#even has a silly sounding name. it was widely practised

[y-junghyeok]

Synopsis: Megumi never thought he'd run into you again under this circumstance.

Timeline: First year. Maybe a bit after the Goodwill event.

Characters: Fushiguro Megumi.

Relationship: Friends from middle school. Huge pining vibe from Megumi.

Megumi denies he was able to comprehend romantic attraction back in his middle school days. He would do it to his grave if necessary to avoid the mockery from Itadori and Kugisaki. Yet, even in his fervent defence of his reputation, he knows there are witnesses to say otherwise.

It'd take very little for his image to fall apart the moment someone who knew him from back then spoke up.

Thankfully, most of them no longer live close to him to remind him of those halcyon days, but if he said that all of that is behind him, then that'd be a lie.

Not when you're this close, only a few districts away. If he wanted to meet you, then only one call would be needed to make that happen.

It would be smarter for him to steer clear of you. A civilian has no business getting tangled up in a sorcerer's business. Secrecy notwithstanding, it would be dangerous and unwise. The best decision for him to make would be to keep you at arm's length and pray that his feeling for you would fade.

He spent months to convince his mind to believe that, for all of it to crumble the moment he sets his eyes on you again. That warmth in his chest surges when he sees you, but there is something else with it. Something familiar.

Fear.

Your name is almost a prayer on his lips when he calls out to you. Dressed in your summer uniform, you look different from when he saw you last. More confident, more mature. Yet, there is that self-same brightness about you that always draws him in like a moth to a flame.

Now that he thinks about it, you'd fit perfectly in the hustle and bustle lifestyle of Tokyo. The image of a city girl is a perfect match for you while he cannot say that he blends into the metropolis the same way you did. But that'd make him right at home in front of this abandoned building, where spirits dwell.

And you, you stick out like a sore thumb, but he cannot tear his eyes away.

When you look back at him, your shock is changed into a smile he has grown too fond of. "Megumi! Why didn't you tell me you were a sorcerer?" Then, with a pause, you add, laughing. "Wait, that sounds silly, you didn't know I'm a—"

"—window." He finishes the sentence for you, the news ails his throat with a nauseating sickness. "How long have you been one? I didn't know..."

Caught in confusion, he frowns. This is not how he should approach you about this. Megumi clears his throat. When he speaks again, it's slow and deliberate. "Let's talk about this later, you mentioned seeing multiple cursed spirits in this area?"

It takes you a second to switch back into your professional mode, but it scares him the same that a second is all that you need. He listens attentively to you when you describe the situation and finds it unnerving how practised you sound.

His eyes follow your instructions while you point out the various areas where the cursed energy concentrates. You mention being careful in keeping your distance, but the amount of information you've accumulated makes him think otherwise.

He can surmise that you've been a window for a while, at least before both of you moved to Tokyo only a few months ago. The thought doesn't sit with him. He has known you for years and he only knows about this now. However, there are cursed spirits to exorcise and he knows better than to get distracted while working.

"All right," he cracks his neck, "I'm going in, you should stay away."

You switch back to your previous friendly mode with a bright smile, "Do you want me to set up the curtain?"

He snaps back, pupils blown wide, "You know how to set up a curtain?" Suppressing his temper, Megumi adds. "Never mind, that's not important. You don't have to worry about that, the area is isolated enough but..." He looks back at you with his eyes hopefully dead serious. "...we'll talk about this later."

You nod in confirmation with a smile that makes him think you don't know how harrowing this is for him. He pushes the thought back and squares his shoulder. Better get this over with so he can get to that conversation soon.

Fortunately for Megumi, the work has been an easygoing one. At most, he has to deal with two Grade 2 cursed spirits that haunt the hallways. By the time he returns, you remain by the gate with your phone out, too at ease for somebody standing in the middle of a deserted area.

He feels a headache incoming.

"Let's go."

You chime at his approach. "Megumi! Done already—"

He takes hold of your wrist and pulls you along with him before another word can spill out. All he can think about the moment he steps out of the building has been your involvement with the sorcerer world. He knows it shouldn't bother him this much, but it is.

"Wait."

He stops at your request and makes no resistance when you detach his hand from your wrist. Admittedly, he has been rough with his actions when he should've known better. You would be—

"Okay, let's go."

"Huh."

Megumi looks back at his hand, the one previously holding your arm. All you've done is change their positions, for him to hold your hand instead of otherwise. He turns to walk ahead before his cheeks heat up enough for you to see.

By the time the two of you talk at length again, he's sitting next to you in an ice cream parlour in Shinjuku. Close to your school, you mention that alongside the fact that the place would give the two of you enough space to talk without worries.

"You know how to put up curtains?"

Not knowing where to begin, he decides to bring that up. "I've never heard of a window that can use barrier technique."

You continue to lick on your cone while trying to collect your thoughts. "The manager I often coordinated with taught me how to do it," you explained, "Mishima-san noticed that I can use a bit of cursed energy so he taught that to me."

Megumi groans inwardly. Mishima has been one of the managers he works with, far rarer than Ijichi and Nitta. The man has an easygoing attitude that bothers him at times. Not to mention he often cuts corners if it's more efficient to save people. Megumi cannot understand how a man like him can continue holding his position, but without his shortcuts, he wouldn't have had the chance to meet you in this situation.

He doesn't know if he should thank or curse him. "Of course he did," Megumi mutters before asking cautiously. "You don't have any interest in becoming a sorcerer, right?"

"Oh," you say, "no, it sounds dangerous. I'm fine as is."

Megumi can see the honesty in your smile when you say it. Then, it's his turn to be self-conscious when you turn the attention back to him. "Megumi must be very strong since you decided to become a sorcerer," your eyes gleam with excitement when you look at him, "you cleared out that building with no time at all."

"Have you seen many of them?" Megumi frowns. "Sorcerers, that is."

You tap the side of your cheeks, contemplating, "I don't know... only a few times in passing. Megumi is actually the only one I talked to. I've never met a case where I worked with the sorcerers directly."

Megumi shrugs, "It's uncommon, but I happen to be in the area so Mishima-san sent the information to me directly. Seems like he trusted you enough for coordination. But—" He looks at you in the eyes and hopes that it would be enough for you to understand the severity of this "—if he vetoed the rules again, you have to tell me. Don't get yourself in unnecessary danger."

"Okay," you nod with a smile and that alone reassured him.

But what you say next makes him tense anew. "It's actually a relief to find out you're a Jujutsu sorcerer. You haven't stayed in touch at all since we moved to Tokyo, I thought you were avoiding me."

Megumi glances at you and the sadness in your eyes wrench his heart. It hurts enough that he can't face them, so he opts to stare at his ice cream instead. The cone has gone down halfway through the course of your conversation. He doesn't know what awaits him once he finished it, but he's in no hurry to find out.

"I was." He admits. "Not because I wanted to avoid you but because the life I've chosen is a dangerous one. You don't deserve to get tangled up in it."

You laugh, softly. "I'm grateful for your care, but let me make the decision next time, okay? Besides, the universe has a way of balancing itself out. For us to meet again, I don't want to miss this chance to reconnect."

"Mhm," he hums, not convinced, but he knows the moment he meets your eyes, his resolve would crumble. Finally, he sighs, "I suppose it's better to have you in my sight. Just..."

"I know," you say. "You don't have to worry about me, I'm sturdier than I look."

To demonstrate your point, you flex your arm and show him your "muscle." He makes a sound that he doesn't know if it's a laugh or a sigh. In the end, he doesn't try too hard to think about it. "Fine," he suppresses a smile, "but if you run into troubles..."

You pop your thumb up, your smile is more than enough to reassure him, "I'll let you know first thing."

That weird, yet familiar warmth buzzes in his chest again. He has felt this so many times before, always around you, always when he thinks of you. He has missed it, in these past few months being away from you.

Supposedly, it's not bad of an idea to keep you close again, he'll just have to do everything he can to keep you safe.

[thisnoodlewritesao3]

In The Calm, There Rose A Storm | Ushijima Wakatoshi/Reader

Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Sawamura Daichi, Reader/Original Female Character

Pairings: Ushijima Wakatoshi/Reader, Sawamura Daichi/Reader

Warnings: Minor Angst

Word Count:  3557

Summary:  Falling for Ushijima was far too easy - they do always say that opposites attract - but in the calm, there rose a storm.

A/N: This is the first part of a companion piece, the second part will the linked here.

---------

She’d met him a week into her first year of high school. They were complete opposites in almost every single way - she never minded that, though.

She explored the school, mesmerized by each twist and turn of the fateful path, eyes wide with purpose and joy. Shiratorizawa was intimidating - to say the least - every person who came here had a hopeful future, they were destined for great things. She never felt like she was destined for much, but she accepted it.

The sound of squeaking sneakers and balls slamming into the ground caught her attention; she all but ran towards the gym, peering her head around the door. Of course she didn’t have a single idea of what she was watching, but it was thrilling, seeing balls tossed into the air only to hit the floor with a heart stopping thwack. Her eyes followed the ball like it had the answers to life, not even moving when it ricocheted off and directly at her face.

Surprisingly, she hadn’t been killed on impact. Although, considering the pain, she might’ve preferred that.

The boy who had hit the ball - his name was Ushijima Wakatoshi - pulled her to her feet, offering one solemn apology before he turned back to the court. She jokingly yelled out that he’d need to make it up to her, because, “you did just try and kill me with one of those killer hits.”

She hadn’t expected him to turn around and nod, passing her his phone and motioning for her to type in her number. True to his word - or lack of words - he had messaged her later that night to arrange a time for a dinner. They both agreed that tomorrow would work for both of them; he bid her a goodnight.

She learnt that he didn’t talk often - unlike her, who never seemed to be able to shut up - when he did speak, it was blunt, straight to the point, not a single curve or wave. Definitely a one track mind. They talked about little things; about volleyball, and school, even dipping into his family life.

By the end of the dinner, she would have been happy to leave it at just that, but he asked whether she would like to do it again sometime.

Sometime turned into once a week, and by the fifth week, she asked if he would like to be her boyfriend.

----

They settle into a routine. Once a week, he takes her on a date. Most nights she would come back to his dorm, she would rub his muscles after practise and talk to him about her day. He’d agreed to let her call him ‘Toshi’, though it was like trying to break down a brick wall with a stick - he still refused to call her her first name - she’d tried to not be offended.

She didn’t miss little comments he made about her, not willing to admit how much they hurt because he was always blunt, his words always had something more harsh to them. She was just over-reacting. She was sure of it.

----

On one of their dates, her mind was preoccupied watching a couple a few tables over, a soft smile on her lips. He followed her line of sight, but couldn’t see anything interesting. “What’re you looking at?” he asked, trying to figure it out.

“Oh, it’s just cute that he bought her flowers.” She knew he wouldn’t get the hint that she wanted them - this was Toshi, after all; she didn't miss the wave of disgust on his face.

“Flowers are disgusting,” he sighed - he missed the way her face dropped.

“I think they’re pretty,” she muttered, stirring her drink absentmindedly, “you know every flower has a different meaning?” She asked, looking up at him. He obviously didn’t care, but that didn’t matter to her, “like roses are a symbol for love, daisies for innocence, forget-me-nots for remembrance.”

“That’s ridiculous.” He said, lifting his drink to his lips and taking a big sip .

“To you, maybe, but flowers are important to me.”

----

“Can I come watch you practise?” She asks one evening, running her hand through his hair - because in the confines of his dorm is the only place where she’s allowed to touch him.

Of course, he tensed up, he always tenses up. “No.” He mumbles, eyes not moving from his laptop screen.

“Why not? Just this one, pretty please,” she begs him, trying to break the cold exterior. She couldn’t understand how they’d been together for five months and yet he still refused to let her watch him practise - she wasn’t even allowed to come and watch his games. It hurt more maybe because she’d gone out of her way to learn about volleyball for him, for him she loved the sport. Of course she’d watch his games on TV, but it wasn’t the same. “I won’t say anything! I’ll just sit there. Or I could just wait outsi-”

“I said no, you’ll just be a distraction.” Now it was her turn to tense. But she quickly washed it away, forcing herself to remember that he does care about her. If he didn’t, then he wouldn’t take her on nice dates; he wouldn’t let her come back to his dorm; he wouldn’t let her be near him. But he did do those things, and for that she should be grateful.

She doesn’t want to argue with him, so instead she settles down, talking to him about her day instead. Even when her voice wavers, she doesn’t stop. Not for a while. Not until he says something that makes her heart crack just a little bit.

“You talk too much.”

An instant reaction of her jaw snapping shut before tears welled in her eyes - but he either didn’t care, or he didn’t notice - she chose to believe it was the latter.

----

Had she really made that big of a mistake coming to surprise him at practise?

She had thought that maybe he was kidding before - she should have known better. Especially when there was an anger deep in his eyes that scared her beyond recovery.

Of course they’d had to lock eyes just as he was going to spike; of course he’d had to miss it because he was too busy staring at her.

Her heart pounded in her throat as he dragged her around the corner of the gym, away from everyone’s prying eyes and ears. “I just- I just wanted to do something nice…” she muttered, looking away from him.

“I told you not to come,” he growled, his voice wavering more than he’d like it to, but that would be a thing to worry about later, “and look what happened. I messed up because of you. Because you were distracting me.”

She would have been more hurt if it wasn’t true - because she had distracted him, just like he said she would. “I’m sorry.” But she doesn’t mean it - not fully, at least.

To her, it was almost like a revenge - one he’d never know about. It was petty, she knew that, and yet she couldn’t help it. Her internal victory was cut short by the raise of his voice, “but you aren’t, otherwise you wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

She listened to his tirade, trembling with each word, fighting back the tears that threatened to break through. Every single syllable felt like acid against her skin, peeling her away until she was nothing of herself. And yet, somehow, she felt thankful - maybe it was because he was talking more words to her. It was sick. She felt sick.

----

She didn’t bring up his practise again, not unless she was asking him how it went. Even then he just grunted, saying, “I played as well as I always do.” And she knew it was right.

Nowadays when they were in his dorm, she didn’t talk like she did before, instead twiddling with her thumbs or massaging his aching shoulders whilst he watched a volleyball game on his laptop. If he asked her questions, she would answer, but the ache in her heart was too much to say anything more.

When they were first together, she was so sure she’d found the one that she was blinded; Toshi was smart, attractive, what more could she possibly want?

Apparently, there was more she’d need.

----

“You couldn't even put me first, just this once?” She hears herself say.

She’d been waiting at their usual cafe for their weekly date, the thing she’d clung to even when things became rocky. Of course he hadn’t shown up; he hadn’t shown up to a date in over a month.

“I told you I had practise.” His eyes show no remorse.

“You always have practise.” She scoffed, stepping back from him, crossing her arms under her chest. Even as she tried to sound angry, her voice was too soft.

“I can’t skip practise to go on a silly date.” This time she turned her head away, any emotion or care dripped from her face.

She feels her heart break. It’s harsh, makes her want to crumble to the floor, but then he would win and she couldn’t have that. “Whatever, I’m going.” She sighs, moving to walk away. He grabs her wrist.

“Don’t be like this.”

Her heart clenches. She wants to turn around and forgive him, but she just can’t. It hurts too much. Every day has slowly become more painful; she hated how she’d become just to please someone who didn’t even care.

Ripping her wrist from his grasp, she walks away. Each step was heavier, harder; when she was sure he couldn’t see her anymore, she crumbled, clutching her stomach. Choked whimpers escaping her lips. This is right. She told herself. You need to do this for you, because you deserve the world.

----

She didn’t go back to her dorm that night, opting to go back to her parents; they were surprised to see her, considering she normally only visited on the weekend, but with her red, puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks, they didn’t question it.

She didn’t have the energy to tell them what she’d been through with Toshi. There wasn’t a point - not in her opinion, at least. Instead, she said that she wanted to transfer schools. Of course, they were confused, but didn’t pressure her to speak.

Together, they came to an agreement, as long as she finished this year at Shiratorizawa, then she could transfer for her second year. She begrudgingly agreed, despite the bile in her throat at the idea of the school she’d once adored.

----

It almost hurts her at how little has changed. Toshi had never talked to her in class unless it was necessary, he never waited for her outside of the door; no wonder people were surprised when she told them she was dating him.

When she didn’t show up at his dorm that evening, he called her. She was surprised. In their entire 7 months together, he had never called her. She didn’t answer him. Not even when he called the second time. Or the third. Especially not on the fourth. By the fifth, she’d had enough, and blocked his number. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

It didn't stop there - of course it didn’t - this was Toshi afterall. A number she didn’t recognise called her, a voice she did recognise called out, “are you okay?” Tendou Satori. His voice was level but hinted at worry. “Toshi just called me saying you we-”

“We are over.” Venom. Pure, unfiltered venom. That’s what it tasted like saying it outloud. When her sentence was finished, she hung up, not giving him a second to argue with her. Instead, she shut off her phone and curled up.

----

He didn’t fight her about it, just like she’d expected him to - though she didn’t have to guess who had put the bouquet of flowers on her desk the next morning - purple hyacinths for forgiveness, lavender for devotion, even pink forget-me-nots. She couldn’t help the venom-filled thought that whisked through her mind, these would have been nice before, if only you’d have cared.

Gently caressing the leaves, she had to fight the urge to scream. She opted to toss them into the trash. Her skin felt hot. Everything she touched was another burning sensation after another. The entire day, she bit her lip to stop herself from crying.

----

Every single morning there was a fresh bouquet on her desk. Every single morning she threw them away. Maybe this was his way of trying to fight for her back - and even after everything she’d been through, her heart still yearned to forgive him.

She had to put a stop to it when he was waiting for her outside of the classroom with a large bouquet. “What are you doing?” She stopped herself from yelling, but the burning in her throat was enough to warn him. She felt sick just looking at him, he didn’t even look remorseful for what he’d put her through.

“I want you to talk to me.” He said - no, demanded, she could hear it in his tone; her stomach twisted. She couldn’t help but scrunch up her nose in disgust.

“You have practise,” she sighed, stepping past him, “isn’t that more important than doing this?”

She regrets her words the moment they leave her lips, she turns back just in time to see the bouquet fall to the floor. Something inside him breaks. She can hear it.

----

The day before spring break, she’s made to announce that she’ll be transferring schools. She can’t even look at him as she says it; most people in her class call out that they're going to miss her. He didn’t say a word.

Karasuno is much different to Shiratorizawa, and she has never been more thankful for that. Sure, it was far away from home, but she loved that. There was nothing here that could remind her of him. Karasuno was quaint and small, but just as lively - if not more so - she didn’t feel the aura of superiority in the air from every student who passed her. There were still people who mocked her for leaving such a powerhouse school, but they were few and far between. At Karasuno, she let her broken heart slowly heal.

Still, she remained quiet her entire second year, trying not to talk too much.

----

In her third year, she decides to indulge her adventurous nature, though she shuts off her mind, not taking the time to care as she had done two years ago. She thinks about meaningless things, like what she was going to do after school today, and what homework she needs to complete.

She doesn’t even realise that she’s walked herself in front of a gym until a loud voice calls out to her, telling her to move. She turns just in time to catch sight of the ball, preparing herself for an impact that never comes; instead the ball had been stopped, the forearm in front of her face told her she’d been protected.

She can’t help but remember him in the eyes of this stranger, though they look nothing alike - and he hadn’t protected her from the ball.

Sawamura Daichi, as she quickly learns, is nothing like Toshi. He quickly checks to make sure she’s okay, even tossing in a cheeky, “you should take me to dinner as a thank you for saving your life.” He was joking, of course he was joking, but she still pulled out her phone and asked for his number.

He called her later that night, after she’d messaged him, exclaiming that she didn’t need to take him to dinner and that he would be alright, I promise. She ignores him, asking when he’s next free.

They meet up that weekend, and she takes him to the cafe. Talking with him was effortless, and she even found herself talking just a little more than she normally would.

Nobody is surprised when they go on a second date, and then a third; days seem to go by so quickly when she’s with him. She is elated when he asks her to be her boyfriend - he is elated when she says yes.

----

“You should come watch me practise.” Daichi said in passing one day. Her mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water - she’d still barely managed to be okay with the fact he played volleyball, watching him practise might be too much for her.

“Wouldn’t I be too distracting?” Her voice is like a breeze, too soft. He can feel his heart shatter at the way her eyes start to shine - not with happiness, no, as if she were going to cry.

He cups her cheeks, brushes her hair behind her ears, looking at her firmly, “of course, but I’d love to have you by my side no matter what - besides, it’d be nice to hear you cheering my name.” He grins from ear to ear, pressing light kisses over her face. She doesn’t know whether to feel loved or not, but she settles on the former and allows herself to smile.

“I’ll come watch.” She says, rolling her eyes as he yells triumphantly, “but I don’t know about cheering you on, probably that Tsukishima, though.” Giggling as he lightly swats at her arm.

----

From that day, she comes to every practise - but not morning ones, her train wouldn’t make it in time - he invites her to every single one of their games, and she paints his number on her cheek every time.

When Karasuno plays against Shiratorizawa, she stands proudly, cheering so loudly right from the very beginning.

Ushijima hears her voice and he swears it’s like an angel is calling out to him; when he catches sight of her, his heart almost stops, she’s smiling so wide and so happily, wearing one of Daichi’s far oversized shirts and he can’t help but wish that she were cheering him on.

His heart caught in his throat. She was happy, but she wasn’t happy for him. He knew that; that point was only hammered in by Daichi looking up at her and waving so gleefully. The way she leaned over the barrier, blowing him a thousand kisses, he knew this feeling in his gut was jealousy. He wanted to destroy Karasuno in front of her, show her who she should be with. That she should be with him, and not some wannabe, not someone he didn’t dedicate as much time to volleyball as him.

----

After they’d lost, he wanted to sink into the ground. Of course we lost, she was such a distraction. He growled at his own thoughts. She still haunted him, and he didn’t even understand why.

“Oh, Tendou?” Her voice was soft as she greeted the redhead, it was obvious who she was waiting for, and still she decided to greet them.

“It’s been a while,” Tendou chuckles, “didn’t know you would be supporting the other team? What happened to your Shiratorizawa pride?” Confusion laced in her features before being washed away by a mild aggression.

“I go to Karasuno.” She said cooly, her words cutting deep into the blocker. “And besides, I’m here to support my boyfriend.” Her eyes darted in the direction behind Ushijima, but it was enough to make his heart stop. The grin that willingly tugged at her lips said a thousand words.

“I thought you hated volleyball.” Tendou kept trying to be harsh, kept trying to make her feel something other than her joy. It wasn’t working.

“I used to, but things change when you find the right person,” she patted his arm, smiling softly before turning around, “you played good.” She waved and ran towards Daichi, he opened his arms and caught her as she jumped, squealing with so much delight.

Ushijima could only watch the interaction with a bitter taste in his mouth. She nuzzled her nose against his, offering him so much praise. Not once did he let her go, not even as his coach protested the display of affection, not even when his team gagged. He only pulled her in closer; she felt pure, unadulterated love for him. There was no other way to see it.

Ushijima walked towards the team, wanting to be able to make some snide remark towards them. She pulled her eyes away from Daichi to meet his, any emotion dripping from her face. He cleared his throat, piercing his eyes into her, “can I talk to you for a minute?” He asked.

“Anything you need to say to her,” Daichi carefully put her down, making sure to wrap an arm around her shoulder, “you can say to all of us, Toshi.” He was being mocked - he knew that much. That nickname only meant that she’d told him about them. She looked up at Daichi adoringly.

“I told you you were a distraction.” He kept his voice level, but on the inside he was screaming.

Yet she didn’t flinch. She didn’t even look at him sadly, just pushed closer into Daichi’s side and hummed, “I’m not a distraction to the one that matters.”

He watched her as she walked away. Trying to understand why he wanted to cry.

“She seems happy,” Tendou hissed, putting a knowing hand on Usjijima’s back.

“She does.”

[realcube]

can i pls request denki and fem reader as rivals?

PRANK WAR WITH KAMINARI

navi | masterlist | taglist

thank you to anon for this request <3 i am 90% sure i’ve seen this trope before but i am unsure as to where- this is just a lil fun thing i wrote bc i can’t stop thinking about pranking kaminari- also shoutout to my followers who've been waiting for some sfw content

summary ♡ your plan to get revenge on kaminari quickly changes when he tells you the motive of his pranks

content warning ♡ balloons and general clownery 

you sighed, wandering through the hallways of the dorm building, heading towards the lounge in search of your friends. you held your phone close as you walked, paying to attention to your surroundings as you walked - which was your first mistake, considering the various attacks you’ve been a victim to recently.

not by the league of villains, no. but rather by kaminari.

so, you should’ve been surprise when you rounded the corner to the lounge, and were immediately met by a whipped-cream pie to the face, followed by the deafening cackles of multiple members of the notorious ‘bakusquad’.

“gotcha!” kaminari yelled through chortles, “you just got denki’d!”

⊱ ─────── {⋅. ⚡ .⋅} ─────── ⊰

a few months had passed since the little ‘pie incident’ and valentine’s day was fast approaching. 

after many failed attempts, you realised that you simply could not beat ‘kaminari, the great’ at pranks. whether that be in regards to the time you tried to do the ‘electrocuting gum’ prank oh him, completely forgetting that it’s have no affect on it, or that time you put toothpaste in his oreos and he ate them all with a foolish grin on his face as if they were delicious. 

you were able to acknowledge that trying to defeat him was a lost cause. however, you were far from a quitter.

valentine’s day was right around the corner and you had formulated a plan for the greatest prank of all time; this was going to completely humiliate kaminari in front of everyone, as payback for the many times he did that to you. you were going to ask him to be your valentine!

though it might not sound to epic with the summary alone, allow me to elaborate; you were planning on approaching kaminari at lunch with flowers, chocolates, your charming smile and a very special balloon. you’d ask him to be your valentine and when he says yes, you hand him all the goodies you were holding but just as he is about to take the balloon, you back up and use your quirk to burst the balloon from afar - then, not only will he shriek like a little girl, but he’ll be covered with bright pink glitter which will be stored inside the balloon! 

your plan was full-proof! it’d go down in the lunch hall so when you pop the balloon, the loud noise will grab everyone’s attention and when they turn around in search of the source, they’ll see kaminari sparkling! and even if kaminari declined your confession, you’d just pop the balloon anyway.

⊱ ─────── {⋅. ⚡ .⋅} ─────── ⊰ 

you practised your charming smile in the reflective metal spoon which came with you lunch, which you didn’t plan on eating until after you had your starting course of schadenfreude.

once you figured that your smile was perfect, you hopped up from your seat, grabbed your goodies and make your way over to the table that was usually occupied by the ‘bakusquad’; a place you thought you’d never go near under any circumstances but now, you were willing striding up to it, your arms full with presents. 

then your eyes landed on a certain yellow-haired boy so you tapped him on his shoulder, choosing to ignore the question look he directed at you and instead, said the line you had been rehearsing for weeks, “happy valentines day, kaminari!”

he quirked a brow, doing a double-take as the last time he checked, the real (y/n) would not be caught dead talking him, forget wishing him a happy valentine’s day. toga, is that you? “uhh, yeah. happy valentine’s day, (y/n).” he tried to say as casually as possible but it ended up simply sounding condescending. 

“i know we haven’t exactly got- the best history, kaminari. but you’re actually a pretty cool dude so i’d like it if we could put all that behind us. which is why i’m asking you if you’d like to be my valentine?” you stuttered, fixing your gaze on the ground as you twiddled your free finger; was it too coy?

well, clearly not as all previous suspicions that kaminari had about you being an imposter were immediately thrown out the window as he jolted up from his seat with a scarily wide grin, “seriously? y-you’re asking me to be your valentine?”

you stumbled backwards, your lips parting slightly before hastily trying to regain composure, “uh, yeah! i’m asking you to be my valentine. so, erm, is that a y--”

before you could even finish your sentence, your already poor balance was further disrupted by him tackling you with a hug, resulting in both of you falling onto the lunch hall floor. even though you were clearly stunned, he continued to tighten his grip on you and gush about how happy he was, “of course it’s a yes! are you kidding me, (y/n)?! i’ve had the fattest crush on you ever since i first saw you at the entrance exam-- you’re just so badass! why do you think i pulled all those pranks on you? i just wanted a crumb of your attention but i guess it got a bit out-of-hand.” 

as you sat there astounded, you mentally prayed that everything he was saying was nothing more than hyperbole or a joke, because if it wasn’t then you’d feel really bad about humiliating him in front of the whole school. “um, is this another prank, kaminari?” you inquired, slowly trying to slip out of his grip but he only pulled you in closer. 

“nope!” he chirped, retracting his neck when he noticed that you came with gifts, “oh, are these for me? sorry, i didn’t get you anything.” he frowned, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck until an idea struck him, “but if you want, i could take you out to get fo--”

you rapidly shook your head, successfully squirming out his hold, gathering your gift before hopping onto your feet, “uh, no, it’s fine! these aren’t for you! they are for..yaoyorozu!” you blurted out the first name that came to mind and internally cringed when he prompted you to elaborate, “well, they are..thank-you gifts for all the times she’s tutored me! she’s a real star.”

kaminari blinked several time before snatching the balloon out from where it hovered beside your head, “but it’s shaped like a heart.” he muttered outlining it with his fingers, resulting in you quickly dropping all your other possessions to get a firm hold on the balloon so your try pry it out of his hands as now that he had admitted his true feelings for you, it would be immoral for you to embarrass him.

“uh, well, she’s a great teacher! she has my heart!” your tug on the balloon was just as forceful as your smile. 

“but i’m your valentine, i should have your heart!” kaminari yelled as he pulled it towards his chest, with little regard to the many eyes that now lingered on the pair of you - it was just a game of tug-o-war with a glitter-filled balloon. 

“kaminari, don’t be silly!” you rolled your eyes, trying to focus on ensuring that your grip on the balloon wasn’t too loose or too tight, “how about you take chocolates instead?”

“i feel like you’re trying to hide something from me.” he narrowed his eyes, his strength not faltering, “you can’t keep secrets from me, babe!”

you snickered, playfully kicking his ankle, “we’ve not even been together for a 5 minutes.” you winced slightly as he reciprocated your kick, “just give me the damn balloon, de--”

pop!

[amuseoffyre]

October Prompts - 18th

Prompt - Kiss of Death

Alice squeezed through the crowds to get to her dad and nan. She was hugging her violin against her chest as she pushed between all the grown-ups and around the chairs.

“There you are, cupcake!” Dad reached out and gave her a big hug. “Well done! You sounded brilliant!”

Alice beamed.

They were doing a big show at the centre and everyone was allowed to show something. They even let her play a solo, because she was doing so well in her violin lessons. Nan had come along especially, even though she hardly ever went out anymore.

“You played very well, my love,” Nan said, her smile making her face even more wrinkly than usual. She was sitting in her wheelchair “It was very lovely music.”

“Thanks, Nan,” she said happily. “I’m glad you came!”

Nan nodded. “I’m happy too,” she said. “I used to love this place. Do you remember when we played in the garden, Keisha? Umma gave use such a beating when we came home all covered in mud.” She chuckled. “We couldn’t sit for a week, then we came back and did it all again, eh?”

Alice looked worriedly up at dad. His smile turned a bit sad. “This isn’t Keisha, mum. This is Alice. She’s my little one.”

Nan stared at him, then at Alice. “Ah…” She smiled again, but she looked confused. “Ah, yes. Alice.” She shook her head. “My old brain playing tricks again.”

“S’all right, nan,” Alice said, leaning down to hug her. Nan was so small and all bones and wrinkles. “I don’t mind.”

Nan nodded, still smiling, but it was a sad smile like dad’s. “Maybe, you can take me to the garden,” she said. “I can show you where we played.”

Alice’s dad nodded, taking the handles of the wheelchair. Alice reached out to take Nan’s hand, her thin brown fingers so bony in Alice’s.

“The garden is so big now,” Alice said. “Uncle Tony has a gardening club and they even have food and stuff growing.”

“Ha! They do?” Nan grinned. “When I came here, it was only grass and some flowers. They – the other children – they said we wouldn’t be allowed in.” She chuckled again, rocking back and forth in her chair. “They said he wouldn’t let us, Mr. C. They said we were dirty.” She leaned closer to Alice. “Do you know what he said to them?”

Alice shook her head, wide-eyed.

“He said,” Nan confided, “the only people who would not be welcome in his garden were the people who tried to keep us out.” She nodded again, happily. “He told me I was like a lady he knew once. Said I was always welcome.”

Alice squeezed her hand. “He sounds nice.”

“Oh, he was,” Nan said with a happy sigh. “He always had biscuits, the best biscuits you have ever tasted.” She laughed again, shaking her shoulders. “I always took two. I hid them in my pocket. I think he always knew!”

Nan had so many stories about the time when she was little. She had come to England on a big ship with her mum and dad a long, long time ago. Those stories, she always told the best. She even remembered the colour of the blankets on the ship. Sometimes, she couldn’t even remember dad’s name, but the ship blankets and the first soup she ever had and all kinds of silly things that weren’t very important.

Dad wheeled the chair out of the door and it crunched on the gravel outside. He had to push it extra hard, until Nan was sitting in the middle of the garden.

“The flowers are so lovely,” she said, looking around happily. “I was not allowed to touch them when we came here.”

Alice frowned. “But you said–”

“I said he let me into the garden,” Nan said, chuckling to herself. “I did not say I was a good gardener. If I touched a plant, it would surely die, so I was not allowed to touch the plants and so they did not die. He called it the finger-kiss of death. I had to be very careful.”

“So what did you do?” Alice asked, puzzled.  

“There!” Nan pointed to the place where uncle Tony had a small wooden shed. “That was our place.” She tugged on Alice’s hand. “There was no shed before, you know. We had buckets and a shovel and he let us dig for worms!”

“Yuck!”

Nan looked offended. “Yuck? Worms are useful, child! My father, he would take them. He would go and fish when he could. Not well, not in the big river. It was very dirty then. So dirty and smelly. But sometimes, he caught a fish from our worms.”

“Sounds like grandad, doesn’t it?” Her dad was leaning on the handles of the wheelchair, but the chair creaked when he straightened up. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to disturb you!”

Alice frowned, turning to see who he was talking to, then beamed. “Uncle Tony!”

Uncle Tony had come out of his secret special house at the end of the garden. He laughed. “It’s fine, Michael. Thought I’d pop out and say hello.” He smiled at Alice. “I could hear you playing through the window. Sounded good.”

Alice wriggled happily, hugging her violin. “I practised lots.”

Nan let go of her hand and Alice squeaked in alarm when she pushed her hands against the armrests of the wheelchair.

“Nan! You can’t–”

“Mr. C?” Nan got up on her wobbly legs and was staring at Uncle Tony, as if she’d seen a ghost. She did that a lot with people she thought she knew. Everyone said Uncle Tony’s dad and grandad had looked after the building before him. Maybe he looked a lot like them.

Uncle Tony walked closer.

She’s mixed up, Alice wanted to tell him. She has a bad bit in her brain. She gets confused.

Uncle Tony was smiling, though, and Uncle Tony’s smile made all the scary, worried feelings go away. “How have you been, you little rascal?”

Nan beamed up at him, big lines curling around her eyes and mouth. She looked so happy and bright and tottered forward a step and hugged him.

“Sorry,” Dad said again, quietly. “She– she has her moments.”

Uncle Tony shook his head, his arms around Nan. “It’s all right. Doesn’t do any harm.” He rubbed Nan’s shoulders. “How about I take her in for tea and biscuits and you can go and have a chat with your friends, eh?”

Alice glanced back at the hall. Nicki and Sanjeev were both there and she really, really wanted to go and show them the new pokemon she’d caught.

“I don’t know,” Dad said. “I mean, she’s– she might not–”

“She can behave herself, can’t you, little miss?” Uncle Tony said with a smile down at Nan, who cackled at him. “Breaking a habit of a lifetime, eh?”

“I always behave,” Nan said, grinning so widely the gaps where her teeth were missing showed.

“And we both know that’s rubbish,” Uncle Tony said, as he helped her back to her wheelchair. “How about it, little Eve? Want to come in for biscuits?”

She stared up at him. “Into the house?”

He nodded, crouching down and clasping her hands. “Special occasion, eh?”

Nan gave him the biggest smile Alice had ever seen, then waved one hand at Michael, like she was the Queen of something. “Away,” she ordered. “Mr. C will take me for tea and biscuits!”

“Are you sure?” Dad said, as Alice grabbed his hand.

“I think we’ll be fine, eh, Dora?” Uncle Tony straightened up.

Nan nodded happily, reaching up to clasp his hand. “Off with you,” she insisted. “You know where you will find me when you finish.”

Dad headed back towards the church, Alice clinging to his hand.

“Dad,” Alice said, looking back over her shoulder, watching Uncle Tony wheel Nan into his house, where no one else was allowed to go.

“Yeah, love?”

“How did Uncle Tony know Nan’s name?”

[pffbts]

If possible I would like to request an imagine with Namjoon. Y/N and Namjoon were slowly drifting apart due to Namjoon job. It got a point we’re Y/n though about breaking up with him but Namjoon is also aware o the situation btw them and make Y/N change her mind. Hope it wasn’t too confuse. Thank love you work 💜

―genre: fluff; angst; crack.

―pairing: namjoon x female reader | no supporting character.

―w.c: 1.8K

―author`s note: this was supposed to be a little drabble like imagines and now it looks like a whole fic. i`m sorry if this isn`t what you expected. but nevertheless, i tried and i probably sound like an emo fool after writing such fic as below. thank you for sending in this idea, i hope you enjoy it as much as i did writing it, baby! much love

[05:09 PM] [cherry blossom outside the large transparent window while the afternoon sun covers half the stature of someone`s significant other]

― the girl beside his desk has an eye for him. namjoon knows all about it and it wasn`t that which made him feel anything special. he sighed, as he glanced over to his computer screen. suddenly, the tie around his neck felt too tight. then he looked at the right down corner of his computer screen, the time saying almost 10:00 P.M. you must be drastically worried. or maybe not.

this has been a regular thing now. namjoon don`t even have time for himself. how could he manage to keep track of his live-in girlfriend? it`s been exactly two years, eight complete months and thirteen days that namjoon confessed about his love for you in front of his present shared home with you. at that time, you weren`t staying with him. you were just a casual visitor, a thread of movies and books that kept you going with him for hours and hours of conversation.

it was spring at that time and the cherry blossoms look ethereal, especially falling across your face that glowed time to time as namjoon`s words for confession flowed with each passing seconds. he, after three months, revealed that he had practised it for almost fiftieth time just to get it completely perfect in front of you.

the girl next to him kept looking at him. he let the tie get loose with the single tug of his forefinger across the knot. the clock said 10:27 PM – what? it has already been almost half an hour? namjoon shook his head microscopically and pushed his chair back, and got up picking up all the printouts and folders stacked on his desk. the girl next to him – what is her name again? who knows? – shot her eyes up to follow his movements.

namjoon ran across the parking lot. the clock said 11:03 PM. he felt fucked up. he wanted to stop you from leaving him. yes, it has been his fault all along. after all, the sudden promotion at his office got with a hectic, piled up works and along with that the constant pressure of keeping you happy. no, what the hell is wrong with him? how can he call the mere presence of yours in his life, as his lover, as the only woman in his life now that his mother is up in the sky, a pressure? sure, his mother isn`t smiling right now. she must be looking down at her son while he drives past the restaurant he first met you, thinking that this isn`t the son she raised.

namjoon knew you were tired. it started showing when you stopped staying up late for dinner at the dinner table when you stopped sleeping face to face with him when you stopped mending the little decoratives on the cupboards that he broke without any warning. he could see all the signs and if your eyes ever met his, you would only smile – but that smile wasn`t a smile of someone still in hope, it was the smile of someone who slowly fades away.

he parked the car in the apartment garage and pulled out the keys. of course, the door is all locked. he quickly climbs all the stairs and when he finally opens the door of his shared apartment, he could only hear the sound of his loud heartbeat pumping enough blood to take in anything. the sight of your white coat still hanging and all of your shoes – namjoon counted them, just out of habit – sneakers (one blue and one white), beige coloured stiletto, and another blue dockside and oh, there`s the recent one – a block heels. namjoon smiled and as the counting of your shoes finished at the back of his mind, he slowly with no sound took his own shoes off – a mere office shoe (nothing interesting, just the normal black ones). he placed them very cautiously beside his own black vans.

he unbuttoned his white shirt while still walking with pressed steps towards the bedroom. the dinner was covered at the dinner table, but namjoon was in no mood for that. his appetite had been gone for the last couple of hours after the constant scrutinizing gaze from the female co-worker beside his desk to the words of his boss while he handed him another stack of folders.

namjoon simply wanted to face you while he lies down on his bed tonight, if and if only while he completely takes off his shirt in front of the bedroom`s door, he could see the calm and sleeping figure of you in his and your bed.

the grip from his shirt loses and it falls down without any sound – just like you went away.

*

the empty bed was enough information, actually, no, the empty closet was enough information that you had left him. wait, does that mean, you got new shoes? or wait, maybe you didn`t even think of it and walked out in your slippers. how many times? how many times has namjoon told you not to walk around the place outside the home in your slippers?

namjoon let out a burst of hysterical laughter – as if he`s completely lost all his senses. this isn`t what promotion means. promotion comes with stability, marriage plans, babies and a lot more of that. what was he doing? he was accepting stacks and stacks of folders each night, coming home past midnight, getting eye fucked by some creepy co-worker, not giving a single loving kiss to his girlfriend every time he goes out for office – you ask why – because when he leaves, it`s early morning and you never woke up before 8:00 AM ever in your life.

he went for another drive, all through the traffic, passing the same restaurant now that it flocks with a countless number of people at 04:34 PM next day. namjoon has taken half his day off today just because his boss couldn`t stop seeing his first-class employee getting a stroke in the completely air-conditioned office.

namjoon felt the same kind of heart beats coming back to life after last night when he somehow silenced them by counting your shoes. huh, god this isn`t the time to think of counting shoes. like who the fuck counts shoes to slow down your heartbeat? normal people would look at stars, count the stars, count the clouds but no, your lover, your pathetic yet silly lover, kim namjoon counts your shoes every night he comes back home just to confirm if you`re still putting up with his recklessness.

he never used the doorbell at your little apartment. he always knocked – three times in a row. he remembered you saying that, three knocks equivalent to – kim (knock) nam (knock) joon (knock). no, it wasn`t just him who was pathetic, you sound stupid too. it`s not just him who has three syllables in his full name in the world. but, then he remembered you said that no one knocks the doors these days. they always use the doorbell.

when the door opened, namjoon felt like he needed a sunglass, and a tube of sunscreen because you looked too vibrant as if pushing the literal sun to its limit.

“namjoon?” so that`s how your voice sounds like? so that`s how the sun sounds like?

his senses came back and soon his furiously beating heart dropped to the deepest pit hole inside his body. you had never used his full name, not until the second day of your and his meeting at the restaurant. you always called him ‘joon’. you were always – joon this, joon that, joon take care, joon good morning, joon…joon i love you.

he pushed you inside the room and went down on his knees, his hands tightly holding your side. namjoon cried like there was no one in front of him, like the main door of his girlfriend`s little apartment isn`t wide open, like the tint of the warm sunlight isn`t warming up his hands that gripped your sides as support.

“i`m sorry! i`m sorry!” he wailed like a baby, “i was confused. i was so fucked up with all the promotions and the constant work pressure that i forgot i had the biggest priority back in my home. our home.” he looked back up at your face to see that your eyes weren`t looking away from him, they were filled with tears and down on him. “i told my boss that i`ll leave the post and go back to being the normal employee. i can`t afford to lose you again. not when no other person is there for me. i don`t want to become lonely again, y/n! please come back!”

“joon! no” yes! namjoon`s insides yelped with the tiniest bit of hope. you called him joon again. “don`t say things like that – you`ve worked hard for that position that you have took up today. i know the work pressure went up but i really didn`t expect you to stop caring about our side altogether.” namjoon shook his head against your thigh as his face remained pushed against it. “you know what? i was really feeling stupid when i walked out because it was only when i looked down at my feet after coming here that i realized that i was still in my home slippers.” stupid, namjoon said to you in his mind. “i thought i could just pull you by your tie and make you sit with me and talk it all out. i was really stupid, right?”

you went on your knees just like namjoon. even on your knees, you were shorter than him. how silly! how cinematic the view looked! you took hold of his face and in a slow, soft and stern voice, you asked, “where`s my kiss, stupid?”

the clock read 05:09 PM and namjoon witnesses the first cherry blossom of the arriving spring outside the large window and then his eyes looked upon the sleeping figure of you – his significant other, facing his side, the setting sun over half of your stature.

namjoon could still tell how much abandoned your lips felt like.

[jakattax]

You wanted a scary story, I’ll give you one

May I introduce you all to St. Botolph’s Church, Lincolnshire (aka Skidbrooke church, aka demon church)

A 13th century Anglican church near the market town of Louth in my home county. As you can see the church is disused, abandoned and was declared officially redundant in 1973.

Like all abandoned buildings, especially places of worship, ghost stories abound. The church is widely regarded as one of the most haunted locations in Lincolnshire with tales of phantoms, demons and satanic activity.

https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/1891120/the-most-haunted-derelict-demon-church-in-the-uk-has-been-cursed

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bostonstandard.co.uk/news/offbeat/lincolnshire-s-top-8-terrifying-and-bizarre-paranormal-cases-1-8190903/amp

https://hauntedhistoryoflincolnshire.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/surrounding-areas/skidbrooke/

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.louthleader.co.uk/news/experts-claim-church-is-paranormal-paradise-1-1015932/amp

https://youtu.be/mZdlERW6iJI

So the story goes is that a coven of satanists performed dark and profane rituals in the church in the 1970’s and 80’s and there was a resurgence in 2004 of animal sacrifices, occult symbology and evidence of fires being burned. Now any self respecting occultist will know that just because a pentagram is involved and a few chickens were sacrificed it does not make it satanic (well certainly not LaVeyan Satanism which was at its most popular in the 60’s and 70’s as killing an animal goes against the tenth Satanic Rule on Earth) and that the deeds could have been carried out by any magical practitioner. It just sounds more dramatic and spooky to blame the satanists.

Anyway.

Skidbrooke church has a very menacing and a very infamous reputation among pretty much every one in the county, it becomes a rite of passage almost to go there and check it out. And so I did.

It was perhaps 4 years ago around midsummer and my best friend Dom decided he wanted to drive to the church and see what ghosts and ghouls we would encounter. This was a point where my occult side was just one of my many eccentricities, I certainly wasn’t an open magician yet so I was asked to tag along. It was myself, Dominic, Laura, Yas and Sam.

The drive from Grimsby to Skidbrooke isn’t long , probably around 40 minutes through the gorgeous Lincolnshire wolds, just expansive farmlands and rolling hills of woodlands. Proper farmers country. I remember the drive profoundly well because I was desperate for the toilet, and these long country roads don’t really have lay-bys. I was genuinely on the verge of pissing myself and Dom refused to stop until I threatened to piss in his new car and he eventually found somewhere so I could relieve myself. Weird diverge i know but I need to recount the tale from memory.

So we got to the church, or should I say the gated road that leads to the church. It was twilight so the sky was that beautiful dark orange colour, just as it meets the pale blue. The sun was setting and darkness was coming. The thing about Skidbrooke church is that it’s in the middle of fielded land and the only way to it is to park by the road and walk down a small country road to it. The road towards the church is gated off so driving there is not an option. The fields were wide and open so the sound of the wind and rustling of nearby trees were quite loud. Sound carried very well. It was very children of the corn, as in the grass in this field was huge. Very daunting, very atmospheric.

So off we went. There was definitely a sense of fear among us all, but we were quite jovial about it all, it was thrilling, fun almost. Dom and Sam are sceptics, they were adamant nothing was going to happen. Yas and Laura weren’t really 100% comfortable, especially when I was boasting that I was going to stir the supernatural pot. In all honesty I had no intention to perform a ritual as I didn’t have any tools or books with me to do so, I was just trying to spook my friends.

The thing about the church grounds is that they’re well kept and groomed. It’s a grade I protected building so I imagine the national heritage employs some poor bugger just to keep the grounds tidy. And it was a functioning church until the 70’s so it’s only respectful to keep the graves nice and clean. It was quite an awesome sight to be honest, the building is quite beautiful. Dom and Sam weren’t so much afraid of ghosts and Demons but more if the church was used by homeless people who might take umbrage to us poking around. We swept the graveyard before entering, just to make sure no one was around who’d fuck with us.

And we were indeed all alone. And so we entered the church proper.

An abandoned church is a bizarre thing. No pews, no altar, no stained glass, just a large bowel of rotting stone and pigeon shit. That’s what hit us, just the smell of dirt and decay. The only features that remained was the heavy oak doors, everything else was gone. From a place that is steeped in centuries worth of devotion and joy is now just a stone skeleton, forgotten in the middle of a field in England.

What struck me probably more than my friends was the heavy atmosphere of the place. Not saying necessarily negative but certainly a strong, musky and intense heavy energy attached to it. We explored the building briefly but honestly it was just a big empty room. It was getting progressively darker and I think we were all starting to spook ourselves a little.

So me being me, I rallied the troops and said I was going to call out. Now I applied no serious occult method here, I just gathered my friends and did the whole “I call beyond the veil, make a noise if there are spirits present” routine. I specified that if Spirits were present they should make themselves known by knocking on the oak doors. I added some flourishes to my calls, adding the names of Malach Ha’Mavet (an angel of death) and some other terms just for the dramatic effect. In hindsight very silly of me to do, but I just wanted a thrill, a bit of a spook. The worse thing was is that it was enough for Yas and Laura and they wanted out. Very douchey thing of me to do really, just to scare them for the sake of it.

We decided it was probably best to leave now. We were all realising that we’re in the middle of nowhere in the dark and me being that weird occultist was trying to commune with the dead (again in actuality I did no real magic here, bit of foolery) and me realising that I’ve scared my friends I didn’t feel too proud of myself so we go.

Our pace is significantly faster as we go back down the road to the car, now it is fully dark so we’re relying on our phones to light the road. Sam walks ahead with the girls, me and dom walk slower behind as we smoke. We decide to look back on the church, and it looked just damn ominous now under cover of night. And that’s when we saw something, or perhaps someone.

On the small belfry tower to the left of the picture, standing on top of it was the distinct figure of a dark shrouded man. It was faint to see with the figure being black against a dark sky and it was very small but it was there. It’s horribly cliche to see a dark hooded figure but that’s what we saw. Hard to define as we were a distance away but it moved and swayed in the wind violently. We thought it was a flag but as you can see there is no flagpole.

It’s fair to say we lost our shit and pelted it to keep up with Sam and the girls. We told them what we saw and they thought we were fucking with them. We were all now running back to the gate and the car. I did look back a few times but couldn’t make anything out. Back to the car and were out of there to a local pub to calm our nerves.

Was it a ghost? Was it a flag or natural phenomenon? I don’t know. It could entirely be a trick of the mind, and it could have easily been a ghost upset at petulant kids poking around his church. Or it could have been demonic, a force stirred up by the sorcery which profaned the hallowed ground. Even though I’m a practising magician and I’m use to stirring up spirits to some tangible form, it’s still chilling to see something out of the blue. Did I unintentionally summon something with my pseudo-magical calls?

In all honesty I put this one to a case of psychology. I think due to the atmosphere, the fame of the building, the situation we put ourselves in we were simply seeing things the mind wanted us to see. We went looking for s ghost and we got one. In the darkness the mind plays tricks, let alone when your in the darkness in an abandoned ‘satanic’ church with a history of haunts and black magic. Yet also as an occultist and magician I must acknowledge that places do indeed carry on the scars of magical influence, a church is such holy and sacred ground that it inherently carries vast potency, especially a church that has been there for 700 years. And i must acknowledge that “satanist” or not, groups of people do gather at the church and vandalise it with pentagrams and carry out rituals, so it is soaked in the supernatural.

Whatever we saw, if we saw anything at all was more than enough to scare away. I haven’t been back to Skidbrooke, but being a more responsible, learned and all around proficient magician makes me want to. Not to try and stir anything up, just to investigate with a more clear head.

Want to come with me?

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Remus is Matt Hitt…

I FIXED THIS POST!! SORRY KATE!! 

Hi Kate @curlyremus Happy 🎂 sweetie!! Some of us on WDS put this silly drabble together for your 🎂, incorporating as it does your one true 😍: Matt Hitt ;)

@nagemeikenu @confunded-gryffindor @letsdothepanic @meandminniemcg

and I contributed (I think!! apologies if I missed anyone else!!)  but this is from everyone on WDS:

                                           xoxoxoxoxo

“🐶!”

Teddy was basically squealing at this point, and Remus was already racing after his son. He had been playing football with Teddy in the park and suddenly Teddy had gone from chasing the ball to disappearing after a large 🐕. How was a five-year old this fast? It had to be illegal in the eyes of nature. Maybe he should have listened to Tonks and gone to the gym that morning; then again, if he’d gone to the gym, he wouldn’t have the energy to give Teddy the attention he deserved.

“Teddy, remember, if you run towards a 🐕 who doesn’t know you, they might be 😨.” Remus shouted.

Now Teddy did slow down, but he didn’t stop. “Hey, doggy, can I pet you?”

Sirius glanced down at the excitable 👶 who had bounced right over to him, and then did a double take, noticing the absence of a parental figure. What was one supposed to do with small children?

“Bollocks!” he muttered under his breath, grabbing hold of  Padfoot’s collar.

Padfoot barked gleefully in his extraordinarily deep voice. The cute 👶 stared at the huge, black 🐕 with saucer-shaped eyes momentarily and then opened his 👄 wide.

“It’s 🆗, don’t 😭, he’s actually a complete softie,” Sirius hastily blurted out, hunkering down beside Teddy.

“He’’S SO CUTE!”  Teddy squealed with delight, jumping up and down to emphasise his glee.

Fearlessly he stretched out his ✋ and started stroking Padfoot’s shaggy coat, rubbing behind his ears.Padfoot gave a delighted yelp and began furiously wagging his tail.

“I WANT TO KEEP HIM! HE’S BEAUTIFULLER THAN ANY 🐕 EVER!” Teddy continued excitedly.

“Woof! Woof!” Padfoot seemed to be in agreement.

Sirius beamed at him proudly.

“Well, you’re not wrong there, mate!” he grinned at Teddy. “What’s your name?”

“Teddy,” said the boy, who was too busy cooing over the gigantic mutt to listen to Sirius.

“Where’s your mummy?” Sirius asked anxiously scanning the surrounding field.

“Dunno. Daddy is here, somewhere,” said Teddy, blissfully unaware of anything as mundane as parents and disappearing sons.

“Oh,” said Sirius, standing up as he saw a tall man looking around in an agitated manner and then running towards him. “Hang on, that’s not…”

Damn, the man looking incredibly hot, like a carbon copy of the very person Sirius had had a not-so-secret crush on for ages. But it couldn’t be him, his dad couldn’t be…

“Fucking hell!” Sirius gasped. “Is your dad Matt Hitt?”

“Mummy says language!” Teddy said.

“💩, sorry, I mean, sorry!” Sirius winced with embarrassment.

“No, but the mummies are always saying that and then Amy’s mummy gave daddy her mobile number and daddy was cringed. And daddy says that-” Teddy continued happily.

“I what?” Remus bent over breathing hard from the sprint towards Sirius, sighing with relief and rubbing teddy’s hair.

“This man is so 🆒, and he has the bestest doggo in the entire 🌍 and he thinks you’re very beautiful,” Teddy announced matter-of-factly.

Sirius immediately turned bright red and cleared his throat hurriedly, hands fidgeting with his leather jacket.

“Er, I just, I made a silly mistake, you’re not Matt Hitt… are you?” Sirius felt like either smacking himself in the face or wishing the ground would swallow him up immediately.

Or both. Preferably both. The Matt Hitt look-alike grinned sheepishly.

“Well no, clearly,” he said.

Sirius could have sworn the man’s cheeks had turned an adorable shade of pink.

“Sorry about Teddy, he’s mad about dogs and-”

“No, no, please, no need to apologise whatsoever!” Sirius did his best to put on a cocky 😏, which he could usually master with practised ease.

Somehow what with his ❤️ hammering inside him and his pupils dilating and his breath hitching as he stared at this heavenly creature, he was quite sure he came off sounding more pathetic idiot than bad-boy biker.

“OMG! It’s Matt Hitt, guys!!”

Sirius turned to 👀 a group of squealing teens run up to them in excitement, two girls and two boys.

“A-mazing!” said the red haired boy, whipping out his 📱. “I do fancy the socks off you! Can we all get a selfie with you?”

“OMG, same!” cries the blonde-haired girl, clapping her hands with giddy joy.

“Guys, guys!” Remus grimaced and held up his hands helplessly, not sounding particularly surprised. “I’m not Matt Hitt! I’m Remus Lupin, Welsh, work in a bookshop, play the 🎸 in my spare time, 😍 🍝 and 🍣, happily single father of one!”

He looked far too young to be a dad.

“Oh!” The group of teenagers looked at him suspiciously.

“Are you sure though?” The boy with the dreadlocks asked.

“Last I checked. Yeah, quite sure,” Remus 😂.

“What a disappointment!” the green-haired girl sighed loudly, as they all walked off huffing dramatically.

“That’s not the first time this has happened to you then, is it?” Sirius smirked at Remus.

Remus 😂 ruefully, playing with Teddy’s hair.

“Ugh! Once I had a bunch of paps follow me down the street because I was leaving some bloke’s apartment and they thought I’d been cheating on Dakota Johnson with a man!”

Sirius tried not to let on how pleased he was to hear that last part.

“💩, that sounds rough,” he winked mischievously at Remus.

“I don’t even look like this Matt person at all, I mean, very vague resemblance is all…” Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius glanced at him from head to toe appreciatively. He had seen Matt Hitt playing live in a pub once. He had also seen hundreds of photos online.

“You’re fitter than him by far, don’t worry,” he smiled.

He meant it

Remus raised his eyebrows and burst out 😂.

“You’re good,” he chuckled, his amber eyes warm and inviting.

Padfoot barked in agreement and turned around to lick Sirius’ face, practically knocking him over.

“Your 🐕 is a fan,” Remus added, enjoying the embarrassed grin on Sirius’ face as he stumbled to steady himself.

Padfoot turned and looked at Remus excitedly, getting ready to jump up again.

“Unruly mutt!” Remus said, regarding the 🐕 with a twinkle in his eyes.

Padfoot sat down immediately and wagged his tail.

“How did you…?” Sirius stared at Remus in shock.

“I don’t have room in my life for another six-year-old, yeah?” Remus continued talking to Padfoot.

Padfoot gave a polite bark and lay on the ground, keeping his eyes fixed on Remus.

“What the…” Sirius looked at them both, his 👄 wide open.

“Nice 🐕 you got there, sorry I didn’t catch your name?” Remus said.

“Sirius, Sirius Black,” Sirius’ voice was low and scratchy.

A Matt Hit look-alike who Padfoot had fallen 😍 with - actually his 🐕 had simultaneously fallen 😍 with the sweet kid and the angel-slash-stunning-dad.

“Do you have room in your life to get to know an idiot with a large 🐕, a larger 🏍️ and a small 🏦 account?” he said impulsively.

Fuck it, thinking things through before acting on them wasn’t his forte…

“This particular idiot, with the hottest 😁 and the Greek God looks?” Remus said.

There was the tiniest hint of a teasing 😁 on his face.

Sirius found himself nodding pathetically

“When you brought up small, I thought you were going to say something else,” Remus tried to keep a straight face.

Sirius snorted involuntarily.

“I hoped he was going to say a small 🐱,” said Teddy, looking at Remus and Sirius earnestly. “Did you, daddy?”

“Er, yeah, a small 🐱,” Remus 😂 quietly.

He looked at Sirius again.

“I have a kid, his mum and I are still good friends, and Teddy takes up a lot of my time. He’s my priority.”

“I get it,” Sirius said, stepping closer to him.

“I think I could make it my business to find some time?” Remus replied.

[justwritingscibbles]

Much Needed Inspiration

Thank you so much to @milky-chxnce for the purchase of this commission. It was so relaxing to write with Robbie and Antisepticeye. 

Hope you enjoy!!

Want a Commission? Find the Costs here

Want to buy me a coffee? Or a cookie? Support me here!!

Colours.  Shades.  Lines and blank canvas’.

You’ve worked with it all. And the art you produced has brought you much happiness and relaxation. You practically breathed sketches and paints. Sometimes accidentally drank it in the water you mistook for a coffee mug.

But it was all worth the end result. Even if a certain detail was a little too round. Or a shade was too dark against the rest of the piece.

Sometimes, it was better leaving the mistakes. It gave you something to learn from. And also gave the artwork some personality.

But even with all the ideas and fantasies; sometimes you ran low on inspiration. And when you did; it hit HARD.

It would go on for days. Sometimes weeks on end your hand would never stray near a pencil or a brush. And it would weigh heavy on you sometimes. What if there was a reason you stopped drawing? Maybe you’re not good enough. You were losing interest in the thing you loved because you couldn’t see your artwork getting any better. No one would notice your silly little paintings. Nor give compliments to how hard you worked.

You sighed and rolled over to press your face into the pillows of your couch. A low groan of irritation rippled from your chest; muffled by the plush material that smothered your mouth.

“This is so annoying. I want to paint but my mind doesn’t remember how to draw!” You grumbled. Frustration biting at your words, despite the gentle cool hand that filtered through your wavy strands of hair.

“I think your mind just needs to rest.” Robbie murmured softly. Not wanting to upset you anymore than you already were with yourself. “Everyone needs a break from what they enjoy.”

“Yeah,” You reluctantly agreed. “But I want to do something! I hate sitting still; but I also kind of don’t want to go anywhere.”

Robbie wheezed a gentle laugh. His fingers freezing to detangle a knot from your hair before continuing the comforting motions. “Lets go to the art museum. I know that sometimes helps with your art-blocks.”

You lifted your head from the stuffy confinements of the pillow to rest your chin on Robbie’s lap. He smelt almost overwhelmingly like pine today. Obviously he had used half a bottle of fragrance to cover the smell of decay. “I don’t think that’ll help. We’ve gone loads of times already. I know you’re getting bored of staring at the same art pieces.”

Robbie was a terrible liar. Everyone knew that. His eye twitched and he couldn’t look you in the eye. But he always tried his best; just so your feelings weren’t hurt. Not that Robbie could ever do such a thing.

“I like the ex..ex..exhi-bits.” Robbie’s face scrunched up in concentration as he forced the word through his pale lips. “It just confuses me that people would pay so much money for a splatter of red. Or a weird painting of a dog.”

“Because it’s art, Dead-Man. People don’t need to understand it. They only need to think it’s pretty.” Anti huffed as he wandered back into the lounge-room. Taking a seat on the arm of the couch near your feet. A warm cup of black coffee wrapped between his hands. “Take the guy who made that scream painting or whatever-”

“Edvard Munch,” You butted in.

“The fuck kind of name is that? Anyway. People don’t understand why he painted such a horrific painting. It’s popular because it’s weird. Cool looking. And no one understands it.” Anti said, taking a moment to sip his coffee. Stretching out the moment now he had your attention on him. “The same goes for art these days. People just need to like it, it doesn’t need to be good.”

You huffed a soft sigh and shrugged. “That doesn’t help my burnout situation.”

“Like Corpse said, ya brain just needs to rest.” Anti took another sip of coffee. Smacking his lips together in a dramatic way before nodding down at your discarded sketchbook. The same one that you had thrown down in frustration after attempting to draw the same accursed hand for the past hour. “Maybe Walker and I can try. You can teach us.”

Robbie tried, very hard, not to look excited by the suggestion. He loved watching you work on your art. He’d curl up next to you with his head resting against your shoulder or nuzzled into your side. His grey eyes following your hands as they glide across the paper. Robbie was absolutely enraptured by how you could turn a white slate of paper into a colourful picture.

And with Anti’s suggestion, his leg started to bounce and a wide smile stretched across his lips. His way of showing excitement, while trying valiantly to sound uncertain.

“Only if Sam wants too. I’m not very good, but I’ve always wanted to learn.”

You couldn’t help but grin up at Robbie. He was too damn adorable for you to resist him. To Anti however, you gave a warily raised eyebrow. As if suspicious of his suggestion. “You hate art! Why would you want to learn?”

Anti was one of those people that tried to draw once, failed, and then called quits. Whenever you were doing something, he’d try to distract you. Growing bored with idly sitting near you, waiting for you to finish. He’d chat with you. Occasionally knocking whatever surface you were drawing on to make you stuff up your work. Snatch your pencils and paper. He has even swapped the labels of your paints before, and hidden your sketch pads until he was satisfied with the time you’ve spent with him. Never once in your friendship, has Anti asked you to teach him to draw.

At your question; Anti shrugged. A disdained expression crossing his face as he hid his answer behind his mug of coffee. “Because I wanna draw but I suck. And you’re really good.”

You heard him nonetheless. But decided not to push your luck on getting the compliment spoken out loud. You nodded and pushed up from Robbie’s lap to pick up your fallen sketch-book. Beside you, Robbie was eagerly bouncing in his seat. Smiling so wide you could see most of his teeth. You laughed and scooched aside to give room to Anti. Who slid down onto the couch beside you as you tore some empty pages from your sketch-book and handed one each to the egos.

“Ok, so we’ll start off simple. Drawing eyes is a pretty good start. Since you can make them as little detailed as you want.” You explained. Getting up from the couch to go and get some pencils and erasers for the egos. Also snatching up something for them to lean their pages on and draw somewhat more accurately.

“Before I start to get annoyed,” Anti started. Placing down his coffee to position his paper on his lap, resting against the hard surface you handed him. “How long have you been practising your art?”

“A few years.” You replied. Smiling at the low groan of exasperation from Anti. “Also you’re the first person to actually say ‘practising’. Not called it talent or ignored the length of time I’ve been doing this.”

Anti gave you a small wink and shrugged a one shoulder shrug. “I got that screwed into me from Marvin and Schneep. Marvin has been practising Magic for years. He had the talent to begin practising. And the passion to learn through those practices. But he didn’t get as good as he is today because of that talent. It was because of the time he dedicated to his work.”

Anti very rarely rambled on about a subject. But when he did; you were reminded just how deep his personality was. He wasn’t just an annoyance. Which he sometimes stretched out to be all he was to you. “Must have been a pretty bad curse if you remember to talk like that about Marvin.” You teased. And Anti grimaced in a threatric way.

“I saw things I never want to see again.” He murmured. His voice a low drawl that matched the long distance stare he plastered onto his face. You laughed and waved dismissively. Turning back to the papers in the egos hands, you started to instruct them on how to draw an eye. Halfway through you decided it was better to actually show them and let them follow along with your instructions.

Anti was quiet with concentration. His fingers held the pencil carefully but with a white knuckle grip. After a few attempts at making an oval like shape, Anti found it easier to sketch the shape than try to draw the shape in one movement.

Robbie had a harder time. His hand shook alot when he was excited. And with the big puppy grin and eager expression, you could tell his drawings were going to be a little more than scribbles. He managed to get the shape correct after a few attempts. The lines weren’t smooth, but he was very happy with how it looked. And his smile was contagious. Plus, art was different for everyone. So, they didn’t need to follow your instructions to the absolute point. Which you needed to explain to Anti after he started to glitch a little from frustration. Causing his eye to become misshapen and a little misformed.

“Look, Sam! Mine sort of looks like Septic Sam.” Robbie exclaimed happily. You leaned over his shoulder and smiled. You had been helping Anti so much with his eye that you had left Robbie to his own devices for a few minutes. And he had gone off on his own to start another drawing. This one was wider and more round. It was smudged in places, but you could see the resemblance to the green eye that zoomed around the Septic House.

“That’s really good, Rob.” You cooed softly. Ruffling his hair as Robbie giggled softly. His trembling hand picking the pencil back up to start drawing again. This time, you could tell he was attempting to shade the edges of the eye. Which indicated that Robbie had been listening in on your instructions to Anti about his eye. That was complete with a pupil, the iris and a border of eyelashes. But Anti was frowning down at it. His green eyes flashing every once in a while as he scanned the sketch in his lap.

“What’s up, Anti?” You asked softly. “You did really well for your first try.”

“Thanks.” It was a forced reply. He was trying to be polite, and you could tell Anti was struggling with keeping his irritation from making his words sound harsh. You didn’t miss how his gaze flickered from your page to his. And you didn’t need to ask why he looked so disheartened after taking a glance at yours.

“Would you like to start again? Drawing is learning from your previous artworks. Or you could try to put some colour in it.” You suggested the last bit because now your mind was urging you to put colour in your own sketched eye. Anti sighed and grabbed the eraser. He scrubbed away the sketch and flicked the remnants of the rubber from the page with a glitching hand.

“Mind if I try drawing something else?” Anti asked, and you nodded. Although, his hand was already beginning to glide across the page. His concentration now on the paper in front of him, you turned to Robbie. Who was gently poking your arm to get your attention.

“Can I colour my drawing in? I want to make it purple.” Robbie said. Clapping happily when you nodded and he followed you to your room to get the coloured pencils you keep on your desk. He ran back with the colours firmly hugged to his chest. This time he sat crossed legged on the floor with the pencils set down beside him. He looked like a toddler now. And it was adorable.

Anti looked like a moody teenager slouched over his drawing. Shoulders stooped down, bottom lip in between his teeth as he traced the shapes of his sketch.

You’ve never seen them working together. Nor sat beside one another without Anti picking on Robbie or Rob getting a little anxious around the Glitch. So, it was a relaxing image to you. And it was definitely a nice space to be in as you sat beside Robbie and picked up one of the colours.

By the time you had finished shading and colouring, your back ached and your fingers were close to cramping. Poor Robbie wasn’t so lucky. His hands had seized up ages ago. The pencil still clutched in his stiff fingers, he tried his best to finish his purple Sam drawing. He had added another Sam, this one wasn’t coloured yet. But Robbie had explained that he wanted it to be the green Sam. So, then purple Sam would have a friend and green Sam wouldn’t be alone anymore.

It was an adorable little sentiment. And by that time, you realised that you’ve thought Robbie was adorable alot lately. But he was. So, you can excuse yourself by this point.

Anti didn’t want to show you his drawing. Not yet at least. When you attempted to sneak a peek, Anti had basically crushed the piece of paper against his chest. Glaring at you with sparking green eyes. You instantly backed away with your hands up in a surrender like gesture. But the way he was acting made you laugh nonetheless. It had been how you had acted when you first started drawing.

Now, with your nicely coloured eye done and the shading how you wanted it; you turned around to look at Anti. His legs were propped up on the couch. Back pressed against the back of the chair but he was horrible hunched with the paper resting against his thighs. He had been tapping the top of his pencil against the paper for half a minute now. Obviously deep in thought. But when he noticed you looking at him, the tapping stopped and his green eyes flashed a warning.

“I’m not done.” He said before you could speak. You chuckled and tilted your head, almost in a pleading manner.

“Come on, Glitch. Show me what you’ve been doing. I promise I will love it no matter what.” You said. Flashing him your best puppy eyes and pouty lips.

Anti grumbled and inched up into a more sensible sitting position. He gave his draw one final look over before sighing heavily and handing you the paper. You eagerly snatched it up and turned so Robbie could see over your shoulder.

“It’s meant to be you drawing us.” Anti said. His voice huffed and he scratched the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. “The first time I saw you drawing us, I thought it was really cool. So, I kinda wanted to try to draw you. But I fucking suck at drawing….”

You could definitely see that it was you. The hair on the person’s head was wavy and shaded in a way that was obviously meant to make it a darker shade. The facial features were blank and you could see the many attempts Anti did at drawing your face. The imprints of the previous mouth and nose were still embedded into the paper. But now, even though it was heavily smudged. Anti had left your face blank with no details. But even so, your sketched body and even the canvas that was propped up on a easel, was drawn well enough you could tell what they were.

“Aww Anti, this is so sweet.” You said. Smiling as you looked back at Anti. “And I mean it. I love it. And if you ever think of trying to rub this one out, I will destroy you.”

Anti chuckled and nodded. Handing you the pencil to add to the pile on the floor. “Thank you. And I am done for the day. I can feel my hand bones aching now. Also, are you feeling like drawing again?”

You rolled your eyes and shrugged. Glancing down at your sketched eye, the shaded colours and darkened tints were definitely scratching that urge that’s been annoying you for the past few days. “A little. But this helped. Thank you. Also it was fun drawing with you guys. We should make this a thing.”

“Oh, yes! I’d love that!” Robbie peaked excitedly. Though his gaze was now back on his drawing, adding some more purple to the eye he sketched.

“I wouldn’t mind either. Stops me from harassing you, right Sammy.” Anti shot you a wink, leaning down to pick up his coffee mug and take a sip. But as soon as the beverage struck his lips, he spat it back into the mug. “Holy fuck. Cold coffee is disgusting.”

You chuckled and nodded. “It happens. You start drawing, you gotta remind yourself that you have a drink next to you. Otherwise it goes to waste.” Anti mumbled his annoyance and got up to go back to the kitchen. No doubt to make himself another cup of dirty bean juice.

[stylesgalaxy]

mastermind; chapter 3

A car zips past me as I run across the street. I ignore it's angry honk and push through the doors to the art shop. It was a bit far from the campus and in the side of town I wasn't very familiar with. Julia and I lived in the opposite side. But I heard from a classmate that this one has the best prices.

A chime rings when I open the door but no one is at the counter to greet me. I don't mind, I start looking for what I need quickly. My calligraphy prints were not satisfactory, apparently, but the professor was letting me resubmit them. I look down the shelf against the wall but it's all canvases. I walk further into the store to check out the other aisles.

"Can I help you?" a voice startles me. I scream and turn around, holding my hand to my chest. The boy in front of me has a very handsome, very familiar face. His dark hair falls in strands over his light brown eyes, almost making me swoon.

"Hi," I say uncertainly. Zayn happened to be an art major as well, I've seen him a few times in big lectures but we've never had any classes together.

"I know you..." he says with a light smile. "You're that hot girl's friend. Julia?"

"Yes," I sigh. I'm the hot girl's friend.

"I'm Zayn, what's your name again?"

I didn't expect him to remember my name, he was very drunk and we only spoke once before I gave Julia the green light. I don't remember why I liked him so much.

"I'm Aria," I answer.

"Ah, nice name. What is it your looking for? I can help you," he says with a polite smile.

"You work here?" I ask in surprise.

He nods.

"I'm looking for ink, silver if you have."

"RIght this way."

Zayn leads me through the store to where they keep the calligraphy supplies and the Windsor & Newton inks. I'm pleasantly surprised to find that it's $2.50 for a bottle and immediately begin hoarding every colour I like. Zayn finds this hilarious, I make him show me the pens. I choose a thin-tipped one that he says is better quality than the other brands. I'm completely immersed in this shop and every thing they have because for once, I can afford these things.

It's been a good two hours before I walk up to the register to cash out. I didn't even notice how much time had gone by because Zayn was so easy to talk to and actually quite funny.

"And your total is... $84.76," he says after ringing up every thing. I happily pull out my credit card to pay. I couldn't believe how much I got for $84. "I trust I'll be seeing you soon?" he chuckles. "I mean if there's anything left for you to buy."

"Don't be silly, of course there is!" I answer. "I have to build a sculpture for one of my assignments, I'm going to be back."

"For Lennard's class?"

"Yeah, you have him too?"

"Wednesday afternoon," he smiles. "Odd guy, isn't he?"

"Oh, no doubt. What are you building for your sculpture?"

"My Patronus," he says after some hesitation.

"What's your Patronus?"

"You can find out when I finish it," he chuckles and starts moving things around his table. I take this as a sign that he doesn't want to talk about it so I leave.

"Whatever, weirdo, let me know if the Tombows go on sale," I say walking towards the door with my big bags.

"Will do! Do you need help?"

"I'm good, thanks. Bye!" I shout through my arms, struggling to open the door.

The buses hate me, as usual, so it takes me about an hour to travel back home. I have one bag in my left hand, and I'm holding my other bag with the huge papers to my chest with my right hand, all while my purse starts slipping off my shoulder. I knock hoping Julia is home and can open the door for me because I can't be bothered to fish out my keys right now.

I hear sounds of scrambling coming from inside and then Harry opens the door for me. I'm confused before I take in his messed up hair and shirt thats inside out. Behind him I see Julia on the couch, hastily arranging her hair to appear normal. I try not to make it obvious that I've noticed Harry's very apparent bulge and fly undone because I can see how discreet he's trying to be about it.

"Hey," Harry croaks. "Do you want me to help you with those?" he nods to the bag I'm carrying. I give him a tight smile.

"No, thanks," I say. I walk around him, careful to keep to not touch him and take my shoes off. "Hey, Jules," I greet her, without making eye contact, as I walk straight to my room. "I'm gonna be working on my assignment, don't mind me. You guys can... carry on or whatever... I don't know." My face heats up in embarrassment. Why am I so awkward?

I shut my door tightly and hope it didn't seem like I slammed it. Because if it looks like I slammed it then it looks like I'm mad, and if it looks like I'm mad that they were getting frisky, it's obvious that I have a thing for Harry. And if either of them realize that, it wouldn't be hard to understand why I act the way I do around Harry. I don't want to destroy the good progress we've made in our friendship this past week.

I sigh deeply and then grab a more comfortable change of clothes from my closet. My desk is already cleared up, ready for me to make my prints. Obviously, I practise on normal paper with my new pens and inks before pulling out the fancy sheets and cutting them in a neatly so they're letter sized. I'm nervous to start the first print but I get over it quickly. If I mess up this sheet, I have more but if I mess those up too, then I'm fucked because I have to submit eight prints tomorrow morning, and I'm not submitting them on two types of paper.

I think about Zayn for a few minutes while I work. Over the past two years I'd seen him around a few times because we were in the same program, but the mysterious and broody vibes that he gave off intimidated me from ever speaking to him. He was also very quiet. That has to be why Julia lost interest in him, because with a face like his there is no other reason I can imagine why she wouldn't want him. He spoke a lot to me today though. I figured that's because he was in a place he was familiar in and he sort of knew me. I can see us being friends in the future.

I didn't make any new friends during orientation in first year, so when Julia started dating Harry several weeks later, we both became acquainted with Louis and Niall and they're now my only other friends. I'm grateful for them since they let me go bar-hopping with them when Julia refused to because her and Harry preferred to just stay home together. And they were really fun too. They liked to make fun of Harry and Julia as if they're an old married couple, and their impressions are really funny when I'm drunk.

However, it'd also be nice to have an artist friend. I already wish I had gotten Zayn's number. Not to go out with him, but to have someone to talk to about my art.

I'm nearly done one print when a knock sounds at my door a couple hours later.

"Come in," I say, surprised that for once Julia learned how to knock.

"Hey," she says slowly. She shuts the door and cautiously sits on my bed. I don't turn my chair around to face her, I just keep working. "Harry just left and I wanted to say sorry about what you saw earlier."

My face heats up again.

"Don't worry about it. It's cool," I assure her.

"Okay, good, I just felt bad because I know you don't like it when—"

"Did you have sex on the couch?"

"We-what?"

"Did you have sex on the couch?" I repeat calmly.

"No, we didn't. We-uh... no. Not on the couch."

"Good, just remember the couch is off limits for sex. I don't care about whatever else you do," I say nonchalantly. "Wait, the entire living room and kitchen as well. Though I'm sure you knew that already."

"Okay," she whispers. I'm not sure why Julia is talking about this with me so delicately when she's never hesitated to go into very descriptive details about their sex life before. But then again, Julia conjures many strange explanations in that brain of hers, so she's probably labelled me off as a scared prude or something.

"Um, this isn't going to change how you act around Harry, is it?" she mumbles.

I look at her in confusion.

"What? No. Why would it? I knew you two were having sex," I roll my eyes at her. Honestly, just because I haven't done the deed doesn't mean I don't know about it. And like I said, she went into very descriptive details about their sex before.

"I know, but you've never seen us like that before. I just hope nothing traumatized you."

Harry's bulge flashes in my mind and I curse Julia for bringing it up.

"I don't know what your talking about, I didn't see anything," I lie.

"You didn't?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Really. And besides, it was clothed so it wasn't like I actually saw his dick."

"Wait what?" Julia exclaims.

"What?" I respond trying to pretend like I didn't just say what I said.

"You saw his clothed dick?" Julia stares at me, wide-eyed.

"What? No, I didn't. He has a dick?"

Julia and I stare at each other for a few seconds, before we both burst into laughter.

"Oh, God, never tell him that! He was trying to hide it so bad!" she giggles.

"I wasn't planning on it!" I wave my arms around like it was obvious. She falls into another fit of giggles.

"Moving on," I say, "you'll never guess who I met today."

"Who?"

"Remember that guy I approved of for you at that party during orientation in first year? Zayn?"

"Oh my God, I remember him! He was so hot!"

"Was? He still is!"

"Get it, Aria!" she chirps. I roll my eyes.

"He works at the art shop on the other side of the town."

"That's hot."

"Tell me about it," I smirk. "I think I'm gonna go see him again soon."

Julia and I ended up talking for an hour about Zayn and other guys she's dated. For the first time in ages, my mind was completely off Harry and it felt nice to talk to my best friend about boys. We were like young teenagers again, scheming ways to lure Zayn in and planning potential future dates. I hadn't even thought about him like that until I started speaking to Julia.

It was time I moved on from Harry.

---

I accidentally tip my travel mug over trying to pour hot coffee in it and nearly burn myself. Oh fuck. Now there was coffee all over the kitchen counter and floor and none in my mug.

I quickly throw a bunch of paper towels on the tile floor to mop it up and then inspect the counter. My eyes widen when I notice the coffee seeping into the coffee machine. I shut it off immediately and unplug it from power before it explodes or something. I'm not sure how easily electrical appliances catch fire, but I didn't want to risk burning my apartment down today.

I know I can't leave this mess like this, Julia will have my head. Quickly throwing paper towels on the tile floor and the counter, I decide that if I leave right now and run, I can make it to Starbucks to grab a coffee before my class starts. So I messily mop up the mess, wash my hands and run out with my purse. I put my jacket on in the elevator and hold the folder with my new prints in my mouth.

I was up all night last night after Julia and I were finished talking about Zayn. Hence why the coffee is so important. I woke up thirty minutes ago after I fell asleep for an hour and took the fastest shower then failed to make coffee. At least my calligraphy prints were all done and ready. I'm really glad Zayn sold me the fancy paper because it makes the calligraphy look so much more elegant and old fashioned, and the silver ink enhanced it as well. All in all, I'm pretty proud of them.

It was twenty to nine which meant the campus was full of students milling around and slowly making their way to class. There were a few maniacs running around like headless chickens (me) while also texting their roommates to warn them not to use the coffee machine. I was dodging people like a bullet and nearly made it to the Starbucks when I remembered I should have mobile ordered because the line up looks so long. Just as I was about to pull to a stop in front of the store, someone bumps into me harshly and a coffee drops to the ground and my folder slips from my hand.

"Shit!" Niall yells and the same time I let out a horrified scream. Three of my prints landed in Niall's spilled coffee.

"My prints!" I shout, dropping to my knees.

"Aria, shit, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you, oh fuck are they ruined?" Niall starts blabbering.

My hands shake and as I reach out to grab one. It was then I noticed that thankfully I had enough functioning braincells before I slept to remember to put them in individual sheet protectors. The coffee touched the plastic on the outside but the prints themselves were safe.

"They're in sheet protectors, they're okay!" I hear Harry's voice. I look up meeting his gaze. I hadn't even noticed him standing next to Niall with a Starbucks coffee of his own. He bends down in front of me, pulling out napkins from his pocket and starts to gently wipe at the coffee. It comes off clean and leaves my assignment looking just as it had before. "See? Completely fine," he confirms gently. I let out a sigh of relief. I was so scared for a moment.

"You were so smart for putting them in plastic sheet protectors," Niall comments.

"Thank fuck," I grunt. I grab a napkin from Harry and help him. He stops and stares at the print he was holding.

"You made this?" he asks, as if it just occurred to him. I nod. "Shit, this is so good, Aria."

I blush and thank him. I'd love to hear him compliment my work, but I'm sad because I have to go to class coffee-less now.

"'No legacy is so rich as honesty'," he reads. "Is that Rupi Kaur?"

"No!" I scoff. "It's Shakespeare."

"Shakespeare is shite," Niall says.

"Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in history!" I argue defensively.

"This is beautiful," Harry continues, ignoring Niall and I. I gather the prints in my folder and stand up, the boys follow suit. "'If music be the food of love, play on' I know that one!"

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. Niall and Harry were pouring over my prints and to be honest, after staying up all night to make them perfect, it felt nice to have them say it was good.

"'You have witchcraft in your lips'," Harry drawls out slowly. He bits his lip. "Can I have this? I quite like this one," he says.

"No," I quip and pull it away, gently placing them back in the folder. "I have to submit them in..." I check my phone for the time. 8:51. "Nine minutes."

I pull my purse back over my shoulder and try not to meet his gaze.

"What's the drink you got there?" I ask nodding at his coffee cup.

"Uh, a Blonde Hazelnut latte—"

"Great, thanks," I say grabbing his coffee and walking away with it. "Bye, guys, see you later!" I wave at them and smirk at Harry's indignant expression. I bring his coffee to my lips and take a sip.

---

It's been a couple weeks since I sort of walked in on Harry and Julia. They're more cautious about getting horny when I'm in the room now. And because of what I promised, I'm with them a lot. They love to watch TV together, which I don't understand. I mean I understand watching TV or binge-watching Netflix, but it seems like it's all they do. When they're not in the bedroom, or eating, they're in front of the television. How they get their work done is beyond me.

"We're watching Say Yes to the Dress, wanna join?" Julia asks me one night after I get back from work.

"Don't you guys have homework?" I question.

"We've done it already."

Probably forgot to mention that they're also both business majors, so they have some classes together.

"We have a four hour break on Fridays together, that's when we do all of our schoolwork."

They must be some next-level geniuses, because it takes me ten hours to do one assignment. I couldn't help but also feel like I lacked the security they had regarding their future jobs. Both of their father's were rich businessmen, and both of them were extremely smart. Whether they passed with a 4.0 GPA or a 2.8, they were still going to get a job with their parents and do really well. I had no idea what I was going to do when I graduated.

What did one do with a degree in Fine Arts?

These are the thoughts that plagued me some nights. What was I going to do with my degree? It cost a lot of money to even come here to this university, it was only going to double up after I graduate and try to pay it off. I'm going to spend my whole life looking for temporary jobs to pay me enough so I can pay off my student debts. I could sell paintings, but it would take years to make a name for myself that will make me successful. I could try getting my work into a gallery, but the people who get their works in galleries spend years pouring their heart and soul into their pieces. That's going to take time, and time is money—which I don't have.

I remember being just as lost in high school. Julia applied to this university and convinced me to apply as well. She dragged me to uni fairs to learn more about my program and forced pamphlets in my hands until I was in love with the campus and program enough to apply for it. And I do love it, I got to meet great people and I'm learning amazing things. I was also good enough to get in so that has to count for something, right?

"What are you going to do after you graduate?" I asked Zayn one day. He was showing me sculpting supplies when I randomly blurt this out.

"Uh," he drags out for a few seconds. His eyebrows scrunch in deep thought, but I know he thinks about this a lot too. "I guess, I'm just gonna see where life takes me."

"And that helps you sleep at night?"

"Well, no," he chuckles. "I mean... I kind of like tattooing... I thought I might work at a tattoo parlour. Or do comic book illustrations."

Tattoo parlour. Comic book illustrations.

That's a good answer. That's the perfect answer for Zayn. He has an idea, he has his himself figured out.

"What do you want to do?" he inquires.

"I don't know," I mumble.

"How about I open up my own tattoo shop and you can draw my designs for me while I draw comic books?" he suggests.

I grin at his attempt to cheer me up, and nod.

"Sure, sound's brilliant."

---

Satisfactory work on the prototype. Visually, it's pleasing. Conceptually, it doesn't really make sense. Ask yourself: what is the meaning behind this piece? How do the elements you use embody that? Why did you choose the medium you chose? And remember you don't only have to use one. It would help you to open your mind more.

I growl in frustration and slam my laptop shut. I thought this week couldn't get any worse but the feedback from my sculpture prototype was the cherry on top of the cake. I knew my idea of a dancing ballerina was sub par but I hoped that if I made it look pretty, the professor would just accept it.

Stupid art teachers. They always have to get to deep and meaningful.

I can't help but compare myself to Zayn. Zayn knows what he's making for his sculpture—his Patronus, his spirit animal. That's meaningful. He knows what he wants to do in the future, he's talented, he can get there. He isn't lacking anything.

Angry tears prick my eyes and my fingers close into fists. I lost my touch. I know it. When I came into this university, I was full of fresh ideas. Now I was just drained. All my work was being handed back to me because it wasn't good enough and I had enough. I stared at the stupid cardboard ballerina model then threw it against my wall. It bounced back which gave me no satisfaction, so I picked it up and tore it to pieces, screaming.

The door to my room burst open suddenly, and Harry barged in.

"Aria?!" he took in my state, then the torn cardboard in my hands. "What happened, what did you do?" He walks into my room, completely ignoring the death glare I'm sending him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" I scream. He was the last person I wanted to see me like this, and I had no energy to be careful around him.

Harry's eyes widen and he stares at me in shock, then apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I-I came to see Julia, but she's not here yet," he explains. I roll my eyes and turn away from him. Of fucking course. I forgot Julia had given Harry keys to our apartment. Ever since he got them, he'd been visiting more often.

"She went out with her father," my voice comes out scratchy and monotone.

"Her father—?"

"Yes. His personal assistant came to pick her up an hour ago."

"Oh okay," he says quietly, still standing in my room. I turn to look at him expectantly, but he just stares back at me like a doe with green eyes. "I'm not leaving you like this."

"Like what?" Fury drips from my voice. I don't know why it angers me so much. Who is he to know what I'm like?

"Like-like this! All crying and stuff."

"Well, I want you to leave!"

"No," he says quietly and shakes his head.

"Leave!"

He stays rooted and even has the audacity to fold his arms across his chest.

"This is my house and I demand that you leave!"

He bends down to pick up the torn pieces of cardboard. I huff and sit down on my bed, my face in my hands. I can see Harry trying to arranged the pieces back together like a puzzle to fix it. My heart strings pull at his actions. He's trying to be helpful and here I am, being a bitch to him again.

"Leave it, it's not important anymore. I already got my mark and feedback," I mutter. He gently sets the pieces down then moves up closer on the ground so he's kneeling in front of me.

"What happened? Did they say there was something wrong with it?" he asks.

"Yeah, it's useless, it's not good enough," I scoff. Harry immediately shakes his head.

"Don't say that—"

"It's true, Harry! It looks pretty but-but that's not good enough."

"What is 'good enough'?"

My throat constricts and my eyes well up in tears again. I shake my head, not being about to speak of my failure. Harry carefully grabs my hands and looks into my eyes. My heart beats faster at the feel of his soft hands over mine.

"Come, I'll make you some tea. Relax a bit, and we'll figure something out," he suggests.

"Harry, no," I say weakly. Despite my distressed state, I know I probably shouldn't be spending time with Harry like this, especially with Julia not here. But when he insists and pulls me up to my feet, I am unable to refuse him.

Harry sits me down at the small table in the kitchen and swiftly moves around to make tea.

"You've never had my tea before, no?" he inquires. I shake my head not even realizing that his back is to me so he won't see. "You're going to love it, everyone loves my tea. It's probably the best in the country."

A small laugh escapes my mouth. Harry whips his head back, an accomplished smile on his face.

"I doubt that," I say eventually. His face brightens even more at my response.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it."

He gives it a final stir, sets the spoon down on the counter, then places the steaming mug carefully in front of me. I look at the light brown liquid expressionless.

"It's Earl Grey," he says quickly. When I still make no move to pick it up he says, "that's all you guys have here, I assumed you like Earl Grey."

"Oh, I love Earl Grey," I start. Harry smiles in relief. "I hate milk, though."

His smile drops.

"Fuck," he says under his breath. He slowly drags the mug to his side. "Well... this was mine actually," he reasons, "all along." He turns around to grab a new mug.

"Oh," I play along. "See, I thought it was for me, 'cause you put right in front of me."

"No, no," he wags a finger. "That was a trick, and you fell for it. I made you think that was for you, to throw you off. I knew you hated milk all along."

I try to contain my laughter because I know he wins if I do, but I can't help it. His endearing behaviour is making me smile. His eyes sparkle at the sound of my laughter, and I am in awe at how quickly he was able to brighten my mood.

"I take sugar in my tea sometimes," he says. "I know that you..." he narrows his eyes at me and I give a small shake of my head, "don't take sugar in yours... which is why I'm not putting any in here." He places the second mug of plain black tea in front of me. I blow on it a bit to cool it then take a sip, it tastes just as ordinary as I always take my tea.

"Mmm, this truly is the best tea I've ever had," I say sarcastically.

"Told you," he grins.

Harry sits across from me and tells jokes and a few anecdotes to help me relax. Within a half hour, I'm in stitches and I've completely forgotten about my breakdown.

He finishes another story and I'm laughing harder than I have in a while. Tears of mirth slip down my face, and I wipe them away with my sleeve. I've quietened down and look to see Harry staring at me with a content smile.

"I think that's the first time I've seen you really, truly laughing around me," he says. I catch the happy glint in his eye that makes me long for endless moments like this.

"Well, I'm not like this with everyone, considered yourself special," I joke. His forehead furrows and he turns the tiniest bit serious.

"Of course, I consider it an honour to even call you my friend, Aria Collins," he declares. I search for any hint of teasing in his eyes, but I find none. I gulp and smile shakily.

His hand moves up a bit on the table and for a moment my heart stops, but his hand doesn't come any closer to mine.

"Do you wanna talk about your feedback now?" he asks gently. I sigh deeply. I know there's no escaping it so might as well get it over with now.

"My prof doesn't think it's good enough. He said it's lacking conceptually and I need to be more open minded."

He looks at me blankly. I know Harry is at a loss when it comes to art because it's not his forte, but I'm pleasantly surprised when he pushes himself to keep trying.

"What was the idea you had for the ballerina?" he asks.

"It was just a ballerina. I was fascinated with ballet when I first came up with the idea. I just thought they were cool."

He nods and thinks.

"You should make something related to you," he offers.

"But what? And how?"

"You know... and before I start, forgive me, 'cause I don't know much about art and things—"

"It's okay."

"Um, I'm taking a Greek Mythology elective this semester." I tilt my head, not expect this. "D'you know who you remind me of a lot?"

"Who?"

"Artemis."

My jaw drops.

"You're very independent like she is," he continues. "It's hard to impress Artemis, and it's hard to impress you. She's sworn to never marry—and I know you haven't but you've obviously prioritized other things before relationships. She's very, like, determined and dedicated to her work which you clearly are as well..."

Harry begins to falter and trails off awkwardly. Eager for him to feel just as comfortable as he's always made sure I felt, I'm quick to answer.

"Artemis is my favourite goddess," I tell him. His eyes meet mine.

"Really?"

I nod.

"Who's your favourite god?" he follows up.

"Apollo," I smile. Harry laughs.

"No way! He's my favourite, too!" He blinks owlishly at me. "Why don't you do something Artemis-like for your sculpture. Or Apollo-like."

I try to think of how I could twist this Artemis idea and make my sculpture about me. I absent-mindedly tug at my sleeves and bite my lip in concentration.

"You know..." Harry starts again and I inwardly smile because I know he had an idea from the beginning but he doesn't want to be too forward. "Every god and goddess has a sacred animal."

I vaguely remember reading something like that.

"What's Artemis'?" I ask.

"A deer."

A deer. Huh.

"Deer symbolize things like adventure, cautiousness, individuality..." Harry continues. I raise my eyebrows. He nods, "Sounds like someone in this room."

I crack a smile.

"I like that idea," I say truthfully. "I think I can work with that."

"What else did your prof say?"

"He told me to be more open-minded and not use only one medium or something like that..."

"What's your medium?"

"Well a medium is the physical thing you use to show your art. I was going to use clay for my sculpture."

"So he wants you to use more than clay?"

I nod. Harry looks at me like he has an idea but he doesn't share.

"How about we let this idea cook for a bit, and with time you'll think of a something."

"Okay," I agree, feeling the exhaustion of the night. I got pretty far with the deer idea anyway. "Sounds good." I get up to put away our mugs, and when I turn around Harry put his shoes on.

"I should probably leave now," he mumbles, slipping his arms through his jacket. I nod.

"Thanks, Harry," I say sincerely. "I'm glad you didn't leave, you... you helped me a lot today. I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you."

He smiles wide.

"It's no problem," he says, his hands tucked into his pockets. I surprise both of us by moving forward and wrapping my arms around his torso. He stands shocked for a moment, and then slowly rests his arms around me too. I hug him tightly, trying and failing to not pour all my emotions out. His hand rubs up and down my back. I inhale his scent. I don't want this moment to end.

Eventually, I pull away before it gets awkward. Though I don't think Harry would ever allow me to feel awkward in his presence. I fold my arms together, determined to not look shy but Harry sees right through me and snickers. He opens the door and steps out, waving goodbye.

***

There’s chapter 3! Let me know what you thought :) Also I probably should mention Aria rolls her eyes a lot. Like A LOT alot, it’s gonna get annoying I know but that’s how she is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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[seungcheolrk]

camera, lights, vlive.

february 23rd, 2019: convex’s first vlive. featuring the throwback harmonica. 

truthfully, and unsurprisingly, the whole concept of their first vlive terrifies him. being so structured, so formal, seungcheol feels like there’s an added pressure on his shoulders to be interesting and engaging and given that this will be the first time he’s referred to as rap unit leader in public, too, he can’t help but feel nervous. he can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t feel nervous in his shoes— in convex’s shoes, since this is their first public appearance since rome’s departure, too. it’s a lot of firsts and a lot of expectations and a lot of what ifs but it’s here and he’s waiting, bright but scared smile on his face in anticipation as the mc gets to his introduction. 

( he takes not tripping as he walks out and bows in greeting as a victory. small, but a victory nonetheless. ) 

his aforementioned gummy smile is on show as he wanders in following his introduction ( and first recognition as rap unit leader ) from the mc, bowing deeply as he takes his name badge and wiggles a little to the music. he doesn’t overdo it, doesn’t want to look silly or embarrass himself so early on in the live show, and thankfully there’s a wide berth between stiff and robotic and dear god, how do we undebut choi seungcheol? so he thinks he’s got things reasonably in the bag so far. the other members cheer and the mc is smiling and he didn’t hold his name tag upside down ( nor put it on the wrong way up ) so really, everything is going as well as possible. 

unfortunately, with that, he wholly expects things to go downhill, but he tries to stay positive. 

it’s odd only having three members from the rap unit to introduce, and he thinks rome’s absence still weighs on them quite a lot and will do for a while. even in such a big group, one member leaves such a large gap that seungcheol feels as if it’s impossible not to notice it or focus on it. he dreads to think what the comments will be like, dreads to think what people have to say about him being a leader now when they have barely heard him say three sentences since he debuted, but he tries not to think about it. they’re careful not to mention the missing thirteenth member, or anything about the ‘scandal’ and he trusts that when they start reacting to comments in a bit they won’t read any that reference it. after all, this is their first vlive. this is supposed to be a joyous occasion; a new beginning and a promise of many more live shows to come. why would anyone want to bring the mood down by reminding them of everything they’re trying to ignore? why would they want to bring up an artist they ( reportedly ) kicked from the label? 

he distracts himself laughing at some joke he doesn’t really hear from the mc, nods as they introduce the next segment.

his passion for this broadcast. since it would be convex’s first ever, he’d thought of writing something about them doing well and taking care of one another, thought about setting a goal of so many hearts and promises to return the love to fans with their future activities and releases, but in the end he settles on the former. at a time like this, seungcheol thinks sharing love between the members and fans is the best thing he can do. let’s love! he writes, let’s show our charm today and return all the hearts fans give!! convex fighting!! the mc doesn’t read every comment, but it’s there on screen for fans and the members to read regardless. 

when the time comes for syllable poems, he does his best to be quiet and unnoticeable. words have never been his speciality and he’d only make a fool of himself stumbling over not only his confident speech but a poorly thrown together poem, too. thankfully with so many members, it makes it easy for him to fade into the background when he wants or needs to, yet still come back into the foreground with everyone else when they spend a little time hearing comments left by viewers. it’s kind of surreal to him that so many are watching live, spending their time looking at them through a computer or phone screen and sending them love and queries to answer. he knew these things would happen, he’s a fan of plenty of groups himself, but when it’s you, your group, it’s something else entirely. 

as they tease their comeback, he’s reminded of the strict rules they’re on not to spoil anything. teasing is one thing, but they aren’t to reveal concepts, titles, snippets— anything about the song itself. he daren’t think of what the consequences would be but even without them, he doesn’t think there’s any benefit to telling the world anything too revealing. the picture of them all grinning, talking over one another as they sneakily reveal something is in the works is bound to get fans more excited than the title of the track or a single line of lyrics. it always worked that way on him, anyway. 

more comments are read ( and more ‘thank you’s and finger hearts are given from seungcheol to the camera directly ahead of him even if he doesn’t understand anything in all the foreign languages his members are speaking so fluently ) before they jump into the unit performances. 

performing for the first time without rome is weird. it feels unnatural almost. after so long of having him there, even though they’ve distributed the song between them so no actual gaps are left, it still feels like something is missing at times. he knows it’ll take longer than a few weeks, maybe even longer than a few months, to get used to being twelve and three, but that doesn’t stop him from thinking about it obsessively every time he’s reminded. regardless, they have to do it and seungcheol has missed covering songs dearly ( mr chu last month was the first time in a long time, after all ) so he gives it his all, grins brightly and bows as they’re praised for a successful performance.

next, after what feels like forever, comes seungcheol’s favourite portion of the vlive — and what takes up the majority of their time here today — the idol coaching missions. they’re only silly challenges and tasks, the things that are apparently essential for convex to ‘fly higher’ in the years to come, but seungcheol feels a unfamiliar sense of excitement to get stuck in. 

nicknames are strange things, though. seungcheol had always been known as sphere’s scaredy cat and whilst once upon a time, he loved having his own identity and was proud of his eventual acceptance of his fears, now he wants to be more than the way he’ll jump scared at loud noises and flinch at sudden movements of the people around him. he wants to be convex’s reliable rap leader, convex’s gummy smile, convex’s nerd, even. when he thinks about it, though, he struggles to pull anything from the reaches of his mind that’s unique to him. he’s never lived anywhere but seoul, let alone been born elsewhere. he doesn’t have any talents outside of music ( unless you count his extensive knowledge of star wars and resulting jar jar binks impression ) and doesn’t have any particular characteristics that make him distinct besides the presence of his gums in his smile. he wants to be more than a smile, though. he wants to be remembered for being something other than quiet and fearful. he throws around some ideas relating to music but they all feel generic. most of their group plays piano and a great deal play guitar, too, but the more he thinks about it, the clearer it becomes that — as useless as it may be to an idol, especially so early in their career — he plays the most instruments, has the background in the music store, has spent years learning and loving western classical music and grandiose movie scores— hell, his father was even a classical violinist. it’s perfect, even if he does feel a little nervous about how big it sounds. 

“hello, e-everyone! i’m c-c-convex’s rap unit l-leader and maestro! please take care of me.” a chorus of ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s rings through the room as seungcheol is asked to explain his name. “I l-love learning d-different instruments! I want to m-master every instrument.” slipping in the meaning of the word, he giggles quietly. he then momentarily wonders whether or not he should keep talking while he can, make himself stand out a little more to anyone who might be watching that’s brushed over him before so he adds, “I’ve a-also always had an i-interest in western c-classical music and m-movie scores. e-everything comes together to make m-me convex’s maestro!” he grins, clapping his hands together as he raises his voice a little enthusiastically with his final word — his nickname. the members and mc react positively and seungcheol’s grin stays for the rest of the segment and as they transition into the second challenge: personal talents. 

at first, this stumps him, too. he doesn’t think he really has any talents outside of music that will capture anyone’s interest, but there’s nothing to say it has to be separate. nothing says he can’t do a jar jar binks impression ( besides his dignity ), but why do something so strikingly different when he could play with the cards he’s already dealt them? why not show why he deserves the title of convex’s maestro? 

“me? I’m going to show you a little harmonica!” really, he should’ve learnt the first time. he should’ve known after still facing the embarrassment in flashbacks for months after that the harmonica was a demonic instrument sent to this earth just to humiliate him but he still digs it out of his drawers earlier in the month and practises, brings it to the vlive to show them how good he’s gotten at the solo from isn’t she lovely two years later. he focuses himself entirely on it, as if he’s back on his own in the practice room with no pressure to get it perfect ( because that’s always when things are flawless; when no one is watching ). 

the reactions challenge is one he worries about a lot when it’s first proposed to them in planning. he isn’t by any means a ‘reaction king’ unless it involves being spooked and these situations aren’t likely to bless ( or curse? ) him in that way. when it comes to his turn, he’s called upon, asked to pretend the camera has caught him yawning, so he covers his face to laugh and ‘get into character’ as the members count him down. he should feel nervous with so many eyes on him, especially with what he’s about to do, but with aegyo, he rarely feels the level of embarrassment he’s used to. with an unusual ( at least, for shy choi seungcheol ) confidence, he opens his mouth and makes the most exaggerated yawning sound he possibly can before widening his eyes comically at the camera and reaching just past his lips to pull out a finger heart. his shoulders hunch and his eyes wrinkle as he grins, shoots more hearts as he laughs at the reactions around him. for once, he’s proud of himself, proud of the impression he’s made. maybe aegyo is truly the best way for him to make an impression off the stage, though he’s not sure how he feels about that either just yet. as much as he doesn’t want to be convex’s scaredy cat forever, he also doesn’t want to still be known for aegyo at the age of thirty. 

finally, with a few runs of their greeting and hearty advice from their experienced idol coach and mc, it’s time to wrap up. even though a couple hours have passed, he feels like he’s blinked and it’s over. they’ve covered so much, moved through so many segments and challenges and he feels how much they’ve accomplished but it still feels like it’s gone too fast. suddenly, they’re moving onto goodbyes in foreign languages, endless ‘thank you’s and expressions of gratitude to their mc and for the success of their first ever vlive from not only seungcheol but every member, deep bows and all varieties of hearts ( he even sneaks in an apple heart when he’s sure the camera will be a wide shot of all of them ) and any moment now, the cameras will shut off and the comments will stop flooding in and they’ll be back to rehearsing for their first comeback. first. there’s a lot of firsts happening lately but today’s firsts have been like ripping off a plaster — it hurts for a little while doing this without rome, it’s terrifying to him to be on camera and under so much pressure for a little while, but he knows that with time, that will fade and he will heal. he looks forward to their second vlive ( and hopes desperately that it’s a lot more relaxed than this one; where’s their liev? now that would be fun... ).

[yoiotdfics]

Fic Recs for March 2017

birthday surprise by  suga

Summary:

other than his grandpa, there was only one other person yuri wanted to hear from on his birthday.

Fall Where They May by  flammablehat

Summary:

Viktor has a special talent for magically normalizing every strange thing he does.

all of rome by basilique

Summary:

Right after their wedding, Yuuri and Viktor go on Honeymoon to Rome. They decided to splurge on a visit to an all-male bath house, because why not? And when it turns out to be something of a venue for sexual exhibitionism, why not join the fun? When in Rome…

Kings in Couture by slightlied

Summary:

a devil wears prada au in which victor is the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine, yuuri’s his new secretary, and instead of talking about his feelings, victor just sends him on a bunch of errands

The Calm Before A Storm by  iamthefacebehindthemask

Summary:

Early mornings had become Victor’s least favorite time of the day.

Emordnilap by  Dawn on ICE (Dawn_Blossom)

Summary:

27-year old, five-time consecutive gold medalist Yuuri Katsuki is planning on retiring after his disgraceful performance at the Sochi Grand Prix FInal.

Victor Nikiforov is a better skater than him (the skating community says otherwise, but what do they know?) and therefore it does NOT make sense for him to show up in the onsen and declare that he’s going to be Yuuri’s student.

Imagery by  Cesare

Summary:

Because Yuuri is never, ever lucky, of course Victor finds his poster stash.

This Tastes Fishy by  otapocalypse

Summary:

Yuuri is comforted by his best friend

Making History by Moonlight: Bishounen Senshi Skater Moon!!! by  virdant

Summary:

Yuuri moves to St. Petersburg, ugly tie in hand, prepared to make history and fight evil.

Do your research by  classicpleistocene

Summary:

After World Championship, Michele and Emil take a week off together to be cuddly boyfriends and discover each others’ secrets.

i’m just going to the store by  bosbie

Summary:

Accidental masked vigilante Victor Nikiforov.

Or: how Victor’s impulsiveness backfires and creates one of the greatest living internet memes to ever come out of Russia.

see myself through someone else by  maydei

Summary:

Victor is a mermaid that washes up on the Atlantic Coast amidst a strong tide. When taking refuge up a small sound, he meets an artist under a bridge.

trust me, he’ll say yes by  JkWriter

Summary:

phichit was used to getting calls all hours of the day from the other skaters. he wanted to get those calls because he loved meddling in the love lives of his friends.

Getting the Words Right by Lazchan

Summary:

Viktor is out of town and Yuuri is left alone with Team Russia

between every breath that makes you whole and mine by incode

Summary:

Yuuri wakes up feeling… not so hot.

Victor will help. Victor really, really wants to help.

(Victor hums thoughtfully, and then he disappears into the closet for a moment. When he returns, he thrusts a bundle of fabric into Yuuri’s chest.

Yuuri’s eyes go wide as he looks it over - his Team Japan jacket.)

crust and sugar over by  ShanaStoryteller

Summary:

Katsuki sits cross-legged, clearly in no hurry to go anywhere. “What’s your name? I’m –”

“I know who you are,” he cuts him off, then blushes, then hates himself for both those things. Katsuki looks surprised, and Yuri can’t think as to why. He’s a nationally ranked figure skater. He’s Yuri’s favorite figure skater.

~

Yuuri and Yuri become friends and Viktor develops a crush.

a pinprick of light by Crollalanza

Summary:

‘It’s as if all the flamboyance and fun has been used up on the ice. And now we become the grey people,’ Victor had warned Mila before her first Grand Prix banquet.

He’d not exaggerated, and the only social skills Mila was learning was how to stifle yawns before she could make a getaway.

Then Katsuki Yuuri drank a vat of champagne, and colour exploded into all their lives.

But it’s up to Mila and Sara to salvage his reputation when the events of the banquet threaten to go viral.

open up your eyes (breathe easy) by ashleypender

Summary:

Viktor loves to touch his Yuuri.

Sweet Spots by  Crazy_Gaze

Summary:

“But don’t get too comfortable. ‘Cause he’ll make you wait for it.” Phichit grumbles. “And if you don’t, next thing you know, you’re tied up, can’t move, and then he’ll laugh at you, Victor.”

Victor looks far from opposed to the idea though. “Oh…” He says, a little starstruck. “I might not be too opposed to that.”

(In which Victor and Phichit don’t really talk about Detroit but about Yuuri instead.)

To what should i compare thee with fine ass?by wepreachelectric

Summary:

a simple, Shakespearien Sonnet about chris giacometti and his fine fine ass

resting pulse by cafecliche

For something all in his head, it can be brutally physical when it wants to be. But he’s an athlete - he knows how to listen to his body, categorize and interpret its signals. It doesn’t really follow that the smallest twinge in his knee could mean a very bad season at the same time full-blown palpitations mean it’s a day that ends in Y. But bodies are weird.

Victor, though. Victor is a stress test brought to life.

(Or: a story in heartbeats.)

Silver, Skype, Seduction by  Laikin394

Summary:

Victor gives a great show. Especially, if Yuuri is the only viewer. or That one time where Victor and Yuuri are separated by different competitions and they make up for the lost time. AKA I wanted Victuuri Skype sex, let’s not pretend there’s plot in this.

a love that refuses to be silenced by wartransmission

Summary:

A year into being officially (and he doesn’t count what happened in Barcelona, because really, Viktor?) engaged and capable of sleeping with Viktor on the same bed without combusting into embarrassed flames, Yuuri learns something about his favorite skater and now-fiancé.

The Five Languages of Viktor Nikiforovby  athoroughlybakedpotato (acommontater)

Summary:

Language is not only how you understand other people, but how you learn to understand yourself.

a new day by  aquamarine_nebula

Summary:

There were three lies Viktor’s mind tried to convince him regarding his relationship with Yuuri.

First: Yuuri understood each and every one of his actions, so he had nothing to explain. Second: Yuuri was too good for him. Third: he loved Yuuri much more than Yuuri loved him.

(He was wrong about this.)

Flip, Sip, or Strip! bycutthroatpixie

Five times Yuuri totally owned at a college drinking game

(the plus one time he didn’t own at something is implied)

Figure Skators vs. Watermelon by Redawilo

Summary:

Two Russians, a Kazakhstani, and a Japanese man decide to spend a hot afternoon on a beach trying to hit a watermelon with a stick. Pure silliness ensues.

Skating Out Your Emotions by Lazchan

Summary:

Yuri is starting to wonder if he’s reading too much into Yuuri when he’s notskating, but the longer he stays in Russia, the more he notices the differences off and on the ice.

Have we got contact? by  Crollalanza

Summary:

Seung-gil hadn’t been at all sure he’d watch the competition. What he’d do instead was practise and look after his dog, catching up on the highlights later because they were the only thing that could possible be useful. But then Sara Crispino texts him, and instead of ignoring her, he finds himself drawn into the excitement of the Grand Prix Final.

And it’s not long before everyone else starts messaging.

Champagne, Vodka, and Other Spirits by  Dawn on ICE (Dawn_Blossom)

Summary:

Victor Nikiforov wouldn’t mind being dead if only the real estate agency would stop trying to sell his house.

the fall of this empire will be loud by  elesssar

Summary:

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapses. In 1989, the Berlin wall falls. In 1987, Viktor Nikiforov, iconic figure skater and darling of the USSR, defects to the United States. In 1986, Yuuri Katsuki falls in love.

Even My Feet Smile For You by ineptshieldmaid

It’s because of this - this tendency of Viktor’s to be all limbs, always moving, even when he’s relaxed - that the thing with the feet happens. Not the thing with Yuri’s feet: that happens a lot, because Viktor is not subtle in his interests and Yuri is not the kind of man to pass up on leverage like that. No, this is the thing with Viktor’s feet. The one that leads to Yuri’s most widely-screencapped and circulated instagram post ever, and also Viktor’s most infamous profile picture.

Maybe He’s Born With It (Maybe It’s Phichit) by  mousapelli

Summary:

Phichit altruistically saves Yuri from the melodramatic makeup tendencies of his fellow Russians.

Yuuri Enchanted by  the__magpie

Summary:

At birth, Yuuri Katsuki was given the gift of obedience, although he quickly learns as he grows up that it is a curse. He has to obey any command given to him, even if it puts him or others in danger. Too afraid to face the terrifying outside world, Yuuri stays in his home town of Hasetsu, until a chance encounter with Prince Victor urges him to venture outside of his safe bubble. Determined to break his curse, Yuuri begins on an adventure involving fairies, ogres, true love, and courage he never knew he had.

The Year of King JJ by  WithBroomBefore

Summary:

Yuri acknowledged, at some point, that JJ wasn’t objectively the worst person who had ever existed.

Friends First by  EternalWhiteRose

Summary:

Otabek tells his coach that he wants to retire, but of course, news travels fast. Specifically, to the other side of the country. More specifically, to America and Canada.

OR; JJ and Leo visit Otabek unannounced.

[crickehockey]

Everything you should know about the game of cricket and what cricket equipment you will need to participate in this sport

Everything you should know about the game of cricket and what cricket equipment you will need to participate in this sport

Cricket, which originated in England, is a popular bat and ball game that is extremely popular among Brits, to this day. The sport consists of two competing teams with 11 players each. Although it is not a physical contact sport like rugby, cricket can be very dangerous to play, and you need the right equipment to reduce your chances of severe injury.

Think, for example, of the untimely death of 25-year-old Phillip Hughes, an Australian cricketer who died of internal bleeding after a cricket ball struck him behind the left ear and just below the helmet, during a match between South Australia and New South Wales in 2019.

In countries like England, the distinctive sound of a cricket ball against a willow bat is well known in many communities and the sport is played both professionally and socially, but to be properly equipped for cricket, you will need a decent cricket bat, as well as cricket clothes, shoes, a helmet, knee guards, gloves and of course some balls. This equipment is normally carried in a specially designed cricket bag.

A typical cricket ball is very hard and made with a cork base which is tightly wrapped in string and covered with thick, white or red leather. The cricket bat is probably one of the most popular items bought by players from around the world. Cricket bats are made of willow and consist of a blade and a long, sturdy handle. The blade is smooth and flat on one side and slightly rounded on the other side.

But because we live in a world where branding and leading brand names like Gray Nicolls, GM, and Kookaburra have become important in the sporting industry – often because of the financial benefit it holds for sponsors and the fact that certain great qualities are associated with certain brand names.

Batsmen as well infielders on short leg and a silly point, must wear cricket helmets with face guards during a match. A cricket ball can reach a very high speed and as mentioned above, it can cause severe injuries or fatalities, if it strikes a player on the head or in the face.

Almost every cricket player, professional or inexperienced, has suffered some form of hand or finger injury during a match, which is why the importance of cricket gloves should never be underestimated. Cricket gloves are worn by batsmen and should be lightweight. It usually consists of flexible padding on the thumb and the first two fingers to allow for easy handling of the bat.

Cricket gloves word by batsmen differ from those worn by a wicketkeeper and fielders are not allowed to wear gloves during a match. As mentioned earlier, a cricket ball can cause serious and even fatal injury at high speed. Therefore, you will often also see that players wear special padding on the body. A batsman must wear padding on the hip, the thighs, knees and lower leg (knee pads), elbow, chest and arm, to protect his body from the hard cricket ball.

Padding should be made from high-quality, durable and lightweight material, so players can comfortably move between the wickets. Wicket-keeping pads also differ from the ones worn by batsmen. Cricket clothing and equipment is regulated by the laws of cricket and the typical clothing that cricketers are associated with is white trousers and a white Polo shirt, or cricket whites as they are more commonly known.

However, many country club matches allow players to dress in specially designed and branded uniform that represents their club.

Professional cricket is played in three different formats, namely test matches, one-day internationals and 20/20 international series, but 'street cricket' is a social form of cricket played in the streets, in parks or backyards of residential properties. While cricket has been around for many years, it is still gaining popularity with more people these days shopping online for the right gear and equipment.

Other cricket equipment that can also be purchased from well-established cricket equipment suppliers in England, includes stumps and bails, cricket practising nets and sight screens.

About us

As stockists of probably the largest selection of cricket and hockey equipment in the South of England, Cricket-Hockey.com has become a widely recognised and well-respected company in the sporting industry. As one of the UK's first online cricket and hockey equipment specialists, customers can be sure of the best service and competitive prices on all their equipment. They have a huge online range of cricket and hockey equipment suitable for players of all ages and abilities and they only sell stock which they have available, to ensure fast delivery and excellent customer service. Cricket-Hockey.com was established in 1999 as a trio-partnership between three friends, but it has since grown into a million-pound flourishing business with international relations. To find out what they can offer you, visit their website at http://www.cricket-hockey.com/en

[tenrkarchive]

event: february evaluation location: sphere dance studio date: february 21st // 3:07pm song: there for you - troye sivan // dance (0:19 - 1:00) // vocal (entire song)

note: short dance clip (tobias ellehammer choreography) inspired song length dance ic

as is typical ten style, he chooses a troye sivan song - because everyone knows ten is the biggest troye sivan fan around. he’d covered a lot of them in the past, but knew he’d never done this one, despite having choreographed a dance for it in his free practise time weeks ago. all he had to do was incorporate room for vocals into the dance, which he hoped wouldn’t be too hard after many weeks of intensive live singing training. 

so he spent some weeks working on what he was going to show, making sure his singing was stable throughout the dance, keeping the dance easier on the parts where the song required more vocal power, and putting in a hell of a lot more impact into the breaks in the vocals, using skills he’d gained over the past couple months, pleased with how he could visibly see how much he’d progressed in terms of his skills and especially his vocal ability. 

when he’d first become a trainee his singing was weak to say the least. he’d worked and worked to improve, deciding he’d rather go the vocalist route than rapper route, seeing as it definitely fit his image better (at least that’s what he thought). so, going from a mediocre singer, to being able to sing pretty strongly while also dancing at the same time gave him an intense sense of accomplishment. 

he was pretty excited to show what he’d prepared - for once looking forward to the evaluation, instead of fearing it. 

the day came, and he waited for his turn to be called up to film what he’d prepared, sipping at his water frequently as the nerves began to get to him. of course he’d be nervous, when it came to it, but it didn’t negate the fact that he was pleased with himself and what he thought was a performance that showed his abilities best - it wasn’t too vocal heavy, yet it was enough to show he could sing well. the dance was, as he’d admit to himself, one of the best he’d ever choreographed, he’d like to think. 

as he’s called up he hands over the music, taking his position in front of the lights and camera and waits for them to tell him to start. his hearts hammering against his ribcage - it hadn’t fully sunk it yet that this performance would be the first thing the public saw of him, alongside his silly teaser video with hyun and his modelling shots. he hoped their first impression of his skills would be a good one, and that he might gain some fans from this, as he liked to think it would be one of his best performances so far. 

so, the music starts and despite his thundering heartbeat he begins his performance - it starts of slower, the dance barely a dance to begin the song - he’s centred the ‘drop’ at the first chorus. so as he begins to sing the movement resides in his arms and head, small, yet fluid motions that have sharp landings on the subtle beats, complimenting the appealing bass of the song. his fingers snap to the snapping beat in the beginning, moving to compliment the faster beat with a quick step as his eyes remain focused on the camera, one hand in his pocket, the other rubbing through his hair to give the song a little bit of attitude. 

until the chorus comes and he hits the first beat with a jump into a larger movement, leg swinging out and head tipping back to contrast the smaller movements of the beginning of the song. using his hands to his advantage he’s placed in some vogueing moves an old friend taught him back before he was a trainee, before he hits the ‘there for you’ lyrics with a deep gaze into the camera, a smirk and a loose gesture, hoping it’ll do just as intended, and draw some fans in, making the whole performance feel as if he’s singing just for the person watching, no matter how many there may be

then comes the climax, where he puts in his full energy, the vocals falling by the wayside for a while as he moves to the music as he’d always done - it’s second nature and he goddamn loves it. 

but then it’s right back into the vocals and here’s where all the training came in - learning to control his voice and keep it steady, even when he’s moving, or when he’s put so much power just seconds before into his dance, he has to re-route that power into stabilising his voice, finding a balance and sticking his whole heart into it. 

once again the dance is slower to match the pace of the song, hitting each beat with subtle, but sharp movements and putting his strength back into his voice, and the feeling of the song, making the people who watch this feel as if it’s just for them, that no matter what he’s going to be a good idol for them, that he’s going to stand by his fans, and hope they stand by him just as loyally. 

the vocals rise when the dance softens, and vice versa, till he nears the end and all power he’d slowly lost throughout the song comes surging back with a renewed fury. it’s always been that way, his belief that even if you’ve lost all strength, you can’t end weakly persisting. he’s tired by this point, ready to sit down and gulp down a few bottles of water, yet he knows he cannot leave the song on a weak note, and he finds that energy to force right into the last bit of the song. 

the bridge passes, and the chorus nears through the ‘runnin, runnin’ lyrics, music building and energy rising, until that beat drops and a grin breaks out on ten’s lips because this is what he loves - feeling so very tired, yet still putting every shred of energy he has left into putting on his best show, making people know he’s never going to give a shoddy performance just because he’s tired.

he’s diligent, and he hopes it shows through the power he continues to put in. the hardest moves are in the end, wanting to leave off on a high note, making people remember him, his face, his name, how his body mingles with the music like the water lapping at the sand on the beach. his moves are smooth, yet powerful, hitting each shape, each little flick of the wrist or turn of the head on the beats.

then the final beat drop and his moves are still as sharp as can be, small moves intertwined with bigger ones to draw even more attention to them; the fist to his chin, a simple nod and foot tap to compliment a beat, between a wide armed and spinning move. the smile won’t leave his face because despite this being an evaluation, something the public will see soon, it’s still incredibly thrilling whenever he dances - because nothing else matters. he can’t see the people watching, or the judgement or scrutiny, he can just feel the beat. 

the levels change more in the ending, move floor movements, until the end comes and the contrast his beginning pose this time he’s sat on the ground, facing in the opposite direction to the one he started in fingers pointing ahead of him, and his head turned to the camera, the smile fixed on his lips.

the music finishes, and his breathing, heavy and laboured in the only sound left, and ten couldn’t be happier in that moment. 

[pocket-luv101]

WIP-Eve Race

I’ve been working on this for a while now but it’s not budging so I’m just going to post the intro that I wrote so far.

The Servamps were a family through and through so they had their share of petty arguments. Kuro never bothered with them because they were too much trouble but he knew that he had to stop his brothers before the fight could escalate further. He didn’t understand why Hyde and Hugh were even arguing when it seemed pointless to debate who had the better Eve. It was an age old argument that had no foreseeable end.

Unfortunately, their Eves weren’t in the room to control their Servamps. They wanted to let their Servamps have a private dinner and spend time as a family because it was rare for all seven Servamps to be in the same city at the same time. Now, Kuro wished that they stayed.

“Lichtan is way better than your Eve. He’s an angel that descended to this earth to purify this world with his music. Your Eve is still in school so what is he doing to make this world a better place?” Hyde yelled and Hugh didn’t falter for a moment.

Hugh only scoffed and countered. “What is Tetsu doing to make this world a better place? I’ll tell you, my poor, unwitting brother! He patrols the neighbourhood and chases out the riffraff and vampires. I don’t see your Eve doing that because he’s too busy practising his piano. I’m certain that if Tetsu tried to learn, he’ll be better at the piano than Licht!”

“You want to repeat that?” Hyde’s brow twitched and Kuro knew that he had to step between them. Kuro quickly took Hyde’s arm and pulled him back. He was glad that Lily stepped forward to help defuse the situation as well. With a calm smile, he placed a hand on Hugh’s shoulder.

“It’s been a long time since all seven of us has been able to gather and just spend time as a family so let’s not ruin it by arguing. We all have wonderful Eves who have their own strengths and weaknesses so it’ll be difficult to decide which one is the best.” Lily said and Kuro was glad that the fight seemed to be deescalating. Of course, that didn’t last long.

“I have the best Eve!” World End, who had been trying to contain himself while Hugh and Hyde were fighting, finally declared. His Eve told him to behave himself and not to fight with his siblings but he couldn’t sit still anymore. Kuro groaned as World End went on. “We need a competition! This way we’ll know for sure. You’ll see that Eva is the best Eve once and for all.”

“Challenge accepted.” Hyde shook his brother’s hand with a wide grin. Hugh eagerly joined in as well and jumped up to place his hand in the pile.

“Can’t deal.” Kuro knew that once his three most stubborn brothers decided on something, there was no stopping them. He only hoped that he could keep Mahiru from being involved in their silly competition.

“Misono, have you seen Abel?” Mikuni asked in a panicked voice and Misono shook his head. He didn’t bother to answer his brother properly because he was focused on finding the photo of his birth mother. Misono kept it in a frame next to his bed but it wasn’t there when he woke up that morning. He looked everywhere in his room but couldn’t find it.

His phone rang and Misono was surprised to see that Mahiru was calling him so early in the morning. When he answered, Mahiru sounded flustered. “Misono, did I accidentally leave my wristband at your house. I’m certain I was still wearing it when I got home but I can’t find it anywhere.”

“I’ll ask DoDo if you left it in the car.” Misono told him. He happened to glance out the window and he was shocked to see Lily arguing with Hugh. It was rare for Lily to appear angry and Misono wondered what they were fighting about. “Mahiru, I need to go and talk to Lily. I’ll call you back if I find your wristband.”

Misono placed his phone in his pocket and ran outside. As he got closer to Lily, he saw the other Servamps and Eves waiting outside the mansion. He wasn’t expecting anyone to visit so he was wondered why they came. Lily didn’t notice Misono behind him as he yelled at Hugh. “You can’t take something so precious to Misono for your game, Hugh! Please give it back.”

“We’ll give it back after so don’t be so angry Lily.” Hugh waved his words away. Lily didn’t like fighting, especially with his siblings, but they went too far this time. He paled when he heard Misono call his name behind him.

“Hey, what happened, Lily?”

“You’re here, Eve of Lust!” Hugh said, excitedly, and took his hand. He dragged him where the other Eves were waiting. They appeared angry and he wondered what happened. In the distance, he saw Hyde join them while dragging Mahiru behind him. He pushed him into the crowd with the other Eves but Kuro was quick to catch him before he fell. “That should be everyone.”

“Hey, why did you drag us here so early?” Tsurugi asked with a yawn. Then he came awake when Hyde explained.

“We’re having an obstacle race to see who has the best Eve! And as some of you may have noticed, something important to you is missing. But don’t be too worried, I just stole them last night.” The Eves began screaming at him but Hyde merely waved away their anger. “Don’t worry, I’ll give them back. I just wanted all of you to be properly motivated. The winner gets their thing back but the losers… Well, let’s say you don’t want to lose.”

“Wait, you didn’t take anything from me.” Tsurugi pointed out and Hugh pulled out an unsigned cheque. Once he saw the unorthodox amount written out to him, a slow smile spread on his lips. “I’m in.”

The other Eves knew they didn’t have much of a choice. Mahiru sighed and walked to the starting line Hyde gestured to. He stopped when Kuro took his wrist. He looked truly remorseful so Mahiru spoke gently. “What’s wrong Kuro?”

“I’m sorry. When we had dinner yesterday, we talked about the race but I didn’t think they were serious. I didn’t want to drag you into their silly competition but here you are. You don’t have to worry about your wristband either.” Kuro ended with much more confidence and Mahiru tilted his head. “Each of the obstacles they thought up, you can easily beat them. I know you’ll win.”

“Thank you for believing in me,” Mahiru had to smile at Kuro’s encouragement. Then he went to the starting line, feeling more confident in himself. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed the Greed Pair arguing. 

“You stole Mr. Bear? I’ve been looking for him all morning and you had him this entire time!” Licht screamed as he shook Hyde. The Servamp didn’t appear the least bit guilty despite how important he knew the stuff animal was to Licht. His father had won the teddy bear for him at a festival and his mother had sown angel wings onto it. “I’m going to kill you, Shit Rat!”

“Don’t worry, Lichtan. Mr. Bear is safe. When you win the race, you’ll get your adorable plushie back.” Hyde told him with a smirk and Licht threw up his hands in frustration. He wanted nothing more than to kick him but he knew he would never get Mr. Bear back if he did. Hyde took his hands in his and Licht expected him to tease him. Instead, his next words made his heart flutter. “I know you’ll win this because you’re the best Eve I could ever imagine. I’ll be waiting at the finish line for you. You got this!”

“Of course, I am an angel.” Licht said confidently and Hyde chuckled in reaction. Hyde kissed his knuckles before he let him go.

“Lawless’s just bias. You’re the one that’s gonna’ win.” World End excitedly patted Eva’s shoulders and she had to laugh a little because she was certain that he was biased as well. “You’re gonna’ win this and I got the best motivator for you!”

Eva wondered what it could be because she didn’t find anything missing when she woke up. Last night, World End told her about the race and she readily agreed to join. She thought that it would be a fun competition but she didn’t care who won as long as she could test her strength. World End knew this and prepared something to motivate her more.

World End took out a laptop and on the screen was her sisters. It was a video call and they were all crowded on the screen, fighting to be in the center. Her sisters were screaming over each other and talking a mile a minute but Eva could easily make out what they were saying. “Eva! Hiro told us about the race. We know you’re going to win but good luck. We’re going to be watching and cheering for you!”

“Thank you, girls! I’ll win this for you.” Eva said confidently. Seeing them and their encouraging smiles made her heart warm. She waved to them before she ran off to the starting line.

All the Eves stood in a line in front of Hugh. He waved a red flag frantically to get their attention. “I’ll be explaining the rules! There are seven obstacles, each designed by one of the Servamps. You must pass each before you can go to the finish line. The track is marked by these red flags so just follow them to each obstacle. You cannot get any help from your Servamp. Those are the only rules! Anything goes: your leads, shortcuts to the obstacles, whatever you want.”

“So, anything goes?” A dark smile settled on Mikuni’s face and the other Eves shuddered. His expression screamed his intention: sabotage. None of them put it past him, especially when Abel was at risk.

“Let the race begin!” Hugh didn’t bother to ask if the Eves were ready before he screamed. “And go!”

I actually have more but I didn’t put it into the post because I don’t know if I’m just going to rewrite the entire race portion. I love these characters so I wanted to showcase their strength in each obstacle. 

[rkseokwoo-blog]

★ THE HONGDAE TALENT SHOW skill : acting  scene : < you make my heart flutter > (0:00-1:56) drama : strong woman do bong soon

Talent shows, auditions, videos -- Seungjun liked to see himself as proactive in his attempts to get signed. As soon as he heard about the Hongdae Talent Show, he was mentally preparing himself. He found a scene that he thought would show off his skills and he practised them while he was in the car, when he was home, when he was with his grandmother (who had delighted in teasing him for his efforts). Nonetheless, he was at ease when it came to the afternoon, when he climbed onto the stage and centered himself. A smile wide on his lips, bowing deeply to everyone in the audience and pressing his fingers to the line of his microphone. “Hello everyone. My name is, Park. Seung. Jun,” he breaks up his introduction, how he always did; like a habit. 

One hand fell to his chest, patting over the race of excitement in his heart and his expression crinkling with happiness. “I’m going to do a scene from Strong Woman Do Bong Soon,” he explained, bowing his head again, smaller this time, and shifting his weight as he glanced over the crowd. He looked for familiar faces, for friends and family. But it was difficult to find them in the audience. “I hope everyone will enjoy it. Thank you,” Seungjun concluded with another dip forward and a nervous chuckle rattled in his chest. 

It takes him a second to center himself, to inhale and exhale, to take on the character of Ahn Minhyuk. His feet shifting his weight, squaring up a pretend Bong Soon to look at. Even if he might have looked silly to most people. Seungjun had auditioned before, he knew sometimes it required doing the best with what he had -- and he had only himself, and the audience.

“No one will come in here today,” he starts with, voice lowered like it were a secret to the crowd that were watching; as if they were his Bong Soon. He can almost hear the girls voice say the line back, ‘What are you going to do then?’. A smile widening on his lips, a finger coming out to motion in a teasing manner. “You seem like you are expecting a lot of things,” even his tone was hinted with teasing accusation, flirtiness that was covered up. His expression flitting between the emotions, the play act of disbelief. “My goodness.”

Then he steps forward -- “Huh?”

One step after the other, but without the wall there for him, he settles for one hand slipping into his pocket and using his height to his advantage. “Huh? Look. What is this? This scene seems very familiar.”

His gaze flickering down, waiting a second and then a breath. The point was to display the emotion, to express them with his voice, his body language, his eyes; even without the wall to capture his Bong Soon against, he wanted the audience to be captured. To make them melt with his stare, his eyes on them, his eyes taking in every tiny lash and minute glint of their eyes. A slow and steady breath.

Bong Soon’s line ringing in his head, ‘Gosh, you are so silly’.

“I will protect you like this,” Seungjun utters, centering in on one girl in the front row who seemed to fit the perfect emotion of an unamused girl; someone he could sweep off her feet and make her change her mind. “So that the world can’t hurt you,” he continues, keeping his attention focused on her and his eyes holding hers once they looked up on him. No emotion could go awry, no glance, no doubt; he needed to be this boy, in love with this girl, and swearing her would protect her. He would.

“I will protect you like this.”

He has to soften, to shift his weight, to pick another person to focus on. Each one needed to be drawn on for his Bong Soon. “You said you need time to see how you feel about this,” he utters, inching a step back; like man who is timid of the rejection that might come. But his pride and his determination to win her is demanding he ask, urging him to know how she feels. “You’d better give me your answer now.”

'Ah.. Well..’ is the answer he hears in his head, and like a switch, like a boy flinching back from a fire, he must change emotion again. Timid amusement of his declarations.

“No. Actually, you don’t have to tell me,” he continues, voice back to the teasing that it was before and shaking his head, dipping it forward a little. Smile crinkled and curved in the corner of his eyes. “You are too easy to read.”

Like to air got lighter, he’s pulling away a bit more and shaking his head. A playful frustration mounting. “Gosh, you’re driving me crazy,” he announces, voice louder and hand coming to his face as if he were. As if some person were under his skin and messing with his heart despite his attempts. A roll of noises, coughs of laughter and more shakes of his head. Sharp and focused movements, projections of Minhyuk’s childish frustration as affection. “Gosh, so cute. “

As soon as there is a pause for her line, he cuts in again, steps forward. 

“Ow. Oh gosh. Oh man! Stop smiling like that!” One hand comes up to his heart, clutching as he hunches over a little further and he exhales more noises, more sounds of surprise. He even stamps his foot, squirms on the spot and waves a hand in exaggeration. As if he’s having an argument with his Bong Soon over how she effects his heart, causes him pain, has power over him that she’s abusing. “You make my heart flutter! What am I supposed to do when you like that when we are alone?”

His hand patting his chest with more force. 

“My heart will break.”

That’s when he smiles, when he loses the game of frustration and where Seungjun’s lifting up his hand to cover his amusement, one finger pressing to his lips as he glances over everyone. Two seconds to unravel the scene and he’s bowing forward again, hands clasping at his hips and chuckling. “Thank you again,” Seungjun quickly gets out, each step taken towards the stairs off coming with a bow and a flush of embarrassment burning up his neck. One hand patted to his chest again before he steps off. “Thank you. Please don’t break my heart. Thank you.”

[tigerlover16-uk]

Anime I need to watch (August 2017 update)

Sooo, yeah. Two days late this time. I really want to apologize for this one, it wasn’t entirely my fault this time. While I was in the middle of writing my thoughts down on the shows I’d seen, my computer suddenly decided to refresh the page so I ended up losing everything, and it took me a while to catch up to where I was and finish everything since I had a lot of stuff to talk about. And stuff kept coming up when I tried to write it all again.

So, yeah, my bad for not being more careful with this stuff and all. Either way, here it is at last, read it below.

Okay, so to start things off, the first new show i watched this month was Outlaw Star. It's a pretty popular anime from what I've heard, while it apparently bombed in Japan it's widely beloved in the West and considered a benchmark for early 2000's anime. It's to the point that it's still the most heavily requested show to be re-aired on the reinstated Toonami block by it's regular viewers. No small feat to have that much fan devotion for so long. So, what did i think of it?

... Meh. It's okay.

Really, it's just... okay. It was probably one of the most average anime I've seen in a while. The characters are okay. The overarching story is okay. The humour, well, occasionally i got a chuckle out of it, but only a few episodes really made me laugh hard. There were a lot of episodes I liked, some I really liked, and some I didn't care for. The action was alright. The soundtrack was pretty good. None of the villains weren't really that interesting.

I'd go into greater detail, but I don't really know what to say overall. The show for me was just the definition of okay. Not bad, it was certainly enjoyable and I'm glad I watched it at least once, but I really can't think of any reason why I'd want to ever watch it again. Which, yeah, a little disappointing.

But oh well, that sort of thing happens. Sometimes certain classic works of fiction just don't resonate with some people the way they do with others, and I guess Outlaw Star is one of those cases for me.

After I finished with that show, I decided to catch up on Soul Eater. I mentioned in another update a few months ago that I found Soul Eater a slightly above average show, but not all that great. Well, after re-watching some of it and then finishing the show, I'll admit it's grown on me and I'll admit it's really good for the most part.

It admittedly took me a little while to get into it, since the first few episodes... while not bad, feel like they thrust you into the middle of a story that's been going on for a bit already rather than being the start of a story. I think maybe that's the point, but that sort of thing is usually a bit jarring for me personally. And I maintain that much of the show's first half was simply okay. But once it gets going, it really gets going.

The comedy was good, the action was mostly pretty decent, and the animation was great. The story progressed at a pretty good pace once it found it's groove. While a few of the major characters, namely Soul and Tsubaki, didn't really interest me that much, the main cast were all a likeable bunch (Favourites probably being Crona and Death the Kid), and the supporting characters were all fun and quirky in their own rights.

Though honestly I felt a little disappointed that Spirit and Maka's relationship didn't play more of an important role towards the later parts of the series. I mean, with how much time the show focused in it's first half on their strained relationship and Spirit's failing's as a parent and as a husband, it feels like it was meant to be more crucial to the plot or at least Maka's character arc and that things would progress at least a bit more than they did towards the end. But then as the show went on it felt like that subplot just lost relevance, so I'm kinda left wondering what the whole point of that was.

And while the story was well told, there were some things I found underwhelming. The fight between Lord Death and Asura in the middle of the series felt anti-climactic for what was described as a battle of Gods, for one.

Medusa was a great villain, I didn't think much of her at first but she won me over with what a malicious, scarily competent and savvy scheming monster she was, and her fighting style was honestly pretty unique and something I haven't seen before with an anime villain. But I felt like Crona should have had more of a role helping Maka finish her off. With how very well done Crona's character arc was handled up to that point, it felt like they should have done more in that final confrontation than get beaten to help spur Maka forward. Her unlocking Genie Hunter to finish Medusa off in one hit felt a bit cheap, really.

And the ending was a huge cop out. While I like what they were going for, in practise it just felt lazy and kind of silly, and honestly reminded me of the ending of Digimon Adventure 02 a bit. The fact that the show then ended so suddenly didn't really help much.

That all sounds like it's leaning a bit negative right? Well, yeah, but while I had a few gripes, the overall experience was still really great. The series has a great premise and sense of style, and is really fun to watch. Most of the character development was decently handled, and I can confidently say that it was a really good show, and definitely something I'd be willing to come back to again soon. Next up is Bleach, the only one of the legendary "Big 3" of anime that i have never watched before in any form. Because I really wasn't interested, and eventually I heard it had gone really down hill, so I wasn't willing to go through a repeat of what I went through with Naruto towards the last few arcs of that series.

But, I'm a curious sort, so I decided to look into it anyway. I don't plan to watch the whole series, because that seems like a lot of investment for something I can expect to go off the rails at some point and never even got finished due to a cancellation, but I want to be able to say I'm at least partially informed on all of the Big 3. So, part of my plan right now is to just watch it up to the end of the Soul Society arc. Maybe if I enjoy that enough I'll watch a bit more to see how it is for myself, but for now that's the plan.

I watched the first 20 episodes this month, the second season DVD set wasn't available at an affordable price on Amazon though so I don't know when I'll get around to watching that and season 3. Hopefully relatively soon. But for the moment, I'll just talk about this season.

All things considered, it was... pretty good. Not great, but a bit above average, if kind of mundane in places. Definitely took a few episodes before it started getting good, and I'll admit I'm not all THAT enthusiastic about most of the characters, but they are all at least likeable and I'm curious as to where things are going by the end of the season. So, good enough job there.

The premise was pretty good, and there was some good comedy and action scenes in these episodes, though admittedly not much that's truly spectaculr yet. I imagine that comes next arc when the story really picks up. A lot of the episodes did seem just okay for a while, but when I got invested I found myself really enjoying the show. I don't know what else to say in detail, and I want to get this update out quickly already, so I'll just leave it as saying I enjoyed it, but I'm waiting until I watch the next arc to make any solid opinions on whether I really like the show all that much. Hopefully Soul Society is as good as people say it is.

Next up I decided to look into a series that, honestly I now really wish I'd gotten into a lot sooner. The 2012 anime adaption of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series. This is one of those popular and influential franchises where I knew OF it, in the sense that I'd heard the name, knew it was popular and knew what the protagonist of part 3 of the series looked like... but I knew literally nothing else about the series before I went into it.

With a lot of series I tend to have a good idea of what to expect before I start them, but here I was really figuring everything out as I went along, you could say. Admittedly I expected it to be a lot sillier and harder to take seriously from the title, but after watching it... well, while it's definitely pretty crazy in a lot of ways... it's pretty amazing how dramatic it can be at the same time, I'll give it credit for that.

I watched the entire first season that consists of the Phantom Blood arc and the Battle Tendency arc of the series. So I'll be discussing them seperately here now.

I'll be honest, watching the first episode of Phantom Blood, I wasn't all that into it. Not that it was bad, but the pacing was really fast. So much stuff was happening that the whole thing felt rather rushed, and knowing that the arc was apparently only 9 episodes as I was watching it, I thought the rest of the arc would feel the same way. Thankfully though episodes after that felt a lot more even, and while the arc does feel rushed in a lot of areas, it turned out to be a very enjoyable story.

Most of that probably comes down to the 2 main characters. Jonathan Joestar admittedly may not be the most dynamic protagonist ever and in some ways feels like a standard shonen hero, he was still very likeable and sympathetic, so it was very easy to root for him throughout. And Dio was such a well written malicious, self-serving complete scumbag, I thought he was a bit much at first but with just how over the top he got with his evilness that he was fun to watch, and it was always highly satisfying whenever Jonathan gave the creep his commupance. The whole arc revolves around these characters and their conflict with one another, and thankfully it works well to the story's favour because of how well established their relationship is.

All that said, the show does have a number of flaws that really highlight the age of the manga it's adapted from. A lot of stuff in the second half of the show felt rather standard, pretty generic shonen stuff, mostly in the fight scenes which... I really wasn't all that big on them, being honest. And while Zeppeli and Speedwagon were both good characters (Even if I wish we'd had more time with the former before his death, though that's a story problem more than anything else), the rest of the supporting characters introduced in the final act of the story to help out all felt underdeveloped and... kinda pointless and uninteresting. I only really remember one of them due to what happens next arc.

And while again, the pacing did get better, the story did feel too short for it's own good and I wish there had been more time taken for more character building moments with characters besides Jonathan and Dio and longer fights, among other things. There are a few other nitpicks, but honestly this is going on long enough.

In a lot of ways, Phantom Blood feels like a pretty standard shonen story. But it's a well told standard shonen story with a lot of great moments, a compelling if basic story and a really tragic conclusion, that was a ton of fun to watch. It may not have held up great, but I was still really invested in the story and to see what the show could do from there.

And on that note I'm glad to say, Battle Tendency was a huge improvement in pretty much every way. Apart from just having more room to breath thanks to having more episodes than Phantom Blood, Battle Tendency had a better story, a much more dynamic and, frankly, interesting main character (Even if the cross dressing scene was cringy and the perverted moments were annoying) in the form of Joseph Joestar, great villains (Particularly Wamuu) and better, more creative fights.

Honestly this whole arc was just a blast. It was full of great tension, brilliant action scenes and great animation, the supporting cast was better utilized for the most part and there was a good group dynamic between the major characters, the stakes kept getting higher, and yeah, it felt like a truly "Bizzare" adventure. And all the while feeling like a natural extension of the story started in Phantom Blood.

I'm really struggling to find any weak points to this arc, other than it felt awkward that one of the supporting protagonists was a nazi soldier and he was more or less one of the good guys. I mean, Von Stroheim was an entertaining character sure, but I honestly just feel uncomfortable with the idea for a number of reasons. The stupid political climate we're in right now probably isn't helping with that though.

But other than that tidbit, the show was fantastic. I don't really want to say too much and risk spoiling anything, just go watch it yourself if you haven't seen it or go watch Super Eyepatch Wolf's video about the series on YouTube, he does it much more justice than I ever could.

Needless to say though, I'm now a Jojo fan. I think I might wait until the dub for Stardust Crusaders is done or at least further ahead before starting that series, since I have some other shows to be watching right now, but it's something I really look forward to.

I also got a hold of the third DVD set for One Piece, taking me up to episode 78 of the series. This is where things got interesting for me, since the 4Kids dub I watched as a kid cut out a lot of stuff around the crew actually reaching the grandline and just after it, which I was aware of going in, and I really don't remember much of what happened after the Straw Hats reached the Grand Line and before they got to Alabasta, or at least before Trace (Aka Ace, what was up with that change?) showed up. I remember my watching the show was a bit more erratic at the time since I kept missing episodes and having to make sense of what was going on at several points while waiting for the episodes I missed to re-air.

Needless to say I'm not fully sure what to expect going forward whereas I knew almost everything that was going to happen to most of the episodes of One Piece I'd seen before. And I had no idea about what happens in most of these episodes I just watched, so this was a relatively fresh experience. And overall, while I don't think a lot of these arcs were as good as anything between the arc introducing Usopp and the Arlong arc, they were all good in their own right, and I'm sorry some of this stuff got cut by 4Kids. The Warship Island arc was a surprisngly good filler arc with a likeable new character in the form of Apis, and a really great conclusion that I didn't see coming. Pretty fun and moving, honestly above the standards of what I usually expect from a filler arc. The stuff with Laboon the giant whale was pretty good too (Though, any story that lets me look at a flashback involving an adorable baby whale is automatically going to be good in my mind). And the last several episodes involving the giants had some really great conflict and action.

So, yeah. For a set of episodes where I was really unsure what to expect going in, I had a pretty good time watching all of this, and I look forward to more One Piece episodes whenever I get my hands on the fourth DVD collection.

And rounding things up as far as anime shows go, I also watched the first 13 episodes of the series Tenchi Universe.

I have had a weird experience watching Tenchi stuff. I remember watching Tenchi related shows as a kid, but my memory is really hazy and I only remembered bits and pieces, like Ryoko arriving on earth being chased by someone in a big robot suit (Which I thought was Ayeka for a while for some reason, but when actually watching the first episode of universe it was Mihoshi... I seriously wonder what wires got crossed in my head to make me think that was the case for all these years whenever the Tenchi series crossed my mind), and a moment at the end of episode 8 with Ryo-ohki.

But, after looking into the Tenchi franchise further and plot synopsis for the series and clips, I realize that as a kid I also watched a few episodes of Tenchi in Tokyo. So, for years I guess I basically thought Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo were the same show, and since I had so few memories of anything Tenchi related, I didn't realize until just recently.

Yeah, this has been a weird experience for me. But not one I regret. So, bits of weirdness aside, what did I think of Tenchi Universe?

Kinda meh so far to be honest. On the one hand, the plot is a lot less clunky and better handled in places that the ova series. But on the other... I think some of the charm of the ovas was lost in the transition to tv. Mainly because some of the characters, mainly Ryoko and Ayeka, don't feel as endearing or likeable as they were there. Most of the cast is fine, but a few of the changes to motivation and personality felt weaker than their original selves, Ryoko and Ayeka's bickering certainly comes off as more annoying and less creative than it could be in the ova's. Though I guess Kiyone was a good addition, though her being glad in her debut about the possibility Mihoshi was dead did bug me for a bit. Yeah I understand that Mihoshi could be a very frustrating person for anyone to have to put up with, but come on now.

The show could be hit or miss. Most of them are entertaining, a few of them were great like episode 9 though some like episode 8 felt a bit lacking. The Time and Space Adventures arc espeically felt very hit and miss and wasn't really as interesting as I thought it would have been, and I was honestly glad it didn't last too long.

Honestly as a whole, I'll say it's not bad, but I'm a bit underwhelmed by the experience so far. I hear the second half of the show is really good though, so I'll get around to finishing that as soon as I can and give my final thoughts next month. So far though, while it has some things over the OVA's which have a number of flaws, I think I still enjoy the original story more.

Now, getting around to the anime movies I watched this month, first we have the first film in the Digimon Adventure Tri series, Reunions. I really loved Digimon growing up, admittedly I always prefered Tamers as my favourite series, but the original series is what I watched first like many people and it holds a special place in my heart as one of my first anime. I actually recently re-watched the whole series since it finally came out on a full season DVD set here in the UK, and while some parts show their age I honestly think the show still holds up decently well. At the least, I still love it.

So, you'd imagine I'd have gotten around to watching these movies sooner right? Well, I thought about it, but honestly I always much prefer watching my anime dubbed whenever I can help it, so I've been waiting a while now for the UK DVD releases of the films to make a start on the series. The first film only very recently came out here.

Ah well, better late than never. So, what do I think of the movie.

Well, it's a pretty decent start to a film series all things considered. Though admittedly not great, it’s a really slow start. But I attribute that to it being the first in the series and having to re-introduce all the characters and their current situations, and set up the plot. In which case, it did a... mostly good job. Everyone was still pretty likeable and mostly how I'd expect them to act at this point (Except Izzy apparently having a crush on Mimi now. That I don't know where it came from), and while it doesn't feel like all that much really happened, it was still pretty fun seeing everyone again and I am interested to see where everything is going.

The animation was mostly pretty good, though the fights themselves all felt a little too short and generic for me. Though hey, this is Digimon, I kind of expect that. The action alone isn't what makes the show fun and worth investing in, character stuff was always more important and the film still seems to focus on that. Though admittedly even if I wish the final fight had gone on longer, Agumon and Gabumon shifting through all of their digivolutions before becoming Omnimon was pretty darn awesome.

I do have some complaints. Like, Tai apparently having some kind of PTSD, or some other trauma in regards to all the destruction caused by Digimon battles felt poorly handled. I dunno, watching him in the original series again recently and with how he was in 02, his suddenly being afraid to have agumon get involved in the final fight felt a bit contrived to me. I could have bought it if the movie actually explored Tai's mental state more and did something interesting with it, but apart from the frequent flashing back to the same rubble over and over again it only seemed to have been done as a convenient excuse to keep him and Matt from merging their Digimon into Omnimon straight away and cutting the battle with Alphamon short. Maybe the other movies explore it more and handle the idea better, but it felt half hearted here.

Also, from what I've heard the apparent decimation of the 02 cast in the opening apparently goes about as unnadressed in most of the next few movies as it does in this one. Soooo... yeah. What the heck Toei!?

If you want to know how I feel about Meiko, the new digidestined... I have no opinion. She barely appeared in the film and did nothing but have her partner be chased after by Alphamon, so I'm just going to see how she plays out in the next movie. Fanfictionny as it sounds though I am on board with another Digidestined, especially if it means one more girl on the team, just so long as she's a worthwhile addition.

So, yeah, pretty good start, fun bit of nostalgia though nothing really special yet. Though certainly better than the frankenstein's monster of a movie cobbled together from short films they tried to sell us last decade. I am interested in seeing where things go from here, though things could go either way with whether I enjoy the other films or not.

Next up we have another Naruto entry, Naruto Shippuden 3: The Will of Fire. I'm going to keep this one short because, honestly, I don't feel like I have a lot to say about it. he story was decent, I like how all of the Konoha 11 got at least one cool moment and a chance to be useful in this movie, some jokes were funny, the story was decently told and I didn't find it too preachy like so people did, probably because I do try as hard as I can to remain an optimist, the action was good, and the ending was a lazy cop-out followed by a dumb joke. Still an enjoyable movie, glad I saw it, but it could have been more and that bit of laziness really hurt the film.

And rounding it all up, I also finally got around to watching a film I ordered the DVD to a month or two ago but never got around to watching until three weeks back. The critically acclaimed 5 Centimetres per second... and it was boring. Like... really, really boring. I can't remember the last time I was so uninterested in something boring.

I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm just not the type of person this movie was made for and if people like it, okay, fair enough. But this entire thing felt like a pointless waste of 60 minutes. The whole thing was just an hour of these boring characters pining over people they like and moping about "Oh, we can't be together" because they're either too afraid to spit it out, or for other reasons I don't care about.

No, I don't care if it's "Atmospheric" or whatever. Nice animation and cinematography alone do not a good movie make. I didn't care about any of these characters, the story was boring, almost nothing here was interesting, and it all just felt pointless by the end of it like absolutely nothing was accomplished at all in the whole film.

And it's not that I don't get a lot of the things it was trying to do, I do have an idea. But the problem is, I don't care, because it wasn't entertaining and I kept thinking that my time could have been better spent watching a Miyazaki movie instead.

Maybe it is just me. If you like the film or see it's merits better than I did, good for you. But personally, I was just glad when it was over and I don't plan to go back to this movie for a long, long time.

And, well, that about covers it I think. Again, sorry this update was so late and if I didn't go into as much detail as I could have about some things, I was rushing. Either way, it was an interesting month for me, with a lot of different experiences. Hopefully I'll have another month as productive as this one soon. Anyway, if you read all this then thank you very much. As always, please leave whatever suggestions you can for the list below and i'll see you all again with another update at the end of the month this time, hopefully.

Series:

Mobile Suit Gundam

Cowboy Bebop

Digimon Frontier

Digimon Data Squad

Digimon Fusion

Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Sailor Moon (Watched the entire first season and was about halfway through season 2. Should really get back to watching the full series)

Sailor Moon Crystal

Yu Yu Hakusho (Up to episode 94)

Ranma 1 ½

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders

Jojo’s bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

One Piece (Up to episode 78)

Bleach (Up to episode 20)

Astro Boy (Any series. I just want to be able to say I’ve watched something from this franchise).

Kill La Kill

Gurren Lagann

Fairy Tail (Up to episode 203)

Little Witch Academia

Tenchi Universe (Up to episode 13)

Death Note

Yuri On Ice

Fist of the North Star

Code Geass

Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma (I watched about 9 episode, need to catch up)

Your Lie in April

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Mob Psycho 100

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Phoenix Wright anime

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Eureka 7

Black Cat

Black Shooter Rock

Gunbuster

Afro Samurai

Space Dandy

Vision of Escaflowne

magical girl lyrical nanoha

Shin Sekai Yori

Baccano

Cyborg 009

Gaogaigar

Danganronpa

Yo-Kai Watch

Pretty Cure

Future Boy Conan

Yona of the Dawn

WataMote

Space Patrol Luluco

Rurouni Kenshin

Steam Detectives

Death Parade

Movies:

Your Name

Garden of Words

Paprika

Tokyo Godfathers

The Boy and the Beast

Millenium Actress

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

The Digimon Adventure Tri Movies (Watched the first one)

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions

Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend awakened

Pokémon: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction

Pokémon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel

Pokémon: I Choose You

Ghost In The Shell

Memories

Perfect Blue

Naruto: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

Naruto Shuppuden: Bonds

Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower

Naruto Shippuden: Blood Prison

Naruto: Road to Ninja

Boruto Movie

Fairy Tail the movie: Dragon Cry

Godzilla: Monster Planet

Mary and the Witch’s Flower

Princess Arete

Tekkonkinkreet