#honestly though would be funny if Q was just a whole lot of people across different universes

[yourbuerokrat2]

One of the hilarious things about Discord being Q on vacation is that if Q ever somehow got Picard to marry him Q would want two weddings. One in Picards universe and one in the mlp-universe with fluttershy as the very enthusiastic bridesmaid.

[satorinni]

𝕞𝕦𝕥𝕖

track 18: feelings?

Kenma has never really been a people person. Yeah, over the years he’s gotten better with ‘human interaction’ , but he would still prefer to be alone. There were very few people whose company he didn’t mind, and recently he had been contemplating whether you should be added to the list. Though that idea has been teetering in and out of his mind given the fact you two hadn’t actually hung out in person.  Actually, save for the one pants-less interaction, neither of you had ever been in the same room together. But still, he kinda likes you. More than a friend, he’d like to think. Though the idea scared the fuck out of him, he would actually like to take you on a real date. One that didn’t result in your dinner being up in flames. 

Maybe he’d even take you to a cutesy café in Tokyo. Like the one he was currently sitting in. Eating apple pie. Across from a girl. A girl who definitely wasn’t you. 

“Honestly, I don’t know why you didn’t just become a model.” After the photoshoot, Etsuko insisted on getting a bite to eat. Something about wanting to catch up because it’s been a whole year. He didn’t really understand why, he knew for a fact Kuroo called her every time something juicy happened to him. Whatever that meant. Besides, he couldn’t turn down a slice of his favorite food.

“Because wearing stupid clothes and standing in front of a camera for hours is not my ideal career, ‘Tsuko.” He took another bite of what was left of his slice. He’s glad he chose to sit in a booth away from the windows, he had already been recognized twice on the way here. It’s why he did his best to avoid walking through the city. Especially dressed like this.

“C’mon, Kenmaaaa, the button up is cute. You look like a businessman.” She snorts through her smoothie straw. 

“I am a businessman. I’m quite literally a CEO.” He gives her a deadpan stare before taking a sip from his own milkshake. “I don’t know how your rooster boy manages to wear this stupid getup 24/7. I’m suffocating in these slacks.” He’d been pulling at the tight-fitting pants all day, but the magazine suggested he look professional for the shoot.

“What’s the matter, Kenma? Too much junk in the front?” Etsuko wiggles her eyebrows at him. She always did have the dirtiest mind. 

“Gross, ‘tsuko.” He squints at her and shakes his head. 

“Speaking of your little fella, when was the last time you got laid, baby boy?” Despite her suggestive tone, Kenma knew she was genuinely curious. She was the one who told him what sex was anyway. Gross, he shudders at the memory. 

“Is that an offer, ‘Tsuko?” He knew it wasn’t, and he knew even if it was the answer would be no, but he was deflecting. 

“Only if you let me post it on the hub.” She winks at him and slurps at her empty cup for emphasis. “Quit deflecting, Kenma, I heard about your lil boo thang.” She cracks up at her own joke and asks the waiter for a refill. 

Kenma scrunches his nose in disgust. “Don’t call her that.” Yeah, you guys weren’t dating, and yeah, you probably didn’t even know he liked you, but still. 

“Look at you, defending her honor, how sweet.” She mockingly shakes her head at every word. “I heard you stole her from little rooster boy.” She leans in towards him, like it was some big secret.

“Of course he exaggerated that, he’s the one who set her food on fire. Besides, she texted me first.” He recounts the way he freaked the fuck out when he saw you texted him. His demeanor was always more calm over the internet, probably why he had millions of fans, but he was still an antisocial wreck IRL.

“Ahh, so she’s ballsy, huh. Who knew little Kenma liked bold girls? Tell me about her.” She leans her head into her palm. To anyone else she would’ve dropped it already, losing interest. But this was Kenma, she was always poking her nose into his business. 

“She’s a med student, same age as me. Friend of a friend, I guess. “ He shrugs. He figured that would keep her dormant enough to change the subject. 

“You got yourself a smarty pants. Cute, but that’s not what I wanted to know.” She raises her eyebrow at him. “Do you like her? Is this just a hump and dump? You gonna marry her?” Her eyes got wider with every question, it kinda freaked him out. 

Damn, he thought he could dodge it, but Etsie has always been super pushy. “I don’t know. I mean I'm definitely not gonna hit it & quit it. I haven’t even hung out with her for real.  And dude, I’m 23, m’not thinking about marrying anyone at the moment.” He held his breath and figured that was enough. He was not ready to admit it out loud yet.

“Ah ah ah, you skipped a question, baby boy.” She gives him a devilish grin and leans in even closer. “I won’t tell a soul.”

Okay, even if she was a bit much, Etsuko never spilled Kenma’s secrets. To anyone. Not even Kuroo. But it wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. It was just... Was he ready to admit he had feelings? It's only been a few months, and he hadn’t even spoken to you in person. So what if he texted and called you 24/7? Wouldn’t it be too early? You’d probably be freaked out if he went ahead and confessed his feelings so early on. 

Ah, fuck it. 

“Yeah, ‘Tsuko. I like her. Like a lot. She’s funny as hell, smart as shit, and she gets me. Plus she’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever met. Like, prettier than you.” He knows that would probably offend any other girl, but he was only ever straight up with ‘Tsuko.

“EEK!” Etsuko lets out a pig squeal that has other customers staring in confusion. She balls her fists up and starts shaking aggressively. “My baby boy has a crush! EEK! I’m so proud of you.” She leans over the whole table and grabs Kenma’s face, placing a loud kiss on his forehead. 

He flicks her forehead and smiles. “Shut up, it’s not like this is the first crush I’ve ever had.”

“I take pride in being your first crush, little bro.” She places her hand on her chest in mock pain, but the grin on her face exposes itself. 

“When you put it like that it sounds like incest. I was 8, you weirdo. ” Both were true, when Kenma first met Etsuko he developed a crush on her. (Mostly because she was the only girl who he’d ever interacted with.) It only lasted a month anyway; he eventually got annoyed with how much her and her brother were at his house. Now, after 15 years of being stuck with Kuroo, Kenma could only ever see them both as the siblings he never had. 

“Still, I was your first love, Kenma.” She looks off dramatically into the distance, as if she was having a flashback.

“You’re gay.” The smirk on his face gives off his slight amusement with her stupidly dramatic antics. 

“Now, “ She slams her hands on the table, causing more people to stare and the silverware to rattle, “Aren’t you going to ask me about my lovelife?” 

“No, I don’t care.” He snorts at the hurt look on her face. 

“Well, my girlfriend is doing WONDERFUL, Kozume Kenma, thanks for asking.” She crosses her arms and sticks her nose in the air.

“Yeah, whatever, you’re paying.” He pulls out his phone to see if there are any texts from you. On cue, the notification on his phone displays your name. He grins down at the unopened text, not even bothering to hide his happiness from Etsuko. 

Mid-rant about how he should pay because he’s got all the money, she stops and stares at him. A soft smile appears on her face, a swell of pride shoots through her. She only ever saw Kenma as a baby brother, and was genuinely happy for his growth over the years. 

Suddenly, Kenma’s phone flashes with your contact, a facetime call from you. 

“I gotta take this.” He moves to sit up, but looks up at Etsuko at the last second. 

She grins and nods towards the door. 

“Go get em, tiger.”

𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘: kozume kenma x medstudent!f!reader

𝕥𝕒𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥: send an ask to be added!

𝕤𝕪𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕤𝕚𝕤: enroute to being a neurosurgeon, y/n l/n doesn’t have time for fun, let alone dating. after her friends set her up on a blind date gone wrong, she comes face 2 face with none other than her date’s best friend. her world flips on axis, and suddenly she has no idea how her brain works, or love-at-first-sight.

𝕒/𝕟: this was probably rlly poorly written LMFOAD

taglist!

@katsuki-bakuhoee @sirachano0dles @qwir-0 @sailorstrawberi @calumsfringe @oppositesunchild @akioaly @aikochan4859 @drownedbytears @buttermasterbillie @vvenusblue @bluefaeriefury @ktzuki @mirikusashes @tsukibaby @toaster-stick @woohoney @just-snog-already @adorable-punk-superheroes @nikanikabitch @starrywriteshaikyuu @acabbaybee @theblueslytherin @sakusasupremacist @waywardcowboyllamavoid @rintaoreo @immxnty @noliamallpayne @sadcosmicdoggie @aizumii @c-o-n-q-u-e-r @sunahyejin @zaedynnn @triskoof @bakugouswh0r3 @ilauvcoldpizza @tina-98 @izzy28901 @kookie-doughs @black-rose-29 @moonlightaangel @kakamihasatmblr

[hermit-pistol]

Leone Abbacchio Fluff Alphabet:

And with that, the 600 follower special is concluded! I know that they took me forever to finish but I hope that you enjoyed reading them! Please like and reblog to show love, and read some Abbacchio fluff under the cut:

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

Abbacchio enjoys the simplicity of doing nothing and going nowhere. Honestly, some of his favorite activities that you do together take place in the courtesy of your own home. Don't get it twisted though, he still will take you out for the occasional meal and show you a good time!

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

He admires your ability to stay calm. Other people he has known in the past would tend to annoy him with how high strung they were. He much rather prefers a partner that he can sit in comfortable silence with, and can just go with the flow of everything.

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

Abbacchio, to be fair, has had his own fair share of emotional baggage, so he knows what you're experiencing all too well. Thankfully, he also knows how to overcome the situation when these feelings grow to be too much. He'll whisper words and phrases of affirmation, assuring them that everything will be okay and that he will always be there for them.

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

His vision of the future is very uncertain, and in all fairness, he couldn't even believe that he'd made it this far in his life. His previous career as an officer and currently being in the mafia were certainly not considered "safe" jobs. He does want a future with you though, no matter how risky the job. He just won't think too far ahead.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

Abbacchio is very passive aggressive. He'll be very lenient when it comes to making decisions in the relationship but can obviously step it up if needed. Most of the decision making will be in the hands of his partner for sure.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

He bottles things up until they explode at the surface. He'll yell and most likely something will come out harsher than intended, this ends up with him being in a position where he has some serious explaining to do. Things will work out eventually, but things might be rough for a while.

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

He loves you for showing him that living wasn't all that bad to begin with. Life hasn't been very kind to him and you know that. When he's having very low moments, you remind him of his team and you who both love him very much. You are one of the only reasons that he keeps on going.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

Getting Abbacchio to open up and speak about the things that he's experienced in this lifetime will take a lot of coaxing and convincing. In time, he'll tell you when he's ready, but for a good while he'll be very selective with what he wants to share with you. Only when the time comes and he feels that you're worthy of knowing will he come clean. Be ready.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

He has a hard time seeing the positives of a situation, and before he met you, he was truly unhappy with his life. It took him so many years to learn that seeing things from a different, more optimistic point of view really made a huge difference. He thanks you for opening him up to new experiences.

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

Abbacchio does not mess around when it comes to you getting attention from other people. He may appear passive at first, but he’s had an eye on the two of you this whole time, don’t worry. If things get out of hand, he’ll just drag you out of there so fast you won’t even have time to process what just happened.

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Abbacchio is a very rough kisser, to the point where you have to remind him not to leave marks on your lips. There's a time and a place for everything, but it takes some reminders to let him know that a simple showing of affection shouldn't result in your face being all but ripped off. Other than that, he's got quite the natural talent.

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

The funny thing that sets Abbacchio apart from the others is that he won't outright tell you that he loves you. He very much so believes in the concept of tough love, and even though he can be unbearable at some points, it's very rarely that he verbally expresses that he loves you. It's rather expressed in the actions that he does.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

He's going to wait for ages until he pops the question, so long in fact that you had thought about proposing to him just to get it over with. He'll ask for the help of his team to put the wedding together since he doesn't have much to work with in terms of family. When it's all said and done, he'll totally have to fight the urge to break down into tears when he sees you walking down the aisle. You just look so beautiful!

N icknames - What do they call their s/o?

Abbaccchio really doesn't need nicknames, unless you ask him to call you something specific. If not, he's content with referring to you by your name. After all, it is the most sincere form of flattery as they say.😳

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

Only a few people can tell that something is up with Abbacchio (mainly, Bruno and Fugo) and once they figure out what's going on with their teammate they can't help but smile. They'll leave teasing out of it because they know that the others might go too far, but whenever you enter a room they share a knowing glance as they watch him clam up on the spot.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

He's not very fond of showing his affection in public, and sometimes this really gets on your nerves. There are times where he doesn't even feel comfortable holding hands with you, but you try to respect his wishes. You know that he's just a little awkward and shy when it comes to these things and that his actions in the outside world are completely different compared to when you share alone time.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

(I know this might be one you guys have heard of before but it can't leave my brain so-) Abbacchio can sing, and he can sing quite well. But he will never do so in front of people, and even in front of you. The only times that you can hear him is when he thinks that you have left for the store and sneaks into the bathroom. One time you had your ear pressed against the door so hard that it accidentally opened. He was holding a hairbrush like a microphone and was less than pleased that you had found him.

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

It may not seem like it, but Abbacchio can be quite romantic. When the two of you are alone he might offer to give you a massage or might shower you in kisses of his own accord. Both of those might end up leading to something else, of course ;)

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

He will always make sure to make sure that you have complete confidence in whatever you decide to pursue. If you succeed, then he will be the proudest man you've ever seen. Even if you experience some shortcomings he'll encourage you to keep trying and re-adjust your goals so they can be more attainable.

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

Abbacchio doesn't really come across as the type of person that's spontaneous. While he doesn't like surprises, whenever he does have a nice gesture planned he wants to make sure that you're prepared for (possibly) one of the best days of your life. He hypes it up in subtle ways like "Pack your bags" and "Make sure to bring your swimsuit". 😉

U nderstanding - How well do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

Don't let his emotional unavailability at times fool you, for he can understand your emotions quite well. He'll pay attention to details that could decipher your moods, like the slam of a door or heavy sighs as you shuffle your feet into the living room. Of course, he'll ask you how to make you feel better, but he secretly prides himself on his awareness when it comes to you.

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

Abbacchio isn't the best at maintaining relationships with people, unless they're very special to him. You are easily one of the best things that's ever happened to him, and if you weren't in his life he'd be extra grumpy and then some. You are his rock, and he cherishes you every single day the two of you are together.

W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

When the two of you aren't busy, you insist on having a "couple's night" which consists of watching a movie together. He’s a bit of a “fun killer” when it comes to having a movie night, turning down almost every idea and suggestion that you have. You eventually decide on a basic horror movie, with Abbacchio grumbling through it the whole time. He does enjoy when you cling to him during the scary parts, though.

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

Abbacchio can be affectionate when he wants to be (only when you’re ALONE). There are times when he doesn't want to be in the same room as you, and then others when he's clinging to you no matter how hard you try to escape. Catch him in a good mood and he'll even nuzzle his head into the crook of your neck.

Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

Whenever you've been away for a bit, Abbacchio will seemingly be unfazed by your lack of presence, almost to the point where it bothers you. Your man really doesn't show that many emotions, huh. When you walk through the door; however, he'll be there in the doorway ready to greet you and wrap you in a giant hug. You smile, knowing that he secretly missed you after all.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

He's not the type of guy to give gifts or do anything extravagant outside of special occasions. If you're having a bad day he will bring you dinner and listen to you vent. If you're the one, he's willing to go the extra mile in maintaining the relationship and wanting to keep you as happy as possible.

[eirabach]

Steady As You Go [1/3]

For @olliepig​ who asked for Gordon + Caught in an Explosion and @mrmustachious​ who asked for extra Penny and for @godsliltippy​ who asked for jealousy... um, sorry? All for @badthingshappenbingo​ 

This is rated M for insinuations of a sexual nature, drinking, references to drugs and a touch of the old violence. So, without further ado, lets go.

He remembers the first time he ever laid eyes on her, back when she was a debutante and he was still stealing dabs of Virgil's cologne. She'd floated through that ballroom, between all those businessmen, aristocrats and celebrities and worse, and he'd been sure, totally sure, that she was easily the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. He thinks he might have said so, or maybe his tongue was just hanging out of his mouth, because he also remembers the clout of Scott's hand around the back of his head and the way his dad's laughter had followed the ringing in his ears. 

"Don't even think about it, Gordon."

So he hadn't. Much.

And it hadn't been all that hard not to think about her back then, back when she'd been some distant, ethereal being and he'd been busy falling in love with a submarine. She'd just been a stray thought at night, a flash of gold behind closed eyelids and -- yeah. Easy peasy.

Except then there'd been secret meetings and firm handshakes and scuba lessons and flying cars and the fierce sort of decency that makes his heart skip a beat. A smile that he half convinces himself is always a little brighter when she turns it on him. 

And somewhere, somewhere between that ballroom and the island's beaches, somewhere before an Aztec temple but after -- after Dad, somewhere, something had changed.

He thinks it's love, actually. He wonders how much Dad would laugh at that.

Scott had laughed. Not at Gordon's being in love -- he's not that much of an asshole, not really, and anyway Gordon's not entirely sure Scott would recognise romantic love if it slapped him round the face -- but at the situation? This particular one? Sure. He supposes it is kinda funny.

After all Scott and Virgil have spent a significant amount of energy keeping Gordon out of these sorts of premises -- and now he's working in one. 

Despite the many, uh, experiences of Parker’s misspent youth the passage of time has left him an unlikely companion for this particular mission. Even if he could carry off the tight, leatherette trousers and accompanying waistcoat, there’s a pretty solid, almost certain, chance that he’d lay out the first man to set his wandering hands on her Ladyship. And the second. And the rest. It’s a lot of bail money that GCHQ aren’t especially keen to pay out, and so that’s where Gordon comes in.

And if he’s not totally sure how he feels about the woman he probably actually for real loves classing him as ‘most likely to pass as a sexy waiter’ in a club of extremely dubious repute, he is at least having a better night than Parker who, last he saw, is sat out in the alleyway behind the club panhandling for change.

Gordon’s getting notes.

He might not be quite as busty as the majority of the other waitstaff, but that doesn’t seem to bother a significant majority of the clientele. He squeezes between the tables where they’re crammed close together next to the dance floor, bestowing neon bright drinks and winning smiles in almost equal measure. The bass thrums through the club, up his spine, and arcs of ultraviolet light up the shark’s teeth smiles of people he shouldn’t be within a mile of. Some just whistle or hoot or ignore, hey, he can't be everyone's type, but others tuck fifties into his waistband, wink at their companions, whisper things as he leans over to collect the glasses that probably *ought to horrify him. Someone else paws at him, grabbing at his bicep as he tries to manoeuvre his way back to the bar, and the heavy tray he’s carrying wobbles in time with shrieks of laughter and, “Oh honey, why don’t you just pop that down and come sit up here with me?”

On second thoughts Scott wouldn’t be laughing. He’d probably just drop down dead.

“Sorry folks, gotta share the love.” He winks, hovers long enough for the hand on his arm to go for a lingering squeeze and then flexes just enough to set off another round of hooting and hollering. “Y’all have a great night!”

Okay, so maybe the notes aren't the only upside. He's been a long, long time on an island. With his Grandma. He's only human.

He kinda shimmies his way back to the bar to drop the tray of empties, leans up against it, and grins.

"Are you actually enjoying this?"

Kayo looks -- Kayo looks like she might rip his head right off if he looks too closely, honestly. The uniform, if it can be called such a thing, of the female bar staff makes Gordon's look respectable, just a minuscule leatherette skirt and two scraps of fabric over the chest, and he's not sure he's seen Kayo in a skirt in -- well, ever, if he's honest. Seeing her in this getup is kinda akin to seeing a brother in full red pvc fetish gear. Scarring.

The look on her face, though? That's hilarious.

"Might be," he says, and leans over the bar to swipe a maraschino cherry. He pops it in his mouth with a grin and probably a little too much tongue. Kayo scowls.

"Do your job, Gordon!"

She shoves a tray across the counter at him. No more unnaturally coloured concoctions here, instead there's an ice bucket, a bottle of champagne that's considerably older than him, and two crystal flutes.

He sweeps up the tray with a wink and a mouthed FAB that has Kayo's eyes almost rolling out of her head, and makes his way past the dance floor that heaves with sweating, gyrating bodies. He heads towards the raised platform at the far end of the club where a velvet cord and dimmed lighting promise something rather -- different.

Gordon has to look up, way, way, up, in order to flash his most winning smile at the beefy guy on the rope.

"Special delivery?" he says brightly. The guy doesn't even look at him, only lifts the rope enough for Gordon to slip beneath. He shifts the tray to one hand as he does so and shoves a sweaty curl out of his eyes. It's his first time up here tonight, and he's not entirely sure what he was expecting. The space is filled with plush velvet sofas pushed together to create private little enclaves around impractically low tables, but they're almost all empty. In the darkest, most shadowy corner Gordon clocks another figure, even larger and more off putting than the one guarding the ropes, but other than that -- 

He strides over to the only occupied sofas, lets his hips swing a bit, tries to give off a vibe of confidence that he doesn't entirely feel.

Because the thing about Penelope is that she never fails to look anything other than perfectly at home in any environment, and the thing about Gordon is that she's gonna make him drop his tray. He remembers the first time he ever saw her, pretty and pink and ever-so posh, and he thinks -- he thinks maybe he ought to have run then, because it's way too goddamn late now, isn't it?

Way, way too late.

The beading on her dress glows like liquid fire in the low light, her bare legs are crossed at the ankle, a river of sleek black hair flowing over the arm of the sofa as she tilts her head back at his approach.

"Oh lovely. I'm parched."

She sounds like Penny, far more like Penny than he was expecting, all things considered, but there’s a reason for that. This is code. A warning. Things aren’t going entirely her way, and when Penny’s way is also the world’s way, Gordon needs to think on his feet. He presents the bottle with a flourish, glasses neatly held between the fingers of his left hand, and tucks the silver tray swiftly beneath his arm. So swiftly, in fact, that no-one would have noticed the carefully timed wobble as he did so, the flash of reflected light just a meaningless side effect of the motion -- unless, of course, they’re an irritable Security Specialist who is on the lookout for it.

Danger, he flashes, bending down to pour the champagne, and Penny’s fingers brush ever so delicately against his as she reaches for the glass. She looks up at him through her lashes, darker and thicker than he’s used to as they may be, and he feels his heart rate kick up just a notch. Caution.

Way too damn late for that, too.

It takes the clearing of a throat from behind him before he remembers the *other reason he's here.

"Nice view, poor service," a voice drawls. "Seems like I just can't get the staff."

Gordon's never knowingly met an international arms dealer before. Not on purpose. They’re not the sort to hang around at charitable auctions or linger at the ribbon cutting of children’s hospitals. When he’d been told he’d be meeting one here he’d expected -- something else. Something old, a throwback to a harder, darker age long past. An ugly face to reflect an ugly soul. Something seedy, like the club around them, ground down and dirty and wrong. What he finds on the other side of the cosy little nook is something else entirely.

He’s young, not much older than Gordon himself, slim and smartly dressed with chestnut brown curls and freckles that spill like grains of sand over an upturned nose. He’s smiling as Gordon gapes at him, and that’s -- Gordon doesn’t really know what to do with that.

Penny’s spent months in pursuit of this guy, and Gordon knows why, he does, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of biological and chemical weapons at stake -- the future of the whole planet, even -- and there’s no reason, none, for the funny little burning sensation in his chest to rise up into his throat. No reason for him to flick his eyes back to Penny, to the casual way she drapes herself across the sofa and sips at her champagne. No reason to hold on to the guy’s glass for that split second longer than he has to, no reason to force him to tug at it, a brief flash of frustration creasing the handsome brow. No reason except that this guy stinks of power, of expensive cologne, of something else that Gordon can’t quite put his finger on only he knows he doesn’t want Penelope within a million miles of it. Blood and gunpowder and he probably really shouldn’t piss this guy off.

He probably was not the best choice for this op after all.

"Although --" And the guy’s holding the glass now, he’s holding it and Gordon’s pouring and there’s -- there’s no reason for him to look at Gordon the way he is now. Blue eyes track up his obnoxious trousers, hover momentarily at the cash still stuffed in his waistband before flicking up to Gordon’s eyes. The crease between his eyebrows deepens, and the tip of his tongue peeks out to dampen his lips before he takes a sip. “Then again, perhaps I can.”

Gordon blinks at him, shock rendering him half dumb because Penny’s -- Penny’s right there, looking like that but he’s looking at Gordon like -- like -- 

Hunger, he thinks. It’s hunger.

He’d have known what to do with that, once. Pretty eyes and a handsome face. He knows this game of old, although god, it’s been years hasn’t it? It’s been years, but it’s exactly not the sort of game you forget how to play.

Well then. Perhaps he does have a few skills he can bring to the table.

“Uh, thank you?” He shifts his weight, rubs at his damp hair and enjoys the little thrill he gets from watching the way the guy's eyes follow the flex of his muscles.

One neat eyebrow rises. “Thank you? Are you new?”

“Oh! Oh, yeah. First night.” 

The guy, and that’s all he can think of him as, just some guy because if he thinks about who he is he’s gonna grab Penny and blow this whole damn thing, reaches over and flicks at the wad of notes. “Enjoying yourself?”

Gordon laughs, a little breathily, a little nervously, a little genuinely, and the tray slips to the ground with a clatter. “Sure! I mean, what’s not to love, right?”

The guy laughs too, rich and throaty, and hooks a finger through the belt loop of Gordon’s trousers to tug him towards him. The whites of his eyes glow violet, his smile almost alien as the lights strobe over them and his hand is cool against the skin above Gordon’s hip as he grips, twists, turns him to face Penny. She’s sitting up now, champagne glass raised, her lip between her teeth. Her shoulders are tensed ever so slightly, the pads of her fingers pale against the glass.

“What do you think?” he asks, “Should I keep him?” 

Penny’s eyes go wide, just a half second’s warning, and then she smiles, cool and cunning.

“Oh,” she says, her smile like ice. “Lets.”

[rpgmgames]

February’s Featured Game: Returning Nightmares

DEVELOPER(S): Saturn ENGINE: RPGMaker 2003 GENRE: YNFG, Exploration, Adventure WARNINGS: Blood, Gore, Swearing, Suicide SUMMARY: Returning Nightmares is an exploration adventure-horror game being developed in RPG Maker 2003, inspired by Yume Nikki and it's multiple fan-made homages (but with dialogue & easier to navigate maps). You play as Akira, a young man locked up in his own bedroom, exploring his dreams to remember the events that lead him to where he is now. But some things are better left alone…

Play the demo here!

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! Hi, I'm Saturn and I like videya game. I've been into Yume Nikki since about... 2010? And RPG Maker in general since 2011. I've been cateloguing resources and reblogging RPG Maker projects on Pinkuboa for 6 & 1/2 years now (7 in June) and I run Dream Diary Jam, a game jam for making Yume Nikki Fangames. I also love pixel art, writing, and cooking, but the last one I can't make into a game (yet).

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Saturn: I was originally trying to make like a little intro to Yume Nikki project that people could peak into and copy for Dream Diary Jam & future use. However, it ended up taking a life of it's own as something I could goof off in and enjoy without thinking about it. The eventing I did for it could be better optimized, so I wouldn't use it as an example anymore (but don't mind at all if people look & learn from it!). It's basically about me thinking back on my edgy years and my years of looking at other's OCs and celebrating how goofy and fun the stories could be. A lot of the game is me asking "What would someone who watched a lot of anime and listened to MCR do?" There's an appeal to cool edgy stuff I think we forget about when we look back on our edgelord years. Sure, you may not have been the best writer and some of the stuff is over the top, but it was enjoyable to make and some of the characters still appeal to you for basic emotional reasons (good design, relatable story, fun power trip, you just like their hair, etc.) I hope the game is enjoyable to people whether or not they laugh at it or honestly have a good time with it. Both ways are valid - enjoyment is enjoyment!

How long did you work on your project? *Saturn: Oh gosh...I believe I started at the very end of 2017, like a week before the new year. Then I worked on it for like 2 months, took a break, then picked it up and went hard in September 2018 again.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Saturn: You bet buddy: -Yume Nikki -.flow -Ignite -The Looking Glass -Fleshchild -Yume Nisshi -Akuma (Yume Nikki Fangame) -Answered Prayers -Ultra Violet -Cheesy internet OCs I read as a kid -Cheesy modern horror movies -Cheesy Creepypastas ...and probably other stuff but I can't think of it right now.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Saturn: Sometimes I make a world without thinking about it all the way through and I don't know what to do it with or what to fill it with. That's why you can find a map of an Ouija board in the map files with some events and such that you can't access elsewhere. It's driving me mad still. >:T

Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Saturn: It went from a side project to my current project, a project I wanted to use to help others but ended up teaching myself. I know better ways of eventing now and have an idea of how to make maps and tiles better and faster.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Saturn: I prefer working alone on this game. Had it been something that I started with someone else, I'd like it with them. I do crowdsource ideas though: I'll ask discord randomly, "Hey, what should I put next in Returning Nightmares" or "Hey, what else should I put in this world?" Big shout out to Dream Diary Development & Pixel Horror for their help!!

What was the best part of developing the game? *Saturn: Seeing the worlds come together. Once a world has music in it and all the bits and pieces properly moving and intractable, it's immensely satisfying. I'd say finishing an event and having it work properly is second. Eventing is fun!

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Saturn: I find myself playing with the engine and seeing what I can do with it myself.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Saturn: I don't relate to anyone in particular because they're all kinda hollow. However, I like the hidden wizard the best since he was a D&D character I never got to use, so I have a whole backstory and personality for him!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Saturn: I wish I planned better & fixed a few bugs for the first release. At least there's nothing game breaking: you can't get a few menus if you don't have enough money, but that's it.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Saturn: Leave as is. This one is mostly to get me comfortable with the idea of releasing a larger game. Akira doesn't have any great stories in him, he's just him. Most of the games I got ideas for are one off since I like one off stuff. Makes everything feel complete.

With your current project, what do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Saturn: I look for people's reactions to it. There's, there's a particular place in the game that's in the shape of a 10 year old webcomic meme that I had people @ me in chats and ask if it was a reference to, while I giggled like a fool. Games like most media can be an interaction between player & creator, and that's one of the fun parts of it all.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Saturn: God I don't know if I'll break the game or make it boring in any particular way. That's my top concern.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Saturn: Learning how to make a game is like learning how to read or how to do math: you won't be able to read To Kill a Mockingbird right away, nor will you be doing advanced algebra. It took a lot of time for you to be able to do either. Give yourself a break when you learn how to make a game as well: you won't learn how to make a big one in a month! Feel free to screw up. Someone says "Don't do that, it'll be too big"? Do it anyway: you'll either fail and learn a lesson, or you'll succeed and then look back and say, "Oh crap, I could of done that better now that I learned everything new." Either way, you got more practice to make another game, but better. "But I screwed up...." - see paragraph 1 on this question for the answer to that. Cut yourself some slack and remember you're doing this because you want to enjoy making a game! I found the best way I learned is by looking into other games (thanks Bleet & Jojogape for being cool with people looking at their games). I suggest finding the best way you learn as well, whether it's written tutorials, asking people, looking at other people's games, video tutorials, or just messing with the engine yourself. Lastly, I found the best way to take pressure off myself when making a game (as someone who loves perfection) was to make a few goofy joke games first. If they were bad, that was fine: they were supposed to be funny bad! It's like releasing steam by making MS Paint drawings, it makes you laugh and feel less nervous.

Question from last month's featured dev @leirin: What's something you really hope to see an RPG Maker game achieve in the future? * *Saturn: I want to see more games do something with the picture system in RPG Maker 2003. Like, I've seen games play with the new picture system, but not release and it's really burning my britches because it's such a great cosmetic game changer hnnnngh. Otherwise, I'm not sure. RPG Maker is a limited engine specialized for RPGs. I like watching fellow developers Cachi, Hogwash-dev, Rindre, and a few other people see how far they can push the system, but I don't have a particular "I want to see this" from something. I kinda like RPG Maker for it's limits, but I also like seeing what I wasn't expecting from it!

We mods would like to thank Saturn for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Returning Nightmares if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[soprone]

Some notes on my characterisation of Teddie

retreading some old ground from previous blogs but hopefully it’s better than before because i’m always getting better grasps on my muses as time goes on so pwease read with an open mind  .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ

So while my characterisation is mostly based on the english localisation of the games and anime because that’s what i’m most familiar with, i feel like teddie comes across differently than may have been intended due to dub changes. i kind of viewed him the way i do when i first played, learning about the dub changes mostly just confirmed some things about my interpretation. like of course i changed my mind about some things but so you know where I’m coming from

So something that didn’t translate very well was Teddie’s humor. He’s constantly making bad jokes that the rest of the Investigation Team doesn’t respond to. This isn’t because they’re uncomfortable with his jokes, even when they’re a bit perverted. He’s not a jerk who keeps making bad jokes that make people uncomfortable, and the Investigation Team aren’t jerks for not explaining to Teddie that it’s not okay or anything, since he’s new to human customs. It’s because he’s looking to bring others into his comedy routine with any kind of reaction, positive or negative, and the only way to discourage him is to not respond. When someone makes a bad pun, groaning and complaining about it is part of the humor they’re going for. It’s like that.

The reason this was translated poorly is because Teddie was specifically mimicking a Japanese comedy style. I kinda always saw it as dad jokes kind of humor, but learning about the original intentions made it click.

This isn’t to say Teddie never does anything perverted. Almost, honestly maybe every, Persona male acts like a pervert, contrives scenarios to provide fanservice to the player/viewer, sexually harrasses female characters for comedy or just because the writers think it’s normal. What I’m saying is, this isn’t a Teddie problem. It’s a Persona problem. I’m not excusing his actions but I don’t think he should be held to a different standard than other characters who do the exact same things. I also really hate when people call Chie (and/or the other girls) an abuser because she physically hurts the boys, because again that’s not a Chie (or other girl) problem, it’s a Persona problem with how the comedy tries to be this slapstick thing on occasion. Like I hope where I’m coming from makes sense when I say that?? No I’m not say it’s okay for Teddie to try to grope Rise, or for Chie to kick Yosuke, and similar moments. I’m acknowledging that these moments are part of the game’s humor, they’re anime characters engaging in anime nonsense in an 11 year old game. It’s bad faith criticism to judge a single piece of media or a single character by ignoring the tone of the work they’re in, holding them to the standards of the real world and also ignoring the same problems exist within similar works (for example w/ persona 4 you need to consider it within the context of other anime, other video games, all forms of media that may have directly influenced it, the state of the world (politically & pop culture wise) at the time (2008), etc., persona 4 does not exist in a vaccumn) and that exist in other characters within the same work. It’s not helpful in explaining why their behaviour and/or why making light of it/normalising it can be harmful because you aren’t examining why it’s written the way it is. Oof this bullet point got long sorry

Teddie’s character arc is not linear. He doesn’t consistently get better, and he is in fact at his most obnoxious in my opinion during the Yasogami High Culture Festival. Since his arc is about maturity, this is like his ‘rebellious stage’ where he’s a brat before growing up more, after having grown up a lot in the months before the festival. However, I can’t accept his characterisation in Persona Q. He’s pushed too far and ‘flanderized’ ike a lot of the Persona characters are in spinoffs. I adore his group date marriage event (&accept him believing he fell for the protag at first sight as a headcanon (it’s just a crush, not ‘true love’/’destiny’, though)), think the love potion quest where he downs some love potion believing it will make girls love him only to fall for Akihiko is hilarious, but that’s about it. I haven’t finished Persona Q2, but his characterization in that game is a lot better from what I’ve seen.

I believe that Teddie went through the events of Persona 4 believing that when the investigation was over, he was ‘supposed’ to go live in the midnight channel permenantly and say goodbye to his friends. A lot of his antics during the year are him pushing for some cliche high school fun experiences in order to make some memories to hold onto (he’s kind of like a player avatar in that way ?? this kind of thing is why the latest 3 Persona games are set during high school over just one year, right??). His perverted antics can be explained with the idea that he doesn’t actually expect any of these girls to fall in love with him, if he wants anything he wants a movie-style ‘summer romance’ so he doesn’t really take them / flirting with them seriously (I’m not justifying it, only providing a possible explanation). He may have just gotten lonely and came back to visit anyway, but his intention really was to leave the human world for good at the end of the game. It’s only when the IT laugh off the suggestion that he realises he was the only one who believed this, that they really think of him as part of the team and weren’t just humoring him this whole time. 

I headcanon that his perception of his friends changes and he starts to respect them (+Yosuke’s wallet) better over time after this. It’s gradual (old habits die hard!) but noticable if you pay attention. Naoto notices his maturing during the game, she’d probably be the first to catch on.

He’s bisexual and nonbinary. Though, his feelings on gender maybe can’t be compared to a normal human, he takes on an androgynous male body because he wants to be loved rather than because he feels like a man, dresses as a girl because again he wants to feel pretty and loved rather than because he feels like a woman... In Persona Q2 he volunteers himself and Chie for the power team despite struggling to lift the weights that team needs to, because Chie is insecure about being the only girl on the team and he wants to comfort her. So he’s not exactly bigender or gender fluid, he’s nonbinary and presents whichever way feels right at the time, and what feels right is based less on his own feelings and more what will hopefully make him loved or sometimes help/comfort his friends? He did not grow up like a human in a society of binary gender, it honestly doesn’t mean much to him.

He believes Kanji is attracted to him (which I see as untrue aha I sort of ship it but if he’s got a crush it’s not in the way Teddie thinks), &mimics Yosuke’s attitude about it, not seriously scared of him being predatory or anything (not realising the problem w/ Yosuke’s homophobic comments, which Yosuke quietly gets over later &is probably embarrassed about his own behaviour so he’s not gonna explain), just thinking it’s a funny way of teasing him, seeing Kanji denying him (or not knowing what the fuck Tedd’s talking about) as being tsundere. I feel like this would die down as he gets older

His one-sided rivalry with Akihiko in the Q games (ahh I know they have a hostile relationship in the Arena games but I haven’t played them so don’t know if I wanna make that canon to my Tedd, it seems like they’re too hostile) is because Akihiko is hot, has lots of fangirls, but it’s not just jealousy, he’s swooning too

I think he flirts with Goro in PQ2 because he’s told Goro is a detective prince like Naoto, it’s kinda similar to Akihiko, he follows the crowd and fangirls too. But also, Goro is a Wildcard, he doesn’t know it at this point but he may subconsciously sense it? I’ve always headcanoned him having an attraction to Wildcards, of course the P4 protag is his #1 but he’s pretty flirty with the others in the Q games

that’s it for now because this has gotten SO long, if you made it this far I love you. if you didn’t i still love you because i love humanity as a whole but i’m a little disappointed because i crave attention not gonna lie.

[atdelilah]

as per request: HEY THERE DELILAH WHAT’S IT LIKE IN ASHMONT CITY anyways what’s poppin y’all, it’s ya girl jalynn, back at it again with ya new girl delilah whom i based off of a mixture of the gotham city siren gang (aka catwoman, harley quinn, and poison ivy)!! i’m very excited to throw her at yall

i guess the easiest way to dive in is to just explain her backstory so here goes:

she is the youngest of two girls, and her parents own/run the biggest catholic megachurch in the state so. she’s rich, she has an image to live up to

as expected, that plan flops

her older sister, abigail, very much fits the “good christian daughter” mold, but delilah is just way too curious, and asks “why?” in the middle of church service way too often to even get close to fitting that image

yes, our girl has had problems with authority and being told what to do from a very young age

naturally, her parents were hating this very, very much and this is how the seed of a very bad relationship with your parents is born

but on the bright side! delilah and her sister were close as could be, two peas in a pod when they were kids!! they were basically polar opposites in terms of personality (delilah being the kid who will ask “why?” every time you speak vs abigail just respecting authority because what else was she supposed to believe?)

that was basically how her early childhood went. her parents wanting her to be more like abigail, delilah being like “okay anyways”, and abigail being angel girl that her parents loved the most

so then comes middle school (a tough time for everyone), and stuff in delilah’s life is either hitting the fan, or taking root so it can hit the fan later

the first thing to hit the fan: her relationship with her parents. at this point, delilah figured out that no matter what she did to be her own, her parents would never stop wanting her to be a clone of abigail, so honestly? she just stopped caring about their opinion altogether

they already were set in their belief that she was disappointing, and annoying, and just too much, so why not just do what you want anyway? that’s delilah’s thought process

she just blatantly started ignoring their rules, really. she started questioning her faith in more targeted ways, she started finding ways to sneak out of the house, and went out of her way to break her parents’ “no dating” rule

also it’s important to note that delilah went to an all-girls’ k-12 catholic school and she HATED it. she snuck out because she just wanted to hang out and go to normal schools like all her rich, non-catholic neighbors. plus her mother worked at the school, and delilah took any opportunity to just do the exact opposite of whatever her mom asked of her

basically, delilah liked finding ways of reclaiming her autonomy and personal identity because her parents’ worked so hard to try to take it away from her! it’s at this point where we see her begin to do things simply because they make her feel powerful and independent! middle school, am i right

the biggest downside to this is that it starts causing problems between her and her sister. with delilah being in middle school, and abigail being in high school at the time, it’s already obvious that problems would arise just due to the differences in age. but the differences between the two only became more evident as they got older; abigail was constantly ready to go tell on delilah, and delilah was always taking jabs and saying abigail didn’t have a mind of her own. arguing was a regular occurrence. the sisters still 100% loved each other, for sure, but it’s a tough age phase they’re going through, plus there’s just no such things as siblings that don’t argue.

now we’re in high school, another horrible and weird time for teenagers across the nation, but especially for our girl delilah

her parents are so beyond sick of her at this point, really. the only reason they haven’t completely cut her out is because it wouldn’t look good if they did r.i.p

delilah stopped going to church altogether, she’d gotten busted on her escapades multiple times (not that she cared, really), and the “no dating” rule was just.....so beyond ignored

the seed had been planted when she was in middle school, but when she got into high school, delilah just completely embraced how pretty she is. boyfriends, girlfriends, flings, sexual partners; you name it, she was doing it. she didn’t really know she was gaining a lil’ heartbreaker reputation because honestly? outside of the whole power trip it gave her, she was really just having fun ahdgashdgsdj

( small disruption to say drug tw here )

big downside to high school: in the midst of her constant sneaking out and rule-breaking, she fell into some things and people that she shouldn’t have, and by her senior year (17/18 years old) she’d developed an addiction to a small variety of drugs

like any addiction, it did have big effects on a lot of aspects of her life. her grades (which she generally took pride in) were slipping massively, and all of her relationships (friends, romantic, familial aka with her sister) were falling to points that were nearly beyond repair

abigail, being the big sister she is, was extremely upset about the whole situation and basically convinced their parents to check delilah into rehab and they were on board with the plan, not because they cared about delilah’s wellbeing, but because the way she was spiraling was a liability to their image in their eyes

so now delilah is 18, she’s graduated from that k-12 all-girls school (no longer at the top of her class), and is promptly checked into rehab, we love this for her! but she absolutely hates the whole thing, so .

she didn’t hate the literal getting off of drugs, but what she hated the most was that she felt like she’d proven her parents right. to her, it was one thing to let them just assume the worst about her; it was a whole different feeling to actually give them something as big as this to root their assumptions in.

but that (plus the underlying desire to not worry her sister) was enough for her to take being rehabilitated very seriously. she did what she had to do and was out by the beginning of the next school year! probably one of the first times in her life she actually followed instructions from authority figures, honestly. but she told herself she was doing all of it because she wanted to, not because she had to.

also just something to add, it was in rehab where delilah got super into poetry and reading and classics!! it’s not like she had an abundance of things to do at her disposal, so she picked reading as a hobby to pass time but ended up being really into it. it was one of the first times where she felt like she had a purpose in life outside of living to fuck with her parents asjdhaskdjha

fast forward, we now have senior year college girl delilah!! she’s 3 (going on 4) years clean off everything she was addicted to!! we love this for her determined queen

she’s also worked really hard to rebuild her relationship with her sister and they’re back on very, very good terms. she’d do anything for her sister, period

but delilah is still delilah, she’s still a lil heartbreaker, she’s still hard-headed as ever, and she’s still got a variety of other things to learn about and grow through but i don’t wanna talk all about it here and make this longer than it already is asjdhakjsh onto the next part!

personality!

+ independent, dedicated, passionate, sensitive but lowkey she’d rather die than admit it or show it

- stubborn, prone to isolating herself mentally/emotionally, self-sabotaging, good liar but she considers this more of a skill to use here and there

100% will do anything for the people she loves......now that list isn’t necessarily long but. once you’re on that list, you’re On that list

the investigation.....

okay so basically delilah is 100% anti-daisey

she didn’t really know daisey too well growing up and didn’t really care to asdjkhasdkjh but they were both in rehab at the same time so they officially met then

but daisey enjoyed picking at delilah’s little insecurities and also talking shit about her sister, and like the picking on her was like "eh i don’t like you" but talking shit about abigail? l m a o

basically if delilah hadn’t been so determined to be on her p’s and q’s in that rehab center, she woulda beat daisey’s ass, and that’s point blank period

plus delilah just didn’t like daisey’s attitude or anything even aside from how daisey treated her specifically, like just the way she treated others turned delilah off of her

so yeah when daisey turned up missing delilah was just like that....is not my problem 😗

when daisey turned up dead delilah was like damn 😗 sucks to suck r.i.p though

i’m not saying delilah killed her or anything but i’m just saying. delilah’s got a short temper and probably had to be held back anytime daisey said anything funny about abigail (which was all the time bc like. it’s daisey)

and the whole killer on the loose sending messages thing creeps her out but like. she’s very much a go with the flow, look at the big picture kind of girl so she’s just. trying not to let it phase her too much

connections!

y’all already know i’m not picky about anything just throw an idea at me and we can make something shake

and i think that’s about it? like this, or hmu or anything if u wanna plot i’m really excited for all of ur characters to talk to the kid!! also can u guys guess which gotham city siren i pulled the most inspo from (admins not allowed to guess bc u guys already read my app)

[timeisacephalopod]

Rewards Points

Remember that YouTube AU I wrote with Peter Q/ Stephen/ Tony? Well I liked it so I’m writing more of it. So this is more of that (also if you want to find the first you can locate it under YouTube AU and also IronStarQuill).

Tony considers the empty spot beside him and Peter is doing the same. “Have we ever done a video without Stephen?” he asks eventually. 

He shakes his head, “pretty sure we haven’t. How do we start this?”

“Why are we even confused? He never starts these things, most of our videos are us talking,” Peter points out.

Its true for the most part but Stephen always has something to say and now Tony is confused without his presence. “Maybe we should wait until he’s back,” he says,

Peter considers it, he can see Peter consider it, but he eventually shakes his head. “Nah, he’d be pissed we didn’t stick to the schedule. You know how he is.” Shit does he ever, Stephen is a damn stickler for being on time and schedule. It works for Peter, who’s usually under a time crunch on set, but Tony has never liked being on time or on schedule. He makes his own times and schedules and everyone else works around him.

“How is it possible that none of our schedules have ever conflicted with these videos before?” he asks. That simply isn’t possible- Peter’s jobs might be always up in the air, but Stephen and Tony travel consistently for their jobs. Especially him.

“We do dark weeks when none of us are going to be around,” Peter says. “Which usually means only one of us is around. Its just weird luck that two of us are here and Stephen is off doing doctor things. I think, I didn’t really ask,” Peter says.

“He’s giving a talk on spines or something like that, I have a hard time keeping up,” he admits.

Peter looks instantly relieved. “Jesus, I thought I was the only one. I mean you’re a genius and all that and Stephen can go on for hours if you let him.”

That’s an understatement but yeah, Tony has a hard time keeping up with language he doesn’t understand. He spends a lot of time looking up the terms Stephen uses on the fly but none of it seems to stick in his mind. Biology is not the kind of science he finds interesting unless it involves technology somehow. “Yeah, I don’t really care about spine things. I mean I care that Stephen cares but I don’t really know anything about it,” he says.

They sit awkwardly for a long moment before Peter speaks up. “What was this video supposed to be about?” he asks, defaulting to wrangling duties, Tony supposes.

“You pissing off studios because you thought it was funny,” he says. It’s a topic Stephen wouldn’t have much to contribute to anyways, hence them choosing it over other topics of interest. Like people’s weird need to know about Stephen and Peter’s early feud that Tony didn’t know existed but apparently got pretty vicious until they decided maybe they weren’t each other’s enemy. Tony doesn’t know if his total lack of knowledge of this means Peter and Stephen were subtle or if he’s completely dense but he’s leaning towards dense. Neither Stephen nor Peter know anything of subtlety.

“Right, yes,” Peter says. “So anyone who watches these things probably keeps up with me or Tony so you’ve probably already seen that trailer that nearly got me fired from my own fucking movie- like literally I wrote it, I’m directing it, and I’m one of the producers too, how the hell were they going to fire me? Okay I mean it can happen but given the response the trailer got I didn’t get fired,” Peter says.

Tony shakes his head because none of Peter’s fretting made any sense when his job was on the potential chopping block. “What the hell was the problem anyways? You soft of freaked out about maybe being fired but you didn’t actually say why.”

Peter sighs, “alright- so some background. No one wanted to do a movie about a gay guy who’s gayness was kind of irrelevant to the actual story for one- guess people don’t understand that being gay isn’t usually the only important thing about a person. So that was a strike against me. Then the problem was that no one big enough was attached to it so I asked Tony to do me a favor considering he had a lot in common with the character anyways so that saved my ass for five minutes. Then it turned out the kid that was cast as his son is trans, not like I knew that because I don’t make a habit of telling people to whip it out in auditions, so that was a thing,” he says, making a face. 

“Whatever. So when people stopped yelling about that they basically told me I was supposed to sell the story based on Tony’s fanbase but I didn’t want to do that so instead of making the reveal in the trailer that Tony is in it, I had the guys who cut the trailer stick him in less than thirty seconds into it and let the damn story sell itself. So that caused a whole new round of problems but people’s response to it was basically ‘wow, he didn’t use Tony Stark as his selling point, the story looks good!’ And that’s how I managed to keep my job,” he says.

“Not to be like... ungrateful or anything, but my fanbase is either a bunch of lovely human beings or the kind of guys who watch Fight Club and want to start a fight club. There’s no in between, and the guys who’d want to start a fight club would be pissed about the gay thing because dating two guys still doesn’t make me gay. I mean they’re kind of right, I’m bisexual but still, I’m not straight.” God knows he hates the half of his fanbase that thinks the time he spent drinking too much and acting like a complete jackass was a good way to live life but he can’t exactly do much about it now. Sure, he’s expressed plenty of distaste towards people who are like that, but no one seems content to listen.

Peter snorts, “oh my god, sidenote- one time Stephen and I looked you up. Can’t remember why but this was back before we stopped hating each other so we were probably looking for some kind of evidence that you loved one of us more than the other. Anyway, so we came across this entire blog that was dedicated to talking about how you ruined yourself by being too ‘PC’, and that dating Stephen and I was for ‘PC’ points. You know what, looking back on it I think that’s the first time Stephen and I bonded because we both thought it was hilarious that a real human being would genuinely think that you’d date someone just to be politically correct,” he says.

Tony lets out a long, drawn out sigh because this is the kind of shit he hates. “Yeah, obviously I date people to be politically correct. Bonus points because Stephen isn’t white,” he says sarcastically. 

“I think Stephen’s personality strips all those bonus points. I love him but he’s a total dickhead. I think I should earn more bonus points,” Peter says.

“None of you are earning any points, I’m not a points reward card, you can’t redeem your points at my non-existent cash register. If I were to award points though Stephen gets points for being a freakishly good kisser and you get points for being better at cuddling than Stephen,” he says. Stephen isn’t meant to cuddle, he gets home and if you touch him he literally growls until he’s slept for a few hours. Then he expects attention until he gets sick of it. Sort of like a cat.

Peter nods, “I’m not even mad about it, Stephen is a freakishly good kisser. I mean usually kissing is more a means to an end for me but Stephen makes it a whole show. Honestly I feel like a fucking golden retriever next to that,” he says, shaking his head.

Yeah, Peter has a lot less skill but so does Tony so its not like he can judge. “Ok. Stephen is a good kisser, that’s established. Back to you almost getting fired,” he says, preforming the necessary wrangling duties.

“Right! So yeah, anyways I also got into an argument about the kid, what’s his name?” he asks Tony.

“Peter,” he says. Kid is smart too, Tony likes him.

“Yeah, Peter. Eventually I got annoyed enough that I told them we keep the kid or I walk, which means you walk, which also takes your portion of the funding and they can have fun unkilling a dead project they all like now because you got involved. Needless to say I won,” Peter says.

Tony raises an eyebrow, “you did all that for some random unknown actor?” he asks, surprised.

Peter shrugs, “no one knew who I was either at one point. Then my fuckface dad almost ruined it for me when people did finally start to pay attention. Anyways, point is you and the kid have chemistry, I’m not recasting because I didn’t ask what junk looked like during auditions. That’s weird, invasive, and also technically discriminatory. Seriously though, the screen tests will not be the same with anyone else. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was your actual kid, you two work amazingly together and you actually produce good improv. Improv is hard,” he says but Tony doesn’t really know. He’s improvised near everything in his life so he’s gotten good at it. And the kid has talent and he’s fun to work with, Tony likes his memes.

“Pretty sure it wouldn’t actually matter, I’m good with him because I like kids, not because I like him specifically. I mean in two years he’ll be bitter and sad because the world is shit and seems intent on crushing people to death but you know. He’s fun now, while he still has hope and child-like wonder and all that.” Tony hopes he’ll be able to keep that bright light of wonder and happiness but he knows that’s probably never going to happen. Kid is different and the world has always punished anyone who doesn’t fit the status quo.

“Whatever, I don’t care if you like kids, I’m not replacing the kid I got for stupid reasons,” he says. “He’s fucking adorable and you two get along well, it’ll look good on camera. Less work as a director for me that way.”

Tony snorts because yeah, there’s the real reason Peter fought to keep mini Peter around- less work for him.

“Has it occurred to you that you forgot the name of an actor that has the same name as you?” Tony asks.

Peter shrugs, “I’m the best Peter so I don’t remember any of the others,” he says and Tony starts laughing.

*

Stephen ends up being called in to work before he even gets home, which Tony wonders about because jet leg is a bitch, but when he does finally venture home he sleeps for a stupid amount of time before wandering into the kitchen. He recognizes his own voice- ugh- and Peter’s and frowns until he finally clues in to Stephen watching the video he and Peter did without him. It got a surprisingly high hit count and a huge amount of positivity neither of them had been expecting. They hadn’t even realized why Peter’s name was suddenly trending on Twitter until they looked through the reactions.

Seems people were pleased that Peter stood up for younger trans Peter even though none of them seemed to have clued into the fact that Peter only did it to save himself directing trouble later.

“Peter gets too much credit as an ally, he only kept mini Peter because he didn’t want to try and coach chemistry out of another random teen that’s genetically dissimilar to you,” Stephen mumbles, trudging towards the coffee. His eyes are glued to it like its going to save him from jet leg and being extra tired after a shift at the hospital.

“Oh my god, genetics do weird things sometimes and Peter looks like his movie mother, Stephen, so shut up!” Peter yells from the living room.

“His features are still genetically unlikely, you should have recast,” Stephen yells back.

“No, I don’t want to find another kid who looks that good with Tony on camera. Mini Peter is good, I don’t give a shit about genetics!” Peter yells to him.

Stephen mumbles something under his breath as he pours his coffee. “Next people are going to accuse him of dating us for PC points,” he mutters.

“That’s already happened. Also how come no one accuses you of doing that?” he asks.

“Because minorities don’t usually scramble for PC points, we’re born with them. Don’t look at me like that, I think its stupid too. Also I think Peter’s bad self insert movie about the father he wished he had with a kid that could pass as his is sad and depressing, but also creepy because he cast his boyfriend as his metaphorical dad,” Stephen mumbles. He takes a drink of his coffee just as Peter enters the room.

He obviously hears the last bit of that because he goes from looking ready to fight Stephen on genetics to disgusted in ten seconds flat. “Oh my god, how dare- I did not, Tony isn’t- He is not my father!” Peter says, horrified.

Tony shakes his head, “no, no I am not and Stephen you need to stop that. I’m not playing the role of Peter’s dad.”

“Are so. You’re officially his daddy,” Stephen says, grinning as Peter and Tony both start gagging.

“I have too many daddy issues for this shit,” Tony mumbles, gagging again. “Please tell me this isn’t actually a story about the father you wished you had,” he says to Peter.

Peter is still gagging to his left, looking so disgusted he’s about to cry. “It is, but Stephen had to fucking make it weird, I didn’t even make that connection until he made it for me.”

Tony shakes his head. “No, absolutely not, I’m leaving you both and going back to Pepper and getting no PC points for it,” he says, wrinkling his entire face is disgust.

“Well, she’s a woman running a very successful company- technically your company- so I think you get a half a PC point for that,” Stephen tells him, smiling pleasantly like he’s happy that he’s permanently ruined Tony’s relationship with Peter.

“You did this on purpose!” Peter accuses. “You know how many daddy issues Tony and I have and you totally weaponized it!”

Stephen continues drinking his coffee. “I’d like to point out that I’m clearly the superior partner because I’ve never made you my father. Though, to be fair you look nothing like him even if you’re the same height,” he says.

“Fuck you, Stephen,” Peter tells him. “I thought you got over the jealousy thing.” He pouts, giving Tony puppy eyes but he can’t look Peter in the eye right now. Or maybe ever again.

“Sure I am, but I like making you squirm and also I do find it very strange that you cast Tony as your pseudo father. Just saying, I think maybe you have more issues than you think,” Stephen tells Peter.

Peter sits down on the ground before flopping over and curling into a ball. “I hate you and my life,” he mumbles.

“Stop whining, at least you aren’t my dad!” Tony tells him.

“You aren’t my dad either, you just had a lot in common with the character!” Peter says. “Stephen only made it weird because he sucks.”

“I only pointed out the obvious,” Stephen corrects.

Tony lets out a long groan because this is going to be a painful process. Peter seems to feel the same way but Stephen, the asshole, looks utterly pleased with himself.

“Also,” Stephen adds, “next time I would actually like if you waited for me to return to do a video.”

Peter and Tony flip him off but Stephen looks utterly unrepentant.

[fyeahwheein]

[TRANS] MAMAMOO's BNT Interview: "Our goal this year isn't becoming number 1, but hoping the year becomes one where we safely complete the plans we have set"

Q. How does it feel doing this photoshoot with bnt?

SOLAR: I was really nervous before we came here because it's been such a while since we did a photoshoot with bnt. As expected, you took the photos prettily, so I had fun shooting, and hope we can do this again next time.

WHEEIN: We aren't a group that does photoshoots often, but I think we've gained a good memory thanks to bnt.

HWASA: It was really fun. I especially liked the clothes. I liked attempting a new style.

Q. What have you been doing lately?

SOLAR: We're in the last stages of album preparations, so we're busy recording and practicing choreography. We want to hurry and show good music and a great stage.

HWASA: Lately, I've just been recording. Because all 4 members participate in our songs a lot, we've been busy preparing the album.

Q. Fans have been worrying a lot because of Solar's back injury, have you recovered a lot?

SOLAR: Because so many people worried for me, fortunately, I have recovered now.

Q. You had the honor of running as a torchbearer for the '2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics', how does it feel?

SOLAR: Sadly, because of my back injury, I wasn't able to do it together, but I was proud seeing my members running.

WHEEIN: First of all, it was really hectic. It was my first time running as a torchbearer, so I was really nervous. But I think the 15 minutes flew by.

MOONBYUL: Because the three of us had to do this, it was burdensome and I worried. I think it will remain as a good memory, having shared the meaningful moment together as MAMAMOO.

Q. Was there anything that happened during the torch relay?

HWASA: Wheein has a bit of a dark past while doing the torch relay. (laughs)

WHEEIN: That's right. (laughs) I looked at all the photos from after the torch relay, and I didn't wear the hat correctly. So I became a conehead. I was really embarrassed. (laughs)

Q. Due to Solar's absence, it must have felt really regrettable.

SOLAR: It was really unfortunate, but I'm grateful and proud that the members did it so greatly.

WHEEIN: It's not an opportunity that comes by easily, so Solar unnie's empty spot was really sad.

MOONBYUL: Nothing would have been better than all 4 members doing it together, but Solar unnie's recovery was a priority. If there is another opportunity, I want to do it together as a whole [group].

Q. You have the release of your new song coming up in March. Could you introduce it?

SOLAR: We put a lot of different moods/atmosphere in this album that are completely different from styles MAMAMOO has done. I think it would be good to anticipate it. (laughs)

Q. Following your 2014 debut, you've had one hit after another with 'Mr. Ambiguous', 'Piano Man', 'Um Oh Ah Yeh', 'You're the Best', and 'Decalcomanie'. Do you feel any pressure with this upcoming album?

SOLAR: Of course, with the anticipation there is pressure. But we do our best to meet those expectations, so I think that pressure turns into good synergy.

HWASA: I think there is somewhat of a sense of responsibility. We're putting our all into preparing the album with the feeling of responsibility to not disappoint, rather than feeling pressure. The single album 'Paint Me' that we released recently didn't rank on music charts as well as I thought it would. I feel sad the song didn't fit perfectly in the eyes of the general public, who is used to MAMAMOO's bright style that we've been showing. I think 'Paint Me' will become a turning point for MAMAMOO.

Q. After debuting, you've done various activities, releasing an album every year, and [taking part in] OSTs. I think it would be hard on you physically and mentally.

SOLAR: Of course, there are times where it's tiring, but I think we each overcome it in our own ways.

WHEEIN: When we're promoting, I do get exhausted physically, but I think the hard time that comes mentally is really big. I think for this job, you have to have a strong mind. There are times when you crumble mentally and get exhausted, but it's not something someone else can fix, so you have to control your mind well.

Q. New debuting rookie idols have been choosing MAMAMOO as role models they want to be like. How does that make you feel?

SOLAR: I'm thankful. When I hear those things, I feel embarrassed, but my sense of responsibility gets stronger.

HWASA: I think it's amazing. I still feel a bit shy. There are a lot of much cooler people. (laughs)

Q. How did you feel when senior singer Lee Hyori chose you as her most talented juniors?

MOONBYUL: When we first came across that news, all the members in the car screamed. (laughs) We really admire her. Hearing our role model, Lee Hyori sunbaenim (senior), giving that compliment to us, we were touched.

WHEEIN: We were really thankful, and it made us want to work harder with our music in the future.

Q. Who is MAMAMOO's role model?

SOLAR: Personally, Lee Hyori sunbaenim.

HWASA: It's different for each member, but there was a role model I thought of when the company was creating the group called MAMAMOO. It's the group TLC from the US. They're a group with a really strong personality. Thinking about it now, I think we're doing strong, unique music like them.

Q. MAMAMOO has a diverse fan base, with men and women of all ages. You have a lot of female fans in particular.

WHEEIN: I think the way we act off stage approached them in a friendly way. A lot of our song lyrics also represent the feelings of women and express them honestly. Women nowadays have self-confidence, and like being confident. I think people like our music a lot because it fits in with that well.

Q. When you think of MAMAMOO, you can't leave out teamwork. Do you have a secret behind maintaining good teamwork?

SOLAR: We've been close to the point where we lived together as trainees. Now, they're really dongsaengs (someone younger) that are like family.

HWASA: I think bumping into each other when you have to is also a secret to it. If you spend a lot of time together, there are going to be things that hurt you. If you don't talk about it and sulk, it drags on for longer. We bumped heads a lot, but, after experiencing those days, now we can know things by just looking at each others eyes. (laughs)

MOONBYUL: That's right. After learning each others tendencies, we've learned the know-how's on how to say things to not hurt each others feelings.

Q. You seem to work hard at communicating with fans despite being busy.

SOLAR: We try to do it a lot. I think it's only right to repay the love fans give us.

WHEEIN: We both exist because of each other. Rather than working hard on just releasing albums often, I think it's also important to communicate like someone close by. Then the feelings you have for each other becomes deeper. It's kind of like a relationship. (laughs) Their name is just 'fan', but I do think it's like two people who like each other, like a relationship between lovers. So we put a lot of effort into making each other happy.

Q. When you think of MAMAMOO, you think 'beagle-dol', and vice versa. What do you think about your beagle-like image?

SOLAR: At first, I wasn't sure what that meant, but it suited us perfectly. Though, we are occasionally quiet. (laughs)

HWASA: We've kind of hit a period of lassitude with the beagle image. Now, that modifier is just comfortable.

WHEEIN: That's right. The beagle image is just comfortable now, and that is a part of us. If they dressed us in like a 'doll-idol' image that doesn't suit us, it would've been a burden for us, too. (laughs)

Q. Because your bright and cheerful image is so strong, there could be some challenges.

MOONBYUL: Because we are people, we feel sad and tired, too. But, because we're always appearing cheerful, there are times where we get exhausted. In the past, there was a time where we did silly faces like an event on stage. For about half a year after, that's all people seemed to want to see wherever we went. (laughs) We want to show a different side of us, but I worried a lot that we may be cemented in a funny image. Now, doing various music activities, I think it's gotten better with the general public accepting, 'MAMAMOO has this side to them, too'.

WHEEIN: We want to show an image that goes beyond a bright and cheerful image, but if we show a different appearance, people around us are awkward, so it's uncomfortable. Because people want a created image more than our real selves, it's a shame we haven't had many opportunities to show our actual appearances much.

Q. Trying to approach the general public in a friendly manner unintentionally created misunderstandings.

HWASA: Now, nearing 5 years since debuting, we realized that those misunderstandings can be changed through us changing. Anyone is awkward at first, and you're bound to make mistakes. We're also a part of that process, and I think the best answer is to show a more mature us.

Q. You show witty lyrics and various performances. Whose idea is it?

HWASA: The demand of our CEO? (laughs)

WHEEIN: If our CEO tosses a big idea like that to us, we usually bite the bait. (laughs) We discuss a lot of things especially right before we get on stage. If we put our heads together and discuss things, good ideas come about.

Q. Is there a memorable stage?

WHEEIN: There's a stage that has been bothering us for years. (laughs) We promoted 'Um Oh Ah Yeh' for a pretty long time, and we showed a different ad lib for every broadcast. When we thought we didn't have any more themes, we changed the lyrics to a 'moo party' theme. The lyrics had a variety of moos/radishes, from radish kimchi, dried radish slices, kkakdugi.

Q. Solar's drumming performance at MAMAMOO's solo concert was a [hot] issue. I feel there must have been lots of effort into completing a big stage like that.

SOLAR: I practice a lot. Even when performing, I was really nervous in case I dropped my stick, but I'm proud people watched it so well.

Q. Seeing your exploding charisma on stage, Hwasa is like the next generation's sexy queen. Is Hwasa's talent natural?

HWASA: It's kind of difficult to say it myself, but I think I had a lot of those talents since I was young. (laughs) When I was younger, both my parents worked, so I spent a lot of time alone since they were busy. Since then, I would turn on music and dance and show my talents. I remember watching Uhm Jung Hwa and Kim Hye Soo sunbaenims on TV, imitating them with a curtain draped around me like a dress. (laughs)

Q. Along with a solo song, Wheein has done lots of collaborations with different singers. Do you have any solo plans?

WHEEIN: Honestly, I have very detailed plans for this year, but it's still a secret. (laughs) Of course, I will be working hard with MAMAMOO's activities. But I want to show people the musical colors of, not only MAMAMOO's Wheein, but Jung Wheein's as well.

Q. Moonbyul, you showed off your rapping and singing through your solo song 'Love & Hate', included in the 'Purple' album. Were there any difficulties managing both rapping and singing?

MOONBYUL: Along with the producer, the members helped me a lot. It was difficult while learning, but I was able to take another step in developing through 'Love & Hate'.

Q. Moonbyul is well-known for looking like EXO's Xiumin and BTOB's Minhyuk. Do you look alike in real life as well?

MOONBYUL: My members said they got surprised after seeing them in real life, too. (laughs)

HWASA: When she's wearing makeup, she looks like Xiumin sunbaenim, and when she's not, she looks like Minhyuk oppa. (laughs)

WHEEIN: It's really to the point where it's confusing. When Minhyuk oppa walked by, I thought it was Moonbyul unnie. (laughs)

MOONBYUL: The members got confused during rehearsals, too. All the BTOB members also acknowledge that we look alike. (laughs) We got close after saying I look like Minhyuk oppa.

Q. Is there a different girl group's song that you want to try doing in your own style?

SOLAR: I like Red Velvet's 'Red Flavor' because it's fresh. I think it would be nice to attempt it in MAMAMOO's style.

MOONBYUL: I think it would also be nice to do Red Velvet's 'Red Flavor' or 'Peek-A-Boo'.

HWASA: It's a song that I listened to for a while at one point. I want to try a style like Blackpink's 'Playing With Fire'.

WHEEIN: I think f(x)'s '4 Walls' is very polished and good.

Q. Is there a celebrity that you're close with?

WHEEIN: I don't think I have the personality where I approach someone first. Even if someone comes to me, I get shy and nervous, so I'm not really close with many celebrities. I think becoming close naturally is nice.

MOONBYUL: There's a 92-line group with Sandeul, Jin, Hani, Baro, and Ken. Since we're adults, we have a drink. But I think the thing we do most when we get together are escape rooms. (laughs)

Q. Recently, you successfully completed showcases in Japan and Taiwan. Do you have any more plans for overseas activities?

HWASA: The interest in MAMAMOO overseas was pretty high. It's hard to talk about any detailed plans, but we are planning overseas activities to broaden MAMAMOO's territory. (laughs)

Q. You participated in competitive programs a lot, but there are lots of fans who are sad about not being able to see you on any other programs.

MOONBYUL: We went on a lot of competing programs. So it feels like we're idols whose specialty are competitive programs. (laughs) Because it takes a lot of effort to prepare for those programs, I think we weren't able to go on other variety shows.

HWASA: There's that, as well as us not being suitable for TV. (laughs) When we're not on air, we're really funny, but we freeze up as soon as the camera starts rolling.

MOONBYUL: Also, I think doing variety shows alone is particularly difficult. When you're with other members, they give reactions with you. If you make a mistake, they can cover it up for you. But it's hard when you go on them alone.

Q. Is there a variety show you want to try?

WHEEIN: I want to try a realistic variety show like 'I Live Alone'. Rather than being pressured and feeling obligated to do something, I think shows that can show us being natural suits us best.

Q. Is there a b-side track from your albums that you want to recommend?

HWASA: A bossanova song 'Words Don't Come Easy' from our 'Melting' album. Personally, I really liked feeling like the members came together as one and wrapped around me when recording this song.

MOONBYUL: The song 'Hometown'. This is also in the 'Melting' album, but each of the members wrote their own parts. It's a song that has a lot of each of our memories.

Q. You participate in writing and composing a lot. Where do you get your influence?

HWASA: Life. There isn't anything special.

WHEEIN: Also, experience. I think things that suddenly come to you are the biggest things.

Q. You have a lot of songs that go with the theme of love and separation. I'm curious about MAMAMOO's dating life.

HWASA: I don't think love is only about the relationship between man and woman, but it involves various things. Like the love with friends or family.

WHEEIN: I think Hwasa dodged the question well. (laughs)

HWASA: I'm serious. (laughs) I write about the love in family a lot, too. And we can have crushes/one-sided loves. We're people, too. I think there's something strict when it comes to celebrities and love. I don't like how we're beating around the bush answering right now either. (laughs) Anyway, there are many kinds of love.

MOONBYUL: I recall experiences of past love, from before debuting, and write about that.

Q. There are a lot of celebrities who choose MAMAMOO as their ideal types. Have you ever been asked out?

MOONBYUL: We never have.

WHEEIN: I have. (laughs)

MOONBYUL: Really? I didn't know. (laughs) I'm curious about who it is, too. Did they say they were interested in you and ask for your number?

WHEEIN: There was something like that. (laughs) It's kind of been a while. It's not recent. Anyway, it has happened.

Q. What are your ideal types?

HWASA: I think I really know my ideal type now. I really like someone who is optimistic.

WHEEIN: It could seem abstract saying this, but someone who is 'wide'. Like, someone with a 'wide bowl' (like, someone who is broad-minded?). I want a big bowl man. (laughs) Optimistic two.

MOONBYUL: Someone who is really understanding.

WHEEIN, HWASA: Optimistic three. (laughs)

MOONBYUL: In the past, I used to nitpick looks, too. But now, I think being understanding of each other is the most important thing when getting to know someone.

Q. You're at the age to be dating, don't you want to?

WHEEIN: I really want to. (laughs) Because we're at the age to love.

HWASA: Right now, we are busily active, but if my heart matches with someone, and I really think, 'It's this person', I would date them.

MOONBYUL: When I have someone I love, I think there will be a day where I can let it become known that we are dating.

Q. How would you picture MAMAMOO 10 years from now?

WHEEIN: I think we'd go on '9010' and sing. (laughs)

HWASA: In 10 years, we'll be 34. Moonbyul unnie will be 37, and Yongsun unnie, 38. Almost 40. (laughs) I think we'll have occasional get together. (laughs)

MOONBYUL: We got this question early into our debut. At that time, I could imagine 10 years into the future, but that's almost 40 now. (laughs) I think we'll be together as MAMAMOO, while doing individual activities.

Q. You have lots of modifiers like 'listen and trust in MAMAMOO' and 'beagle-dol'. What kind of modifier would you like in the future?

WHEEIN: 'MAMAMOO that doesn't need modifiers'. I hope MAMAMOO can be acknowledged as is, without any need for modifiers.

Q. What kind of year was 2017 like for MAMAMOO?

HWASA: We only released on album, but, instead, it was a year where we laid the base to expand our musical boundaries.

Q. Do you have a goal for 2018?

HWASA: Our goal this year isn't becoming number 1, but hoping the year becomes one where we safely complete the plans we have set. In order to do that, I think our members' health is the priority. I want us to take care of our health well, and do our music activities well.

Q. What are your future promotional plans?

MOONBYUL: First of all, we're planning on releasing an album in March. We're planning on showing various activities, not only as MAMAMOO, but ones that show each of our own colors.

Q. Lastly, a word to your fans.

SOLAR: There was a not-so-short time between 'Yes I Am' promotions and this comeback, so thank you so much for waiting until now. We will work hard to show better music and stages in the future, so we hope you watch us well. Everyone, don't be sick, and let's meet soon in a healthy state.

WHEEIN: We're not active lately, so we haven't had a chance to meet you like this. It's really nice that we were able to greet you through this photoshoot ahead of our comeback. We have a lot of plans for this year, so we will work hard so your eyes and ears can't rest, so please look forward to it. Thank you for waiting for so long, and I hope you continue to give MAMAMOO lots of love.

Sources: btn international | eng translation @ch0sshi

[neth-dugan]

Nine Worlds - Friday

Thursday found [here]

After having had only a couple hours sleep, we got up and got ready for the day. Some of us took longer than others, and no that wasn’t me. @laalratty @knittedace and I went to get breakfast outside of costume and then went back to our rooms to get properly dressed. I also had a nap on the bed as the first session doesn’t start until 10am, which helped I think. But I did spend the rest of the day very tired.

EDUCATION AT HOGWARTS

The first panel I went to at the convention proper, and @unwoundbobbin was on it which was a bonus. 

It was a fun talk in which everyone agreed that education at Hogwarts is severely lacking, completely skips some very important subjects and really needs to look at quality of teaching.

As much as we are meant to root for Hogwarts and its independence, it’s an industry checking itself and what happens when people we don’t like are in charge? Someone said that it’s a great thing to show teachers who are fed up with having a curriculum and ofsted inspections. I agree. There was also a lot of talk that as much as muggle studies needs to be better and mandatory, there needs to be an introductory course for muggle raised students so they know what they’re getting into, the world they’re dumped in and so on. And, as a panelist pointed out, to better know all the shibboleths. She also mused that this may be exactly the reason they don’t do that and honestly, probably true.

ACE REPRESENTATION

So, I did a panel on a similar theme several years back and I was curious how this one would go. It took a different tone but times have moved. A lot of the panelists are relatively new to the community but then there was Nat Titman who is one of the founding persons of the asexual community. 

I didn’t learn a lot, but it was nice to be in a room with a ton of aces talking about ace things. Aros talking about aro things. People still hating on Moffat for the crap he has spewed. Being inclusive aof aros and demis. Which I know for a fact meant a lot to some, as I was talking to a demi person at that meeting later that day who brought it up. I got to espouse my theory on how Yuuri Katsuki is so so very demi even if language, culture and censorship means it’ll never be explicitly canon. 

BSL FOR GEEKS

This was amazing! I know how to say thank you and ‘g’ and that is it. So this was pretty great. Aside from being able to tell you my name at the end, I was delighted to learn the sign for Star Trek is literally the Vulcan salute. I also learnt how to say ‘Space, the final frontier’ though I probably do it with a massive accent. I learnt that this is the new sign coming up for trans:

...and tumblr provides a demonstration of this. Not video from the con.

Which is related to the sign for soul.  Also I learned the sign that’s becoming popular for queer which is a ‘q’ in the motion of a rainbow and it’s awesome.

There were lots of character names and phrases and there’s no way I’m going to remain most of it. And I had a weird hand thing going on that this made worse. So by the end of it, my hand hurt a fair bit. But it was fantastic. It was presented by a a group of interpreters and deaf people who bounced off of each other really well. One person even forgot how to spell their own name. But given a person who shall remain nameless forgot what their name even was at a different session? This isn’t the worst I heard of. 

I really loved it, and this was one of my favourite sessions at the entire convention. I wanted to go to the after dark one for adults only, in which there’d be swearing, but alas I had to take care of my hand and so decided it was a no go.

EVERYBODY HATES MORAL PHILOSOPHERS: THE ETHICS OF THE GOOD PLACE

I’m a big fan of this show. I came across it on Netflix and then got my Mom into it and it is brilliant. It’s smart and funny and thinky all at once. This session was more of a lecture than a panel or workshop which fit, because the person giving it is a philosophy professor. Not a moral philosopher, but a philosopher.

It turns out that it isn’t so much that everyone hates moral philosophers, it’s just really hard to be one. But whilst we were waiting for the session to start I spotted a person in front of me dressed up as Janet. I asked to confirm and was told, perfectly in character that interesting fact, they were Janet. And proceeded to give me a cactus sticky note with a Janet phrase on it. I sent a photo and a test to my Mom who loved it.

 ...I do have a picture, but didn’t ask permission to post on the internet so here is a close approximation minus cactus. 

The lecture itself was pretty interesting. Turns out the writers are using real philosophy and real books and theories and the like when making the show. I can see how Chidi would get so anxious if he follows Kant. Even the text books given to Eleanor are ones the speaker has themselves and sees as foundational texts. So yay! She went through a few schools of philosophy that pop up in the show and it was fun.

Someone pointed out that it seemed that each of the human four seemed to be missing one of the classical virtues. The speaker agreed. There was lots of debate about fair or just the system in this show is, and also how much about it we can objectively know given Michael’s aim in the first season. I pointed out that the entire thing seemed to be unfair to those with disadvantages or some mental health conditions. The last episode of the latest season, without getting into spoilers too much, entirely takes advantage of things about two characters that they’ve no way of doing away with and/or find near impossible to control. It sucks. There seemed to be agreement on this. Privilege, it seems, exists in the systems of The Good Place as we currently know them.

ASSIMILATION AND IDENTITY IN STAR TREK

This was a session hosted by Jaime who some may know and is pretty awesome. I don’t always agree with them on everything but I do appreciate them. And I didn’t agree with a good amount of what was said here. Not that I think it’s wrong, just that some of it is a matter of perspective and assigning aims and motivations to characters that aren’t, to me, clear in canon. I tend to think Worf handed his son off to his parents because he never asked for a kid, didn’t know he had one, works a dangerous job, has no experience parenting and lives on a ship that goes through a major crisis on a fairly regular basis. But people can disagree.

There are some things about Trek that.... aren’t the best. The whole area around the Ferengi is a tricky area and a bit of a mess. I love them, I love the actors, I love some of their episodes, but there are anti-semitic tropes in there made all the more there by the fact that most of the Ferengi actors are of Jewish decent. It’s problematic. It’s meant to be a critic of capitalism and modern culture. Of US. I’ve heard various Trek folk basically state that of all the species in Star Trek, the Ferengi represent modern day humans. But. They fell back on some problematic crap and there’s no way of escaping that.

There was one point when I was a bit worried it was going to get a bit anti-atheist but it didn’t thank goodness. And that’s a whole other thing.

There’s a clip that’s pretty famous amongst DS9 fans, that you fan find here, that exemplifies some of what this panel was about. Not all of it, but some. It was running through my head for sure. After the session ended a group of us had a chat after. It brought up a lot of things to talk about, new ways of looking at things and agree or not that’s usually a good thing.

...Moogie!

‘OH, BRILLIANT.’ ANTICIPATING THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR

This one had @knittedace on the panel! She’d been talking about doing it last year and here we were . She in her hand knitted Dalek dress, me in the audience feeling a bit woozy and tired. 

Mostly, it did exactly what the tin said. People being excited for Thirteen, recalling days when they’d written fic on the idea but never thought it possible, what people wanted to see or not see and the like. Mostly, it was a feel good panel with happy people glad for a new start that would bring in new and old fans alike.

Someone on the panel pointed out that for some kids, they’ll have never known a time when The Doctor couldn’t be a woman. For whom their Doctor is a woman. And that is amazing. And she gets to keep her accent too, and there is hope we will see some of the North this season. Not just more London, or Cardiff as London.

For myself, I’ve always figured some Time Lords could change genders and sexes. Some couldn’t. And doing so was some kind of Time Lord intersex thing. But I was never really rooting for a woman Doctor.... yet when they announced it was going to happen? I was excited and relieved in a way I hadn’t imagined I would be.

Bring it on.

INTERVAL

At this point I found myself in the bar with some ginger ale talking to some people I’ve never med before. One was a demi person who had been at the Ace Rep talk and was very relieved to see demis included. I explained about the history of the flag and how they’re explicitly on it. Outside of some gatekeepers, the ace community I know has always embraced those other identities under the ace umbrella. 

Me, them and a friend of theirs made our way downstairs after a good chin wag to get good seats for the next panel. We figured we’d probably need them and coincidentally we were all going to the same one. 

FROM A/B/O TO DUBIOUS CONSENTACLES

I’m still not sure what dubious consentacles are to be honest. My mind goes to dubcon hentai but I’m probably wrong. This panel was after 10pm, the last of the day and very much adult only. I was in my TNG uniform and there was a Trek fan vid screening in the room across the hall so a volunteer checked I was where I wanted to be whilst we were waiting for it to start. Which was sweet, people do get lost down there.  Also, @unwoundbobbin was there which was a hoot.

The entire thing was a hoot to be honest. Not that formal, and mostly people sharing things they’d seen online, talk about the value of tagging, and wonder at the way fandom just comes together and decides on what dubious biology looks like. I shared the story of the early early days of Star Trek fandom how writers would come up with new weird and wonderful ways of depicting Spock’s genitals. I just think it’s something everyone should know. Fandom has been like this for a long time. 

I wont go into detail of the things discussed. But it’s amazing how trends change over time, how even over multiple fandoms some of these tropes become so accepted nobody has to explain anything. We just know how it works and dive right into a kind of shared ‘verse thing.

There were some things mentioned that I hadn’t heard of and are very much not talking about on this post. But interesting.

Honestly, this was another of my favourite panels this convention. It was so much fun. So much. Some people were a bit tipsy I think.

I did warn the two mods that I was pretty tired so if my eyes looked funny or closed, I wasn’t asleep, I was just squinting. I got so enthused by the cracky fun of it all though that I needn't have worried. I also found it amusing just how many ace spectrum folk there were there. 

After this I went back to my room. I got changed, went to bed hoping for a better night sleep than the one before. So very very tired. I’d had a great day but I was tired and I needed sleep urgently. Especially as the tired thing was not helping the dizzy thing. Thankfully I did get some sleep, not as good as home but I god some. 

[SATURDAY IS HERE]

[professoricepick]

Next year, the Darkstalkers franchise is going to turn 25 years old. Despite the fact that it’s been essentially inactive for more than half that time — with a handful of characters managing to make their way into various crossover titles, some developed by Capcom themselves (but most developed by other companies) — it’s still a significant milestone. After all, while being the third-most recognizable fighting game franchise in Capcom’s stead isn’t exactly an impressive accomplishment on its own, considering it has to compete with both the Street Fighter and “Vs. Capcom” franchise — the latter of which actually managed to rip off core mechanics and utilize the intellectual properties of Darkstalkers itself — the fact that it managed to rate that high is an accomplishment of its own. The last proper Darkstalkers release we saw was “Darkstalkers Resurrection”, a re-release of the second and third games in the franchise with full online play (using the industry standard GGPO netcode) on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360’s digital storefronts (but sadly not PC).

That was over five years ago and while Resurrection was Capcom’s way of trying to gauge interest in a more significant revival of the cult classic IP, it failed to meet their lofty expectations. Without a money-baked success, Capcom will likely never revitalize the series in any meaningful form. This brings to mind the old adage: “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” And wouldn’t you know it? We have a perfect blueprint for a modern-era Darkstalkers re-release right in front of us: the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection came out earlier this year and managed to release on all 4 major gaming platforms — the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

So with that in mind, I’ll be attempting to build a similar collection using the same exact limitations put in place by 30th Anniversary Collection, as well as the recent batches of MegaMan compilations. That means that at the most, there will be 12 games in this collection — consisting of titles that originated on the CPS series of arcade hardware (as well as various older home console platforms, including but not limited to the NES and SNES, as well as the first two PlayStations) — with a scant four receiving online play via Capcom’s proprietary “Kagemusha” netcode. The most obvious bonus features would be image galleries consisting of concept art, official artwork and even fan art and a music player that would allow players to listen to the game’s soundtracks in isolation. But that’s obvious. Meanwhile, the meat of this collection are the games themselves and these are my choices.

1. Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (1994)

If Capcom saw it fit to include the original Street Fighter from 1987, it’s difficult to argue that they wouldn’t include the original Darkstalkers. Definitely stiffer than its successors, Darkstalkers still manages to include its own unique quirks compared to future titles. Considering it was one of the earliest non-Street Fighter fighting games produced by Capcom, the game clearly still leans a little on SF influences in terms of its gameplay mechanics, but was clearly more experimental.

2. Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge (1995)

Easily my personal favorite of the Darkstalkers games, Night Warriors was one of those weird “retcon sequel revisions” Capcom occasionally did with their fighting games during the mid-to-late 1990s, like Street Fighter Alpha 2. A lot of the mechanics that would become hallmarks of the series made their debut here and the gameplay itself began to deviate significantly from Capcom’s other fighting games. Likewise, the ability to play as the boss characters from the original Darkstalkers , as well as two entirely brand-new characters added to the fun.

3. Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (1997)

The clear favorite game of the franchise, no Darkstalkers collection would be complete without it. Hell, Jedah — the game’s main antagonist — not only managed to appear in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, but was also one of the most impressive aspects of it. Vampire Savior (or Darkstalkers 3, if you’re nasty) still manages to be played in fighting game tournaments all over the world to this day, so there’s no doubt that people would be clamoring for another modern re-release.

4. Vampire Hunter 2 (1997) 5. Vampire Savior 2 (1997)

It’s funny: I remember when people speculated that Capcom might add these two games as DLC to Resurrection. I have no idea where that whole mindset came from. Either way, while these games aren’t particularly popular, they are unique in the sense that they brought Pyron, Huitzil and Donovan (from Night Warriors, but conspicuously absent in DS3) into the fold, allowing various dream match-ups. Vampire Hunter 2 was a recreation of Night Warriors using VSav’s engine, while Vampire Savior 2 allowed for various dream match-ups — Lilith vs. Donovan! Huitzil vs. Q-Bee! Jedah vs. Pyron! — while removing Sasquatch, Rikuo and Jon Talbain as playable characters. Various balance changes made to both games have made them unpopular among hardcore fans, but if Street Fighter’s 30th Anniversary Collection included games like 2nd Impact, Super Street Fighter II (sans Turbo) and the original Street Fighter Alpha, it only seems fair that these games would be added to a Darkstalkers collection.

6. Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (2004)

In what may very well be a bizarre compromise, I’d love to see Darkstalkers Chronicle return in this collection. It’s essentially the “Hyper Street Fighter” of the Darkstalkers series, allowing players to pit various versions of the game’s cast against one another — imagine a fight between Night Warriors-era Felicia and Vampire Savior’s incarnation of Morrigan. On top of that, I’d be happy if Capcom were to use the PSP version in their collection: it had all of the content from the more-obscure, Japan-only Dreamcast release, with the addition of a brand-new single-player mode, The Chaos Tower.

7. Vampire Savior Arrange (2005) 8. Vampire Hunter 2 Arrange (2005) 9. Vampire Savior 2 Arrange (2005)

Okay, I know these may appear to be weird choices, but let me explain. Back in 2005, Capcom actually released Vampire Darkstalkers Collection on the PS2 exclusively in Japan. In addition to the first five games I’ve listed, Capcom also released three additional “arranged” alternate versions of Vampire Savior, Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2. All three of these versions include all 18 characters found across all versions of the game, though there are some additional differences as well. For starters, all three of these games offer a brand-new character: Dee, a “what if” evil version of Donovan (loosely based on his Night Warriors ending) which was cobbled together by putting the Dark Hunter’s head and sword on Demitri’s body.

Otherwise, both Vampire Savior games are pretty much identical to their original versions. Vampire Hunter 2, on the other hand, decides to eschew various features from the Savior engine, effectively recreating Night Warriors much more accurately in the VSav engine, all while bringing along the new entrants from Savior along for the ride. I guess that would make Vampire Hunter 2 Arrange the most unique (and therefore, the most worthy of inclusion) of the trio, but if Capcom can get one, they might as well re-release them all.

10. Red Earth (1996)

I’ll be honest, I was hesitant on adding this game to a Darkstalkers collection. I hate the conflation that so many people have made between Red Earth and Darkstalkers. Honestly, I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve seen people demand that Red Earth just be folded into the Darkstalkers universe, despite both games having entirely different settings. (And don’t get me started on the people demanding that Ruby Heart and Amingo be added in!)

But with that in mind, Red Earth is thematically similar to the Darkstalkers games, though Red Earth focuses more on high fantasy, while Darkstalkers was based on monster movies. Much more importantly, this may be the only chance we could have to get Red Earth on home consoles  — of the six games released on Capcom’s CPS-3 hardware, Red Earth is the only one that wasn’t released on home console in any form to this day. So as much as I hate the implication of the two games being folded into the same universe, getting Red Earth an actual home release is more important to me than maintaining the “purity” of a Darkstalkers collection.

So those are my choices for games to be included in a Darkstalkers collection, but which games should get the nod when it comes to online play? If we follow Street Fighter’s format, I’ll have a maximum of 4 games to work with. The most obvious picks were Night Warriors and Vampire Savior: these games are clearly the most popular on the tournament scene and it would effectively mean that support for Resurrection could be easily dropped if necessary. Red Earth was another obvious choice. While most fighting games rely on a competitive two-player mode, Red Earth has a cooperative mode, allowing two players to take on its menagerie of monsters together — that just seems like an awesome selling point for the collection in general. Which brings us to the last game. After mulling it over, I was left with two possible choices, but in the end, I decided to go with Darkstalkers Chronicle over Vampire Savior Arrange. Aside from the constant complaints that it wasn’t Darkstalkers 4, the main criticism I saw levied at Darkstalkers Resurrection was that it comprised of two arcade ports, as opposed to a re-release of Darkstalkers Chronicle. And personally,  I think it’s more interesting watching different variations of the cast (even ones that didn’t actually exist, like Darkstalkers 1 Donovan and Night Warriors Jedah) duke it out is way more interesting than a recycled headswap. If you disagree, feel free to argue your point in the comments — I’d love to be convinced otherwise.

I’ll be honest: I also considered adding Pocket Fighter to this collection, but considering that it would likely lack online play — based on the limitations set in place by Capcom’s Street Fighter compilation — it just doesn’t seem practical. But hey, if Capcom decides to patch in online play for more games in Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (SFA2 and 2nd Impact appear to be the favorites), then you could consider Pocket Fighter as Game #11 and the fifth to include online play.

It seems kind of pointless to discuss the bonus features, but honestly, if they included the Japanese opening for the PS1 port of the original Darkstalkers, the remixed music commissioned for Darkstalkers Resurrection and various pieces of artwork, I’d be happy. As I said before, the games themselves are far more important than any extras.

But what do you think? I’ve considered doing more of these speculative proposals for video game compilations I’d like to see down the line. Would you like to see more of them? Even if you don’t, I had some fun coming up with this one, so I’ll probably continue regardless. You’ll just have to deal with it.

Proposal: Darkstalkers 25th Anniversary Collection Next year, the Darkstalkers franchise is going to turn 25 years old. Despite the fact that it's been essentially inactive for more than half that time -- with a handful of characters managing to make their way into various crossover titles, some developed by Capcom themselves (but most developed by other companies) -- it's still a significant milestone.

[floralreddie]

reddie tumblr au (part 2)

this is a part 2 to my tumblr reddie au. enjoy!

tag list: @im-not-psychotic, @sincerelyhansen, @richietoaster, @homohayls, @aopositn, @arielgirly, @trashmouth-smashmouth, @mzcescapie, @somenates27, @reddiesballoons, @cawcawhawkeye

When Eddie wakes up the next he’s pretty fucking tired, and he entirely blames it on that Trashmouth Tozier. He rubs his eyes tiredly, shuts off his iPhone alarm that’s playing a rather loud rendition of Funkytown, and crawls quickly out of bed and stumbles into the bathroom.

His mom is already downstairs cooking breakfast, from the smell of it.

He gets ready quickly that morning, half-distracted as he thinks of his weird fucking conversation with Richie Tozier on fucking Tumblr the night before, of all the damn places and of all damn people. He had practically fallen out of his chair when the idiot sent that entirely not funny meme Eddie’s way (because he knew the guys blog and had always kind of appreciate how cool Richie was), and then somehow they had started talking.

I mean, Eddie didn’t entirely mind (though Tozier was a fucking idiot, and Eddie already knew this, but now that he had shared more than a few words with the boy he could clarify this fact).The conversation had gone from Eddie revealing his identity (and, fuck, the lanky, curly haired and kind of good looking boy now knew that Eddie ran a fucking 80′s music blog), to Eddie somehow agreeing to have lunch with Tozier and his friends, to them talking until 2 in the morning about Derry, College and the gossip from school.

And Eddie had actually enjoyed the conversation. It had ended, Eddie remembers, with him saying goodnight and Richie telling him to have sweet dreams with about a billion kisses added on the end. 

As he stumbles out of the house that morning (with his mom petting his cheeks and straightening his already neat hair) he blushes as he jogs over to Mike’s puck-up truck and thinks of the poorly spelt and grammatically incorrect sentence Richie Tozier had typed to him last night.

i always knew u were cute but wtf since when were u this funny dude.

He swallows and clambers into Mike’s truck, greeting him and Ben with tired smile. 

Some Top 40 song is playing lowly in the background as Mike starts to engine and says, ‘You look uncharacteristically ruffled today, Eddie. You okay?’

Eddie huffs and throws Mike an offended look over Ben’s chest. ‘I had a shitty nights sleep, Mike. Thanks, though. Dick’. Ben snorts and reaches forward to turn the music up a little more, just as Eddie blurts out. ‘I, er, how do you guys feel about sitting with Richie Tozier, Bev Marsh, Bill Denbrough and Stanley Uris at lunch?’

Ben whips his head round to face Eddie, round cheeks (although, Eddie has to admit, Ben’s lost some weight) turning pink, just as Mike turns a corner, raises a brow and says, ‘I’m fine with that. Bev’s a pretty cool girl, we’ve been hanging out a bit lately. She thinks I’m photogenic’. At that, he turns away from the road to face Eddie and gives a shit-eating grin. ‘Girl’s got a good eye’.

Eddie scoffs. ‘Douche’.

‘Beverly Marsh?’ Ben finally chokes out, still staring at Eddie. Eddie blinks back and leans away from Ben’s suddenly wild look, just as Mike says, 

‘She stopped to talk to me in the hallway yesterday and Ben was with me. I’m pretty sure it took him all but three seconds to fall in love with her’. Eddie catches his eye over Ben’s head, and Mike rolls his eyes. It was no secret that Ben was a hopeless romantic.

‘Why the hell do you want to eat lunch with them anyway?’ Ben says after elbowing Mike in the side and rolling his eyes when Mike insists he could have crashed the truck and killed them all. ‘I didn’t know you spoke to, er....well, anyone’.

Eddie might have glared if the statement weren’t entirely true. Instead, he sniffs and adjusts the collar of his yellow jumper. ‘I got talking to Richie Tozier. He, er...don’t fucking laugh, but he found my damn Tumblr’.

Ben shokes on a laugh, just as Mike turns with his bottom lip trapped between his teeth. ‘Oh, Eddie...’

Eddie shrugs and blushes. ‘Yeah. Whatever. He wants us all to each lunch together. He’s a fucking idiot, but we’ll see how it goes’.

He doesn’t, of course, see the subtle look Mike and Ben exchange, their grins hidden and then brow cocked. He’s too busy thinking about Richie and his friends. There’s Bev, who smokes and is pretty and friendly and had a girlfriend last year from out of town. Then he thinks of Stuttering Bill and the Jewish boy, Stan, who were boyfriend and boyfriend. He remembers when the Synagogue plastered the one, small, pride flag outside of its premises.

He remembered being jealous. His mom knew he was gay, but that didn’t mean she was entirely happy about it. Eddie had, though, threatened to leave make her life a misery and never love her again if she didn’t accept him.

He thought of Richie Tozier, who liked guy and girls and walked around with baggy band shirts and ripped jeans and bright red chucks and turned up, sometimes, with glitter on his glasses and was loud and reckless.

Eddie wondered what it would be like to be like that. 

-

Richie was fucking pumped for lunch.

He hadn’t seen Eddie Kaspbrak all day, and he knew it would be weird as fuck when he did. He felt like he got the guy a whole lot more because, shit, they had ended up speaking for hours last night.

And Richie was pretty okay with saying he had been wrong about the dude.

Eddie Kaspbrak was funny. He was, aside from Bev, the first person to be able to shoot down Richie with a snappy comeback in seconds flat. He spoke to Richie about school, and his opinions on each of the people in their grade as Richie snorted into his Doritos packet until the early hours of the morning.

He told Bev this in their second period of the day, and she had peered at him and cracked a smile and said, ‘Holy shit. You fucking have a crush on him. On Eddie Kaspbrak. Pastel wearing,cutey Eddie Kaspbrak who had a fucking fanny-pack until he was fifteen’.

Richie remembered that. Honestly, that only showed what balls the smaller guy had. Plus, he ran a fucking 80′s music blog. How lit was that?

He tells Stan and Bill, who both share a look, hands intertwined, and shrug before nodding that, yes, they will eat lunch with Eddie Kaspbak and his friends. Bev shrugs and agrees also, because, hey, Mike would be there and Mike was pretty fucking swell, in her opinion. 

‘His buddy Ben was practically drooling over me yesterday, though,’ she pipes up as the four of them wander through the crowded corridors toward the cafeteria. ‘It was actually kind of cute. Like, he wasn’t doing it in the way Bowers and his posse does, y’know?’

‘I get you,’ Richie clarifies. Because he knows what innocent drooling and creepy as fuck drooling looks like when it comes to males attention to Bev. He’s had to give enough creeps his Tozier glare enough times.

And then he sees him.

He and his friends, not-so-fat-anymore Ben and smiley Mike, are sitting on a round table near one of the large cafeteria windows. He’s wearing a bright yellow jumper and black shorts, and Richie can just about see a pair of white chucks under the table. He has a brown lunch bag in front of him, and he’s eating a white bread sandwich the crusts on. 

And, what the fuck, why does Richie feel so weird and breathless?

‘There they are,’ Bev points out, swiping a loose red curl from her cheek as her bracelets jangle. She nudges Bill ad Stan to look in the right direction, and the two turn away from their quiet conversation with each other to look. Mike sees her, waves, and Bev waves back and starts for the table.

Then Eddie looks up and he sees Richie, and Richie grins his Tozier grin.

He’s rather delighted to see that Kaspbrak blushes.

They all sit down, and suddenly there’s seven of them at the table. Richie practically pushes Bill out of the way so that he can grab the seat next to Eddie, who gives him the side eye and chews his sandwich slowly, and Richie grins and nods and says, as the others greet each other and Bev and Mike talk across the table, ‘Hey, can I ask you something?’

Eddie looks stumped for a moment, but his brown eyes soon narrow and he swallows, and replies, ‘What?’

Richie grins, plonks his lunch on the table (Bill had brought in a spare sandwich for him) and says, ‘Do you want to talk about the 80′s?’

The glare that falls across Kaspbrak’s face his truly a sight, but only made better because of the pink flush that travels up his neck and to his cheeks. ‘You’re a fucking dickweed,’ Eddie grits out. ‘And you’re definitely a Trashmouth’.

Richie, in return, laughs.

It isn’t as awkward as Richie thought it might be, and he’s pretty fucking happy about that. Eddie’s friend Mike talks briefly to him, telling Richie he likes his Ghostbusters t-shirt, Bill doesn’t seem as shy about his stutter as he usually is around new people, Bev smiles to Ben, who sits next to her, and joins in a quiet conversation with him. Richie, as per-usual, has the whole table laughing with his one-liners and inappropriate jokes.

‘We should do something this weekend,’ Bev pipes up, as Stan has just finished reprimanding Richie when the latter threw his crust at the Jewish boy. ‘All seven of us’.

‘We normally hang out at the Q-Quary,’ Bill says, absentmindedly handing Stan a napkin. His boyfriend takes his and places it on the table and begins wiping away any mess. Richie notices, to his right, that Eddie watches the motion closely. ‘On Friday n-n-nights. You guys should come, tomorrow’.

‘Sounds fun!’ Ben nods, popping the lid of his lunch-box back on. Richie notices, with a sly smile, how he shoots a sideways glance to Bev, who’s chugging down her Diet Coke and watching something at the other end of the food hall. 

Normal conversation ensues, and Richie turns to Eddie. He’s finished his lunch, and is instead flicking through his phone, dark lashes fluttering against his cheeks. ‘Whatcha doing there, Ed’s?’

Eddie doesn’t turn away form his phone. ‘I wish you wouldn’t call me that, Trashmouth’.

‘But it suits you so well!’ Richie points out, as Bev starts up a conversation about Mister Delly, the horrible Maths teachers. Richie knows what she’s doing. She’s giving him a moment to talk to Kaspbrak. ‘Because you’re just too cute, cute, cute!’

Eddie does look away from his phone then, gaze deadpan, and there’s a split second when he raises it slightly and Richie’s glasses practically slide off his face in shock. ‘Holy shit,’ he laughs, snatching Eddie’s phone was his grasp as the smaller boy yelps. ‘You have a fucking RuPaul phone case? And you say you’re not entirely out, yet?’

Eddie snatches his phone back and glares, a hot blush creeping across his cheeks. Richie’s pretty sure he’s fallen in love with this guys blush, which is a more than okay with him. ‘Shut up, Richie. Half the people in this town don’t even fucking know what it is, anyway’.

Richie peers at him and Eddie glares back. Suddenly, Richie grins and nudges the other boy in the side. ‘I’m only fucking with you. So, what, Sasha Velour your favourite?’

Eddie blinks before nodding slowly. He wets his lip and brushes a loose curl back into place. 

Richie slopes back in his chair and nods, whilst chewing the side of his mouth. ‘Arty farty kinda guy then, are ya? See, mine is Adore Delano-’

Eddie blinks, and Richie can practically see him squash the smile edging onto his face. 

‘Why does that literally not surprise me at all?’ Eddie shoots back, rolling his eyes. ‘Her catchphrases are fucking party and I’m a messy slut-’

‘Eddie!’ Richie gasps, drawing a hand to his chest. ‘Did you just call me a messy slut?’

‘What the fuck are you two talking about?’ Stan interrupts, and Richie turns with a grin to see the others are looking at him and Eddie curiously. ‘Richie, don’t ruin anymore innocent souls. You’ve already got to Bill, Bev and I’.

Bev laughs. ‘Honestly’. She looks at Mike, Ben and Eddie in turns. ‘Save yourselves whilst you can’.

‘You,’ Richie points out, raising a finger and slouching his chair. ‘Fucking suck, Marsh’.

It takes only fifteen seconds for the others to draw away form Eddie and Richie again, because there seems to be some kind of unsaid agreement amongst their friends to let the two talk, alone. ‘Hey, Ed’s’.

Eddie shoves his phone in his pocket and sighs. ‘For the last time, don’t call me-’

‘Are you going to go to the Quarry tomorrow then?’ Eddie clamps his mouth shut and looks at Richie Tozier, with his big mouth, messy hair and large eyes magnified by his glasses. ‘Because it would be pretty sick if you would’. Eddie blushes and nods and Richie grins. ‘Fuckin’-ey! Now, gimme you number, will ya?’

With that, he pulls out a battered iPhone 5C (in a bright pink with stickers on the back), as Eddie lowly reads out his number with a curious look on his face as he stares at the older boy. 

‘Ah,’ Richie sighs, saving the number and shooting Eddie a quick text to let him know his own digits. ‘I should have got you to write it on my arm like they do in those old movies, shouldn’t I?’

‘No,’ Eddie says simply. ‘Because you might have got ink poisoning’. At that moment, the bell rings and they all sigh because, oddly, they had all been enjoying themselves far more than they thought they would. Each of the people at the table had come to lunch for Richie and Eddie’s benefit, but, somehow, they ended up feeling like seven of them together made perfect sense. 

‘Righto, lads and lady!’ Richie practically shouts, clambering to his feet. Each person looks to him. ‘We all agreed on tomorrow night?’ Slowly, they all nod. Bev stares at him with a sly smile and gaze that twitches to the yellow jumper wearing Eddie Kaspbrak, who climbs slowly to his feet. ‘Splendid!’

They disperse, all of them half-knowing that their groups might have just gotten a little bit bigger.

-

That night, Eddie Kaspbrak crawls into bed at 9:07 PM after kissing his mother goodnight and taking his vitamins, when a beeping sounds from his phone. Decked out in his stripes pyjama bottoms and Mike’s oversized shirt he had left at Eddie’s weeks ago, he lays on his back in bed and reaches for his phone. 

With a grin that he can’t help but allow to spread across his face, he rolls his eyes when he reads the text message, knowing full well what the butterflies in his stomach meant.

Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier: that yellow jumper made you look like the sun today, you know

Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier: you also better appreciate the fact that i just used a god damn comma in a text message, Eds

-

Across town, Richie Tozier sits on it window ledge with a  cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth as he blinks down at his cracked phone screen. He grins wide when a message bubble slides onto the conversation. 

Eds: One day with me and you’ve already grasped the concept of grammar. Within a week, you might actually be a fully functioning human being.

-

Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier: aw eds you wanna spend another week with me? jesus stop flirting with me and go to bed will ya?

Eddie Kaspbrak all but blushes right down to his toes. He’s pretty sure he’s going to have murdered Richie Tozier by the end of next week. 

[kpopviralblog]

MAMAMOO’s Moonbyul reveals that 92-line club likes to drink together, and go to escape rooms

On a recent interview of MAMAMOO for BNT, they were asked if there’s any celebrity that they’re close with. Wheein stated that she doesn’t have the personality where she approaches someone first, and even if someone comes to her, she gets shy and nervous.

Moonbyul said that there's a 92-line group with Sandeul, Jin, Hani, Baro, and Ken, and since they’re  adults, they have a drink together. She also added that  the thing that they do the most when they get together are escape rooms.

Read the full interview below:

Q. How does it feel doing this photoshoot with bnt? -SOLAR: I was really nervous before we came here because it's been such a while since we did a photoshoot with bnt. As expected, you took the photos prettily, so I had fun shooting, and hope we can do this again next time. WHEEIN: We aren't a group that does photoshoots often, but I think we've gained a good memory thanks to bnt. HWASA: It was really fun. I especially liked the clothes. I liked attempting a new style. Q. What have you been doing lately? -SOLAR: We're in the last stages of album preparations, so we're busy recording and practicing choreography. We want to hurry and show good music and a great stage. HWASA: Lately, I've just been recording. Because all 4 members participate in our songs a lot, we've been busy preparing the album. Q. Fans have been worrying a lot because of Solar's back injury, have you recovered a lot? -SOLAR: Because so many people worried for me, fortunately, I have recovered now. Q. You had the honor of running as a torchbearer for the '2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics', how does it feel? -SOLAR: Sadly, because of my back injury, I wasn't able to do it together, but I was proud seeing my members running. WHEEIN: First of all, it was really hectic. It was my first time running as a torchbearer, so I was really nervous. But I think the 15 minutes flew by. MOONBYUL: Because the three of us had to do this, it was burdensome and I worried. I think it will remain as a good memory, having shared the meaningful moment together as MAMAMOO. Q. Was there anything that happened during the torch relay? -HWASA: Wheein has a bit of a dark past while doing the torch relay. (laughs) WHEEIN: That's right. (laughs) I looked at all the photos from after the torch relay, and I didn't wear the hat correctly. So I became a conehead. I was really embarrassed. (laughs) Q. Due to Solar's absence, it must have felt really regrettable. -SOLAR: It was really unfortunate, but I'm grateful and proud that the members did it so greatly. WHEEIN: It's not an opportunity that comes by easily, so Solar unnie's empty spot was really sad. MOONBYUL: Nothing would have been better than all 4 members doing it together, but Solar unnie's recovery was a priority. If there is another opportunity, I want to do it together as a whole [group]. Q. You have the release of your new song coming up in March. Could you introduce it? -SOLAR: We put a lot of different moods/atmosphere in this album that are completely different from styles MAMAMOO has done. I think it would be good to anticipate it. (laughs) Q. Following your 2014 debut, you've had one hit after another with 'Mr. Ambiguous', 'Piano Man', 'Um Oh Ah Yeh', 'You're the Best', and 'Decalcomanie'. Do you feel any pressure with this upcoming album? -SOLAR: Of course, with the anticipation there is pressure. But we do our best to meet those expectations, so I think that pressure turns into good synergy. HWASA: I think there is somewhat of a sense of responsibility. We're putting our all into preparing the album with the feeling of responsibility to not disappoint, rather than feeling pressure. The single album 'Paint Me' that we released recently didn't rank on music charts as well as I thought it would. I feel sad the song didn't fit perfectly in the eyes of the general public, who is used to MAMAMOO's bright style that we've been showing. I think 'Paint Me' will become a turning point for MAMAMOO. Q. After debuting, you've done various activities, releasing an album every year, and [taking part in] OSTs. I think it would be hard on you physically and mentally. -SOLAR: Of course, there are times where it's tiring, but I think we each overcome it in our own ways. WHEEIN: When we're promoting, I do get exhausted physically, but I think the hard time that comes mentally is really big. I think for this job, you have to have a strong mind. There are times when you crumble mentally and get exhausted, but it's not something someone else can fix, so you have to control your mind well. Q. New debuting rookie idols have been choosing MAMAMOO as role models they want to be like. How does that make you feel? -SOLAR: I'm thankful. When I hear those things, I feel embarrassed, but my sense of responsibility gets stronger. HWASA: I think it's amazing. I still feel a bit shy. There are a lot of much cooler people. (laughs) Q. How did you feel when senior singer Lee Hyori chose you as her most talented juniors? -MOONBYUL: When we first came across that news, all the members in the car screamed. (laughs) We really admire her. Hearing our role model, Lee Hyori sunbaenim (senior), giving that compliment to us, we were touched. WHEEIN: We were really thankful, and it made us want to work harder with our music in the future. Q. Who is MAMAMOO's role model? -SOLAR: Personally, Lee Hyori sunbaenim. HWASA: It's different for each member, but there was a role model I thought of when the company was creating the group called MAMAMOO. It's the group TLC from the US. They're a group with a really strong personality. Thinking about it now, I think we're doing strong, unique music like them. Q. MAMAMOO has a diverse fan base, with men and women of all ages. You have a lot of female fans in particular. -WHEEIN: I think the way we act off stage approached them in a friendly way. A lot of our song lyrics also represent the feelings of women and express them honestly. Women nowadays have self-confidence, and like being confident. I think people like our music a lot because it fits in with that well. Q. When you think of MAMAMOO, you can't leave out teamwork. Do you have a secret behind maintaining good teamwork? -SOLAR: We've been close to the point where we lived together as trainees. Now, they're really dongsaengs (someone younger) that are like family. HWASA: I think bumping into each other when you have to is also a sercret to it. If you spend a lot of time together, there are going to be things that hurt you. If you don't talk about it and sulk, it drags on for longer. We bumped heads a lot, but, after experiencing those days, now we can know things by just looking at each others eyes. (laughs) MOONBYUL: That's right. After learning each others tendencies, we've learned the know-how's on how to say things to not hurt each others feelings. Q. You seem to work hard at communicating with fans despite being busy. -SOLAR: We try to do it a lot. I think it's only right to repay the love fans give us. WHEEIN: We both exist because of each other. Rather than working hard on just releasing albums often, I think it's also important to communicate like someone close by. Then the feelings you have for each other becomes deeper. It's kind of like a relationship. (laughs) Their name is just 'fan', but I do think it's like two people who like each other, like a relationship between lovers. So we put a lot of effort into making each other happy. Q. When you think of MAMAMOO, you think 'beagle-dol', and vice versa. What do you think about your beagle-like image? -SOLAR: At first, I wasn't sure what that meant, but it suited us perfectly. Though, we are occasionally quiet. (laughs) HWASA: We've kind of hit a period of lassitude with the beagle image. Now, that modifier is just comfortable. WHEEIN: That's right. The beagle image is just comfortable now, and that is a part of us. If they dressed us in like a 'doll-idol' image that doesn't suit us, it would've been a burden for us, too. (laughs) Q. Because your bright and cheerful image is so strong, there could be some challenges. -MOONBYUL: Because we are people, we feel sad and tired, too. But, because we're always appearing cheerful, there are times where we get exhausted. In the past, there was a time where we did silly faces like an event on stage. For about half a year after, that's all people seemed to want to see wherever we went. (laughs) We want to show a different side of us, but I worried a lot that we may be cemented in a funny image. Now, doing various music activities, I think it's gotten better with the general public accepting, 'MAMAMOO has this side to them, too'. WHEEIN: We want to show an image that goes beyond a bright and cheerful image, but if we show a different appearance, people around us are awkward, so it's uncomfortable. Because people want a created image more than our real selves, it's a shame we haven't had many opportunities to show our actual appearances much. Q. Trying to approach the general public in a friendly manner unintentionally created misunderstandings. -HWASA: Now, nearing 5 years since debuting, we realized that those misunderstandings can be changed through us changing. Anyone is awkward at first, and you're bound to make mistakes. We're also a part of that process, and I think the best answer is to show a more mature us. Q. You show witty lyrics and various performances. Whose idea is it? -HWASA: The demand of our CEO? (laughs) WHEEIN: If our CEO tosses a big idea like that to us, we usually bite the bait. (laughs) We discuss a lot of things especially right before we get on stage. If we put our heads together and discuss things, good ideas come about. Q. Is there a memorable stage? -WHEEIN: There's a stage that has been bothering us for years. (laughs) We promoted 'Um Oh Ah Yeh' for a pretty long time, and we showed a different ad lib for every broadcast. When we thought we didn't have any more themes, we changed the lyrics to a 'moo party' theme. The lyrics had a variety of moos/radishes, from radish kimchi, dried radish slices, kkakdugi. Q. Solar's drumming performance at MAMAMOO's solo concert was a [hot] issue. I feel there must have been lots of effort into completing a big stage like that. -SOLAR: I practice a lot. Even when performing, I was really nervous in case I dropped my stick, but I'm proud people watched it so well. Q. Seeing your exploding charisma on stage, Hwasa is like the next generation's sexy queen. Is Hwasa's talent natural? -HWASA: It's kind of difficult to say it myself, but I think I had a lot of those talents since I was young. (laughs) When I was younger, both my parents worked, so I spent a lot of time alone since they were busy. Since then, I would turn on music and dance and show my talents. I remember watching Uhm Jung Hwa and Kim Hye Soo sunbaenims on TV, imitating them with a curtain draped around me like a dress. (laughs) Q. Along with a solo song, Wheein has done lots of collaborations with different singers. Do you have any solo plans? -WHEEIN: Honestly, I have very detailed plans for this year, but it's still a secret. (laughs) Of course, I will be working hard with MAMAMOO's activities. But I want to show people the musical colors of, not only MAMAMOO's Wheein, but Jung Wheein's as well. Q. Moonbyul, you showed off your rapping and singing through your solo song 'Love & Hate', included in the 'Purple' album. Were there any difficulties managing both rapping and singing? -MOONBYUL: Along with the producer, the members helped me a lot. It was difficult while learning, but I was able to take another step in developing through 'Love & Hate'. Q. Moonbyul is well-known for looking like EXO's Xiumin and BTOB's Minhyuk. Do you look alike in real life as well? -MOONBYUL: My members said they got surprised after seeing them in real life, too. (laughs) HWASA: When she's wearing makeup, she looks like Xiumin sunbaenim, and when she's not, she looks like Minhyuk oppa. (laughs) WHEEIN: It's really to the point where it's confusing. When Minhyuk oppa walked by, I thought it was Moonbyul unnie. (laughs) MOONBYUL: The members got confused during rehearsals, too. All the BTOB members also acknowledge that we look alike. (laughs) We got close after saying I look like Minhyuk oppa. Q. Is there a different girl group's song that you want to try doing in your own style? -SOLAR: I like Red Velvet's 'Red Flavor' because it's fresh. I think it would be nice to attempt it in MAMAMOO's style. MOONBYUL: I think it would also be nice to do Red Velvet's 'Red Flavor' or 'Peek-A-Boo'. HWASA: It's a song that I listened to for a while at one point. I want to try a style like Blackpink's 'Playing With Fire'. WHEEIN: I think f(x)'s '4 Walls' is very polished and good. Q. Is there a celebrity that you're close with? -WHEEIN: I don't think I have the personality where I approach someone first. Even if someone comes to me, I get shy and nervous, so I'm not really close with many celebrities. I think becoming close naturally is nice. MOONBYUL: There's a 92-line group with Sandeul, Jin, Hani, Baro, and Ken. Since we're adults, we have a drink. But I think the thing we do most when we get together are escape rooms. (laughs) Q. Recently, you successfully completed showcases in Japan and Taiwan. Do you have any more plans for overseas activities? -HWASA: The interest in MAMAMOO overseas was pretty high. It's hard to talk about any detailed plans, but we are planning overseas activities to broaden MAMAMOO's territory. (laughs) Q. You participated in competitive programs a lot, but there are lots of fans who are sad about not being able to see you on any other programs. -MOONBYUL: We went on a lot of competing programs. So it feels like we're idols whose specialty are competitive programs. (laughs) Because it takes a lot of effort to prepare for those programs, I think we weren't able to go on other variety shows. HWASA: There's that, as well as us not being suitable for TV. (laughs) When we're not on air, we're really funny, but we freeze up as soon as the camera starts rolling. MOONBYUL: Also, I think doing variety shows alone is particularly difficult. When you're with other members, they give reactions with you. If you make a mistake, they can cover it up for you. But it's hard when you go on them alone. Q. Is there a variety show you want to try? -WHEEIN: I want to try a realistic variety show like 'I Live Alone'. Rather than being pressured and feeling obligated to do something, I think shows that can show us being natural suits us best. Q. Is there a b-side track from your albums that you want to recommend? -HWASA: A bossanova song 'Words Don't Come Easy' from our 'Melting' album. Personally, I really liked feeling like the members came together as one and wrapped around me when recording this song. MOONBYUL: The song 'Hometown'. This is also in the 'Melting' album, but each of the members wrote their own parts. It's a song that has a lot of each of our memories. Q. You participate in writing and composing a lot. Where do you get your influence? -HWASA: Life. There isn't anything special. WHEEIN: Also, experience. I think things that suddenly come to you are the biggest things. Q. You have a lot of songs that go with the theme of love and separation. I'm curious about MAMAMOO's dating life. -HWASA: I don't think love is only about the relationship between man and woman, but it involves various things. Like the love with friends or family. WHEEIN: I think Hwasa dodged the question well. (laughs) HWASA: I'm serious. (laughs) I write about the love in family a lot, too. And we can have crushes/one-sided loves. We're people, too. I think there's something strict when it comes to celebrities and love. I don't like how we're beating around the bush answering right now either. (laughs) Anyway, there are many kinds of love. MOONBYUL: I recall experiences of past love, from before debuting, and write about that. Q. There are a lot of celebrities who choose MAMAMOO as their ideal types. Have you ever been asked out? -MOONBYUL: We never have. WHEEIN: I have. (laughs) MOONBYUL: Really? I didn't know. (laughs) I'm curious about who it is, too. Did they say they were interested in you and ask for your number? WHEEIN: There was something like that. (laughs) It's kind of been a while. It's not recent. Anyway, it has happened. Q. What are your ideal types? -HWASA: I think I really know my ideal type now. I really like someone who is optimistic. WHEEIN: It could seem abstract saying this, but someone who is 'wide'. Like, someone with a 'wide bowl' (like, someone who is broad-minded?). I want a big bowl man. (laughs) Optimistic two. MOONBYUL: Someone who is really understanding. WHEEIN, HWASA: Optimistic three. (laughs) MOONBYUL: In the past, I used to nitpick looks, too. But now, I think being understanding of each other is the most important thing when getting to know someone. Q. You're at the age to be dating, don't you want to? -WHEEIN: I really want to. (laughs) Because we're at the age to love. HWASA: Right now, we are busily active, but if my heart matches with someone, and I really think, 'It's this person', I would date them. MOONBYUL: When I have someone I love, I think there will be a day where I can let it become known that we are dating. Q. How would you picture MAMAMOO 10 years from now? -WHEEIN: I think we'd go on '9010' and sing. (laughs) HWASA: In 10 years, we'll be 34. Moonbyul unnie will be 37, and Yongsun unnie, 38. Almost 40. (laughs) I think we'll have occasional get together. (laughs) MOONBYUL: We got this question early into our debut. At that time, I could imagine 10 years into the future, but that's almost 40 now. (laughs) I think we'll be together as MAMAMOO, while doing individual activities. Q. You have lots of modifiers like 'listen and trust in MAMAMOO' and 'beagle-dol'. What kind of modifier would you like in the future? -WHEEIN: 'MAMAMOO that doesn't need modifiers'. I hope MAMAMOO can be acknowledged as is, without any need for modifiers. Q. What kind of year was 2017 like for MAMAMOO? -HWASA: We only released on album, but, instead, it was a year where we laid the base to expand our musical boundaries. Q. Do you have a goal for 2018? -HWASA: Our goal this year isn't becoming number 1, but hoping the year becomes one where we safely complete the plans we have set. In order to do that, I think our members' health is the priority. I want us to take care of our health well, and do our music activities well. Q. What are your future promotional plans? -MOONBYUL: First of all, we're planning on releasing an album in March. We're planning on showing various activities, not only as MAMAMOO, but ones that show each of our own colors. Q. Lastly, a word to your fans. -SOLAR: There was a not-so-short time between 'Yes I Am' promotions and this comeback, so thank you so much for waiting until now. We will work hard to show better music and stages in the future, so we hope you watch us well. Everyone, don't be sick, and let's meet soon in a healthy state. WHEEIN: We're not active lately, so we haven't had a chance to meet you like this. It's really nice that we were able to greet you through this photoshoot ahead of our comeback. We have a lot of plans for this year, so we will work hard so your eyes and ears can't rest, so please look forward to it. Thank you for waiting for so long, and I hope you continue to give MAMAMOO lots of love.

translations: ch0sshi

source: BNT

[lauraramargosian]

Positive Celebrity Exclusive: Wentworth Con 2019 was a complete success!

Positive Celebrity Exclusive: Kiana Clark, Danielle Cormack, Celia Ireland, and Libby Tanner answer our questions!

The best Australian tv-shows of all-time has a mile-long list. Regardless, it’s safe to say the Wentworth tv show has safely earned its place in the top ten. 

Even earning itself a better score than competing programs such as Orange is The New Black.

Fortunately, we owe it to the Wentworth cast, creators ( Reg Watson, Lara Radulovich) and crew for creating a modern version of the old original “Prisoner,” series which ran from 1978-1986 on SoHo. 

With that in mind it’s no surprise Wentworth season 8 and season 9 have been commissioned, making fans wonder, how the plot will develop for the finale. 

Further, it’s predicted Wentworth seasons 8 and 9 will go into production mid-October 2019 and wrap mid-June 2020. 

The show’s direction has fans diving in more deeply on the direction of Wentworth, especially after Wentworth Con 2019. 

Question and answer sessions sparked many questions about further seasons including: 

Why is “The Freak,” alive and who let her out of the grave? 

Does Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack) have a chance at returning? 

Most importantly, Franky and Bridget’s relationship (mostly because of her development as a character, it would be nice to see more of her.

There are endless questions for each character and that’s what makes everything so exciting.

The Wentworth Con Q&A panels were everything fans expected and more, for example, the overwhelming emotion to see a packed ballroom with Wentworth fans who know every line for every brilliant character. 

Most importantly, it brought Wentworth talent to tears as they filled with utter shock and love due to the amount of admiration. 

Nicole Da Silvia (who will be at Wentworth 2020 in Chicago) opened up about Wentworth, sharing her thoughts on it feeling “surreal,” on an online Australian news outlet: 

“I’m getting more and more sideways glances now the show is available here. People are coming up to me in the supermarket. I’ve had a few fan encounters, which is kind of surreal. I’m very used to not being recognized at all.”

Cormack shared “it’s a dream come true,” to the cast and crew. 

“You’d be hard-pressed to find any actor, producer, director or crew member who doesn’t want their work to reach as far and wide as it can.”

“For our show to be recognized internationally is a testament to the stories, themes, characters, and performances. It’s incredibly exciting and I’m really proud.”

Kiana Clark On Wentworth Con 2019

First, it’s important to note, taking the time to put together any kind of convention takes an immense amount of patience, passion and time. Kiana Clark opened up about the feeling of seeing fans and talent come together repeatedly for successful Q&A’s to private round-table meet and greets.

“Thank you so much! I can’t even put this feeling into words. At the end of the first event, I sat in the hotel room with my wife (Amanda) and best friend (Danielle) and just cried. Happy tears. I was SO happy with what we created and how happy we made everyone feel. It truly makes all the hard work “worth it” to see happy, smiling faces all day long. To see the fans “dreams” come true when they meet their favorite cast members. It’s therapeutic, really. I know this sounds “cliche” but I’ve been producing events for 12 years, and have been so passionate about my career. I often get wrapped up in the structure and organization that I don’t stop and see the overall result. But with Wentworth Con, the fans have gone out of their way to thank me and thank my staff for creating this event and doing something that they never thought would happen (Meeting cast who live across the world). And for me to produce an event that results in “dreams coming true”… there are no words for how rewarding that feels. The feeling in that panel room. It’s not your typical “convention”. It’s an event filled with love, encouragement, support, and hope! People share stories, talk about difficult topics and how they overcame them, and how the show has helped them in numerous ways. It is so overwhelming. There’s love for the show. Love for the cast. And love for each other! There are some AMAZING friendships forming at Wentworth Con. I hope we can keep this going for years to come!

Further, it’s inspiring to watch Kiana Clark hard at work, she’s incredibly inspiring and positive. Chances are her volunteers who have an absolute blast all while strengthening their set of skills.

Isn’t it true we all have our favorite scenes?

Clark opened up about her favorite scene even though there are so many that are unforgettable.

“AH! This is so hard. There are many. BUT, the first that comes to mind is when Bea shoots Brayden Holt. I think it was because we saw such heartache from Bea when she lost Debbie, and we all started “rooting” for her to get revenge.”

WENTWORTH CON AND EQUALITY 

As previously mentioned, Wentworth Con does stand out because the fans, they see themselves through the characters and can relate.

Most importantly, Kiana Clark also touched on how the show influences different issues in the world.

“The thing about Wentworth is… it touches on some real issues in the world, issues that, unfortunately, many people have been experienced first hand.

Domestic Violence. Losing a Child. Sexual Abuse. Dementia. Drugs. etc.

People relate to these stories, to these characters. And it hits “home.” They fall in love with the characters. They see a lot of “themselves” in the characters. Tammy MacIntosh and I spoke in great detail about Wentworth Con in LA and saying ‘I don’t think you know what you created.'”

Honestly, she created a convention that feels like home. There is nothing better than attending an event where you feel good, and where you don’t feel like a “black sheep,” because of how you relate to real-life situations.

The whole Wentworth cast and crew did an amazing job at delivering the message of love, compassion, struggle, regrets, and different relatable hardships.

Despite our struggles, it was comforting to attend Wentworth Con, share our struggles during the Q&A and get a true response from the talent who took on our trials and successfully delivered it on screen. 

Positive Celebrity review on Wentworth Con 2019

Perfection, no other words fit.

At this point, it’s safe to say, Wentworth Con 2019 is by far one of the best conventions I’ve ever had the opportunity to attend and cover.

Ultimately, the convention has been everything and more to those who have been able to attend, and there’s no doubt the crowd will be back for Wentworth Con’s upcoming events.

“Our next events are in Chicago April 4, 2020 (tickets on sale Dec 8 at 12pm EST) and Whippany, NJ August 1-2, 2020!”

Wentworth Con Hilarious Moments 

It was Chelsey Handler who said, “if you can make someone laugh you can make someone listen.” 

She was completely right, Danielle left us with a joke that will last a lifetime after she shared a story about her pant zipper problems. 

“I’ve been having this zipper problem today, I’m about to take a picture and there’s my… “ 

And then you hear a loud shout from within the crowd “Pineapple!” 

Danielle Cormack lost it, laughing “is that what you call it, okay, my pineapple.” She continued, “you guys are never going to be able to look at a pineapple the same,” the fans lost it. 

DANIELLE CORMACK – PINEAPPLE VIDEO SNIPPET 

The moment Danielle Cormack ran to the stage from the opposite end of the venue the crowd went wild. She truly is the “top dog.” She loved to react scenes, answer questions and most importantly, be herself on stage. 

Isn’t it inspiring to see actors for who they are up and personal?

In the end, we have the perfect idea of how talented they truly are, it’s a whole new world when we aren’t just seeing them play a character on our TV screens. Cormack had some funny moments with the fans, sharing how her zipper was down during the Wentworth Con round table meet and greets. 

And we all left that panel with a new outlook on Pineapples.

CELIA IRELAND ON ACTING DRUNK (coming soon).

During Celia Irelands Q&A at Wentworth Con 2019 fans truly wanted to know “how she played being sh*tfaced on set,” proceeding to laugh and inquire if she was actually drunk. 

Ireland laughed hysterically sharing jokes about being allergic to most alcohols. 

Despite not drinking much, she showed everyone just how she managed to act so wasted on set and it was brilliant. 

TAMMY MACINTOSH BEST MOMENTS (coming soon)

Next, there’s the gorgeous and energetic Tammy Macintosh who shared a lot of behind the scenes which were fun to film. 

LIBBY TANNER ON KISSING FRANKY (coming soon)

Lastly, Libby Tanner who played as Nicole Da Silvia’s therapist in Wentworth shared how their relationship developed and when she felt her character, Bridget fell in love with Franky. 

Most importantly, we wanted to know, was Franky a good kisser? 

MEET AND GREET ROUNDTABLES 

The Wentworth Con 2019 provided us more than just a Q&A. It allowed us to meet and take pictures with Libby Tanner, Celia Ireland, Danielle Cormack, and Tammy Macintosh. 

The convention provided beautiful photos that were used for the autographing time-slot. During this we were able to thank, laugh and joke around, it felt very personal and it was fun. 

Most importantly, the round table meet-and-greets where fans spent quality time with the actors, shared stories that inspired and took extra pictures. 

WHERE CAN YOU WATCH WENTWORTH? 

Wentworth season 8 (all previous seasons with subscription only), $8.99 USD

YouTube (with subscription only). $1.99 USD

iTunes (with subscription only), $1.99 USD

Amazon Prime (with subscription only), $1.99 USD. 

Foxtel Now (is a subscription streaming service delivering great entertainment including TV shows, Movies, News and live sport. Members are only charged for the packs they select and can cancel anytime. If you’re new to Foxtel Now get a 10 day free trial of all content packs), $25.00 USD 

Stay tuned for our full panel edits!

Stay up-to-date on future Wentworth Con conventions!

View this post on Instagram

How about this line up!?

.

Our Guests for #WentworthCon Chicago are: Danielle Cormack, Libby Tanner, Nicole da Silva, and Socratis Otto!

.

Tickets on sale Dec 7 for the fan club patreon members (patreon.com/wentworthcon) .

General on-sale is Sun Dec 8, at 12pm EST at (wentworthcon.com)

A post shared by The Official Wentworth Con (@wentworth_con) on Nov 27, 2019 at 1:09pm PST

Wentworth Con: https://www.wentworthcon.com/ Wentworth Con

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WentworthCon/ Wentworth Con

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WentworthCon/

Blessed be!

The post Positive Celebrity Exclusive: Wentworth Con 2019 was a complete success! appeared first on Positive Celebrity News and Gossip.

Related posts:

Positive Celebrity Exclusive: Wentworth Con 2019! (preview)

Related posts brought to you by YARPP.

from WordPress https://positivecelebrity.news/2019/12/16/positive-celebrity-exclusive-wentworth-con-2019-was-a-complete-success/

[tsukishhhima]

“I’ve got one word for you: sing-along!” - kurotsuki please

(featuring: Hacker!Tsukishima and Undercover Agent!Kuroo)

“I’ve got one word for you: sing-along!”

“What kind of lame password is that?” Tsukishima scoffed. He typed it in on his computer to check, and sure enough, the password worked and he now had access to all the classified information he needed.  

“It’s Oikawa, what did you expect?” Kuroo’s voice came back through the headphones, a bit scratchy since they were so far away. It was nothing Tsukishima couldn’t fix though, so he scribbled “headphone qual sucks fix it asap” on a random notepad nearby before looking back at the files.

“I don’t know honestly. While he does come off as a normal hot headed celebrity, no singer would steal million dollars in cash like that so there’s obviously something wrong with him,” Tsukishima frowned, not finding anything useful in the files. Most of them were just private pictures (a few very private ones that made Tsukishima cringe and quickly avert his eyes).

He’d been sitting at his desk for the past two hours while Kuroo was somewhere backstage at one of Oikawa’s concerts, and all he had to show for their hard work was… nudes.

Tsukishima briefly contemplated getting a glass of wine or even better, giving up on this whole thing in general. Maybe Oikawa wasn’t planning to do something bad with all that money, maybe he’d just stolen it in the shadiest way possible because he’d spent all his money on that flashy new car and didn’t want the public finding out…

But that was impossible, and Tsukishima knew it as he sifted through the files again. The fact that Oikawa had stolen all that money without anyone finding out meant that he’d had help. His own agency wouldn’t even had known but thankfully they happened to have an agent working near the exchange when it happened.

A beep alerted him that Kuroo had spotted something. “Tsukki!!!”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to use my real name..” Tsukishima sighed. “But what is it?”

“Did you know that Oikawa has a new bodyguard?” Kuroo’s voice sounded really confused, with good reason.

“What, no. Why didn’t we know about this? What does he look like?” Tsukishima quickly switched to another screen, ready to do a background search on this new guy.

“He’s hot!” came the reply, and Tsukishima wanted to slap him.

“Aww, are you jealous Tsukki? Don’t worry, I’m not into buff guys like him anyway, you know I like lean, pretty, blondes more-”

“Kuroo-san, I will actually slap you when you come back,” Tsukishima cut him off, grateful that he couldn’t see him blushing.

“Fine, fine,” Kuroo replied, although Tsukishima could practically hear him smirking. “He’s a little shorter than me, spiky hair, tan… and muscles, a lot of muscles. I should definitely avoid this guy, he’s the worst out of all of them. But if Oikawa’s hired another bodyguard then…”

“It means he’s up to something and wants to make sure no one kills his ass while he’s at it,” Tsukishima finished, entering all the information on his notepad for later.

Once he was done, he went back to the files, even looking at some a bit more carefully to make sure he didn’t miss anything.

And absolutely nothing stood out.

Half an hour later, Tsukishima was tired, cranky and still had not found anything important. His only source of amusement (if it could even be called that) had been Kuroo quietly singing along to Oikawa’s songs in his ear— Oikawa may be a shitty person but anyone would admit his songs were pretty catchy.

Tsukishima was reconsidering the wine when the next file he stumbled across caught his attention. It looked normal at first, some kind of document about one of the managers. But a closer look revealed that…some of the letters were missing?

“What was that?” Kuroo’s voice startled him a little.

“Oh… I didn’t know I was talking out loud. But I found something,” Tsukishima explained, quickly telling him what it was. “And some of the letters on the last line are missing. It doesn’t look like a typo.”

There was silence on the other end for a while, and then, “Tsukki, I got it!!”

“What? Did you figure it out?!” Tsukishima asked incredulously.

“Yup, the missing letters are: U R A Q T!”

The sound of muffled laughter hit his ears next and Tsukishima let out a deep sigh before getting up to grab the wine.

“You suck at flirting, did you know?” He asked coolly, taking a sip as he sank back into his chair in front of the laptop.

“Me? No, I think you just suck at flirting back, Tsukki,” Kuroo said, and it was a shame he couldn’t see Tsukishima’s glower.

“But it’s fine, since I know you’re crazy about me anyway~”

“Yeah,” Tsukishima huffed. “Crazy for liking someone as irritating as you.”

He couldn’t help the small smile on his face anyway, wishing Kuroo was actually here so he could pretend to ignore him, which would then cause Kuroo to try and kiss him as an apology.

Tsukishima would never admit that he loved it when Kuroo acted like a lovesick dork though.

Another half an hour went by like this, Kuroo shamelessly flirting and Tsukishima sipping wine while trying to figure out the strange document’s secrets.

The glass of wine was almost finished when Kuroo finally had something important to say, “Hey, I think that beefy bodyguard just left a room open, I’m going in.”

“What?!” Tsukishima hissed. “That’s not safe!”

He quickly tried to check the cameras that were stationed backstage but it was obviously of no use, since they wouldn’t have cameras around the places where Kuroo was snooping around.

Tsukishima cursed and waited tensely, fingers itching to be doing something; this was the worst part about his job. He hated feeling helpless while watching his boyfriend throw himself into a dangerous situation.

“Got it!” Kuroo’s voice startled Tsukishima and he clutched the headphones to his ears tightly.

“Got what, are you okay?” He asked, not liking the sound of Kuroo’s uneven breathing, as if he was running away.

“You’ll see, I just gotta-” his voice turned to static for a moment and Tsukishima actually felt his heart jump in his chest. “I might.. have been spotted so give me a second.”

“You… idiot,” Tsukishima got out, too worried to think of a proper insult. “Okay, okay, how bad is it? Do I need to send the agents on standby? Or…”

Tsukishima paused when he realized he couldn’t hear anything anymore, not even the sound of his breathing.

“Kuroo…..?”

There was no response.

Tsukishima cursed and tore his headphones off, about to throw them to the ground in anger before he collected himself and put them back on in case Kuroo contacted him. Just what was this idiot thinking?! They had been taught from day one to never make rash decisions like that, especially when there were potential threats around.

With a shaky sigh, Tsukishima tapped out a message on his laptop to let the others know Kuroo might be in danger. He then pulled up the notes from earlier and started going through every single database they had on people that fit the description of that bodyguard. It wasn’t a lot, but it was the least Tsukishima could do to help in this situation, so he threw himself into his work to hide the fact that he was absolutely terrified of what might happen.

“Hey….Tsukki… Tsukkiiiii!!!”

“What the hell shrimp, can’t you see that I’m sleeping?” Tsukishima grumbled, blearily opening his eyes as he realized he must have fallen asleep at his desk. He looked around for his glasses as the voice behind him spoke up again.

“Shrimp? Last I checked I wasn’t that much shorter than you…”

Tsukishima whirled around, forgetting the damn glasses and gaping when he saw Kuroo standing there, smirk and all.

“I… you… I thought you were Hinata,” he finally got out, still shocked and unable to yell at Kuroo for worrying him like he really wanted to.

Luckily for him though, Kuroo had always seen through his emotionless facade. He closed the distance between them and hugged Tsukishima tightly.

And for once, the blond didn’t protest.

“Sorry, Kei,” Kuroo said quietly into his ear, and Tsukishima cursed his weak heart for immediately turning into a blushing mess at the sound of his first name on Kuroo’s lips.

“I mean, not that sorry because I had to go in there to get the drive-”

Tsukishima sighed and pushed him away to look him over for injuries. “What happened to your headphones?”

“Oh.. funny story about those,” Kuroo laughed nervously as Tsukishima looked up questioningly from where he was inspecting a bruise on his arm. “They fell out when I was running and then I’m pretty sure someone stepped on them so…”

“Kuroo-san, I think I hate you,” Tsukishima finally said, dropping his arm and leaning back against his desk. He was relieved he wasn’t hurt, of course, but now all that previous worrying made him feel exhausted and 152% done with everything.

Tsukishima really needed to go relax in bed for a few hours. (Preferably with Kuroo).

“I told you to stop calling me Kuroo-san… but anyway I thought you’d be more happy about…this!” Kuroo interrupted his thoughts, pulling out something small from his pocket and tossing it to Tsukishima, who raised an eyebrow at him in return.

It was a small black flash drive, although it looked almost broken and really old. “What’s in it?”

Tsukishima looked up at Kuroo, and then was completely unprepared for the kiss that followed. He forced himself to relax and actually kiss him back Kei, don’t just stand there!

Kuroo was a good kisser, there was no doubt about it, so Tsukishima allowed himself to cling to him a little as he deepened the kiss, a low rumble of a moan sounding from the back of Kuroo’s throat.

It wasn’t as if it was their first kiss, after all they’d been dating for about five months now. But with their jobs and all the work they had to do, they definitely spent a lot more time solving cases than kissing.

When he finally pulled back, Tsukishima turned his burning face to the side and stuttered out, “What was that for? If you think that’ll make me forgive you…”

Kuroo only smiled and patted his head. “Eh, it was worth a shot. But anyway, you should really look at what’s in that flash drive.”

“It better not harm my laptop,” Tsukishima replied, still flustered but grateful to have an excuse to turn away from him. He sat down and inspected the drive before connecting it to the computer as Kuroo watched from over his shoulder.

A few windows opened up, filled with green lines of code. He paused, but Kuroo urged him to keep going so he looked at the code a bit more carefully, reading through each block, only getting more confused until…

“Is this… what they used to steal the money?” Tsukishima stared at the screen in awe almost, and then looked back at Kuroo who was grinning widely.

“Mhm. And with this and all of our own evidence, we can stop whatever Oikawa’s planning,” Kuroo stated proudly.

Tsukishima looked back and forth from the screen to his boyfriend for a few seconds, and then finally he stood up and gave Kuroo a rare hug of his own.

“Aww, you’re welcome, Tsukki~” he cooed, and Tsukishima buried his face in Kuroo’s neck. “Does this mean you don’t hate me anymore?”

“No, I still hate you a lot,” Tsukishima muttered. He’d chide him for his dangerous little stunt later, but for now….

Tsukishima smiled against Kuroo’s jacket.

This was more than okay.

[createdbyangels]

Sassy is FIVE!

Welp, the girl child turned 5.  It was almost a month ago but she is still, as of today, telling people several times a week that she had a birthday and is five now.  So it’s still news around here.

Here was my FB post on her birthday:

Five. I told a friend today that five feels so much like "big kid" 😭 This is the year we send her off to kindergarten. I just can't. Not pictured...shopping as Elsa to pick out presents from Grandma and Papa ("I think everyone will think there is a REAL princess here"). She looked at EVERY ITEM on the shelves. (I HATE shopping, guys) A sprinkle doughnut, painting a little Elsa jewelry box with friends, park time, more friend time at home (she was stoked to have her friends with us all day!!), the library, a movie, pepperoni pizza and daddy found the moon in the telescope before she went to bed! And Corbin came down early this morning to make sure we had put balloons on her chair and to write her a note ("Happy birthday Savannah!!! I will do the silverware for you" 😍😍) He did her part of unloading the dishwasher for her. On this day 5 years ago one of my first questions after she FINALLY joined us in the delivery room was, "Definitely a girl??" Yup. Definitely. And definitely MY girl. Happy birthday my Savannah. We are all on our toes with you around and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Savannah’s personality is SO BIG.  I often find myself telling people while we are out, “She’s a lot” with a sigh or an eye roll.  Mostly because she is twirling and being loud or roaming around or just absolutely not listening to me.  Corbin was so compliant.  Don’t get me wrong, he can be very difficult, but when we are out he follows the rules, stays close to me and doesn’t cause a ruckus.  Today in Kohl’s, Savannah lagged behind, sat on a giant sloth plush toy while I walked away, yelled, “NO!” at least twice, climbed up on the base of a mannequin while asking why "That lady doesn’t have a head?!” and continued reading a book across the checkout line while I called no few than 5 times for her to come back over to me.  And that was AFTER the incident earlier in the day when we got home and she threw such a massive fit because I didn’t wait for her to check the mail (she came inside and took off her coat and shoes KNOWING we were about to walk to the mailbox) that she stomped outside to the edge of the street and SCREAMED, “I DON’T LIKE YOU!!!” for the whole neighborhood to hear.  And then went in the bathroom and unrolled the rest of the toilet paper on to the ground “because she was mad”.  (She spent QUITE a while learning how one cleans up TP that has been unrolled from the roll....)  So yeah.  She’s A LOT.

But.  I’ve been reading a lot about how the words you use to describe your children has such a massive impact on them.  I’ve always known that.  In my brain.  But my heart is taking notice.  I don’t want her to think that she is too much for us to handle or is a nuisance.  He massive personality is going to be one of her biggest strengths.  It is our job to help her learn how to reign it in when necessary.  But also to encourage her to be herself.  Not mentioned above is how she delighted the couple ahead of us in line at Kohl’s by telling them, “I just had my birthday and I’m 5!” as they told me about their spunky kid who is now 25.  Or how in Food Lion the other day she, unprompted, told an employee at the check out, “I love your skirt”  She is unfiltered.  Which means, at 5, we get the inappropriate right along with the sweet, beautiful and hilarious.  Hopefully the filter will come. But I also have zero concerns that she will be bullied or taken advantage of. She won’t have any of that now and I’m certain she won’t have any of that ever.  It took me about 27 years to find that voice.  I hope she doesn’t lose that voice.  

So.  Moving on to more facts about Sassy (aka Van Van, aka Sassums, aka Van Van Q-zles”, she is in Ms. LaShauna’s 4 year old preschool class at APPLESeeds preschool.  This is her last year there - kindergarten starts in July 2020!  I can’t believe it.  She does Kidokinetics this year again (this year it’s Mondays...she stays an extra 45 minutes after school ends and does a sports related activity with Coach John)  A friend who observed her after school one day called her “The Mayor of preschool” .... it’s hilarious because it’s true.  There are kids from 2-5 in this preschool and since she started at 2, kids of all ages have known her.  I know that, at 2, that is likely because her name was ALWAYS being called for some reason 😂  And is probably still somewhat the case now.  But she is also just very social and loves to talk to everyone in her presence. So on this particular day apparently several (a lot) of the kids and parents who walked by her that afternoon (she was staying for Kidokinetics so I wasn’t there) said goodbye to her by name.  She has also developed a habit of calling someone in each of her circles “bestie” (there is one at gymnastics and at least one at preschool) .It’s so funny to hear things like that out of her mouth.  She sounds like a teenager and it’s weird.  

She just finished her 2nd season in soccer and is actually pretty good.  She scored at least one goal in nearly every game.  She shockingly also loved the social aspect of the whole experience. I take her to Sonshine Gymnastics Tuesday mornings for an hour of gymnastics.  She wanted to go back after doing dance last year.  She likes them both but has gotten really into gymnastics again.  It will be interesting to figure out how we are going to do an activity for both kids once she is in school and her things also have to become after school activities.  We’ll cross that bridge once we come to it.

Her favorite colors are pink and purple, she loves to watch Fancy Nancy, T.O.T.S., Puppy Dog Pals, Disney movies and recently, this slightly annoying show on Netflix called Masha and the Bear (which also has a few spin offs).  There are worse things.  She LOVES movies and we’ve see a ton considering her age.  She can sit through a movie better than Corbin can at this point.  Especially if she also has popcorn and M&Ms.

Favorite foods are pretty standard - mac and cheese, grilled cheese, fruit,  But she is also a great eater when it comes to veggies - she loves avocado, broccoli, sweet potatoes, carrots and ranch and spinach.  She does NOT love several of the meals I make right now - mostly to be difficult I think.  She complains when I make chicken .. (have you met me...we only eat chicken and turkey around here) but loves mashed potatoes and generally loves the veggie.  Except peas.  She doesn’t like peas.  Or beans for that matter.  She can THROW DOWN on some sweets.  Gets that honestly.

She gets motion sickness in the car if she reads/colors, gets super dizzy when she spins, isn’t afraid of heights or most anything dare-devil like, loves board games and card games, is super at playing pretend and loves to put on shows for us that involve singing and dancing routines.

For all my comments about how she is a lot (she IS a lot) I honestly don’t know what I’d do with a mild mannered girl.  We are both passionate and we get each other.  Even though sometimes (a lot of times) that involves screaming or being super frustrated).  It’s always cliche’ but I genuinely can’t believe she is 5.  We have 2 big kids.  And in 8 months we’ll have 2 ELEMENTARY kids.  Sometimes I feel like I’m counting the minutes until she is in school full time but I also recognize that we only have a little bit of full time left together.  And the sadness about how big she is (how big both of them are) is very real.  But, all part of life.  Onward to the year of five!

Princess pancake breakfast at Mason Jar Tavern

Day at the NC State Fair

Her 3s preschool teacher Ms. Beth

(Out of order/Holly Fest and Halloween)

Amtrak ride to Durham

Fairy garden party

Sharing sweet potato fries with mommy

3 Bears Acres for mommy’s birthday

Stuck a pebble in her ear at camp...had to go to the dr to have it removed

First time having a friend sleep over

Myrtle Beach

Spent her birdthday with Jonah and Farrah

Corbin made her a shrink ray worker (after not letting her go anywhere near his homemade shrink ray for a long time)

Corbin wrote her a birthday note saying he would unload the silverware for her (that is her AM chore)

Crazy Glaze for her bday activity

Scarecrow at school

Fuquay festival