#during the previous bracket

[overlysarcasticpolls]

Not necessarily "Which is your sign" but which constellation is your favorite? Is it what it symbolizes, the myths about it, or something else altogether?

[Image Source]

[artem1sc0re]

It’s my birthday today so Josh doodles to celebrate 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥‼️‼️

[deadcaptainentertainment]

Gee it sure would be nice if I was going to get a tax return back to help replenish my savings after having to pay all these damn medical bills and such, but the US government thinks they can just take $4500 of my hard earned money and only give me back $8 of it at the end of the year

[ghost-proofbaby]

#94 sTEEEEEB

oh i am SO excited about this one. it's been too long since i've written for our boy steve 🫶

#94 - "JUDAS" BY LADY GAGA

“I couldn't love a man so purely, even prophets forgave his goofy way. I've learned love is like a brick, you can build a house or sink a dead body."

warnings: smut, oral (f receiving), fem!reader (or at least mentions of wearing lip gloss and a dress), use of whore as an insult, sort of enemies to lovers? sort of forbidden love? honestly the plot is only half-baked i just wanted porn. 18+, minors dni.

wc: 2.8k+

“If your daddy finds out about this, he’ll kill us both.” 

It’s spoken through muffled syllables, lips tight against your neck as you feel his stubble scratching the sensitive surface of your skin. 

Your hand travels up, fingers combing through soft and wavy hair as you whisper out, “If he finds out, and he won’t.” 

Bold words and sharp assumptions given your current predicament. Steve Harrington, heir to the Harrington Estate, hovering over your body. The son of the man your father hates most in the world, and he’s currently spinning a secret language across every inch of your bare skin. A painting of harsh kisses and fading teeth marks, his hands gripping every inch of the forbidden enemy below him. 

The weight of him against the center of your pelvis is almost heavier than the weight of all the choices leading you up to this moment. 

How many times had you been warned to play nice as the two of you had been raised in the same shark-infested waters? How many forced smiles had been almost-politely exchanged at galas? How many times had your mother rambled on about how that Harrington boy was nothing but trouble?

Not enough times, apparently, as your mother’s voice is the last on your mind as your nails scratch slowly down the center of Steve’s back, relishing the way he shivers and twitches under your dancing touch. 

“What would they say if they saw you like this?” he chuckles, lifting his head to look you in your eyes, a gentle hand coming up to caress a line from your temple and down your cheek, “Their little princess, consorting with the enemy’s son?” 

All the late nights spent listening to your father pace and complain about the Harrington business being in competition with his own. All the cursed names under the sun spit out in lieu of their actual names, muttered during late dinner arrivals. 

“What about your parents, hm?” you sigh out, letting your palms press flat against his bare chest, running up to wrap shaking fingers around his throat. Not quite choking him, but simply a warning: if you wanted to, you could press the cherry red of your nail deeper into his skin. Draw blood, leave a mark. You won’t, but you could. “Their little golden boy, upstairs and on his knees for the little whore of the party.”

His eyes widen. Clearly, no one had realized you’d overheard Claire Harrington’s comment when your family had entered the current gathering buzzing below. 

He rolls his eyes, “My mother’s a prude. Any woman wearing any dress above the knees is a whore.” 

He returns to all his mitigations, his plump lips fiery against your skin as they continue on their previous trail. Over your jugular, across your collarbones, settling into your sternum. Entirely unbothered and still focused on one thing only. 

“You’re right,” you breathe out wistfully, leaning your head back, a smug grin overtaking your face as he trails lower, “Besides, you’re not even on your knees yet.” 

“I could be.” 

He moves quickly, uncaring in his actions as he fumbles to lift up off the bed. The expensive comforter behind your back twists and scrunches in protest as he drops down to the ground, knees landing hard enough that it surely had to hurt. His hands grip your hips through the entire process, dragging you right with him until your legs are fully off the bed and your clothed center dangles right at the edge of the mattress.

“Is this how you want me, honey?” he grins up at you, shaking thighs bracketing each side of a shadowed face, all intentions twisting into something sinister by the dim lighting, “On my knees, begging for you?” 

“I do. But I don’t hear much begging, Harrington.” 

Sinister no longer covers it once the initial shock wears off. 

“Oh?” he hums, hands creeping up your legs. His fingers tap against your ankle before sliding up a few paces, the rhythm going steady as his palms travel up, up, up. “Allow me to fix that, baby.” 

His fingers dig into the meat of your upper thighs, tugging you even closer. You have no choice but to throw your arms out behind you as you partially collapse backwards, your entire body now shaking as you keep yourself held up to be aligned with his mouth. Every breath, almost mimicking laughs as he baits you, fans across the wet spot forming at the center of your lace crotch. 

“Please,” he breathes out just as his nose presses against your mound, taking a deep breath, “Please, let me just taste you, honey. I bet you’re so sweet, so sweet,” you let out a little gasp, hips bucking a bit at his expert words, “You like that, yeah? You gonna be sweet for me, honey? Gotta live up to that pretty little name, don’t you?” 

He knows how to get you riled up. He knows every string that laces your entire body, how to tighten and how to cut them loose. He’s had plenty of time to mesmerize this dance – a dozen different galas before to pull you into empty rooms, a hundred different nights to sneak away to indulge in you under pseudo names in the nicest hotels a few towns over. He can anticipate every jerk of your hips when his lips start to brush over your clit, even with fabric keeping his skin from yours. He knows which hand needs to keep a firm grip on your thigh, massaging it slowly as his thumb brushes closer and closer to the sensitive inner skin. His free arm works on autopilot as he throws it across your hips, planting you flat to the mattress as you mew out and he presses his tongue flatly against your weeping slit. 

His spit, your wetness. It all becomes the same within the intricate lace pattern separating him from your cunt currently. 

“I can taste it already, you know,” he keeps up the sweet talk and you feel his grin as he lets his cheek rest against your inner thigh, fluttering his lashes up at you, “Are you this easy for every golden boy walking around downstairs, pockets stuffed full of daddy’s money?” 

The gala downstairs. You had entirely forgotten, transported into only this moment here and now with Steve. 

Both your families, undoubtedly avoiding each other like the plague. His mother still gossiping about how short she thinks your dress is, your father snickering about the lacking details in Arthur Harrington’s suit. Bitter champagne on the tongue and even more bitter feelings on the brain. 

Your father would kill you if he knew what you were doing up here. 

Fraternizing with the supposed enemy. 

“Golden boy?” you gasp out, trying to swallow down any desire. It’s a useless battle. “And what’s so golden about you right now? All the hickeys I left on your neck, or that wet spot on your pants from how excited you’re getting at just the sight of me?” 

You don’t tell him how you’ve never taken an interest in any of the other sons of other supposed empires. You don’t mention how the rest of them hardly got more than a scoff from you all these years. 

You don’t tell him how he’s become your one and only betrayal to the blood running through your veins. 

He surprises you with a smack to the cunt. 

“I don’t remember you being so mouthy during the last charity event.” 

Your head rolls back with your laughter, “Guess I’m just in a mood tonight.”

“Is that so?” he questions, voice almost singing as he reaches up to the waistband of your panties. One finger hooks between it and your skin, pulling it out taut from your skin, “Guess that makes two of us.” 

The snap after he lets go can be heard only in this room, only between these four walls. It’s sure to leave a mark. 

“God,” it’s meant to be a groan of annoyance, but it’s more of a whine that leaves your glossy lips, “Just put your goddamn money where your mouth is or I swear to fucking God-”

Steve Harrington is many things. A brat, a golden boy, a nepo-baby to the highest degree just like yourself. 

And he’s also an excellent listener. 

You don’t feel his fingers tearing through the side strips of your underwear – all you suddenly feel is the slightest of cool breezes, and then his hot mouth on you. 

Eager, wanting, patient. Within seconds, his tongue’s mitigations go through a myriad of options, and he’s more in tune with your body than you are yourself. He finds the pace you need quickly, finds the pressure and just how much enthusiasm would be your deal breaker tonight. Long and steady strides from slit to clit, firm but gentle with you as he tugs you nearly off the mattress and right onto his waiting lips. A dog at your windowsill, offering all he can give as he laps at you. A man on his knees, worshiping a divinity beyond comprehension. 

Familiar politics no longer matter when he’s slipping two fingers into you and curling them harshly, lips locked around your sensitive clit. 

“Mmm,” he hums against you, nuzzling even further against your heat. As if he might be able to bury himself there. As if he might be able to force you to feel his sudden devotion from the press of his nose against your sensitive bundle of nerves, “I was right.” 

You open your mouth to answer, but all that comes out is a whimper as your hands try to snake down for his hair once more. 

Right about what? 

A silent question he must hear from your breathless begging for more. 

“Sweeter than I remember,” he mumbles, unable to stop himself from beginning to kiss your cunt, tongue flicking out and making your body jump, “Always so sweet for me, baby.” 

Your back arches at every curl of his fingers, legs somehow thrown over his shoulders in the daze until your heels are digging into his back. You need him closer, you want him closer. 

There’s no such thing as too close. Not when he worships you like this. 

Reciting prayers as his tongue circles your clit, raising you to a precipice that should damn your bloodline. When he has you teetering on the edge like this, it’s hard to not remember the thrill of it all. If someone, anyone, were to walk in and catch the two of you – you both lose everything. 

He’s worth it. When he has you falling over the edge, body washed over in ecstasy only thought to exist in Heaven, he’s worth the damnation. 

You don’t try to muffle the chants of his name as your hips jerk in rhythm with his tongue as you both ride out your high. 

“Jesus,” you gasp out one final curse, still tasting his name on your tongue as your body falls limp against the mattress.

It takes Steve a second to crawl back up next to you, his knees surely sore as he grins, “Not quite. Steve, or Harrington, or golden boy will do just fine.”

You open your mouth, unsure if you even have energy left within your buzzing mind for a snarky retort, when a heavy knock sounds at the door. 

“Hey, who’s in here? Upstairs is meant to be off-limits!”

You panic as Steve only rolls his eyes, turning his head towards the door as you try to sit up and find your discarded panties, still unaware that your golden boy had ripped them off. 

“It’s Harrington!��� Steve calls back, voice unwavering, “I’ll be down in a minute.”

His name works like magic. 

No retorts, no further risk of trouble. There’s a whisper of some grumbles, and then receding footsteps, and still no sign of your panties. 

“Fuck,” you mutter under your breath, looking on the bed wildly, “Fuck, fuck, fuck. Are you lying on my panties? Move-”

You’re cut off by his snickers. 

“What’s so fucking funny, Harrington?” you whisper harshly, standing with your arms crossed and glare set on the boy with a bit of wetness still shimmering on his chin. “Did you hide them, you asshole? Because if you did-”

“I ripped them, honey.” 

Your arms drop immediately, a sharp breath taken, “Excuse me?” 

“I,” he sits up, “Ripped,” he’s back on his knees, scooting across the bed, “Them.” 

He stops just short of your reach, boyish charm radiating with smug satisfaction. 

He has a nice smile. If it weren’t the anger simmering in your chest at finding out that he’d ripped one of your nicest pairs of lingerie, you might even tell him that. 

“Fuck you,” you spit out. Or at least, you mean to. It’s more of a cross between spitting venom and a sigh of surrender. 

He has a really, really nice smile. 

“Later,” he laughs back, finally standing from the bed, pulling scraps of lace fabric out of his pocket just enough for you to catch sight of, “For now, we’ve got to go show our pretty faces downstairs, yeah?” 

He has a nice laugh, too. 

“What about my underwear?” you scoff, pulling down your dress until it brushes the top of your knees anyways. 

“Only whores have panty lines. I saved you another snarky comment from my mother, if anything.” 

He’s nice. He pisses you off, he infuriates you, but he makes you feel nice. It’s not just the afterglow of the orgasm he’s given you without any demand of returning the favor, it’s not just the glint in his eyes as he teases you and shoves his hands shyly in his pockets. 

There’s a flash of something more in the air between you. A time and place where you met and your fathers weren’t at each other’s throats. An existence where you meet him out at some overcrowded bar rather than extravagant ballrooms, and you’d never heard of his last name until he tells it to you on a third date. A world where you bring him home and your parents' only first impression is all his charm that he puts into overdrive during dinner, no whispered rumors over wine tainting the image before them. 

A lifetime where Steve Harrington is merely a salvation, and not also a sin. 

“You’re right,” you smoothly reply, even if the words choke you. The invisible smoke only you clearly see between you and the boy who couldn’t be nice, who couldn’t be a simple salvation despite the way he elevates you to godhood time and time again. “You are buying me a new pair of those, though, Harrington.”

You almost say his name the way you would in that make believe space that isn’t quite here, isn’t quite now. Where a name is just a name. 

“I’ll have them wrapped up with a bow and everything for you next time… honey.” 

He almost says your name instead of some lewd nickname in place of what has been taught to be venomous to him. 

He opens the door like a gentleman, he instructs you to return to the main showroom, he advises you to grab a glass of champagne to excuse the flush in your cheeks. No crowded bars, no proper dinners with your parents, no third dates. 

It all evaporates like smoke and mirrors as you join your parents’ sides downstairs, tugging at the bottom seam of your dress and grabbing a crystal flute with a forced smile. You don’t even turn to look in the direction of his descent when he also joins his family.

But salvation remains. Even when faced with the reminder of damnation by the look on your father’s face.

“Can you believe that boy?” he gruffly asks, glaring in their direction, “Just waltzing back in here, like he hadn’t rudely disappeared for a good thirty minutes. Those Harringtons know no manners, I tell you.” 

You hum in lackluster agreement, studying the rim of your glass, ignoring the twist in your chest. 

“Where did you run off to, though, honey?” the nickname makes your back straighten up, memories of chills running up your spine as you glance up at your father suddenly. 

“Oh, no where,” you flail a hand about, keeping steady breathing, playing an act you’ve rehearsed a million times, “I’d just heard a rumor that the Richardson’s garden fountains were larger than ours, and had to see for myself.” 

“Were they?” 

They have no idea. 

“Not even close,” you laugh. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see your laughter has attracted the attention of a certain pair of warm brown eyes and wavy brown hair, set with hidden devotion only privy in private rooms. “What did I miss?” 

Steve was right. If your father ever did find out, he was going to kill you both.

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 2

Book summaries below:

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.

Science fiction, time travel, multiverse, epistolary, adult

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (Teixcalaan series)

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

Science fiction, politics, mystery, political thriller, series, adult

[stubz]

"CAPTAIN!" Calis bursted through the doors panting.

"Yes, Calis?"

"Ki- The humans...the human!" they panted.

"The humans?"

"Yes! I have...urgent news about them. Everyone, out."

The control goes quiet. All eyes on the captain and his second in command.

"Give the room to me and Commander Calis." When everyone leaves he sighs and takes a seat in his chair.

"Captain...the human has betrayed us. My scouts who follow General Morbius spotted Kim along with several other humans conversing with him. Numerous times have they seen them together...surely they have betrayed us."

The Captain looks at Calis and pulls out a drink. He sips it. "What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room." He motions for them to sit.

Calis sits and accepts the drink offered by their Captain. Strong yenx.

"When we discovered that Morbius was feeding classified information to enemy forces we had you follow him with your best scouts. And for a time that was sufficient...until recently." Calis nods.

They stopped the general from leaking information but they still have yet to gather enough evidence to charge him with treason. Not only that but he has gotten more cautious and rarely leaves his home when not at work.

"Well we went through the data base of the Coalition looking for clues or evidence to use when I stumbled upon Kim Greene's file. Here," he hands them the electronic document. "you'll see why Kim, along with some other humans, are conversing with the general so much."

Calis read over the document. At first glance it was nothing special. References, personal information, education, etc. normal things. Until they saw the green triangle next to one of the interview questions.

"...Why is she marked down for secret intelligence? In brackets, honorary...what is a honorary secret intelligence?"

"It's because she along with all the other humans you spotted have experience in befriending the enemy in order to report them to their superiors.

During her interview we asked about what was the toughest thing she had to do at her previous job.

The previous child centre she worked at had several people who were spreading false accusations against their fellow co-workers. One even falsely accused her mentor of illegal activity."

"At a child centre??"

"Yes, I can't believe it either. Carrying on, she was rather quiet at the time and always did her duty with a smile so the enemy ignored her. She used that to become a spy of sorts for her superiors who she respected very much.

Eventually she managed to gather enough information for them that they managed to fire and report the enemies to the proper authorities."

"Are the other humans like this?"

"In a way yes. Steven Smith one of our cafeteria chefs, worked at a restaurant as a waiter and has the patience of a god. He can be belittled, insulted, and be stuck in a never ending conversation that would rot your braincells without cracking."

"Something that would be perfect for the general."

"Indeed. Rebecca Cheng, worked at a cleaning service company and has mastered the art of being unseen whenever she wishes. She has caught several of her employers doing illegal acts or being unfaithful to their spouse simply because they forgot all about her.

And that's just the first few, we have at least a dozen of humans like them who are capable of hiding their presence while at the same time capable of 'befriending' the most unpleasant, foul, and infuriating beings."

"I shudder at the thought of going through the training they went through to achieve this."

The Captain regretfully shakes his head. "This wasn't training Commander...this was them adapting so that they may survive."

[svt-luna]

ʚིᵋ ⋆ GAME CATERERS X SVT ࣪ ! ˓ ౨ৎ ࣪˖ ─── episode 2-2.

Game Caterers x SEVENTEEN

synopsis: Episode 2-2! We officially begin the next segment— the music quiz with chaotic team groupings, team names, and competitive music quizzes for the competitive members.

surprise!! double post for this very special day!! in honor of Jeonghan’s birthday today, I finished this chapter for you, my lovelies! I hope you guys enjoy it! until the next one! all the love 🤍💛💚

╰ ౨ৎ LUNA-VERSE MASTERLIST

╰౨ৎ fan reactions ╰ ౨ৎ game caterers masterlist

[added captions are in brackets] ღ

bold dialogues are spoken in english ღ

After a refreshing break, the members of SEVENTEEN slowly trickled back onto the set, now subtly different from the previous round. The bright lights illuminated the space, highlighting pairs of chairs spread evenly across the room, each with a small table placed neatly in front. The casual energy from earlier seemed to linger in the air, but now there was an unspoken anticipation.

[SEVENTEEN is waiting again after the 'Super' Store]

Luna and Jeonghan strolled back together, a comfortable ease between them as they made their way to the chairs. Their steps were unhurried, but there was a spark of playfulness in Luna’s eyes. Without warning, she skipped ahead of him, her light steps carrying her straight to the chair beside Jun.

[Bunny hop, hop, hop!]

Flashing a grin over her shoulder, she dropped into the seat and leaned back, clearly satisfied with her choice. Jeonghan, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, sauntered toward the chair separated from Luna’s but still positioned right next to hers. He settled down, casting a glance in her direction, the unspoken connection between them palpable even as they sat apart.

Jun glanced between Luna and Jeonghan, his brows raised in curiosity. "Is this a team game? One desk per team?" he asked, his voice thoughtful.

Jeonghan shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back into his chair. "I don't know," he replied casually, glancing at Luna.

Luna smirked and turned to Jun, "Are we a team then?" Her playful tone made Jun chuckle as he shrugged again, clearly just as clueless.

"I love it," Mingyu chimed in with a grin as he sat down nearby.

"This is so much fun," Dokyeom added enthusiastically, settling into the seat beside Jeonghan.

Jeonghan combed his fingers through his hair and nodded, joining in, "I know, it's fun." His laid-back demeanor added to the lightheartedness filling the room.

“I love it too" Luna exclaimed, leaning forward in her seat, the excitement evident in her voice.

"I'm having so much fun here." Seungkwan joined in as he seated next to Mingyu.

As the group exchanged their sentiments, Seungkwan suddenly turned toward PD Na, who sat nearby overseeing the setup for the next game. "You should call us again," Seungkwan called out, his tone eager.

"What?" PD Na replied, looking slightly confused, not catching what Seungkwan had said.

Jeonghan leaned forward, repeating with a laugh, "Give us a call again," which earned more laughter from the crew, including PD Na, who was amused by their antics.

[That was the best compliment ever]

"I want to be funnier," Mingyu confessed with a grin, shifting in his seat.

"We should try harder," Dokyeom agreed, leaning toward Mingyu as if to conspire.

One of the writers, clearly entertained by their banter, chimed in, "How can it be funnier than Omega-3?"

The mention of Jeonghan’s earlier answer during the quiz segment sparked immediate laughter. Luna, sitting on her phone while her hair stylist adjusted a few strands, giggled, remembering Jeonghan's hilarious ‘Omega-3’ answer from earlier. "No one can top that," she said with a wide smile as her stylist finished up.

PD Na, sensing the lighthearted mood, looked at them and asked teasingly, "Does that make you more jealous than the prizes?"

"I want to be funny," Mingyu repeated, pouting slightly.

"I'm jealous when someone's funny," Dokyeom added, his face scrunching up in exaggerated frustration.

PD Na mimicked Seungkwan’s earlier reaction, "Seungkwan was like, 'Oh, I should’ve got that.'"

[What a bummer]

Seungkwan could only laugh at the impersonation, while Wonwoo, ever calm and composed, chimed in, "I have to say, I was jealous." His deadpan delivery earned nods and more chuckles from the crew.

[They're jealous of people who are funny]

SEVENTEEN's break was nearing its end, and the set was slowly returning to life. Each member was doing their own thing— some sitting quietly, some talking to each other, while others scrolled through their phones.

Luna, however, was fully focused on Jun’s phone, which he had handed over so she could play a game.

[Pre-game game]

Both of their eyes were glued to the screen, fingers tapping in sync as they whispered in excitement. Their hair stylists stood by, fixing their hair or adding small touches to their makeup as they continued the game.

“Wait, wait! Go left!” Luna whispered urgently to herself, her hand swiping across the screen.

Jun leaned closer, trying not to laugh as their stylist added some hairspray to his hair. "You have to tap faster, Jiyeonie”

“I’m tapping! I’m tapping!” Luna’s eyes widened as she tried to clear the level, her concentration unwavering.

[They are not fighting]

The two were so focused that they barely noticed the rest of the room.

From their right side, Mingyu, Seungkwan, Dokyeom, and Jeonghan were passing the time by singing lines from their song 'Super.' Their voices melded together in a playful harmony, each taking turns with their individual parts, filling the air with soft but familiar melodies.

Luna managed to clear the level, her face lighting up in victory. “We did it!” she whispered to Jun, flashing a triumphant grin.

“Nice!” Jun smiled back, equally pleased with their success.

In the midst of the relaxed atmosphere, the voice of a staff member suddenly echoed through the room. "Audio director, did you raise the volume?" she asked, her voice carrying across the set.

"Yes," came the reply from the audio director, confirming the sound adjustments.

Before anyone could process what was happening, the opening beats of the BSS sub-unit’s song, 'Just Do It', blared through the speakers, startling the members from their casual conversations and games.

[Suddenly playing 'Just do it' by BSS]

Immediately, Hoshi, Seungkwan, and Dokyeom— the trio behind the song— sprung into action, instinctively singing along in their seats.

[Automatic response]

[For some reason, they just start singing]

As the song’s energy hit the room, several members started to join in. Jeonghan and Mingyu bopped along to the rhythm, while Luna, still seated, began singing the lyrics softly to herself, her body swaying with the beat. A couple of members even started to do the dance moves, half-committed but grinning as they moved in sync.

Then, as the chorus approached, a collective understanding seemed to wash over the room. Without needing to say a word, all fourteen members suddenly stood up from their seats, moving to the center in perfect unison to dance to the chorus.

“All of a sudden? But I just fixed my hair,” Seungkwan said, still confused, as he took his place at the front next to Hoshi and Dokyeom. “Just do it!” he called out with a grin, and at once, the members snapped into perfect synchronization for the chorus choreography.

[How scary]

The sight of all fourteen members dancing in unison brought laughter from PD Na, who was clearly enjoying the chaos unfolding in front of him. "Good job," he said, amused.

Seungkwan, ever the showman, took the opportunity to engage an invisible audience, as if they were back on stage. “Are you ready to have fun?” he shouted, mimicking their concert hype routine, his voice full of energy.

"What are you doing?" PD Na asked, laughing in confusion.

Dokyeom joined in, keeping the playful atmosphere alive. “Send lots of love to The Game Caterers: SEVENTEEN Special!” he called out, playing along with the mock concert vibe.

[No matter what we play, they dance, sing and speak automatically]

Just as the chorus ended, and everyone was catching their breath, PD Na pulled out a whistle from seemingly nowhere and blew it loudly, startling the members once more. “Two people!” he exclaimed over the noise.

Instantly, the members understood the next game— they needed to pair off. Chaos erupted as everyone scrambled to find a partner. Some ran across the room, while others grabbed whoever was closest.

Luna, who was nearest to Joshua, instinctively grabbed his arm, pulling him into a tight hug as they partnered up, just like the rest of the members who hurried to find a match. The pairs stood together, laughing and a bit breathless, still surprised by the sudden instructions.

“The person next to you is your partner,” PD Na announced with a grin.

[Oh]

There was an immediate chorus of responses from the members. Some hummed in approval, pleased with their pairing, while others groaned in playful reluctance, clearly unsure of their chances in the upcoming game. A mix of excitement and apprehension rippled through the group.

Luna and Joshua exchanged a glance before chuckling at their sudden fate as partners. They high-fived each other, and Joshua smiled, “Nice.”

“I think it's a music quiz. I’m not that confident,” Luna admitted, her brow furrowed slightly in concern.

Joshua gently pulled her toward their seats, positioned between Woozi and S.Coups’ team on one side and Dokyeom and Jun’s team on the other. “Don’t worry, I’m not good at it either,” Joshua reassured her, his easygoing tone making her giggle as they took their spots.

One by one, each pair started to settle into their designated seats. Seungkwan and Hoshi, who were still hyped from their spontaneous dance earlier, plopped into their chairs with grins. Mingyu and Jeonghan sat down next to each other, while Dino and Wonwoo silently found their seats, their quiet but confident energy contrasting with the others. Vernon and Minghao, always laid-back, took their seats in sync, effortlessly cool. Meanwhile, Woozi and S.Coups, ever the reliable duo, exchanged a few words before settling in. On the other side of Luna and Joshua, Dokyeom and Jun were still buzzing from their earlier excitement, whispering to each other as they sat down.

Once all the members settled into their seats, PD Na leaned forward with a curious look and asked, “Were you attracted to your partner by instinct?”

A few chuckles spread through the room as the members nodded in response, clearly reflecting on the hasty pairings. “Yes,” they answered in unison, playful smiles lingering on their faces.

“I said it out of nowhere,” PD Na recalled, earning more nods from the group, everyone in agreement about the abrupt nature of the instruction.

“You’re going to play a game as a team now,” PD Na announced, and the room immediately erupted in cheers and clapping. The energy was palpable, with every pair anticipating what was coming next.

“I’m sure you’re sitting with the person you have chemistry with,” PD Na teased, and the members, still buzzing from their spontaneous bonding, nodded eagerly. But then, PD Na's tone shifted slightly. “But… you may have something you don’t like about your partner. Let’s talk about one flaw of your partner.”

[Let's talk about each other's flaws]

The room fell into playful groans and laughter, knowing they were about to enter dangerous territory. PD Na gave them a few minutes to discuss privately with their partner, and almost immediately, whispered conversations broke out between the pairs.

Luna turned to Joshua with a grin. “Your flaws? You have none,” she said confidently, reaching up to smooth out a stray piece of his hair, her touch gentle as she adjusted it in place.

Joshua couldn't help but smile, flattered by her words. “You don’t either,” he replied, the sincerity clear in his voice.

But Luna, never one to let a moment go to waste, leaned in closer with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Your flaw is… you never age,” she teased, her smile growing as she met his gaze.

Joshua laughed at her playful jab, but before he could respond, she raised an eyebrow, daring him to come up with something better. “Your flaw is…” Joshua trailed off, glancing at her as if trying to seriously figure it out, his lips curving into a grin. “There really is none… that’s annoying. That’s the flaw.”

Luna burst out laughing at his cheeky comment and gave him a light nudge on the arm, shaking her head. “You can go harsher than that,” she challenged, still grinning, her eyes sparkling with humor.

Their laughter mixed with the sounds of the other teams discussing, each pair deep in their own conversation about flaws that weren't really flaws at all.

As soon as the time for brainstorming ended, PD Na called for attention, and the room quieted down. “Let’s start introducing the flaws,” he said with an eager smile, ready to hear what the teams had come up with.

The first pair to go was Mingyu and Jeonghan, both looking slightly amused by the eyes on them.

“Did you team up again?” S.Coups asked, his voice filled with playful disbelief. He shook his head, clearly amazed by the coincidence.

“You're meant to be,” Dokyeom chimed in with a grin. “I can't believe they teamed up again.”

[Mingyu and Jeonghan are always together]

Mingyu and Jeonghan exchanged a quick glance, trying to keep a straight face.

[What does Mingyu think Jeonghan's flaw is?]

Finally, Mingyu started the discussion, unable to hold back his laughter. “You need to stop burping,” he said, directing the comment to Jeonghan.

Laughter erupted throughout the room, the sudden bluntness of it catching everyone off guard.

[The unexpected biological flaw]

Jeonghan, in his usual relaxed way, simply nodded, lazily acknowledging it with a small shrug.

[The unexpected flaw of the good-looking face]

“It’s going to take a long time to talk about it,” Mingyu continued, shaking his head. “I'll just say he needs to stop burping.”

PD Na, chuckling along with the rest of the room, nodded in agreement.

[What does Jeonghan think Mingyu's flaw is?]

Jeonghan took a moment to think before coming up with his own response. “Don't fart after taking protein,” he said to Mingyu, causing the room to explode in laughter. The joke hit even harder than the first, especially with the way Jeonghan said it so nonchalantly. PD Na and the rest of the crew couldn’t stop laughing, their amusement echoing around the room.

“That’s an amazing start,” Luna said, chuckling at the ridiculous yet hilarious exchange.

“You had to say it,” Dokyeom added, nodding in approval as if Jeonghan’s comment had sealed the deal.

“They’re about physiology,” Seungkwan pointed out, wiping away tears from laughing.

“They’re perfect,” Minghao added with a grin, pointing at Mingyu and Jeonghan. “One comes from up, the other comes from down.”

[Fart] [Burp]

That sparked another round of laughter, especially from Mingyu, who decided to lean into the joke. “Can you play ‘Up&Down’ by EXID?” he asked, his tone completely deadpan, which only made the room laugh even harder.

[Giving up]

“I don’t care about the show anymore. I give up now,” Mingyu added, still keeping the deadpan expression, throwing his hands in mock surrender.

“‘Up&Down,’” Minghao repeated through giggles, and as if on cue, Vernon started singing the chorus of the song quietly to himself, making the atmosphere even more lighthearted and fun.

[We don't know how to wrap this up]

As the laughter died down from Mingyu and Jeonghan’s playful exchange, PD Na turned his attention to Vernon and Minghao. “Alright, next up, Vernon and The8,” he announced, giving the pair a nod to start.

[Next is Vernon and The8]

Vernon glanced at Minghao, an amused smile on his face as he reached over to gently tug at one of Minghao’s dangling earrings.

“The8,” Vernon began, trying to keep a straight face. “I don’t like your earrings.”

[The8's flaw: ugly earrings]

The unusual “flaw” caught everyone off guard, and laughter erupted around the room. Even Minghao looked surprised, his hand instinctively reaching up to touch the earrings Vernon had pointed out.

“You’re disrespecting him right in his face,” Wonwoo chuckled from his seat, shaking his head in disbelief.

Minghao, still grinning, turned his attention fully toward Vernon. He scanned him up and down in silence, as though seriously considering what flaw to pick. The room held its breath for a moment, everyone waiting for his response.

[Scanning]

“He’s looking for flaws,” Wonwoo pointed out again, gesturing toward Minghao.

After a brief pause, Minghao finally spoke, his voice calm and matter-of-fact. “There’s nothing,” he said, immediately making Vernon shy. The rest of the members burst into an exaggerated chorus of “Ooohh,” leaning into the moment.

“That’s his flaw,” Minghao added with a small smile, a hint of teasing in his tone.

“Cute,” Luna mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for Joshua to hear, who chuckled softly beside her.

Vernon, laughing along, tried to play it cool. “My flaw is that I have no flaw,” he joked, still slightly bashful from the attention.

“That’s perfect,” Jeonghan chimed in with a laugh, fully enjoying the banter.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Minghao said, shaking his head, still amused by the whole situation.

Vernon chuckled, glancing back at Minghao. “Sorry about the earrings,” he offered, his grin widening.

Minghao smiled back, nodding his head with a lighthearted response, “Good job,” acknowledging the playful exchange as the rest of the group continued to giggle at their dynamic.

As the laughter died down, PD Na turned his attention to the next team. "Woozi," he said, his tone encouraging, "what do you think S.Coups' flaw is?"

Woozi paused for a second, his eyes drifting toward S.Coups, who waited with a playful smirk. "There isn't much," Woozi started, making S.Coups raise an eyebrow. But then Woozi continued, “But how can you get Park Bo Gum wrong?”

[Refer to SEVENTEEN Special Clip 1-3]

The reminder of S.Coups’ mistake from the earlier game sent everyone into another fit of laughter. Even S.Coups dropped his head down, sheepishly grinning at the memory.

“You were disappointed that he doesn’t know the name?” PD Na asked, clarifying Woozi’s point as the chuckles continued around the room. Woozi nodded, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

S.Coups, still laughing at himself, took a moment to collect his thoughts. Then PD Na turned to him, “S.Coups, what do you think his flaw is?”

S.Coups looked at Woozi, eyes softening. Without missing a beat, he responded, “There’s none. I’m always grateful. I love him so much.”

The room filled with a warm, appreciative atmosphere as Woozi’s face lit up with a smile, his laugh light and sincere. “Oh, thank you,” he replied, slightly flustered by the sudden display of affection from S.Coups.

[They sound old]

“Alright, moving on,” PD Na said, his tone playful as they moved on to the next team, Seungkwan and Hoshi. “Seungkwan, what do you think Hoshi’s flaw is?”

Without hesitation, Seungkwan jumped in. “You exaggerate when you mimic me.”

This drew a series of chuckles from the group. Hoshi nodded in agreement, his expression slightly guilty but amused.

[Don't exaggerate when you mimic me]

“So he goes overboard?” PD Na asked, clarifying Seungkwan’s point with a raised eyebrow. Seungkwan nodded again, more emphatically this time.

Turning to Hoshi, PD Na said, “Hoshi, anything you want to say about Seungkwan?”

Hoshi stood up, his actions drawing an immediate laugh from PD Na and the writers nearby.

[Going overboard]

"Oh no, he stood up," Luna giggled, sensing Hoshi’s dramatic flair about to take center stage.

Hoshi, now at the front of the table, began, “Seungkwan goes overboard to be funny.”

"He does," The entire room nodded in unison, agreeing with Hoshi’s assessment, with several murmurs of acknowledgment echoing through the space.

[Everyone agrees]

"Because I’m worried about the show," Seungkwan defended himself, nodding, but the grin on his face betrayed how much he was enjoying the back-and-forth.

As the focus shifted to the next pair, PD Na turned his gaze toward Wonwoo and Dino. The room fell into a comfortable silence, waiting to see what Dino had to say.

[What does Dino think Wonwoo's flaw is?]

Dino looked at Wonwoo thoughtfully before speaking, "Wonwoo… You need to speak."

[Silence]

The statement immediately drew chuckles around the table, Wonwoo smiling shyly at the mention of his introverted nature.

Dino continued, shaking his head with a playful grin, "He never talks."

PD Na, grinning, leaned forward as if the revelation suddenly clicked. “Oh,” he said with exaggerated understanding, making the group laugh again.

Now it was Wonwoo’s turn, and he seemed to take a second to gather his thoughts, his expression as calm and introspective as ever.

[A chance to talk]

After a brief pause, he turned to Dino and, in his typical understated tone, said, "I get that he's healthy because he's young, but he needs to drink less."

Dino’s reaction was priceless— his eyes widened in disbelief, clearly taken aback by the unexpected observation. The room burst into laughter at Dino’s dramatic reaction.

[Falsely charged]

From her seat, Luna couldn't help but nod along, her voice cutting through the noise, "He's right."

Her playful but firm agreement sent another wave of laughter through the group, with everyone knowing how much Luna disapproved of her members’ excessive drinking habits.

Wonwoo's shy smile widened as he noticed the support. Amid the laughter, S.Coups leaned toward Wonwoo and jokingly added, “Tell him to stop wearing sleeveless t-shirts.”

Dino, trying to defend himself, protested with a slightly exasperated tone, “I don't drink that much. I don't drink as much as you think.”

The room erupted again, this time with Seungkwan, Woozi, and Jeonghan chuckling while PD Na nodded in amusement.

“He’s worried as your friend,” Jeonghan chimed in from the other table, still laughing. “The youngest is always the healthiest,” Jeonghan added, his words punctuated by the light-hearted tone everyone carried.

"His liver is healthy," S.Coups followed up with mock sincerity, sending another ripple of laughter through the room.

"The youngest is a drunkard and a shaver," Woozi said, chuckling, making even Dino laugh at himself.

“We only say what’s true,” Seungkwan added with a wide grin.

“SEVENTEEN doesn’t lie,” Jeonghan said, turning toward PD Na as if to emphasize his point, his playful tone drawing even more laughter from the room.

As it moved on to Jun and Dokyeom's turn, the atmosphere in the room was buzzing with curiosity. Jun took a moment to gather his thoughts before looking at Dokyeom and saying, “Sometimes Dokyeom practices singing out of nowhere.”

The members instantly erupted in laughter, understanding exactly what Jun meant. Dokyeom’s habit of bursting into song without warning was no secret to anyone.

Jun continued, gesturing with his hands as if reenacting the moment, “He suddenly goes…” Jun let out a scream-like imitation of one of Dokyeom’s powerful high notes, which only made Dokyeom laugh even harder, throwing his head back.

[Screaming]

“Sometimes he sings out of nowhere. That scares me big time,” Jun explained with wide eyes, clearly exaggerating his reaction for comedic effect.

PD Na, remembering his own experiences, nodded, chuckling as he chimed in, “I heard a few songs too.” His words were met with more laughter as everyone could imagine Dokyeom’s voice echoing unexpectedly.

“All of a sudden, while he’s walking,” PD Na added, his tone half-surprised as if just realizing the randomness of it all.

[As loud as an emergency alert message]

Jun nodded vigorously, taking advantage of the moment. “I can’t complain because he’s practicing. But I’ll take this chance to…” He trailed off, pretending to offer some criticism.

Before Jun could finish, Dokyeom, still laughing, held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, I’ll try to keep quiet.”

Jun immediately shook his head, “No, tell me instead,” he replied playfully, sending everyone into giggles.

“‘I’m going to sing now,’” PD Na provided an example.

Dokyeom, clearly in on the joke, grinned and said, “I’m going to sing now,” mimicking the formal announcement.

“That’s right,” Jun nodded, satisfied with the playful arrangement they’d come to.

[Emergency alert message: DK's going to start singing soon]

From her seat, Luna chuckled and, in an amused tone, added, “I mean, if I had Dokyeomie's voice, I wouldn’t shut up either.” Her playful remark drew laughter from Joshua and Dokyeom, who couldn’t resist smiling at the compliment as Luna winked his way.

[Bunny doesn't mind DK's singing]

After the laughter died down, PD Na turned to Dokyeom and said, “You can talk about Jun.”

Dokyeom paused for a moment before speaking, “Jun is kind and innocent. He’s all nice, but he’s kind of short-tempered. He loses his temper quite easily. He should try not to get angry so easily.”

The members, who had witnessed Jun’s short fuse in certain situations, voiced their agreement almost immediately.

“Angry Jun,” Woozi muttered, nodding, which prompted Vernon to repeat it with a grin, “Angry Jun.”

Curious, PD Na leaned in, intrigued. “What made him lose his temper recently?” he asked.

Dokyeom thought for a second, then said, “When we were practicing choreography…” His words immediately drew laughter from Joshua, who clearly knew where the story was heading. “When we were practicing, we’re like, ‘Isn’t that #5?’” Mimicking Jun with an exaggerated seriousness, Dokyeom suddenly said in a stern voice, “‘Never.’”

[Mimicking Jun]

The imitation was spot on, and everyone burst out laughing, especially Joshua, who could barely contain himself.

“That’s what he does,” Dokyeom said, grinning widely as the room continued to roar with laughter.

PD Na, whose cheeks looked like it was going to tear open from laughing so much, clapped his hands. “You’re so good at mimicking him.”

From across the table, Minghao playfully warned, “Dokyeom, you’re dead now,” which made Dokyeom chuckle nervously, glancing at Jun beside him.

Joshua, grinning, pointed at Jun, who was sitting silently but smiling through the entire exchange. “He’s already angry.”

“He’s getting there,” Seungkwan quipped, pointing as well, sending another wave of laughter around the room.

“Jun’s angry,” Vernon added, nodding with mock seriousness, as Jun continued to laugh along, taking the teasing in stride

[That's his look before losing his temper]

As it finally came down to the last pair, Luna and Joshua, the room fell silent with anticipation, knowing this was going to be an entertaining exchange.

PD Na, grinning, leaned forward. “Luna, what do you think Joshua's flaw is?” he asked, setting the stage.

Luna turned toward Joshua, who sat beside her, the two sharing a brief look before Luna spoke. “Honestly, Shua has no flaws…” she trailed off, her tone sounding genuine, but the playful glint in her eyes said otherwise.

Joshua, already sensing the joke that was about to land, braced himself with a smile. Luna gave him a knowing look, one that seemed to say, Here it comes— just as they had planned earlier. “But, there’s one,” Luna deadpanned, her voice turning serious as she continued, “He thinks no one looks as young as he does.”

[The best baby face ever]

The room exploded with laughter at the sharp contrast in tone. Joshua could only laugh along, while PD Na and the writers chuckled, amused by how easily Luna delivered the playful jab. The members, who knew all too well about Joshua’s confidence in his youthful appearance, agreed instantly.

“Yes, that’s true,” Seungkwan chimed in, nodding.

“Really?” S.Coups added with a grin, turning toward Joshua as if surprised by this revelation.

PD Na, still chuckling, turned to Luna, “Is he annoying?” he asked as if confirming her statement.

Without missing a beat, Joshua nodded and said, “I’m annoying.”

Luna, clearly enjoying herself, continued, “And he knows he’s handsome. He keeps talking about it.”

[Stop showing off]

The group burst into more laughter, especially since Luna’s teasing tone made it clear she was only joking. Joshua, still laughing, couldn't deny the truth behind her playful words.

“Do you really think you look young?” S.Coups asked, now fully engaged in the banter.

Joshua, trying to defend himself, replied, “Among us.”

“Among us?” S.Coups repeated, raising an eyebrow in mock surprise. “You think you look young among us?”

The tension built as Luna, laughing but ready to jump into the fray, interjected as she pointed at herself, “Among all of us? Isn’t it me?”

Joshua, sticking to his point, quickly clarified, “Among people born in 1995.”

At this, Jeonghan, sitting quietly across from them, couldn’t hold back any longer. “I look the youngest among people born in 1995,” he spat out, almost incredulous at Joshua’s statement.

[Glaring]

The room broke into laughter again, the dynamic between the two quickly escalating into a playful spat.

Joshua whipped around to face Jeonghan, his expression shocked. “What?”

“I look the youngest,” S.Coups retorted, jumping into the fray and pointing to himself confidently.

[A fight occurs]

Now, the three ‘95-liners— Joshua, Jeonghan, and S.Coups— looked at each other in shock, each convinced that they were the youngest-looking.

[They're all serious]

PD Na could only laugh, pointing at the trio as they sat frozen in their disbelief. Meanwhile, Dino, the actual youngest, sat quietly to the side, looking over the entire situation with an air of exasperation as if wondering how they could argue over something so trivial.

[Dino is used to this]

Woozi, observing the scene unfold, chuckled and commented dryly, “They’re all alike.”

“Without your makeup, you all have bags under your eyes,” Seungkwan added, his voice dripping with sarcasm, which only deepened the laughter in the room.

At this, Joshua turned to Seungkwan, eyes narrowing in playful retaliation. “Ya! People think you’re the leader, Seungkwan,” he said, pointing at him.

S.Coups, laughing, joined in. “People think you’re the oldest,” he added, piling onto the playful accusations.

All the while, Luna sat back in her seat, chuckling to herself, clearly shocked at how far the banter had spiraled from her simple comment.

“No one thinks you’re the youngest,” Joshua finished, his tone light but teasing.

Seungkwan, always quick on his feet, stood up suddenly, grabbing the edge of the table in front of him and lifting it as if to use it as a shield.

[Defense]

The members howled in laughter as he swung the table around, pretending to aim it at Joshua and S.Coups. Joshua raised his hands in defense, laughing even harder. Meanwhile, Jeonghan remained silent, watching the chaos unfold with a calm smile, seemingly amused but determined to stay out of the fray.

“Stay out of this,” Joshua playfully told him, still laughing.

Hoshi, who was sitting close by, turned to PD Na and nodded. “People think Seungkwan is the oldest,” he said, joining in on the teasing.

Seungkwan, slowly putting the table back down, nodded along, grinning as he played along. “Right. That’s true.”

[Seungkwan is the second youngest]

“That’s true, though,” Minghao agreed from across the room, causing more laughter to ripple through the group.

Mingyu, still chuckling, glanced around and asked, “Really? Doesn’t Seungkwan look young?”

Jeonghan, never one to miss an opportunity for a quick remark, shook his head. “No.”

Seungkwan, attempting to defend himself, waved a hand dramatically. “People later realize that I’m cute, but if they don’t know me…”

He barely got the words out before Dino, sitting quietly up until now, cut him off with a firm, “No,” sending another wave of laughter through the room as everyone agreed.

[The real youngest finds it absurd]

Determined not to give up, Seungkwan stood up again and, with a mock-serious expression, looked around the room. “Is there any CARAT here?” he called out, pointing to the empty space beside him as if searching for a fan to back him up.

Silence met his question.

[Quiet]

“There’s none,” Seungkwan pouted dramatically, his expression exaggerated as he sat back down, making the group laugh even harder.

[No personal comments on set]

As the laughter from Seungkwan’s playful antics subsided, PD Na smiled, sensing that the energy in the room was still high. He glanced toward Joshua, signaling for the next round. "Alright, finally, Joshua, what do you think Luna’s flaw is?" he asked with a teasing grin, knowing this would be just as entertaining.

[What does Joshua think of Luna?]

Without missing a beat, Joshua, who had been waiting for this moment, immediately said, “Jiyeonie…she’s annoying too.”

His words were delivered with such deadpan precision that the entire room burst into laughter, Luna included. She threw her head back, clapping her hands in pure amusement as her laughter filled the space, the suddenness of his comment catching everyone off guard.

[They are both annoying]

PD Na, chuckling at Joshua’s quick response, raised an eyebrow. “What about her is annoying?”

Joshua turned to Luna, giving her a knowing look, as if they had discussed this moment before. There was a playful sparkle in his eyes, the kind that hinted at affection wrapped in humor.

He began to explain, his tone light but sincere, “Jiyeonie is perfect at everything.”

Luna, catching onto the impending compliment, glanced at him with curiosity while the others leaned in to hear what he had to say.

“She’s beautiful inside and out. She’s talented, she can sing, dance, rap…” Joshua listed, his voice softening slightly, as if recounting all the things he admired about her.

The members nodded along, acknowledging the truth in his words.

[They agree]

“She has good luck,” he continued, his tone growing a little more playful as he stacked compliments upon compliments. Joshua paused, and then with a smirk, delivered the final blow: “It’s annoying.”

[He's strange]

The room exploded into laughter again, louder this time, as the members clutched their sides, finding his reasoning both absurd and hilarious. Luna, already overcome with laughter, clung to Joshua’s arm as she tried not to fall off her chair, gripping him tightly to steady herself as her legs weakened from laughing too much.

“Sometimes she would be minding her own business,” Joshua continued with a playful shrug, still keeping his tone as if he was making a very serious confession, “and I look at her, and in the back of my head, I’m like, ‘she’s annoying.’”

This time, Luna was nearly doubled over, her laughter uncontrollable as she leaned into Joshua, barely able to catch her breath. The members couldn’t help but join in, their own laughter filling the room, while Joshua simply smiled, clearly proud of his comedic timing.

PD Na, chuckling as well, nodded in amusement. “She’s annoying because of that,” he said, clarifying the absurd logic, while trying to catch his breath.

Joshua nodded seriously, as if confirming a fact. “Exactly.”

It took Luna a moment to calm herself down. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, still giggling under her breath. Once she finally composed herself, she looked at Joshua with a fond smile, her voice still light with amusement. “Thank you,” she said, playfully acknowledging his “compliment”.

Joshua chuckled softly in response, the banter between them easy and affectionate, the kind that only close friends shared.

As the room’s laughter began to settle, PD Na smiled knowingly and addressed the group. “The things you just said— you could say that because you're friends. But for you to keep that in mind and fix it, that will be your slogans for the quiz.”

A collective “Ahh” of realization rippled through the members as the meaning sank in. The flaws they had just jokingly mentioned were going to become their slogans for the entire quiz.

Jeonghan scoffed out a laugh, a mix of amusement and disbelief. “That’s my slogan?” he said, half to himself as if still wrapping his head around it.

Mingyu, sitting nearby, let out a sigh as he too came to terms with the situation. “We were only trying to be funny,” he said, shaking his head with a hint of playful regret.

It dawned on him that their slogan might end up being “Fart and Burp,” which made the room chuckle again at the absurdity.

[Flaw: fart & burp]

Luna, having enjoyed the playful atmosphere, turned to Joshua with a smile, the humor of the situation not lost on her. “Ours isn’t that bad,” she said lightly, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

Joshua, always calm and composed, nodded in agreement. “I know, right?” he replied, sharing in her relief as they both realized they had managed to avoid the more embarrassing slogans.

Meanwhile, S.Coups, sitting with Woozi, grinned mischievously as he leaned toward his partner. “Let’s go with ‘Park Bo Gum’,” he joked, referencing the actor with a laugh.

Woozi, catching onto the joke, chuckled along. “Park Bo Gum,” he agreed, shaking his head.

PD Na, catching the banter between S.Coups and Woozi, raised his voice with a smile. “In case you decide it on your own, we chose it for you.”

At that moment, a couple of staff members appeared, stepping forward with name plaques for each team. These were folded pieces of paper with the teams' slogans written on them. As they placed the plaques on each team's table, the members eagerly reached for their signs.

Luna and Joshua picked up theirs, glancing down at the slogan they had unknowingly created. The two began chuckling at each other as they read it. The mix of humor and disbelief was clear on their faces.

“What is this?” Luna said between giggles, nudging Joshua lightly. “Doesn’t this make us sound so full of ourselves?”

Joshua, still holding the paper, gave a soft laugh. “No, it’s okay. It’s not that bad,” he said, reassuring her, though his grin suggested that he also found it a bit ridiculous.

Around the room, the members’ reactions were mixed. Some of them loved how funny and stupid their slogans were, clearly enjoying the lightheartedness. Others, like Jeonghan, Mingyu, and S.coups, were playfully whining and complaining, asking PD Na if they could change their slogans.

PD Na, of course, refused with a cheeky grin, only making the situation funnier. The playful complaints and reactions continued as the atmosphere remained full of laughter, with everyone leaning into the absurdity of the situation, preparing themselves for whatever quiz was coming next.

As soon as the laughter from their slogan reveals had subsided, it was time to test out their team slogans.

[Let's try your slogans]

First up were Seungkwan and Hoshi, sitting near the front of the set. With enthusiasm, the two tested their slogan brimming with energy. “Go Overboard For Show!” they shouted in unison, clearly embodying the spirit of their slogan.

PD Na chuckled, nodding approvingly. “Good job,” he praised, before moving his gaze to the next table. “Next… 1, 2, 3.”

Mingyu and Jeonghan, knowing what was coming, stifled a scoff before saying their slogan together, “Burp And Fart.” The entire room erupted into laughter, the absurdity of their slogan too much to contain.

Even PD Na couldn’t help but laugh. “Nice,” he said between chuckles, quickly composing himself before gesturing toward the next team. “1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down for Dino and Wonwoo, who sat straight in their seats.

“Drink Less And Talk More,” they chimed, their tones calm but clearly amused by their ridiculous motto.

PD Na, still amused, gave them a nod. “Good,” he said before glancing over at Vernon and Minghao’s table. “Alright… 1, 2, 3.”

“I Don’t Like Your Earrings,” Vernon and Minghao deadpanned, eliciting a fresh wave of laughter from everyone, especially PD Na, who found their flat delivery the funniest of all.

“But I like them,” Minghao shyly added, his hand instinctively touching his earrings with a proud smile.

Jun, sitting at the end of the line, leaned forward with a playful grin. “Their slogan is so short,” he pointed out, only adding to the light-hearted teasing.

“Aren’t they cool?” Minghao responded, still touching his earrings with a hint of uncertainty.

Luna nodded at him with a smirk. “It’s the coolest, so cool, Hao,” she said, her voice laced with amusement, drawing a grin from the quiet idol.

PD Na then turned to the next team, S.Coups and Woozi. “1, 2, 3.”

S.Coups and Woozi took a deep breath before reciting their overly elaborate slogan, “I Don’t Know Who Park Bo Gum Is, But I Love Him And Cherish Him.”

The room burst into laughter yet again, S.Coups cringing at the overly dramatic line.

[He hates it]

“Their slogan is the worst one,” Luna commented between giggles, clearly enjoying the humor of it all.

PD Na moved on to the next team, now standing in front of Luna and Joshua’s table. He grinned as he counted down, “1, 2, 3.”

“We Are Too Perfect, It’s Annoying,” Luna and Joshua said in perfect sync, their voices full of mock arrogance, which sent the room into another wave of laughter.

The final team, DK and Jun, prepared themselves as PD Na gave the signal. “1, 2, 3.”

“I Get Worked Up And Lose My Temper Easily,” they said, prompting more snickers from the rest of the members.

As the slogans were finally revealed, the room continued to buzz with laughter and banter. Mingyu, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened, pointed at their team slogan and groaned. “Isn’t this worse?” he asked, half-laughing, half-complaining.

[Extremely stimulating]

“That’s something everyone does,” Dino chimed in, his tone a mix of logic and humor.

“The whole nation burps,” Seungkwan added in mock defense, his arms crossed as if presenting a valid point.

[He brings the whole nation into it]

“But it’s embarrassing,” Jeonghan said, shaking his head slightly with a small chuckle.

“It’s humiliating,” Mingyu followed, his voice teasing but still genuinely flustered. He laughed, his large frame shaking with the sound. “I feel like we’re still doing it.”

PD Na, amused by their antics, raised an eyebrow with a playful grin. “This will remain on YouTube forever,” he teased, making everyone laugh even harder.

Mingyu, not missing a beat, grinned mischievously as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m going to show my son later,” he joked, sending the group into yet another fit of laughter.

[That will create a distance between him and his son]

[They're going to play a game with these slogans]

The room was buzzing with anticipation as PD Na cleared his throat, grinning in that familiar, mischievous way that always meant something fun— and chaotic— was about to happen.

“Alright,” he announced. “It's time to reveal what game we’ll be playing.” He paused for effect before finally saying, “It's a music quiz.”

Immediately, the room exploded with excitement. The members clapped, voices overlapping as they reacted with gleeful energy.

“I love it!” Seungkwan exclaimed, dapping up with Hoshi who was equally as thrilled.

Jun, sitting a few seats down, gave a knowing nod. “This is what Seungkwan’s good at.”

Woozi chimed in, leaning back on his chair. “Seungkwan’s good at this,” he echoed, his calm demeanor not masking the playfulness in his tone.

[The member of Korea Music Copyright Association doesn't feel confident]

Luna chuckled, her head lowering slightly as she muttered to Joshua, “I’m terrible at this.”

Joshua, hearing her, chuckled too, shaking his head. “I am too,” he confessed, making Luna laugh even more at the mutual understanding of their inevitable failure.

[They are confident of their looks only]

“This is great!” Seungkwan nearly sang, his voice rising as he spoke, which Hoshi immediately mimicked, matching Seungkwan’s tone and enthusiasm, making everyone laugh again.

[The best players teamed up]

PD Na raised a hand, signaling for the members to settle down as he continued, now explaining the rules. “When I play the song, say your slogan. The first person is going to say the singer, and the next person has to say the title. Both people must get it right to win a point.”

The members listened attentively, some nodding here and there as they absorbed the instructions.

[For more details,they'll figure it out while playing]

PD Na wasn’t done. He leaned in, his voice dropping conspiratorially. “What matters the most,” he said slowly, “is the prize.”

That got everyone’s attention.

Both Jeonghan and Luna physically perked up in their seats, their curiosity now piqued. In perfect unison, they chorused, “Is there a prize?”

The two glanced at each other with matching smirks, clearly amused by their synchronized excitement. Luna leaned forward, catching Jeonghan’s gaze from across the room. He winked at her in reply, and she chuckled, shaking her head.

“What is it?” Minghao asked, voicing the curiosity that had taken over the room. His expression was intrigued, eager to know what the stakes were. “You’re spending a lot of money,” he added, his voice teasing but also genuinely curious.

Seungkwan, not missing a beat, grinned and gestured toward Hoshi, who was sitting beside him. “I get to play with a lucky boy today,” he said, referring to Hoshi, who had won both a Dyson hair dryer and a Korean beef set earlier in the previous game.

“I have Omega-3,” Mingyu pointed at Jeonghan with a laugh, alluding to Jeonghan's earlier answer in the previous quiz.

“I’m expecting something huge,” Seungkwan added, his excitement building as they all eagerly waited for PD Na to finally reveal what the prize would be.

[Here's the prize]

PD Na smiled, letting the suspense hang for just a moment longer before finally revealing, “It’s worth $1,000. For example, if you want something… we will pay for it.”

A wave of pleased reactions rippled through the room. The idea of a grand prize worth that much immediately captured everyone’s interest.

“For example,” PD Na continued, “two Dyson hair dryers. Then you can have one each.”

The members nodded, impressed by the prize's flexibility, but PD Na wasn’t done yet. “Or,” he added with a sly smile, “if it’s a mental wish, like something we can grant.”

[Producer Na's host coupon] [Or anything else we could grant]

With that, he handed out a piece of paper to each team, letting them know that they could write their prize of choice on it. The excitement in the room was palpable as the members huddled in their respective teams, whispering and muttering among themselves as they tried to come up with their wishes.

[Each team writes the prize they want and submit it]

[We'll give them a chance to pick one after mixing with 60 duds]

[Draw chances] [1st place, 5 times] [2nd place, 3 times] [3rd place, 2 times] [4th place, 1 time]

On the left side of the set, three teams began conspiring with each other. Woozi and S.Coups were the first to exchange glances and start scribbling something down, which caught Luna’s attention. She took a quick peek at their written wish and burst out laughing, trying to cover her mouth to keep it quiet.

“What?” Joshua whispered, leaning toward her curiously.

Luna, still chuckling, whispered something into Joshua’s ear, making him grin. Before they knew it, Dokyeom and Jun, who were seated nearby, had noticed the laughter and leaned in to join the conversation, their curiosity piqued by the sudden excitement.

Whatever the three teams were planning, it was clearly something mischievous, as they were all buzzing with excitement when they finally finished writing their wishes. Nobody else knew what had them so giddy, but it was clear that they were up to something.

Once all the teams had finished writing their wishes, they folded their papers and placed them into a small pouch filled with sixty duds.

PD Na reminded them, “If you pick someone else’s wish, you get to take it too.”

The members nodded in understanding, letting out a collective “oooh” in chorus, clearly intrigued by the added layer of fun.

“And the bonus prize,” PD Na announced, his voice rising with enthusiasm, “MHP: Most Hip Players.”

[The prize for most enthusiastic players]

This caused an even bigger stir among the members, their excitement peaking at the mention of a special bonus.

“You’ll get two chances,” PD Na added, watching as the members’ competitive spirits ignited.

Joshua nudged Luna playfully and said with a grin, “Jiyeon-ah, this is it.”

“Alright,” Luna chuckled, nodding in agreement.

[They aim for MHP]

“That’s our only hope,” Dokyeom murmured to Jun, clearly focused on the MHP title now.

“Can you win MHP?” Minghao asked Vernon, his expression filled with determination.

“Let’s do it,” Vernon replied, equally serious.

[They all want MHP more than 1st place]

Once the members heard about the bonus prize, they lost all sense of reality. The atmosphere shifted as whispers and hurried conversations filled the room. Everyone had their eyes on the special title now, scheming and strategizing in hushed tones.

[They're thinking about being funny when they have to solve the quiz]

[This is who SEVENTEEN is]

PD Na noticed the sudden surge of energy, chuckling as he watched the chaos unfold before him.

[We miscalculated the probability]

[This would bring a tremendous result]

[Their wish will be revealed after the game]

The air in the studio was thick with anticipation as the members of SEVENTEEN sat at the edge of their seats, eyes fixed on PD Na. Each one of them was ready, muscles tensed as if they were waiting for the starting signal of a race. The weight of the potential prize— and the glory of winning— hung heavily in the air.

[Music Quiz begins]

PD Na held up his hand, a sly grin on his face as he gestured toward the speakers. The tension built for a brief moment longer. And then, the faint sound of a song began to play— just the riser of the music, barely distinguishable.

[Here's Question #1]

For a second, everyone froze. Their ears perked, heads tilted slightly, straining to hear what song was coming up. The silence before the storm. Then, in a flash— almost too fast for the others to react— Seungkwan and Hoshi were already on their feet, hands shooting up in perfect sync as they screamed their slogan, "Go Overboard For Show!"

[As soon as the music plays]

Their voices rang out in unison, clear and loud, cutting through the silence. The room erupted in gasps, and the rest of the members could only watch in awe as the duo had beaten them to the punch, claiming the first chance to answer.

PD Na pointed at them, grinning. “Go Overboard For Show,” he said, “what’s your answer?”

Hoshi spoke first, his voice brimming with confidence. “SHINee,” he declared, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

Without missing a beat, Seungkwan followed up with, “‘Sherlock,’” his voice triumphant as the answer left his lips.

PD Na smiled, nodding. “You got it.”

In an instant, the familiar chorus of SHINee's 'Sherlock' burst through the speakers. Without hesitating for even a second, Seungkwan and Hoshi exchanged a glance, grinning like they had just won the lottery, before they bolted toward the front of the room.

As if possessed by pure adrenaline, they started dancing, moving through the iconic choreography with precise, practiced ease. Their feet shuffled across the floor, arms swaying to the beat, while their voices echoed as they sang along to the chorus.

[Full of adrenaline]

The rest of the members watched, amused yet unsurprised by the duo’s exuberant display. It was as if this level of excitement had become routine with Seungkwan and Hoshi.

PD Na sat back, arms folded, a chuckle escaping his lips as he witnessed the lively performance unfold before him. There was something endearing about how they threw themselves into the song, as though they were back on stage performing for a stadium full of fans.

[Singing with passion]

By the time the chorus ended, Seungkwan and Hoshi struck a final pose, arms extended and chests puffed out dramatically as they finished their impromptu performance.

[The ending pose]

The room erupted into applause, a mixture of cheers and laughter filling the air. Both of them were out of breath, their faces flushed from the exertion, but their eyes sparkled with satisfaction.

“They’re trying to win MHP too,” PD Na remarked with a chuckle, watching as the two performers made their way back to their seats.

[Going overboard]

“They were good,” Wonwoo commented, nodding with genuine appreciation for their effort.

Vernon added, “It’s not easy to beat them.”

Seungkwan, still panting from his earlier display, pointed a finger playfully at the rest of the group. “How dare you challenge me for a music quiz?” he declared, though the smirk on his face betrayed his playful teasing.

PD Na chuckled, “You danced till you pant. You got 1 point.”

Seungkwan dramatically wiped an imaginary bead of sweat from his forehead. “I worked so hard, but it’s only 1 point,” he sighed with exaggerated exhaustion, making the rest of the members burst into laughter. “Still, thank you,” Seungkwan added, his tone mock-solemn, which only caused more giggles to ripple through the room.

PD Na sat up front, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he watched the energy simmering among the members. “Here’s the next question,” he announced, his voice clear and steady.

On cue, the intro of a familiar song began playing through the speakers, causing a ripple of recognition among the group. It was a sound that at least all of them recognized, and the reaction was immediate— chaotic, even.

[It's a mess]

Five out of the seven teams shot to their feet, shouting their slogans in unison, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of noise. Laughter echoed around the room as the teams scrambled, each one determined to be the first to claim the answer. It was a mess— arms flailing, chairs squeaking, slogans filling the air as they all fought for the spotlight.

But in the middle of the frenzy, the fastest to react was Mingyu and Jeonghan. Their team slogan, much shorter and quicker to yell, cut through the chaos first. “Burp And Fart!” Mingyu yelled, his voice carrying above the others.

[Fart was faster by a split second]

There was a brief moment of stunned silence as the absurdity of the slogan sunk in. PD Na chuckled, raising his hand to acknowledge their speed. “You have to admit that ‘Burp And Fart’ was fast,” he said, giving credit where it was due.

Mingyu, eager to seize the opportunity, raised his hand, ready to say the artist’s name. His confidence radiated off of him as he prepared to answer. But before the words could leave his mouth, Jeonghan beat him to it. “TWICE,” Jeonghan declared, his tone confident and sure.

A chain of reactions immediately followed. There were gasps, yells, wide eyes, and some stifled laughter. Most of the members knew right away that Jeonghan had made a mistake, and Mingyu's face was a picture of shock. His eyes snapped to Jeonghan, disbelief etched into his expression.

“No, it’s not,” Luna chuckled softly from her seat, clearly amused by Jeonghan’s bold but incorrect answer. She raised her hand, prepared to shout her team’s slogan, but before she could, another voice rang out.

[It's not TWICE]

“I Get Worked Up And Lose My Temper Easily!” Dokyeom yelled, practically leaping out of his chair.

[Hyenas never miss the chance]

PD Na nodded, signaling for Dokyeom to give his answer. “Who’s the singer?” he asked.

“STAYC,” Dokyeom answered confidently, and a beat later, Jun followed up, “'ASAP.'”

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed with a grin. Immediately, the chorus of STAYC’s ‘ASAP’ began to play, filling the room with the upbeat, catchy tune.

At once, most of the members, except for Mingyu, Jeonghan, S.Coups, Woozi, and Luna, leaped from their seats and rushed to the front. They began dancing to the song, their movements enthusiastic and playful as they mimicked the choreography with varying degrees of accuracy.

[People aiming for MHP barge in]

The sight of SEVENTEEN, one of the most skilled performance groups, dancing to a girl group song brought waves of laughter through the room.

Luna, though staying seated, couldn’t resist moving along. Her shoulders swayed and her head bobbed to the beat as she grinned, enjoying the show from her spot. She even mimicked some of the hand gestures, laughing as she watched her fellow members execute the choreo with varying levels of precision and commitment.

PD Na, also amused, watched from up front, grinning broadly at the chaotic yet endearing scene unfolding in front of him.

[He loves his job]

The members danced with wild abandon, some more committed than others, while PD Na’s chuckles mixed with the melody.

Luna, still seated, couldn’t contain her amusement as she continued to watch, occasionally throwing in a little dance move from her seat. Her eyes sparkled as she saw the members letting loose and having fun.

When the song’s chorus ended, the dancers made their way back to their seats, still out of breath but beaming with satisfaction. The air was filled with post-performance energy, the room buzzing with excitement and laughter.

“Good job,” Luna said, turning to Joshua with a smile.

Joshua, still catching his breath from the unexpected performance, grinned back at her. “Thanks.”

Nearby, Dokyeom turned to Jun, his face lit up with excitement. “We got the answer. This is great!” he said, the pride in his voice evident. Jun gave a satisfied nod, a small grin tugging at his lips as they both settled back into their seats, ready for the next round.

As the members settled back into their seats, catching their breath after the chaotic dance, PD Na turned his attention to Jeonghan, a playful grin on his face. “What did you say earlier?” he asked, chuckling lightly, clearly referencing Jeonghan's earlier mistake.

Completely unfazed, Jeonghan leaned back in his chair and shrugged, his expression cool as ever. “We said TWICE,” he answered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

[Absurd]

“I see why you said that,” Hoshi chimed in, noticing the similarities between the artists' sounds. He leaned forward, his face lit with amusement.

Mingyu, on the other hand, was still pouting, his arms crossed as he pointed accusingly at Jeonghan. “He should’ve stayed quiet,” he muttered, his tone playful but clearly teasing his teammate for the mix-up.

Jeonghan, noticing Mingyu’s sulking, turned toward Hoshi, his eyes narrowing mischievously. “What’s this one?” he asked, his hands moving in the familiar choreography that had caused his confusion earlier.

Hoshi immediately recognized the dance. “‘TT,’” he answered, his voice confident.

Seungkwan, always quick to pick up on details, leaned forward with a knowing look. “Because it’s the same producer,” he added, offering a possible reason for Jeonghan’s mix-up.

[It makes sense]

Despite the teasing, Mingyu’s pout remained, his expression still exaggeratedly wounded.

[Sullen]

Jeonghan, quick to catch on, rolled his eyes at his younger teammate. “Sometimes I get confused, you fucking punk,” he said with his whole chest before suddenly poking Mingyu on the head with the pen he’d been fiddling with in his hand.

The unexpected cursing caused a ripple of laughter from the members while the action earned a shocked chuckle from Mingyu, his eyes wide with surprise at Jeonghan’s nonchalant attitude.

[It's okay. They're SEVENTEEN]

From across the room, Luna sat with her chin resting in her hand, watching the playful back-and-forth with a soft smile. Her gaze was warm as if she were watching her favorite movie unfold in front of her. She chuckled quietly to herself, thoroughly entertained by the banter between the two.

[Bunny no. 1 is having a blast]

Still laughing softly, Seungkwan asked, “Were you confused for real?” His tone was light, clearly enjoying the exchange.

Jeonghan, still chuckling, shook his head. “No, I had no idea,” he admitted, patting and affectionately rubbing the spot on Mingyu’s head where he’d poked him, trying to soothe the mock wound.

[Patting]

Mingyu, now recovering from his playful scolding, quickly explained, “We made a rule. I said I’d say the singer, so he could say the title.” His voice was animated, and he mimicked Jeonghan’s earlier moment of confusion with dramatic flair. “Then he was like, ���TWICE.’”

Jeonghan laughed again, this time shaking his head in disbelief. “I didn’t hear that rule,” he claimed, still grinning from ear to ear. His casual demeanor made everyone laugh even harder, as it was clear Jeonghan was hardly concerned with the mistake.

“They’re perfect,” Wonwoo remarked, his voice low but full of amusement as he watched the duo.

Mingyu, now on his feet and ready to move on from the mix-up, turned to Jeonghan, determination in his eyes. “Do it right. Let’s win this,” he said firmly, though the playful tone in his voice remained.

“I’ll stay quiet,” Jeonghan promised, though the grin on his face suggested that staying quiet wasn’t something he was particularly good at.

The room filled with more laughter as the members shifted in their seats, the light-hearted moment helping to keep the mood playful as they prepared for the next question.

“Are you ready?” PD Na asked, a teasing glint in his eyes as he scanned the members. Before anyone could even think to respond, an older-sounding intro to a song started playing through the speakers, its melody both nostalgic and unfamiliar.

“Hurry up. Say it,” Jeonghan whispered to Mingyu, his voice mockingly urgent, clearly poking fun at his teammate.

Another beat passed, and suddenly, two teams shot up, hands raised as their slogans rang out across the room.

“Go Overboard For Show!” Hoshi yelled first, his voice booming as he raised his hand, eyes locked in determination.

“I Don’t Know Who Park Bo Gum Is, But I Love Him And Cherish Him!” S.Coups followed a millisecond later, his slogan loud and filled with energy.

PD Na chuckled as he acknowledged the faster group. “‘Overboard’ was faster,” he said, pointing at Hoshi and Seungkwan’s team, causing the others to groan in playful disappointment. “1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down, gesturing for them to answer.

“(G)I-DLE,” Hoshi said confidently, his face glowing with anticipation.

“Wrong,” PD Na immediately responded, crushing Hoshi’s hopes as Seungkwan groaned loudly.

“Burp And Fart!” Jeonghan raised his hand suddenly, cutting through the noise with his usual confident flair.

[Jeonghan never holds back]

Luna, who had been watching the chaos unfold, immediately started laughing, recognizing Jeonghan’s usual antics. She could tell he was up to something.

Jeonghan, rather than giving an answer, turned to Mingyu, his expression overly serious. “Mingyu, you said you’d go first,” he said with mock urgency, calling out Mingyu’s earlier claim that he would be the one to answer first, fully knowing that Mingyu had no idea what the answer was.

Mingyu, caught off guard, could only chuckle in disbelief, shaking his head. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked, his voice filled with exasperation but laced with humor as the rest of the members erupted into laughter.

Luna, who was watching this unfold, couldn’t contain herself. She burst into loud, cackling laughter, her head dropping onto the table as she shook with amusement.

The song intro continued playing, the melody filling the room as the members strained to make sense of it. The confusion was palpable as they exchanged glances, waiting for something recognizable. Luna voiced what was on everyone’s mind. “What is that?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to place the unfamiliar sound.

[Going over the melody]

“I have a feeling the sound will change,” Seungkwan said thoughtfully, his face showing focus. And as if on cue, the beat shifted, surprising everyone and causing a ripple of excitement and even more confusion.

[Even the K-pop professor doesn't know]

“What’s that?” Jun exclaimed, his eyes widening at the unexpected change in tempo.

[It's a familiar melody]

“It sounds like Cool’s song,” S.Coups suggested, tilting his head in thought. He seemed half sure, yet the room was filled with uncertainty.

“How come we don’t know?” Seungkwan added, sounding both amused and exasperated by how elusive the song was.

“Is this an idol song?” Dokyeom asked, a mix of curiosity and frustration lining his voice.

Luna, more perceptive, tried to reason with them, “It’s probably an older song.” Her guess seemed reasonable, especially given how much the tune didn’t match the newer, trendy hits they usually heard.

The beat started to speed up, and the lively rhythm quickly filled the air. Some members started bobbing their heads up and down, following the tempo, while still trying to recognize the song. A few seemed to catch onto the melody but couldn’t quite place it.

For a few seconds, they just listened. The intro continued teasing them, dancing on the edge of familiarity but not quite crossing into recognition—until Dino suddenly stood up, surprising everyone. “Drink Less and Talk More!” he yelled their slogan with an air of confidence. Wonwoo stood up next to him, far quieter but no less determined.

PD Na acknowledged their attempt with a nod. “Drink Less and Talk More,” he repeated.

“Zaza,” Wonwoo said the artist’s name, eyes narrowing as he tried to be sure.

“‘Inside the Bus,’” Dino quickly followed up with the song title.

“No,” PD Na said, shooting them down, and both Dino and Wonwoo sat back down, shaking their heads as the others laughed.

[It's a completely different song]

The song continued playing, growing more familiar to some and just as confusing to the others. Half the members looked frustrated as if the answer was just out of reach, while the rest looked utterly clueless, lost in the unfamiliar melody.

[They're in an unfavorable situation]

“People who know must be frustrated,” Seungkwan said, glancing around the room, his voice tinged with a hint of defeat.

“How come I don’t know this song?” S.Coups muttered to himself, clearly baffled.

PD Na was watching the chaos with amused eyes when he caught sight of Minghao craning his head toward their staff, clearly looking for clues.

Chuckling, he called him out. “The8, what are you looking at? What’s there?” His voice carried light amusement as the members turned their attention to Minghao, who was now trying to act innocent.

[Cheating straight up]

“I have no idea,” Minghao responded, his voice cool and nonchalant, though everyone knew he was up to something.

“The song is almost over,” Luna said with a sigh, clearly on the verge of giving up on this round. Her tone carried the same resigned frustration the others felt.

[The 1st verse is nearly over]

“We have no idea,” Minghao echoed, his words summing up the group’s collective bewilderment.

PD Na glanced around the room with a playful grin. “You all have a chance,” he said, encouraging the members as they remained perplexed by the song’s difficulty.

Without missing a beat, Jeonghan raised his hand, his tone casual but determined. “Can I try? Burp and Fart!” he called out his team’s quirky slogan, causing a few giggles to ripple through the room. PD Na pointed at him, giving him the floor.

[Burp raises his hand]

“Cool,” Jeonghan said confidently, standing up, naming the artist before Mingyu followed suit, standing up beside him and guessing, “‘Fate.’”

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed, and Jeonghan clapped nonchalantly, as though it was no big deal. Mingyu, on the other hand, was thrilled. He grabbed Jeonghan and dragged him to the front as the song’s chorus began to play.

[They got up to celebrate]

“What are we doing?” Jeonghan asked, letting himself be pulled along with little resistance. They linked their hands in a dramatic, over-the-top gesture and began to dance, a messy combination of jitterbug, waltz, and salsa. Their steps were comically uncoordinated, sending waves of laughter through the room.

[Jitterbug]

“Yes, we’re meant to be,” Mingyu declared, continuing to twirl Jeonghan around, who barely moved and only lazily followed his lead, adding to the absurdity of the dance.

“Yeah, it’s great,” Jeonghan said, nodding in mock enthusiasm as Mingyu kept the energy high.

From their seats, Seungkwan yelled, “Burp and fart, please!” teasing the duo who had now taken their choreography to even more ridiculous heights.

[We'll stop here for their reputation]

Finally, after the chorus ended, Jeonghan and Mingyu slowly walked back to their seats, laughter filling the room.

“I guessed, but it was still right,” Mingyu said, breathless but satisfied as he glanced at Jeonghan.

Jeonghan gave him a small nod of approval, still calm and composed as if the whole spectacle hadn’t happened.

[Team Burp And Fart got lucky]

“Next,” PD Na said, as a new song immediately began playing, its intro familiar to at least half of the group.

[Here is the next question]

Before anyone else could react, Luna stood up confidently, raising her hand with a triumphant declaration, “We’re Too Perfect, It’s Annoying!” Her quick movement surprised Joshua, who sat next to her, clearly unsure of the answer, his eyes widening in shock as he realized they had to answer together.

[Shocked deer]

“Yes, your answer?” PD Na acknowledged their team by pointing at them.

Luna barely glanced at Joshua, sensing his hesitation, before confidently announcing, “SUNMI” The members nodded, some clearly recognizing the song, but the real trick came right after.

Luna, with her back suddenly turned toward PD Na, slyly faced Joshua and mouthed the answer, “‘Gashina’,” while performing the song’s iconic finger-gun hand movement, signaling the choreo that would give it away. Joshua caught on quickly, chuckling at her not-so-secret tactics.

[What are they doing?]

The members noticed but said nothing, instead laughing quietly at Luna’s subtle cheating, particularly Jeonghan, whose smirk had grown into a proud, delighted grin. He always appreciated clever tricks like this.

Joshua, now filled with newfound confidence, stood up straight and said, “‘Gashina’.”

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed, unaware of Luna’s discreet coaching. As the song’s chorus filled the room, Luna and Joshua exchanged a quick celebration.

“Nice,” Luna said in english, high-fiving Joshua, who responded with, “Let’s go.”

Seungkwan, from his seat, tilted his head and scoffed with a laugh. “She’s shameless, really,” he teased, watching the two head to the front for their victory dance.

As the chorus of Sunmi’s ‘Gashina’ played, Luna took her position in the center, exuding confidence, while Joshua stayed a few steps behind, clearly reluctant to dance. “Come here,” Luna called, waiting for the iconic drop in the beat.

“I don’t know the dance!” Joshua laughed but cheered her on from a distance.

The second the beat hit, Luna’s demeanor completely shifted. Her body moved fluidly to the music, her sharp yet graceful movements perfectly matching the song’s energy.

[Scary shift]

She nailed the signature choreo — the finger-gun gesture aimed directly ahead, followed by the sharp turn and strut that Sunmi made famous. The members cheered loudly from the back, fully absorbed in Luna’s performance.

When the chorus ended, Luna gave a small bow, grinning as the members clapped and whistled in approval. She headed back to her seat, a satisfied look on her face.

As she crossed paths with Joshua, she pouted playfully, “Ya! You left me.”

Joshua chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as they made their way back. “No, I was there. You did well.” They both sat back down, still sharing the buzz of excitement from their win.

[What's the next question?]

The next round began, and all the members sat in anticipation, waiting for the song to play. As the intro of the new song echoed through the room, Dino’s hand shot up almost instantly, cutting through the initial few beats. “Drink Less And Talk More!” he shouted their team slogan with a burst of excitement. His sudden reaction caused everyone to turn toward him, their faces full of confusion.

PD Na acknowledged them, pointing to Dino’s team. “Drink Less And Talk More,”

“SEVENTEEN,” Dino confidently said, as if the artist was obvious.

At this, the rest of SEVENTEEN looked at each other, their confusion deepening. Was it really one of their songs?

[It's SEVENTEEN's song?]

“‘CLAP,’” Wonwoo stood up and declared the title with a surety that baffled the rest of the members even more.

PD Na, smiling knowingly, confirmed, “You got it.”

[It was 'CLAP'?]

Cheers erupted from Dino and Wonwoo, but the rest of the group remained frozen in place, looking at each other as though they had all missed some crucial detail.

“It’s ‘CLAP’?” Jun asked in disbelief, his voice echoing the collective confusion.

“How was that ‘CLAP’?” Luna asked, her brows furrowed as she tried to connect the intro they had heard to the familiar SEVENTEEN track.

“‘CLAP’?” Dokyeom repeated, looking equally lost.

“Why is it ‘CLAP’?” Jun asked again, glancing around as though someone else could provide the answer.

[Puzzled]

S.Coups and Joshua both suddenly straightened up, their eyes lighting up with realization. “It’s in the beginning of the music video,” they chorused, their voices overlapping in understanding.

Vernon groaned and stood up, pointing dramatically at PD Na. “Oh, the music… the music video,” he whined, realizing that the intro had been the sound effect used at the start of the ‘CLAP’ music video, not the main song itself.

The realization dawned on the rest of the group just as Dino and Wonwoo continued dancing to their own song.

[Despite the chaos they continue celebrating]

The chorus of ‘CLAP’ filled the room, and while the two danced excitedly in front, some of the other members started doing the choreography from their seats, unable to resist joining in despite their lingering confusion.

When the song ended, Dino and Wonwoo made their way back to their seats, satisfied with their win, grinning at the members who were still recovering from the surprise.

As soon as Dino and Wonwoo settled back into their seats, PD Na addressed them with a playful smile, “Congratulations to Drink Less And Talk More. The rest of you, what happened?”

Vernon was the first to jump in, pointing accusingly at PD Na, “That was the music video version!”

Woozi, shaking his finger thoughtfully, nodded in agreement. “That’s not the original music,” he reasoned, his tone carrying just a hint of disbelief.

Dino, still buzzing with the excitement of their win, elaborated, “In the music video, Woozi is standing in front of a store.”

“Right,” Vernon and Luna echoed, nodding along as they finally made sense of the confusion.

Vernon, still baffled by the trickery, repeated, “It’s the music video version.” He was clearly not over it yet, but his grin gave away his amusement.

PD Na shrugged, unfazed. “Someone still got it.”

Vernon chuckled in reluctant acceptance. “You’re right.”

At that, Jun raised his hand apologetically, his voide deep as he chukled, “Sorry. It’s our fault. Sorry.”

The room broke into laughter, the light-heartedness quickly spreading as PD Na turned to Woozi, who produced the song. “Woozi, what happened?”

Woozi chuckled before responding. “Since someone still got it, I can’t argue. If no one got it, I can try to argue. But since you got it, I have nothing to say,” he joked, eliciting even more laughter.

Hoshi leaned over to Seungkwan, muttering under his breath, “I thought it was (G)I-DLE.”

“We filmed the music video a long time ago,” Woozi explained, shaking his head as if recalling the time that had passed since then.

Minghao chimed in, looking at Dino with playful admiration. “Dino monitors music videos often. No wonder you were good at it.”

Seungkwan, never one to miss a chance to tease, leaned forward and declared with exaggerated seriousness, “Now that you all had a chance, we won’t cut you any slack anymore.”

His comment made Luna point at him and chuckle. Seungkwan’s playful competitiveness was always a source of amusement for her.

PD Na, watching the banter unfold, informed them with a knowing smile, “We got the music from everywhere.”

[There will be all kinds of songs]

The group nodded in understanding, now fully aware that they couldn’t rely on just the original versions of the songs anymore.

[Next song]

As they waited for the next song to play, the atmosphere buzzed with anticipation.

[As soon as it plays]

Then, a very familiar tune began to fill the room, immediately prompting all the teams, except S.Coups and Woozi, to spring to their feet. Hands shot into the air, slogans echoed in unison, but it was Seungkwan and Hoshi who were quickest.

“Go Overboard For Show!” Hoshi shouted triumphantly, earning an acknowledgment from PD Na, who pointed at them, waiting for their answer.

[Hoshi was accurate and fast]

“NewJeans,” Hoshi announced confidently, naming the artist.

“‘Hype Boy,’” Seungkwan added, already walking to the front with Hoshi before PD Na could even confirm, “You got it.”

As soon as they reached the center, the chorus started playing, and the two immediately began dancing in perfect sync, effortlessly hitting each move with the same energetic precision. The lively beat had an infectious effect— Minghao started dancing in his seat, and Vernon and Dino soon joined Hoshi and Seungkwan up front, effortlessly blending into the choreography.

[It's fun to play together]

Meanwhile, the rest of the group watched, with some dancing and singing along in their seats.

“How do they know everything?” S.Coups muttered, watching them with a mix of awe and amusement.

“I know,” Joshua agreed, equally impressed.

Jun, not to be outdone, added, “How are they good at it? They’re good.”

At the same time, without even trying, Luna and Dokyeom harmonized softly to the lyrics, “‘You know, I hype you, boy’,” their voices blending perfectly in unison.

PD Na, watching the scene with a grin, commented aloud, “You’re good. Why is that team so good?”

When the song ended, the group cheered, applauding Seungkwan and Hoshi as they made their way back to their seats.

Dino, still buzzing from the excitement, turned to PD Na with an expectant grin, “Do I get MHP?”

[They're ahead of everything]

“What?” PD Na asked, raising an eyebrow.

Before Dino could repeat himself, Jeonghan, ever the calm one, chimed in lazily, “It’ll be announced at the end.”

Dino nodded in understanding, though he looked eager for the results.

With a playful tone, PD Na then looked over at Jeonghan and Mingyu and teased, “Team ‘Burp And Fart’, you’re not likely to win MHP.”

Considering the fact that Jeonghan and Mingyu had been sitting out for most of the game, his comment was met with laughter from the group.

Jeonghan and Mingyu, however, only nodded in agreement. Jeonghan, ever laid-back, responded casually, “It’s okay. We’ll do our best to answer it.”

Mingyu, more serious, added with determination, “We’ll focus on the question.”

As the room fell silent, everyone waited for the next song. The moment the first beat dropped, Seungkwan was already on his feet, shouting their team slogan: “Go Overboard For Show!” The rest of the members could only gape in amazement at how fast he was.

[Seungkwan is dominant]

Hoshi stood up slowly next to him, struggling to recall the song’s title. “Gosh, wait,” Hoshi muttered under his breath, still trying to piece it together.

PD Na acknowledged them by pointing in their direction, and Seungkwan quickly blurted out the title to help his teammate, “‘Full Moon’!”

That was all Hoshi needed. “SUNMI!” Hoshi yelled, his face lighting up with recognition.

Just as Seungkwan was sprinting to the front, confident in their victory, PD Na’s voice rang out: “Wrong.”

Seungkwan collapsed dramatically onto the ground, completely shocked, and instantly, there was a loud chorus of yells from all the teams, trying to steal the answer. Both Luna and Joshua were among the first to raise their hands, but in their haste, they both forgot their team slogan, which made everyone laugh.

[Serious about stealing]

Vernon, however, shouted from the back, “I Don’t Like Your Earrings!” catching everyone off guard. PD Na turned to acknowledge their team.

“SUNMI,” Vernon confidently said, naming the artist. Minghao, picking up from there, added the correct title, “‘Full Moon.’”

Meanwhile, Dokyeom was leaning over to explain to a confused Jun why Hoshi and Seungkwan got it wrong. “You have to say the singer first,” Dokyeom said, giving Jun a knowing look.

“Aigo, that was a waste,” Luna muttered, shaking her head sympathetically at Hoshi and Seungkwan’s mistake.

PD Na nodded, smiling at Vernon and Minghao. “You got it.”

Realization dawned on Hoshi as he turned to Seungkwan. “Oh, I have to say the singer first,” he muttered, still processing their blunder.

The song began to play, and Vernon and Minghao danced to the few steps they knew, looping the same moves over and over again, causing the entire group to erupt in laughter.

[They repeat what they know]

“That’s all I know,” Vernon admitted with a shy smile, his usual confidence melting into humility.

“They’re so cute,” Luna commented, watching with a fond grin as the two shyly continued dancing.

As Minghao and Vernon made their way back to their seats, Seungkwan suddenly dashed up to the front and sang a quick part of the song, making everyone laugh even harder. “‘Perfect weather can’t get no better,’” he sang, dramatically bowing before retreating back to his seat.

[Leaving quickly]

“Did you go out there just to do that?” Hoshi asked Seungkwan with a chuckle.

Once everyone settled back down, Seungkwan, still curious, turned to PD Na. “Is it always the singer’s name first?” he asked.

PD Na nodded. “Yes, then you’re more likely to get it wrong. You might accidentally give away a hint with the title.”

“How did you know it was ‘Full Moon’?” Hoshi asked Seungkwan, still amazed by his teammate’s quick thinking.

Seungkwan simply shrugged, flashing a confident smile. “I know everything.”

[He answers all questions in less than a second]

“It’s impossible to beat Seungkwan in this game,” Mingyu said, shaking his head in disbelief.

[Next question]

The room was filled with anticipation as the next song prepared to play. Just as the riser barely touched the air, Seungkwan leaped to his feet once more, quickly followed by a bewildered Hoshi.

“Go Overboard For Show!” Seungkwan yelled with his usual energy. The other members could only watch in disbelief.

[He got it right away]

“This isn’t fair,” Mingyu muttered, shaking his head in resignation.

“He’s monopolizing,” Woozi added, half-amused, half-astonished.

“I didn’t even realize it played,” Luna said, her brows furrowed in confusion.

“How do you know?” Dokyeom and Jun chimed in unison, staring at Seungkwan as if he had some magical insight.

Seungkwan gave Hoshi a nudge, whispering, “You go first.”

“Who is it?” PD Na counted down, “1, 2, 3.”

“TOMORROW X TOGETHER!” Seungkwan blurted out the artist’s name, his arm wrapped around Hoshi in encouragement, hoping he’d get the title right.

“‘Run For You’? Is it?” Hoshi said hesitantly, clearly unsure, his confusion spreading across the room.

A wave of laughter broke out. “Run for who? Who’s you?” Seungkwan teased Hoshi, trying to contain his own laughter.

Vernon shot up to steal the chance, “I Don’t Like Your Earrings!”

“TXT,” Minghao said confidently, followed by Vernon who guessed the title, “‘Run To Me.’”

“Wrong!” PD Na said with a chuckle.

[The answer is 'Run Away']

Mingyu quickly raised his hand, jumping in. “Burp And Fart!” he shouted, the room filling with amusement.

“TXT,” Jeonghan said the artist’s name before Mingyu followed up with another guess, “‘Running For You.’”

“Wrong,” PD Na replied again.

[They have no clue]

“Sorry, TXT,” Mingyu apologized, laughing as the absurdity of it all sank in.

At this point, everyone was shouting out random guesses, trying their luck. Dino and Wonwoo were next, springing to their feet.

“Drink Less And Talk More!” Dino declared as PD Na turned to them.

“TXT,” Wonwoo said calmly.

“‘Running To You,’” Dino guessed.

“Wrong!” PD Na replied yet again.

It was chaos now, as S.Coups raised his hand with a determined look. “I Don’t Know Who Park Bo Gum Is, But I Love Him And Cherish Him,” he said their team slogan.

“TXT,” Woozi said, and then pointed to S.Coups for the title.

“‘Run… To You’?” S.Coups guessed.

“Wrong!” PD Na said, shaking his head.

Luna raised her hand, calling out her team slogan to try next. “We’re Too Perfect, It’s Annoying!”

“TXT,” Joshua said the artist’s name.

“‘Running With You,’” Luna guessed, hoping they were close this time.

“Wrong!” PD Na said once more, making Luna sigh in frustration. “What is happening?” she deadpanned, turning to Joshua, who could only chuckle in response.

[They are tired of running]

Dokyeom and Jun were the last ones who hadn’t tried yet.

[If they get it wrong,everyone gets a chance again]

“TXT,” Jun said, preparing to throw his hat in the ring.

“‘I Will Be Running For You,’” Dokyeom added with cautious optimism.

“You’re close!” PD Na said, making everyone sit up a little straighter.

Seungkwan, still determined, stood up and yelled their slogan again, “Go Overboard For Show!”

“TXT,” Seungkwan announced once more, and Hoshi finally, with newfound certainty, said, “‘Run Away’!”

[Perfect answer]

“You got it!” PD Na confirmed, and the room erupted in cheers.

Seungkwan and Hoshi made their way to the front, where they broke into the choreography for ‘Run Away’, the other members watching in amusement. Seungkwan took the lead with confidence, effortlessly dancing and singing along to the key movements of the choreography.

Hoshi, however, was a little more spontaneous— making things up as he went, copying Seungkwan’s steps on the fly while improvising in his usual comedic style.

[Free dance]

Vernon, watching from his seat, couldn’t help but laugh, pointing at Hoshi as he commented, “He doesn’t know.” The other members chuckled along, entertained by Hoshi’s attempts to keep up with Seungkwan.

Seungkwan, though, was in full control of the performance, his moves sharp and perfectly timed with the music, while Hoshi followed along, creating a hilarious contrast. The sight of the two dancing in sync— yet slightly off— had everyone grinning and clapping.

[No matter what Seungkwan does, he can copy it on the spot]

As the song ended, Seungkwan dramatically scooped Hoshi up, carrying him away as they both laughed and headed back to their seats. The room filled with cheers and applause, their teammates playfully shouting their names in encouragement.

[Next song]

As soon as the next song’s intro filled the area, Seungkwan shot up to his feet, shouting their team’s slogan, “Go Overboard For Show!” Hoshi hesitantly stood up next to him, looking petrified because he clearly didn’t recognize the tune.

The other members gaped at Seungkwan, stunned by his quick reflexes.

“What are you?” Jeonghan asked Seungkwan in disbelief.

[K-pop professor]

Luna giggled, pointing at Hoshi who stood frozen. “Hoshi doesn’t know.”

Seungkwan clapped his hands together once, his face tense as he physically struggled to remember the answer. “It’s that song… Jeonghan… Jiyeonie noona…” he muttered, his brain visibly working overtime as he pointed at Luna, drawing confused laughter from the group.

Both Luna and Jeonghan raised their eyebrows, confused by Seungkwan’s mention of their names. Luna leaned back, arms crossed.

[They are just as confused]

“What was it again?” Seungkwan asked her, still trying to guess the answer.

[Shamelessly asks her for the answer]

“How should I know? I didn’t hear it well, and even if I did, why would I tell you?” Luna shot back, making the whole group erupt in laughter.

Realizing he was stuck, Seungkwan chuckled and grabbed Hoshi’s arm, dragging him back to their seats in defeat.

[Gives up]

The song played again, and this time, Luna and Jeonghan both visibly lit up, saying “Ah” at the same time as the familiar tune clicked. The other members exchanged looks, starting to recognize the melody, but since it was in English, they hesitated on how to answer.

“Ah,” Luna smiled, raising her hand and calling out their team slogan, “We’re Too Perfect, It’s Annoying.”

PD Na pointed at her, acknowledging their team’s turn. Luna turned to Joshua, leaning closer to whisper, “Do you know the answer?”

Joshua nodded confidently, raising his hand to indicate he’d go first. “Ellie Goulding,” he said with certainty.

“‘Love Me Like You Do,’” Luna answered, her British accent adding flair to the title.

A few members playfully mimicked Joshua’s LA accent and Luna’s British one, as PD Na said, “You got it!”

Seungkwan groaned, “I knew the song, but I wasn’t sure of the title. Noona covered it before,” he whined.

Luna had indeed covered ‘Love Me Like You Do’ nearly two years ago, and it had become one of the most beloved videos among her fans. Her rendition was hauntingly beautiful, showcasing her powerful voice and emotional depth, and it was a favorite amongst their fanbase.

Joshua reached out, taking Luna’s hand to pull her up to the center. “There’s no dance to this,” she protested with a lighthearted chuckle.

“It’s okay,” Joshua reassured her as he twirled her around playfully.

[Improvising]

When the chorus played, the members all sang loudly, but in a teasing, over-the-top way, making everyone laugh.

[The most excited they have ever been]

Seungkwan, Hoshi, and Dokyeom suddenly stood up and began dancing playfully right in front of Jeonghan, their faces filled with mischievous smiles as they dragged him to join them.

Luna, still dancing with Joshua, didn’t notice at first.

Joshua had a teasing glint in his eyes as he looked over Luna’s shoulder. With a playful spin, he turned her around to face Jeonghan, who had been pulled up front.

Unseen by the cameras, Luna shot a warning look at Seungkwan, Hoshi, Joshua, and Dokyeom, silently telling them not to be too obvious.

Unbeknownst to the world, after Luna had covered the song, Jeonghan had half-jokingly, half-seriously told the members that this should be their wedding song— a detail that only made this moment more comical for those in the know.

The song ended with the sound of applause, and Luna and Joshua headed back to their seats. As she sat down, Luna felt eyes on her and looked up, locking gazes with Jeonghan from across the room. His eyes were focused, soft, with a silent understanding passing between them. It was as if they were having an entire conversation without saying a word.

After a moment, Jeonghan winked at her, causing Luna to blush slightly before she quickly looked away, her heart racing.

[The next question is for the world that only remembers 1st place]

“Let’s start,” PD Na said, signaling the beginning of the next round. The members settled back into their seats, waiting for the next song to play. As soon as a beat echoed through the room, Seungkwan and Hoshi sprang to their feet. At this point, the rest of the members weren’t even surprised.

[Overwhelming speed]

“Go Overboard For Show!” Seungkwan shouted with determination, while Hoshi clutched his head, clearly in pain trying to recall the song. The energy shifted, the others watching as the two fought to piece together the answer.

“1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down, adding to the tension.

“I’ll say it. Wait,” Hoshi muttered, his brows furrowed as he seemed to dig deep into his memory, everyone waiting in suspense.

Finally, there was a beat of silence before Hoshi blurted, “BoA.”

Without missing a beat, Seungkwan followed, “’NO.1’!”

PD Na blinked, his expression confused. “Wrong.”

The two stood there, dumbfounded, shocked that they might’ve gotten it wrong. But PD Na quickly shook his head, realization dawning on his face. “I mean, you got it.” He chuckled, and the rest of the members joined in, laughing at the slight slip-up.

Seungkwan and Hoshi moved up front, ready to perform the dance. As they grabbed each other’s hands, they started spinning around dramatically, clearly enjoying their victory.

“We did this before,” S.Coups said from his seat, referring to the time they had covered this iconic BoA dance as a group.

“Didn’t we do this dance?” Wonwoo added, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

[You totally did]

The chorus kicked in, but both Seungkwan and Hoshi visibly hesitated, their movements buffering as they tried to recall the choreography. They began doing random dance moves in unison, clearly lost.

[He barely remembers it]

“That’s ‘Candy’!” S.Coups pointed out, recognizing the choreography from an entirely different song.

Seungkwan, realizing they were floundering, suddenly started doing BLACKPINK’s ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’ gun dance instead, causing an uproar of laughter as Hoshi, always quick on his feet, followed suit.

[DDU-DU?]

“‘Hit you with that DDU-DU DDU-DU,’” Seungkwan sang, throwing himself into the new routine, which only made everyone laugh harder.

[HYBE artist brings SM and YG together]

“He’s good at that,” Luna chuckled, watching them fondly from her seat, her eyes shining with amusement.

Seungkwan and Hoshi, realizing they’d lost all hope of remembering the original dance, gave up entirely. Instead, they started following the jib camera, performing as if they were shooting a dramatic music video, serenading the camera with exaggerated expressions.

[Seungkwan and Hoshi love the jimmy jib]

As the song ended, everyone clapped enthusiastically for the two, and the room filled with the sound of applause and cheers.

“Good job,” Minghao said with a grin as the two made their way back to their seats, both out of breath.

“We performed this song, but I can’t remember,” Seungkwan confessed, panting as he sat down.

Luna chuckled softly. “Your dance was better,” she teased.

Hoshi leaned toward Seungkwan, still catching his breath. “I almost got confused with S.E.S. I wasn’t sure if it was S.E.S. or BoA.”

The two shared a look, realizing how close they’d been to getting it wrong but also reveling in their playful performance as they rejoined the rest of the group.

As the next round began, the room fell into a quiet anticipation. The group listened intently, awaiting the song that would determine the next winners.

[A special question for Woozi]

Suddenly, a couple of familiar drum beats filled the air, and chaos erupted. Almost all the teams, except for S.Coups and Woozi, shot up from their seats. Dino and Wonwoo were the first to raise their hands and shout their slogan, though their voices got lost in the overlapping chorus of yells as the members all tried to shout over one another. Woozi remained seated, completely confused as he observed the spectacle unfolding around him.

In the middle of the commotion, Luna quickly raised her hand. In unison with Joshua, she shouted, “Me!” while Joshua yelled his own name, “Joshua!” Both of them got so caught up in the excitement that they completely forgot their slogan.

[What?]

“Drink Less and Talk More!” Dino yelled, his voice the clearest and fastest as he stood up alongside Wonwoo, who quietly followed suit.

Luna chuckled when she realized their mistake, grabbing the name tag paper from the table and playfully smacking Joshua with it. “Ya! We forgot the slogan,” she said, still laughing, as Joshua joined in, chuckling at their blunder.

“Team Drink Less and Talk More was faster,” PD Na confirmed with a nod.

“SEVENTEEN,” Dino said, confidently giving their own group name.

“‘FML,’” Wonwoo followed, delivering the title of their own song with equal confidence.

Mingyu, unsure of himself, stood up and said, “Burp and Fart,” as if expecting it to be wrong.

“No? It is,” Dino said, a bit confused but reassured by the reaction around him.

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed with a smile, giving Dino the win.

“Oh, you got it.” Mingyu said, shocked at Dino’s correct answer.

['FML' by SEVENTEEN]

[The double title song of SEVENTEEN's 10th mini album]

Dino and Wonwoo celebrated, heading up to the front as Woozi threw his head back in defeat, realizing that he was the only one who didn’t recognize their own song— especially a song he had produced himself.

Both Dino and Wonwoo started vibing to the song in front, the music filling the air. Since the song had no official choreography, the members were shocked at the sight.

“This isn’t even out yet,” Vernon said, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“This song has no choreography,” Joshua pointed out, looking amused.

Dino, however, was completely in his element. He walked around with a sort of drunken swagger, while Wonwoo awkwardly paused to watch as Dino laid down dramatically on the ground, making the whole group laugh.

[He lied down]

Vernon stood up, making his way over to Dino, and gently pulled down Dino’s shirt, which had risen up during his dramatic flop to the floor.

Seungkwan, never one to miss an opportunity, walked up front and started acting like he and Dino were in a skit, playing along with Dino’s antics. He knelt beside Dino, patting his leg. “Sir, I called the chauffeur service. You should go home,” Seungkwan said in a concerned voice, making everyone burst into laughter.

“Just a bit more,” Dino played along, slurring his words like he was actually drunk.

“You can’t lie down here,” Seungkwan continued, keeping the act going.

“Just one more bottle,” Dino said again, playing the role to perfection.

“I already called the chauffeur service,” Seungkwan sighed, pulling him up and getting more laughs from the group.

“Let me just get the razor,” Dino joked as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

“I’ll get you the razor,” Seungkwan responded, still in character.

“Okay,” Dino said, and they walked away, continuing the act.

“I already ordered it. I ordered six blades,” Seungkwan added, patting Dino on the back, keeping the joke going until the whole group was laughing uncontrollably.

“That goes perfectly with the song,” Dokyeom said, clapping his hands in amusement at the skit they had just performed.

PD Na, still laughing himself, turned to Woozi, who was chuckling in disbelief at his own failure. “Woozi,” PD Na said, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

“Woozi had no idea,” S.Coups added, teasing his fellow member.

“I’m in vain,” Woozi sighed, shaking his head.

“Because I have a lot of old-school samples, I thought it was something else,” Woozi explained, trying to defend himself. “I knew I was wrong. I was like, ‘Oh, right.’”

[Losing his mind]

Seungkwan and Luna, who had been watching the entire exchange, spoke in unison. “It hasn’t been released yet,” they said, sympathizing with Woozi’s confusion.

“I never expected it,” Vernon agreed, nodding along.

“I never saw it coming because it’s not released yet,” Woozi said again, shaking his hand in disbelief.

“And this has no choreography,” Wonwoo reminded everyone with a small smile.

“We haven’t practiced the choreography yet,” Vernon added, backing him up.

Woozi repeated once more, “This isn’t released yet. I never saw it coming.”

“He has an excuse for everything,” S.Coups teased, making the room erupt in laughter again.

“Stop. You talk too much. Too many excuses,” Seungkwan deadpanned, playfully shutting Woozi down, causing the whole group, including Woozi, to laugh even harder. Woozi threw his head back, laughing in defeat, realizing there was no escaping the teasing that day.

“Next question,” PD Na announced, his voice cutting through the lingering laughter.

[12th question]

The music for the next round began, and within just a few beats, chaos broke out. Every member shot up from their seats, hands in the air, shouting their slogans, eager to claim the answer.

[They all raise their hands quickly]

But Vernon and Minghao were the fastest.

“I Don’t Like Your Earrings!” Vernon called out, the speed of his response leaving everyone else in the dust.

“I Don’t Like Your Earrings,” PD Na acknowledged with a nod.

“G-DRAGON and Taeyang,” Minghao said confidently.

“‘Good Boy,’” Vernon finished the answer with the song title.

“You got it,” PD Na confirmed, allowing the duo to take the stage for the performance.

Minghao and Vernon moved to the front, preparing for the dance. “That was so easy,” Woozi whined from his seat, his expression one of playful regret.

“You might as well do your best,” Seungkwan urged them, referring to the iconic choreography they were about to perform.

“This is what we should’ve gotten,” Woozi groaned, feeling the sting of missing out on such a well-known song.

The familiar opening lines played, and the energy in the room shifted. As the lyrics ‘Put your hands in the air’ echoed through the speakers, everyone in the room followed suit, raising their hands in perfect sync with the words.

“‘How y’all feeling out there?’” Hoshi growled dramatically, mimicking the ad-libs, drawing laughter from the group.

“We even know the ad-libs,” Seungkwan commented, sounding impressed at their collective enthusiasm.

As the song progressed, Vernon and Minghao bounced along to the beat, getting ready for the iconic chorus dance. The rest of the members were already singing along, hyping up the two performers at the front. Some of the members, bopping in their seats, were already on their feet, fully immersed in the song.

As the chorus neared, Vernon and Minghao spun around, their movements hyping up the rest of the group. They danced with ease, executing the iconic choreo to perfection. Behind them, a few of the other members followed along, mimicking the moves, while the rest sang along, doing ad-libs and enjoying the moment.

When the beat dropped and the chorus hit, the room was filled with energy. Minghao and Vernon performed the dance flawlessly, while the rest cheered, some joining in with the choreography. The atmosphere was electric, as everyone got caught up in the nostalgic excitement of the song.

As the song ended, the members clapped and cheered, their applause loud and enthusiastic as Vernon and Minghao returned to their seats, looking pleased.

“They were great,” Dokyeom commented, still clapping.

“That was cool,” PD Na added, clearly impressed by their performance.

“I should’ve gotten that one,” Woozi lamented again, shaking his head.

“I underestimated Team Earrings,” PD Na teased, turning to Woozi and S.Coups’ team. “I thought you’d barely get any, but you’re doing better than I expected— whereas Woozi got nothing.”

“This is never easy,” Woozi said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“This isn’t easy,” Mingyu agreed from across the table, giving Woozi some backup.

“It’s okay,” S.Coups chimed in, offering a reassuring nod to his teammate.

“Okay, next question,” PD Na announced as the group prepared for the upcoming challenge. They waited expectantly for the next song to start, but instead of a melody, a doorbell sound echoed through the room.

“Mommy’s here,” Jeonghan teased, his usual playful tone making everyone chuckle.

“Who is it?” Minghao followed, leaning into the bit.

“Delivery,” Jun chimed in, not missing a beat.

“You can leave it at the door,” Seungkwan quipped, playing along as well, causing laughter to ripple across the room.

Suddenly, Dokyeom’s voice echoed as he confidently shouted, “I Get Worked Up And Lose My Temper Easily!” He stood, hands raised in triumph, clearly thinking he had nailed it.

PD Na pointed at him, waiting for his answer.

“Halli Galli?” Dokyeom guessed, looking hopeful. His answer caused the entire room to erupt into laughter.

“Wrong,” PD Na said, shaking his head.

Luna, laughing, added, “That’s a board game!”

[It is a board game]

“Isn’t it right?” Dokyeom laughed along, realizing his mistake.

“Wrong,” PD Na confirmed again, adding to the hilarity as the group continued laughing.

[They're lost]

They quieted down, listening more intently as the music played on. S.Coups stood up, raising his hand and saying their team’s slogan: “I Don’t Know Who Park Bo Gum Is, But I Love Him And Cherish Him.”

PD Na nodded at him, waiting for his answer.

“Sobangcha,” S.Coups guessed.

“Wrong,” PD Na said, and S.Coups groaned, “That’s not it,” as he sat back down, shaking his head.

The song kept playing, the tension in the room thickening. Some of the members seemed familiar with the tune but couldn’t quite place the title. Mingyu, in particular, was whining as he sat forward, the answer clearly on the tip of his tongue. Meanwhile, others like Wonwoo, Woozi, and S.Coups were thinking hard, brows furrowed in concentration.

[They've been doing this for a while]

Luna and Joshua, however, leaned back in their seats, both looking completely lost. “I have no idea,” Luna admitted, turning to Joshua.

“Me too,” Joshua chuckled, sharing her confusion.

“Let’s try to win the MHP at least,” Luna suggested, a grin forming as she teased him. “You have a high chance of winning it,” she said, making Joshua nod as he focused on the next strategy.

The song continued, and suddenly, Vernon stood up with his slogan ready, “I Don’t Like Your Earrings!” he shouted.

[Vernon raised his hand first]

Minghao, who had no clue, was startled by Vernon’s sudden movement, his face full of surprise.

[He's lost]

PD Na laughed, pointing at a shocked Minghao, “The8 doesn’t know why he’s up.”

The room erupted in laughter once again.

“Vernon, you have to say it first— 1, 2, 3,” PD Na counted down, waiting for the answer.

Vernon paused, looking at a clueless Minghao, then gestured toward Dino and Wonwoo’s team with a sheepish smile. “Can I make a concession?” he asked, making the group laugh harder.

“Are you making a concession?” Wonwoo stood up, chuckling as he crossed his arms.

Realizing he had no hope, Vernon gave up and grabbed Minghao’s hand to sit back down, shaking his head in defeat.

[They were nice enough to make a concession]

“Team Drink Less and Talk More?” PD Na offered, turning to Dino and Wonwoo’s team.

Dino sat frozen, clearly paralyzed by indecision, while Wonwoo managed to say the artist’s name, “Shim Soo Bong?”

“Wrong,” PD Na said.

Jeonghan, still seated, raised his hand and recited their slogan confidently, “Burp and Fart.”

[Burp was waiting for his chance]

PD Na acknowledged them, nodding.

“Yun Soo Il,” Jeonghan said, grinning slightly.

PD Na then counted down for Mingyu, “1, 2, 3.”

“‘Apartment,’” Mingyu said, the answer finally clicking into place.

“You got it!” PD Na confirmed, causing the members to gasp in disbelief. Mingyu and Jeonghan celebrated immediately, high-fiving with big smiles on their faces.

“How did you know?” Mingyu asked, turning to Jeonghan with curiosity.

“My dad’s favorite singer,” Jeonghan replied, as casual as ever.

[You're also a good son]

The song played again, and this time, a handful of the members went up to the front to freestyle dance to the old tune. Vernon, Minghao, Wonwoo— who was pulled up by Dino— Dokyeom, Seungkwan, Hoshi, and Jun all jumped up, eager to join the fun.

[There are always people who do this on 'National Singing Contest']

The rest of the members, including Mingyu, Jeonghan, Woozi, S.Coups, and Luna, sat back down, content to watch the others perform. Luna, however, gave Joshua a little nudge, pushing him forward to go dance.

“Go, go,” she urged, laughing as Joshua reluctantly joined the group.

[Under pressure]

As the members danced, most of them played up the comedic aspect, especially Joshua, who started mimicking a well-known meme. His exaggerated movements caused the members to burst out laughing, several pointing at him as they realized the similarities.

[Drunken Disney princes]

“Good job! Good job, Shua!” Luna cheered him on, her laughter contagious as she clapped for him.

Once the song ended, the members slowly returned to their seats, still chuckling and catching their breath. Luna continued clapping for Joshua as he plopped down next to her.

[Joshua won]

“Joshua, that was cool,” Seungkwan said, still smiling at his friend’s antics.

“We’ll give up on MHP,” Mingyu declared, shaking his head, a grin tugging at his lips.

Jeonghan nodded in agreement, both of them still relishing their small victory from earlier.

[We're out of energy]

As the lively atmosphere settled, the room buzzed with the afterglow of laughter and excitement. PD Na’s voice broke through the hum, preparing them for the next question. The members, some leaning forward eagerly while others relaxed back in their seats, prepared themselves for what was to come next.

The game wasn’t over yet, and the friendly competition had only just begun.

[To be continued in Clip 3-1]

ೃ⁀➷ comment or message me to be added to the tag list :)

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: ̗̀➛ requests are always open ♡ - lunaఌ

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[c1qfxugcgy0]

adventures in QA

(previous post in this series)

My shop in Advanced Midbody - Carbon Wing (AMCW) at Large Aircraft Manufacturer (LAM) is at the very end of the composite fabrication building. Hundreds of people carefully lay up a hundred foot long slab of carbon fiber, cure it, paint it, and then we totally fuck it up with out of spec holes, scrapes, primer damage, etc. The people who write up our many defects are from the Quality Assurance (QA) department.

Every single screw and rivet on a LAM aircraft can be traced back to the mechanic who installed it. Back when even everything was done in pen and pencil, it was joked that the paper used to produce an aircraft outweighed the plane itself. Now that everything is computer-based, of course, the amount of paperwork is free to grow without limit.

(Haunting the factory is endless media coverage of an emergency exit door plug popping out of an Advanced Smallbody - Upengine (ASU) plane during a routine flight a few months ago. Unlike that airframe's notorious problems with MCAS, this was a straightforward paperwork screwup by a line worker: the bolts were supposed to be tightened, and they weren't.

As a result the higher ups have visited hideous tribulations on non-salaried workers. Endless webinars, structured trainings. Here at the Widebody plant we have received a steady flow of refugees from the Narrowbody factory, hair-raising tales of receiving one hundred percent supervision from the moment they clock in to the second they clock out from FAA inspectors who can recommend actual jail time for any lapse in judgement.)

A single hydraulic bracket Installation Plan (IP) is around four brackets. The team leads generally assign two bracket IPs per mechanic, since each bracket set is something like a foot apart, and while working on the plane is bad enough it's much worse to have another mechanic in your lap.

Let me list the order of operations:

One: Find where you're supposed to install these brackets. This is harder than you might think.

Firstly, it's a hundred foot long plank of carbon fiber composite, with longitudinal stringers bonded to it to add stiffness. The stringers are pilot drilled in the trim and drill center, a truly Brobdingnagian CNC mill that trims off the composite flash at the edges and locates and drills part holes for us. But there's a lot of holes, so you must carefully find your set.

A minor difficulty is that the engineering drawings are laid out with the leading edge pointing up, while the wing panels in our cells hang from the trailing edge. Not so bad, you just rotate the paper 180 when orienteering, then rotate it back up to read the printed labels.

A major difficulty is that the drawings are from the perspective from the outside of the panel. But we work on the inside of the wing (obviously, that's where all the parts are installed) so we also flip the drawings and squint through the back of the paper, to make things line up.

Large Aircraft Manufacturer has a market cap of US$110 billion, and we're walking around the wing jig with sheets of paper rotated 180 and flipped turnways trying to find where to put brackets.

Oh well, we're paid by the hour.

Two: Match drill the aluminum brackets to the carbon fiber composite stringer. I can devote an entire post to the subtleties of drilling carbon fiber, but I can already tell that this post is going to be a miserable slog, so I will merrily skip over this step.

Three: Vacuum up all the carbon dust and aluminum swarf created during this process. This step is not optional, as your team lead will remind you, his screaming mouth clouding your safety glasses with spittle at a distance of four inches. LAM is very serious about FOD. Every jet airliner you've ever ridden in is a wet wing design-- each interstitial space is filled with Jet A. There is no fuel bladder or liner-- the fuel washes right over plane structure and wing hardware. Any dirt we leave behind will merrily float into the fuel and be sucked right into the engines, where it can cause millions in damage. No place for metal shavings!

If you are nervous about flying, avoid considering that all the hydraulic lines and engine control cables dip into a lake of a kerosene on their way from the flight deck to the important machines they command. Especially do not consider that we're paid about as much per hour as a McDonalds fry cook to install flight-critical aviation components.

Four: Neatly lay out your brackets on your cart, fight for a position at a Shared Production Workstation (SPW) (of which we have a total of four (4) for a crew of thirty (30) mechanics) and mark your IP for QA inspection as Ready To Apply Seal.

Four: Twiddle your thumbs. Similarly, we have three QA people for thirty mechanics. This is not enough QA people, as I will make enormously clear in the following steps.

Five: Continue waiting. Remember, you must not do anything until a QA person shows up and checks the box. Skipping a QA step is a “process failure” and a disciplinary offense. From the outside, you can observe the numerous QA whistleblowers and say “golly, why would a mechanic ever cut a corner and ignore QA?” Well...

Six: QA shows up. Theoretically, they could choose to pick up the mahrmax you prepared for them and gauge every single hole you've drilled. But since we're three hours into the shift and they're already twenty jobs behind, they just flick their flashlight across the panel and say “looks good" and then sprint away. Can't imagine why our planes keep falling out of the sky.

Seven: Apply the seal to the bracket. P/S 890 is a thick dark gray goop that adheres well to aluminum, carbon fiber, fabric, hair and skin. Once cured, it is completely immune to any chemical attack short of piranha solution, so if you get any on yourself you had better notice quick, otherwise it'll be with you as long as the layer of epidermis it's bonded to. LAM employees who work with fuel tank sealant very quickly get out of the habit of running their hands through their hair.

Eight: Now you wait again. Ha ha, you dumb asshole, you thought you were done with QA? No no, now you put up the job for QA inspection of how well you put the seal on the bracket. Twiddle your thumbs, but now with some urgency. The minute you took the bottle of seal out of the freezer, you started the clock on its "squeeze-out life." For this type of seal, on this job, it's 120 minutes. If QA doesn't get to you before that time expires, you remove your ticket, wipe off the seal, take another bottle out the freezer, and apply a fresh layer.

Nine: Optimistically, QA shows up in time and signs off on the seal. Well, you're 100 minutes into your 120 minute timer. Quickly, you slap the brackets onto the stringer, air hammer the sleeve bolts into position, thread nuts onto the bolts, then torque them down. Shove through the crowd and mark your IP "ready to inspect squeeze out"

Ten: Let out a long breath and relax. All the time sensitive parts are over. The criteria here is "visible and continuous" squeeze out all along the perimeter of the bracket and the fasteners. It is hard to screw this up, just glop on a wild excess of seal before installing it. If you do fail squeezeout, though, the only remedy is to take everything off, throw away the single-use distorted thread locknuts, clean everything up and try again tomorrow.

Eleven: QA approved squeeze out? Break's over, now we're in a hurry again. By now there's probably only an hour or two left in the shift, and your job now is to clean off all that squeeze out. Here's where you curse your past self for glopping on too much seal. You want to get it off ASAP because if you leave it alone or if it's too late in the shift and your manager does feel like approving overtime it'll cure to a rock hard condition overnight and you'll go through hell chipping it off the next day. You'll go through a hundred or so qtips soaked in MPK cleaning up the bracket and every surface of the panel within three feet.

Twelve: Put it up for final inspection. Put away all your tools. (The large communal toolboxes are lined with kaizen foam precisely cut out to hold each individual tool, which makes it obvious if any tool is missing. When you take a tool out, you stick a tool chit with your name and LAMID printed on it in its place. Lose a tool? Stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye, pal, because the default assumption is that a lost screwdriver is lurking in a hollow "hat" stringer, waiting to float out and damage some critical component years after the airplane is delivered.)

One tool you'll leave on your cart, however, is the pin protrusion gage. There is a minimum amount of thread that must poke outside of the permanent straight shank fastener's (Hi-Lok) nut, to indicate that the nut is fully engaged. That makes sense. But there's also a maximum protrusion. Why?

Well, it's an airplane. Ounces make pounds. An extra quarter inch of stickout across a thousand fasteners across a 30 year service life means tons of additional fuel burnt. So you can't use a fastener that's too long, because it adds weight.

On aluminum parts, it's hard to mess up. But any given composite part is laid up from many layers of carbon fiber tape. The engineers seemed to have assumed that dimensional variation would be normally distributed. But, unfortunately, we buy miles of carbon fiber at a time, and the size only very gradually changes between lots. When entire batches are several microns oversize, and you're laying up parts from fifty plies and an inch thick, you can have considerable variation of thickness on any given structural component. So you had better hope you had test fit all of your fasteners ahead of time, or else you'll be real sorry!

And, if you're really lucky, QA will show up five minutes before end of shift, pronounce everything within tolerance, then fuck off.

And that's how it takes eight hours to install eight brackets.

[queen-kassiopeia-the-5th]

Personal opinion, but Radiants shouldn't have to be able to heal old wounds, even with stormlight.

During the books we see Lopen regrew his arm, Gaz regrew his eye, Hobber reanimating his legs after being slashed by Szeth in the previous book. All wounds are months/years old but they heal them the moment they become Radiants and could breath in stormlight themselves.

In my opinion it shouldn't be possible. They should only be able to patch wounds they got after they became Radiants. Renarin can only heal wounds on others if they are relatively new, there is a time bracket during which his powers are effective. I think it should be the same for Radiants healing themselves.

Now, I know what some of you want to say. The king of the Reshi isles, who was born a woman but always saw himself as a man - operating under the title King even before - became physically male when bonding a Spren. So the bond turns you into the perception of yourself, how you view yourself in a way - Lopen sees himself as still having two arms etc.

But I still think it's a cheaper writearound. Because think of it. These people became Radiant, but they still have a disability, an injury, and they cam still kick ass despite it! Lopen wearing a fake arm he can send as a projectile, Gaz hiding extra gems in his eye socket a la Aemond Targarian, for extra stormlight, Hobbs flying instead of wlaking, kind of like Rysn's Fabrial enfused wheelchair.

Kaladin can't get rid of his slave brands, because they are part of how he percieves himself now, the Shash is the symbol he is assossiated with, but he also hates them, so I don't get why they don't heal, too.

I think it would be better if this waan't one of the Radiant perks, and we got to see these characters navigating theur powers with their disabilities and turning them into advantages.

[aoimeru14]

Ready for some wing testing?

This weekend McLaren will try to get some data from different wings to see which one works better:

- Lando will try a less loaded wing (similar to Ferrari, our main competitor to the WCC);

- Oscar will try a more loaded one (similar to Mercedes, known to be dominant on this circuit).

More mumbling about it under the brackets!

It's worth noting that this track allows overtakes in turns 5-6: which are slow speed corners, aka hard braking, aka require downforce/weights/good suspension.

While the most difficult turns are 10-11-12 because they not only require hard braking but the braking happens while a lot of lateral load is still on the car/driver from the previous turn (The risk here is to lockup the rears while braking if the driver doesn't modulate the brake correctly and if the car is not evenly weighted/doesn't have enough downforce).

In general, this track requires a lot of stability from the car, surpassing the necessity of aero, that's why they are trying different setups for balancing downforce and mechanical traction/suspension while still trying to extract the maximum aero possible. (Hence the different wings).

That said, I think they decided to put Oscar on a more loaded car as he usually struggles with track limits on less loaded setups and, therefore, will be able to provide more data on a more stable car.

(And, by giving him the most likely car that they will end up using during race/quali will also help him practice the circuit more)

I also think they are just trying experimenting things with Lando and see if they can do some ✨magic✨ with a less loaded setup. (Not so extreme as they did in Vegas but something)

(it would be funny if I got it all wrong, we will see)

I'm also yapping because:

1. I wanted to know what y'all think about it;

2. I'm starting to distrust some McLaren fans and I just KNOW that some people will be commenting unfortunate things tomorrow.

That's why I want to make it already clear that none of the drivers will be penalised by the choice of trying different wings for the FP. (Like... WTF?! It's FP...)

Also, it's worth remembering that FP is just testing components/setups, no one cares if one is significantly slower than the other as they are probably following different programs for different data harvesting. (Or just plain sandbagging).

Leave this kind of discussion for the quali (if needed).

Do we need to start manifesting for this weekend? Pray for some ancient god for luck?

In that case, I'm in!

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Myrna Loy (The Thin Man, Manhattan Melodrama, Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House)—Started out a slinky silent screen vamp. Became a screwball lead who had a blast drinking, being married to William Powell, solving mysteries, and taking her dog everywhere in the Thin Man Movies. Broke our hearts in The Best Years of Our Lives and played a string of dream wives. Remained hot the entire time. Decades of hotness.

Gracie Allen (A Damsel in Distress, Honolulu)— The funniest woman who ever lived, she was the brains behind an absolutely brilliant radio show that she did with her husband George Burns. The radio show was later turned into a television show (which you can find on Youtube) but during the radio days, it was announced that Gracie would be running for President of the United States for the year of 1940. She was running for the Surprise Party, and refused a Vice President as, according to her, there would be no room for vice in her white house. Her slogan was "Down with common sense -Vote for Gracie Allen." [more about this beneath the cut]

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Myrna Loy:

Myrna Loy excelled at playing coy women, so common in screwball comedies in the 40s. She batted her lashes, and shrugged with grace, and made her costars look like foolish heels next to her. She charmed with sneaky elegance, well-placed pouting, and repartee. Besides, she was sultry AF.

While Myrna certainly looked hot in some her earlier vampy exotic bad girl roles, I think shes hottest when her comedic chops got to be displayed. Her dry wit, comedic timing, and subtle facial expressions make her the queen of deadpan snark.

She's just very Mother

So beautiful and popular she was crowned Queen of the Movies in 1936, Myrna Loy was also an amazing actress. She's best remembered for The Thin Man and sequels, where she gets to show off her comedy skills, adding irresistible impish charm to her classic beauty and dancer's figure.

THE SASS

One of the few actresses who managed to successfully transition from silent to talkies, never won an Oscar but was at one time the highest paid woman in Hollywood. Advocated for better roles and pay for Black actors in the 1930s, so passionately anti-Nazi in the 40s she made Hitler's blacklist, spoke out against Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare, and advocated for fair housing in the 1950s and 1960s, all while being hot as fuck opposite William Powell, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy and a whole galaxy of the Hot Vintage Men Poll all-stars.

Cute as a button with so much RIZZ! She and whatsisname in The Thin Man are relationship goals.

She was literally called the Queen of Hollywood! She is so sassy and funny in the whole Thin Man series. Absolutely hot in those, and who doesn’t love a woman who can laugh? She had the sultriest gaze and that style! Also before she was a star she sat as the model for an iconic statue for a school (representing “Fountain of Education”).

the glamour!! the banter!! the comedy!!

She's got this cute kinda scrunched up face AND shes funny AND shes got a bangin body.

Gracie Allen:

Continued from previous propaganda: "We don't want to get rid of men entirely," Allen said, according to a story in the April 22, 1940, Indianapolis Star. "All we want to do is make them unconstitutional and keep them out of circulation, but have them handy when there's no place else to go."

On the Neutrality Bill pending in Congress: "If we owe it, let's pay it." On recognizing Russia: "I don't know. I meet so many people." On which political party she was affiliated with: "I may take a drink now and then, but I never get affiliated.""

She did have to drop out eventually, with World War 2 being on and all, but thousands of people still wrote her in anyway, even if the FDR won the popular vote in the end.  (https://www.jsonline.com/story/life/green-sheet/2016/03/31/that-time-a-comedian-won-the-wisconsin-presidential-primary/84944806/)

[sexhaver]

competitive Melee is a deeply inherently funny esport mostly because of Mang0. at his peak he would spend the days leading up to a tourney shit-talking on SmashBoards, then show up slam dunk drunk and win the entire bracket in the most disrespectful way possible. two specific disrespectful moments stand out:

Mang0 (Fox) vs SFAT (Marth) (skip to 3:25 if the timestamp doesn't work)

it's game 1 of a best of 3 set. Mang0 is at 4 stocks, while SFAT is already down to 2 and getting actively combo'd. someone in the audience, as a joke, shouts out "use the laser!". for context:

Falco's laser is one of the best projectiles in the game because it does hitstun, meaning it can interrupt enemies out of their attacks

however, Mang0 is playing Fox, not Falco. Fox's laser is mostly like Falco's, except instead of being good, it is not good. Fox's laser has absolutely 0 hitstun and takes a while to pull out and shoot. this means pretty much the only time it gets used in competitive play is to spam it during the neutral to hopefully rack up some damage without actually interrupting anything

not only is shooting SFAT with the laser while he's offstage a suboptimal choice, it gets even funnier when you realize that the obvious combo finisher anyone else would use there is Shine. Fox's shine comes out on literally frame 1, gives him intangibility, sends the enemy sideways in a way that's basically impossible to recover from offstage, and can be jump canceled on frame 2. Shine is not just the best move to use in this specific instance, it's not just Fox's best move, it's not just the best move in Melee, it is arguably the strongest move on any character in any fighting game ever made.

so of course Mang0 uses the laser instead of shining. the crowd goes apeshit, he finishes off SFAT's last remaining stocks in literally 15 seconds (demonstrating the actual power of Shine on the final stock). even though it's game 1 and he can theoretically make a comeback, SFAT is so humiliated by this that he literally just unplugs his controller and walks off stage. also this was during the era when Melee wasn't being streamed to a huge audience or sponsored or anything so the casters just said whatever the fuck they wanted, which gave us gems like "UNPLUG YOUR CONTROLLER, DAWG! FORFEIT!" and "WOMBO COMBO!!!!"

Mang0 (Jigglypuff with crown) vs HungryBox (Jigglypuff with headband) (relevant bit starts at 2:31)

for full context, Mang0 (along with most of the rest of the Smash community) and HungryBox had had a shitload of beef in the years leading up to this match. HBox famously used/still uses Jigglypuff, which pissed/pisses off other players because that playstyle is infuriating to face off against. you either get hit with rising aerial Pound 20 times in a row offstage or upthrown into a frametrap rest for instakills starting at 30%. because he is a deeply funny person, Mang0, of course, also chose Jigglypuff. he then proceeds to mop the fucking floor with HBox. the entire set is brutal but the bit i highlighted is the worst by far. HBox is down a stock and goes for a Hail Mary up-tilt into Rest combo. it might have worked if Mang0 was a bit more damaged and stayed in hitstun longer, but it misses. missing a Rest with Jigglypuff is an invitation for the opponent to use their strongest possible move/combo for free in any matchup, but it's probably the worst in the mirror match* because the other Jigglypuff can just Rest you right back for free. which is what Mang0 should have done here if he wanted to win.

instead, he just. jabs HBox. doing no damage or knockback and waking him up for free.

comparing the audience reaction from this match to the previous one is so fucking funny, because with the former, you could hear everyone laughing and losing their shit, but this is just... a collective gasp at Mang0's audacity. the commentators are struck dumb for a few seconds before saying "Mang0. that's disrespectful to everyone. to HungryBox. to me. to you..." before being interrupted by HungryBox killing himself to end the match and walk away

*yes, I know Roy can reverse his up-B on frame 1 to kill sleeping Jigglypuff from 0% on Pokemon Stadium. however, if you know this factoid, you also know that Roy is literally never used in competitive because he is Marth but with all the good traits replaced with bad ones, so stop being a smartass

[fairytale-poll]

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT POST!!!!!!!

The finals are over, so it's time to announce the winners for the Little Merpoll!

As always, thank you to everyone who participated! If you submitted characters and/or propaganda, if you reblogged the polls, even if you just voted, it was a pleasure having you! I've done fairytales poll before this & hope to continue for a while after this, and it's been a pleasure having you guys along for the ride!

Now, for our 5 winners.

The first winner to announce is the winner of the Mod's Choice poll! The Mod's choice poll is the "least important" of all the polls, as it has the least amount of contestants (this one had the last of any of the previous Mod's Choice polls) and are nominated simply based on which ones I like, but it holds a special place in my heart regardless.

This time, the winner was Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, who was also notable for being the runner-up for the Loser's Bracket. While I'm not as big of a fan of Madoka Magica as I used to be, I still love Sayaka, so it was delightful for her to do so well in the Mod's Choice poll & almost win the Loser's Bracket. Congratulations Sayaka and Sayaka fans!

But while Sayaka was the runner-up for the Loser's Bracket, she was not the actual Loser's Bracket winner. That honor goes to Mira from Dimension 20: Neverafter. While I haven't ever listened to Dimension 20, I was pretty about to see her take the win. After one Dimension 20 character won Red Riding Poll, no character from it ranked at all in Cinderpoll or in the main tournament for Little Merpoll, which is why I was glad to see Dimension 20 make a comeback for this Loser's Bracket. Mira's design is pretty cool, too, I love the pirate look. Congratulations for the win!

NOW, onto the MAIN TOURNAMENT WINNERS...

For our two bronze-place winners it's The Little Mermaid from the original Hans Christian Andersen fairytale & Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid 1989! To my surprise, it was actually the first time both the original fairytale and the Disney adaptation ranked! Honestly, these are some pretty good ones to rank, too. The original fairytale is a great read (and super short, so if anyone hasn't read it already, you should go do so) being both beautiful and poignantly tragic. Whereas the Disney adaptation holds up surprisingly well and is a beautiful piece of animation. Congratulations to these two bronze-place winners!

For the runner-up of the tournament is Bug from Starship by Team Starkid! I know that Team Starkid is very popular in certain parts of the Internet & the Starship itself did very well, but even then it felt like Bug was an underdog going up against giants like Disney, Studio Ghibli, and the original fairytale the tournament is based on, so I have to congratulate this guy for getting so far regardless! Good job, and I hope your fans are happy for you getting the silver!

Now, finally, the moment of truth-- the winner of the Little Merpoll, the certified best Little Mermaid as voted by Tumblr--

CONGRATULATIONS TO PONYO FROM STUDIO GHIBLI'S PONYO!

I watched this movie for the first time during the course of the tournament and it is truly a breathtaking marvel of animation, one of the best visuals I've ever seen for a movie ever. I will quote the propaganda submitted for Ponyo and say this little ham-loving girl deserved the win simply for the fact that there is no force more powerful than 5-year-old girls!!!

Our next tournament will be Best/Worst Modern Fairytale Adaptations. I'll open submissions up after a short hiatus, as I am in midst finals & will be graduating soon, which will take up most of my time in the next 2 weeks. See you for the next tournament at the end of May!

[xshingie]

Edouard Character Profile and Analysis: A second look at the man behind the bright-eyed smile.

Introduction/Context:

One of the most difficult challenges when analyzing Edouard’s character is that much of his backstory is enshrouded in mystery. The most we know of him is told through Annette, which necessitates peeling back layers from how Annette would perceive him with her limited perspective. 

However, we can look at history to construct what sort of life Edouard might have had, and what unique challenges he might have faced. By piecing together circumstantial details of Saint-Domingue’s theater culture, we can start to ask the questions: What might have shaped Edouard’s motives, ideals, and beliefs? What motivates Edouard’s character? 

So, let’s embark on a iceberg-level deep dive where I explore a potentially cynical interpretation of Edouard that hasn’t been examined before...

Note: Throughout you will notice certain words enclosed in brackets following the end of a sentence with a number. This references the cited source by author's last name or website name, which is listed in full at the end.

PART I.  Annette and Edouard, Revisited

1.1 Initial Impressions

I initially held the belief that Annette/Edouard relationship was intimately close -- closer than anything, family, perhaps bordering on romantic. There was something implicit in their connection through demonstrated character actions: (1) Edouard saving her from Vaublanc, (2) fighting side-by-side during the Haitian slave insurrection. (3) How Edouard chose to follow Annette to France without hesitation (4) how Edouard’s death affected Annette so deeply.

At the time when I had completed my first Annette/Edouard fic, I had written an in-depth analysis ("On the Edouard/Annette 'ship'") where I posited how deep their closeness must have been, and what they had meant to each other.

However, as I’ve let things sit in the fridge more, certain observations have made me reconsider. I believe they were 'close' in terms of trust when fighting alongside each other, but they didn't truly understand each other on a deeper level.

1.2  Re-Analyzing Sampled Interactions

Richter: Are you alright? You can’t be sure that was him. Annette: Those were his eyes.

At the time, I had thought that Annette recognizing Edoaurd’s eyes in a vastly different form was an implicit indication of their closeness. However, as mentioned in this previous post here ("Exploring The Narrative Significance of Edouard’s Blue eyes"), my stance now is that this speaks more to her own personal perception of how well she thought she knew him, rather than actually knowing him. 

Annette: Edouard believed singing was the soul's way of speaking. That's why, from pauper to statesman, everyone is drawn to music. He'd say that when he was on stage looking out to the audience, he could see the colors of everyone's soul. Mine was pink. He was wrong, though. Green is my favorite color.

When Annette recounts Edouard’s belief about singing and souls, there’s a wistful quality in her tone, sentimental and romantic with a subtle laugh. This scene can be interpreted in multiple ways -- perhaps she felt the notion Edouard held was silly, something she appreciated but perhaps didn’t understand or didn’t quite see it the same way he claimed. Note the visual storyboarding setup -- she is quite literally, reconstructing an subjective image -- her subjective image -- of Edouard as she speaks through memory. 

As I began to research more into Saint-Domingue’s colonial theatre scene, I began to understand on a deeper level what kind of environment Edouard was in. This led me to question why the only things we heard about Edouard from Annette was from a rosy lens. Of course, here I ought to extend some grace. When grieving, it is only normal human tendency to want to remember the best parts of someone. 

Annette: My sweet, beautiful Edouard has been turned into a monster conjured from hell.

But… Annette’s phrasing of “my sweet, beautiful Edouard,” combined with the fact that we only hear only rosy things, suggests me that either (1) Edouard didn’t share much about himself beyond his romantic ideals, and/or (2) Annette didn’t know him as well as she thought, perhaping lacked the capacity to understand him deeper with her framework of understanding at that stage in her life.

Another instance that may hint at this disconnect is when she finds NightCreature!Edouard, she offers to give him penance through killing him. 

Annette: I can make it quick, Edouard. No. pain [..] I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I thought that's what you would have wanted.

This situation, taken in isolation, is not a strong one. With limited knowledge of night creatures, Annette wouldn’t have known that Edouard could be cognizant or the extent he retained his humanity (his case being unprecedented in the animated Castlevania universe). However, this still highlights Annette’s tendency to jump to conclusions and take action first rather than seek understanding.

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PART II. Who was Edouard, Really? Constructing a Character Profile from History and Headcanon 

2.1 Saint-Domingue’s Political, Social, and Economic backdrop in context of French Colonial Theatre

At the peak of the Haitian revolution, the racial diaspora in colonial Saint-Domingue had evolved into a nuanced and complex one --  with the burgeoning rise of the mixed race population, some of which had amassed wealth and economic influence. Even within the mixed race population, there were nuances and subtleties regarding their rights -- i.e., a gens de coleur that would have been born free, compared to an affranchis, a slave that had earned their freedom. A mixed race person’s circumstances of birth governed mobility in what careers, ownership of property/land, voting rights, and strategic marriages/unions could be pursued (Maguire[3]).

Edouard was shown performing in the Comédie du Cap (also referred to as the Comédie le Cap), which became open to the public in 1764 and experienced a boon/bustle in hosting performances, ushering a peak of French colonial theatre all through the 1780s before the slave revolution sunsetted the end an era.

Background Art from the Portfolio of Mark Adams, Lead 3D Artist @ Powerhouse Animation, where he shares the design inspiration is from the theatre Comédie du Cap.

This theatre was situated in the heart of Cap‑Français. now known as Cap-Haitian. At the time, it was one of the wealthiest cities with its key strategic seaport location and boasting a diverse urban population, and eventually became a key staging ground for the Haitian slave revolt that sparked in 1791 through 1793.

A fun detail comparing the skyline of modern Cap-Haitian (courtesy of Wikipedia) and Cap‑Français as depicted in Nocturne. Note the similarity of the eminence of the peninsula that resembles a "widow's peak."

Note: Detail the specific theatres and setting will be important once I discuss Edouard’s transition from theatre to joining the maroons, or escaped slaves.

The theatre scene in Saint Domingue was complex social, political, and economic space that both (1) reflection of a system that reinforced the French hegemonic colonial presence, but also (2) may have influenced and challenged the complex social structures that arose through the eventual Creole influences in performances -- all the while serving as a melting pot where a diverse body of people convened to immerse themselves (the perception of) high-end French culture and music (Prest[6], Clay [1]).

As discussed, there were a lot of nuanced social ordinances, not too dissimilar to a caste system. The majority of theatre attendees were wealthy plantation owners, businessmen, stationed military, or visiting government representatives traveling abroad on business or behalf of the crown; eventually, gens de coleur and free blacks were admitted. Enslaved persons only of the audience if they were attending their masters, and were only allowed to perform under very strict circumstances (Prest[6]). Theatres also enforced French colonial cultural influence by primarily performing French pieces (as we know, African-influenced expressions of song/dance were greatly suppressed and theatre was no exception) (Clay[1]). Structural rules on theater seating arrangements and social fraternizing by race were also imposed.

With the vibrant diversity of individuals also came varying motives within the theatre’s social scene. People gathered to negotiate business or political deals, exchange ideas/sentiments regarding the current economic and political climate (sentiments that were growning increasingly tense as the revolution progressed). Wealthy gens de couleur saw this as an opportunity to enhance their social standing and economic influence, given Au Cap’s self-touted reputation for French sophistication and culture. It was also a place where less scrupulous motives were afoot, where colonists and soldiers would visit specifically to seek the company of the mulatto prostitutes (Clay[1]); or colored families would strategize in matchmaking for their daughters, tutted in well-spent attire, in hopes of being backed by a white sponsor (Powers[5]).

These details paint a vivid picture of Edouard's position within a broad social circle, ranging from the wealthy and educated, petit blancs, freedmen, and possibly even enslaved persons. By playing his cards right, Edouard could have gained insight into military, political, or business dealings and conversations happening at the time.

2.2 Edouard’s Unique Challenges, Motives, and Ideals

What drives Edouard as a character? 

Edouard clearly has a passion for song, and any opportunity he has to express himself so, he eagerly does. We also know that and he verbally espouses romantic ideals. If the theatre was such a place where people constantly tried to leverage to climb higher within the social and economic ladder, did Edouard ever have any similar aspirations or motivations? Or was he just content with the pure passion of singing and performing?

Edouard openly admits to being relatively privileged due to his birthright and likely enjoyed access to material possessions, given we are shown his inclination to accessorize with jeweled rings and the first thing he says to Annette is, “You’re stepping on my French silks.” As a side note, the theatre scene was also a place where gens de coleur often saw this an an opportunity to flout their wealth and proximity to french culture to up their social standing. Since fine goods (most fabrics in Saint Domingue were muslin/linen) from France would to be imported, and carrying/wearing something like silk in a social setting is to the effect of an opulent display of indulgence.

What other disadvantages or challenges Edouard might have faced?

We must also consider if Edouard faced any financial or economic pressures or constraints. As discussed, opportunities afforded for mixed persons depended on the circumstances of birth and their family's amassed wealth of social network and monetary resources. A subset of gens de coleur had indeed acquired wealth through merchant, administrative, artisanal, or clerical areas of business (Walton[8]). The primary passageway for a nonwhite to live or study abroad in France, i.e. to receive education, would be through sponsorship from a benefactor (Powers[5]). Was Edouard already born into wealth, or did he have to procure a benefactor or sponsor to fund/support his lifestyle? 

During this time, the majority of performers were imports from France during this era (Powers[6]). Since it was a challenge to retain native French performers in Saint Domingue, salary contracts customarily were generous in incentives for these white performers (Clay[1]). If Edouard was a native of Saint Domingue and of mixed-race origin, it is likely he may not have been able to levy a favorable salary contract with the theatre relative to his white colleagues. 

Although there were mixed race and black artists in performances documented in passing mention, the majority of their identities and names were lost (more likely, white people who left written records didn’t care to name them). The individuals who stood out enough to be recorded in history by name often had their talent begrudgingly acknowledged alongside backhanded remarks about their status or skin color in historical records. To obtain the opportunity to be be showcased as a soloist like we see in Edouard performing in Nocturne (i.e., the theatre agreeing to hold a named benefit in concert) especially for a mixed-race person, would have required a benefactor’s backing. The most well-known case was Minette and Lise, two affranchis both sponsored by Madame Acquire and Saint Martin (Powers[5]). This suggests that, given the disproportionate lack of named black performers in written records, Edouard would have faced additional hurdles to gain recognition and credibility as an individual artist. He would have had to overcome social stigma while competing against predominantly white contemporaries -- most black performers never achieved this. Additionally, he likely needed a benefactor to sponsor him to achieve headlining solo performances.

Although the culture of benefactors sponsoring performers is known in theatre settings elsewhere, I have not found conclusive source regarding what the environment for Saint Domingue would have been like -- the why and what constituting these arrangements, and each party’s respective leveraging influence in negotiation. I can only remark on what would be an inherent power disparity due to financial reliance -- it begets the question, what would the benefactor seek in return, and what would the performer be able to offer? (Note: I have written an analysis regarding 19th century opera scene in Paris where is a harrowing example where young female performers were exploited by their benefactors) However, I don't think circumstance have to be that dark -- perhaps Edouard came from a family who was able to leverage a business deal, or Edouard’s talents were remarkable enough to draw in an audience to generate revenue.

What were Edouard’s motivations, ideals, and beliefs? 

Annette: Why do you sing for these people, then? Edouard: I make them happy, and they loosen their tongues. You learn useful information that way.

If we revisit the above exchange with additional historical context, this exchange might be the closest insight to Edouard’s underlying character. It hints of an Edouard who is fully cognizant of these invisible, subtle barriers governing economic/social mobility within the different sub-classes, and is willing to engage in what types of flattery are necessary evils to grease interactions with socialites to acquire a favorable standing. 

Theatre played an important role inculcating the audience with not only French sentiment; pieces normally performed centered on themes of virtues of innocent love, pursuit of pleasure, tranquility and serenity -- a stark contrast to the growingly disparate mounting tensions arising in reality due to the oppressive political, social, and economic climate.  Issues like increasingly non-virtuous behavior of French men toward black and colored women, misery, corruption, and other intricacies of court and city. (Powers[5]) Edouard would have been singing and trumpeting about rosy ideals all the while reality was the opposite.

Edouard: It's in our hearts what matters, Annette.

Yet, some part of me now has to reconcile: to what extent these rosy ideals he spouted were truly ones that he believed? Given his explores to various facets of human behavior that shed a darker light, how can he say something like, "It's what in our hearts that matters”?  

Perhaps he was aware of this hypocritical farce, or perhaps that in spite of certain darker realities, some part of him did continue to harbor these romantic sentiments.

Some part of me can't help but speculate -- did he ever feel like an empty puppet within the society, effectively an empty puppet for the French crown?  Did he ever become jaded, if he ever witnessed greed, corruption, and indulgence?

All these details provide insight on not only the potential complexity of his personal circumstances, but also how Edouard would have required social acumen to navigate around  -- observing both things that would jade him (greed and corruption), but also engaging things that make him happy (enjoying the privileged life, being able to perform his passions). 

----

Part III. Annette and Edouard: Revisiting Their Relationship Yet Again, with Historical Context

3.1 What motivated Edouard to leave stage life to join Annette? 

If Edouard ostensibly was happy and comfortable doing what he loved performing and singing, what prompted him to join Annette to fight in the front lines, putting his life at risk for no good reason? 

This is actually a two-pronged question: Did Edouard leave of his own volition from a true character growth standpoint, or did he have no other choice to leave? Again, the timing and aligning of the history that occurred is a little murky If we look at the excerpted timeline courtesy from (Dayan[3]) as follows:

August 22-23, 1791: Slave Insurrection in the North

Sept 26, 1792: Cap Francais, the oldest, riches, and most densely populated city of the colony, burned to the ground by rebelling slaves.

June 20-21, 1794: Cap Francais again consumed by fires, and white inhabitants desert the island.

We know that the Comédie le Cap likely would have been burned/looted alongside the raid of Cap-Français in 1792 and faced subsequent closure. When Annette and Edouard blaze into the frontlines from the Vodou Ceremonial ritual, there is a shot of the same seaport view we were afforded, now on fire.

We also know that present Nocturne takes place in 1792. I am inclined to think that when Annette recalls taking up arms and Edouard is shown alongside her it would have referred to the August 1791 revolt, meaning that Edouard must have joined before the theater closed down. Maybe he had heard the disgruntled rumblings and saw the writing on the wall through the grapevine. Perhaps he had become jaded with the business of theatre. Maybe something about Annette's honesty, candor, and simple and straightforward nature inspired him to take up arms, too.

3.2 How well did they understand each other?

Edouard’s lifestyle was markedly different from Annette’s, full of subtlety and nuance. Ironically, what drew Edouard to Annette (her simplicity and candor) may also have created a fundamental rift in their ability to understand each other. At the start of Nocturne, Annette’s simplistic approach to situations would have prevent her from comprehending the nuanced aspects of Edouard's life -- a life that both granted him relative privilege and constrained his opportunities.

With Edouard’s background in interacting with various people, he is portrayed as observant, empathetic, and kind, as seen when he inquires about Maria’s connection with her birds. Being naturally emotionally attuned to others, he would have recognize Annette’s short-sightedness and tendency to make overly simplistic judgments without considering nuance. Knowing these traits, Edouard likely contributed less to their dynamic, often following her lead rather than suggesting his own ideas.

In conclusion, although Edouard and Annette were close, I believe there would have been certain things Annette wouldn’t have been able to understand about Edouard; ultimately limiting the depth of their connection before it was tragically cut short with Edouard's death.

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PART IV. Conclusion, Acknowledgements, and Further Readings.

tl;dr I way over-engineered a potential backstory for not even a side character that had less than five minutes of screentime in total probably 

If you managed to read all of this, thank you! I mostly write these character analyses for personal reference when I find myself struggling writing a character. Because  Edouard’s screentime in Nocturne is lacking, I had to substantiate insight with an unusual amount of research. 

I think I’m ready to tackle a writing story focusing on Edouard perspective now. 

Cheers! - Shingie. 

Citations: Works Referenced for Further Reading

Clay, Lauren R. Stagestruck: The Business of Theater in Eighteenth-Century France and Its Colonies. Cornell University Press, 2013. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1xx50x

“Colonial Society.” Traveling Haiti, 23 Mar. 2016, www.travelinghaiti.com/colonial-society-haiti/ 

Dayan, Joan. Haiti, History, and the Gods. 1st ed., University of California Press, 1995. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt5hjhnv.

Maguire, Léa. Haitian Soldiers at the Battle of Savannah (1779), 8 Jan. 2018.  https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/haitian-soldiers-battle-savannah-1779/

Powers, David M. From Plantation to Paradise?: Cultural Politics and Musical Theatre in French Slave Colonies, 1764–1789. Michigan State University Press, 2014. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt6t5.

Powers, David M. “The French Musical Theater: Maintaining Control in Caribbean Colonies in the Eighteenth Century.” Black Music Research Journal, vol. 18, no. 1/2, 1998. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/779400.

Prest, Julia. Review of Public Theatre and the Enslaved People of Colonial Saint-Domingue, by Julia Prest. The French Review, vol. 97 no. 3, 2024. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2024.a920002,

Walton, Charles, "Saint Domingue", The Digital Encyclopedia of British Sociability in the Long Eighteenth Century [online], ISSN 2803-2845, URL: https://www.digitens.org/en/notices/saint-domingue.html

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[la-principessa-nuova]

Hi i just got dropout and was wondering what to start out with, any nice tips? :>

Depends what specifically you’re into. I watch everything on there now, and I would categorize Dropout’s content into a few categories, so I’ll break it down by category.

Game Changer and Spinoffs

I started with Game Changer, and I think that is a very good first Dropout show because it introduces you to a lot of the recurring cast members, and since the game changes every show, you can either join in on the latest season or start at the beginning to get all the recurring jokes.

Make Some Noise I enjoyed more once I’d become familiar with the people doing it from other shows (plus it’s a spinoff of Game Changer, so chronologically it would come some time after the Game Changer episode it’s based on).

As a former theater kid, I very much enjoy Play It By Ear. It’s improv musicals, so i feel like you either hear that and absolutely must see it or you heard that and know you absolutely don’t want to see it, lol.

The D20 section

If you’re into D&D or think you could be, Dimension 20 is my favorite thing on there, and you could definitely start with that if you’re up for the long episodes. I’d recommend starting at the beginning with Fantasy High. Personally I really liked going through all the seasons in order so I didn’t need to figure out which ones were sequels and spinoffs of other ones.

If you’re going to watch Dimension 20 definitely use the “The Complete Experience” versions that have the adventuring parties (talkback) in between the regular episodes.

The order of the seasons has occasionally been flipped around in a way that puts one of the spin offs before the season it spun off from, so here is the order of the seasons so far, with some symbols I’ll explain after:

Fantasy High [I, F]

Escape From the Bloodkeep

The Unsleeping City [I, U]

Fantasy High: Sophomore Year [I, F]

Tiny Heist

A Crown of Candy [I, C]

Pirates of Leviathan [F]

The Unsleeping City - Chapter II [I, U]

Mice & Murder

Misfits and Magic

The Seven [F]

Shriek Week

A Starstruck Odyssey [I]

Coffin Run

A Court of Fey & Flowers

Neverafter [I]

The Ravening War [C]

Dungeons and Drag Queens

Mentopolis

Burrow’s End

Fantasy High - Junior Year [I, F]

The letters in brackets mean:

I - Intrepid Heroes season (the players are the main cast of players from the first season)

F - Fantasy High (this season is in the Fantasy High universe)

U - The Unsleeping City (this season is in the Unsleeping City universe)

C - A Crown of Candy (this season is in the A Crown of Candy universe)

I believe adventuring party starts during A Crown of Candy, so there is no talkback for the previous seasons. In general, you can watch the seasons that don’t have an F, C, or U in any order, but there are callbacks to previous jokes, especially in Adventuring Party, so I would say to watch any season with any letter above in order at least, and the rest it doesn’t really matter the order.

I watched them all in order except I gave up on Shriek Week because I wasn’t enjoying it and then came back to it when I was out of seasons to watch, and I saved Dungeons and Drag Queens until I was in the mood for a beginner adventure (plus Mentopolis started just after I finished The Ravening War).

Other TV-style shows

The first season of Very Important People just wrapped up, which is Vic Michaelis interviewing Dropout cast members who are improvising characters based on a costume they were put into without knowing what it was ahead of time. Like many other shows on Dropout, I got more into it the more episodes I saw. It could be watched first, but you’ll get more out of it from knowing who the person is that’s being put in costume to be shocked how different they look.

Dirty Laundry, which is a panel show where they share a secret/embarassing/weird fact about someone and then the panel members guess who it was, could be watched first, but the episodes with Dropout cast members as guests are more enjoyable if you know who they are.

Smartypants is a new show that just started. The show is them doing presentations, and I’m realizing I’m not going to be able to describe it in a way that doesn’t sound awful, but it’s good. This is a good one to watch earlier, I think. At least so far it hasn’t been highly dependent on inside jokes.

Um, Actually is very fun to play along with trying to find the mistake in statements about nerdy media. That you can watch whenever.

One of the first shows they did, Total Forgiveness, I would highly recommend. It’s only one season, but you might want to be familiar with Ally Beardsley and Grant O’Brien first.

I also liked Where in the Eff is Sarah Cincinnati

YouTube-Style Videos

Since Dropout got its start from CollegeHumor’s YouTube videos, there are some things that feel more like a YouTube video than a TV show (in the sense of less polish, shorter length, and/or the concept just being more like what you’d expect from YouTube)

The only ongoing one that I would describe that way (I think) is Breaking News, which is where they act like newscasters but they’ve never seen the words on the teleprompter and they have to try not to laugh as they say all the ridiculous things on there. Some episodes are funnier with more context on the cast, but most of them can be watched whenever, and there isn’t really any continuity to it, so any season can be watched in any order. I’ve only watched some of the past seasons and picked and chose the episodes to watch.

They also have all the old College Humor skits and stuff, and some of them have not aged well, but the Hardly Working series has a lot of good stuff in there, especially in the later seasons, that explains some of the running jokes across the platform.

Also all of Brennan’s A Message from the CEO skits are very funny (I think they’re all still on YouTube too, but they’re also on Dropout).

Early Dropout Content

The last category in my opinion is some of the stuff they tried to do early in Dropout where they were trying to grow out of the YouTube videos but didn’t yet pivot into what Dropout is now.

I already mentioned Total Forgiveness, which is from this era, but the only other thing I’ll mention is that they did some video podcasts during this time, and personally I really enjoyed Tales from the Closet.

There’s also just a LOT from this time and I’ve only seen some of it. They really tried some different things.

Summary

There is a lot of good content on Dropout, and it is the sort of thing where whatever you watch first you’re probably missing some inside jokes that you’ll then get next time they come up.

Having just thought about it all to write this, I’d say the best places to start are either Game Changer or Dimension 20: Fantasy High depending on what you’re looking for.

And then poke around at some of the shorter videos when you don’t feel like watching something long.

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries below:

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (Teixcalaan series)

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

Science fiction, politics, mystery, political thriller, series, adult

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (The Greenhollow duology)

There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.

When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.

Fantasy, romance, folklore, novella, series, adult