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hazbincalifornia · 4 years ago

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First Day Back

Chapter 5: Blitzo tries to get right back into the swing of things.

Likes, replies, and reblogs are all appreciated, both here and on ao3!

Warnings: Mpreg, emetophobia (vomit) and written gore/death in relation to an IMP job.

Ao3 link

Blitzo was drawing a horse and chewing on a bagel when Millie knocked on the door to his office.

“Blitzo?”

He spat the bagel out on a napkin, scattering crumbs over his drawing paper until he brushed them off. “Yeah?”

She pushed the door open. “You doing okay?”

“Geez, I’m not gonna have dissolved into a pile of limp-dick spaghetti in the half-day since you last saw me.” He rolled his eyes. “Tell Moxxie to not worry either. I’ve got this under control. Stolas agreed to the stipend thing and it’ll be at least another couple months before I have to be off-duty.”

“That’s good. That’s real good, as long as you know your limits, you know?” She gave a sweet little half-smile, and Blitzo was again reminded of what Moxxie saw in her. “So, what’s the job today?”

Blitzo pulled out his schedule and flipped it over. The ink was slightly smeared from when he’d first written it, but it was still legible. His finger cast a shadow from the light of the lamp over the name. “A pretty typical one. Her ex-husband took off with a bunch of money like a week before she had a heart attack, so she never got it back and wants him to pay for it. Apparently, they were right in the middle of the divorce because he was slapping her around like a party clown at a picky kid’s party and she was fucking his best friend in revenge. She said they’ve got a kid, but he was on the verge of moving out so we probably don’t have to worry about him.”

Millie nodded. “Alright. Anything special we need to know?”

Blitzo shook his head, settling back on the chair, and it creaked as his tail idly flicked behind him. “I asked if he’s got any weapons, and she said not that she knew of. He’s some fatass loser, so it should be easy.” He cracked his neck. “We’ll probably be done within the hour, especially if we nab the guy at home. She didn’t give any special death circumstances, so it’s just a bullet to the head like usual. It didn’t sound like he had a lot of friends other than his dad, I bet it’ll take them a week to find the body.”

“What, are you gonna keep track?”

Blitzo gave her a fingergun and clicked his tongue, pretending to shoot her right in the heart.

“Eeeeeh, got me there Millz. Just grab Moxxie, maybe we can clock out early today.”

She pressed a hand over her chest, pretending to swoon. “Oh, right where it hurts!” Her grin widened and she straightened up, nodding at him. “You got it.” She clicked the door shut behind her after leaving, and Blitzo grabbed his half-bagel again, stuffing it in his mouth whole before swallowing hard.

“This’ll be a breeze.”

____________________

It was easy enough to find the place- the portal popped out directly in the backyard. Blitzo’s finger twitched on the side of his rifle. He liked the longer-range weapons when there was any possibility of targets trying to run, but he doubted it was going to be much use today other than helping with aim. The weight was still nice in his arms, though. He really liked this gun.

“You two, fan out. Make sure there aren’t any extra witnesses. She mentioned that he’s close to his dad, so let’s hope he isn’t in a visiting mood. The geezer’d have a bad enough day cleaning his son’s brains up off the kitchen floor, let's hope he isn't here to see them get blasted out on top of that.” Blitzo paused. "Might be easier to just take care of both of them in that case, although him babbling about demons might just get him blamed for the job and put us in the clear." He shrugged. "Eh, not our problem either way."

Moxxie flinched but nodded, and Millie nodded along with him.

“Got it,” Moxxie said. “I brought the chloroform in case anyone else sees us.”

“Good call.” Bitzo nodded back. “We’ll take the ground floor first, then go upstairs if we have to.”

The other two nodded again, and Blitzo ignored an uncomfortable gurgling in his stomach, choosing instead to sling the rifle over his shoulder and start fiddling with the lock.

“I used to wonder how you even got into our apartment, but…” Moxxie trailed off.

“It’s a useful skill,” Blitzo replied, only half-listening until the lock clicked and he creaked the door open. He went in first, looking around. There was a single light on, somewhere around the corner, but the living room they entered was dark. He waved his hand forward, and Millie and Moxxie trod lightly on the carpeting behind him.

The light turned out to be a dead end- it was the kitchen, but no one was in it. “Dammit,” Blitzo muttered. “Fan out.”

Moxxie headed upstairs while Millie checked the next room over, and Blitzo doubled back to a side room off the living room, creaking the door open and wincing at the noise that it made. Dammit, didn't people keep that shit oiled?

There he was- sleeping like a baby, even through the creaking door. He even had a nightlight on. That cheered Blitzo up- man, this was gonna be too easy. He lifted the gun- just as his stomach decided it was time for a rather violent rebellion and forced its contents back up through his throat with an acidic burn that was vaguely citrus-esque, splattering the cheekpiece and forcing him to drop it with a yelp as it began to bubble and smoke. The imp spat the puke out, taking an involuntary step back as his head dragged down like a lead weight to stare at it.

“What in the sweet pissing fuck- ”

“Gah!” The target sat straight up and started screaming, high and shrill and very, very irritating. Blitzo fumbled for the gun, but his fingers didn’t seem to be working right and his stomach was still doing flips and that screaming was pounding into his skull-

Three shots went off, and the screaming abruptly screeched to a stop, replaced by wet gurgling. It took a few seconds to process that the rifle was still shaking in his hands, and the soupy vomit was oozing over the half-melted back end and soaking into his gloves.

He blinked dumbly for a few seconds before it sunk in and he dropped the gun again. It hit the puddle of puke already on the carpet just as Millie and Moxxie ran into the room.

“Sir?” Moxxie asked at the same time as Millie called “Blitzo!” Blitzo, meanwhile, stared at the wall. One of the shots had hit the man’s neck, but the other two had gone wide, one shattering a picture and the other hitting the headboard. The target was currently choking on his own blood, grasping for his adam’s apple but just smearing blood all over his fingers in the process. Moxxie stepped around Blitzo, using his pistol to plug a bullet directly into the skull to stop the choking noises and blowing bits of brain into the headboard. Which was good. Blitzo kind of felt like puking again.

It was just the wet gurgly noise, he was more than used to the gore.

“What happened?” Millie asked. “He was still in bed- did he manage to-”

“This was exactly the kind of thing I was worried about.” Moxxie grimaced, swiping a shirt off the end of the bed and using it to wipe off Blitzo’s face. “Eep!” The shirt started dissolving in his hands and he dropped it like- well, like it was melting in his hands. “What’s going on?”

“It seems like my puke is melting things,” Blitzo said, swiping at it with his hand. “It doesn’t usually do that.”

“Yeah, I’ve cleaned your drunk ass-”

“Moxxie!” Millie protested.

“-Up off the floor a few times, and it’s never done that before. It has to be a pregnancy thing.” Moxxie sighed, sticking his hand in Blitzo’s jacket to rummage around before pulling out the phone. “Let’s just head back.”

“Putting the moves on me, Moxx? When I just upchucked on the target’s carpet? You’re shameless.”

“Let's not do this right now,” Moxxie mumbled with just a hint of annoyance, dialing the IMP number. “Just go sit down, I don’t want to have to carry you back to the office if you get sick again.”

Blitzo's head did still feel a little spinny, and he leaned against the wall as Moxxie set the phone against his head. “Just hurry it up, the lady said she wanted us to call her as soon as we got back.”

“Yes, we’re done. Open the portal. Yes, it’s Moxxie. No, I didn’t...”

Blitzo let the conversation fade a little, staring down at the floor. The vomit had started to eat away at the carpet underneath, as well as the flame paint job on the side of the rifle. He liked those flames, he’d have to repaint them. In fact, he was probably going to have to replace the whole back half now anyway. It wouldn’t that hard, gun stores were a dime a dozen in Hell, but still, the fact that his body was already doing such weird shit- acid vomit, of all things?- just made his guts bubble uncomfortably, even after the red glow on the other end of the room said that the portal had been opened.

“Maybe we can find a way to weaponize it,” Millie said, patting his arm. “I mean, acid bombs sound pretty cool.”

Blitzo scooped the gun up, relieved that it at least didn’t burn his fingers, and lightly bounced it in his hands. The weight was all off now. “You may be on to something there.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Moxxie grumbled, but he brushed a bit of goop off of Blitzo’s arm before stepping through the portal.

Blitzo’s fingers curled tightly around the remains of the rifle as he followed.

#one time #shadow writes stuff #helluva mpreg #daddy blitzo #gore #emetophobia #helluva boss

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syncogon · 7 years ago

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summary: During the entirety of Ye Qiu's eight-and-a-half season Glory career, as far as the general public knows, One Autumn Leaf's user is male. A select few, however, she trusts enough to reveal the truth. (fem!Ye Xiu)

(( i finally (well, like a week ago) got an ao3! so here’s a shameless plug of a little one-shot I wrote and posted. there’s some other stuff too (and i’ll be posting/compiling my old things there too) so feel free to check it out!))

((since it’s not TOO long, i’ll put the full text on tumblr as well. please read/comment/enjoy!))

Ye Xiu is fifteen years old when she runs away from home. With hardly a semblance of a plan in mind, she carries her twin’s identity and belongings and she wanders until stumbling upon a certain internet café. She has limited money, but she pays for some time on a vacant computer and slides into the seat.

There’s a boy sitting nearby, about her age, laughing as he handily defeats challenger after challenger, money trading hands. Ye Xiu recognizes the game, of course, it’s one of many she’s played. And so when no one else seems quite so eager to take a turn, she speaks up.

“Hey, I’ll play you,” she says. The boy gives her a once over. His previous challengers had been of varying ages, but, notably, were all male. Still, if he’s surprised to see a young girl so boldly want to fight, he doesn’t show it.

“Sure,” he says with an easy and friendly grin. “You’re new here, so we’ll keep money out of this. But I won’t go easy on you!”

To that, Ye Xiu only smirks.

The boy is skilled, for sure. The match drags on, and there are several moments where Ye Xiu very nearly loses. But, ultimately, she executes a clever move that earns her the victory.

“Damnit!” she hears him yell. And then, a second later, “That was amazing! Rematch?”

“You’re on.”

Slowly, a crowd of internet café patrons gathers around them to watch. It seems that this boy – named Su Muqiu, as she eventually learns – is quite well-known around this crowd for his skill, and they’re excited to see him meet someone who can match him. There are some murmurs of surprise that his opponent is a girl, but Ye Xiu forces herself to ignore them.

Eventually, Su Muqiu declares that they should take a break.

“What, tired of losing?” she teases him, but she’s almost out of time on the computer anyway, and so stands up and logs off.

“You wish,” Su Muqiu snorts. “We’re settling this later. Mucheng, come on, let’s eat over there.”

The little girl whom Ye Xiu noticed earlier scurries forward, holding a bag that she offers to the boy. Siblings, judging by their appearances, and Ye Xiu feels a brief pang of regret at abandoning her twin. She furiously squashes the feeling. She would go back, eventually.

Su Muqiu takes several steps before pausing to find Ye Xiu still standing there next to the computers. “Well? Are you coming?” he asks, and Ye Xiu hurries over to join them, her new family.

********

“Glory supports female avatars,” says Su Muqiu one day, peering over at his friend’s screen curiously. “Why’re you still sticking to male?”

Ye Xiu gives Su Muqiu a look. “Do you have any idea what it’s like, being a so-called ‘girl gamer’?” she says flatly.

“…No?”

“It sucks.”

Su Muqiu waits for her to say more, but when she merely continues to maneuver the game in silence, he prompts, “In what way?”

“Well,” she begins, still staring intently at her screen, “it’s not 'proper' for girls to be interested in gaming, for one. So a lot of guys will be condescending and won’t take me seriously, even if I could beat them up in ten seconds, because apparently there’s no such thing as a girl that’s good at gaming.

“Any sexist joke you’ve heard of, kitchens, sandwiches, anything, I can guarantee someone’s made it to me. And I’ve had my fair share of disgusting comments and come-ons and general harassment as well. I’ve been lucky enough not to get in any physical danger, but I’ve heard plenty of stories about that too.

“Anyway, when Glory announced that they were including the option for female avatars, you should have seen the backlash – men were acting like it was a personal attack on their freedom to even have this option exist. ‘Pandering to feminazis’ they said, and a whole lot of other bullshit.

“So if I use a male avatar, I can pass as a guy, and avoid all of that trouble. Glory has voice chat, but my voice isn’t particularly feminine, so there haven’t been troubles on that end, yet.” Ye Xiu takes a deep breath. She isn’t usually the type to say so much at once, but Su Muqiu’s question prompted an outflow of all the grievances she’s quietly suffered during all these years playing games. She’s long since accepted it as a fact of the gaming world, but that doesn’t mean that she isn’t irritated by it.

“Sorry for the rant, but yeah. That’s why One Autumn Leaf is male.”

“…Oh…” At the end of all of that, Su Muqiu is at somewhat of a loss for words. He was aware that these attitudes existed, of course, but he thought they were ridiculous – what did your gender have to do with how good you were? His friend here was living proof of that. He hadn’t realized just how prevalent these views were, and it makes him sick.

To think Ye Xiu has to deal with all of that… To think that she still loves gaming anyway. Su Muqiu feels his admiration for his friend grow.

“I’m sorry,” he says, even though he knows those are about the most useless words he could say.

She shrugs. “For what? You’re a good guy. This is just how things are.”

Later, when Su Muqiu starts making alternate accounts, he still makes Dancing Rain female for his sister. But he makes Lord Grim female as well, out of respect for a different girl.

********

When Ye Xiu steps onto the professional stage – no longer with her closest friend and best partner – she presents herself as her twin, Ye Qiu. Ye Qiu is female, like her, otherwise she’d never be able to pass her “borrowed” ID as her own. But she begs Club Excellent Era to hide her gender, in addition to her face and practically every other identifying piece of information about herself.

This still being the early days of the League, when things weren’t quite so commercialized, the Club agrees to these terms. Later, looking at the success of All-Stars Su Mucheng and Chu Yunxiu, some of the Club regret this decision. But at the time, it hadn’t seemed like that big a deal, not much of a stretch from allowing Ye Xiu to avoid all public appearances. And having their team publicly led by a female captain had seemed like a publicity risk, anyway.

Among her own teammates, of course, Ye Xiu can’t keep up the gender part of her identity lie. Wu Xuefeng is surprised to learn that the incredible Battle Mage with whom he’d played in-game all this time was actually a girl, but he’s nothing but supportive from the start. Some of the others are more skeptical, but their doubts are silenced after they see her in action.

A championship is a championship, after all, and Battle God One Autumn Leaf earns them three.

So during the entirety of Ye Qiu’s eight-and-a-half season professional career, as far as the fans and the public know, Ye Qiu is male. It’s much more difficult to hide from her fellow proplayers – but she doesn’t particularly want to hide from them, only from the public. As she says, Glory isn’t a single player game, and this means forming bonds with not only teammates but opponents as well. So to those proplayers that earn her respect and trust despite being on rival teams, she reveals herself in person:

***

Han Wenqing is even more terrifying in person than any pictures could convey, and he towers over the somewhat short and skinny girl in front of him. Not that she’s cowering. There’s an amused gleam in Ye Xiu’s eye as she looks at him. Surprising the steadfast King of Fighting is no easy task, after all. And though Han Wenqing is fairly good at hiding his emotions behind a scary poker face, the revelation that his longtime rival was actually a she was enough to get a reaction from him.

“So then,” asks Han Wenqing as he remembers another question he’s had for a while, “where is Autumn Tree? That player was quite skilled as well, he would do well in the professional scene.”

Han Wenqing isn’t the type of person to have regrets. He finds them unnecessary and a waste of time. In his view, one should simply concentrate on moving forward, channeling all energy and focus toward the future.

But now, seeing Ye Xiu’s expression tighten, he does wish he could retract that question.

“He’s gone,” she finally answers, quietly. “Car accident.”

“Oh.” What’s the proper thing to say to something like that? “That’s… a shame.”

“Yes. He would have been a god.” Ye Xiu sighs and looks off into the distance, looking so much… sadder… than her shameless in-game persona would have led him to believe possible.

But her eyes turn back to him soon enough. “But we keep living anyway. Isn’t that right, Old Han?”

Han Wenqing nods, and Ye Xiu smiles and makes to leave.

“Ye Qiu,” he calls after her, “see you on stage.”

She doesn’t look back, but does give a friendly wave in reply, and Han Wenqing hopes he’ll be able to see his remarkable rival again soon.

***

As Hundred Blossoms makes their way through the passageways under the stage after their startling defeat to Excellent Era, they come across a girl in red Excellent Era uniform leaning casually against the wall.

“Captain wishes to speak to you two,” she informs Zhang Jiale and Sun Zheping, who are standing at the head of the line. The passageway is narrow, so it’s hard for the other Hundred Blossom team members to catch a glimpse of her.

She’s avoiding their gazes, acting somewhat timid and nervous, but she seems sincere enough. Sun Zheping gestures for the rest of the team to head back to their room, and he and his vice captain follow the girl down a different path.

She leads them to a vacant room, where Zhang Jiale finally bursts out, impatient, “So where is this mysterious captain of yours, huh?”

“Right here.”

Zhang Jiale’s mouth actually falls open. Sun Zheping’s reaction is more subdued, though he’s just as stunned.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiu continues speaking, any semblance of the timid façade casually discarded. “To be honest, that match was kind of disappointing,” she says airily. “The undefeated Blood and Blossom duo was hyped up all this season, and when we finally face you, your combination just kind of falls apart like that? You new guys still have a long ways to go.”

She’s mocking them, but there’s no real animosity behind it. This sort of playful trashtalk was common in the pro scene. But, of course, Sun Zheping wasn’t going to take it lying down.

“My respect for Wu Xuefeng grows with each passing second,” he says, “for having to deal with you on a regular basis.”

Ye Xiu only smiles and makes a mock bow.

Zhang Jiale, having picked his jaw up off the floor, butts in, “We’ll beat you next time for sure!” He’s making finger guns for emphasis, and Ye Xiu can’t help but laugh at the enthusiasm.

“We’ll see, we’ll see.”

***

“Unexpected,” says Wang Jiexi, raising an eyebrow. The action only emphasizes his unnaturally large eye, and Ye Xiu stifles a snort.

“High praise from the unpredictable Magician,” she replies, instead.

“Is there any reason for telling this to me now?”

“Mm,” she tilts her head, “not really, I suppose, but it does feel nice to let people know. Sometimes their reactions are funny.”

“…I see.”

“Do you, though? With those mismatched eyes of yours?”

Wang Jiexi huffs at that, but Ye Xiu’s pleased to see the hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

***

Yu Wenzhou takes in the news with hardly a blink, completely calm, like he is in every other aspect of his life. His companion, of course, reacts slightly differently.

“What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck One Autumn Leaf is actually a girl are you fucking serious my entire life is a lie there are already so few girls in the League and it turns out one of them is the Battle God are there any other big life changing revelations I’ve missed? But no ultimately it doesn’t make that big a difference I guess because you’re still a good player and I still want to fight you and I still won’t go easy on you at all got it that’s right I want to PKPKPKPKPK with you right now and you’re not getting out of this okay are you even listening to me huh?!”

“You’re even more of a headache in person…” Ye Xiu says flatly. “Captain Yu, I’m impressed you haven’t gone deaf.”

Yu Wenzhou smiles and shrugs helplessly.

Aside from the gender, One Autumn Leaf’s user is about what he expected, especially that aura of quiet confidence. And even just from their short interaction, Yu Wenzhou can tell that she has a true tactician’s mind, quick and lively and calculating. He hopes to speak with her again, if only to compare notes with the original of the four Master Tacticians.

Judging from how Huang Shaotian rambles on about “that girl” for days after, the talkative proplayer definitely feels the same.

***

“Senior…Ye Qiu?”

The girl nods.

Zhou Zekai stares at her in silence for a while, before finally mustering the strength to say, “You’re… pretty… amazing.” He wants to say more, but he isn’t sure how.

Ye Xiu laughs. “Why, thanks,” she says. “But so are you. I’m looking forward to our next match.”

At that, Zhou Zekai loses all capacity for speech, and can only nod.

***

Chu Yunxiu walks alongside Ye Xiu, unsure of what to say. The fact that the number one player of Glory, the number one of such a male-dominated field, was a girl… It didn’t change everything, of course, but it did change a lot.

“Do you resent me for hiding?” the other girl asks suddenly.

Chu Yunxiu considers. The polite response, of course, would be an immediate “no,” but the question is so unexpected it forces her to give it serious thought. Her own path would have been easier if there had been a figure at the top she could point at and say, look, there’s proof that girls can do this too, even better than boys.

But things had worked out in the end. She was among the top in this field, now, leading a powerhouse team with the highest female-to-male ratio in the League. And Chu Yunxiu was proud of the path she’d taken, what she’d accomplished in the gaming world. Of course, she didn’t play Glory to be an icon of feminine empowerment, or whatever the media called her.

But she would support the cause in the capacity she could, including as a symbol for young girls to follow their dreams.

“No,” replies Chu Yunxiu, after this thoughtful silence. She hesitates, looking at Ye Xiu, wondering if she should say more, or if the other girl understands.

Ye Xiu smiles faintly, and they continue walking.

***

Ye Xiu meets a few others in person as well. And so, among the upper levels of the proplayers – the captains and vice captains and All-Stars and powerhouse teams – the fact that One Autumn Leaf’s user is female is common knowledge, though they have the sense to keep it from spreading; plenty of the “ordinary” proplayers never find out. During large events and get-togethers where every player is obliged to make an appearance, those not in the know simply ignore or forget the plain black-haired girl, even though she seems seems comfortable casually joking with any of the gods.

In the middle of the eighth season, Ye Qiu is forced to retire. The underlying reasons are largely the same – her lack of commercial value to the Club owners – but it was perhaps fueled by some sexist attitudes as well, some teammates who didn’t take well to taking orders from a girl, others that wanted her and couldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Sun Xiang sneers at her shaking hands as she passes over One Autumn Leaf – of course a girl would be so emotional; no wonder she wasn’t fit to lead.

Outside Excellent Era, Ye Xiu wraps her adopted sister in a tight hug and whispers in her ear. “I’ll rest for a year, and then return.” The twilight of a god, a promise of a brilliant show of glory.

And when the various Glory pros begin hearing of a mysterious, fearsome, female player terrorizing the tenth server, the same name crosses all of their minds.

Ye Qiu may be gone, but Ye Xiu is still here. And this goddess is ready to take the Glory world by storm.

#quan zhi gao shou #qzgs #the king's avatar #tka #mine #writing #fanfic #pls comment it gives me life haha #sorry if you've already seen this tho ahaha

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onthe5thday · 7 years ago

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5th Day Residents Revealed: Abstract Man

The final part of our 'Residents Revealed' feature (4/4) brings Abstract Man to the limelight, a project uniting two hungry minds on a journey of exploration and discovery through the realms of techno.

"Some artists choose to hide their identities with a mask; we chose to come up with a creative outlet that is neither of us, but both of us at the same time, enabling us to create some distance from our own separate identities and egos and join forces to create a “being” with its own voice, which is always evolving."

With two EPs to be released within the next several months, and with an increasing number of memorable performances under their belts, exciting times lay ahead for the duo who share their journey so far here. Thanks to On the 5th Day resident, Matt Hayes for the questions!

Support Abstract Man here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbstractMan.London

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/abstract_man

RA: https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/abstractman

…………………………………………………..

Where did Abstract Man come from?

Katie: About five years ago I was starting out on a new chapter of my life and I was hungrier than ever to take my love for electronic music to the next level, a love that had been ignited when I was about 11. The dancefloor had always been a place of total freedom for me – where I could really connect with myself and with music to new, amazing levels; I could feel myself coming out of my shell more and more every time I went out to soak up music, and at home my decks and I were good friends, but it was a relationship confined to my bedroom. At the beginning of that new chapter in my life I suddenly found myself ready to step things up, to shift the focus and explore whether I could take people on a journey by being on the other side of the decks. I stumbled across Mantas and Egle’s DJ’ing school in Shepherds Bush and Mantas became my mentor, and here we are!

Mantas: Over time we found we were inspiring each other more and more with our individual sounds, and that our tastes were evolving in a very similar direction. We also both happened to be suffering a lot as over-thinkers, where you run the risk of thinking rather than feeling your way, which can be very stifling creatively. With time Katie and I recognised this in ourselves and in one another and one evening, we decided this made sense – to collaborate. Some artists choose to hide their identities with a mask; we chose to come up with a creative outlet that is neither of us, but both of us at the same time, enabling us to create some distance from our own separate identities and egos and join forces to create a “being” with its own voice, which is always evolving. Abstract Man allows us to explore and create more freely; it encompasses parts of us both, but it’s not about either of us independently. The creative process is now a shared one.

Tell us about the dynamics of playing as a duo. Is it different to playing solo; does being in-sync take work?

Going from a teacher/student dynamic to an artistic collaboration was a journey, that’s for sure, during which we both learnt a huge amount about ourselves and each other. You have to be ready to communicate very openly, be comfortable and even better, warmly welcome any disagreements that come up, as well as recognising and letting go of your ego so decisions are made for the right reasons.

We’re very in tune now musically – our taste and vision is 95% identical, and we're glad and grateful for that remaining 5% which is is really healthy too. We got to the point we're at now very organically, but it took time and patience and we had to agree not to rush things – to keep exploring until we found a distinctive sound and style that we both connected with. This happened after nearly 18-months of studio time and 50+ tracks which probably won’t see the light of day, but we’re okay with that.

In terms of playing out as a duo, we put a lot of time into prepping – finding music, selecting tracks we both connect with which each say something that helps Abstract Man to communicate a message. Digging takes a lot of time, to find the gems, but its definitely an enjoyable process and we know what we're looking for: a certain feeling which is quite instinctive. Of course, it’s all about a tracks’ place in a wider journey – the narrative behind a set is very important to us – conveying a story and hopefully igniting something special for our listeners through that story.

We're at an exciting stage because we’re now ready to spice up our performances. We’re craving more - other ways of feeding off of each other’s creativity in the moment, perhaps via more of a hybrid set and so on. This is the next phase of things but it was important for us to wait until it felt like we were ready to evolve – rather than forcing it because we felt we should.

You’re making music in the studio and will be releasing a series of EPs imminently. What can we expect from your sound and what influences have been shaping it?

Of course there a lot of influences behind Abstract Man, but the important thing is that it now has its own voice – one which is constantly evolving as we continue to explore, learn about ourselves, each other, discover new sounds, improve technically and so on. Each EP we release will have a new twist, exploring different sides to us individually and as a collaboration. We’re not married to anything too specific although we definitely like things groovy, with lots of texture and trippy elements.

The first EP will be out before the end of the year and includes a remix by Mike Parker, a huge inspiration for us. The second EP will see the light during the first half of 2018 and features a remix by Von Grall – up there as one of our favourite producers!

You’re two of the minds behind On the 5th Day. Organising events and running the podcast series takes a lot of time and effort, what motivates you?

As it says on our new website (coming soon), On the 5th Day is a means of sharing our love for the underground electronic music scene, and the artists and sounds which inspire us, via events, a podcast stream and a label (also coming soon). We have a simple mission which is to build a family of trusting and dedicated music appreciators and to create opportunities for them to connect with the music they love.

So yes, On the 5th Day is absolutely a passion project, which doesn’t come without its pressures and stresses of course but at the end of the day, what motivates us is quite simply a love for the music. The three of us behind the project are very close, so the fact we get to work together on something we care so much about is very motivating.

Our nights are also perfect for Abstract Man to play at, which of course makes a lot of sense given how this has all been shaped, but that’s an added motivation. Not to mention the fact the events and podcast series provides us all with the opportunity to interact and connect with artists who inspire us - that’s pretty amazing too!

How do you design lineups for 0T5D? Is the vision always the same; what makes your formula distinctive from the techno on offer in London?

Our own personal tastes and connection to music plays a critical part in our artist selection. We’re more concerned with an artist’s sound rather than their name – both from a production perspective, of course, but more importantly from a DJ’ing / performance perspective – someone who we can trust to deliver behind the decks, with an understanding of how to tell a story and take the room on a journey.

On the other side of things, we like to shape interesting line-ups where artists will potentially ignite something unique in another, pulling out a particular side of another artist’s sound, or complimenting their sound in a particular way. We try to think about the event as a whole, each artist as a piece of a puzzle. Of course, this approach is a gamble and a risk, but one we embrace in order to try and create a memorable night. So, for example, we won’t just put the biggest or most well-known name on the peak or closing slot, we’d rather be led by the artist’s sound and overall journey of the night. So in October, you might expect Etapp Kyle to close but we’ve given that slot to Takaaki Itoh, as we have no doubts this will allow Takaaki to really stretch his legs behind the decks.

We’re also looking at how we can incorporate more and more lesser-known, up and coming artists on our line ups, something which we've made a focus of our nights so far, but we want to step this up even more going forward. Now that we're beginning to built up trust in On the 5th Day to deliver, and we have quite a clear sound, people will hopefully trust our choices, even if they don’t recognise all of the names; they’ll be intrigued to come along to experience something/someone they might not otherwise know.

What are the signs that an OT5D party is really delivering as you’ve intended?

Simple, when the vibe is there… when you can tell people are connecting with the music and with each other and there is an electricity in the air. Success for us feels very instinctive and we’re usually always on the same page with this.

When we hear positive feedback from artists we book that is a big sign of success too. Perhaps they could feel they were in front of a really trusting, hungry and open-minded crowd which enabled them to really let go, and it’s clear that they On the 5th Day gig was a memorable, positive one for them. This makes us really happy.

Finally of course, when we hear that people come from across Europe to our events – that’s pretty special! The 5th day family is growing all the time and we’re seeing more and more familiar faces which is great and definitely a sign of a successful project.

All time favourite tracks question… 3 please?

Three tracks which have played a big part in shaping Abstract Man so far:

Acronym – Wrapped

Voices From The Lake - Reptilicus

Svreca & Neel - Tangara

Abstract Man will be opening room one at our October event on the 21st, with Etapp Kyle, Takaaki Itoh and YYYY.

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