” Mycroft conceded impatiently. “He may not immediately put a bullet in your head should you meet, but will introduce himself first.”

Sherlock sighed loudly and rolled his eyes.

“I will take care of him,” Mycroft continued sternly and it rankled Sherlock. The tone was the same used to scold him as a child. “You concentrate on your assignments and put an end to this dreadful business so you can return to your precious doctor.”

“How is John?” Sherlock found himself saying. It wasn’t what he meant to say, but Mycroft’s words squeezed his chest so completely that saying anything else would have stopped his heart entirely. He hadn’t even been thinking about John and was blindsided by the rush of sentiment, though he tried to keep that hidden. Mycroft, for his part, looked very disconcerted at the slip. His frustration had gotten the better of him, something that happened far more often than he would like to admit since he and Sherlock began “this dreadful business”.

“Sherlock,” he said with a long suffering sigh.

“Don’t patronize me, Mycroft,” Sherlock snapped. “Just tell me what I want to know.”

“He is…unaltered,” Mycroft replied carefully.

“Unaltered?” Sherlock repeated through clenched teeth.

“I said unwell the last time you asked,” Mycroft straightened his spine and looked down his nose at his brother. “You have not returned to Baker Street. Do you imagine he is any different?”

Sherlock glared at his brother, blood boiling, but said nothing. He didn’t trust himself to speak. He knew his brother wanted to infuriate him. It was a distraction. Mycroft did not want to answer questions about John. It was nothing unusual, but affected Sherlock differently this time. Sherlock suddenly felt exhausted and homesick. Every bit of energy left his body. He was sick for John and if his brother didn’t want to talk about John, Sherlock had no desire to pry. He was not prepared to hear that the doctor had teetered ever closer to a crumbling precipice that might give way at any time. 

“Fuck off, Mycroft,” Sherlock snarled. He shut the laptop forcefully just as his brother closed his eyes in disdain at the vulgar choice of words.

Sherlock paced furiously. He was restless and frustrated and frightened out of his mind. Dozens of storylines played out in his mind as he took each step. The most disturbing thought ended with John’s broken body on the pavement at Bart’s, the same place they had both been just over a year ago, and it made Sherlock’s heart stutter in his chest. He gasped at the pain and stumbled into the loo to be sick. He splashed water on his face once he could stand again without retching and tried to calm himself, but his chest only felt tighter. He buried his head in his hands and prayed to whatever deity would listen that John Watson be alright.

When Sherlock raised his head again, his movements were stilted and his face remote. He cleaned his teeth and changed into pajamas mechanically, getting into bed and turning out the lights. Staring into the darkness, he parted his lips and breathed slowly. If he didn’t let his thoughts out of his mind, didn’t give them life, his brain and heart would surely burst from his body.

“Wait for me, John,” he whispered into the darkness. “Please.” 

****

The next time Sherlock ran into the assassin, the circumstances were quite different. It was three assignments from the last and in Montenegro. The target had not been difficult to finish, but her brother had spotted Sherlock as he made his escape and set off after him. They ran through the compound, ducking this way and that. Every corner the detective turned should have put more distance between the two, but the man behind only grew closer. Sherlock was getting tired and he knew it. On impulse, he ducked into a stairwell and barely tripped as he flew down the steps. He quickly pushed open the heavy wooden door he found there and hurried into an open courtyard full of towering shrubs and fountains. The moon shone brightly, dazzling stars surrounding it, lighting a path of escape. Unfortunately, the man following Sherlock was too close not to make a move for him.

The man dove for the detective and caught him around the waist with his arms. They went down hard, but Sherlock rolled swiftly and struck out at his attacker. They exchanged a few blows before strong hands wrapped around the detective’s throat. Without hesitation, he slid his own arms in-between his attacker’s and wrenched them outward. The other man’s elbows bent, giving Sherlock the leverage to pull his hands away and ram their foreheads together.

At first, only the other man was dazed, so Sherlock shoved him to the side and hopped to his feet. However, the after-effects caught up with him after one or two steps. Suddenly, his head swam and his sense of balance failed completely. Tumbling to his knees, Sherlock tried desperately not to fall any further. He gasped for breath and felt incredibly hot, but resisted the urge to tear the mask from his face. He preferred assignments that did not require a mask, ones where he could maintain a safe distance from targets and their associates. On this particular occasion, his passage through the compound could find him face to face with anyone and he could not be recognized.

Sherlock took a few deep breaths until his vision began to clear. Getting to his feet, he glanced around to check that his attacker had not similarly recovered. He saw nothing as rough hands grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind his back. A cold knife blade touched his throat before he could make any move to free himself. He was trapped. His mind raced, analyzing his options and discarding them; all the while, the blade pressed into his throat, breaking the skin ever so slightly. He nearly jolted at the sound of hoarse laughter in his ear.

“You thought you would get away?” The man holding Sherlock steady chuckled loudly. He pulled the blade more tightly and the detective winced. “You killed my sister, you son of a bitch.”

A gasp filled Sherlock’s lungs, but not for fear of his life as his attacker assumed. It was what he saw in the dark window in one of the tall buildings that lined the courtyard. A sight Sherlock never would have seen, if not for a glint of metal in the moonlight. As soon as he saw that flash of light, his eyes made out the figure of a man with a gun. Standing in the tall window was the assassin, covered in black from head to toe. His face and hair were covered with the usual balaclava. Any other details were lost to the darkness of his clothes and surroundings. His gun was aimed and ready, if the location of the reflection Sherlock had seen was anything to go by.

Sherlock stood very still, not even listening to the rants and threats from the man holding a knife to his throat. One way or another, Sherlock was going to die tonight. If the idiot behind him didn’t do it soon, he would be robbed of the pleasure by the assassin, who would certainly shoot them both. Sherlock could get away from only one of them, not both. He kept his eyes on the assassin as time ticked by and wondered why he hadn’t pulled the trigger twice already. The man couldn’t be weighing his options. It was simple: Aim and fire.

Just as Sherlock thought the word “fire”, a bright flash of light appeared from the assassin’s weapon and Sherlock felt a whoosh of air on his cheek. He expected pain or instant oblivion and got neither. The air around him was suddenly quiet and his mind registered his attacker’s hands going lax. The knife tumbled to the brick floor as the man leaned heavily against the detective’s back. Going down slowly, Sherlock maneuvered the man onto his back and looked at his face. There, between his unseeing eyes, was a perfectly placed bullet hole.

Sherlock’s head shot up to the window to see the assassin, but the man was gone. The pane held nothing but darkness. Without a second thought, the detective gathered himself and stood. It wouldn’t be long before his target’s body was discovered and the compound filled with people who would be happy to kill him. He crept through the courtyard and silently made his way out, encountering no one as he went.

Hours later, ensconced in one of Mycroft’s safe houses, Sherlock booted up the waiting laptop and entered his credentials. His mind was awash with deductions and questions and theories. If nothing else, the evening confirmed the standing deduction that the assassin had a strong moral compass. Quite a bit of additional data had been revealed as well, but Sherlock had not yet sorted through it. He needed to spend some time in his mind palace, arranging the pieces.

The laptop screen caught his eye when his brother’s face came into view. Sherlock had hoped to speak with Anthea first, but had no such luck. He leaned forward and placed his hands on either side of the keyboard, a posture he often adopted when speaking to his brother.

“The assassin was there,” Sherlock stated without preamble. “I beat him to the mark, but he was there.”

“And you know this because?” Mycroft asked with an arched brow.

“I had a knife to my throat and he shot the man holding it,” Sherlock replied without hesitation.

Mycroft’s eyes widened and he leaned in closer to his own laptop.

“He saw you?” He probed with an edge to his voice.

“Not as such. I was wearing a mask. My whole head was covered,” Sherlock answered evenly. “There was nothing to give me away. I was merely a man in distress.”

He could see his brother relax a fraction and then noticed that his eyes were locked on the small bandage Sherlock had fitted to his own neck. The detective furrowed his brow and shook his head dismissively.

“It’s fine,” he told Mycroft in a dull tone. “Superficial. I’ll be able to go without the bandage in the morning.”

“Good,” Mycroft approved, looking more at ease. “That is to say, I am glad you are safe. I must admit, however, I am somewhat troubled by the assassin’s actions. Surely killing you both would have been more to his advantage.”

“Precisely,” Sherlock replied with satisfaction. “It would’ve been easier as well; hitting my attacker with pinpoint accuracy to ensure his demise before he cut my throat requires much more skill than shooting us both. It proves my point.”

“That the assassin has a conscience,” Mycroft supplied in a long-suffering tone. He sighed. “Sherlock, you are a romantic.”

“I most certainly am not!” Sherlock objected, his good mood quashed in the blink of an eye. “I have merely analyzed the data and reached the logical conclusion, as I have in countless other situations.”

He glared at his brother, who returned the look with a smug smile on his face. Sherlock didn’t feel the need to continue the conversation because his pig-headed brother would not relent. He never had before and would not start now. Growing weary of him, Sherlock rolled his eyes.

“Tell me about the next assignment,” he demanded, wanting nothing more than to move the call along so he could retreat to his mind palace.

“Yes, of course. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” Mycroft smirked and began debriefing Sherlock on the next target, The detective both listened and imagined how best to have revenge upon his return to London.

****

The following assignment was easily completed in as much as it was finished before Sherlock even arrived. Four days after Montenegro, the detective stealthily entered a caravan dealership that was closed for the day. His target and a small band of men in his employ had taken refuge there, believing no one would find them. After entering the dealership, Sherlock followed music lilting through the air until he reached an extra-long caravan, knowing what he would find before reaching it. While the music played loudly, the absence of all other noise led him to one inevitable conclusion: The assassin had been faster this time.

Five of the six men Sherlock expected lay dead in the caravan’s central room. It occupied more or less the entire vehicle, housing a kitchenette along one side, a narrow couch and table on the other. Two seats and the steering column filled the front of the room, windscreen before them. A small loo cut into the back of the room with closets opposite. In between the two was a narrow hallway that led to a bedroom. Judging by the positions of the men and the angles of the bullets that killed them, the assassin had come from the hallway. He must have climbed in a bedroom window and used the element of surprise.

Sherlock moved cautiously into the bedroom, expecting to find the body of the sixth man, but the room was empty. It was also a mess. A lengthy struggle had clearly taken place in the cramped room and Sherlock could read it all in the broken and overturned furniture. The upper hand had shifted a few times throughout the fight. A stray shot was fired once, twice, and then Sherlock’s eyes came to rest on a piece of bloody glass lying on the floor near a cabinet on the far side of the room. He went to it in three long strides. It was part of a broken mirror that had been affixed to the wall above a waist-height cabinet. One of the two men had grabbed hold of it and stabbed the other, but which was which? Sherlock’s eyes tracked their movements through drips and smears of blood. The injured man eventually broke free and tumbled out the room’s only open window. The other man must have followed because the caravan door would have been left open had he used it.

Gun still at the ready, Sherlock hurried out the door and around to the back of the caravan. He walked silently along the trail of blood and shoe prints. More and more of the sticky, red substance stained the concrete as he went. There wasn’t enough to indicate that the injured man was bleeding out, but was still a troubling amount. Sherlock quickened his pace, anxious to learn which man was injured. He found himself hoping it was not the assassin. It made little sense, but he felt some odd camaraderie with the man. They did seem to have the same goal and were inextricably linked by it.

Sherlock wove his way through the parking lot, around one caravan and another, until he turned a corner and stopped dead. Twenty feet ahead of him, next to a chain link fence, was the body of a man. He was on his back and was obviously dead. Sherlock’s throat went dry and he quickened his pace. He and the assassin had narrowly missed one another for almost three months. They didn’t know the other’s identity and hadn’t even been in the same room together, but had come to expect one another. At least, Sherlock had. He supposed the same might not be true of the assassin, but he liked to think it was, especially after Montenegro. The man had blatantly made the decision not only to save, but also spare Sherlock’s life and the resulting sentiment had softened his heart toward the man. The detective would have considered these feelings a weakness in the past. Now, he saw it in a completely different light. The assassin gave him something familiar to look for, to count on. He couldn’t have John or home, but could at least have something, though it paled in comparison. 

Sherlock was jogging by the time he reached the dead man. He couldn’t see his head properly until he stood right next to him. Once he did, Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief. The man before him was not wearing a mask of any kind, nor was there one near the body. Instead, he matched the description of one of the six men Sherlock was sent to kill. The assassin had escaped. 

Relief quickly turned to trepidation, however, as he got a better look at the dead man. He had no stab wounds on his body and looked to have been killed by blunt-force trauma. Sherlock’s eyes darted around the scene, picking out a heavy metal bar and more blood. He followed a trail of it with his eyes for a short distance. It led to, and passed through, an old opening in the chain link fence. Something had weakened the links and broken through long ago. The assassin must have used it to sneak inside or he would not have known to use it as an escape. Sherlock looked as far beyond the fence as he could see, but saw no body and no large pools of blood. It seemed the assassin had escaped, indeed. But how far had he gotten and how badly was he injured?

When he recounted the night’s events later for Mycroft, Sherlock left out the possible extent of the assassin’s injuries and hid his concern for the man. He knew precious little about the man. It made no sense for Sherlock to feel at all connected to him and yet, here he was. He couldn’t stop himself from viewing the connection as a separate but united force against what was left of Moriarty. As such, not knowing the assassin’s fate unsettled Sherlock in a way he couldn’t explain and he hoped their paths would cross again soon.

****

The next assignment was long and tedious. Sherlock spent nearly three weeks just garnering enough trust through various acts of theft and bullying as assigned by the target’s second in command to even be told the target’s location. He then spent another six days planning out how to neutralize successfully. His frustration grew day by day at having to waste an entire month on this one target, lengthening his time away from John. John, who he knew was struggling. His last few conversations with Anthea were vague at best, but informative enough to know that John’s grief had renewed. 

The knowledge slowed Sherlock’s progress with the assignment and he knew it. He couldn’t bring himself to care. He would rather know at least something about John and be distracted than know nothing at all. He dreamt of his friend every night again; comforting him and assuring John he would be home again. He awoke each morning with renewed vigor at having spent the time with John, even if only in his mind. Part of him hoped dreams did the same for John, but they more likely only discouraged him. Sherlock had the advantage of knowing they would meet again, whereas he was dead in John’s world. Sherlock tried to ignore the regret and guilt that ate at him for it.

Motivated by the desire to end his exile and return home to John, Sherlock lost his patience and brought the assignment to an abrupt end. While in the target’s bunker for a debriefing, Sherlock broke into his office and waited. Nearly two hours later, the man and his second opened the door. Sherlock greeted them politely with one bullet each and left as fast as he could. 

His work done, after the agonizingly long month, Sherlock wanted nothing more than to move on to the next assignment. He grimaced as he logged onto the secure server he and Mycroft used to communicate, knowing his brother would berate him for his slowness. Maybe Sherlock would get lucky and Anthea would debrief him. He hoped as he pushed enter and waited, then sighed when Mycroft’s smug face came into view.

“Mycroft,” Sherlock murmured in greeting, saying nothing else. Mycroft more than made up for it.

“Good evening, Sherlock. I am glad to see you have finally finished your assignment. I was beginning to think that your target had persuaded you to stay on,” Mycroft’s snide words pushed Sherlock over the edge. The last thread tethering his frustration over the assignment snapped and he nearly swept the laptop off the table.

“Fuck off, Mycroft!” Sherlock shouted. “You know this is not how I wanted it to go. Just tell me about the next assignment and go back to your cake. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your greatest pleasure.”

“Sherlock, has it really come to this?” Mycroft began with an epic eye roll.

“You started it!” Sherlock interrupted. “Just tell me what I want to know.”

“In due time, brother mine,” Mycroft dismissed Sherlock’s anger out of course, “I have come into some information about your mythical assassin.”

“Oh, yes, perfect. Just what I want to know,” Sherlock snarked back, crossing his arms. “Tell me, Mycroft, how many assignments has he completed while I’ve been stuck on just one?”

“On the contrary,” Mycroft said blandly. “It seems both of you have succeeded in doing nothing. I have no indication he has made any movements during the last forty-two days.”

It was then that Sherlock remembered the trail of blood he had followed so long ago and the strange sense of loneliness he had felt. He had mentioned neither to Mycroft after that assignment.

“He was injured,” Sherlock stated almost without thinking, “in that caravan dealership in Skopje. I followed a trail of blood. He must need time to recover.”

“You failed to mention that in the debriefing,” Mycroft answered, his tone rife with skepticism.

“It was not relevant,” Sherlock replied haughtily.

“Wasn’t it?” Mycroft speculated. “Hm. I wonder.”

“Is there a point to this, Mycroft?” Sherlock snapped, growing tired of the conversation. His brother had a certain knack for analyzing his motives at the most inconvenient times.

“Could it have been a more serious injury, brother mine?” Mycroft continued calmly, unfazed by his baby brother’s outburst. “We have no evidence of him at all in the time between today and that night. Could he have been neutralized?”

“Neutral- he’s not our enemy, Mycroft,” Sherlock countered. “He saved my life.”

“Because doing so suited his purpose,” Mycroft supplied, condescension slipping into his tone. “You are very obviously on a path similar to his own. Why would he want that assistance to end?”

Mycroft was right. It was only logical for the assassin to keep Sherlock alive so the man didn’t have to hit every target himself. The detective had allowed sentiment to color his views of the assassin and if Mycroft didn’t know before, he certainly did now. Damn him.

“No,” Sherlock gave a slight shake of his head after a moment of thought, “there wasn’t enough blood for the injury to have been life-threatening. He will appear again. Just give him time.”

Mycroft pressed his lips into a thin line and took a deep breath through his nose. He had more to say, but obviously debated on whether to do it now or save it. Sherlock knew Mycroft had chosen not to wait the moment his lips parted.

“You will have to deal with him one day,” Mycroft said carefully. “The time will come when you are no longer useful to him.”

Sherlock fought not to roll his eyes. As if he hadn’t considered that particular inevitability already.

“I will handle that when the time comes, not before,” Sherlock said flatly.

****

As if on cue, Sherlock found his next target in a private train compartment with a bullet in his head. They were on a train in Hungary. The man’s two most trusted associates were at his side, also shot dead. The assassin was back. 

The corner of Sherlock’s mouth curled as he stood in the compartment’s doorway. He gave a subtle salute to the scene, closed the door, and casually walked back to his own compartment. As he went, he was filled with a sense of satisfaction and hope. With his own efforts coupled with those of the assassin, his timetable would change for the better and he could return home to John earlier than expected. Mycroft may have been right about an eventual confrontation between Sherlock and the assassin, but until then they would each enjoy the other’s usefulness without question.

****

Another handful of assignments came and went, Sherlock and the assassin working in tandem, but never encountering one another. Shortly after leaving another scene in which the assassin beat him to the mark, Sherlock calculated their joint progress once again and found that their current rate would see him back in London a full four months early. He was delighted.

A particularly successful month for both of them resulted in another revision of the time required. They had shaved off a few more weeks, much to Sherlock’s satisfaction. That was how, at eighteen months post-Fall, Sherlock found himself in Palermo, Sicily with only two targets remaining before he could return home to London and his life.

------

I know it was a long one, but I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for reading and for all your support! I've missed you all so much! Tune in next week for chapter 2 and remember, keep your stick on the ice. We're all in this together.

Love, Jane

[gshina]

When I think about the difference between Finland and Sweden in Eurovision, it has always been clearly different for me.

Sweden knows how to be that factory-like perfect machine that creates songs. I myself have never liked Swedish representatives that much, I disliked Måns Zelmerlöw’s as well both Loreen’s songs with the simply reason - its boring. In the last decade I can name only two Swedish songs that I have liked which are Frans’s If I Were Sorry (2016) and Benjamin Ingrosso’s Dance You Off (2018). I've been of the opinion for a long time that swedish songs are the same, it’s the same perfectly sound pop machine song what you can hear every day on radio. it's like playing the same old record over and over and always the jury eat the same old smelly cheese and it's not fair. The problem with that is that it encourages countries to send in non-offensive pop music in order to appeal to the professional jury, most of which will be very mediocre and boring to watch. If the people didn't get a vote, we wouldn't see entries like Finland or Croatia. Those kinds of performances are what people watch Eurovision for! Nobody (should not) wants to see a non-offensive pop music contest. We want originality! We want fun! Eurovision is about the fun, this is not The Voice or Idols.

When I think about Finland, the success has been variable, but what I'm proud of is how at least Finland doesn't send the same old garbage every year. We have taken risks, risks which certainly not every one of them has been my favorite but I think that daring to take risks is one of the most appreciated quality what you can have. The last night Finland had one of the most unique songs ever and now I am not afraid to say how I feel I have been cheated. And before anyone has time to comment that "Finns are just bitter when Sweden took the victory in front of their noses" this is about much bigger than national cheating.

Käärijä's popularity among the international Eurovision nations has been extraordinary. During the five-day week polls, comment fields and reaction videos were filled with green emojis, Finnish flags and Cha Cha Cha shouts. The reactions of the live audience at the finals were also incredible. During Käärijä's performance, the large audience wildly sang along. The greatest moment, however, was when the impatient audience got tired of Sweden's growing neck in the town hall votes and burst into shouts of protest.

Three minutes later, in the midst of all this ecstasy, the rug was pulled from under our feet. The situation was simply awkward that all felt wrong in every blood cell of me. This can't go like this. The public had made Käärijä a phenomenon. The audience cheered Käärijä in a way that has not been seen before in the history of Eurovision but the professional jury made all of that look like nothing.

There are five music professionals in the jury of each country. So 185 councilors have been given the same power as hundreds of millions of viewers at home. council whose task was originally to prevent favoritism from neighbors? Nevertheless, year after year, it is precisely the "professional jury" who, by chance consider their own border neighbors and language partners the best of all. How is this fair?

The audience was just entertained by Käärijä. So much so that viewers wanted to use their own money to show their support for their favourite. Who is the show even made for if the audience doesn't get to choose their winner?

My not-so-unpopular opinion is that jury votes must be abandoned or at least reduced in weight. The Finnish Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu has already taken a great step in this regard, when in the finals of the competition, the public votes had a weight of 75 percent and the international juries only 25 percent. By renewing the voting system, the power would be given to those for whom the program is made to those who listen to Eurovision songs.

Today, Sunday, Finnish flags fly in Finland, of course, in honor of Mother's Day. But in my heart, the blue cross flags have been hoisted equally for Finland's victory.

Because that's who we are. Real winners.

In bitter disappointment I'm hovering right now and I'll be hovering for a very long time my mind also brushes with thoughts like how I would like to deny yesterday's results, abolish the jury vote praying so hard something shady happened with the jury votes and the result will be declared invalid oh and a bit also ban Sweden too, but especially the juries.

unfortunately I have to bring it up as well how we all know that Eurovision voting is also a bit shady..? It's Abba's anniversary next year? Doesn't seem suspicious at all. To win twice and bring back the trophy on an important year? yeah it does seem fishy. A lesser known artist catapulted into stardom? Loreen been internationally known for years. A country getting a chance to host after never/rarely doing so before? Sweden’s had it 6 times already. An underdog taking the crown by being an audience pleaser? She was the bookies’ favourite from the start. Eurovision being one of the biggest, most exciting things they’ve ever done? She’s done it all before.

None of these things are personally Loreen’s fault, and I actually feel bad for her that this win will be remembered as one that the public clearly wanted to give to someone else and being hated by so many people now and most won't even remember that she won. But it does all feel extra slimy and calculated on Sweden’s part, especially given the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s Waterloo just happening to be next year. It all feels very hollow and it will become pointless to argue.

I think that at this point it has become clear to everyone that I am from Finland myself yes and I really love my home country. My intention is not to bash Loreen this was not her fault nor to take away opportunities from any country. Sweden is my dear neighbor despite all this, but I hope that everyone understands the disappointment and even anger that I feel right now. I want to get justice that belongs to my country and was decided by the public and audience. For my country but also justice for every country that gets discriminated just because the jury think they know ”better” than the audience who is supporting, dancing, cheering, breathing and loving Eurovision air more than anyone else. Power belongs to the audience.

[maaarine]

Eurovision opinions

"Objectively" the best all-rounder: Switzerland 🇨🇭

Songs I'll listen to the most while dancing like a [redacted]: Italy 🇮🇹, Austria 🇦🇹, Lithuania 🇱🇹

Musically it's a hell no but visually I'm so there: Ireland 🇮🇪

Cool af staging and delightfully homosexual: UK 🇬🇧

Thx for the lolz: Finland 🇫🇮

Annoying on a regular day but would hit hard at a wedding: Armenia 🇦🇲

I don't get the hype at all but I'm happy the crowd is happy: Croatia 🇭🇷

I hate to say this of my nemesis country but that performance was the shit wow: France 🇫🇷

Free Palestine: Israel 🇮🇱, Luxembourg 🇱🇺

[sharp-lines-in-charcoal]

Guys please help me manifest Prlja getting better by tomorrow. Whisper "ŠČ, ŠČ, ŠČ" while sending positive energy to the universe.

This is the best entry Croatia has had in so fucking long (possibly ever), I need them to be able to perform and the world to see them!

[kvtnisseverdeen]

BEST OF FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022:

Dominik Livaković’s incredible performance as the goalkeeper for Croatia National Team | Prior to the World Cup 2022, Luka Modrić sat down and spoke with Livaković regarding his performance (x) 

+ BONUS

[babylasagnafanph]

We are so grateful and happy to see you perform and hear your music following your success especially from the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest [by giving Croatia its new best result]. May your talent soar higher than ever on your special day...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY LASAGNA! 🎉🎂💗🥳

[vintageurovision]

Eurovision Song Contest 2004

12 & 15 May 2004 | Istanbul, Türkiye

Ten countries qualified from the Semi-Final: Serbia & Montenegro, Ukraine, Greece, Albania, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Malta, Croatia and FYR Macedonia. Greece sent one of its biggest stars to Istanbul, Sakis Rouvas, who gave an energetic performance of his song "Shake It". Similarly Serbia & Montenegro was represented by a singer who was big in the Balkans, Željko Joksimović. Minutes into the voting it became clear that the winner would come from one of three countries; Ukraine, Greece and Serbia & Montenegro.  Ukraine's Ruslana won the contest with "Wild Dances". She had been on an extensive promotional tour before the contest and became one of Ukraine's best known artists. [eurovision.tv]

[watch the semi-final & final]

[jokeroutsubs]

Joker Out between dreams and reality (Val 202: Music 202) - Part 1: Bojan and Jan

Today, 3.08.2023, Slovenian national radio station Val 202 broadcasted a recent interview with Joker Out members Bojan Cvjetićanin and Jan Peteh. Below is the translation of the interview, which you can listen in the audio file above, or on this direct link.

~

Interviewer: Joker Out, the five-man band that sent Slovenia into a frenzy and is well on their way to sending Europe into a frenzy too. After their Eurovision performance in Liverpool, a lot of doors opened to Bojan, Kris, Jan, Nace and Jure. And Joker Out are stepping through all of them with decisive steps. Massive crowds at their concerts at home and abroad, concerts until the end of the year in Serbia, Croatia, Poland, Scandinavia that sold out in minutes, and crowds of dedicated fans around the world who seem to know all the lyrics by heart, even though Slovenian is far from familiar to them. I talked about all that with Bojan Cvjetićanin and Jan Peteh, two of the founding members of Joker Out. To start with, I asked them whether they’re living their dreams.

Jan: Fortunately, we're living more than our dreams, we’re living our lives. Bur what’s happening right now was still a dream not so long ago, yeah.

Bojan: I passed the Museum of Modern Art yesterday and saw that they currently have an exhibition called “Don’t dream your dreams”, so… it’s better to live them.

How are you absorbing everything that’s happening right now? A Slovenian band that’s, let’s say, more “midstream”, has never managed to do what you’re doing right now. Are you watching that with excitement, wonder, maybe even fear?

Bojan: Yeah, it all definitely caught us a little unawares. It’s true that everything that’s happening now was absolutely our aspiration when we decided that we wanted to go to Eurovision this year. And what we secretly and not-so-secretly wanted really came true. But I’d say that you cannot be prepared for all that to really happen. It’s truly crazy to follow these moments when we announce a concert abroad in some city, often in cities we’ve never even been to, and before we can even all post “juhuhu”, it’s sometimes already sold out, so… I mean, damn.

Jan: Never in my life could I have imagined that I’d see a full venue in Glasgow or London sing our songs in Slovenian, so moments like that are definitely the highlight of every week and month. But then there’s a big contrast when you come from that somewhat surrealistic experience into the quiet of your own home, and you’re at home for a few hours. Because you don’t know if this is real life or just a dream, or if you’re shifting between them. So it’s unusual, but… I’m enjoying it immensely.

Jan has pointed out that even abroad, fans sing Joker Out songs in Slovenian. After one of their recent concerts in the UK, I saw a comment on social media that went something like this: “I didn’t understand a word, but that was the best concert in my life.”

Jan: That’s what Bojan says at the start of every concert, “prepare to not understand a word for the next hour and a half.” But people are screaming, enjoying themselves. And some even pretend to understand the songs, even though they probably don’t.

Bojan: Well, that’s the main point of music, right? Music is special exactly because you don’t have to understand it, you just have to feel it. But it is weird for us because we’re not used to this happening with Slovenian language. Especially because… really from the moment we started making music, everyone was telling us that first of all, with Slovenian you can’t even make it in Slovenia, second of all, absolutely no way you could make it in the Balkans, and we’re not even going to talk about breaking into other foreign countries.

Bojan says that even with the upcoming songs, and hence with the new third album, they will not forget their mother tongue. Especially because they recognise you can achieve a lot even if you don't sing exclusively in English. Their ambition to tell an even bigger story, to expand to larger venues and to have a new, larger fan base is turning things around.

Bojan: As you mentioned in the beginning, we are a mainstream band. In mainstream music it is always a good idea to include the masses and make your music easily accessible to them. We have witnessed an initial push of interest after Eurovision, with some fans genuinely drawn to us as musicians. They're really, really committed to learning the material, because they want to come to the gigs and enjoy themselves. They're taking it to the max and that's phenomenal. And it's also our aspiration to grow. After all, writing songs in different languages is, by definition, a kind of musical experiment.

Kris (in the background): And a challenge.

Bojan: Yes, absolutely a challenge. We're not setting off to write the third album as an English only album, of course. We've decided that we want to do a multilingual album, it will absolutely include Slovene, Serbian and English, and hopefully include some Spanish and French language as well. That is something we want to play with.

Not only Slovenian and English, the other languages represent a challenge as well, say Joker Out. Speaking of the third album, it's already, let's say, marinating, in the making. Joker Out is also a band that has not suffered the so-called curse of the second album. It was, dare I say it, was even better than the debut. Are you concerned about the possible third album curse?

Jan: Our Demons have obviously defeated the curse of the second album. As for the progress of the third album, we recently had our first really creative rehearsals since December, when we were working on Carpe Diem in Hamburg. From then on, we've accumulated so much creative potential, that it simply poured out of us during those few rehearsals. Now each time we get to our rehearsal space, our need to create becomes so intense that I think if we keep this up, we won't have to worry about the demons of the third album either.

As Jan points out, they are not lacking in creative inspiration. Bojan agrees, adding that in recent months they have often been 'emotionally shocked'. This means that emotions have boiled up and things that they were not used to before have been happening, which made it difficult to process certain situations. Last week, Joker Out parted ways with one of the members of their core team, who found himself under an avalanche of criticism, especially on social media, for inappropriate behaviour. The news of the termination of the collaboration was followed by many thanks from fans that the band members had not only heard the message, but had also taken action about it.

Bojan: Yes. We have really had a very, very complex situation that we have always hoped would never happen to us, but as we said in the statement, we hope and believe that it will never happen again. What has happened was that one of our team members has created an unpleasant atmosphere with our fans, with our listeners, in a repetitive, how shall I say... Pattern. He often chose the wrong words, and this in turn led to many feeling, I would say, unpleasant, uncomfortable. Both at our concerts and on social media. And that is something that is absolutely unacceptable for us. We have always tried to put 1000% positive energy out at our concerts and share it with people, and the people also gave that energy back to us, so any disruption of that process is, as I said, unacceptable to us. And we absolutely had to say goodbye to this member.

The singer of Joker Out says it was the right decision and the band stands by it, adding that they have learned a lot from this experience. If nothing else, they have realized the true power of social media. They have learnt that it can bring a lot of good things, but there are also a lot of bad things that you can't be prepared for.

Bojan: I have to say that, yes, I've withdrawn from social media now, because I want to make this album under positive influences, not negative influences, and really, on social media I feel like I'm trapped in a world that I don't really want to be trapped in. So, yeah, for example, let's say two days ago, I was really negatively shocked, or affected by a moment when... We had a concert in Ptuj, which was a really specific experience, because I was having a panic attack on stage for an hour and a half, and I was just thinking about whether or not I was going to faint or not. I don't know why, whether it was the air, whether it was too much coffee, or what happened, but it really wasn't a pleasant concert for me, so within 20 minutes after the show I was rushing home, right. But on Twitter there was this post, some girl who said that I... that some security guard or somebody on my behalf invited her backstage after the concert. Which, whoever was there, including the organiser, knows wasn't even remotely true, because as soon as I got out of the shower, hands shaking, I got into the van and went home, sitting next to Nace, bag in hand, so as not to throw up right there in the car. So, there are some things we are not prepared for. There are dimensions that are a whole new world for us.

In the second part of the interview with Joker Out on "Val 202" (name of the radio station, "Wave 202"), we're sticking to departures and leaving. Joker Out is a group where two band members were replaced in the past seven years. The drummer Matic was replaced with Jure and the bassist Martin with Nace. That's why I am interested in how replacements influence the group or rather the ahmosphere in the group. A music group has to breathe as one. Jan says that each member brings a different energy to the team. He's convinced that one half of the first album and the whole second album would have sounded totally different if the drummer Jure hadn't joined them.

Jan: At this point, I'm simply happy that it happened, and it goes for Nace as well. Because now, I can hardly imagine two better persons for this band or better friends.

Jure (in the background): Awww!

Bojan: The fact is, members leaving a band is definitely a very difficult thing. We've had five members in the band since its creation. And as Jan said, when the energy changes, the balance that was there gets disrupted. Now there are only two possible scenarios. One is that the new energy is less suitable for the collective and the whole balance is brought down. Or that it is more positive and elevates the whole thing. I believe the universe helped us somehow; in both cases the energies that joined us, pushed us into new realms of creativity, positivity, literally everything in a very short time. So, I know that everything happened here just the way it had to happen. Even if you ask Martin, who just left the band, because he wanted to pursue another path in his life. You can ask him now, I know, because I live with him, because we are roommates. He is the luckiest man because, in the same short time that we have started branching out in new directions, his personal spheres have taken off in the best possible way, and he is, as we say, kicking ass. We can say that by 2023, everything that went on has happened as it should have.

Everything happened like it was supposed to happen, says Bojan. Also in Liverpool on the Eurovision stage. Barely three months later, Joker Out are living the life they could have only dreamed about. Masses of fans, sold out concerts and a feeling that only the sky is the limit. Is the current success partly or solely due to Eurovision, that's our next topic.

Bojan: It's absolutely not just a consequence of what happened in Liverpool because that was just one big catalyst for everything that we've been doing as a band since the beginning. (It also has to do with) how we dealt with Liverpool. Because what is happening today, as I said, was planned. We didn't know to what extent it was going to be realized, but it was a plan. Liverpool has made a difference for us in a way that no other night in this world can make because it has literally brought us, in one night, bizarre numbers of new audiences that we could not have imagined before. So, in one sense, yes, that is what Eurovision did for us; we cannot deny it. But on the other hand, it was us who did it.

Jan: In harmony, Eurovision and Joker Out, hand in hand.

Bojan: Together forever Joker Out, hand in hand.

Jan: *singing* # Together forever #

Together forever. Behind the group Joker Out is 7 years of creating. For the very end, a question, where do they see themselves in 7 years.

Jan: Now I've had a couple of people ask me recently how do you handle it when there's so much going on. To me, it seems like a primary school experience, where every year, the new grade is a little bit harder, but you're also evolving from the previous years. So, if we were thrown from zero to where we are now, we wouldn't even know where to begin. We have quite a bit of experience behind us now. It's a very steep road, exponentially growing, mathematically speaking, and I'm glad that we are at a point where nobody is confining us to a certain determined path that we should follow, but it's all up to our own volition. Whatever we decide to do, we will do, and I think that we can be very happy about this kind of artistic freedom. So, I'm also very excited and eagerly awaiting to see where this will take us.

Bojan: Here, Jure is suggesting that in 7 years we'll be doing Wembley. There was an idea that we should book Wembley now for the year 2030 and we release the tickets today. It would be the first concert in the world, where the tickets would be sold 7 years in advance. Then we'll wait and see what happens. If something will happen, it'll happen; if not ... it will get canceled due to illness.

All: (laughter)

Translation cr: @kurooscoffee, @beeoftheanxieties, drumbeat, +2 anonymous jokeroutsubs members

[thefredricus]

What-a-semifinal!🤩 This time live from Malmö! I am happy with the results but also a bit surprised when they started announcing Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia and (lol) Finland. And heck, welcome back Luxembourg! :D I'm beyond happy that Croatia made it, what an absolute audience bop!! The overall quality of the songs was high (and surprisingly VERY weird lol) and speaking of quality - the stage, the lights, the effects and Pyro was among the best I have EVER seen in a live show. Not to mention the lovely lady hosts who did an amazing job!💖

And if you've read this far, let me give you some closing words. No, I'm not boycotting Eurovision Song Contest, I would never. If you haven't seen the show live, if you haven't seen all the hard work and above all the LOVE that goes into this show and its performers, you should go and see it for yourself. This is the ONE time every year when people from all of Europe and the EBU countries come together and just have a really good time, with its own politics, its own rules, love for everyone, no matter your background, sexuality, politics or religious beliefs. I've been to tons of concerts and shows, but I have never met people nicer than the ESC-fans. Why people suddenly put all their focus on a conflict that has been going on for longer than anyone can remember, is beyond me. I've read so many blatant lies and fabrications about Eurovision, how they are discriminating certain people in a certain way, which is quite honestly scaring me, because people do believe it. Get your facts right, stand with Eurovision, stand with love and acceptance, not against it. Let us be united by music, not war.

And with that, goodnight & I'll see you in semi 2 on Thursday!🎶

[patientlibrarian]

Goran Thursday.

Hello everyone, everywhere, it's "Goran Thursday" and still very hot here in the UK. Lots of Goran about at the moment.

Talking of hot:

Translation:

Goran Višnjić and Zrinka Cvitešić together on stage for the first time: "We became like a small family "

The most successful Croatian actors abroad, who play the main roles in the play 'Equinocija' at the Dubrovnik Summer Games, discover what the atmosphere is like at rehearsals led by director Krešimir Dolenčić and recall their summers in Dubrovnik where their professional paths have never crossed before.

Location: Croatian National Theater in Zagreb. Weather: three in the afternoon, end of the week, heat, steam. Wardrobe no. 106, make-up artist, hairdresser, Gloria's team and two of the most outstanding actors of contemporary Croatia - Zrinka Cvitešić (44), laureate of the highest British theater award Olivier, and Goran Višnjić (52), our most successful representative in Hollywood.

The reason for the meeting: the Dubrovnik Summer Games and their collaboration on the play "Equinocija" by Ivo Vojnović, directed by Krešimir Dolenčić. Goran plays a rich returnee from America, Nika Marinović, and Zrinka plays his love from his youth, Jela. This time, Višnjić did not return from America, but from Great Britain, where he lives with his family in the southwest of the island - in Cornwall, while Cvitešić is still at two addresses, one in Zagreb and one in London with his partner, former soccer player Niko Kranjčar .

In preparation for our recording, Zrinka and Goran excitedly exchange impressions from the rehearsal they just came from. Both she and he have the text with their notes in their hands and are commenting on younger colleagues from the play's team - whose performance they are delighted with. Lovers of acting recognize each other, one might say. Director Krešimir Dolenčić , however, did not choose this "duo fantastikus" by chance.

"Nothing is a coincidence, and then again, it is. We met by chance after a performance at the &TD Theater and then he told me that he had a meeting the next day regarding the Games and that we would talk to each other when he knew exactly what it was about. I am in that moment I said that I would like to work at the Games, I just don't know when and which show. And then he called me the next day and offered to do "Equinocia", to which I immediately said - come on! Krešo and I have known each other for almost thirty years. ever since he was an assistant to our professor Neva Rošić at the Acting course. When I was a student, he gave me a scholarship at Gavella," recalls Goran Višnjić with a laugh.

Zrinka agrees with the statement and complements the answer with his memory. "An actor should be very lucky to work with directors like Krešo in his career. I've had very few of them so far - they're directors you don't ask what, how, why... When you're invited to a project, you just ask them when and where you should come. They are unreservedly guided, inspired, and loved by you. It's nice to come back to Kreša after more than ten years, but we both asked ourselves - is it really so?! Because we both feel like we've worked together before. In short, we had a great time at the rehearsals. The ensemble is not big and after a week we have become like a small family. The young actors Lara Nekić and Karlo Mrkša are wonderful and curious actors. It's best when it's created together, when there's no "this is not my scene and I'm not interested in it". The most beautiful ideas are born from togetherness, this has been confirmed to me again and again throughout my life, and so it is this time," says the actress who, together with Goran Višnjić, recalled her first associations with the Games, and they also revealed to us something about their summer plans.

PLUS: Wonderful 'presentation' for a new concept Verne car by Goran on his instagram page. Must have taken ages to do. Has priceless references to a couple of old tv series!!

Hope your day goes as you would wish it to.