#im still not in the stage where i search for each and every interview hes ever made BUT

[jakeyp]

nobody knows what I'm going through (obsessed af with paul rudd)

[wehatejulietsimms]

A/N: i'm gonna respond to this in sections bc it's quite long so bare with me.

Howdy y’all, 🤠 again. Yes, I didn’t in fact die. I’m sorry though that I kept getting sidetracked and couldn’t submit this until now, my boss decided to keep dumping her work into my lap. So I just wanna preface this by stating that I’m going to try and say what I want to as coherent as possible, but I have pretty severe ADHD so I’m not always as easy to understand as I think I am in my head, and I often go off on tangents, over explain things and circle back to topics randomly without realizing. Im basically going to go over their relationship over the years as I said previously (I’m not gonna go into detail about every single scandal and shitty thing Juliet did over the years, because we’d be here all year. so I figure I won’t cover them here, but rather let people ask specific questions if they want to. Remember, I was present for pretty much everything so feel free to ask.😊), but I’m also going to do kind of a mini deep dive into Andy’s behavior and actions (because although the snakes will hit you with every excuse in the book, and tell you that you’re looking too far into things and that it doesn’t matter, it does. The way a person acts in general and towards people around them is very relevant when talking about someone’s health, happiness, and well-being.) To start off, let’s take it all the way back to the time before Juliet’s reign of terror, when Andy and Scout were still together. In all honesty from what I saw of them together (and I saw pretty much everything they posted, I’m only a year younger than Andy, and I was quite into him when he was on MySpace and such, and I always watched anything with him and Scout together because they were fucking adorable lol) they had a really healthy relationship. Not once did I get weird vibes from them. The way Andy acted toward and with Scout, you could tell they really loved each other and were happy together. They had nothing to prove. It just was normal. (For any of you who are younger, or didn’t come into the picture until Andy was already post-scout and would like to see some videos of them together, you could generally search on YouTube for it, but also there’s a specific channel on there called like bring the milk tea or something that has videos of old Andy blogs and also Andy and scout on stickam and such. Worth a look if you’re curious) They weren’t constantly all over each other like possessive pack dogs *ahem Juliet ahem* and whenever Andy mentioned scout he didn’t need to shower her in compliments. They both seemed very secure in both themselves and the relationship. Super cute. Initially when they broke up it seemed quite odd. I didn’t really expect it. It got even weirder when he states that he and Juliet are together. It didn’t feel like they fit together at all (and no I’m not talking about from a fame or success perspective. At least not yet lol) As I’ve said I got bad vibes from Juliet right from the get go. Andy already seemed to be acting not like himself. (Also snakeys have argued that it’s just that he’s more mature now and that’s why he acts nervous and constantly looks Ike he wants to die. 🙄 maturity doesn’t mean losing your fucking personality and being unhappy most of the time. Jesus Christ.) it seemed like they got possessive of each other and constantly needed to show people how in love they were. Pictures, videos, and fucking public love paragraphs to show they are, in fact, in a super real relationship and they love each other. It also felt like Andy’s family was in on this whole weird charade.They (Chris honestly) started to defend her degenerate behavior and attack anyone who had even a whisper of negative things to say about her or their relationship. It was like watching a group of awkward, pretty mediocre actors put on a play about them being together. (I’ve hit the text limit now, but there will be more that I will write just after I submit this one though, fear not haha. N, you can either post this now or wait until I submit the rest, it’s up to you.) 1 / ? -🤠

A/N: i was here for a lot of it as well so i do remember some of this. although i did join the fandom shortly after him and juliet got together (i joined like around the time she was on the voice) i literally remember hoping that him and scout would get back together bc juliet just rubbed me the wrong way and i didn't know why at the time. & side note i actually do recommend people go look at old videos of andy and scout they were really adorable. there is this one video of them singing (i think a carrie underwood song lol) in the car and it's really cute. but yeah just bc he's older doesn't mean his whole entire personality changes. you can be any age and act however you want. i could even use jenna marbles & julien solomita (a youtube couple) as an example, they've been together for i think like 8 or 9 years and are about the same age as A&J (julien being around andy's age & jenna around juliet's age) & although they can have mature adult conversations and all of that, they still act like idiots and joke around together. neither of them look uncomfortable or are afraid of saying certain things like andy is around juliet. so andy aging doesn't mean shit in regards to his personality doing a 180.

🤠okay, so part two here we go. (Also I apologize if I get the chronological order of anything I talk about incorrect, I’m a bit scattered sometimes and the next ask I make will be the one where I talk about the domestic abuse and I tend to get quite heated, which only makes my brain function worse lol) so the point at which Andy was trying to get fans to go vote for/ support Juliet when she was on the voice seemed really fishy. I’m all for supporting the work of the people you love, but it’s kinda strange how hard Andy was pushing this at the time. Too hard in my opinion. I’m obviously aware that it was helpful in the end and he more or less got what he was asking for. But it was like he absolutely needed people to vote for her. As if he would get in trouble if they didn’t. So around 2012 or 2013 it felt like things really went down the shitter from there and just got progressively worse. (I never knew why for the longest time, but after they revealed that Vegas wedding that happened in about that time frame, it made a lot of sense.) Andy’s behavior began to change towards his fans. There are a lot of accounts of this happening from fans themselves and a lot of people said that 1. It was worse with Juliet around, and 2. a lot of the time it would happen towards females especially. ( I think more towards the “pretty” fans but don’t count me on that, I don’t know for sure.) This was completely night and day. Especially coming from the same man who used to always defend his fans and once stated something along the lines of he would never have a crazy or awkward fan story because he loves and is grateful for all of his fans and he won’t get upset if they’re just really excited. I would understand if these fans crossed the line in some way (like the later incident of fans finding his address and harassing them, which is unacceptable no matter who the people are) but from most if not all of the fan stories I’ve heard, they didn’t. They were being respectful and didn’t do anything to warrant this happening to them besides showing up. Which brings me to my next point, a lot of these negative experiences were caused by Juliet. Either she was the one being mean to people, she was causing Andy to be mean to people on her behalf, or her presence was upsetting Andy to the point that he was angry and started being rude and irritable. What scares me the most are the accounts of Andy having a whole Jekyll and Hyde thing, depending on weather or not Juliet was present. Happy when he’s free of her and miserable when he isn’t. In videos of him where Juliet is behind the camera he always seems nervous and strange. Like he’s afraid to mess up. That’s fucking alarming to say the least. You would think that the last thing one would want to do if another person brings them this much anger, stress, and anxiety, the LAST thing they would want to do is fucking marry them. Right? He literally started barely smiling at one point and really doesn’t anymore. I mean for Christ’s sake look at his wedding photos. What’s suppose to be one of the happiest moments of your life and to quote another anon with a different ask, he looks like he’s being dragged to the gallows. (And I get really fucking Angry honestly when snakeys tries to pass it off as “oh he’s awkward he doesn’t know how to smile” or “omg he’s being dramatic for the aesthetics” in some pictures, yes. But why the fuck would you look like that in pictures with the “love of your life” who you now regularly write cringy paragraphs publicly professing your love and complete adoration for? Andy knows how to smile genuinely. Ffs he used to. He smiled genuinely when he was a kid, he smiled genuinely with scout, and he smiled genuinely when Juliet wasn’t around. He doesn’t smile when she is there, and if he does, it is pretty much always visibly fake.) So I may backtrack a little later, but right now I want to talk about the fact that Juliet IS an abuser. More specifically, the plane incident. (Word limit. TBC.) 2 / ? -🤠

A/N: yes. 100%. when it comes to the wedding photos i will never understand people (specifically snakeys) writing off his behavior as him "just being dramatic for the aesthetics". is that something he would do in photoshoots? yeah. is it something he may do on stage? sure. something he would do in an interview? maybe. but candid shots of him on one of the "happiest days of his life"? wtf no. & idk why people think that.

🤠 Just before I start, again, with the pictures, I really don’t think that Andy is enough of a self absorbed egotistical dick that he would actually sit there and put on the whole “miserable tough guy” act in every fucking photo he takes. Ah yes, the infamous plane incident. So straight up, Juliet exposed herself as an abuser, and brought out every bullshit excuse in the book (and made Andy go along with them) to try to cover it up. 1. She was drunk. Honestly this is total bullshit. I say this same thing when people defend cheating or any other degenerate behavior with the excuse of intoxication and I will say it now. Being drunk does not make you a different fucking person. It does not change the thoughts in your head. What it does do is impair your ability to make decisions and judgement skills in general. It’s the same reason why people drive drunk. It’s routine. Its what they would normally do. And because they’re drunk, they can’t see any reason why they shouldn’t do that. Juliet gets drunk, she and Andy fight, she wants to hit him, and because she’s drunk she doesn’t think that she shouldn’t fucking put her hands on him. 2. She hit him in “self defense” and he broke her ribs.(There’s several points I have debunking this) first of all let’s get this out of the way, no one on that plane (including the very real witness who just so happened to be an adult film actress (I think?) who you so love to discount because of it) saw him strike her or even touch her at any time. Two, you are in fucking airplane seats sitting right the fuck next to each other with an armrest in between. It would be pretty fucking hard to break your ribs unless they were made of actual glass, or Andy’s real name is Bruce fucking banner. Bones are surprisingly strong and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’d be damn near impossible for him to do that to you, which brings me to three, if he had broken your ribs you would not be fucking standing up, thrashing around, whining like a little bitch, and oh by the way, continuing to abuse your husband for the second time on that flight. Four, you had a miscarriage. (When I was trying to conceive with my husband it was very difficult. I had two miscarriages before I finally had my son. I’m fully aware of how devastating having one is.) which is why if you are not lying (which I fully believe that Juliet would stoop that low just to get sympathy, especially with this big of a scandal. But I don’t actually have proof of this so I will say that it is just speculation on my part) I don’t fucking care. I am not unsympathetic to her if this did actually happen as I said, however, You do not get to make any excuse for putting your hands on another person out of anger. Ever. I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what kind of stress you are under, I don’t care if you are inebriated in any way and I sure as hell don’t care what the fuck you have between your legs. You do not hurt anyone. Point blank period. Five. You are a woman, you can’t hurt him. This one, actually enrages me. We all know your crusty ass pulled this one out (and threw around trump supporters a few times for good measure) because you know damn well how society and the media views and deals with abusive women. Women can abuse. Women who are shorter or weaker than their target can abuse. The fact that there are people who either don’t know that or don’t agree with that is absolutely baffling. Six. The same (I believe) porn actress. Literally saw you beating your own face with the restraints you had to be put in (which by the way flight attendants only ever use restraints as an absolute last resort when someone becomes a danger to the others on board, so she had to be acting absolutely deranged) to give yourself a bloody nose to claim Andy hit you. Then you proceed to act like a child and tell Andy to call your fucking dad. (Which kinda proves that whole Scientology thing honestly) what in the hell. I stg as long as I am breathing I will never let this go. This is actual fucking domestic abuse. (Word limit TBC.) 3 / ? -🤠

A/N: yeah her hitting him "bc she was drunk" was never a good excuse not only for the reasons you mentioned but, also bc let's be real at no point are you ever going to get served enough alcohol on a plane to make you that drunk i don't care what anyone says. also when it comes to the excuse of him "breaking her ribs" does she forget that andy actually did break his ribs a while ago? i think she even visited him when he was recovering so she should know what kind of pain he was in. & if he actually broke her ribs, there's no way she would have even been able to stand bc i know andy sure wasn't able to. he said it was one of the most painful things he's experienced. (i don't think i need to comment on the rest of this. it would just be redundant. you hit the nail on the head with that.)

🤠 I don’t care if it happened just that one time ore more likely is an everyday occurrence. Abuse is abuse and should never be tolerated. Kind of getting away from the plane thing. Andy always seems, as it’s been said on here before, afraid to mess up. Like he might mess up, and make her mad. A common behavioral pattern in abuse victims. He also at this point and for a decent amount of time before, doesn’t seem like he loves her anymore. Like he keeps up appearances and pretends, but it’s like it’s a job he’s forced to do. He’s tired and burnt out but was probably manipulated into staying and juliet is probably clinging for dear life. Also I don’t know if I’m the only one who thinks this, but I swear, the veganism and sobering up was just a cover up, most likely formed by either Juliet herself or her fucked up family, after the plane incident to hide their tracks and regain some public favor (because you know, if you advocate for animal rights then you can’t abuse your husband 🙃) Andy never gave a shit before though. Even though it was unhealthy he loved to drink and smoke and was very outspoken about that. And he used to never give a fuck about eating meat or consuming animal products like leather. I mean they’re still selling leather goods ffs. I would get having minor fuck ups because you don’t know any better, but it’s fucking leather. And now Andy is unhealthy and miserable as ever, but the culprit is malnourishment and Juliet rather than cigs, alcohol, and Juliet. My final thoughts: I do definitely believe in the Scientology theory, but if not that than I definitely believe that Andy was and is being manipulated for his fame. On several occasions it really looked like they broke up, including the time when they did, and then said it was a joke. It really doesn’t feel normal. Also, Juliet doesn’t really care about Andy that much. She never wears her wedding ring, she sells all their shit, including sentimental items, and now that she’s gained more popularity from being with him, suddenly doesn’t want to put him in her bio or write him the same creepy ass paragraphs or anything. It’s fucked up how shes so keen to say she did it all herself when really she’s been riding dick for fame since before she even met Andy. It also always kinda seemed to me that Amy was kind of uncomfortable around Juliet. We all know that Chris loves to kiss her ass night and day (most likely to do with the Scientology thing “if” it’s true), but Juliet and Amy always seemed to have a weird relationship like it was tense and forced. Also I just want to mention the time that Juliet talked about screaming at the woman over what I believe was a game night and brushed it off as being competitive and no one gave damn. Fucked up. To finish off this already way too long little series, I think Andy is a very vulnerable insecure person who got manipulated by several people (not just Juliet) some of whom he probably really trusted, and they helped to get him in Juliet’s (equally if not more insecure) hands so she could hurt him as she pleases. I truly hope that even now both he, and his parents (even though Chris really grinds my gears) can get out of this whole shit show, relatively unscathed. I know this is probably pretty unlikely, but hope springs eternal I guess. As I said feel free to ask any questions you may have and I will try to answer them best I can. Thank you for reading. 4 / 4 -🤠

A/N: yet again you hit the nail on the head with this part so i don't need to comment too much. other than the fact that i do agree that juliet and amy's relationship does seem weird.

[evansfm]

𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 –– 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 .

every  morning  evan  woke  up  to  a  london  sky  that  refused  to  let  the  sun  in  ;  summer  was  drier  than  spring  ,  but  the  clouds  seemed  to  linger  year  round  .  .  .  not  that  she  minded  .  she  had  ,  after  all  ,  grown  up  in  county  dublin  ,  where  things  were  always  a  bit  damp  .  still  ,  the  lack  of  COLOR  could  be  draining  .  .  .  so  she  searched  for  it  in  unexpected  places  ,  creating  little  pockets  of  color  for  herself  in  a  rather  grayscale  world  .  golden  lights  strung  on  her  balcony  ,  isla’s  bright  red  hair  and  matching  smile  ,  an  array  of  bright  letters  boasting  NME  lining  a  wall  ––  covers  from  past  decades  ,  a  rainbow  rubik’s  cube  next  to  her  keyboard  ,  two  framed  photographs  perched  on  her  desk  .  the  first  seemed  like  forever  ago  ,  a  beaming  eloise  with  a  twin  on  either  side  ;  beck  on  the  left  ,  evan  on  the  right  ,  both  planting  kisses  on  her  cheek  one  valentine’s  day  years  and  years  ago  .  the  second  was  more  recent  ,  backstage  at  a  show  in  galway  ;  kieran  sat  in  his  chair  with  his  fingers  intertwined  with  evan’s  as  she  draped  her  arms  over  his  shoulders  from  behind  ,  chin  resting  on  top  of  his  curls  and  a  smile  that  looked  SOFT  compared  to  the  goofy  one  ruairi  wore  ,  looming  behind  her  with  his  chin  on  her  head  .  she  felt  warmth  every  t​​ime  she  looked  at  them  ,  but  there  was  always  a  tug  in  her  stomach  .  .  .  the  undeniable  feeling  of  something  missing  .  she  found  her  little  pockets  of  color  ,  but  they  still  seemed  muted  w​​ithout  the  people  she  loved  ––  the  PERSON  she  loved  .

their  schedules  had  begun  to  clash  ––  and  evan  hated  the  way  she  was  beginning  to  get  used  to  the  dull  ache  of  his  absence  .  distance  had  been  a  part  of  their  relationship  for  months  ,  but  the  time  zones  were  killing  her  .  they  couldn’t  always  make  time  for  hours  wasted  away  on  facetime  ;  she  couldn’t  always  fall  asleep  to  the  sound  of  his  voice  on  the  other  end  of  the  line  .  they  were  both  where  they  were  supposed  to  be  ,  chasing  their  dreams  together  ,  separately  .  .  .  but  evan  was  beginning  to  wonder  if  the  path  she  was  on  ––  the  desk  ,  the  deadlines  ,  the  distance  ––  was  actually  what  she  WANTED  .  there  was  a  lack  of  creative  control  at  nme  ;  she  was  a  part  of  a  greater  whole  ,  confined  to  a  desk  when  she  wasn’t  out  in  the  field  .  she  felt  restless  .  .  .  bored  ,  almost  .  and  with  her  most  recent  deadline  met  and  a  job  of  her  own  ––  evan  connely  ,  sans  nme  ––  waiting  at  the  end  of  the  week  ,  she  was  distracted  .  

“  WHAT  are  you  doing  ?  ”  isla  popped  up  behind  her  ,  coming  out  of  nowhere  to  look  over  her  shoulder  .

“  jesus  ,  ”  evan  startled  ,  nearly  dropping  the  plastic  puzzle  in  her  hand  ,  “  where  t’e  fuck  did  you  come  from  ?  ”

“  charlotte’s  office  .  answer  my  question  .  ”

“  playing  wit’  a  toy  ,  ”  she  held  up  the  half  solved  rubik’s  cube  ,  then  let  out  an  audible  sigh  as  isla  looked  unimpressed  ,  then  jutted  her  chin  towards  the  computer  screen  ,  “  trying  to  put  together  a  mood  board  for  t’is  gig  i’ve  got  wit’  saint  valentine  on  friday  .  ”

perfectly  shaped  auburn  brows  raised  ,  “  we  got  saint  valentine  ?  ”

“  no  ,  ”  evan’s  lips  lifted  into  the  faintest  smirk  ,  “  i  got  saint  valentine  .  ”

“  you’re  bloody  joking  .  shut  UP  ,  ”  isla  gasped  ,  rounding  to  her  side  of  the  table  desk  ,  just  to  roll  her  chair  around  ,  “  and  you  didn’t  fucking  tell  me  ?  ”

“  no  ,  because  you  couldn’t  keep  a  secret  if  you  tried  .”

“  well  that’s  because  it  shouldn’t  be  a  fucking  secret  ,  ev  .  this  is  fantastic  ,  ”  hazel  eyes  widened  with  excitement  ,  “  so  you’re  shooting  them  for  ––  .  .  .  ”

“  t’ey  weren’t  too  explicit  about  it  .  i  know  for  certain  i’m  covering  bot’  shows  at  t’e  o2  ,  documenting  t’e  whole  thing  from  t’e  moment  they  get  there  ,  ”  evan  huffed  a  curl  away  from  her  face  ,  nodding  to  the  screen  ,  “  and  t’en  a  shoot  on  site  at  t’e  venue  .  so  i’ve  got  to  work  wit’  what  i’ve  got  .  i’ve  got  ONE  chance  here  ,  and  nicky  haven  scares  t’e  absolute  fuck  out’a  me  ,  so  i  can’t  blow  it  .  ”

“  nicky  haven  scares  EVERYONE  .  it’s  part  of  h​​is  charm  ,  ”  isla  leaned  in  ,  ma​​king  herself  perfectly  comfortable  in  evan’s  space  as  she  took  the  mouse  and  began  clicking  through  different  ideas  opened  on  photoshop  ,  “  let’s  see  what  you’ve  got  so  far  ––  .  .  .  ”

“  isla  ,  it’s  not  a  big  deal  .  really  i  shouldn’t  even  be  working  on  t’is  HERE  ,  right  now  .  it’s  not  exactly  nme  related  stuff  ,  you  kn––  ”

“  i  TOLD  you  she  was  here  today  ,  ”  a  girl  called  sophie  ,  who  manned  nme’s  front  desk  in  the  mornings  ,  materialized  on  the  other  side  of  evan’s  desk  .  a  junior  writer  ,  andrew  ,  was  hot  on  her  heels  .

“  soph  ,  now  really  probably  isn’t  the  best  time  and  it  really  isn’t  your  busi––  ”

“  someone’s  got  to  show  her  ,  ”  sophie  was  ,  admittedly  ,  obnoxious  .  and  coming  from  EVAN  ,  that  was  a  feat  .

“  show  WHAT  to  WHO  ?  ”  isla’s  voice  changed  in  tone  ,  taking  on  a  hint  of  authority  as  she  looked  at  andrew  ,  “  aren’t  you  meant  to  be  doing  some  social  media  research  right  now  ?  ”

“  i  WAS  ,  but  ––  ”

“  but  we’ve  found  something  that  evan  HAS  to  see  ,  ”  sophie  .  again  .

“  we  ?  ”

“  ME  ?  ”  evan  said  in  tandem  with  isla  ,  brows  lifting  as  she  clicked  the  final  piece  into  place  on  the  cube  .  she  glanced  over  at  isla  and  felt  a  strange  twist  in  her  stomach  when  she  saw  the  redhead  had  gone  rigid  .

“  is  this  about  ––  ”

“  rebecca  stringer  ,  ”  andrew  nodded  solemnly  ,  as  though  evan  was  supposed  to  know  who  the  hell  THAT  was  .

“  better  known  as  BEX  ,  ”  sophie  added  .

it  was  evan’s  turn  to  go  rigid  .  her  back  straightened  ,  and  it  felt  like  ice  had  just  been  shot  through  her  veins  .  truth  be  told  ,  she  was  more  worried  about  conflicting  schedules  lately  .  .  .  not  the  way  bex  sing-songed  a  shortened  version  of  kieran’s  name  .  .  .  or  the  way  she  answered  his  phone  and  simply  couldn’t  remember  who  evan  was  .  .  .  or  the  way  she’d  made  sure  evan  could  hear  her  promise  to  personally  deliver  kieran  to  his  hotel  room  that  first  night  in  los  angeles  .  it  wasn’t  exactly  PLEASANT  being  reminded  of  the  instinct  that  she’d  shut  down  ,  intuition  telling  her  something  wasn’t  quite  right  there  .  her  brows  pinched  together  as  the  rubik’s  cube  slid  from  one  hand  to  the  other  and  back  .  she  glanced  over  at  isla  with  a  prompting  look  .

“  we’re  .  .  .  doing  a  piece  about  nepotism  babies  in  the  industry  ,  and  she’s  a  PERFECT  example  of  one  so  i  was  having  andrew  look  into  the  way  she  interacts  with  fans  and  her  socials  and  what  not  .  she’s  one  of  like  TEN  people  we’re  look​​ing  into  ,  ”  she  explained  with  an  apologetic  look  .  it  was  then  that  she  turned  a  sharp  eye  to  andrew  and  sophie  ,  “  don’t  know  what  THAT  has  to  do  with  evan  ,  though  .  ”

“  see  for  yourself  .  ”

“  SOPHIE  .  ”

“  what  ?  it  probably  isn’t  even  new  information  for  her  ,  ”  she  shrugged  ,  reaching  over  two  monitors  to  hand  evan  a  phone  .  twitter  was  opened  to  a  profile  with  bex’s  beaming  face  in  the  icon  ,  but  the  handle  wasn’t  hers  .  she  gave  the  pair  of  them  a  skeptical  look  before  glancing  over  at  isla  who  only  offered  a  half  -  hearted  shrug  .  it  didn’t  take  long  to  see  what  ,  exactly  ,  sophie  had  been  talking  about  ,  a  slew  of  tweets  and  retweets  .

bexupdates  :  bex  &  kieran  pulled  up  to  the  venue  together  .  .  .  and  then  left  at  the  same  time  .  why  are  they  lowkey  so  cute  annathefound  :  not  bex  wearing  a  baby  tee  version  of  the  found’s  merch  .  .  .  stanning  her  boyfriend  just  like  the  rest  of  us  

ruairidailyposts  :  ok  wait  are  evan  &  kieran  even  dating  anymore  bc  i  could  be  down  with  a  bex  &  kieran  moment  cheerupbailey  :  @ruairidailyposts  you  know  two  people  can  have  a  relationship  without  posting  about  it  right  ???  they’re  in  separate  countries  rn  lol

babybexxx  :  i  just  think  that  bex  &  kieran  walsh  as  a  power  couple  .

bxhq  :  no  offense  but  bex  is  simply  so  much  better  for  him  than  some  rando  from  ireland  like  what thefoundupdates  :  @bxhq  babes  they  LITERALLY  grew  up  together  ????

totallyconan  :  be  honest  do  u  guys  think  the  reason  evan  isn’t  on  tour  with  them  is  bc  they’re  not  together  anymore  like  she  literally  never  misses  shows

adamfitzupdates :  why  are  y’all  so  obsessed  with  a  relationship  that  doesn’t  concern  you  ???  chill bexlevitates  :  @adamfitzupdates  bc  it’s  weird  that  evan  knew  him  for  so  long  and  only  started  dating  him  AFTER  the  found  started  to  get  big  like  that’s  shady

bexupdates  :  find  someone  who  looks  at  u  the  way  bex  looks  at  kieran  on  stage  wtf  did  y’all  see  that

newruleshq  :  no  waaaay  this  man  has  a  gf  when  he  and  bex  look  so  good  next  to  each  other  LMAO  

thefoundupdates  :  according  to  the  girl  who  wrote  the  article  kieran  literally  WALKED  OUT  on  the  interview  ???  rockstar  behavior  but  also  hope  he’s  ok

evan  could’ve  kept  scrolling  for  hours  as  her  heart  rate  began  to  rise  and  rise  .  the  crease  between  her  brows  deepened  ,  and  she  reminded  herself  of  everything  she  knew  to  be  true  .  kieran  LOVED  her  .  twitter  was  a  BRUTAL  place  .  it  was  as  though  the  worst  parts  of  her  subconscious  had  come  to  life  in  280  characters  or  less  .  her  head  began  to  swim  as  her  heart  sank  into  her  stomach  .

“  what  does  t’is  ––  .  .  .  ”  her  voice  cracked  ,  and  she  cleared  her  throat  ,  finally  looking  up  from  the  phone  screen  ,  “  why  ,  exactly  ,  are  you  showing  me  this  ?  ”  

sophie  looked  as  though  she  was  shocked  by  evan’s  question  ,  “  because  i’ve  dated  musicians  .  .  .  and  like  HALF  of  those  are  in  bex’s  likes  .  which  are  public  ,  by  the  way  .  just  doesn’t  seem  subtle  to  me  .  ”

“  are  you  trying  to  insinuate  something  here  ,  sophie  ?  ”  her  tone  shifted  ,  irritated  as  she  handed  the  phone  back  .

“  like  i  said  ,  i’ve  dated  guys  in  bands  ,  too  ,  and  ––  ”

“  enough  ,  ”  isla  snapped  ,  “  you’re  sticking  your  nose  where  it  doesn’t  belong  .  BOTH  of  you  should  be  off  doing  your  jobs  right  now  ,  so  ,  run  along  .  ”

both  of  them  scurried  off  without  a  word  .  

evan  was  still  for  a  moment  ,  but  her  fingertips  were  itching  for  the  keyboard  .  she  was  no  stranger  to  things  like  this  ,  unkind  words  from  strangers  who  didn’t  LOVE  the  idea  of  her  ––  despite  not  knowing  her  .  the  good  outweighed  the  bad  on  the  internet  ,  but  the  voices  who  didn’t  like  her  were  always  the  loudest  .  even  BEFORE  she  and  kieran  had  gone  public  with  their  relationship  .  .  .  even  before  they  were  ever  in  a  relationship  at  all  .  over  time  ,  she’d  learned  to  tune  it  out  and  focus  on  the  kindness  that  flooded  her  comment  sections  and  mentions  .  .  .  but  every  now  and  again  something  slipped  through  the  cracks  .  .  .  and  when  they  did  ,  she  absorbed  them  like  a  blow  to  the  abdomen  .  they  settled  into  her  memory  and  cemented  themselves  there  ,  tucked  away  until  they  found  the  perfect  moment  to  make  her  self  conscious  .  like  the  fan  who  had  commented  on  the  shape  of  her  body  before  and  after  going  to  uni  .  .  .  and  another  from  galway  who  made  it  their  business  to  let  everyone  know  she’d  slept  around  while  living  there  .  .  .  and  every  time  someone  said  she  wasn’t  good  enough  for  kieran  or  any  of  them  .  that  she  had  bad  intentions  ,  leeching  onto  the  boys  for  fame  .  that  her  career  was  based  SOLELY  on  the  four  of  them  .  

if  she  caved  and  kept  scrolling  ,  she’d  commit  it  all  to  memory  .  .  .  everything  that  made  her  intuition  about  bex  STRONGER  .  

instead  ,  she  launched  forward  and  snatched  the  rubik’s  cube  back  up  ,  immediately  distorting  its  perfect  faces  and  mixing  it  up  again  .  it  was  good  to  keep  your  hands  busy  ,  she  knew  ,  when  your  mind  began  to  run  away  .  

the  worst  of  it  wasn’t  even  TRULY  comments  about  their  relationship  .  .  .  those  hurt  ,  but  they  didn’t  sting  quite  as  bad  as  real  -  time  updates  about  kieran  and  bex  showing  up  or  leaving  venues  together  .  she  dulled  the  pain  by  reminding  herself  that  THREE  other  boys  were  never  too  far  behind  .  that  kieran  would  never  .  .  .  COULD  never  .  .  .  

but  then  again  ,  there  was  the  tweet  that  weighed  heaviest  in  her  mind  .  kieran  walked  out  in  the  middle  of  an  interview  ,  and  he  hadn’t  told  her  .  something  rattled  him  to  the  point  of  his  version  of  an  outburst  ,  and  he  hadn’t  told  her  .  that  seemed  like  something  he  would  have  told  her  .  .  .  it  seemed  important  enough  ,  she  thought  to  herself  ,  right  ?  RIGHT  ?

her  throat  felt  tight  ,  and  she  kept  running  the  tweets  she’d  read  over  in  her  mind  .  there  was  a  deep  furrow  in  her  brow  as  she  looked  down  at  her  hands  ,  still  vehemently  mixing  up  the  toy  .  something  felt  off  kilter  .  .  .  but  she  couldn’t  pin  down  which  hurt  more  :  the  slew  of  tweets  from  people  pretending  to  know  what  went  on  in  her  relationship  .  .  .  or  the  thought  of  kieran  doing  something  as  rash  as  storming  out  of  an  interview  ––  and  then  not  telling  her  .  

“  i  didn’t  know  about  t’e  interv​​iew  bit  ,  ”  she  said  quietly  ,  eyes  still  trained  on  the  colorful  cube  .  she  was  certain  her  face  was  the  opposite  ,  color  drained  .  

“  evan  ––  .  .  .  ”

“  it’s  fine  ,  ”  she  said  firmly  ,  “  it’s  probably  not  true  .  just  like  t’e  rest  of  it  isn’t  true  .  ”

her  voice  sounded  distant  .  .  .  and  she  wasn’t  sure  if  she  was  trying  to  convince  isla  or  HERSELF  .  clearing  her  throat  again  ,  she  set  the  toy  back  down  on  her  desk  and  scooted  towards  the  computer  .  

“  i’ve  got  work  to  do  ,  ”  she  said  quietly  ,  getting  back  to  the  monitor  .  though  all  she  wanted  to  do  was  go  home  .  how  many  more  people  thought  that  she  wasn’t  GOOD  ENOUGH  for  kieran  ?  how  many  people  thought  someone  like  bex  was  a  better  fit  ?  how  long  would  it  take  for  the  suggestion  to  become  potent  enough  to  make  the  people  who  KNEW  them  question  it  as  well  ?  and  if  kieran  had  walked  out  of  an  interv​​iew  ,  WHY  hadn’t  he  told  her  ?  

she  glanced  down  at  her  own  phone  screen  ,  hoping  that  maybe  she’d  missed  a  text  or  a  call  .  .  .  but  all  she  got  was  nothing  .  nothing  but  the  words  she’d  seen  written  down  ,  now  cemented  in  her  mind  :  bex  is  simply  so  much  better  for  him  .  .  .  because  SHE  was  there  ,  wrapped  up  in  the  same  world  he  was  in  .  she  was  accessible  .  immediate  .  beautiful  .  

and  evan  was  stuck  in  london  with  nothing  but  time  to  wonder  .

[softforcal]

Just Friends:Soulmate!L.H

Summary: You and Luke are best friends, when you get a tattoo the same one appears on your soul mate. neither you nor Luke have ever had a tattoo and have a pact that if you never find your soulmate, you two will get together. finally on a drunken night of desperation while Luke is on tour you get a tattoo.

Word Count: 1500

Warnings: angsty slow burn fluff

You’d met Luke in LA at a party. the connection was instant, you talked all night and until the sun came up the next day. After exchanging numbers you assumed your life would go on as usual without another word from the rockstar but you were wrong.

the official hang out was much like the day you met, hanging out and talking like old friends for hours. 

you confided in each other about everything.

from what it was like being a rockstar to the conflicted way you both felt about being in your twenties and neither of you having soulmate tattoos. 

“I just don’t want to get something done and have her not like it.” Luke explained, “i also just... i don’t know, do i even want a soulmate?”

“people look really happy when they find theirs.” you shrugged.

“yeah but you just give up all this control over your life, you know?”

“i guess.”

“look, how about this,” he said, turning to face you, “in ten years, if we both still haven’t found our soulmates we should just give up on it and give this a try.”

dating in a soulmate world was difficult. most people didn’t even bother to try. Because no matter what, when your soulmate comes along they’re the one. no matter how much you love the person you’re dating you can’t just not pursue a soulmate. 

you sighed, “fine. but you and I both know the risks... are you sure about this?”

he nodded with a grin, holding out a hand, “pinky promise?”

Luke had been on tour for what seemed like ages and you were distraught. sure you tried to talk as much as you could but he was always busy and the different time zones made it almost impossible.

you were with a few of your friends, one of them had only found their soul mate a month ago and she was still so happy. “he does this super cute thing in the morning where he hides his face under the pillow and just looks so sleepy.” she gushed.

you sighed, you were happy for her but it was still tough. noticing your sad smile your friend sighed, “i’m sure you’ll find yours soon.”

“im just so tired of being alone.” you took a drink from the bottle of liquor you were sharing.

your friends eyes searched your face, “i have an idea! get a tattoo!” 

“what?! that’s crazy!”

“look there’s this new database thing where you can take a picture of the tattoo and post it and through this tagging system your soul mate will be able to look it up. so if you get like... a rose or something, your soulmate can look up rose and scroll through the pictures then find you.” your friend explained, “come on it will be great!”

before you knew what was even happening you were at a tattoo parlour with a needle pressing into your skin.

your fingers hovered over your phone when you got home, not sure what to say to Luke. you sighed, texting: ‘so i got a tattoo. wanna see?’

you knew that with different time zones, Luke would take a while to respond so you put your phone away and went to sleep.

Luke’s day was busy. he didn’t even get a chance to look at his phone until the afternoon, he frowned when he read your text, sending back: “i’d rather see it in person for the first time, only a week left then i’m home. see you then?”

as the guys drove to an interview Calum noticed Luke not being as talkative as usual, “you okay mate?”

“yeah, Y/N got a tattoo.” Luke answered.

“what?! damn, Y/N took the plunge.” Michael grinned.

“do you think it will be someone we know?” Ashton asked, “i mean, it happens sometimes.”

Luke sighed, “i don’t know.”

“you’ll find yours some day Luke. and then you’ll forget all about this crush on Y/N.” Calum insisted.

“you just don’t know what its like because you haven’t found yours yet.” Michael said.

the car stopped and they all got out to go to the interview but Luke knew nothing would distract him from the distress he was feeling.

it must have been two in the morning for Luke when he called you, “hey, how’s tour?”

“its fine.” he answered, “what are you up to?”

“just scrolling through the soulmate tattoo feed, i haven’t felt like posting my picture yet.”

“why not? are you afraid?” Luke’s concern was evident.

“i don’t know. its weird.” you answered, “hey what time is it for you?”

“close to three.”

“wow, you should go to sleep.” you laughed.

“wanted to talk to you.”

“you can talk to me anytime Luke, get some sleep okay?”

“okay, i’ll talk to you later yeah?”

“always.”

He couldn't sleep. tossing and turning all night every time he dreamt it was about you, you with some faceless guy, you with Calum (which Luke knew made no sense), you with a girl. it was all over the place.

Luke trudged through the entire day, going through sound check and then hanging out in the back room before the concert.

someone came in with their outfits and the guys all began to get changed. Luke was pulling off his shirt when he noticed Calum staring at him, “what?” he asked.

“you have... there’s um...” Calum motioned to Luke’s back.

going to the mirror Luke craned his neck to get a good look, sure enough, there was a white outline of a tattoo. the soulmate tattoo. a white counterpart for the original black on his soulmate.

“what a coincidence, first Y/N now you.” Ashton said, “congrats man.” he said, pushing Luke’s shoulder.

“you don’t think-” Luke began.

“nah, Y/N got her tattoo what? two days ago?” Michael said, “can’t be her, we would have noticed it.”

“you’re right.” Luke sighed, pulling his shirt on. 

“wait, don’t you want us to take a picture or something? you can post it? who knows, by the end of the night we could know who your soulmate is.” Ashton suggested.

“no. i don’t care.” he pushed past the guys and walked towards the back stage.

“you know,” Calum sighed, “i really thought it was going to be him and Y/N.”

Ashton picked up his drunk sticks, “we all did.”

it seemed like forever as you waited for Luke to come home. you barely talked and you knew something was up with him but you just guessed it was the stress of the last few concerts. 

you were house sitting for Luke, watching Petunia, both of you heard the jingle of keys at the same time as you both raced to the door.

throwing it open you barrelled into Luke’s chest. he laughed, his arms going around you as he dropped his bag. “missed you.” he breathed.

“we missed you too.” you said, pulling away so Petunia could get some love.

“so any luck with your soul mate?” he asked.

“not yet but i’m sure it will happen.” you answered, “can i finally show you my tattoo?”

“yeah.”

“so you know how we have always worried about getting tattoos in case the other person doesn't like it? well i decided if i put it on my back then if they don’t like it they don’t have to see it.” you explained, turning your back to him and lifting up your shirt.

Luke’s heart nearly burst in his chest as his gaze landed on the familiar ink. 

“what do you think?” you asked.

instead of answering he simply turned you around, grabbing your face and pulling it to his own. his lips were soft and desperate against yours and your hands went to his waist after a moment of hesitation.

he finally pulled away and you looked up at him with questioning eyes, “Luke-” you began.

“i know what you’re going to say but just wait.” Luke said, hands going to the bottom of his shirt he pulled it off and turned around, “Look, do you see it?”

you weren't sure what you were looking for at first before you finally made out the white lines on his skin, “oh my god.” you breathed.

he grinned, turning around to look at you, “we’re soul mates!”

“but.. how... why didn’t you say something?”

“i didn’t know! i only noticed it a few days ago and i figured that it was just some weird coincidence, the guys said-”

“the guys said?” you laughed, “well there’s your first problem. what did they say?”

“they said that my tattoo showed up two days after yours so we couldn't be soul mates.” Luke stated.

“so you’re telling me it took two days for someone to actually get a good look at your back?”

“yeah?”

“damn, i should have realized that putting it on a place you couldn't see was problematic.” you giggled, “my bad.” 

he laughed as well, grabbing your face again to press his lips to yours, “you have no idea how long i’ve wanted to do this.”

“me too.”

[riskeith]

hi bb!

oh rip... the ol’ laptop fan situation. it must sound like a plane when you play genshin right? yes, we’re more prepared now. i remember the first few years there were so many fires and stuff to the point where they even made bbq illegal. such a mess, but it took away a fire hazard which is good. i believe aus had the same situation right?

awwww sounds so cute! pokémon go? no i don’t! i dropped it after that summer sjsksjdk. do you play while you’re walking that’s so adorable. wait bakudeku zine??? you’ve peeked my interest.

ooh that makes sense! i thought about the gold seelie too actually! the babie might bring you mora which is always good to have. also there’s fanart of the gold seelie being aether and those are sooo cute. have you seen any?

help i hope xiao knows how lucky he is to have such a devoted fan as yourself!! you’re really pulling all the strings for him i applaud your patience and determination. dude albedo is like... easily one of the prettiest animated character i’ve seen! he’s gorgeous! also i like his elevator move that could be so handy. and for the dancing videos, just search on yt baron bunny dancin or something hehe.

WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WHAT THE FUCK? wait are you serious? venti’s jpn va is HINATA? I HAD NO IDEA WTF???? god..,. that’s it i’m switching to jpn dub that’s insane... i was actually gonna ask you once if you could apply haikyuu characters to the game who would they be and the only one i was sure about was that hinata would be venti.... 😭 you’re so talented for knowing that hehe.. also you can say that you’re studying when you’re gaming then lmao. study smart not hard. god i’m still in shock over venti. this made my morning ngl.

i have no idea how fic collabs work either. i had a friend that did it once and she said they each wrote a chapter but i feel like that might be confusing if the writers use different writing styles..? idk it seems fun but kind of scary too..

ilytttttt little blushing girl.. <3

it always goes back to dragonspine does it not... 😶 but damn it’s been about a month and you’ve saved 12k that’s super solid. since xiao will be coming around feb that means you’ll have another month-ish to save up as well... so girl you’re def getting him sjdksjdk.. <3 and so much other goodies as well. unless you don’t pull him on the first try you might get some other great characters and weapons/artifacts as well. you need to force me to start saving up too bc if venti is really coming back.. i /have/ to get him esp now that i know about the va..

they’re adorable! i don’t know much about their story but i think they’re best friends, right? which makes it even more adorable. and there’s so much fanart of them as well. dude speaking of, genshin stans make the BEST fanart. i spend hours just looking at them and it’s perfect. i imagine there’s so much on twitter too, right?

god. remember shiro and adam. dreamworks would def not do that.. lmao...

your bravery for even considering posting wip. i’m taking my hat off for you. also, one writer to another; how does your writing process usually go? i’m always interested in seeing how other fic writers work bc it varies so much.

oh!! i was all over the place but i really liked sm groups. and loona! you don’t like slow songs? like even slow indie? aksjjdhdkdhf im gonna keep asking to find a middle group bc right now i’m super lost help...

i don’t really like sleeping in so it’s fine HEHE it’s 9 am now and i woke up about an hour ago which was perfect. 10 hour sleep? immaculate. not yikes. sleeping is always good never stress about it shjdhdjd, think about when you go back to school and have to pull all nighters etc.

kiss <3

heya!!

yeah HAHAAH it gets so hot omg.. and my laptop is supposed to have pretty good specs so i can’t imagine what it would’ve been like if i tried to play on my old one yikes 😬 oh shoot! yeah we have a fire danger rating too, the second lowest one is “high” and it goes beyond “extreme” to “code red”/“catastrophic” lollll. and we’ve regularly got fire bans in the summer to try and prevent anything! 

hfsdkjfhs summer 2016? god i remember that time so clearly... iconic 😩 i do play sometimes! normally if there are any mystic gyms around me to join, otherwise i’m kinda lazy about actually catching the pokemon HAHA oops. https://twitter.com/kotatsutomikan1 here!! does that mean 👀 you main bkdk 👀👀👀

oooo i thought the seelies were actually just there for decoration? AHAH. yessss I saw one with a whole lineup! https://twitter.com/icedkappe/status/1347555831831699457 look how cute 🥺 ugh but that reminds me of something i was thinking of earlier today, i hope they’ll introduce skins or something later down the line? fshdk like think of the potential. it always upsets me when i click the hanger icon and it only lets me change their glider fhsjfskfjsdjkf

god when i saw albedo’s hair... <3333333 and also his eyes??? um chief alchemist? more like PRETTIEST alchemist. yesss i’ve been doing plunge attacks a lot more recently (preparing for xiao?) and honestly ugh if i had albedo.. I LOOKED THOSE VIDEOS UP!!! THEY ARE SO FUCKING ADORABLE WHAT EHE FSUCJK!!!!!!  my god. fancam for characters who? ? from now on only fancams of baron bunny are allowed 😤😤😤

AHAHAH YEAH HE IS!!!! wait have you finished the world quest with him tho?? either way i’m sure you’ll be able to find clips of it in japanese dub online... his ‘ehe’ is so cute my god.. study smart not hard my motto!!!! <3 

yeah I feel like chapters is confusing which is why separating by POV might work better? definitely scary tho lol .... such uncharted territory for me

IM DEF GETTING HIM!!! xiao i am patiently waiting for you to come home 👐🙇‍♀️ yes!! i really hope the four stars on his banner are good bc i’m def gonna be pulling it a lot AHAHHA i hope hm.... i wanna get xingqiu to match with chongyun but beido seems so cool too 😩 tho i already have so many claymore users fsdhfksdfhsjd. oh that also reminds me venti’s elemental burst dialogue ‘kaze da!’ is so cute... like his voice is so melodic??? omg.... WAIT lemme send you this interview i found https://youtu.be/g3floaU41Uc !! AND START SAVE UP MARRIAGE ANON!!!!! tho i think he’s like 5 banners away so you still have time if you do wanna pull now... fhdsfkjds

they are!!! chongyun has this line in his story profile “Who could he possibly trust, if not his fine friend Xingqiu?” 🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭 how cute is he i love him so much :((((((((((((( yeah there are so many on twitter!! i don’t see much on tumblr tbh bc i don’t look at my dash too often AHHAHA but it’s all over my twitter timeline~ 

my writing process depends!! but typically i type out the outline of a fic/write out certain scenes, then fill in everything around that ahaha. usually my ideas come from a line i thought up that i really like or just a concept. i usually also type out my plans in all caps LOL. i hope that makes sense lmaooo how about you? do you just go for it or plan everything out first?

ooo yeah sm have some really nice stuff... and nice! i never gave loona a shot FJKDHFKSJ. i don’t think so?? the slow songs i do like are usually exceptions rather than the rule LMAO but i like hozier’s stuff even tho they’re slow (but who doesn’t? AHAH) honestly i couldn’t even give you examples bc i can’t think of any FHSDKFJS like i guess for example, lovely by billie eilish and khalid, i like the song but on a normal day if it came up on shuffle i’d skip it? FHSFKSD im so sorry legit i am no help at all fhskdfhsjdfjsdkfhsdhkfhk but what are some artists you listen to often?

i never pull all-nighters!! it’s kinda like my rule, even if i’m absolutely fucked i’ll deal with it later rather than not sleep fhskjfsdf. (or maybe i just haven’t reached that stage yet... i hope not!). also wait a second i just registered what you wrote.. YOU WOKE UP AT 8AM????????? my goodness... legit i don’t think i did that a single time in 2020. there was a week i woke up at 8:30 every day but very quickly i started sleeping in again omg... that energy! i’m also gonna try start waking up early but it’s hard when i go to bed then read fic 😩

kisses!!! hope your day has been swell so far xoxo

[ohsweetflips]

hawk in the raven nest, chapter twenty-four

chapter summary: tragic: causing or characterized by extreme distress or sorrow

A/N: hey guys!!! im so sorry that i had to postpone today's chapter, i was had classes and then a swim meet and was out from 8am to 11pm last night and passed out the moment i got in

read on ao3

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Ever since Kevin began his time as a Fox on the starting line, the Ravens made it a habit of watching their games. Riko was the one who enforced that. Their teammates believed that it was so Riko could laugh at Kevin’s misfortune; Kevin left the best Class I Exy team for the last place Foxes, what was there that Riko couldn’t laugh at? Nathaniel, however, knew it was because Riko was paranoid. Kevin was always a threat to Riko, but before the Foxes, Kevin was a threat that Riko believed he could beat down. Now, with Kevin as an opponent, and an opponent who was drastically improving a team meant to amount to nothing, Kevin was a danger to Riko.

Riko became obsessive when watching the Foxes’ games. He kept note of every win and loss, the length of each point gap, which team they were playing and how they had fared against the Ravens. With each game that the Foxes won, and with that each large point gap, Riko grew less and less happy with his results.

With the Foxes winning game against Binghamton, Riko’s nerves were through the roof. He was past the point of a violent outbreak; at this stage, everything was internalized. His hands were clenched on the arms of his chair, his knuckles white. His eyes stared blankly at the screen as their teammates chattered around him in the lounge. Maybe they were nervous, too, but didn’t want to let on; maybe they didn’t see Kevin as a threat yet. Either way, Riko was panicking because championships were getting very close and the Foxes were going to be in the death matches. With the path they seemed to be going on, they might be able to get past Penn State. The Trojans could be the ones that stop them, but even that was too close for Riko’s liking.

Attention was brought back to the screen when none other than Kevin Day came back on it. He was the one who the reporters decided to interview that night. He was sweaty, with some pieces of hair clinging to his forehead. His green eyes shone with victory, and he flashed an award winning grin at the camera. The two on his cheek stared at them all, showing where he had come from, and where he was now.

“Kevin, what an amazing game the Foxes played tonight!” the reporter beamed, happiness obvious on her face at being able to interview Kevin Day.

“Thank you,” Kevin grinned, swooping his hair out of his face. “We’ve all worked really hard for this game.”

“Talk about working hard!” she exclaimed. “Look at you! Last year, no one thought you would ever step onto a court again. Now, here you are, right-handed, and picking up speed with the Foxes, who finally seem to really deserve their Class I rank. It seems that you’ve really been pushing your fellow teammates.”

“Actually, we all push each other. You see, while I definitely push the Foxes to be better, they push me, too, not just with their own drills, but with stamina in a game. The Foxes are really big on endurance training. Coach Wymack really emphasizes on it considering how few of us there are, some of us are out here playing full games with no subs. So, yeah, when I got here I was getting good training in. Not only was I coming off of not being able to play for months, but I also hadn’t gone on long runs in forever. Years ago, before we were even on the Ravens, Riko and I would go running around campus. But once we were official Ravens and had night practices, we haven’t done it since. We had no time, we would spend our time on the court before we would even think of going running. The Foxes and Coach Wymack really helped me get back to where I needed to be, I’m so thankful to be able to play again.”

The reporter wouldn’t realize what Kevin had said, and how it didn’t match up. She would realize it when she went over tapes, or had someone write an article about Kevin bouncing back from a hit and run that happened while Riko and Kevin were on their usual late nights runs. While she was talking about it, or someone was writing about it, they would realize the discrepancy in that story when they noticed that Kevin said very clearly that he and Riko hadn’t ran together in years.

At that moment, though, she just nodded along with a grin on her face. Captain Danielle Wilds came into view, but Nathaniel didn’t catch what she was asked. All eyes were on Riko, because while the reporter wouldn’t catch the discrepancy, it was all the Ravens noticed. They were told by Riko himself that something terrible had happened to Kevin, by Tetsuji that Kevin was struck by a car while they were on their usual run. Yet, Kevin himself, the injured party, blew that truth out of the water in just a couple sentences.

“Didn’t you say that you and Kevin would go on runs all the time?” Jenkins asked.

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” Riko managed out, his eyes locked on the TV.

“He seemed very confident in what he had to say,” Andrew unexpectedly said from besides Nathaniel.

“Shut up!” Riko shouted, and Nathaniel didn’t miss some of their teammates flinching. He wondered if Riko felt his own validity crumbling to pieces. Riko looked over at where Nathaniel and Andrew were sitting, except his eyes weren’t on Andrew. He was staring directly at Nathaniel. Riko didn’t know that Andrew knew everything, he didn’t know that Nathaniel and Andrew were constantly speaking with Kevin; Riko thought that everything that really happened with Kevin was just a secret between him and Nathaniel. He was waiting for Nathaniel to say something, to say anything that would give up Riko’s crumbling alibi. It was a threat; if Nathaniel said one wrong thing, Riko would kill him. Riko wanted to see if Nathaniel was smart enough to stay quiet.

Nathaniel had an attitude problem, but luckily for him, he knew when to save his remarks for a later date when they would be more beneficial. To reveal the truth now would give Riko an opening to destroy Nathaniel; Nathaniel was smarter than that.

Nathaniel met Riko’s eyes and said nothing. For right now, he would leave Riko the satisfaction of thinking that he scared Nathaniel into silence. He would let Riko try to convince his teammates that Kevin was delusional, because inevitably he would fail.

The lie that had been formed was finally being broken apart. The end never looked so clear and bright.

--

In the morning, Tetsuji was forced to call off another practice. Instead of practicing, the Ravens were corralled into their lounge. Nathaniel was sitting on one of the loveseats with Andrew at his side. Riko was alert, sitting tense on one of the recliners. The rest of the athletes were groggy with sleep, but anyone with a mind could see what was happening.

The door from above swung open, and all heads turned to the staircase. Down walked Edgar Allan’s Director of the Board of Education and the Athletics’ Director. After them came Tetsuji; he looked emotionless, though Nathaniel had a feeling it was just a facade. Even he had to know what was coming for them.

The Education Director stared down the athletes. “After the departure of two of your athletes, one with severe injuries, one in need of ‘time away’, we grew suspicious. We planned to have done this already, but we were told it would have been of no use,” he said, sliding a look to Tetsuji. “Now, though, it either seems that it was of use, or one of your top athletes doesn’t know how he broke his hand. We have a warrant from the board to search through your dormitories-” He held up a piece of paper. In his other hand were black garbage bags. “-You all will stay here as we do so, and no one is permitted to take anything from their dorm or leave.” He paused. “This team is in hot water right now. Even if all of you are confident in that nothing incriminating is in these dorms, it would bode best for all of you to listen and comply.”

Nathaniel hoped that they would see Riko as incriminating evidence, but he didn’t know if they could remove a person and take him to the Board of Education for inspection.

The Athletics’ Director looked over the athletes in front of him, and his eyes came to a stop at Nathaniel. It had only been a few days since Riko hit him, and the bruise on his jaw was an unmissable, ugly green. The Director didn’t say anything, but Nathaniel imagined that he would take note of that.

Both directors waited a moment longer, a dare to see if any of the athletes would disapprove. When they were satisfied with no one’s response, they headed down the hall that led to the red dormitories. They were the dorms for the athletes with two digit numbers; the ones suspected to leave no impact on the Exy world. They weren’t the reasons for the Directors being down in the Nest, but maybe the two of them hadn’t heard about their corrupt captain.

It wasn’t long until the Directors came back to the lounge. The bags in their hands looked empty, perhaps one or two items that were prohibited thrown in, but nothing major. Nathaniel didn’t expect them to find anything there in the first place. The black dormitories would grant them much more success in their search. The single digit players were the ones expected to yield success, five (now three) of which were expected to be stars in the Exy world, three of which were expected to earn the Moriyamas money, one of which was a Moriyama. The Directors would have fun in that wing.

Nathaniel believed some bloodstained clothes were still tossed in a pile somewhere in his room. Laundry was such a hassle sometimes.

Nathaniel also knew that Riko had knives somewhere in his room, along with who knows what else, and that Kevin’s belongings were still in their shared room.

The Ravens watched as they entered the black wing. Nathaniel shifted his eyes to Riko, who was staring blankly down the hall. The tension in the room seemed to shift from bad to worse. Just twenty-four hours before, the Ravens who were not Perfect Court hadn’t expected anything. They believed that Kevin broke his hand in a hit-and-run. They knew Riko was violent but they didn’t know the extent of it. Nathaniel found himself wondering if they knew what he did to Jean. He wasn’t going to ask to find out.

But now, everything had changed. Kevin had revealed that perhaps Tetsuji -who was standing perfectly still, watching over his team- and Riko had lied about what happened to him. Their rooms were being searched for evidence that the Ravens were a corrupt team, and how it was to be found in their captain’s room. Nathaniel always knew the corruption in the Ravens and how it tiered down from the Moriyamas, and he saw how blind they all were to it when they all believed Tetsuji’s words with no question, but now they couldn’t trust who they were forced to.

In this room, everyone’s lives were being flipped around. The rest of the Ravens couldn’t be blind, or play blind, any longer. Their team was at stake, and if Nathaniel knew any of these people, they either played Exy or they died. There was no way they could turn away from the corruption and the violence when there was a chance they would lose their only way of breathing easy.

What a tragic life these Ravens lived.

A couple minutes passed and the directors came back. Their bags were significantly more filled. The Athletics’ Director sweeped a cool gaze over everyone in the room before landing on Tetsuji. “We need to speak with you about some of the… belongings your athletes had, specifically in that room at the end.”

The room at the end was Riko’s.

Tetsuji nodded once. He followed them up the stairs.

When the door swung close, eyes shifted from one to another but, in the end, they fell upon their captain. Nathaniel turned to Riko and opened his mouth. The words he said next could have been borderline suicidal if Riko wasn’t under such heavy scrutiny. His next words told Riko that he had no secrets any longer; everything that he had done was bound to be brought to surface:

“Careful Riko, everyone’s watching.”

Riko said nothing, but he did tense his jaw. Out of his peripheral vision, Nathaniel saw Andrew give the smallests of nods to Riko.

It was enough to show that this secret between Riko and Nathaniel was never really between them at all. It was a sign that Riko was never as subtle as he hoped.

Nathaniel wondered if Riko’s stomach flipped at his fall from grace, or if it fell freely because, in the back of his mind, he knew everything would come crashing down at one point.

[im-youngmin]

[TRANS] 170727 MXM’s Interview with Ilgan Sports (Group + Individual)

Group Interview:

Q: How do you feel with your new song release ahead?

Youngmin: Since it’s our first area being shown as a singer, I’m nervous. Above all, I wish to show that we are idols who have infinite possibilities.

Q: How did you guys feel when you heard that the two of you were going to be a unit?

Youngmin: Since Donghyun’s the only other adult, he was the dongsaeng I was closest with. Also, we’re a unit that is tied with each other through Christmas.

Donghyun: My birthday is ‘Confession Day’, which is September 17th. Exactly 100 days later, it’s Youngmin hyung’s birthday, which is on Christmas. Fans told us that, so I felt that meeting hyung was fate.

Q: Tell us about working as a unit.

Youngmin:When we don’t have any specific schedules, Donghyun and I would go to the company when we would wake up to record and edit the lyrics. Although I had a short amount of experience with recording through ‘Produce’, it was the first time having all of the company people come and direct. I tried to get accustomed to that mood at first.

Q: Did you ever get scolded at?

Donghyun: Since I wanted to show songs with various colors, we changed the genre and did it numerous times. Every time the genre changed, I was a bit confused, so I was lost.

Youngmin: I got scolded at a lot. I needed to sensibly fix it after getting direction, but I wasn’t able to understand it right away. But Rhymer CEO said ‘You guys improved a lot’. There was a time I recorded as practice before ‘Produce’, but I got scolded at a lot at that time.

Q: Is there something Rhymer CEO told you that you remember the most?

Donghyun: He encouraged us by saying, ‘Let’s work hard as a unit while Daehwi and Woojin are promoting as WANNA ONE. Until we form together as a idol group ultimately, let’s do our best in our own spots.’

Youngmin: He told us, ‘The love you are receiving right now is a big affect from the character or personality shown through the broadcast. If you want to continue to receive love, your skills are important. You need to fulfill even more than that.’ He said that we need to continue to make good music, so it’s important to listen to a lot of music for now.

Q: Brand New Music is famous for its hip-hop genre.

MXM: The music we will be showing isn’t restricted to hip-hop. That’s why we think many are curious. Although we’re under a hip-hop label, since we’re debuting as idols, we plan to show a bright and fun side. We also want to try out a variety of music.

Donghyun: Among the pre-release tracks, there is a song that I composed and wrote lyrics for. I showed it before through a V App, but that was under an acoustic genre. The current arranged version has a slight beat and the tempo was sped up. It’s different from the acoustic version I made, so I liked it.

Q: Why did you come to Brand New Music?

Donghyun: It’s a company with many artist seniors who are good at music and when I thought of Brand New Music as a company that’s good at music. I thought that I would be able to learn a lot if I were to go there, so I auditioned for Brand New Music. After being a trainee under JYP, I came out and was preparing for college entrance exams, but the opportunity came.

Youngmin: Since I like dancing, I danced and gradually fell into the genre of hip-hop. I heard that Brand New Music was making an idol group and tried out and came in.

Q: While preparing for the unit, did you have a chance to talk seriously?

Youngmin: We didn’t go somewhere specific or drink alcohol for it. We just naturally had a talk. We discussed our concept and asked about our self-composed songs. Since we live together and eat together and are attached to each other for 24 hours, we have a lot of time to talk.

Q: How is your dorm life?

Youngmin: Donghyun is scared of bugs. Even though he isn’t scared of ghosts, if a bugs appears in a room, he’s someone who will run to another room (Laughter). When we filmed the hidden box challenge during ‘Produce 101’, I think he wasn’t able to place his hand in fear that there would be a bug.

Donghyun: The towel in our dorm used to be white, but one day, it was suddenly all pink. I wondered why it was like that, but to think that it was because of Youngmin hyung’s red dyed hair… I found out only now.

Youngmin: I didn’t tell him, but secretly just said, ‘I used your towel’. Since I dyed my hair red, the color bled really well, so I even bought shampoo that would make it not bleed.

Youngmin’s Interview:

Q: There were a lot of nicknames created thanks to your red hair.

Youngmin: I was called ‘Cherry Boy’ at first, but after finding out that my parents have a tomato farm, I became ‘Tomato Boy’. It was my first time dyeing my hair, but since I bleached it, it hurt so much to where I thought it was ripping. To be honest, I didn’t want to do it, but since there are people who recognize me from this, I asked them to make it deeper so that the color wouldn’t fade (laughter).

Q: Do you remember when you first came to Seoul?

Youngmin: I lived alone for 2 weeks in order to prepare for the JYP Open Auditions. When I came to Seoul again at 20 to enter college, I didn’t really feel anything special. I think I only thought about the task at hand. I also had a time where I thought to fix my dialect.

Q:There are many fans who like when you use your dialect.

Youngmin: There was an audition where I had to just show my singing and dancing without any self-introduction. I passed the 1st round after singing and dancing, but my dialect became a negative during the 2nd round when I did my self-introduction. I was ultimately eliminated, so I tried to fix it after that, but I ended up speaking less from that. I was happy that there were many people from Busan during ‘Produce 101’. Including Woojin, there was Kang Daniel, Hwang Minhyun, and Choi Minki among others, but Minhyun and Minki used Seoul dialect well since they’ve lived in Seoul for a long time.

Q: Once you debut, you’ll probably meet on music broadcasts as singers.

Youngmin: There are people who are preparing for debut like we are and there’s also Hotshot and NU’EST seniors. Rather than think of them as competitors, I feel happy and proud that we all are did well and can meet again. I hope we could all do well.

Q: There’s the duo, Yongguk&Sihyun, coming out at a similar time.

Youngmin: I really spent a lot of time with Yongguk. We’re close enough to the point where Yongguk told me that he’s preparing as a duo with Sihyun when he was eliminated after the ‘Open Up’ stage. Even at that time, we didn’t have anything set about a unit, so I didn’t know that we would come out at such a similar time. I’m really supporting them. While promoting as a unit, I hope we could meet on broadcast.

Q: Im Youngmin received all of the benefits on ‘Produce 101’, but is there a method behind it?

Youngmin: My ultimate goal was to just do the performance well. To be honest, the benefit was a priority during ‘Be Mine’. I wanted to stand out more to national producers that way. However, afterwards, I don’t think I really thought much about the benefit. Especially for ‘Open Up’, I wanted to do the performance well and garner interest and record the fancam well to show. I think that worked more for the hearts’ of national producers.

Q: You were diligent during the 2x dance for ‘Open Up’ too.

Youngmin: They said we were going to be doing it once more, so I didn’t think much of it, but I didn’t know that the beat would be that fast. I remember we were all hectic to the point where Kenta and Dongho couldn’t even dance. While doing it, I felt that I could do well once I became accustomed to the tempo.

Q: If you had to choose something you gained from ‘Produce 101’?

Youngmin: I think my expressions and talking improved a lot. I’m also good at not sleeping. While practicing, I think I slept around 2 hours. Since I focused only on the performance, my screentime was comparatively short. But I don’t have any regrets.

Q: Did your family support you too?

Youngmin:They’re the type to tell me that I’m the one who makes my own life and quietly support me from the back. I thought that they would just watch over me to that point during ‘Produce 101’ too, but my mom told me, ‘Your dad only searches about you all day long’, so I was surprised. My mom also told me that she was going to hang my slogan at her women’s society, so I strongly tried to stop her, but she ended up hanging it. My older brother also only studies, so we didn’t really talk, but he promoted me a lot and gave a lot of helps.

Donghyun’s Interview:

Q: How does Kim Donghyun feel about revealing a self-composed track?

Donghyun: It still feels unfamiliar to go from being a trainee to a singer. After receiving compliments that I did better than they thought, I gained strength and was able to enjoy recording and editing.

Q: Since there are many people with the same name, I feel like you may need a stage name.

Donghyun: As a matter of fact, I thought about it. I think that there’s a minimum of 60 people that show up in the search. So I search ‘Brand New Kim Donghyun’. But then it searches for our company’s Kim Donghyun (MC Gree’s real name). Haha.

Q: Is there a stage name you thought about?

Donghyun: Making a stage name is something to be quite careful about. You can’t make it sound awkward, but I think it will also be a bit strange if it sounds too friendly.

Q: But you seem to have a quite a variety of nicknames.

Donghyun: I went to the convenience store, but they asked me, ‘Aren’t you Honggeonie?’. They called me Honggeonie and not my real name, so it was funny. Honggeonie is a nickname I gained from singing ‘Between Hongdae and Geondae’, but if I were to pick among the two, I think I’m more familiar with Geondae.

Q: Have you seen the pictures fans post as well?

Donghyun: There are funny pictures from when I was younger that are being posted. Although there are times I feel embarrassed, I’m thankful for even that kind of interest. The graduation picture where I’m cross-dressing as a girl was taken forcefully by my friends. I came out of Namdaejeon High School, but it’s the same school as Song Joongki and Hong Seokchun seniors.

Q: Is there something you were surprised about when you first came to Seoul?

Donghyun: There’s only one subway line in Daejeon, but Seoul was really confusing. When I first came to Seoul, I transferred on the subway twice and went to various locations. My mother came to Seoul and we went to see subway ads together, but I was able to navigate her well (laughter).

Q: The moment you remember the most while doing ‘Produce 101’?

Donghyun: I couldn’t even imagine that I would have been competing with Dongho hyung on Punch King. There are three friends I’m close with in Daejeon, but I’ve only tried this a few times with those friends. Right before my fist touched it, I felt that I hit it well, but I didn’t know that it would be on the level of competing with Dongho hyung.

Youngmin: As someone who watched from the side, I didn’t know that Donghyun would get his screentime from there.

Q: If Im Youngmin were to describe Kim Donghyun’s charms?

Youngmin: He’s the one who eats the best among Brand New. He eats everything well besides mushrooms. One time during ‘Produce 101’, mushroom curry came out as the menu, but he picked out all the mushrooms.

Donghyun: There were a lot of tiny mushrooms in it. It was a time where I ate a lot because I was hungry, but I slowly picked out all the mushrooms and put it onto Youngmin hyung’s tray. Youngmin hyung is kind, so he said to give it all to him.

Youngmin: Afterwards, I told him to never give me mushrooms again (Laughter). It was like I ate mushroom rice.

Q: It must have been tiring practicing and you probably had a lack of sleeping.

Donghyun: Everyone was working hard. Rather than be tired, I think we were all busy with the task we were given. Thanks to that, I’ve gained the ability to sleep well wherever as long as I place my head down. Since I don’t sleep-talk, I lay down in that spot and wake up the same way.

Q: I heard you had a lot of interest in Japanese.

Donghyun: I wanted to learn Japanese a bit and converse with Kenta hyung. I would ask him this and that and use it the next day. He taught me ‘Do you want to eat?’, so I used it during lunch time on the next day.

Q: It seems like you like trying a variety of things.

Donghyun: Even with music, I like trying out a variety of genres. Although I like an acoustic feel, I want to try a variety of good transformations. I also want to try out ash bronze as a hair color.

Q: If you had to choose something you gained from ‘Produce 101’?

Donghyun: I think I really just prepared because I focused only on the performance. Joining the program was full of question marks for me, but it has changed into a tilde (~) now. It feels like I’ve passed my trainee status and am now doing something. I want to show new charms of myself in the process of preparing to become a professional.

original post: ilgan sports translation credits: @woojinprk

[viralhottopics]

No one can read whats on the cards for AIs future | John Naughton

AI is now beating us at poker, but not even Google co-founder Sergey Brin can say with any certainty what the next steps for machine learning are

Ten days ago, in a Davos still shellshocked by Trumps victory, one of the former masters of the universe sat down with an interviewer to talk about artificial intelligence (AI) and the future. His name is Sergey Brin and he is one of the co-founders of Google. The tone of the conversation was thoughtful but subdued, possibly because Brin is not a master in Trumps universe, but mainly because hes a smart and thoughtful guy. When asked about the future of AI he replied sensibly that it was impossible to forecast accurately and followed up with a story from his own experience.

Ten years ago, Brin was running Googles X lab, the place where they work on projects that have, at best, a 100-1 chance of success. One little project there was called Google Brain, which focused on AI. To be perfectly honest, Brin said, I didnt pay any attention to it at all. Brain was headed by a computer scientist named Jeff Dean who, Brin recalled, would periodically come up to me and say, Look the computer made a picture of a cat! and I would say, OK, thats very nice, Jeff go do your thing, whatever. Fast-forward a few years and now Brain probably touches every single one of our main projects ranging from search to photos to ads everything we do. This revolution in deep nets has been very profound and definitely surprised me even though I was right in there. I could, you know, throw paper clips at Jeff.

Fast-forward a week from that interview and cut to Pittsburgh, where four leading professional poker players are pitting their wits against an AI program created by two Carnegie Mellon university researchers. Theyre playing a particular kind of high-stakes poker called heads-up no-limit Texas holdem. The program is called Libratus, which is Latin for balanced. There is, however, nothing balanced about its performance. Just over halfway through the 20-day game, Libratus was $800,000 up on the humans, some of whom were beginning to feel depressed. I didnt realise how good it was until today, said one of them, Dong Kim. I felt like I was playing against someone who was cheating, like it could see my cards. Im not accusing it of cheating. It was just that good.

The match doesnt end until tomorrow (you can follow it via the hashtag #brainsvsai) and so we dont know yet if the computer will win. But even if it doesnt, another milestone has been passed on the road to artificial intelligence, because the Pittsburgh contest has shown that a machine can play a pretty mean game of poker against real human experts. This is a big deal, because poker requires reasoning and intelligence that have up until now eluded machines. Theres no single optimal move and the machine has to change its tactics to ensure that its opponents find it hard to guess when its bluffing. Poker, says Will Knight, a robotics expert, is fundamentally different from checkers, chess, or Go because an opponents hand remains hidden from view during play. In games of imperfect information, it is enormously complicated to figure out the ideal strategy given every possible approach your opponent may be taking. And no-limit Texas holdem is especially challenging because an opponent could essentially bet any amount.

The Pittsburgh contest will definitely take its place in a sequence of significant stages in the road to some kind of AI. Earlier ones have included IBMs 1997 Deep Blue victory over Garry Kasparov in chess, its Watson machines victory in the Jeopardy! quiz game in 2011 and DeepMinds AlphaGo beating the world Go champion in March 2016. Each of these was, understandably, regarded as a stunning achievement at the time, but in reality they were baby steps on what looks like being a very long journey, despite all the hype about superintelligence.

Garry Kasparov holds his head in his hands at the start of his sixth and final chess match against IBMs Deep Blue computer, 11 May 1997. Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

So how could we make an intelligent assessment about the question put to Brin in Davos? One way favoured by the research community is to distinguish between two types of AI strong and weak. Strong AI means machines with human-level abilities of perception, natural language, reasoning and motor control. Weak AI means the kind of AI we have now the stuff that enables Amazon or Netflix to guess what you might want to buy or watch next or that Google uses to autocomplete search queries: in other words, machine learning plus big data. So in one sense you could say that the future of AI is already here. Strong AI, on the other hand, seems a long way off. Geoffrey Hinton, one of the real gurus of the field, doesnt see it coming in his lifetime (he turns 70 this year). But although Brin is only 43, he might not get to see it either.

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from No one can read whats on the cards for AIs future | John Naughton