#listen: I'm cloooose

[dleena2023]

T1 VS G2 MSI QUARTERFINALS

bismillahirrahmanirrahim

dearest zofgk & kkoma/tom/roach

it's the day. finally the day. where everyone in every part of the world is anticipating. the rematch of t1 and g2. it's starting today. in 1 hour. it's not an easy obstacle because we struggled against them the previous round. we recently fought against tl on wed (2 days ago) and i could tell that you all are still struggling. champs, drafts and even skills wise. but we managed to win against them anyways with a 3-1. we have defeated g2 previously with a 3-2. an almost super close series with that annoying silver scrapes hah but we managed to go through! not gonna lie, g2 is looking extremely strong right now after they clean swept 3-0 tes, the #2 lpl seed, and wow even i'm impressed by them though i still don't know how they managed to do itttt x) i'm very fearful of them and definitely not going to underestimate them. if you bois are feeling afraid of them, let's don't forget to look at the brighter side, okay? if we were able to win it last time, of course we are able to win it all again today, right? in sha Allah! i know i know, this week's schedule is soooo hectic. if we manage to pull through, that means we will be playing 3 matches in a row which is so exhausting. so i hope you loves get enough sleep and rest during your off days and also on match day 🤍 this is is our final destination. one game loss, one match down and we are eliminated completely. we have gone so damn far here in this msi tournament starting from playoffs and we are here at the quarterfinals. now it's ride or die. so draft mega, mega, megaaaa well and let's play today confidently with no regrets, with ease mind and heart and don't let pressure get to you okay!! remember to communicate effectively with each other and have fun. let's finally show some tricks we have up in our sleeves and make great plays and calls. never lose hope in yourselves and each other my bois! let's play well individually and even better as a team. my zofgk bois, remember you're the better team, you're the more menacing team!! i managed to wake up early for subuh today heh alhamdulillah~ my love, prayers and do'a-do'a are all for you. at this moment, i really don't feel anything *sobs* but i know it's gonna be a cloooose series. but deep inside, i know we are going to win it all. we are going to win today's bo5s series and advance to tomorrow's stage. i know this. we got this. i feel this. because nothing is impossible. like keria said in the past few weeks in the t1 membership post, let's make good and happy memories throughout this msi journey 🤍 so let's enjoy today's ride and all the best to both teams competing soon, may the better team wins today!! and may victory belong to us today in sha Allah!!!

#i've been trying to find a song that i can relate well for this year's msi journey and i happened to click on imagine dragons. so i keep playing imagine dragon's song 'natural' on repeat since i listened to it for the first time this morning with my earpiece and mannnn the song is dope!!! definitely a perfect song and source of motivation for me throughout this msi journey with t1. and like the name of the title, each one of you are a natural. naturally talented, good, confident and gifted. SO LESS DO THIS BOIS LESS GET ITTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

T1 FIGHTING!! ZOFGK FIGHTING!! KKOMA TOM ROACH PLEASE DO YOUR MAGIC DRAFTING!!! LET GUMA CARRY!! GIVE THEM THEIR COMFORT PICKS!!! SUPER MEGA COMBO ON THE WAY!!! IMMA SUPPORT YOU ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE NIGHT!! ROOTING FOR YOU ALWAYS NO MATTER WHAT!!

HERE'S SOME LOVE, FIRE AND SPARKLE FOR EACH ONE OF YOU:

❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥

🤍🌟🤍🌟🤍🌟🤍🌟🤍🌟

with love and energy

addie

[west-tokyo-incidents]

"I want a fucking tat." Rage whined.

"Then let's go get you a tat, man!" One of his band mates proclaimed, arms swung out wide, "Fuck it, it's your 20th birthday!"

"Daiki, it's fucking 2am, where the fuck is gonna be open that isn't gonna scream over me, ah?" Rage slid down further into his chair, "All the high end places are cloooosed." He stares at the dregs of his drink as he whined again. He's drunk as hell.

"Yeah, and anywhere that's open probably won't tat him drunk." Their drummer, Ren, added.

"No, no, no, we'll go to my guy, he's fucking great! He did the birds on my back!" Daiki pulled up his shirt and showed the flock of birds that formed a skull covering his shoulder blades. Rage's eyes widened and he leaned in to look at the detail on the feather, "He ain't a groupie, neither!" The shirt dropped back down, "Lemme call him real quick, hold on..." He excused himself, dialing on the phone and stepping into another room.

Rage sat back, "What the fuck am I even gonna get?"

"Maybe some lyrics?"

Rage made a gagging noise at that.

"Maybe like a tribal thing."

"Boring."

"Wait, what's your favorite animal? Get, like, it's skull or some shit."

"Eh--..." Rage paused, then considered, "Oooh..."

"That's too detailed, it'll take hoooours..."

Rage listened to them for a minute before he looked down, "What about, like, a chain around my wrist?"

A collective agreement came at that, and right on time as Daiki came back, "We're on! He says he's totally free right now!"

A quick ride thanks to the baby sitter--I mean designated driver--and they arrived at a little side alley, the shop marked with a little neon sign that declared it the "Silver Fox" tattoo and piercing shop.

They bantered and laughed on their way in, Rage jokingly accusing them of taking him somewhere to murder him. As they stepped in, Rage paused as he spotted the artist in question.

He was watching them with amusement, a lazy smile over his face. Messy white hair over wicked sharp cheekbones and jawline. He wasn't Japanese, that's for sure. And under that jawline and on every area of exposed skin was ink. Snakes down his arms, a scarab on his chest, moths on his neck, and geometry down his knuckles and mirrored on his shoulders, taking up the speces between the other images. His white tank top left little to the imagination. His first thought was 'yakuza'.

He realized he was staring only when Daiki jabbed his shoulder, "Come on, man! Dont get cold feet now!"

"I'm not!" Rage scowled behind his mask and walked over, pulling a languid laugh from the man, who motioned him into a chair.

"So, what do I have the honor of inking onto the birthday idol, hm?"

His second thought is 'foreigner.' His voice was low and whatever accent that was he had made Rage stutter, "I was thinking, uh, a chain. 'Round my wrist." He held his arm up and the man took his hand to look at his wrist.

"Be hard to cover up with a patch, you okay with that?"

Rage nodded, distracted by how the man's hand dwarfed his. The man named a price he quickly forgot. He didn't care, he had the money.

"Alright, let me go sketch and make a stencil for you."

As the artist got up to get prepped, Ren snuck up, "Your face is reeeed."

"It is not!!!" Rage protested, only making himself redder. He grumbled and hiss-whispered, "No body warned me he was gonna be hot...! He looks like he just jumped out of a movie with all his ink!" He slid down in the chair.

Daiki cackled, "That's what I told him! He looks like he's yakuza or something."

"That's exactly what I thought...!!" Rage sat up straighter, "You fucking knew, didn't you, you're setting me up, Daiki!"

"I would never!" The sheer amount of theater-fake disbelief that left Daiki as he feigned a swoon made them all laugh, even as Rage punched his shoulder.

The artist came back a little bit later, now with gloves on and stencil paper in his hand. Rage held his arm out and watched him lay it down, forgetting about his idiot band mates for a bit. His eyes were drawn to his long fingers and prominent knuckles. Traced the lines of his ink along his arms with his eyes.

"How does it look?"

Rage startled back to reality and looked at the stenciled marks on his wrist. Of course he liked it, nodding, "It looks great...! Sorry for staring, I'm--"

"You're tipsy, it's fine. And I'm used to it, full body tattoo and all."

"I'm proper drunk, first of all. And you're fucking pretty! It's distracting!"

The artist laughed, looking away, "Well, thank you. Maybe it'll help distract you from the pain, hm?"

"...oh, right. Needles."

"Needles."

Rage huffed and shifted his weight, watching him prep the needle and tattoo gun. He set his arm up on the arm of the chair and the artist held his arm down, a good strong grip that scrambled Rage's brain for a minute.

At least until the gun came down and he felt like the man was taking a razor blade to his wrist. He hissed and jerked, realizing why the man had such a strong grip on his arm. The man flicked his eyes to him, "Let me know if you need a break at any point, okay?"

Rage groaned softly and nodded.

"Why a chain?"

The artist was making small talk. Rage usually hated small talk, but right now he was drunk and in pain. He appreciated the distraction.

"My first album I had chain cuffs on for the cover." Rage mumbled, eyes wandering towards the man's hand on his arm. He scanned the tattoos on his wrist and forearms. He didn't know the language of the words that followed the curve of the snake's head... but it was pretty.

"That makes sense. Forgot about that. I guess since you wear cuffs and gloves a lot this'll be pretty easy to hide."

Rage nodded a little, then used his other hand to motion to the man's arm, "What's that say?"

"Hm?" The artist looked and then smiled, "Ah, it's French. Jamais être pris vivant. 'Never to be Taken Alive'." He shifted and went back to the work, "It's from my time in the French military."

"You're from France?"

"Mhm."

"...did you have your tattoos before you came to Japan?"

"Most of them, yeah. The filler stuff is stuff I did after getting my license here, some of it my other artists here did."

"Ooh... how old are you?"

The man chuckled, "27."

Rage blinked, "And you have your own tat shop?"

The man shrugged, "I got lucky. Family has money."

Rage flinched every now and then through the rest of the inking, even as they talked. The rest of the band were watching from the front of the store and bantering among themselves. It took a few hours to finish, but Rage only had to take one break after the lines were down.

One tattoo care lecture later, and the man stood up. The others cheered and Rage threatened to shove things where they had no business being. He got up and headed to the counter to pay, pulling out cash. His eyes were drawn to business cards up front. One was black with gold embellishments, with a triangular mask on it. He picked it up.

"How d' you, uh... pronounce your name?"

"Paresseux. Paresse works just fine, though."

"Paresse... fuck you, you can't have a pretty name, too." He laughed. Then... after a pause, he snatched a pen and scribbled his number down quickly, handing it over, "S' my private number. Better not hand it out."

He hurriedly turned and walked out, glaring at Daiki who was giving him a shit eating grin.

---

Paresse sighed inwardly at the nearly illegible digits. The hell was he doing? He picks up the card and considers it before putting it in his contacts and tearing up the business card. He closed up shop. He was supposed to have been closed at midnight, anyways.

---

Rage woke up the next morning with a searing migraine and his wrist aching. Well, it wasn't really morning anymore. After a date with sink water and pain killers, he glanced at his wrist... and turned it over slowly, looking at the tattoo through the clear plastic.

Oh, if this goes south he is FUCKED. He put his whole gay ass on display to a foreign tattoo artist AND gave him his personal phone number. If this becomes a scandal he is NOT coming back from it.

...

The little details on the chain are really pretty, though...

He glances sideways through pain-squinted eyes at his phone. He flops onto his bed and opens it at last... and seeing a text from a new number that couldn't be from anyone else.

[Don't know how you feel about fast food, but Yoshinoya is my go-to for hangover food.]

It hadn't been sent that long ago...

After a second, he rolled over, added the new number to his contacts, and responded.

[What do you usually get?]

[ladyknightliveblogs]

me: I’m gonna read!

also me: *turns on Mass Effect*