#i'm going to the eras tour but at what cost

[howmanyheartaches]

I thought I would never be able to spend more money on something other than Zuka

I WAS WRONG

[winterzsurprise]

Change My Mind [1]

Pairing: BTS x reader

SUMMARY: As a make-up artist, you were expected to glamorize your clients with brushes and products that cost a week-worth of food, not to befriend them outside of work, let alone have them save you from dates yet here you are five years later as one of their closest confidants.

Being a stylist of the world's biggest boyband is no easy feat, someone is doing flips, someone can't stay still and one's asleep but its fine, you can work around their chaos but then one day, you find out they're all your soulmates, a whole different can of chaos you don't think you can handle.

Tags: Soulmates AU, Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Not Beta Read, Slow Build, Polyamory, Attempts at Humor

Words: 5k

haha heyy I'm back after a year. Still suffering from writer's block so here's the start of a series I created during it, forcing myself to actually write. There's no set schedule but I'll try my best to do it weekly. That is all and pre-save Neva Play :DD

MASTERLIST || Next>>>

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Maybe you should've cut off your mother before you went past the age for mark appearances.

If you had then maybe you wouldn't be suffering with the overcompensating rant about an unfortunate man and his bare minimum achievements.

What are you, Bangtan's—The current biggest boyband in the world—makeup artists since their era of wearing thick eyeliners to convey their passion and emo inspired hairstyles, doing, listening to someone's so-called gratifying achievements?

Staring at the source of the grating voice babbling nonsense, you refrain yourself from letting out a heavy sigh.

Jeong Binwoo is a stout man. His roundness is enhanced by the fact that he's an inch or so shorter than you on a good day. His face reminds you of a dumpling, especially now that he's stuffing it with a handful of greasy fries in quick successions. Despite his full mouth, he kept on speaking and you swore a few stray blobs had landed on your plate.

You've only just a week and a half before the start of their tour in Seoul and here you are wasting your time sitting in front of a man whose awareness is limited to only himself when you could've been at work or binging some stupid cliche drama.

Maybe you should've listened to Namjoon's statistical analysis of your dates this year and never bothered going to this meeting as well.

Your mother's recommendations so far had never brought you a man decent enough nor carry an ounce of respect your father has for your mother. Why you still try and date them is a question you've asked yourself one too many times.

His rant was the standard overcompensating life story of a man unfortunate enough to be given an ugly mug and an even uglier fate. A conversation topic you've been subjected to far more often than you'd liked but still smooths out your brain every time you're forced to listen to it. It might not be but it must've been an hour already since he started listing out the same adult milestones he achieved in his 28th year—you've done the same at a younger age, 20 to be exact.

Binwoo reached for your fries shamelessly when his fingers found his bowl empty and you couldn't stop yourself from grimacing this time. 

He was actually decent , compared to the other guys you've met before whose mouth spouted bullshit even the devil himself would gasp at. The man actually bought you a gift and opened and held the door for you.

'How disturbing that you think the bare minimum is a sign of a good man, noona.' A voice suspiciously sounding like Namjoon echoes in your head and you sighed for the nth time that afternoon.

If you weren't so weak against your mother's wishes, you would've been doing work instead of putting up with horrid dates over and over again. You'd willingly take on styling an energetic Jungkook at 6am trying to dodge your brushes and play fights with them then sit in front of another insecure man.

A clang of a metal utensil making contact on the tile took your attention to the two men sitting a few tables in front of you. Suddenly, you're reminded of the lovely bodyguards who have volunteered to watch the mess that is your love life for lunch.

You caught one of their gaze when he looked over his shoulder, pitiful, before kicking his friend's leg and picking up his phone.

Immediately, a vibration rang from your bag and you checked the message as discreetly as you could.

            [13:24] Mimi: I feel so bad for you, noona. Is this really how guys are like these days?             [13:24] Mimi: It's appalling how he thinks finally getting his own space at 28 is impressive.             [13:24] Tete: do you need help? Please say yes, I don't think I can sit through the whole date and hear this bull.             [13:25] Tete: Just seeing it is mentally scarring enough, I can't imagine how you're feeling as the one that has to actually listen.

"Hey, are you still listening? I hope I'm not talking too much." A voice interrupts before you could reply.

Looking up from your phone, Binwoo's face now displayed a sheepish smile, the smear of ketchup on the edge of his lips not going unnoticed. His greasy hand had reached behind his head to scratch the back of his nape and you had to gather every strength in your body to not grimace when the same fingers he ate with met scalp.

You try not to notice how oily and stiff his hair already looked. You really tried.

You shook your head despite wanting it all to end for the sake of appearing respectful and the man immediately continued his empty boasting, the same hand he scratched his neck returning to claw down at your fries without another thought and immediately your phone pings again.

            [13:29] Mimi: did he just              [13:29] Mimi: did he just eat with the same hand he scratched with? On your plate of fries?             [13:29] Mimi: I'm gonna barf             [13:30] Mimi: Please free us from this torture, noona. My heart can only take so much             [13:30] Tete: Screw this, we're going back. I can't do this anymore

A screech of a chair being dragged through tile took your attention back to the masked men in front of you and saw the tall and imposing form of Taehyung marching towards your table, brown beanie hiding his dyed hair and a black mask covering half of his face.

"The fucking gull you have to show your face here after you ran away with my heart last week!"

You sigh internally and hope he's not about to choose an embarrassing trope to follow through this time.

If he takes on another dramatic golden-spooned CEO character who throws tantrums when he can't do or get what he wants, you might just stab yourself with the butter knife next to you. Witnessing and being on the receiving end of his tantrums, even if it's acting, in such a public place like the park once is enough.

With a silent wish that Tae has picked a good trope to follow this time, you followed his lead.

Comically widening your eyes, your gaze bounced from Taehyung and Binwoo with a mystified look before sputtering out a reply.

"Wo-Wooyoung! I thought you went back to the states! How's being home again feels like?"

"Is this how you're gonna be? You're just gonna act like everything's alright after you took my youth ?!"

A couple of gasps erupted from the guests around you, in the seas of scandalized reactions there's a burst of hushed giggles from one guy in black from a particular table and you refrain yourself from glaring at his ducked head and shaking shoulders. The phone pointed in your direction didn't go unnoticed, no doubt recording it all from start to finish to send to the group chat as he always does.

Ever your biggest supporter.

At this point, everyone in the restaurant is looking at the three of you. A glance at Binwoo told you of how close you are to freedom. The man has hunched his shoulders, shrinking into himself, trying to disappear from the public gaze while his eyes busied itself by tracing the details on the tiles. He has long stopped from eating now as he hangs his head in embarrassment, ashamed to be associated with you.

"Hey, I'm sorry man. I didn't know you were like that, in your profile it said that you were experienced in hammering."

"I do woodworking, of course I'm amazing at it!"

You hear a dull thud erupt from two tables over. At the edge of your eyes you see Jimin hitting the table with a closed fist, his giggles a little louder; enough to gather a few confused eyes but quiet enough to limit the range to the patrons next to him.

"I-I'm so sorry."

Binwoo flushes before darting out, towing his black suitcase that looked suspiciously light, away from the eyes of everyone in the restaurant and relief floods your body, muscles relaxing as you watch his form disappear behind the partition between the tables and the exit.

You stare up at Taehyung to find him already looking back at you with crinkled eyes past the dim shades he was wearing, his cheekbones poking above the mask as he smiled.

With your date finally out of the shot, Jimin's laughter explodes into loud cackles of a mad man as he stands, stumbling before he manages to approach you both. When he was close enough, he latched onto Tae's arm to stabilize himself as he held up his phone with the camera app open. Immediately, everyone's displeasure echoed in the room at the implication that the intense scene they just witnessed was a part of a vlog.

Despite how much of a spur of a moment their plan seemed, the duo has managed to construct a simple start and conclusion to their plan and you couldn't be more proud of your smart boys.

Taehyung turned to the mass and bowed.

"I'm sorry for disrupting everyone's afternoon, I was just saving my sister from a bad date and decided to make a vlog out of it. We're really sorry." Taehyung exclaimed.

The disturbed patrons' voices grew louder and angrier, a few attempting to approach your little group to possibly get physical.

Next thing you know, Tae's grabbing the paper gift bag your date has given you earlier before reaching to your and Jimin's hand and pulling you both out of the restaurant at full speed with a wide grin, leaving behind indignant screams of 'YA!' . You couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling out of your chest as you three raced down to the stairs, taking the safer and the long way down. You'd regret the decision later once your age kicks in and the ache on your knees comes but the thrill thrumming under your skin keeps you occupied.

They'd probably ban you from ever entering the establishment but for now, you could care less, the place felt too pretentious for you anyways.

The laughter didn't stop even when you entered Taehyung's car, your joined delight bouncing off the small space and when it ceased, a satisfied silence followed. You and Jimin sag to your seats as the giggles die down, arms clutching your stomachs while Taehyung hunches over the wheel.

Even with how ridiculous the youngest decides on how to go about destroying a date, you couldn't deny the overflowing gratitude you hold for the guy for selling his dignity. Although as an idol with an interesting internet background, you doubt he still has one.

"Wow, that went better than I expected."

"I'm never taking you both to my dates again."

Jimin rolled his eyes at you, lips tugged into a grin. "You say that and take us anyways."

"I'm so glad Tae didn't pull another jealous CEO persona, I was so embarrassed that day!"

"Hey! I still got you out so it's not that bad!" Tae protests, turning to the both of you on the backseat. "At least I didn't act like an embarrassing ex that cried and begged on his knees by the outlook!"

Jimin's swat was quick and Tae hissed and gasped dramatically, cradling his arm as if it was broken by the slap.

"Now he's trying to hit me!"

"Nonetheless, we did so well ruining your dates this month, noona. I think we deserve some reward." Jimin's lips tugged up into a sly smile, eyes glimmering with mischief as he suggestively raised his eyebrows.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Before you returned home, you had Tae stop by the nearest grilling restaurant to treat the two of them to a couple of orders of meat. If Jimin looked like a kicked puppy upon realizing you've misinterpreted his words, you didn't say anything.

In your defense, he didn't specify what he wanted. Even if he did, you wouldn't have entertained his flirty jokes.

Not a minute longer since the three of you had seated yourselves at a secluded corner at the far back of the restaurant did Jimin's phone ring. You didn't have to look at the screen to know it was Jungkook, ever so eager to hear about how his hyungs managed to scare off your date this time.

He treats it like he was watching those public prank videos on the internet but instead of random targets, it was your dates.

When the video call loads in, you are met with the sight of Jungkook and Jin sharing half the screen while the stylists hands tend to their hairs, stuck deciding between leaving a strand astray from their elevated fringes or keeping it neat.

"Hyung, did you manage to do what you were telling me last time?"

Taehyung grinned. "You should've seen how they all reacted!"

As Taehyung recalled the event with exaggerated movements and expressions—with Jimin adding his extraordinarily unique perspective every now and then—the plates full of meat to grill and bowls of rice you ordered came. Immediately, they were recognized by the waitress who bowed her head at them before shyly asking for an autograph. If you felt her eyes burning a hole through your skull throughout the encounter, you pretend not to notice.

You've introduced yourself as their make-up artist early on in their career, sneaking into their hearts with behind-the-scenes photographs of their idols. A few photographs in exchange of their respect which the boys and the company allowed. Even then, you wouldn't be able to avoid exchanges like these.

Once the waitress was gone, the boys continued to delight the others with their tales. They laughed and expressed their disgust, picking apart your date piece by piece down to his last molecule but as they continued noting down their observations, you started to feel that they're making up random facts out of spite.

Like, what do you mean you saw the guy kept wiggling in his seat to subtly scratch his ass? How did you even see that, Jimin?

But due to them sneaking out to be your guard dogs, they were called to return soon by an unimpressed Namjoon who took over the phone call at some point, threatening them with Hoseok who just laughed in response. You didn't miss the opportunity to rub your week-long rest in their faces with a smile when Taehyung and Jimin tried pouting their way out of punishment.

They ended up being given the chance to at least finish their food before they're given the countdown when Jimin bribed them with takeout.

"Come with us to drink that memory away instead, noona! Hyung and I are better drinking buddies anyways."

You waved Hoseok off. "I don't think Sejin would appreciate me distracting you guys more than I already do."

"Look into my eyes and say that you don't want to drink the memory away!" Yoongi said matter-of-factly from somewhere in the background.

"We won't even drink much, promise!"

"Stop lying to yourself, Hoba. We know you'd tap out after the third glass."  Jin snickered.

"Hey, I've changed! I can do four now."

Before you could further shoot his idea down, your phone flashes open with a ring displaying your mother's name and your heart drops. As if sensing the change in the air, their heads perked up to look at you.

You knew she'll contact you eventually but seeing her name on the screen glare back at you, a shiver wracks down your spine.

"Who is it?" 

"It's my mom."

Jimin and Taehyung gasped, shushing the people on the other line like kids trying to hide a stray pet from their parents who came home as you answered the call.

"Hello my dearest daughter, tell me why the hell did Binwoo's mother just call me to tell me that you've been going around stealing people's youths?! I don't remember raising you to be such a person!"

Despite not having the call on speaker, her rage is loud enough for the other two to hear. Instead of sending pitying looks towards you like a proper friend should, they were grinning and trying to stop themselves from cackling. Your mother's screeching evolved into rapid fire scolding with barely any breathing in between, sending your companions into silent laughter.

You could only glare as Taehyung threw his head back as he guffawed noiselessly while Jimin had hunched over the table, his shaking shoulders being the only indicator that he too was laughing.

Kicking them both under the table, you gathered the courage to interrupt your mother so she could breathe.

"Mom, it was just a friend who wanted to save me from Binwoo."

"A friend?!? A friend my foot! He must be an-uh what do you call it these days—a friend with benefits! Here I thought you've been busy fussing over those Bangtan boys to fool around!"

At this, their ears perked up, attention falling to yours.

"God! If you just started dating them then I wouldn't have to stress myself over finding you a husband!"

Taehyung sobers up, playing with the meat on the grill as he whispers. "Oh I wish auntie but noona is too professi—ow!"

Your foot swiftly connects with his shin and Taehyung hunches over the table, hand disappearing down to cradle his foot.

"I assure you, Mom, if you've seen how he acted, you'd thank your daughter for dodging such a disgusting guy. He didn't even ask me permission to eat my fries!"

"Aishhhhh! If you were here I would've hung you upside down in a sack outside our house! God, I'm gonna have a cardiac arrest because of you!"

"The guy is really my friend, mom! It's the same guy who interrupted my dates before. Remember the crazy CEO?"

"I know I know! But with how picky you are, you'll end up alone! I know you're trying to wait for your soulmate but you're 26 now! You're way past the maximum marking age!"

Taehyung and Jimin fall silent as an awkward silence settles between your group, continuing to place their pork into the leaves and engulfing them almost meekly; almost because the way they ate the wrap is far from graceful.

You've known that for a year now, accepted your fate but the reminder made your heart ache. Imagine how it was for a hopeless romantic, who dreamt of fated meetings and whimsical red strings on your pinkie, to find out that they're untethered. Even then, a small part of you, a much younger version, keeps hoping for a chance that you're just a late bloomer.

Who wouldn't want true love for themselves?

Even a solitary man would crave affection.

"I-I know that. But you can't expect me to settle for less, you wouldn't want to see your dear daughter in a miserable marriage do you?"

There's a deep sigh from the other line and you could imagine your mom pinch the bridge of her nose before she spoke:

"I'm just worried, I hope you understand. I'm not getting any younger. Your older brother and sister already have their own family and seeing them happy while you're still on your own, it hurts this old woman's heart, you know?"

There's a quick succession of dull thuds from across the line and you assumed your mother was hitting her chest with her fist, ever the dramatic.

Jimin flips the newly added meat on the grill, taking the cooked strips to distribute between yours and Taehyung's bowl. It was such a small gesture yet it made your stomach flutter for a second. Always the caring and golden hearted boy you've met years ago that never hesitated to give you hugs and make you smile either with exaggerated movements or from touch alone.

If only there's more Jimin in the world, you would've been married a long time ago and you wouldn't have to deal with your mother's horrible matchmaking.

You sighed. "I know, I'm trying my best so don't worry too much."

"That's my youngest. Now, since you're trying, I have another—"

You pinched the bridge of your nose. "Mom, please."

"I swear this guy is better. He's a lawyer, 30 years old, and he's got a penthouse!"

There's a shrill ding! from your phone and you turned to look at your screen to find yourself staring back at a picture of the suitor your mother was just talking about. In a blink, Jimin and Taehyung have teleported  behind you with side dishes in hand as they peered over your shoulder to look at the photo.

The picture was roughly cropped and showed a man in a tailored black suit leaning against what looks like his mother from how similar the shape of their eyes and lips are. He had his coat hanging from his arm, giving you a full view of how his chest and shoulders filled out his white button up. With a narrow and refined jawline, topped off with good hair waxed into a small quiff and a pair of sunken dimples on each side of his bowstring lips, as an idol's makeup artist, you wondered how it is possible for him to be single.

But what distracted you more was how your mother has sent you someone visually appealing instead of the challenged men she had recommended to you. It's making the ends of the hair on your arm stand up.

It's new and it's creeping you out.

You make a mental note to ask your father about her strange behavior.

"His name is Yoo Guwon, isn't he good looking? His mother and I met at the salon by the market in front of your aunt Jia. I saw him once and he looks exactly like he does in that picture!"

"He looks good."

A hiss following a slap muted by thick clothing erupted from behind you, looking over your shoulder, you see Taehyung staring at Jimin with a shocked and betrayed expression.

"What are you doing?! You're supposed to be against this!"

"Well now that you've mentioned it," Jimin hums, crossing his arms as he leaned closer over your shoulders. "He does look like a manipulator. He has the eye and facial structure for it."

You turned to him with a puzzled expression. "What do you even mean—"

"No no no wait, I can see what you mean." Taehyung butts in, narrowing his eyes as he also inched closer to the screen on the other side of your face before reaching over to expand on the man's face.

You furrowed your eyebrows, still not seeing how a skull's formation could mean manipulator in their eyes. But before you could ask how they came to the conclusion, your mother gasped.

"Is that one of your boys? Taehyung and Jimin?"  

"Yeah, I took them out for some meat since they saved me earlier."

"Oh? Put me on speaker, I want to talk to them!" You obeyed her and hummed a confirmation before holding your phone towards them. "I hope my daughter hasn't disrupted your busy schedules to play jealous exes for her."

Jimin laughs. "It's nothing too much, auntie~ She took great care of us back then, it's just us repaying the debt! Besides, I like watching her fail her dates!"

"Oh aren't you quite mischievous?" Her tone was teasing and delighted as she giggled. "Don't enjoy it too much, okay? My daughter needs to get married soon!"

"Don't worry too much, auntie! I also want our noona to find a good husband!"

"What a sweet boy! Too bad company rules can't let you date, I would've loved you as my son-in-law."

A smile stretched across Jimin's face as he shyly laughed, hiding his delight behind a hand. "You can't say that and expect me to not try and court your daughter, auntie!"

"What about me, auntie? I sold my dignity just to push away her creepy suitors when hyung only sat back to record. I did a lot!" Taehyung jumps in with a pout, feeling left out of the conversation.

"Any of you boys are welcome in my family as long as my daughter is married and treated well! Ok, I'll stop now since I have some friends to meet up with. Visit me soon, my lovely daughter!"

After saying your goodbyes and your i-love-you's, the call ends. Immediately, your phone was fished out from your hands by Taehyung as the two boys returned to their seats, zooming in on Guwon's face and speaking in hushed whispers among themselves. At least until Jin and Jungkook's insistence to be included in the discussion came booming.

"Ya Taehyung! Aren't we friends for so long? Why are you not showing us the picture like a normal friend would do? Forward it to the GC!"

Even after forwarding the picture to the GC, they're still far from pleased after being ignored for so long. Jungkook and Jin didn't spare any words from expressing their wrath, especially the elder. A problem easily buried for everyone to forget with an offer of bringing food when they come home. Your mother expressing her openness to the idea of having any of your bosses as your husband seems to breeze past their heads. You do have an inkling they'll discuss amongst themselves later on.

Soon, Jimin and Taehyung are dropping you at your apartment building, parting ways with hugs before they leave.

Since you've finally claimed some of the absent days you've gathered throughout the years for a nice week off before the eventual tour, you decided to take full advantage of it by treating yourself with a nice night in, stuffing yourself with ice cream and an unhealthy amount of pizzas. Doors locked and blinds shut.

Just you and your TV.

And the generic drama that's playing before you.

It's about a poor girl who got rescued by a handsome rich man who has an obsessed admirer and a family who opposes their relationship despite the soulmate mark they both wore due to their different levels in society.

The trope has been overused but you indulge in it anyways.

But as the night gets deeper and the plot thickens to its climax, you find yourself slowly liking it. Watching the young couple be domestic around their apartment, your heart starts to yearn. Their kisses looked fantastical and sweet, as if the taste of each other could energize them for the whole month. 

You watched as brief passing touches scream louder than words, eyed the way their arms wrapped around waists with jealousy and wondered when you'd be able to experience such a thing too.

Emotional torture is what you're doing but you couldn't find it in yourself to stop watching it.

You remembered how realization felt like plunging into the darkest depths in the ocean, cold and harsh, the pain in your chest when your 21st passed by without any notable changes in your life. 

You recalled how you'd wake up and excitedly look over your skin for a hint everyday with no fail, hoping for a telltale sign that you weren't assigned to a fate of love bare of the genuine and rawness of a soulbond. The devastation gnawing at your dreams when your 21st ends uneventfully and the 22nd comes with the same nothingness still fresh in your mind.

There wasn't a cure for being untethered but you learned soon how to accept your fate. Having your friends comfort you through those years helped. From the maknaes' grounding tight hugs to Yoongi's silent support in the form of distractions and Seokjin's insistence on how unimportant soulmates are, healing came easier with them by your side.

Being untethered or alone isn't a disease cured by human medicine but you think your friends' support came close.

Your phone then vibrates, taking you out of the train of thought you got yourself into, screen lighting up to a message from an unknown user.

            [21:39] Unknown: Hey, it's me Yoo Guwon. Your mother gave me your number and said to contact you first because you might be busy with work.

None of the suitors your mother has brought forth has ever worked out. At this point, you should ask her to stop and try to find a good man yourself.

But none of them ever made the effort to reach out first.

But he's a lawyer and you know damn well what they're good at .

He looks cute and tall though, got a good background as well.

Everyone before him also had that.

With a heavy exhale, you picked your phone up and opened his message.

            [21:40] You: Hello, I'm actually on a week-long break so I'm just rotting on my couch instead haha

"That's too awkward." You muttered to yourself, subconsciously biting your lips as you rephrased the message a couple more times, frantically deleting and adding words onto your ever growing introduction message.

But then it's too wordy, it makes you sound desperate so you deleted it all again, starting once more from the beginning.

You didn't even get to send it when Guwon sent another message.

            [21:48] Yoo Guwon: I'm free tomorrow, I hope you are too. What do you usually like to do?

He's giving me options? You stared at the screen with furrowed eyebrows before narrowing at it suspiciously.

What's up with this guy? Why isn't he taking the lead?

            [21:50] You: I'm more often working and staying at home than visiting places so I don't know where ;-;. I'll go wherever you want to go.             [21:51] Yoo Guwon: It's fine, just send me your address and I'll pick you up tomorrow at 9am, dress formal casual.

Throwing your phone to the side, you reached for the canned beer from your table and took a long sip before titling your head back to stare at the ceiling. There's a careful rise in your heartbeat, a traitorous action of your body. It was hopeful and you hated how you felt like that, you sighed again for the nth time that day but for a different reason.

Your mind takes you back to the mischievous duo, wondering if you should take one of them for this date but find yourself shutting the idea down as quick as it came. The guy looks decent enough for a solo adventure, going alone shouldn't hurt.

Maybe this time will be different.

[rafesapologist]

the set up — rafe cameron; part four

𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: you've been one of the pogues since childhood, and your loyalty has always lied within your friend group, who is practically your family. when a threat by the name of rafe cameron begins to threaten the pogue's plans, they assign you to gain the trust of the dubious kook and keep an eye on what he's up to. however, now it's been six months since your friends set you up to spy on the kook prince himself, but what you didn't anticipate was to fall head over heels for the boy. your relationship had soon become inviolable shortly after your guys' first exchanges, much to your friends' dismay, and you two became practically inseperable. that was, until rafe discovers the truth.

𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴(𝘀): cussing, mentions of violence, kind of fluff, lil bit of angst but not much.

author's note: so so sorry for this taking a few days to upload! i've been out of town all weekend and was getting ready for the eras tour concert i went to! i tried to write while i was at the hotel but it just wasn't happening (alcohol might've taken a part in that but anyways), regardless we're back and i'm excited to write for u guys again :)

It was Friday night and your heart was racing. Although you weren't entirely sure why you felt so queasy, you boiled it down to the fact that you were going to be spending the night surrounded by a bunch of Kooks. You realized ahead of time that you were going to feel completely out of place amongst the upper class clique, a group of people totally different than you. Truth was, you were a Pogue through and through. You resided on the south side of the island, also known as The Cut. A majority of the time you were with your friends at the chateau, hanging on the hammock with JJ, taking bikes to see the ocean, and maybe even at the boneyard, but in no ways was any aspect of your life as opulent as a Kooks', or even close to it.

Your first impression even matched your identity, a dead giveaway that you were undeniably a Pogue. In any other circumstance you would have embraced what position you were born into, but if you wanted to win over Rafe Cameron's heart, and trust, you were going to have to put in some substantial amount of effort to get to that point. Therefore, when the opportunity to go on a 'date' with Rafe was finally proposed, you went straight to Sarah to lend you the most full Kook outfit she had in her closet.

Despite hating the identity you were trying to hide behind, you had to admit that Sarah's sense of fashion was impeccable. Lucky for you, she dressed you in a sage green square neck gingham mini dress, with a small slit up the thigh that you knew would be observed by Rafe's wondering eyes. You needed this to work at all costs, even if it meant that you were losing part of your dignity by dressing up like a braggart.

"Are you excited?" Sarah asked through the speaker of your phone, her question clearly rhetorical and rather needling.

"I just want to get this over with." You admitted with a whine.

"Well, JJ and Pope are going to be there so it won't be so bad." Your cheerful blond friend encouraged you with a hopeful smile, which had the right intention but seemed to fail at getting you through the circumstances at stake.

"Yeah, that makes it even worse." You grumbled, fumbling with the hooks on your sandals hurriedly.

"C'mon, I know it's Rafe we're talking about but he seems to have some sort of interest in you, so you should be fine." Sarah inspirited your optimism against the obvious signs of uneasiness you had been exhibiting for an hour over the phone.

You sighed, figuring that Sarah truly did have a point. Rafe seemed to have grown some kind of absorption with you since you had started working at the golf course, which essentially was a part of the plan, but you never expected him to grow so fond of you so quickly. Who knew all it took was a short skirt and batting your eyelashes to get Rafe Cameron to fawn over you. Go figure.

"Yeah well- Shit." You were interrupted abruptly by the sound of knocking at your front door. The noise alone was enough to make your stomach turn, as if it wasn't already before. Your body temperature rose once it had settled in your mind that it was more than likely Rafe at the front door, probably waiting impatiently in that damn polo he always wears. In that moment you wanted nothing more than to sneak out your bedroom window and run far away, but that wasn't an option and this date was crucial in order to convince Rafe you were something special.

"What? Is he there?" Sarah asked with confusion at the sound of urgency in your voice.

"Yeah he's at the front door, I think. I gotta go, text you later." You waved off your friend in a hurry before ending the call. You began to scurry around your room in search for your most sweetly-scented perfume, hoping to advance your level of allurement with an aroma that would likely inveigle the nescient boy. You planned on getting him right in the palms of your hands, so you decided on a fragrance of vanilla with hints of gourmand notes.

You felt satisfied with your appearance once you got a glimpse of yourself in your bedroom mirror before you exited the room, thinking to yourself that Rafe was definitely going to have his eyes on you all night, and the thought alone had a fire lighting up in your stomach.

You opened the front door and was immediately met with the sight of the dirty blond Kook, a visual you were slowly starting to become oddly familiar with. Your first reaction was to take in the view as you surveyed his clean-cut appearance, but as your eyes trailed his tall stature, you realized he had been doing just the same back to you. The only difference was that his stare was much more intense with a hint of longing beneath it, and it made you feel small under his gaze as he inspected every inch of your body - especially the exposed portions of it.

"You look beautiful." Rafe acknowledged your graceful presence, silently admiring the way your dress adorned your figure remarkably.

You smiled in return, "You don't look bad yourself, Cameron."

Your comment earned a small smile from the boy, noticing that his cheeks began to blush at the same time.

"Just for you, princess." He teased in response, a remark that sent heat coursing through your entire body. Rafe was notably always making suggestive comments and phrases towards you at any chance he could get, but for some reason, the way his nickname for you rolled off his tongue made you feel like you could melt right then and there.

You followed closely behind him on the way to his car that had been parked in your driveway after quickly saying your goodbye's to your parents, only to be put into a state of shock when you had realized Rafe had opened the passenger door for you to get in. Your heart seemed to flutter once again at his gesture, an act of chivalry that you had never experienced before.

"Thank you." You expressed your gratitude for his actions with a feeble voice as you hopped into the sumptuous-looking car.

"No need to thank me, angel." Rafe expressed much to the liking of the butterflies floating in your stomach.

You watched as the broad blond entered the driver's side door and started the car engine, finding yourself fixated on the prominent veins in his arms and hands as he did so. You had thought to yourself that in that moment, despite all the chaos that surrounded Rafe Cameron, maybe he wasn't as awful to be around as you initially anticipated. Sure he was a bit tempermental at times, but never towards you. Matter of fact, you were quite sure that Rafe wouldn't raise a hand at you, one being because he was gentle with you in every interaction you two had, and two because he wouldn't dare take away his time to fawn over you. He didn't want to be the one to rip that smile off your face that captivated him so much.

You enjoyed the scenic view of the coastal town and all of its serenity, watching out the window as you peered up at the clear night sky above you as the moon lit up all that surrounded you. Perhaps you became a little too entranced in the view, a state of ambedo, since all of the sudden you were brought back into reality by the feeling of a warm hand gently placing itself on the top of your exposed thigh. Your eyes shot down to where the warmth was coming from, your eyes then trailing up from the hand on your leg all the way to Rafe's side profile. It seemed as though Rafe could sense your stare as he instinctively glanced over at you for a brief second, catching your gaze.

"Is this okay?" Rafe asked tenderly, motioning to his hand placement. The innocent gesture creating a moment of kairosclerosis for you, and even a little appreciation towards him. You swore to yourself that if you had told the other Pogues what had just happened within the previous ten minutes, none of them would have believed you. But it was all real, and you were there, experiencing the extent of Rafe's affinity that no one could imagine he had.

"Yeah it's okay." You flashed a small, yet accepting smile at him. Rafe seemed to take note of your assurance as you noticed the tension in his body language relaxed, his fingers sliding further into your inner thigh yet remaining in a place that wasn't too high up for you. It was clear Rafe had an awareness of your boundaries and didn't want to cross them, which you were thankful for.

"So, how does a girl like you end up with people like John B and JJ Maybank? I mean, I know you're a 'Pogue' and all, but those guys are total losers." Rafe inquired, causing you to frown subtly.

"They're still my friends," you defended, "and they've been there for me more than my actual family has." You admitted, your voice falling more quietly as you confessed.

"What do you mean by that?" Rafe questioned as he looked over at you with furrowed brows, contemplating the severity of the situation you were talking about.

"My parents don't care what I'm doing or where I'm at. I basically live at John B's house and the hardly notice when I'm gone," you scoffed to yourself quietly, "I'm in no better position than JJ or John B. Half the time it's like they're the only family I have."

Rafe frowned as you spoke, becoming evident that he was taking in your every word by the way his jaw clenched as you told him about your family situation. You had also noticed that his thumb began to rub against your skin in a soothing manner that sent cold chills throughout your body.

"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to have a kind of fucked up home life." Rafe joked dryly as he eyes stayed glued to the road ahead, his expression turning somber.

"How?" You asked, confused as to how someone as wealthy and affluent as Rafe Cameron could even began to understand the detriments of living in a bad home.

"My dad is a control freak who plays favorites. He always chooses Sarah, everything is always Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. She could run him dry and he'd still treat her like a fucking angel. Me, however, he could care less about unless he wants something done." Rafe groused while his grip on the steering wheel became tighter. You realized the subject of his father struck a nerve somewhere in Rafe, which was a cause for concern. If Ward had been that careless with his son, what was he willing to make him do for him?

You wanted to calm down the ill-tempered boy before you were going to arrive at your destination, mostly because you knew that if he showed up in such a state and spotted one of your friends, you would be screwed.

"Well it's any consolation, at least you have me to understand having a fucked up family." You quipped in the effort to try and make the atmosphere in the car light-hearted again. It seemed to have worked out though, because Rafe started to laugh back at you.

"That's right, at least I'm not a Pogue either." Rafe jested in return.

Your jaw dropped flippantly, pretending as if you were offended by his comment. "Oh, fuck off." You shoved his shoulder lightly.

"Just sayin'." He shrugged, still unapologetically chuckling at his own joke. What an ass. You thought.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The two of you had finally arrived to the park in which the movie was set to play at. You realized upon arrival that practically everyone on the island was there, causing your heart to sink. If there was anything you hated, it was large crowds of people. Your breathing began to fasten as you observed the large quantities of individuals entering the place and taking their seats on the grass in front of the large projector screen. You fiddled with your hands and began picking at your fingernails in order to distract yourself from the anxiety that was brewing within you.

"You okay?" The sound of Rafe's baritoned voice breaking you out of your disassociation.

"Yeah," you replied mousily, "just hate big crowds."

"Well, you'll be with me and if anyone says anything to you I'll handle it myself." Rafe affirmed, lending you a hand to hold as you stepped out of the vehicle.

"Is your first instinct always violence?" You asked.

"Only if someone is messing with you." He smirked, taking your hand gently as he guided you over to the area in which his group of friends were sat.

You watched from behind Rafe as he greeted each one of his fellow Kook friends with handshakes and by dapping them up. The longer you stood and waited for him to introduce you to the rest of them, you could feel the awkwardness killing you internally. The thought of having to meet new people made you went to throw up already, let alone a group of stuck up Kooks who were seemingly intoxicated.

"This is y/n," Rafe finally turned around to acknowledge you, throwing his arms over your shoulders as he held you by his side proudly, "she's one of Sarah's friends."

"Didn't know you were banging your sister's friends now." One of the boys retorted, causing the entire group to snicker in return.

"Yeah yeah, fuck off, Ryan. You were fucking Kelce's sister for like a month." Rafe riposted at the snarky brunette Kook who quickly became quiet and practically mute following the comment.

"You did what?" Kelce asked furiously, glaring over at the other Kook who had his head hung low in order to avoid eye contact, and likely a bigger confrontation.

"Anyways, she's hanging with us tonight so don't be a bunch of dicks." Rafe asserted amongst the group, causing their full attention to advert to him. You were left in shock as you noticed they all obeyed to his demand without further question. You took it as a sign that Rafe was likely the ring-leader type of friend amongst his group of company. You had to admit though, the sight of all those Kooks taking orders from Rafe was humorous.

Eventually, you were able to take a seat next to Rafe on the set of lawn chairs that were scattered across the park. Quite honestly, you weren't paying attention to the movie that had just begun what-so-ever, too caught up in the way you were surrounded by a group of men that you barely knew at all. You tried your best to remain calm and collected in the given situation, trying to keep your attention on the screen in front of you, but your brain simply wouldn't retain any of what was happening on it. Rafe wasn't much help either, as he was too engaged in a conversation with Topper and Kelce to notice your boredom.

Until you heard the sound of someone behind you trying to gain your attention.

"Psst, y/n! Psst, over here!" You heard a familiar voice call out to you in an obnoxiously loud whisper. You quickly turned your head around as your eyes wandered the premise, seeing no sign of where the noise was coming from.

"Y/n, over here!" The voice half- whispeed, half-shouted again. This time guiding you to where exactly the sound was and who it was coming from. JJ.

"What the hell, JJ?" You mouthed in bewilderment, motioning your head over to Rafe who was merely 5 inches apart from you.

"Check your phone!" JJ mouthed back as he pointed down to the phone in his hands. You did as told and seen you had unread messages from your blond friend in your notifications.

*JAY-J <3: had to make sure you were safe from all those damn kooks*

You rolled your eyes at JJ's message, letting out a half-hearted laugh as you looked down at your phone. You had completely forgot who was sitting right next to you until you were caught off-guard by the sound of Rafe's voice interrupting you.

"Everything okay?" Rafe whispered to you as he looked at you with concern, mistaking the noise you made as a sigh instead of a laugh.

"Oh yeah, just breathing." You lied in an attempt to brush Rafe off, but you failed miserably at getting his attention off of you.

"Do you want something to drink? I can go get you anything if you want." He offered, which set off a light bulb in your head and a perfect escape plan to come into mind.

"Actually, I'll go get it," you smiled," I need to stretch my legs anyways, been sitting all day."

"Okay, I'll save your seat for when you get back." Rafe smiled as he watched you stand up from your seat. Part of you felt guilty for lying to the boy, but you needed to see your friend desperately and if you were surrounded by Kooks for any longer, you might have lost your mind.

*Y/N: meet me at the concession stand. i bought some time to get away from rafe for like 10 mins* You texted JJ in a hurry while you hastened over to the concession line. You stood off to the side of the building with your arms cross, standing up on your tip-toes occassionally to try and spot your friends among the sizeable crowd full on Pogues, Kooks, and Tourons.

You were taken by surprise once you felt a pair of hands grab you by the waist from behind, spinning you around to come face-to-face with sight of a blond boy who was a relief to see in that moment.

"JJ!" You squealed once you realized it was none other than your best friend with Pope accompanied beside him. JJ smiled in reaction to your excitement, taking you in once again and spinning you around in the air swiftly. You felt giddy as you felt JJ's hands hold your hips steadily, reaching up to wrap your arms around his neck once he had placed you back on the ground.

"Alright guys, enough with the rom-com fest here. Rafe could find us at any moment." Pope interrupted your and JJ's moment of jubilation with his typical panic. You rolled your eyes at his pessimism, although he did have a point. If Rafe were to have spotted your Pogue friends, he might just kill them both.

"Good point." You agreed, taking a step back from JJ's embrace and looking at the two boys standing in front of you as they awaited your response, "I just needed to get away from all those Kooks for a minute. If I had to listen to them talk about Midsummers any longer I was going to drive my head through a wall." You griped.

"Wait, Midsummers?" Pope repeated back at you as though the topic sparked an idea in his mind.

"Yeah, that thing where a bunch of Kooks get together and play dress up." You stated, still in a state of confusion as to what was brewing in Pope's brain, considering he's always coming up with something.

"You should go with Rafe."

"What?" You and JJ both shouted in unison at Pope's absurd request.

"I mean, you wanna gain Rafe's trust right? It would be the perfect opportunity to do so. Meet his family, live like a Kook with him for a night. Plus, you won't even be alone. JJ and I are gonna be working there that night, and Kie and Sarah are still considered as Kooks so you know they're going, too. I don't think it's a bad idea." Pope explained.

"Pope, there's no way in hell she's going to-"

"I'll do it." You cut off JJ just before he could reject Pope's suggestion, causing both of the boys to look at you in disbelief.

"Y/n, what? Do you realize what you'd be getting yourself into?" JJ apprised much against his friend's idea. You knew it was just JJ being his normal stubborn self, but you didn't have time to pay any mind to it. You knew that Pope's idea was the best bet in order for you to work your way into Rafe's life with ease, and so you knew what you'd have to do.

"JJ, I know you're worried and all, but this is our only chance at getting one step closer into whatever fucked up plan Rafe and his dad are conspiring against us. It's either I do this, or we're done for." You pleaded up at the distressed blond who looked down at you with an earnest look in his eyes.

"JJ, she'll be fine. We're all going to be there so you know she won't be alone." Pope added.

JJ sighed in defeat, the realization that you weren't going to back down washing over him. He grazed his hands through his shaggy blond hair as he placed a hand on his hip, "If any of this goes wrong, I'll kill him." He warned.

"Everything is going to be fine, Jay." You reassured, stepping forward to place a quick kiss onto the apple of his cheek. His body seemed to relax some at the gesture, his hands falling to your hips again as he peered down at you.

"I'm serious, y/n. I've already got enough reason to punch that asshole right in his face, let alone if he does something to you."

"He won't. You need to trust me on that, yeah? I can assure you it'll all be fine." You convinced once again, looking over at Pope in hopes he would help the situation, but instead he looked back at the two of you with judgement.

"You guys are strange." Pope added, scoffing at your guys' obvious shared displays of affection. It wasn't abnormal for you and JJ to be so hands-on, especially in a time where JJ was in a state of worry. None of the other Pogues seemed to understand the relationship you and JJ had going on, but they chose not to question to because more than likely, you two barely even knew what was going on.

"Well, who do we have here?"

taglist (if i missed any of u i apologize, pls let me know if u need or want to be added!!): @ellesalazar, @champomiel, @vadinaleme, @kys4-20, @gills-lounge, @allsmilesreally7, @sublimepenguinpeach-blog, @sp00ky-spr1te, @bibliophilewednesday, @haroldpotterson, @i-love-rafe, @ellesalazar, @calmoistorm (if i forgot to add you, please let me know!)

[thetriumphantpanda]

I Was Enchanted To Meet You | J. Miller Drabble

Summary | Literally just a Drabble about Joel being an era's tour dad, meeting a pretty girl in cowboy boots and flirting. That's it. It's dumb. This goes out to my girl Doni @morning-star-joy who is going to see Tay-Tay tonight and can now be delulu about meeting Joel Miller there. And also therapy for me because I'm in the UK and got waitlisted for tickets, so CRIES. I wrote this in like an hour so excuse any spelling/grammar errors.

Joel Miller didn't exactly understand when he'd signed up to take Sarah to her first concert. When she'd asked to use his credit card to buy the tickets, he'd just nodded and handed it over. When his bill came through the next month, he almost passed out from the cost. But stood here now, in seats that might very well give him a nosebleed, watching Sarah almost lose her mind over the fact that Taylor Swift was about to appear on stage, it was all forgotten. All Joel ever wanted was for his little girl to be happy.

He'd spent weeks listening to the songs, learning the lyrics so he might be able to sing along with Sarah. He watched her sit in front of the television each night making bracelets to trade, and he squirrelled away as much money as possible so he could buy her a t-shirt or something on the night too.

Joel was watching as Sarah swapped friendship bracelets with two girls to her right when something else caught his eye. Two people shuffling into the two seats that had been vacant in front of Joel and Sarah for most of the night. One of them, around Sarah's age, was almost as excited as his girl, bouncing up and down, looking around the stadium with eyes as wide as saucers, taking it all in, but you? You were something else entirely. You had a white cowboy hat sat on top of your head, not dissimilar to his own apart from the colour and the fact yours was covered in sparkly rhinestones. You had a white dress on, falling to your mid-thigh, made of lace and scalloped edges, and a pair of beat-up old brown leather cowboy boots. The literal picture of heaven on earth as far as he was concerned.

He watched as you pointed to the two seats in front of him and Sarah, motioning for the other girl to sit down so you could hand her the soda you were carrying. He noticed your wrists were covered in the same type of bracelets his daughter had been going wild for all evening. Almost on cue, Sarah leans over, tapping your shoulder.

"You wanna trade?" She asks, holding up her own plastic-laden wrist to show you.

"Hell yeah," You smile, nudging the girl with you, "Why don't you give this little superstar one of yours too?"

Joel watches intently as you let Sarah scan your wrists for the specific bracelet she wants, picking one made of pink beads, swapping it with one of hers that was made of black and gold. Joel had no idea what any of them meant, all he knew was that the bill for friendship bracelet materials on his credit card nearly rivalled the bill for the tickets.

"You want one as well, mister?" Your voice cuts through his thoughts, "Can't come and see Taylor and leave with empty wrists I'm afraid."

"Well, I ain't got anything to trade ya with." Joel shrugs.

"That's okay," you smile, "I'll forgive you, this time."

Joel keeps an eye trained on you as you search your wrists, obviously having something incredibly specific in mind for him. You find it, eyes lighting up as you pull it from your wrist and hand it over to him. He takes the delicate thing in his big palm - red, white and blue beads with letters in hearts that spell out 'Cowboy Like Me'. Very fitting.

"Thanks, Darlin'," He smiles, slipping it over his hand, "You been waiting to find the perfect man to give that to all night?"

You let your head fall back in a laugh and Joel thinks you might just be the prettiest goddamned girl he's ever seen in his life. Sarah is pulling at his wrist so she can see exactly what bracelet you've given her dad, laughing and then leaning forward.

"I made him wear the hat!" She exclaims, "Told him he had to fit in."

"Well, you made a good choice," You grin, "He looks mighty fine in his cowboy hat."

You finally turn your attention back to your companion - judging by your likeness he assumes it must be your little sister. You're pointing out things around the stadium for her to look at, and he can't help but find it endearing how she's bouncing in her seat at every little thing, much like Sarah had done when they'd taken their seats.

Joel feels a nudge to his side, Sarah is looking up at him with that glint he knows and loves so much - she's got an idea.

"She's really pretty, dad."

"Sarah!" He chastises, eye flickering to you to make sure you didn't hear what she'd said, but you look completely oblivious.

"She is though!" She retorts in a hushed whisper, "I think she likes you."

Joel brings a finger to his lips to try and get this devil of a girl to be quiet, but he can't help but indulge her - Sarah was right, you are really pretty, "She don't know the first thing about me," He finishes the conversation, "Now you sit tight, I'm going to find you a soda."

When Joel returns, to drinks in hand, he can see Sarah leant over the seats speaking to you. He dreads to think what she's been trying to cook up, seemingly obsessed with making sure he's not so lonely in life anymore.

"Move over," He asks, Sarah shifting to the seat he was in before he left, "Don't drink it all at once, you'll need it for all the screaming you're gonna do." He says, handing the soda to her.

Once he sits back down, you turn in your chair to speak to him.

"Sarah says you're a builder?" She asks, clearly just trying to make polite conversation with him whilst your sister speaks to Sarah.

"Contractor actually," He shrugs, as if it matters, "But yeah, I build stuff, what do you do?"

"I'm a teacher," You smile, "Teach 4th grade." He's about to ask you another question when every single person in the stadium starts screaming, he thinks by the end of tonight he might actually be deaf, "Well, you enjoy the show, mister, hope you learnt some lyrics."

Contrary to what he'd thought, Joel actually does enjoy the show. He sings along to some of the songs he remembers, dances with Sarah for most of the night and keeps a close eye on you during it all. You know every single word to every single song, just like your little sister and he has to admit that when you're throwing your hands in the air and screaming to the lyrics, he finds you prettier than he had done all night.

When all is said and done at the end of the night, you say a polite goodbye to him and Sarah. When he finally sits in his truck, waiting for the scores of traffic to clear so he can get them home, he kicks himself for not asking for your number, but resigns himself to the fact that it was fate. Meant to meet once and that was it. It's not until he's finally carried Sarah up to bed, fast asleep in his arms and settled down to unwind in front of the TV that he pulls his phone from his pocket and sees a message from an unknown number.

I was enchanted to meet you, Joel. Drinks? Saturday @ 6pm?

[coffee-master]

What would Kai do in season 3 with the blackout and Nindroids ? I guess he would have a different story than Nya, who had a love triangle problem with Cole and Jay

Ok so first of all- OMG PEOPLE ARE ASKING ABOUT MY AU- THIS IS HAPPENING-!! I'm very excited!!!!

Now to the main point.

In the reboot season, everything would be a little diffrent. I mentioned some things about it on the post about the relationships Jaya & lavashipping in this au here:

But this is only lightly mentioned, so here's more:

In this au Kai would have similar role like canon Nya, but with some differences.

The season begins with the fact "the ninja era is over" and ninjas now are teachers for the kids. They are about to go on a school trip to Borg Industries with the children, but before that could happened, when Cole and Kai are coincidently alone in the classroom, Cole decided to take a shot and ask Kai on a date.

It'd be a little awkward, since Cole has never asked anyone on a date before or was interesed in romantic topic in general. Meanwhile Kai would be taken aback by his question, because he hadn't expeceted that comming. Kai didn't even think that Cole was interesed in him.

However, in the end Kai would agree with a smile, calming the earth ninja down.

Later in the Borg's Industrie as Pixal asked to go to the hundredth floor ninja, Kai at the last moment grabs his sister's hand and asks her to go with him because he wants to discuss something with her.

Even if Kai was good at hiding things and acting cool- He was a little nervous about this date and wated to ask his sister discretly for some advice.

Nya at first reluctantly agreed, but then noticed that something was going on and was curious.

So Sensei Wu, Kai & Nya go together for a tour around the factory. Nya is pretty much interested in the technology, while Kai is thinking how to approach the subject, without her sister finding out about this whole thing.

Eventually they come across this crush-seeking machine and the kids talk Nya into using it and when the result comes everyone is schocked, but Nya doesn't take the result too seriously.

Here her relationship in much better and based on common experiences and trust, and she has is no doubt about it.

The fire master actually takes this more like a joke.

Everyone: *looks shocked at the result*

Nya: Hah, clearly this mashine is broken.

Nya: Cole is only interested in cake.

Kai: ...well actually-

Nya: Hm?

Kai: He kinda asked me on a date today.

Nya: ...

Nya: He what?

After that they are attacked by the machines and ect. and later the whole team meets again. The boy give Nya her new costume and weapoon and later they go to the sensei Garmadon.

There's a lot of fighting, which is practically no different from canon.

Then later on the landfill while fixing Pixal, the result information from the matching-machine comes to light and everyone finds out about the result.

Jay is very concerned about this information, but he does not lash out in anger at Cole. He knows that Cole wouldn't do anything bad and even has crush on Nya's brother, but is still bothered by the result.

Like an inteligente mashine says there's better a match for your girlfriend than you.

That information is just really messing with Jay's head and giving him self-doubts. So during their mission Jay is nervous and wants to prove at all costs that he is better than Cole.

Nya almost immediately noticed that and is both worried and irritated by Jay's behaviour. So after having enough of this nonsense and finding a moment of peace she talks with him.

Nya tires to get this stupid thought out of his head and says that it was dumb of him to even think, that he's not enogh.

In the end everything comes back to normal and nothing too serious happened with their relationship.

Then next fights took place and Kai tries his best to help others, even if he is not very comfortable in the technological world.

Here Kai is also a Samurai X despite lack of engineering skills that Nya has, but but how it happened is another story-

There was not much time for Cole & Kai to interract and after Zane's sacrifice in the end never went on that date.

-----

That's pretty much season 3. I've gotten so many questions about this au lately, I'll try to answer them as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I'm often busy and write slowly, but I'll do my best!

[Siblings elemental change AU]

First | More about AU | Previous | Next

[kidukami]

☾┅ about me ┅ ☽

hi, call me mika! i'm 21+ and i go by they/them pronouns. i'm a se asian writer + aspiring literary translator based in the uk. this post is essentially a writeblr reintroduction as i am starting anew in the community with this blog, and i'm really excited to share my wips and connect with all you lovely writers out there! i'm also tag and/or interaction friendly (although my reply speed is... not the best especially for tag/ask games, but i'm trying!), so please don't be afraid to say hi ♡

☾┅ writing interests ┅ ☽

important note: my works may contain mature and potentially triggering topics. viewer discretion is advised.

╳ i'm mainly a prose fiction writer, although i may dabble in scriptwriting and poetry at times. ╳ genres: speculative fiction, historical fiction, thriller, literary fiction. ╳ themes: sociopolitical commentary, satire, dark comedy, angst/tragedy, tragicomedy, morally grey characters, queer romance. ╳ open to reading all genre and themes! you're more than welcome to reblog this with your wips or tag me in them, whether or not they feature any of the above. the above lists are not exhaustive because to this day i still don't know how my writing brain works. ╳ i take plenty of writing-related requests (beta/proofreading, critique, collabs, translation work, etc.)! please refer to my carrd for more info, or contact me directly for inquiries.

☾┅ main wips ┅ ☽

will o' the wisp :: adult sci-fi/thriller novel. ╳ award-winning talk show host and journalist noe crane is constantly treading a tightrope as he assumes his secret vigilante identity behind closed doors, but things get worse when his past comes back to haunt him. ╳ features: tragicomedy, morally grey characters, lgbt+ characters, complex relationships, modern setting, superpowers, conspiracies ╳ wip intro here!

the duña duology :: adult weird fiction duology. ╳ a troubled man in his 30s attempts to escape from his past and seeks refuge in a run-down inn, only to find himself caught up in a dangerous conspiracy against the world. ╳ features: adult (30+) characters, unlikeable protagonist, multiple universes, high concept, complex worldbuilding, retrofuturism, found family, conspiracies, aliens (?) wip intro coming soon! message if you want to be tagged.

a history of the tenshima gang feud (working title) :: new adult sci-fi/romance novel. ╳ when a national museum tour guide somehow travels back to the city's deadliest era in history as one of its disgraced figures, he will soon find that his beloved city isn't what it claims itself to be. ╳ features: time travel, alternate future, fictional setting, criminal underworld, ensemble cast, sociopolitical commentary, morally grey characters, lgbt+ characters, love triangle, lovers to enemies, friends to lovers, mcd, tragedy wip intro coming soon! message if you want to be tagged.

lilium carnage :: historical steampunk visual novel (collab with @nana7esque) ╳ four characters on two sides of the same coin. each of them are determined to deliver their own justice in the corrupted land of navona, even at the cost of their own lives, but little do they know that there will always be a bigger price to pay. ╳ features: alternate history, fictional setting, choice-based story, multiple endings, morally grey characters, lgbt+ characters, tragedy, enemies to lovers, complex chara dynamics wip intro coming soon! message if you want to be tagged.

☾┅ side wips ┅ ☽

shelved wips, wip ideas i have yet to develop, etc.

╳ by the kiss of the sleeping night :: thriller/romance webtoon collab with @nana7esque ╳ retelling of the nyi roro kidul myth ╳ modern setting character-driven script with each characters being an allegory to the seven deadly sins

feel free to interact with this post especially if you're also a writeblr! ♡

[orgyupdates]

Jay interview with Music Festivals Aus

California Nu-Metal pioneers Orgy are rearing and ready to embark on the first ever tour Down Under! Following on from sell out dates across the US, Orgy and fellow patriots Cold are gearing themselves for three massive back to back shows this October. The Orgy + Cold Australian Tour kicks off at Melbourne’s Max Watts on October 25th, The Metro Theatre, Sydney October 26th and rounding off at The Triffid, Brisbane October 27th. Now celebrating 25 years since the release of debut album Candyass, we caught up with Jay Gordon from Orgy to discuss the renowned Family Values Tour , the cause and affect of Napster and the evolution of Orgy since conception.

Interview behind the cut

Thanks for meeting with me today, Jay. I first found Orgy on the Family Values tour back in 1998 in possibly one of the most standout performances, and one that's remained with me for all of these years. Can you tell me about that tour and what it meant to you then and now?

 

Oh, yeah. I mean, it was our first tour ever. So it was what a way to break into the music industry. I mean, play with all of those great bands and all that kind of stuff. So it was fantastic. You know, definitely a learning experience. I learned how to navigate through the Big Boys you know, so it was cool. Messed up a lot. Had a lot of fun with Rammstein. It was chaotic. You know, we had we had a great time. But yeah, they cost me a lot of money. But it was cool. Yeah.

Yeah, it was definitely a rite of passage back in in the in the 90s. In Australia in those years, we had to physically import albums from overseas. Candyass was definitely one of my first and favourite imports. So, it’s 1997 and Korn’s Jonathan Davis signed Orgy as one of the first artists on their debut label Elementree Records, what impact did this have as an up-and-coming artists in the pre digital era?

 

Huge, you know. Korn was like a massive band at this point. And, they're good friends of mine, thank God and I owe them everything. They, you know, paved the way and opened up the doors for me along the way. So that was cool.

 

There is something candescent about your sound, in some forums labelled as electronic rock or alt metal, but more famously, as a pioneer of the nu metal movement? What were some of your biggest influences at the time?

I mean, I think always, you know, people like David Bowie and I just love the way his brain worked. I really can identify and relate to a lot of his music and stuff like that. But also, like, really heavy stuff, too. Like, where I came from, you know, the San Francisco thrash metal scene and things like that. So, adding like futuristic, melancholy weirdness with heavy stuff from the era at the time. Metallica and Testament and all those guys coming from where I'm from. So that all helped and kind of paved the way for me. And obviously Korn I suppose at the time. They were my favourite band. And so that's how I got to know those guys. And Jonathan would come stay at our house and stuff when they would play in town and it kind of started off a pretty, pretty basic friendship from then. And so they were a huge influence on me like I loved every song.

 

What impact did these artists have on you, personally and professionally?

 

Just Korn has such an original sound and they had a really big impact on me, all the way through my career. I’m always excited to hear what they come up with and what their next sound is going to be and what their next song is going to be. We get to play with each other every now and then like, in Sick New World. That was really cool. And just a huge impact.

Candyass was a pivotal album of the 1990’s, not only for myself but a deluge of young adults transitioning life. As a parent, it’s hard to pick between, but what is your favourite album release and why is it Candyass?

 

I don't know that it’s the best album that we've ever released. But I mean, it's probably my favourite. I don't know I was just in a different headspace. Candyass came from, let me see. So myself and Josh Abraham, were watching Depeche Mode show downtown and these three drag queens walked up to me and one of them’s name was Candyass. And, you know, he asked me, my name, I was like, “Jay” and he's like, “why don't I know you?” And whatever. And he goes, “you know me, my name is Candyass” and I thought it was so funny. So I said, I'm gonna name my first album Candyass and that was it. Then, you know, we became friends and everything, and they will come over to the studio and like, you know, mess up the board when I'm working. Like, I'd go to the bathroom and I come back and like, why does it sound like ass, you know, they were just like, him and Alexis Arquette, you know, RIP but I love Alexis Arquette and they would come over to the studio where we recording you know, it was just funny. Yeah, so that's why I named the record Candyass after him.

As most 80’s kids, I’m a sucker for a synth and electronic drum kit. The amalgamation of this soundscape with industrialism is none more evident than your cover of New Order’s Blue Monday. Before Stitches, this is one of my favourite releases. What was the inspiration behind your sound and its’ evolution?

 

You know, I wanted to do a cover song. And we were messing with a couple of different ones I liked it's called ‘Something Going On’ and Frida Lyngstad was her name. Her and Phil Collins, I guess got together and they did this song called I know ‘There's Something Going On.’ And that was gonna be the first one that we did. And then so we're playing around with that one and the Blue Monday one and we just went with Blue Monday. Yeah, just kind of, it's kind of clicked and worked out.

 

Vapor Transmission and Punk Statik Paranoia celebrated the unique sound encapsulated by Candyass, both in their own right. What was the progression in sound as traversed through the years and these albums?

Well you know, Vapor Transmission, I think definitely a progression, sonically, and things like that. I think we're headed for something really different on that record, but at the same time, that's when Napster dropped, you know.

“Napster kind of came out and kind of really killed the record industry, so to speak”

So, the record sales weren't there anymore, and things like that. But that's not an indicator that it wasn't doing what it was supposed to be doing. It's just that music was free after that, like, so it kind of just, it was a vibe killer on that, on that level, because our record had just come out, it was literally like, two weeks out. And then you see this big change in the sales of records because everybody caught on to Napster so fast. So that's kind of what happened there. And then Punk Statik Paranoia, that record just came out, like way too late. That was more like to me, like a bunch of glorified demos, you know, like, it never really got mixed, right. We never had a chance to really finish it up, because we were going through a lot of label stuff and trying to figure out what we were doing, if we were still going to be on a label or not, I think we were trying to get off Warner Brothers at the time. And that took some time. So the record just came out so late, and we ended up just putting it out in the end. Yeah, it took a long time for that to be able to happen. So we were sitting on it for like a year waiting for the lawyers and to get everything solid, so we can actually put the record out.

Carlton Bost first joined Orgy circa 2011 after an equally successful career as guitarist in parallel bands such as Deadsy, The Dreaming and the bass player in Stabbing Westward. What kind of dynamic did Carlton bring to the Orgy party?

I mean, Carlton's, he's great, like he's, he's a great band member. He and I actually, you know, when it comes to the more now orgy, you know, we kind of do a lot more stuff together. Whereas before in the past, you know, the first few records I just did by myself, you know, a lot by myself, you know, everybody did their part. You know, they played on the records and did whatever but, but as far as writing and stuff like that, I just did a lot of that on my own. And then I'd say, Paige wrote quite a bit of stuff on those records. And, you know, like a riff here a riff there and he was always really good at coming up with stuff on the spot. So, Oh, first, you know, he's like the new Paige in this era, but we actually just write a lot of stuff. Like sometimes he'll write like entire songs like Spells and Wide Awake and Dead. He had a big part of those songs. So it's more like a team on this one.

In October, Orgy embarks on the first ever tour down under alongside fellow patriots Cold in a three city rampage including Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. What kind of energy are you anticipating from an Australian crowd?

 

I have no expectations. Because I've never been there. I don't really know a whole lot about it other than like, you know, the typical kangaroos and this and that. I mean, I want to see all of that stuff when I come there. But I have no idea what to expect from the crowds I think I think it'll be a good show. I think the crowd will love it. And we're gonna bring the energy that's for sure. And, you know, we just killed it out here. We sold out every show but one with Cold here, it was a great tour. And I anticipate it being similar to that and hope the turnouts there and the turnout there is going to get a great show, you know, and we just signed Orgy, Carlton, and I we signed a Tucson deal with Golden Robot, which is an Australian label. So we're gonna try to get those songs done and be playing those live when we get there.

A huge congratulations on the 25th anniversary of the debut album Candyass. You've just answered my question. can fans expect any new Orgy releases within the near future? So yeah, as a fan, I'm very, very excited about that one.

 

Me too. You know, I have no idea what the release dates gonna be on those two songs. But yeah, we get them done and get them out before we show up and play so we can play them.

 

I do follow you on social media, so I will be definitely keeping an eye out myself for that. Following the tour, what's next for you, for you, both individually and professionally?

 

I'm kind of getting into, I'm going to be getting into like film stuff like Sony and direct some stuff. So that's kind of my next chapter in life. But yeah, other than that I'm also producing music. So I'm gonna keep doing that and work with other artists and things like that.

Full Interview, Aus dates/tickets, and pictures here.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Have you listened to the recent mailbag episode of Every Single Album? I’m curious to hear your thoughts on what they talked about in regards to Harry, the future of touring, etc.

I've listened to it and would love to talk about it anon.

Obviously the most interesting discussion is what was said and implied about Harry's release date. I hadn't thought about the point Nathan made about not releasing around a US election and that part of the reason the first half of the year is so crowded is because nobody wants to release in the second half of the year. That seems to me to be a solid point from someone who would know.

I think he also implied, both at the beginning of the series and now, that Harry has an album that might have been released this year, and eventually they decided to wait. Which is fascinating, and I think ultimately the right choice.

To me the big question is how the release is timed to fit with touring. I think it's always important to understand everything that Nathan says about touring comes from someone who used to be the CEO of ticketmaster. But I think a couple of points they made are important to take into account.

The first is the role of seeing a tour of social media in marketing. I think the best publicity Harry Styles gets is clips from tour. So I think in general touring soon after the release - while the songs and album are still quite front of mind would probably be a good thing for Harry.

The other is the point about people being more selective about what tours they can afford. I do think Harry will be a priority for people. But I also think he offers something very specific in terms of a mass experience. As I've said before - I rewatched this video when thinking about what was going to happen next with Harry:

And I was like 'oh when it comes to touring he'll be fine - people really want this'. They're particularly going to want it next year - when there's no Eras tour to go to.

It seems to me that there's every reason for Harry to want to tour next summer. What I'm wondering about at the moment is whether releasing next year and touring in summer would work - or would it come at the cost of either the album or the tour. Also what the schedule will be.

[chaos0pikachu]

Hi chaos,

I don't know if you've heard of the Ohm-Nanon fans going to Nanon's concert wearing Ohm masks but it happened? (I don't know how to end that sentence.) (Sorry, English isn't my first language.)

You have written about parasocial relationships so I wanted to ask why are people still involved in Ohm-Nanon? Bad Buddy ended so long ago and they are still doing all this. What makes Ohm-Nanon so special? We haven't see such huge bad behaviour from other pair brands.

Please never ever apologize for how you sound in English which is a dumb broken language anyway lol fr you're English is great

anyways um, what in the fucking purge?? lmao sorry the masks thing is just taking me out I'm imagining it and the image in my head is giving kdrama to the max with the discord music and everything lmaoooo

I had not heard of that b/c I don't follow actors like that at all this is very much Brand New Information.gif for me whew wow

Soft disclaimer here I am not an expert behavioral science or anything related so like, anything I say in regards to this is based only on what I've read, can link to from experts in the field, and speculation.

I don't think OhmNanon are necessarily "special" tbh like this behavior is extreme but I wouldn't call it "new".

In western fandom you had or still have fans behaving like this we just call them "tinhats".

Like, take Larries for instance, Louis just spoke about it in an interview that nothing he can say will deter the conspiracies theorists so he's kinda stuck. This article from VOX is old (2016) but it features a pretty clear cut timeline of the theories, and obsession tinhats have with Larry. Even before Larry there was J2 (Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki from Supernatural):

I want to note that One Direction stopped being an active band in 2016, almost 8 years ago. And neither Harry nor Louis have been spotted like, hanging out~~ in public for almost that entire time. Meanwhile Jared and Jensen have been been married to their wives since 2010, almost 15 years.

To play fair, Caitríona Mary Balfe (best known for Outlander) is also at the root of a tinhat conspiracy with her costar Sam Heughan. Caitriona has been married since 2019.

Western fandom likes to pretend this environment of fan entitlement, and obsessing over costars relationships is an East Asian entertainment only thing. I thoroughly disagree, and I'm sure the people involved in these various tinhat conspiracies, many who have been thoroughly and ruthlessly harassed along with their spouses, family, friends, and anyone else caught in the crossfire would also disagree.

For me the only arguable difference between like MewGulf and Larry is MewGulf played up skinship as a means of capital and for work, while Louis and Harry were just two dudes in a band.

[I even watched the old school MewGulf videos of them during Peak Fanservice Era and I gotta say it's all so obviously hilarious fake and played up I would have never taken them seriously as a true blue couple. They reminded me more of Adam Lambert making out with his bassist during his FYE tour (Tommy, who from what I remember is straight but idk 100%) for the fun and rock n roll of it all.]

I'm getting off track, I don't think OhmNanon are "special" by-the-by because I've seen this entitled and obsessive behavior with other tinhat ships. The length of time doesn't really matter, what matters is sunk cost fallacy:

"the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial."

Fans have invested time, love, and literal money into Ohm and Nanon, therefore giving them up - and thus giving up the "community" they've build with other Ohm and Nanon fans - is unthinkable and painful.

Combine that with general fan entitlement towards public figures, the para-sociality of believe you, individually, know what's "best" for this person - aka this STRANGER - and there's a belief that you can change or force an outcome that suits your needs and wants.

There's a lot of dehumanization involved in fan entitlement, ppl stop viewing public figures - especially actors and musicians - as products rather than people. And with a product if you leave a bad review, and enough bad reviews the company will fix and change the product.

But people aren't products, and you can't force them to do what you want or be who you want them to be just because it upsets YOU individually.

So at the end of the day, what's gonna happen with Ohm and Nanon? Well, they'll probably just keeping doing what they do. Filming their individual shows, maybe one of them will do another BL - I think Ohm already has one in the works? - and try to move on with their lives. They're coworkers and from what I've seen seem fine being coworkers. I'm not interested in speculating what their relationship is, or was, publicly, they've said they're fine with each other so I'm very es lo que es about it.

For fans, well they're probably slowly taper off eventually with only a core group of "true believers" or whatever like some MewGulf, BrightWin and others have. As fans I think the only thing we can do is discourage the behavior, and be empathetic towards the people being harassed.

Now I'm gonna leave you with my favorite debunk of a tinhat post:

[monsieuroverlord]

X-Men #1 Thoughts:

Wasn't bad. I thought it was more on the expository side, but for a first issue of a new era, that's not a negative.

Spoilers:

I'm very happy we haven't completely forgotten Krakoa. A police chief comes and visits the X-Men base (an old Orchis Sentinel factory in Alaska) and Beast gives her a tour.

He makes a subtle comment about how he sorta missed out on Krakoa (you'll know what he means if you've read X-Force).

Glob Herman is also there, running the greenhouse for food! No sign of his chickens, but there's still time.

There's also a discussion of the tension between the town and the X-Men base, as the sentinel factory shutting down cost a lot of people their jobs. To me, its very reminiscent of how building privately-owned prisons near small towns often creates a lot of stable jobs and is seen as relatively favorable by the community at first, but it also makes the town heavily reliant on it, and if it ever shuts down, the local economy absolutely tanks. Not to mention, there's a huge stigma that comes with being a prison town and no new growth occurs and the area stagnates. (Definitely a phenomenon in US rural towns, one of my Honors classes in college had a unit on prison systems in the US and it was eye-opening, to put it mildly).

Xorn is also at the base, and he's the team healer. For some reason, he's back in the Morrison jacket.

Finally, on he roof, Magneto introduces himself, and he's going by Max again, which is his original name, I believe. He also has a cool hover chair, much like Xavier's hovering wheelchair thing. He intimidates the police chief a bit, but McCoy manages to make sure everything goes relatively well. No blood was shed, so the better than usual.

Cyclops and field team are out on an Orchis-related mission -- six mutant signatures have just cropped up and they initially assume its a few newer mutants captured by an Orchis remnant calling themselves "Fourth School". They believe they need to become a mix of AI, Human, and Mutant to overcome all three.

Wolverine was close enough in the area, so Cyclops asked him to check it out, and then they received s physic distress call from him after he was captured. The Fourth School had tortured him a bit, harvested some organs for genetic material, etc.

Cain and Illyana already have a hilarious dynamic, bantering back and forth, playing rock-paper-scissors and trying to one-up each other in the fight.

Idie and Quentin have a conversation about Krakoa in the midst of fighting. Idie makes a comment about how the X-Men failed her and how she was thrown in the Pit, making a jab at Quentin for doing X-Force sanctioned crimes and pointing out the hypocrisy. There's also a callback to the Jean Grey School days, and even Quentin mentioning how he used to do Kick.

Idie is the real powerhouse of this issue, both freezing and melting all sentinels and Orchis members in her wake. Absolute star of the show.

I also sincerely hope this doesn't lead back to another romance between Quentin and Idie. I just think Idie needs a chance to grow on her own, maybe meet back up with Nekra for some advice on occasion, you know? I really liked that dynamic in Exiles.

Psylocke grabs Wolverine, and he's healing back up. She doesn't have a lot of dialogue this issue, but there is a really cool moment where she comes out of the shadows and psychically wrecks the Orchis agents.

It turns out the six new mutants are actually Orchis agents and full grown adults. The new suspicion is that genetic tampering is at play, but the question is how did they successfully activate 6 different people all at once so well that Cerebro pinged them as mutants?

Regardless, The X-Men quickly defeat them as they don't have the combat experience to use their powers well.

There's also a secret round table of benefactors for the Orchis Fourth School, and they're not happy with the X-Men defeat. It seems like they are set up as the new "Big Bad" of this era.

Mission is complete, Beast is tasked with investigating the Fourth School and all their fancy tech. Logan heads off back toward Canada, and we got some insight on his current feelings, which I found particularly interesting:

Positives: Its not explicitly related to Akihiro (I'm still being a huge worrywart about Hellverine). And weirdly, this mindset feels more in-character to me than the conclusion of Wolverine #50. Logan's a tired old man who has had to rebuild so many times in his life. It makes sense that seems to be exhausted and burnt out right now, but still willing to help the X-Men on occasion.

Like, he went through a hell of a lot in the Sabretooth War. Maybe it makes sense that he doesn't have the healthiest coping mechanisms and buried it down while the war was going on, but now its over and its all bubbling to the surface.

I hope we see more of that in the upcoming Wolverine run. And Hellverine is still heavily on my mind, so I'm cautious as fuck right now. I still maintain he was not sad and self-hating enough by the end of Wolverine #50 -- we were pretending he had "fixed" everything with his son during Krakoa. He should be even more devastated then he ever was before. And this is including the times he killed his own son, because it means in his dumb macho-brain, he had "earned forgiveness" and it was BRUTALLY taken away (AGAIN), but I digress.

The issue ends with a shot of giant frozen sentinel, as Beast requested a team to help dismantle it, but Cyclops said to leave it for now to remind the town what they owe the X-Men (implying that they saved the town from this massive sentinel).

My Overall Thoughts:

Like I said, its very exposition heavy, but I don't think that's a bad thing. This issue does a really good job in setting up characterizations -- individual voices, their motives, current contexts post-Krakoa, etc. It also sets up the tensions, potential future conflicts, dilemmas, interpersonal fights, etc. Its all set-up and gives you a pretty good idea on what this book is going to be about without requiring you to go back and read too many previous issues. And if you want to, the key words like "Jean Gray School" are there, so its not too subtle as to get you too confused with different runs.

Like I said, Idie is the star here and I love her.

There are some fun moments, and I think this run has potential.

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

Sammy Hagar said that performing Van Halen on the "Best of All Worlds" tour made him feel like he and Michael Anthony "own" the band's catalog. He also reflected on being completely left out of Alex Van Halen's memoir, "Brothers."

The Red Rocker's career retrospective tour received a very warm welcome from the fans, especially since it had two former members of Van Halen performing classics from both Roth and Hagar eras after Alex Van Halen's ill-fated all-star tribute to his late brother Eddie fizzled out.

Hagar has been vocal about why he believes in the importance of having the band's material performed live. With a Vegas residency coming after the very successful tour, he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview that being the only person associated with Van Halen who's still playing the music makes him feel like he "owns" it:

"The whole Van Halen catalog, mainly my catalog…. I feel like I own it now, because nobody else can do it. It's like there's no one that can do that catalog except a cover band. Mikey and I, we feel like we own it, and we feel this obligation to the music and to the fans to carry it on. It was the most expensive tour I've ever had. It costs more than the Van Halen Monsters of Rock tour to take this tour on the road."

The recent months have also been marked by Alex Van Halen returning to the spotlight after keeping away from it in the years that followed his brother's passing.

The reason for this is "Brothers", a new memoir that ends with the demise of the band's first David Lee Roth era. Asked to comment on being completely left out of the book, Hagar offered:

"It's sad. I haven't read the whole book, but I've seen all the excerpts, and I heard some of the interviews. It breaks my heart, because if I think what Alex is going through, losing his brother, never played with anybody else in his life, and then his health… When I saw how rickety he is, I realized, 'No wonder he's not answering my call when I say, 'Do you want to go out and play with us?' He can't."

"That breaks my heart, because I can only put myself in those shoes and say, 'What if I couldn't sing and perform anymore?' The thing that I did my whole life, the thing I devoted my life to, the thing that made me rich and famous and gave me the most beautiful life on the planet, and all of a sudden I can't do that anymore? I would feel like I was robbing the fans, to start with. When you put yourself in his shoes, I'm saying, 'Okay, I feel sorry for him.'"

Hagar added:

"Why he left me out, I would like to hear him explain that someday, because I don't get it completely. I know that he's bitter about some things, whatever that is… It’s like, 'If you don't want that era, that even gives me more justification to say I own it then,' because no one else can do it, and he can't do it even without me. It makes it easier for Mike and I. We're sitting there going, 'Okay, I guess we own this,' and we have the obligation to bring this to the fans to keep this music alive, keep it live and alive."

"This music is too good to throw away. When you see the way these fans react, like I said, when we go out and play these songs. When we played '5150' and 'Summer Nights,' it's like, 'Oh, my God.' You're sitting there going, 'Is this real? These people are happy.'"

[shittypunkblog]

The haters theorizing that All Time Low are breaking up is sending me into giggles every time I see it. They're not breaking up. This is a slightly genius (and I use that term LIGHTLY) marketing ploy. It does look like a breakup post to those unknown. It's going to get not just fans talking but people who want to see their downfall. I have theories that I'll get to, but when they do announce something they're going to get a lot of views and conversations from other people than just fans. In this way, all press is good press. Logically thinking it's definitely NOT a breakup. Their latest reels saying how much they miss tour, plus announcing a Columbian show following the Brazilian shows. Not to mention Alex saying in the spotify wrapped shoutout "see you next year." You also don't tease a breakup and All Time Low Forever has been a thing since Ryman in May. This band doesn't have the brainpower to allude to something seven months in advance.

For what I think they're announcing, I've seen a lot of theories. Mainly a tour which I think is probably the most likely and branding it as All Time Low Forever Tour. Maybe their own eras tour but with each member hating an album I'm not sure that's happening. Would be happy to eat my words tho! I'm personally hoping it's a tour paired with something along the lines of Don't Panic: It's longer now but Tell Me I'm Alive edition. Alex has stated multiple times that there are more songs to TMIA. I would love if it's just a deluxe or part two album featuring the unreleased songs and variations like Calm Down. Didn't they have a poll about what songs we'd like to hear the acoustic versions of? They also played a few acoustic versions on tour so that theory holds a lot of water. I've also seen theories of it being a Greatest Hits album. With the value of All Time Low Forever this could have some weight but I think they should've done that this year for the band's 20th anniversary, but maybe it's delayed idk. Maybe they saw the success of Taylor Swift's re-recordings and thought to give it a go? Another theory is STD 3 but I don't think when Wembley livestream is still available and now the vinyl that that's what this is about. They've already kinda done that. From what I do know about this band I can safely assume it's going to cost me a lot of money and it's lucky I just started a new job.

[analyzingtaylor]

Ofc taylor can have children and a career but WORLDWIDE TOURS are not conducive with a family. That is not a crazy statement to make. She likely wouldnt feel well enough to perform while pregnant nor could drag a baby around the planet. Staying in the industry, ofc, she could record new music, write for others etc. Even though she has likely frozen her eggs and would have less to worry about when it comes to fertility, I don't think she wants children. I think on some level knows her life path isn't conductive to having her own family.

Not just the tours, but her child's safety from fans etc. I'm surprised she hasn't explored it more in her work as it links in so much with the "normal life" she never had. She says she feels frozen at the age she became famous (a teenager). Teenagers dont worry about having children.

A family or her own... does this weigh on her mind or has she made up her mind one way or the other? The only mention l I can think of is in Anti Hero when she talks about the paranoia that her child's spouse would manipulate her child into taking her hard earned money and in peace "give you a child". Anyway she easily has years to make up her mind (particularly if she froze her eggs). I don't think she wants to stop, she loves fame, she loves touring, she loves being top of her game. the folklore and evermore era allowed her to spend time with her then partner and family and all she wanted to do (it appears) is go back to being a popstar! With taylor swift you never know what her next plan is, maybe she is going to retire after eras on a high(!)

Agree that a worldwide tour isn’t conducive to a normal upbringing of a child. But we’re talking about someone who could make home bases on each continent. I know someone who worked on Elton John’s tour and he was always about returning to his nearest residence in whatever corner of the world he was in between shows. Of course TS knows this too; but nearly all of her bases are on one continent.

The demand will always be there to do tours this big, but it might be easier and cost effective to only do festivals in the future.

As to whether she wants children, I would have agreed with your conclusion a year ago, but not lately.

And yes, she could completely just choose to retire from touring very soon. Or just virtually retire from it, by saying ‘I have no plans to tour again for the foreseeable future but I won’t stop creating’. The Beatles made that conclusion rather quickly.

[oh-my-damn]

"There's something about the complete and total uncertainty about life that causes endless anxiety, but there's another part that causes sort of a release of the pressures that you used to feel. Because if we're going to have to recalibrate everything, we should start with what we love the most first." - Taylor Swift, folklore: the long pond studio sessions

I never realized until this exact moment why Folklore was my favorite album of hers.

I've been wondering about that. I've wondered for some time, now.

I figured maybe it was because I am so ridiculously sentimental, nostalgic, and just straight up emotional a lot of the time.

But then the voice in my head would be like, "Okay, but you're not those things all the time. That's not what you're known as, by the people who know you. You're known as the bubbly, energetic person who secretly struggles with depression from time to time."

So I went back and I was like, "Okay, but then why is this the album that resonates the most? I love Midnights, Lover, Evermore and Reputation too. I adore 1989. But why is Folklore just the album for me?"

I could never answer that question. Or, I couldn't give a satisfying answer, at least.

But I know now.

Because Folklore represents that passion you found and clung on to when the world went to shit and you weren't sure if you or your family would even be here in a year.

Remember that feeling you had back in March of 2020? That feeling of helplessness, that feeling of loneliness. That feeling of being forced to stay confined, and even if you were already an introvert (which I was) it still bothered you that you didn't even have the option to see the people you loved.

A lot changed for me during 2020.

That was the year I said to myself, "Fuck me if I'm going to die of a fucking virus without even trying to pursue my dream."

It was the year I decided to try to get in to Law School, no matter the cost.

Spring of 2021 is when I started writing again, after having written nothing for about 10 years. Summer of 2021 was when I was told I had gotten into Law School despite the odds being stacked against me.

I found so much, back in 2020. I had the worst and best year of my life because I had to face so much about myself that I was not at all ready to face, but once I did, it all turned out for the better.

It made me better. And stronger. And happier.

And I just realized that is why Folklore is my album. Because that album was written in the spring of 2020, when everything was so uncertain, when everyone felt so lost, and lonely, and started reflecting on who they were and what their lives were like.

I know not everyone went through this process, and that's okay too.

But I did.

And I think that's why Folklore speaks to me. It doesn't just make me feel things, it shatters me in every kind of way.

The reason I even started listening to it was because I saw Taylor perform My Tears Ricochet at The Eras Tour, and she did that specific part, that fucking goosebump eliciting part, where she drops to the floor as she sings just not home.

And I remember watching that Tiktok and going, "What the fuck is this????" Because it made me emotional from the get-go.

Now I can barely watch a single performance of her where she sings any song from Folklore without tearing up.

It feels like a soulful connection and even though I didn't think I believed in that, I just might now.

It wasn't written about me, it wasn't even written for me. But it's mine now. That album has brought out more feelings in me than I could ever describe.

It's.. The One.

I'm doing good, I'm on some new shit. Been saying yes instead of no.

[vtkira]

Bts hyyh merch guide (pt 1)

I'm going to make a merch guide to each of the eras to help people collect but I figured i'd start with hyyh since it was one of my favorites ₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊

The obvious (albums):

There's a light blue and light pink for pt 1 and dark blue with dark pink for pt2 which im sure we all know by now but there was also a limited Taiwan edition!

As of right now these are kind of hard to find; but without pc only cost ~$30. Outside of the photocard/postcard the only real difference of these is the inclusion of the lyrics in chinese plus more cds. These were released only for pt 1 in both the white/pink versions!

The photocards are going to COST YOU though, with a general range of $150-200

There also was 2 Japan kayo nekka versions that had a inclusion of a dvd too. On the dvd was just the run mv plus a photo gallery. PLEASE do not buy the listings of people selling the cd alone with no photocard for around 100, if you look harder on ebay theres many for closer to 40 or 50!!

these photocard prices are even worse than the last, normally being 200 to 400 from what ive seen. at least youll have a easier time finding listings for these (┬┬﹏┬┬)

DVDS:

The first dvd for hyyh was in 2015 and was released on 160223, this one only covers the Seoul concerts (which were the first 3). The first 2 dvds show the last day of the in Seoul concert, and the last one has 5 performances in Japan, VCR making film, prologue, rehearsals, practice making films and concert making films. The 2nd dvd also includes a VCR interview and talk about hyyh. All in all this is 346 minutes long :) If your lucky you can get this for $100 no pc but I would count on it being 200-370. The pc normally is around 100 too 😭

2016 live on stage epilogue dvd - This included of course film of the concert but also the poster and bridge shoot, md shooting film, concert practice and concert making film. you can find links to watch it for free with english subs here!

This dvd will cost around 170-200 and most (thankfully) have pc included. The pc alone will probablyyyy cost you around 60 even though ive seen ones way lower (you have to just look hard).

Theres also a blue ray version for around 95-160 (originally sold for $53.78) This one I THINK has the same stuff on it but its only in 2 dvds. I really cant tell if the postcards were a pre order benefit or not plus if it came as a set or random. Theres barely any listings for these but they only go for like $30 each (its like a breath of fresh air typing a price that low)

2016 BTS LIVE Kayo Nenka on stage epilogue Japan Edition Deluxe Edition DVD - this was released on January 18, 2017 so you should notttt be spending anywhere near as much (id guess 60-90?) This comes with 2 discs,the limited edition has a 132 page photobook and has bluray plus dvd but the regular just has the bluray no photobook. There is also a regular version with just dvd. These ones are the regular:

The regular is really hard to find nowadays but I think the general price range is 50-80??

Concert merch:

This hoodie only came in one size, Im not too sure the price of the zip up but the normal hoodie for the epilogue was $30.42 so we can assume it was about the same. nowadays expect to pay 200-600 for it LMAO

The shirt came in medium and large, i cant find any pricing info or current listings for this but i would assume it would be in the hundreds. The problem is theres so many unofficial shirts with this pattern being sold so it drowns out all the official listings. you MIGHT have luck getting this on some old instagram or tumblr account though!

one size beanie- current cost is around $200 but older accounts on twitter or tumblr sell for $45. yall im gonna be honest I cant find the post for the 2015 tour merch for the LIFE of me so im not going to know any original prices

bandana 600x600- GOOD LUCK BUYING THIS THING only place i can find listings is carousell which were all really cheap (~$15) but then again they are old listings.

I cannot find these damn socks ANYYYYWHERE on the face of the internet. your guess is as good as mine chat

pickets- very few listings of these out here but they are only like $70! (crazy if you remember people sell love yourself ones for 50 and 60) BUT you can 100% find listings for way lower (around 20 or 30) they are just rare

program book- these are only 40-60

this is going to be more like $200 for a set of just one members, its way easier to find the 2016 ones

photo set- there was multiple sets of these (not sure how many IM SORRY) ; one goes for about 100

I reached the max for pictures on here so go to pt 2!! i hope this guide helps you guys ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

[timelostobserver]

@astra-stellaris - Liked for a Starter!

The modern era was a fascinating beast, especially for creatures of immortality. Working a pharmaceutical business was not usually the first thing anyone might have thought, though considering the Progenitor of their species.. it made sense. But this also meant that a lot went on behind the scenes to ensure no one knew the truth of the workers at this company. Especially though higher up.

Though, naturally.. there were many in upper management that did not get along. Fangs were bared, blood was often spilled, and the costs of cleaning the carpets always seemed to go up in each quarterly report.

The sheer amount of complaints that were constantly filled was down right absurd as well. And they were all against one, particular member of the upper echelons. And each of them were funneled.. to him.

Hades.

Thee complaints box lasted less than a week, with Akaza constantly filling it to the brim with complaints against Douma, the one who dealt with insurance companies over the phones. There were at least half a dozen about how the other was 'invading' their desk space or.. 'Wouldn't stop smiling at them'.

The list was endless. And naturally, Hades vented this all to the only other who worked in their equivalent of 'Human Resources' though.. It was more the Department of Demon Resources in this company. None other than Lady Stellaris herself, and in Hades mind, his big sister.

Though while he worked as the front for the DR department, she was more on the PR and marketing side when things.. inevitably, went a little too south for their public image. Usually because of one particular demon getting too chatty on social media.

"I'm.. almost tempted to ask Muzan-Sama to ban phones from the building. But then it'd effect all of us. Douma's latest stunt involved going around, RECORDING the office and doing a 'Office Tour' for people that follow his insanity online." He grumbled, standing in the break-room as he vented to Astra.

"Or I can get Gyutaro to ban his phones IP address.. If that's possible. All it'll take is for Akaza to rip his head off while he's recording one day and then that'll be bad news for this company." Considering they were doing their damnedest to keep Demonkind a secret from a majority of the world.

".. What do you think?" He poured Astra a cup of blood from the warmer in the break room, and then one for himself before offering one cup over to her.