#my current favorite tweet about The Incident

[5ummit]

[icharchivist]

you should tell us the tale of how you first got into gbf

Ooouh boy what a tale what a tale!

Under the cut because i rambled but the short story, is, my two best friends lured me in with one of my fav trope, with gorgeous men, and with indulging into my seiyuu madness.

the longer story:

The two main culprits in getting me into Granblue are two of my bestest friends, @/nalhegrande (Suzu) and @/baconplasm (Bacon). We've been friends since 2015 or so, we met via the dgm fandom revival of the time, and we've been tight knit ever since. Also at the time my blog was very ff7 themed and my url was a reference to it, which also got the two of them interested in it (relevant to the story)

anyway back in 2019 was my major Hypmic phase, so i was starting to really be into seiyuu then (and i was a huge huge fan of Saito Soma as a result). Suzu and Bacon both were playing Granblue a lot.

First thing that happened was around Granblue's 5th anni, March 2019, when 000 came out, and Suzu was reading Paradise Lost in preparation. Because Suzu busted into my DMs going "ICHA YOU WONT BELIEVE IT, SAKURAI AND SUZUKEN ARE DOING LIVING LEGACY STUFF AGAIN". Because Suzu, knowing me from my "living legacy" url days, knew exactly how to hit me with a truck, as i've been obsessed with over a decade with that trope i saw in ff7 of "the person you looked up to and cared about died in your arms and the only way you can cope is to become their legacy, to become them. But you need to find yourself again.". Which was originated by characters Suzuken and Sakurai voiced at the time.

(Suzuken and Sakurai who themselves were also there during the dgm days. the rabbit hole runs deep. dgm also has Living Legacy tropes to it btw to express how on brand it is for me. And while their characters are super important to me (my current url is a reference to the character Suzuken used to voice, it IS one of the most important character in my life), i did discover them with their roles in ff7, who genuinely shaped my life, so telling me they were replaying the same dynamic somewhere else was a siren song.)(yes that's why i never lived down the Sakurai incident lol.)

Anyway because i'm a sucker for those plots, Suzu explained it to me in major details and in tears, of Paradise Lost AND of Zero and i couldn't help but be invested, so i definitely developped an affection for Sandalphon and Lucifer just then.

(Suzu killed me by mentioning that one of my fav song, that i associated to my Living Legacy pair over here, also fit Lucifer and Sandalphon, and it immediately won me over. Stream Saturn by Sleeping at Last.)

But at the time i wasn't really fan of gacha on principle, so i didn't want to get into it, and everything to get into seemed tedious (i was seeing them tweeting raid battles everytime and all i thought was "yeah no i do not want to be perceived, hard pass"). So eventually while i thought about checking it out, i didn't actually feel like it.

Flashforward a few months during the Summer season. I see the two of them regularly lose their mind over their favorite characters. (at the time Suzu was mainly focusing on Heles and Cain. I say "at the time" because Wilnas is now one of her main husband and he wasn't even a raid battle back then. And Bacon is a Vane stan through and through and a fan of the Knights by extension.). Both of them also really like Percival!

(also yes they posted about Belial once i a while, and i knew more or less his deal then, but i admit he didn't do anything to me then. this might be the most shocking part of this story considering literally everything about this blog, and also the fact he started haunting my dreams before i officially read wmtsb, and i haven't caught a break since.)

anyway Summer 2019 was the year of LanVane SR Unit AND Percival's EX summer art. And of Summer Sandalphon while at it.

so all of those things were flooding my TL on twitter. Just couldn't scroll anywhere without seeing those.

I cared for Sandalphon thanks to Suzu at this point so i was *points* everytime i was seeing him. I've identified Vane as Bacon's boy so i was fully seeing him as a Blorbo in law at this point.

But it was my first time running into Lancelot and Percival.

And i fell in love with Percival in this one singular art.

Like i looked at it thinking he was the single most gorgeous man that had ever graced my screen. Everytime my friends were retweeting this picture i would freeze a second and stare at it mumbling "it can't be right".

Eventually i shot Bacon a message about it especially since she was the one posting most about it. But i did one slight mistake when i told her "yeah that guy you keep posting? i think i have a case of the down bad, can you tell me more about him" -------- i mixed up Lancelot's and Percival's names.

And so instead she mostly shared Lancelot and Vane stuff, and i didn't realize it was because i was wrong on the name, i just thought she went on a tangent. But because i was interested suddenly Bacon tried to grapple me in by doing what Granblue Fans do best: "if you think he's pretty WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HIM--" and she shared pictures of various characters, including, of course, Mister Sieg's Yukata art. (while i was losing my mind because i knew his VA (Kakashi from Naruto's fame, Angeal from ff7) so it was also a thing)

Anyway also this was the funniest bit of this exchange:

screenshots taken before a disaster.

you'll notice that because she just called Percival "that bitch" and because i mixed up the names causing a misunderstanding well. She couldn't properly exploit my thirsting on Percival's summer art. And Belial had to insert himself in this conversation first.

... and that's the day i started the game. or, at least, made an account.

I got very lost at the time, so the three of us made a group chat then to keep discussing gameplay stuff, and well, about anything under the sun.

They held my hand through it slowly, i participated to the summer free pulls (falling in love with Summer!Rosetta this way) and all... but i didn't play long enough to be hooked so i ended up falling off, but with the promise to my friends i'll get to it eventually.

Percival, most gorgeous man on earth, was slipping through my fingers.....

(though eventually misunderstanding was cleared lmao and friends were like "yeah actually that tracks, but we won't say a word, just come and see him")

Anyway i was hard in hypmic at the time, and especially into Saito Soma's career as a singer because of it. So my friends were also trying desperately to hook me in with various characters that shared those seiyuu, the biggest catch at the time being Shiva.

Because Soma's character then only had a SR and very little important contents. It took a few years for Feather to get some serious stories after all :). (plus he is in a total different range than i'm used to when it comes to that) (also ironically i kept pulling Randall's units over Feather's units, which originally annoyed me but then i found it really funny i kept pulling the guy who wanted to see Feather and couldn't find him. the irony of the fact i had songs by the two of them (and Lu Woh's VA) on my phone at the time escaped me for about a year (bc i admit i wasn't a major fan of the music unfortunately), where Randall was still my underrated R/SR fav character, not ready to handle the fact his seiyuu was going to play my favorite a3's character and definitely ruin my life the moment i realized he was there in gbf being a fav all along.)

On this journey, because i listened to a lot of others Soma's bands, one of the major draw ended up being the fact i listened to another band he was in with Eguchi Takuya, so when Bacon started to talk about Vane's seiyuu, i was here and armed with "oh yeah i have flirty songs by him" and having this torture device (affectionate) was a huge motivation to get into gbf even more to bully my dear friend.

then in September/October A3 came out and it ate my life away so it halted me getting more into gbf at this point (and EguTaku being in it i could still continue my torture agenda)(we all kinda got in it so it was still madness.)

Anyway then again in my usual fashion of "i don't get into hyperfixation, hyperfixation gets to me (by hunting me down for sports)" i ended up randomly having a dream about Percival, which i totally forgot about, but i was so worked up about it i grabbed the game again in November 2019 and just binged a chunk of the main story and the Dragon Knights events.

This whole mess was its own long story, because it turned out i didn't end up liking Percival in his first event appearance and i was betrayed as hell, but BFAF made me reconsider everything about him and now i'm a Percival expert and lover. But my friends were then allowed to see me in full downspiral.

But it sealed my fate. After that, i was too hooked and i didn't want to leave anymore. And while i took some breaks here and there bc of burn out, i've been playing Granblue daily ever since.

then in December or January (right in time for Light GW then) Suzu dragged me into her crew, and Bacon joined in eventually - and since both of our crew had the same problem (half of our crew was inactive, the other half was tight knit though), we ended up merging the crews' active players together, and now here we are and we've been at it for years.

(and i've read wmtsb around February/March 2020 for the full timeline - since 000 and the maydays weren't in the sidestories i had to watch them on youtube then too. I know it was the date bc it was right in time for Seeds of Redemption, the 6th anni event, and it was the most emotionally overloaded period for me as a result lmao. But it basically sealed my fate then, no way i turn away from this game after just how emotionally packed this one month was.).

so that's the long story.

the short story:

My two best friends informed me of a lovestory's trope similar to the one story that destroyed my life, of the most gorgeous man on earth, and fed right into my seiyuu madness, and now i'm stuck here with all of you to discuss Belial's balls.

the more you know, and now you know who to blame. (be nice to them, or else 🔪.)

i hope the read wasn't too tedious ahah

Take care ;D

[straystars-and-planets]

Hey, I get it. Losing Channie's room has been an upsetting and emotional experience for a lot of STAYs, including me. They were always something that cheered me up on the weekends. More than anything I am sad for Chan -- he's often said he really enjoys being able to livestream and interact with STAY, and my biggest hope is that he is doing okay right now. He didn't deserve the initial backlash, and he certainly doesn't deserve the shitstorm (pardon my language) happening across social medial (tweet, tiktok, bubble particularly) right now.

(Goes without saying but this is all my personal opinion/thoughts, feel free to ignore, take with a grain/spoonful/ocean of salt)

Right now I am so frustrated with the narrative that this happened solely due to poor management on the part of JYPE and/or JYP. To be clear: I have many reservations/issues with the way JYP and JYPE manage their groups/artists. Whatever your opinion on SKZ's management, that is not the main issue here. Because it was STAY who created and contributed to the situation we are currently in today.

In fact I'm ANGRY that STAY and other fans of Stray Kids are not taking responsibility for their role in all of this. I think enough has been said about the openly toxic content creators/social media accounts who went out of their way to speculate and circulate rumors about groups having conflicts/drama with Chan and/or Stray Kids, so I'm trying to keep this part short. TL;DR - these "STAY" go against what Chan himself has explicitly stated multiple times across different platforms:

He has asked STAY to stop defaming and hating on other artists. In the specific YT live that was the subject of the initial "drama" he even went out of his way to say "I'm not going to name names" and "I'm not gonna say specific artists."

He has told STAY to stop sending hate or to spam JYPE. At in-person fansigns, fan calls, on Bubble and on lives, Chan has said "Don't hate the company" or something similar. I can't recall the exact words but he has also stated or implied that when fans do this it ultimately reflects poorly on Stray Kids and stresses him out more.

But I also wanted to shed light on the ways I think many STAYs who are unproblematic or largely neutral in this situation may have inadvertently amplified the messages of the toxic/vocal minority of the fandom or unintentionally made the situation worse. A lot of times we react emotionally to any unfavorable or negative news about our favorite artists/idol groups. I get it - for a lot of people Stray Kids are an anchor, safe space or home where they can be themselves and find comfort. So when we hear about anything negative it's easy to have a knee-jerk response of protect protect protect. But I think in that process many STAY (once again, who are mostly unproblematic and not trying to start any drama) don't think about how the ways they go about finding information, letting others know about information and defending Stray Kids are causing small incidents to evolve into large scandals.

I can't claim to know all the solutions or fix everything in this fandom, but there are some things I've noticed that could be done better, or in a way that doesn't reflect poorly on SKZ. As individual members of a larger fandom, I hope that in the future we can focus on not engaging or at least minimizing engagement with the toxic + vocal minority of the fandom that tries to stir up drama. These accounts are trying to get attention at the expense of SKZ and STAY by creating conflict.

What do I mean by that? First up: when you do see a video that appears to be speculative or for the purposes of spreading rumors/gossip, don't just share it immediately. I get it, it's a potential "threat" SKZ's reputation/wellbeing. But look into it before you post: are there any outside new sources, official posts, or statements by SKZ members or JYPE actually backing this up? And if you have mutuals/friends who are asking what's going on, can we refrain from sharing the content directly? DM them a TL;DR or summary. Try to reduce the use of share functions (like reposting, quote retweets, sharing tiktok links, etc.), all that does is boost problematic/speculative content into the FYP/feeds/TLs of more people. After a certain point mass commenting "take this down" or "is this true?" is just going to boost the engagement on these kinds of speculative posts. Hopefully it goes without saying, but try not to 'like' these kinds of speculative videos/posts. At the end of the day, any/all engagement from well-intentioned STAY trying to discourage toxic behavior and inform others will lead to better metrics (views, likes, shares, etc.) for these problematic accounts, which may encourage them to continue posting "controversial" content. TL;DR - Bad PR/exposure is still PR/exposure for the part of the fandom we DON'T want to amplify.

and PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, can we stop with the cryptic comments? I know this usually comes from a good place - we don't want negative words trending in association with SKZ. But cryptically commenting "omg I hope [member name] is okay...." is just going to rile people up more. Just either comment directly a brief summary or send the person a DM. If you comment a brief but clear summary then it also helps prevent other STAYs from potentially engaging with speculative/gossip content to find an answer + people will read that instead of also commenting "what happened?" Half the time I feel like these minor issues snowball into giant problems because some STAYs freak out when other members of the fandom refuse to be clear about what the actual fuck is going on.

Finally, just leave other artists out of this. Full stop. EVERYONE loses the minute STAY involves other artists, other companies and/or other fandoms. Seriously. Yes, sometimes there is very obvious evidence (footage of artist interactions, screenshots, vague artist instagram posts, etc.) that there is something going on between two individuals in the K-pop industry. But until Stray Kids or JYPE says anything about it, trying to get other parties involved is only going to hurt SKZ and STAY. It's contributing to the image that STAY is a toxic/aggressive fandom. It's going to turn away baby STAYs or people considering becoming STAYs away from SKZ's music and content. It's going to reflect poorly on SKZ because their management and other people in the industry may assume they badmouth other artists/colleagues and sic their fans on them with no reason or for irrational reasons. And (as we have witnessed) it might result in SKZ being penalized for something that should never have blown up to the point it has. Even if other fandoms or certain social media accounts are trying to provoke STAY, let's try to be the better/more generous people (we don't have to forgive them, but no need to expend so much energy/attention on them). Ignore/block/disengage/report - stop quote retweeting/quoting these people and drawing more viewership towards accounts who are trying to stir the pot. Don't actually tag these people, use a slash/punctuation to break up the tag so they don't get more attention/engagement (ex. @/[account name]).

Small ending note: let's not forget the agency of the artists themselves. I know we all have misgivings with how Stray Kids is managed. That's fine. Consumers/customers are allowed to be critical of the way a company is managed or how a company manages its employees and business. But we have to trust that Chan and all the other members know what they are doing.

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

@sun-wukong-kinnie-2

#also please dont discredit ace people like that#micheal being ace has nothing to do with this argument and like#im not trying to acuse you of being aphobic but it really kind of comes across like that yknow#sorry if this sounds like#aggresive it isnt meant to#thank you!

Okay so first of all I'm not gonna cuss you out cause you're a kid but oh my freaking god. First of all you're a kinnie. second of all you're a minor. You have no business watching any of vivziepops current shows, interacting with the current adult oriented vivziepop fandom, or having any opinions about them, much less the voice actors. Therefore, I do not need to justify any of my adult opinions or explain anything I'm saying to some random kid who should've headed the 18+ emoji signs that I've put on this blog. I wasn't "arguing" anything, this was a vent post about how annoying fandoms are. Case and point, you shouldn't have interacted with my posts at all.

Lackadaisy is kind of a separate thing and I guess no one knows who the target audience is for the show so I will say these three things:

Ashiey's favorite gaming youtubers are pewdiepie and jontron and her all time favorite vocabulary word is "degenerate". You do the math.

The director of Lackadaisy, zebirdbrain, recently came under fire for liking some tweets from transphobic bigots saying that trans women shouldn't be allowed in sports. zebirdbrains defense for liking these tweets was to claim it was just "research" and "wanting to see different perspectives" and then the whole lackadaisy crew immediately went on the defensive blocking anyone who had any concerns or questions regarding what was going on, and then they posted a shitty "apology" onto the Lackadaisy discord that was only in a scripted, pre-written Q&A type format. Ashley also defended the transphobe in question (zebirdbrain) by calling her "A Good Egg." So not a good look for Ashley ether.

Aside from the other incident of the "LACKACREW" turning down a generous five thousand dollar donation from Spindlehorse, the studio currently making the shows you have no business watching, the Lackadaisy director exhibiting actual terfy JK Rowling type behaviors was enough to convince some people to do the right thing and drop all of their previous support for the Lackadaisy project entirely. I'm sorry that you had to find out this way but you were being obnoxious to begin with and I'm going to block you now. Please leave the fandoms you know you have no place in.

Oh, and I already believe that people who date self admitted "Bad Gays" who eat at chick fil a should have their queer cards entirely revoked but I guess that Ashley and Micheal eating at the Trump loving, conversion therapy supporting restaurant is so much small potatoes that you just needed to pull a D.W in order to suss out acephobia? Log off.

I love how Angel's new song releases with his new voice actor and instead of praising Blake Roman, all these bitches with tumblr badges next to their username can talk about is The Cult of Micheal Kovach and what Kovach is doing with his career and how he's feeling right now.

Like, he's a boring straight ace and both him and his girlfriend eat at chick fil a and watch neo nazi gamer bros on youtube and Ashley talks like she's a nazi anyway. Goodbye. 💀

[foodbytesback]

The Rise and Fall of Bon Appetit

Sometimes life comes at you fast.  Sometimes, that means stories in the food industry break in such rapid succession that you have no time to blink in between.  Sometimes, it means someone found out about something racist you did a few years ago.  What happens when it’s both?  Ask the fine folks at Bon Appetit.

In recent years, Bon Appetit made a name for itself, rising from the ashes of dying print media, through its Youtube channel featuring a diverse cast of personalities.  But over the course of this past week, many of the publication’s executives have been found to foster a toxic workplace culture, rife with racism, sexism and homophobia.  

Before I get too deep (because this is going to be a long one), I feel the need to point out that while this story’s breaking happened to coincide with Black Lives Matter protests across the country and gained traction from people’s outrage towards inequality, the events that have unfolded should not be blamed on “cancel culture,” “political correctness run amok” or any other reactionary dismissal of critical thinking.  Adam Rapoport didn’t lose his job because Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter came to be because of the damage that many in positions of power like Rapoport have done in both mainstream media and society as a whole.

[Also, yes, there are going to be a lot of links to Instagram posts that have been screenshotted and uploaded to Twitter.  Clearly the real takeaway from this debacle is that I need to get an Instagram account.  Also also, thanks to Tumblr’s new rules about offsite links, you’ll have to go to my main site for the full receipts.]

Preamble

Shortly after the killing of George Floyd, Adam Rapoport, Editor-in-Chief at Bon Appetit, wrote an editorial highlighting some of the coverage they’ve given to black chefs.  Many criticized this as being superficial and performative, with others saying that BA has, on numerous occasions, shut down articles relating to black culture for not being “trendy” enough or otherwise was discriminatory towards black employees. (Also, the repeated use of “uprisings” instead of “protests” seems a little suspicious.)

An article from Eater criticized the role BA played in the appropriating and whitewashing of many cultures’ ingredients and cuisines (gochujang, Aleppo pepper, and sumac seem to be some of BA’s favorite ingredients) that had become prevalent in food media in recent years.

While it’s a fairly minor offense in comparison, it may also be worth bringing up the time Rapoport accidentally called Priya Krishna “Sohla,” the name of his other Indian employee.

Monday, June 8th

Food writer Tammie Teclemariam posted a screencap of an Instagram post made by Rapoport’s wife, which depicted the two of them donning Puerto Rican stereotypes as Halloween costumes, brownface and all.    

Many were quick to declare their outrage and demand that Rapoport either resign or be fired.  Meanwhile, Sohla El-Waylly, one of the leading stars of the Youtube channel, was one of the first BA employees to speak up, and disclosed that this kind of behavior was just the tip of the iceberg.  She said that BIPOC workers have been paid disproportionately for their work, including not being paid a per-video commission that the white stars of the Youtube channel receive. 

Molly Baz, one of the aforementioned white stars, announced that she would no longer make videos for BA until all of El-Waylly’s demands were met.  One by one, their white coworkers chimed in in agreement.  

Former staff photographer Alex Lau also wrote an extensive tweet thread about his experiences at BA, including how he had futilely tried to fix the system from within.

By the end of Monday, Adam Rapoport had resigned from his position as Editor-in-Chief.

Tuesday, June 9th  

Since Rapoport’s official resignation did little to fix many of the systemic problems in place at BA, many began to turn their attention to other senior members of the staff.

Some came for Andrew Knowlton, the Restaurant Editor, for behaviors such as gaslighting an employee for trying to bring up racist practices in the offices.

Others called out Matthew Duckor, a VP at Conde Nast and BA’s former “Head of Video” (Did a 3 year old come up with that job title?), for a series of old racist and homophobic tweets.  He tried to apologize by saying that he was young and didn’t know any better at the time, but many were quick to point out that he was, at the youngest, 20, aka for all intents and purposes An Adult when he wrote those tweets. 

Tammie Teclemariam returned to ask current and former BA employees to DM her information about Duckor that they didn’t want to go public with themselves, ranging from his hand in the aforementioned pay disparity to making inappropriate comments towards women.

Teclemariam also did even more social media muckraking and found that Drinks Editor Alex Delany had once decorated a cake to look like a Confederate flag, while others found things like a Vine where he says the f-slur and some questionable comments about women on this Tumblr.  He later deleted his Tumblr and Twitter, and issued a cookie-cutter apology on his Instagram.

She also vague-tweeted that Brad Leone, one of the most beloved stars of the Youtube channel, is “possibly not a great guy,” but later added, “don’t fret.” At that point, some began to accuse her of just trying to stir the pot.

Ultimately, Matt Hunziker, director and camera operator for Leone’s show, reported that the higher ups were ignoring the situation regarding the pay disparity, and that they were not “learning and growing.”

Wednesday, June 10th

By this point, journalists were able to do more thorough investigations and put together exposés that were more than a blurb about an accusation followed by a nut graph.

Business Insider published an article where they interviewed 14 current and former BIPOC employees of Bon Appetit.  In addition to information already discussed above, it also described events such as an incident where several BIPOC staffers were told they weren’t allowed the test kitchen. (Carla Lalli Music, the Food Director at the time, would later defend her stance in the affair on Twitter.)  Ryan Walker-Hartshorn, a black woman who served as Rapoport’s personal assistant, recalled that she would often spend her day doing menial tasks like polishing her boss’s golf clubs or trying to teach his wife how to use Google Calendar.  In another incident, Knolton called Rick Martinez a “one trick pony” for only developing Mexican recipes, which is what he was being forced to do so BA could tout “diversity” bonus points.  Martinez would also say that the magazine under Rapoport’s tenure “went from old and irrelevant and white-washed content to young and trendy white-washed content." (Martinez would also upload a more graphic description of the treatment he received  to his Instagram that same day.) Later that day, Business Insider would also report that Duckor had left the company.

Vice would liken Rapoport to Michael Scott from The Office, but noted that that kind of bumbling, endearingly insensitive bad boss archetype isn’t as charming in the real world where real employees are being affected.  Parallels were also drawn between the Youtube channel and The Office itself, stating that the “quirky workplace” facade put on in the videos helped hide the more sinister practices that lurked beneath the surface, and that the notion that they were “one big family” often pressured BIPOC into doing more than their fair share for the greater good.

Jezebel showed email transcripts where Rapoport argued the semantics of having his costume be called “brownface” when he wasn’t wearing makeup, and had to be explained to, like a child, that the term refers to the racist caricature and not the literal act of putting brown makeup on one’s face.  What a douche.

Bon Appetit published an official apology on their site, a whole two days after the controversy began.  Many believed that their empty promises of “learning from their mistakes” were a day late and a dollar short.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, former BA writer Alyse Whitney said that senior editor Andy Baraghani had, on several occasions, used his influence to undermine her efforts. Whether this had to do with racism, sexism, or just Andy being petty is up for debate, but still constitutes as unprofessional behavior to say the least.

Thursday, June 11th

As interest in the story seemed to wane for many in the industry, Claire Saffitz, arguably the face of the Youtube channel, released another statement on her Instagram.  She said that her relative silence was due to taking time to find the right words, and that the same-old promises to “learn and grow” that most had been giving felt empty and performative. Unlike many of her white coworkers, she directly apologized for being complicit in the toxic environment  and for not using her status to try to leverage even pay for her BIPOC coworkers.  

Another BA Youtube personality, Amiel Stanek, also released a statement in response to BA’s official press release, where he demanded Conde Nast to stop avoiding action by setting vague timelines for changes or making excuses for not giving BIPOC workers raises like “the money just isn’t there.”

Associate editor Christina Chaey also opened up about her experiences with being pushed into more and more videos to “diversify” them- all without compensation.  

Friday, June 12th

The biggest scandal of the day was that, as Teclemariam predicted, Brad Leone is possibly not a great guy.  A leaked screenshot of an Instagram DM showed him making callous, almost Trump-y comments regarding El-Waylly’s demand for better pay.  He also allegedly said that if Delany were to be fired (as of that day he had been sent on leave), he would quit.

Saturday, June 13th

The New York Times published an article suggesting that the issues prevalent in BA’s management may go all the way to the top of Conde Nast.  Highlights include Chief Executive Roger Lynch chastising the whistleblowers within the company for raising their concerns in such a public manner and an account of an incident where he gave his black assistant a guidebook on how to speak “proper” English.

The Sporkful released a special episode of their podcast containing interviews with several current and former BA BIPOC workers.  Nikita Richardson divulged that after she was laid off, a story she had already done all the leg work for was picked up and credited to Amanda Shapiro, a white staff writer who is now acting Editor-in-Chief in lieu of Rapoport.  Sohla El-Waylly confirmed that the self-congratulatory editorial Rapoport wrote in the wake of George Floyd’s death was the real beginning of the end, and that the racist photo was just the final straw.  She also described a company-wide Zoom meeting held after the photo began to be spread around where Rapoport issued a half-hearted apology, and began talking about how he would “fix the brand” before El-Waylly demanded he resigned.  Furthermore, she revealed that after her Instagram posts began circulating rapidly, Duckor had offered her a new contract with increased pay, but she is refusing to sign it until all BIPOC have received similar compensation.  She also said that she had a hand in the wishy-washy statement that BA had published on Wednesday, and said that it originally had taken much firmer stances on the issues but their PR office made them tone it down.  Also, she commented that Leone, for the most part, just seemed like she “genuinely think[s] [that he] just found out racism is real.”  Ultimately, she was glad that the story was getting as much coverage as it was, since it made her feel that her voice was finally being heard.

Sunday, June 14th

Baraghani released a statement on Instagram apologizing for his behavior, saying that trying to achieve his personal goals in BA’s toxic, competitive environment made him lose sight of solidarity with his fellow BIPOC.  

While that may seem like the end of the story for now, it’s important to note that, even with the resignation of two executives, nothing has truly been done to fix the systemic problems at hand.

[incorrect-pokespe-quotes]

Salamence Incident

Please note this is kinda long so it’ll mostly be under the cut! There’s a lot to unpack lol

I think I should start by saying that the Salamence Incident is (I think) the best example of “backstory justifies current behavior” that I’ve seen in spe overall and still holds up even among the larger canon of anime as a whole (please note I really don’t watch a lot of anime / television so my pool is rather small but I digress). Anyway, this is my favorite “personality swap” of all time, and I think the idea of Ruby and Sapphire swapping roles as a result of trauma, then coming back to realize the person they idolized has become the very thing they hated about themselves? That’s powerful, that’s interesting, and that gives Ruby and Sapphire a lot of depth that, if removed from the story, would make it far less interesting. Reading this scene recontextualizes the entire arc up to this point and makes a second read through even more entertaining. 10/10 that’s good writing.

Another thing I really appreciate about the Salamence Incident comes up in this line here. Sapphire says that “she grew to like this new Ruby even more than the old one” which, while obviously literal, also implies that because Ruby is emblematic of her old self, she’s coming to terms and learning to be comfortable with herself as well. By admitting she likes the new Ruby more than the old one, she’s admitting by extension that she learned to love herself, even the parts she used to be ashamed of. She learned to love what Ruby had become and what she used to be and I just (chef’s kiss).

The Salamence Incident is a good example of a perfect backstory to me because it adds more depth to the characters without going overboard. It interconnects various plot lines, is a driving force of character development before and after the story, wasn’t avoidable or contrived, and feels accurate to the scope of the plot. It isn’t needlessly edgy or laughably trivial, and it’s given the weight it deserves throughout the story.

But I still have my issues with it (did you really think I was going to go an entire essay of a post without complaining?). While I firmly believe Sapphire’s motive is really strong (someone got hurt because of my weakness I cannot allow myself to be weak), Ruby’s is… a little less so. I understand the combo of Salamence Incident and Daddy Issues (tm) led to his emotional issues and that’s fine, but in general I feel that the comparison of Ruby and Sapphire’s motives makes Ruby’s seem… kinda trivial? Not sure what it would be, but a slight change to give Ruby’s motive a little more substance would make it absolutely perfect.

And now for a little What If just for the hell of it (and please don’t send me essays in my askbox about why this would never work and why it’s OOC-- this is for fun and I really don’t care whether or not it would have been plausible). What if Sapphire was the one to be scarred instead of Ruby? She gets hit by a wayward attack caused by Ruby battling— now you have Ruby being scared of battling because of collateral damage and fear of hurting friends with his power (causing the same “I must not battle for fear of my own strength” thing) and then Sapphire with a big scar that constantly reminds her of her weakness and likely a complex about being helpless as well. Also Sapphire with a big scar would be cool as hell send tweet.

[rpgmgames]

April’s Featured Game: Nobody's Home

DEVELOPER(S): oates ENGINE: RPG Maker MV GENRE: Survival Horror SUMMARY: After a night of extreme drinking and partying, you wake up in stranger's bed to discover... Nobody's Home.

Buy the game here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *oates: Hi, this is oates! I'm a pixel artist and game developer, I've started making games with rpgmaker in 2016 with VX Ace and now currently using MV for recent projects. Previous projects I've worked on were the FNaF-inspired Souls-like One Night at the Steeze, my first rpgmaker game and it's prequel, the FNaF-inspired roguelike No Delivery. Other games I've worked on include the fangames Day Dreaming Derpy, made in VX Ace and Spike's Day Off, made in MV and the latest in a series of previous fangames previously developed on Adobe Flash.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *oates: Nobody's Home is largely based on my experiments to find and apply horrific elements in modern situations or phenomena. The scenario being explored here in Nobody's Home is the aftermath of some crazy party. Sound design is especially important when crafting a horror scenario, so I often look to music to draw inspiration. Much of the atmosphere and house design was inspired by music and imagery associated with '70s yacht rock (a sub-genre of soft rock). Another important note is a lot of the general mood and 'weirdness' was inspired by a band I listen a lot to, Dance Gavin Dance, specifically their "deathstar" album. However they have a tendency in all their albums to switch genres mid-song, often going from their post-hardcore sound to funk, pop, and even rap; aside from that, some of the subject matter covered can range from disturbing to unpleasant to nonsensical, but combined with the amazing music, it creates an experience that pulls the listener in all different directions. It got to the point that I was naming events in the game after some their tracks so I had to be careful not to inadvertently make a fangame haha But there are some easter eggs in Nobody's Home that were intentionally left in, and I'm fairly certain players have identified it already.

How long did you work on your project? *oates: I used much of the same framework left over from my previous project No Delivery for this development cycle, so the hassle for setting up asset pipelines was very much mitigated. I started in earnest, making assets back in January this year so it took roughly 2+ months to finish development for this project.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *oates: Aside from the previous music inspirations, I was really intrigued with the way Resident Evil 7's Beginning Hour demo was able to pick up where Konami's cancelled PT left off in terms of survival horror games to look forward to back in 2017. Prior to later updates, the initial demo really only included a few set pieces, basic item interaction, and almost no puzzles from the full game. It was largely able to pull off scaring players from almost atmosphere alone (if you exclude the Jack Baker and ghost encounters). It was later in the full game that it was able to show off it's metroidvania-esque design to its fullest. After my previous project, I wanted to step away from roguelike design for a bit and focus a little more on an exploration-based experience, so I took a few notes from the way RE7 and RE2: Remake handled map design and progression.

Did you come across any challenges during development? How did you overcome or work around them? *oates: I was coming off a severe cold last year and it took most of January for me to recover, so it was a little hard to start full-on development immediately like I normally would on top of other career matters. And looking at events today, it's even more imperative that developers practice healthy habits during development.

Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *oates: I've had the idea for Nobody's Home as a concept for a while, but filling in those gaps with actual gameplay between centerpieces was a big variable. I went back and forth between the turn-based item combat from the previous project to cutting out combat entirely. While I didn't implement it, I also brainstormed a few concepts for overworld action and combat ala Zelda, but it seemed too complex given the time frame I set for myself. Eventually I settled on a middle ground between full combat and separate encounters, with "enemies" acting as essentially a toll gate. The rest of the game followed suit with various tolls and "mouse traps" for the player to trigger at their own behest. This wasn't necessarily the design I had in mind at first, but it helped to concisely fill a relatively small location with specifically "deadly" content.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *oates: I largely work solo for both development and art, but I do regularly work with a few musicians for an original soundtrack. I first started working with other composers for the fangame Day Dreaming Derpy, where after the initial demo was released, I received emails from a few musicians volunteering to contribute some tracks for the game. In all, the original soundtrack contained 9 tracks in total, with 3 tracks from each composer; each of them doing an amazing job and, in my opinion brought the project back then to a higher degree of quality. This was how I met some of the composers I still work with today and they all have some really great work! TheNGVirus @NGVirusNG1 Kaminakat @thekaminakat dRedder @HornyGremlin

What is the best part of developing a game? *oates: It's a toss up between the initial brainstorming/research and the first run-through when you have your desired maps linked together. For the brainstorming, it's pretty fun to learn about subject matter you want to do justice to as well as stretching your creative muscles for the first time in service to a certain concept. However this obviously wears off when you devote too much time to a particular concept, but it's still enjoyable nevertheless. For making that run-through, it doesn't necessarily mean to have all the events implemented, but to experience your game the way players will experience it for the first time does give a sense of completion/cohesion to what you, as a developer, are trying to accomplish. It essentially puts what you're working on into a different perspective for you.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *oates: I do keep an eye out for what other rpgmaker projects are doing, and to see what others can do with the engine helps get the creative juices flowing; it's also fun to try to mentally reverse engineer how certain mechanics or effects were made. And it's always great to see fellow devs showcase what's possible with the engine.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *oates: Nobody's Home has a relatively small cast of characters, whom you do interact with but never see, this is largely to done to create a sense of "un-relatability", but if I had to pick a character, it'd be "car guy", the guy you find stuck in the car. They have a good line, " ...there'd be a good reason for this, but there isn't..." Story of my life.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *oates: There were a few areas I would have liked to expand on or add, specifically- the attic + roof, the front lawn, behind the walls, and an entire second floor. Unfortunately that meant potentially adding more questlines and NPCs while the first set of questlines were pretty interwoven so it would have been way more complex, also again, given the time frame I set, it would have extended the development cycle way beyond what I had time for. But if I had implemented those extra areas, the game's length would also go way beyond the 30 min - 1 hr it takes to complete the game as it is now.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *oates: I'd like to do both really, each installment of the VCRPG line of games is definitely a stand-alone story, or an isolated incident, but I would love to explore the aftermath of the game's events and how the passage of time ravages and twists the story into urban legend. I like to treat places and environments like characters as well, capable of making memories, being misunderstood, preserved, destroyed, and ultimately capable of change.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game? *oates: Both the fan reaction and free time honestly speaking. Once the development cycle finishes and the game is published, your work isn't really finished as there's always a chance someone's feedback can apply to immediate changes or patches you can implement, even during the release period. Marketing is also another large step to take into consideration after release, this includes tweeting, sending keys for lets plays, etc. Watching playthroughs is also a really good way to collect data on what parts of your design fall through and what fail to land. But after all that is said and done, some free time really helps the brain recuperate.

Was there something you were afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *oates: Just whether or not I handled the game's subject matter tastefully. Like horror cinema, everything done is in service the the themes and message of the piece as a whole.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *oates: The game engine is essentially a tool, and like any tool you can find plenty of creative ways to get the same result. And don't be afraid to research whatever it is you need help with, it also helps to be specific with what you want.

Question from last month's featured dev @moca-pz: If you can collaborate with any game developer in the world, who would it be? What would be their role(s) and what would be your role(s)? *oates: Game developer I'd like to work with: Hidetaka Miyazaki His role: Story Lead and Director My role: Drinking buddy Game we're working on: SciFi Souls

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

Remember to check out Nobody's Home if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[miniyrds]

As long as they don’t follow your blog, you could outline it anyways. Venting can be scary but it can also be healthy and provide some catharsis in the midst of all of this. You know, get the metaphorical weight of your chest

I've tried writing this a few times bc my brain is annoying and I keep forgetting things and then over explaining lol

thank u for the excuse to write out my problems on the internet

side note: I tell this humorously now and I know that I could've done things a lot differently, but it still messed me up quite a bit

this can pretty much be broken into several instance so to speak

incident one:

me and my ex-roommate and our two suitemates moved into an on campus apartment in the spring of our 2nd year. I am in my 4th year now. The semester started and we were all really excited to live together with a kitchen. ex-roommate proposed that we alternate cooking for everyone (this only lasted one month). but... ex-roommate’s bf was always over eating our food. this became more of an issue to one of my suite mates but I was fairly annoyed by him being constantly around. anyway, we decide to tell my ex-roommate that we didn’t think he should be over as often etc etc

ex-roommate left for a few hours and came back only to sit us all down and cry about how having her bf over made her feel better bc adjusting to living in an apartment was really hard and there was nowhere else for them to go (he lived in his own room in a different dorm on campus)

we dropped the situation

incident two:

in like February/early march I had gone to bed early while my ex-roommate, her bf, and our suitemates watched a movie until like 2 am. one of my suitemates shouted goodnight and woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep. ex-roommate and bf then decide to spend the night together...intimately...while I am right there.

I send her a message the following Monday bc I debated for so long whether or not to tell her that I heard. I told her that I really didn't want her bf staying the night after I had already gone to bed (basically I just wanted a heads up. I didn’t phrase this well)

I ended up getting really paranoid that she was sneaking him in and I confided in my suite mate about this (bad move)

incident three:

a week after spring break, we are getting back from a late showing of Us. It’s after midnight and we can’t find close parking. My suitemates and I offer to walk with her and she says that her bf is gonna walk her back so she’s okay

I say “oh, is [bf] coming over?” (I swear. that’s it)

wrong thing to say apparently. when we get back into the room she starts tearing into me. I don’t remember everything that was said but it started with “do you hate [bf]” and went to

we all hate your boyfriend. he makes us all feel really uncomfortable and he has for the past two years. we just never said anything

you say a lot of hurtful things. if you even think that you said something mean, apologize no matter how much later it is

you hurt [suitemates] feelings by joking about [something]. do u think she doesnt tell me? we tell each other everything

is [ex boyfriend] abusing you? because it seems like he is *never brings it up again or checks on me* (he was slightly toxic but it wasn't thanks to them that I realized it)

“im shocked im not crying rn. im just so mad” (as im sobbing)

I spent the rest of the semester on eggshells around them. I left every weekend I could but that was difficult because I didn't have a car. my ex never stepped foot in my apartment again (cant say the same about her bf)

my ex broke up with me that summer and that hit me really hard because we were co-dependent on each other in the worst way and he said a lot of mean things. ex-roommate hung out with me one time and claimed she was ‘there for me’ and got me thru my breakup. (that award goes to my mom, thanks)

I didn’t move back in with them in the fall. that honestly changed my life

incident four:

I am now in a much better place but I still feel the need to apologize to my new group of friends when I think I said something wrong. (they constantly assure me that I don’t have to) (I apologized to my current roommate for joking about how she cooks ramen and she was like "nat I do not hate u for ramen”)

I am also constantly prepared for another callout. I know I wasn't perfect and I couldve been better about boundaries. I know what to do now should that ever happen again. I feel bad about how it went down

I was not prepared for ex-roommate to turn on one of our suitemates in a me-style callout

I don’t have the full story from both sides but from what I gathered they were all joking in their normal fashion (”___ is my favorite! no ___ is my favorite!”) when ex-roommate took it to heart. this led to suitemate being excluded the moment they were walking out the door etc etc

needless to say, she moved out

ex-roommate took to social media to say “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. friendship applications closed forever!” after she blocked my suitemate.

this is when I learned that ex-roommate sees nothing wrong with how she treated me. like 0 empathy. I have 2 sources that believe she doesnt feel any at all

a few nights ago she tweeted about my old suitemate and I sent it to her (like a good friend lol). this is when I learned that ex-roommate was always mad that I hung out with other people

conclusion?

this was kinda cathartic. It was more timeline than venting but I have no more real venting thoughts I realized. I've exhausted them. but I do take smug comfort in the random instances that bothered my ex-roommate. we didn’t work as friends or roommates and im still messed up from everything but at least I have really good new friends now :))

[najlahyvonne]

Being black in America is an overwhelming task right now.

Watching everything transpire over the course of a few weeks has been interesting to say the least. When you add being confined to quarantine in the mix, it’s almost impossible to ignore the current events. As a black woman, especially, it’s honestly difficult trying to navigate all of this. I have been trying to find a balance between speaking up and fighting for what I believe in while simultaneously fearing the “angry black woman” pushback we often face, versus not feeling guilty for remaining silent some days when it becomes a lot to process.

I probably will never understand why my people have to go through what we have, but for the first time in years I actually feel like we are making progress as a community regardless of the naysayers. When I was younger, for some reason I always resonated with Malcolm X’s ideologies even though they constantly pushed MLK and his non-violent approach onto us in school. I definitely respected his vision. However, now at 21 years of age I always knew that wasn’t the most realistic approach—at least in my opinion. I always saw the injustice, but somewhere between my cousin being murdered by the Austin Police Department in middle school and the Sandra Bland incident at my Alma Mater, I became uncomfortably aware. I am so proud that we have come together to fight back. For years, it seems as if our race has been America’s punching bag, and we have been taking the hits left and right. But there comes a time when enough is enough and “it’s unreasonable to ask reasonable people to be reasonable with unreasonable people”, one of my favorite tweets during this movement by Ice Cube.

Which brings me to my next issue. I am so proud of those that haven’t been afraid to stand for what is right; clocking ignorance, whether it’s coming from their favs or not. My question for black celebrities and influencers is how are you using your platform and resources to support those in need? I also happen to disagree with the “shut up & open your purse” rhetoric because what will happen next? Is a dollar all it takes for us to give someone a pass? I’m more concerned with the genuinity of those involved, versus those who have made statements simply because they know they are ‘supposed’ to. We have to start holding the ones we place on such a high pedestal accountable if we want to see real change. These performative, PR cleanup-esque statements are sad to witness. If you have a voice, use it. And if you are going to use it, make sure you’re standing with the black community whole-heartedly. Personally, if a celebrity is more concerned with losing their platform instead of speaking up for humanity, those are the ones we need to not support or give our coin to anyways. I promise I would much rather hear a heartfelt, genuine take made in real time than a generic speech reeking of respectability politics.

I could simply say that we have to start holding famous people accountable for their ignorance, but then I realized that it’s not even a matter of class yet more of a race issue. Since the murder of George Floyd there have been two sides of people on social media: the ones who are pro-looting, and those that “don’t see the point” in our outrage or expect a non-violent approach, black twitter included. Ask yourself which side you’re on? Depending on the answer, ask yourself why is it that the years of oppression put onto our people isn’t enough? Why are you not outraged by an already handcuffed man being purposefully killed? Even if you don’t support George Floyd due to recent news, what about Breonna Taylor or Ahmad Arbery? It’s bigger than one person’s life because this isn’t a new occurrence, the next victim could be on of our family members. So why is it that we as a race are expected to shut up and take it? We have been taking it, for years and even today we have tried to compromise. The peaceful protests quickly turning sour is a clear example of the relationship we have with the oppressor. The reality is, we try to do things the right way & stand up for what we believe in, and white people don’t like that. They do not have to face the realities of this world the way we do because it doesn’t affect them.

So no, blue or all lives don’t matter right now. Black lives matter until our voices are heard, and we don’t have to gather our people for a movement every couple of months. As I said before, if you have a platform that isn’t being used to it’s advantage you’re a part of the problem. If you are against looting, but haven’t done anything to support the cause you’re a part of the problem. If you are not black and haven’t used your privilege to speak on the issues you are a part of the problem. If you’re a non-black POC telling black people how they should feel, you are a part of the problem. If you are black and haven’t said anything about the current events you’re a part of the problem. If you are black and you are standing with brands or celebrities that obviously aren’t on our side; or worse, you’ve used your voice to speak against what people on the front lines have been doing, or simply spreading ignorance on the topic, you are especially a part of the problem.

My biggest takeaway is that we must stand together at this time. Remember that the next time you bring up “black on black” crime or the mere fact that “we need to do better” during a police brutality conversation. My people are simply fighting back the only way we know how, and the gag is we learned it from our oppressor.

[mistress-of-the-obvious]

Despite the need to have quick takes on subjects, sometimes if not often times, it’s better to let things settle wait for more information, and find out your opinions on things.  With this, I’m going to go back over the events with Spacecraft, Yuki Kajiura, and Kalafina.

On March 13th this year Spacecraft finally announced Kalafina’s dissolvent. @westkana pointed out to me that this was also the date that Spacecraft confirmed that Keiko was leaving. Here’s one of his sources: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-03-13/singing-unit-kalafina-agency-confirms-1-member-will-leave/.128905

The owner of https://vk.com/club_kalafina, Webteste Doityourself (be sure to follow his site – he’s awesome) noted that Wakana’s pamphlet from last year was in the Kalafina area and not in her new one.

A few months later we started getting some songs released from Hikaru and Keiko is now back touring with FictionJunction.

All signs point to there being a non-compete clause in the contract regarding Kalafina that lasted exactly a year. During that year span from March 13, 2018 to 2019, all content was contractually Kalafina. That is why Wakana’s pamphlet last year is placed there. This was likely so that Spacecraft and Sony could better sell the 10th Anniversary movie, concert, as well as the Best Of set.

One thing I found absolutely fascinating were the tweets from Japanese Twitter. There was a lot of anger stating that Spacecraft had no right to announce such since Kalafina was Yuki Kajiura, Keiko, Wakana, and Hikaru and they did not announce such. It was one I could understand on an intellectual level, but not an emotional one.

Prominent voice actor Jouji Nakata was voiced his own displeasure by posting a photo of himself with Kalafina stating, “I hope my princesses will be back someday!” He also liked and retweeted a tweet by Kyorakuhigurasi, which went viral. As you can see, I provided both with a Google translation. It was tweet after tweet with the same sentiment. It’s rather uncommon to see so many Japanese people angry like that. This explains Yuki Kajiura, Keiko, and Hikaru’s joint statement. Which you can see here as a refresher: http://fictionjunction.com/kalafina20190314/#

Spacecraft owns the trademark so technically they’re right about Kalafina disbanding. Fans are also right about Kalafina not being a name, but the people who comprise it. Had Spacecraft been a US company it would have been phrased something like this, “We are saddened to announce Kalafina is no longer managed by us. Right now, each have their own personal projects. We support all involved in their endeavors now and in the future.” As for why Spacecraft didn’t? Seems pretty obvious that it’s because they’re bitter.

Trademark is also based on use/disuse unlike copyright. The phrasing of the announcement could be considered abandonment, which I find really interesting. Of course, I’m not a Japanese trademark lawyer and time is what typically shows abandonment. I’ll return to my thoughts on the trademark claim a bit later here.

A few months later we were greeted to The Weekly Bushun article. I’ve seen a couple of versions of the article. Interestingly, the online Weekly Bushun article left out a big detail that another versions got (which makes me think it’s an also a paper - it’s also possible I just missed it there). Here’s where I got the information: https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/16444902/

For a recap, when the last president of Spacecraft retired and the new president took over, he brought in a female official from Takarazuka Revue. He wanted Kalafina to be managed more like a typical pop group diminishing Yuki Kajiura’s role. This happened in 2016.

Yuki Kajiura was by far the longest talent in Spacecraft going back to at least 1997. She was also their big money maker. I don’t know how far back in the company Mr. M, assumed to be Yasunori Mori, goes back. Just that he was a long time trusted manager.

I can confirm this part of the rumor. I’ve heard that the new president was a big fan of Takarazuka Revue and wanted to change the company to fit more in line with his interests much to the dismay of various talent for a few years now. I also heard about a mystery female executive taking over Yuki Kajiura’s role in the Arena Live tour.

The key critical detail I didn’t notice on some other articles, which is in the Live Door version (doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, just that I didn’t see it) was the setting where the president yelled that Yasunori was a “spy” for Yuki Kajiura. The location was at Budokan at the Arena Live concert. He yelled this in front of his friends, family, and co-workers.

One of my favorite classes that I took in college way back in the early 2000s was Introduction To International Business. I love culture books that are often marketed to business people moving to nations long term and still buy them. One of the big things in business in Japan that is drilled: Do not scold, correct, or praise someone in public.

Japan is a culture based on harmony, so if I were a manager overseeing Japanese people if I noticed someone making a simple mistake and went over stating, “Oh you did this wrong. It needs to look like this. Simple mistake, it’s okay.” I disrupted harmony and gave that person a loss of face. Face can be summed up as something that can cause someone embarrassment, unwanted attention, or otherwise. It’s a little more complex than that, but it gives you an idea.

Another aspect of Japanese culture is sometimes referred to as “The Iron Rice Bowl.” This means it’s expected to promote within the company rather than bring in someone from outside. The idea is if you get into a company you should be promoted with good work until you retire. This decayed a bit after the great recession in the early 1990s, but it’s still there. So to bring in someone new at high level management is going to bring in a lot of discomfort, and the executive was going to face increased scrutiny. Some of this goes back into the concept of harmony. It certainly doesn’t help that based on the article, some thought she wasn’t qualified and she wasn’t able to handle her new position. This may also be why the current president got into his position. He may have simply had the most seniority.

While you do see the loud boss yelling in anime, anime is like comparing Hollywood to real life in the U.S. It’s not tolerated here in the U.S. and it’s not typical or accepted in Japan. One can only imagine what the president said to Yasunori or Yuki in private especially after this incident.

I was talking to someone else (not sure if they want to be revealed) about much of this stuff and we agreed that with all the activity with Kalafina’s Harmony fanclub with trips to Taiwan and the like, that Spacecraft and Hikaru, Keiko, and Wakana thought things would be able to continue somehow.

All signs point to negotiations about how the group would continue breaking down by late autumn. This can be found in the Question and Answers section in FictionJunction Club 35 (Winter 2017 – the content is typically done a few months in advance). I’m going on memory, but Keiko’s comment was something along the line of how their year went, “The first half of the year went well. I started learning Chinese. The second half went poorly. I hope next year will be better.” Hikaru stated “Road,” while Wakana said, “Smile.” I remember Wakana’s sounding particularly sad and upset. I looked for Putschki’s translation, but couldn’t find it. I know it’s there somewhere.

We know Keiko sent out her resignation to Spacecraft requesting her contract terminated a few months early in late December. A few days after this, the trademark claim was filed. I thought because Yuki Kajiura created Kalafina, that perhaps she was somehow giving her claim to Keiko otherwise the trademark would belong to Spacecraft.

When Keiko left, it was simply two paragraphs that were approved by Spacecraft online as apposed to Kaori Oda’s long blogpost and Hikaru’s long handwritten note. All signs point to a very hostile work environment for Keiko and anger on the part of certain people in Spacecraft.

While the trademark claim was ruled and given a sentence of her claim not being valid without additional documents, it was actually rescinded a few days before. Less than a month later Hikaru left Spacecraft. Seeing how close they are, I estimate that this was not a coincidence, though that is just an assumption on my part. I now suspect Keiko thought she had to file the trademark claim for her own protection and possibly that of Hikaru.

Now focusing on Wakana, had her contract been up to be signed again before those negotiations broke down, this would mean her contract ends in the first half of 2020. We know that Spacecraft typically has three year contracts because of Ryu Murasaki.

If the name sounds familiar it’s because she was added to Wakana’s tour last year. I state this because it was made to sound like it was solely Wakana at first, then marketed as double bill. When I saw her name pop up, I looked her up. She’s formerly of Takarazuka Revue and joined Spacecraft in 2016 when the takeover happened. I found on the Spacecraft store, after Kalafina, she had by far the most merchandise. From there I also found out that she was also on the World Heritage Tour.

Going back to this I remember when Ryu Murasaki was added some of the responses were, “Oh, I guess they thought Wakana couldn’t handle the tour alone.” Again going back to the concepts of face and harmony, I wasn’t happy with the set up. It caused Wakana to look less capable and since Ryu was added later, gave her fans less time to buy tickets as well as create tension between Wakana’s fans that thought it would just be her.

Ryu left Spacecraft on May 31st, giving her resignation on April 20th this year. You can see the link here: https://hochi.news/articles/20190420-OHT1T50051.html

Exactly why, of course, we don’t know. While she came along with the female executive, she may have been uncomfortable with possible preferential treatment and the possible tense work environment.

From the time Hikaru quit, I went back from 2016 to then 2018 and found twelve talent left. During that time I could only find Ryu as joining. They do have a new boy band, TFG, so since then they have gotten more people. Still this will mean, from 2016, at least thirteen people have left at current date.

The one part of the article I have my doubts on is Keiko getting a massive ego. We know at a concert in the past she was visibly upset with the amount of attention she was getting over Wakana and Hikaru at an overseas convention. She has also stated in the 10th Anniversary movie that she grew as a person by learning to be attentive over Hikaru, and Wakana’s feelings as she was oblivious of that before. This of course, doesn’t mean she didn’t mess up at times since this was a growing skill for her.

Instead, I suspect any sort of conflict between the three had to do with the lack of direction and stress, as Yuki Kajiura and Yasunori Mori were restricted of their positions and left.  The high stress level could easily cause arguments that normally wouldn’t be there. If, for example, Wakana wanted to continue Kalafina while Keiko did not without Yuki, Wakana would be more sensitive to Keiko’s popularity. I need to note, I have no evidence or knowledge that Hikaru or Keiko have any conflict with Wakana and suspect it is an issue of contract issues, but I also have no evidence there isn’t a conflict either. I suspect that the informant meant things more like I state as the whole point of the article was to highlight the possibility of Kalafina reforming. If they hated each other, than one would think that would be the headline instead.

As to why Hikaru, Yuki, or anyone else hasn’t shown pictures or talked about Wakana much probably goes back to harmony again. If certain people within Spacecraft are angry at Yuki, Yasunori, and Keiko, I can imagine what the reaction would be if Hikaru posted a picture of her together with Wakana or if Yuriko Kaida tweeted something about her. Even if this wasn’t the case, showing such pictures and making comments alone can be seen as awkward.

Fast forward to now. There have been questions on Yasunori’s whereabouts since he left Spacecraft. I believe he may have helped with Yuri Matsuoka’s triple EP release .A, .B, and .C. Kaori provided backing vocals for some of the songs. Outside of that, I didn’t know where he was until recently.

Kugayama on the Canta Per Me Discord (which is where you can easily find me) was kind enough to buy me copies of Yuriko Kaida’s Porta and Jr.’s album along with the new pamphlet (he’s going back to Japan in a few days for the last two Tokyo dates – I’ve begged him for Yuriko’s new album and the photobook). While I was admiring Yuriko’s Porta CD, I looked at the back of the credits: Yasunori Mori (Highway Star). Kugayama had thought he retired.

I asked him about Highway Star since he mentioned it to me before and he said Yuki Kajiura’s FictionJunction Station seemed to be run on the same hardware. What I found was illuminating.

Highway Star delves into both PA Engineering and Artist Production. They manage Anisong artists as well as planning events and fanclubs. They are also invested in expanding to global markets (so anime conventions and potential concerts). You’ll see they have a lot of familiar names they’re managing: Jam Project, Masaaki Endou, GranRodeo, and Yorke from Old Codex.

Suddenly, a missing piece fit. When I was at Anime Expo last year, I noticed a lot of little things. Besides the fact that the FBM were May’n’s backing band, Ohira was the only manipulator for the entire concert, and the camera work for Yuki Kajiura was what I thought to be the best. Highway Star was likely the company providing the technical knowhow behind the scenes and some of the people likely worked with her in the past.

If you check their corporate site, you’ll see Yasunori Mori listed as an Executive Officer. The company was created back in 2009 and just recently announced a new business partner artist earlier this year: Yuki Kajiura. They also have ties to BandaiNamco.

You can see the links here: https://highwaystar.co.jp/about.html https://highwaystar.co.jp/ap.html https://highwaystar.co.jp/img/oshirase190304.jpg

I wouldn’t be surprised if either Hikaru or Keiko end up being managed by Highway Star for their solo careers.

So there’s my recap, with new information, and some idle speculation. We’ll never really know the truth, but the shadow of it still looms. I’m interested in all your thoughts.

[migleefulmoments]

Debunking ahead: Tinhats historically believe Darren was FreePavarotti (mleigh69*tumblr*com/post/126280604185/why-do-people-think-darren-is-free-pavarotti). He isn't. Dominic Tracy (nee Barnes) stated the account was owned by a fan in Boston (www*masslive*com/television/2011/03/glee_exclusive_dominic_barnes*html) which was followed-up by an interview with with said Boston fan who owns it (www*masslive*com/television/2011/03/glee_exclusive_mr_boston_speak*html). As usual, tinhats bleat it was PR.

Ooohhh I love this....this is tooo delicious.   

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akf-ighting asked:Why do people think Darren is Free Pavarotti?

@mleight69: 

There are quite a few reasons - some screen captured - others not

but all seem to lead to the same conclusion - despite PR attempts to “prove” it otherwise

the truth is hard to hide when it doesn’t want to be hidden

This was a fun exchange that pav jumped in on:

THIS ONE IS A PERSONAL FAVORITE:

if the above doesn’t scream Darren’s voice to you - nothing will.

And there was a third tweet from a female friend (can’t recall who) who told him to watch which account he was tweeting from and called him “birdbrain”

This was an interesting post:

on December 10th, there were three consecutive tweets. I have all three in my phone saved. 11:10: @DarrenCriss I was gonna hop in the shower but then I decided to do jumping jacks in there instead. and then at 11:15: @DarrenCriss I was gonna hop in a cab but I realized there was no room in there for it. Plus I had nowhere to go. Sorry cab driver please let me out. and THEN, at 11:21: @FreePavarotti I was gonna hop to it but decided to walk instead. 3 MPH. So, basically, Darren mixed up accounts. (Tweets from FreePavarotti generally have #FreePav at the end.) The tweet was promptly deleted, so very few people have proof that it happened, but I do. it proved that Darren runs @FreePavarotti. LINK

I have seen screencaps of the tweet that Pav sent out the night of Chris’ 21st bad when they were on tour

Pav was drunk - or acting drunk - both are possible - the tweet was deleted

like the others that pointed too specifically to who was in charge of the account

I believe it is both Chris and Darren - but mostly Darren

The timing of events and information known - a lot not possible without some inside info

Many are in Darren’s playful and mischievous voice (with a possible assist from Chris at many)

And honestly - WHY would anyone work so hard to cover up something that was just a random fan having fun?!   LINK

Another incidence of PR overkill - that only proves the opposite to be true -they seem to have mastered this maneuver - don’t you think?!

Free pav continues to favorite things time and again

and frequently they are INTERESTING choices for sure!

Choose for yourself - but coincidences are only coincidences SO MANY TIMES

time will tell

************************************************************************

(X)

********************************************************************************

'Glee' exclusive: Mr. Boston speaks about FreePavarotti Twitter 

 Updated Mar 25, 2019; Posted Mar 31, 2011 Comment0sharesBy

Samantha Stephens, The Republican

Who would have thought that a bird could cause such a commotion?Pavarotti might have only appeared on a couple episodes of Glee but Kurt Hummel's (Chris Colfer) pet warbler stole the attention and devotion of thousands of Glee fans.

With a popular Twitter account, which currently has 9,483 followers, Pavarotti kept fans entertained with witty status updates about his caretaker, the Warblers, Kurt's budding relationship with Blaine (Darren Criss), and his own budding romance with Warbler Luke Edgemon.

As the account became popular, speculation over who ran the account swept the internet. Most fans agreed that it had to be a member of the Glee cast. But disparities on whether the account was operated by a Warbler, Darren Criss, or a joint-effort was a topic of debate for many.

When I started what I referred to as my “Wild Warbler Week”, in which I had the pleasure of chatting with three of the Warbler boys, I decided to try to get to the bottom of this mystery.

I was prepared to listen to the standard "he's a bird!" reply that had always been given when anyone attempted to solve this conundrum. But, lo and behold, I received the information on the first attempt thanks to Dominic Barnes.

We may never know the mysterious Mr. Boston’s true identity, he refused to answer any personal questions, but he offered an exclusive interview in which he revealed some of the magic (or should I say glitter?) behind the famous Twitter account.

When did you start the account? Where did the idea come from? The account began on December 1, 2010. It was the day after Pavarotti appeared on the show, I think. I started watching Glee when the Warblers first appeared, which was a couple weeks prior. I've done joke Twitters before in a different context, and it was a lot of fun. The initial idea was to start a campaign to "free Pavarotti", hence the username, while retweeting information about the Beelzebubs and bullying, to keep it in context. When I started tweeting, though, doing the character seemed like a more fun, accessible way to put that stuff out there.

Where did you get the ideas for the status updates? Do you have a favorite status or one that is particularly memorable? I had two different characters in mind for Pavarotti; one was the actor, an actual bird on set, totally infatuated with his own success and enamored with his fellow Warblers. He's the one who actually acts like a bird. The other was the bird in the show. That Pavarotti was meant to be a little more like a miniature Kurt; he overplays the "gay", gets excited about hanging out with Blaine, loves to sing to himself, and pretends to be well-educated about things like fashion, history, and music, while in reality he's just tossing his sassy feathers around, saying please, look at me, don't let me get lost, I'm bright yellow, I want to be important! Ha ha.

The other factor in updating the Twitter was relevancy; What's a hot topic in the world (Libya; Japan)?, Is there something I can do to stick with the gay/bullying theme (Trevor Project; transgender boy actor bird; It Gets Better)?, and What's up with my caretakers and how can I redirect some followers to them (Warblers; Bubs; Glee)?

I don't think I have a favorite. There are over 800 tweets on the account, you know! Every time I got to say "I'm not Someone Famous, because I'm a bird," that was awesome. Bird puns, too. Bird titles. Bird anything, really.

Did you ever expect it to become such a phenomenon within the Glee fandom? Not in a million years! I didn't even expect it to catch the eye of people in the show - and while I made some fun tweets, Pavarotti's popularity is due entirely to the Warblers & co. If it weren't for some of the guys being great sports, playing along, and pretending that Pavarotti was the real bird they worked with, this conversation we're having would be even more absurd. The Darren Criss conspiracy theory is also to blame.

Could you elaborate on the Darren Criss conspiracy for people who might not be familiar with it? I once dueled a tiger upon the harsh wastelands of Kentucky, but as soon as I managed to subdue this creature, it tweeted that I was actually Darren Criss to the World Wide Web. Its approximately three and a half million followers were fooled instantly and a thousand of them became personally invested. In order to preserve my secret identity and continue to oppose Professor Zoom and Magneto in their dastardly schemes, I played along until the time was rife to take revenge.

You said you had two ideas for how to maintain the Pavarotti Twitter, how did you decide between the two ideas? I used both Pavarotti - the bird and the actor. Some people picked up on this right away. It's not necessary in order to read it, though. The plan to use it as a "freedom campaign" was nixed almost immediately, because doing the character tweets was too much fun. And also because I couldn't come up with a neat little logo to save my life.

A huge part of the Twitter account was dedicated to the relationship between Luke Edgemon and Pavarotti. How did that get started and will you and Luke remain in touch? Luke was the first Warbler to tweet at FreePavarotti as though he were the real deal - he said "Pleasure working with you today!" and that was the beginning of my credibility. The romantic tweets just happened. Truly the age-old story of a canary and a boy falling in love. We will! At least, I hope so. We still text through private messages.

Pav had a lot of status updates about "Klaine" - do you think he's smiling from Bird Heaven now that they're finally (unofficially) together? What are your personal opinions on that storyline? I think Pavarotti loved both of the boys, as well as the rest of the Warblers. He did his best to chirp it up with Kurt, and Blaine was a real pal. I don't think he would have much of an opinion on the relationship itself, aside from what it does to Blaine and the Pips' set-list. Personally, it's important to have a gay relationship on primetime T.V., even if it's as silly as any other hookup on Glee. The "Brittana" excites me more, to be honest! People need to see that - LGBT intolerance is heading the way of dodo birds, shell suits, and separate drinking fountains, so we better darn well get a more and more positive presence in the media with each passing day.

Who has a stronger love: Pav and Luke or Kurt and Blaine? Love is the most powerful force in the universe; it's not a spectator sport. Be careful with that!

You mentioned one of the themes you wanted to touch upon with the Pav account was the bullying issue. What are your thoughts about the Kurt/Karofsky storyline and the possibility for Karosky's redemption? I'm not really qualified to talk about this! But here goes: I do like to think that anyone can find redemption, especially somebody who's lost and lashing out like Karofsky. The locker room kiss scene turns my stomach, and getting Kurt out of that entire environment was definitely the right thing to do. I'm sure Karofsky will "see the light", for lack of a better term. It's been set since that Superbowl number. I just don't know how much divine vengeance is too much - his remorse alone isn't really enough to make up for what he's done, but taking a crowbar to the guy's head would be overkill! Glee will, with any luck, find a happy medium and a happy ending for him. He and guys like him could use a little hope.

How difficult has it been to keep the secret, especially when so many people assumed the account was run by a Warbler or member of the cast? A fair number of folks on the human plane have known about the account from the start. I'm grateful that none of them have spoiled the fun. I   experience a mixture of guilt and glee when accused of being a member of the cast; I figured if anybody in the inner sanctum of Glee minded, I'd get in trouble, or someone would clear the air, so I'm guessing anybody on Glee who's heard of me gets just as much satisfaction out of toying with the emotions of Twitter as I do. Splendid. I don't need these five minutes of fame attached to my face; having this game on the internet was fun enough.

What did you think the reaction would be when it was revealed that you weren't a member of the Glee cast? I was surprised that the Warblers were surprised - I thought they were all just playing along! I figured Darren Criss would laugh to himself. You know, everybody's different - I knew some people would be disappointed, some people would be really amused, and some would still insist I'm a member of the cast.

Do you keep in touch with anyone from the cast of Glee? I could just tell you "no," but that's not very mysterious. I have a feeling folks would be skeptical, too. How about...my buddies are my secret, and the poor cast of Glee and I can continue to try to live our lives as ordinary people, connection or no connection.

Were you a fan of the show before you started the Twitter? If so, what was your favorite episode or cover? Nope! I'd never seen it before the Warblers appeared. But since then I've ended up with the box set of the first season, and I've seen some of it. I loved the episode with the mattress commercial. I like Teenage Dream a lot. I also liked Forget You and Vogue.

Who is your favorite Glee character? Puck. He appeals to my sensibilities. He's a cool dude with a lot to prove. He gets some great lines. He's just great. He can be both a bully and a kicked puppy.

When and how did you find out that Pav was going to die in "Original Songs"? I found out when people started tweeting me asking if it was true. That's how I learned a lot of things; I don't read the news blogs, and I don't really talk to people on the inside - well, I wouldn't be so rude as to ask for deets on spoilers all the time if I did, although I shot off a couple of excited messages to Warblers when I discovered "my" days were numbered. I toyed with the hearts of my followers, and as soon as I was informed that the death was actually going to happen, I began to plot my own demise.

On Glee, Kurt assumes Pavarotti dies from a stroke. Is that what really happened? How did you decide what the final tweet would be? Pavarotti either died of a stroke or of a glitter overdose. There was no time for an autopsy, in between singing and making out, so the world may never know. I had the final few days' worth of tweets saved on my phone weeks in advance. Pavarotti died while chirping out a tune; that's the way he wanted to live, so that's the way he had to go. The song seemed relevant.

Do you approve of the bedazzled coffin Pav was laid to rest in? It's beautiful. A glittery little box for his glittery little spirit.

There was about a week between Pav's death and the funeral. Where was he hanging out in the meantime? Kurt probably kept him in a well-decorated mini-fridge. Or maybe they used a slingshot to send him out into space at relativistic speed, so that he'd land back on Earth without decaying too much.Assuming that's where Pav is, what's Bird Heaven like?I'm not dead or a bird, so I couldn't tell you!

Are you or will you troll again? I'm glad that someone detailed for me exactly what the parameters of trolling are last night.I have had other Twitter accounts in the past; none taken as seriously as this one, and nowhere near the follower account this one generated. I have a new joke character Twitter account going, with a smaller following and a more casually fun tweeting schedule. It has been mistaken as an official Twitter in its franchise once or twice, too, but that impression was almost immediately dispelled by the followers and context. I don't plan on ever publicly linking them to each other, or my future endeavors.

Is the new Twitter account Glee, Darren Criss, or Starkid related? How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? (X)

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So there you go...another cc trope, forever stricken from the masterpost!  

[ewankoseyo]

a chance || yugyeom imagine

A/N: A kind anon requested this last week and I finally got the time to sit down and finish it. Please enjoy! :)

“an imagine where yugyeom and y/n are shipped together by the media and while yugyeom is super shy about it cause he likes y/n, y/n plays along with the ship like promoting yugyeom’s dances, and talking about him in variety shows. yugyeom is super confused if she’s doing this for the boost it’s giving both their careers or bc if she likes him as well”

——

“Close your mouth already, you’ll catch flies.”

Jinyoung smirked over at Yugyeom, who had spent the last ten minutes scrolling through his phone with his jaw practically on the floor. Yugyeom stopped scrolling to glare at the older boy.

“This is all your guys’ fault!”

“Us?” Jinyoung feigned a shocked gasp, placing a hand over his chest. “Whatever do you mean?”

Yugyeom sighed and continued scrolling, still unable to process what he was seeing. “If it weren’t for you guys going on and on about me being the ‘biggest fan’ of the ‘nation’s newest songbird’ on that show yesterday, the whole internet wouldn’t be shipping me with her!” Yugyeom shoved his phone in Jinyoung’s hands. A pormanteau of your name and Yugyeom’s was currently the most trending hashtag on the internet. Clips from yesterday’s talk show of the boys making fun of Yugyeom for being a fan of you were shared countless times.

“I know you guys must be really busy with the recent comeback but in your downtime is there anyone you like to keep up with? Any new music you’re listening to or...?” The interviewer trailed off.

“I think you’re setting us up perfectly, because actually...” Jackson slung an arm around Yugyeom’s shoulders. Yugyeom inwardly groaned, bracing himself for the roasts that were going to come out of this interview. “We wanna talk about how our maknae here has grown very fond of a certain someone!”

“Yeah, you know that really popular cover of ‘You Are’ that everyone keeps talking about?” Bambam piped up.

“Ah, from the nation’s newest songbird? No one can get enough of her YouTube videos. It seems as if she blew up overnight. Didn’t she just join your label?”

Jinyoung cut Yugyeom off before he could get a word in. “That’s correct. But our Gyeomie has been watching her for a while.” Yugyeom attempted to fight off Jinyoung from pinching his cheek.

“He’s one of her many subscribers and has watched all of her covers,” Youngjae joined.

“Is that true Yugyeom?” The interviewer inquired with an eyebrow raised. “What do you like about her?”

“Yes, please tell us Gyeomie,” Jaebum teased. The boys sat on the talk show couch with their heads propped up by their hands, giving Yugyeom their full attention.

“It’s no big deal, I just, uh...” Yugyeom glanced around at all the expectant faces staring back at him, searching for an answer that would prevent any sort of broadcasting incident. “I just really expect her as an artist? She has a unique and powerful voice that puts a twist on her covers. Her original songs are good too...so yeah...”

The boys broke out in laughter from his weak explanation, taking turns in between to make fun of him. 

“Aww...Yugyeom’s blushing! Wait until she watches this! We’re going to get this trending online to make sure she does!”

Jinyoung tossed Yugyeom back his phone. “You’re talking about this like it’s a bad thing. You do like her.”

“Yes, but I can’t let the whole world know that...I can’t let her know that.” Yugyeom groaned morosely. “What if she saw the interview?” 

“I’m sure she has, but she hasn’t said anything about it yet though,” Jaebum added, coming out of his room to join Yugyeom and Jinyoung in the lounge. He took a seat next to Yugyeom, looking at him expectantly as he showed the younger boy what he was watching on his phone. “I’m surprised you weren’t watching this already, I thought you would have been one of her first few viewers.”

Jaebum and Jinyoung snickered when Yugyeom’s eyes nearly popped out of the sockets, realizing what he was watching. He grabbed Jaebum’s phone out of his hands, holding it closer to his face. You were doing an Instagram live to thousands of viewers, greeting all of those who commented asking you to say hi to them. Yugyeom couldn’t help the small smile forming on his lips as he watched you giggle from reading some of the comments. It was the same laugh he had fallen in love with thousands of times before. 

“Oh, JB-sunbaenim is watching this. Hello!” You waved to the camera. “Thank you for watching this and thank you for all of the support from you and the other members. I’m so honored to be in the same company as you!”

The older members silently gave each other knowing looks and smirked as an almost-inaudible squeal unknowingly escaped the back of Yugyeom’s throat. Though your greeting was not directed necessarily to him, he found your just being entirely adorable. Just when he thought it was impossible for you to get cuter, you would manage to outdo yourself without even trying. The whole thing was killing the poor boy. 

Yugyeom’s smile was growing by the second as you explained how you were in the dressing room getting ready for a variety show you were guest starring on, until he noticed the upcoming comments.  

“JB-oppa is watching this? Maybe Yugyeom-oppa is watching this too!”

“Did you see what Yugyeom said about you yesterday?”

“Unnie, what do you think of Yugyeom?”

“I ship you with Yugyeom. Please make this happen!”

Seeing these comments, Yugyeom felt his soul leave his body. Jaebum and Jinyoung didn’t bother to hold back their laughter as Yugyeom threw Jaebum’s phone back in his lap. He buried his face in a couch pillow, muffling his distressed screams. “Why?! Just kill me already!”

Jaebum forced Yugyeom to sit back up, shoving the phone back in his face. “Wait, let’s just keep watching. It’s getting good.”

“What do I think of Yugyeom-sunbaenim?” Yugyeom’s ears perked up as you read a comment out loud. He grabbed the phone back, eagerly awaiting your answer. “He’s really nice! I’ve run into him a few times at the company and he was nothing but kind to me even if he was busy. He’s helped me to feel very welcome over there.”

“So when the time comes, you guys better have six kids and name them after all six of us,” Jinyoung joked. Yugyeom shushed Jinyoung without removing his eyes from the screen as you continued speaking. 

“Hopefully one day I could collaborate with him and the rest of the group. I’ve been following them since day one. I just love Yugyeom-sunbaenim’s dancing! My favorite is from that one show...”

Yugyeom had just about turned into the heart-eyes emoji, staring at the screen with unabashed happiness as you went on and on about his dancing. You didn’t mention anything about watching his interview from yesterday, but maybe what you were saying meant that there was hope that you could possibly like him back? Yugyeom’s heart melted at the thought. How did he manage to fall so hard for you in such a short amount of time?

Yugyeom handed Jaebum’s phone back as you ended the live feed to finish preparing for the show. He moved to grab his coat off the rack and opened the front door.

“Where are you going all of a sudden?” Jaebum asked.

“I think I’ll go practice some dance moves,” Yugyeom replied with a smitten smile before heading out the door. 

What happened the next few days should have made Yugyeom happy, but he grew suspicious instead. 

Your variety show episode aired the next day. During a game where you had to quickly decide which you liked better between two choices, an image of Yugyeom kept coming up alongside images of other handsome celebrities. Though the show did this to you as a joke in response to recent events, you happily chose Yugyeom each time. When asked about this, you simply replied that you couldn’t betray your labelmate. Despite his heart racing from watching the episode (in the privacy of his own room so the other boys couldn’t make fun of him, of course,) he tried not to think too much of this. 

But then after that, you kept talking about him on social media. You shared GOT7′s comeback videos online, but with captions only praising Yugyeom (“If I had Yugyeom-sunbaenim’s feet, I’d never stop dancing!”) You had commented on a fan’s picture of Yugyeom giving the camera a suggestive look at a recent concert with a heart-eyes emoji. When a fan tweeted you asking who you would date in GOT7 besides Yugyeom, you responded by saying you were unable to choose a member that wasn’t Yugyeom. 

All of this didn’t go unnoticed by his fans, who would tag him to these posts, asking Yugyeom what he thought. Yugyeom kept quiet, never responding to the matter since it started, because truthfully, he didn’t know what to think anymore. He was (somewhat) fine when his little crush on you was exposed. He half-expected the fans to go crazy about it for a short while, then the buzz would die down if he or the other members never brought it up publicly again. Yugyeom would just live peacefully with his semi-private feelings (and the occasional teasing from the boys.) 

But you were actively responding to the fans about the ship, though never directly addressing what Yugyeom had said on the show. You had never mentioned him publicly before, besides the times when you would talk about being a fan of his group. But you were talking about all of the members then. Now, it was almost as if you were encouraging the fans on with this ship. You never confirmed whether it was real, but you also didn’t shy away when people talked about you and Yugyeom. He should have been over the moon from the way you kept talking about him, but when he realized how many more thousands of followers and views on your videos you had gained in such a short amount of time, Yugyeom was beginning to feel, well...used. 

Did you really have a thing for him or were you just saying all of that for the publicity?

“I don’t know what she’s thinking right now, but maybe it’s time you go out and do something about it, you know?” Mark suggested casually one day when Yugyeom voiced his concern with the older members. After an honest pep talk with them (“Just grow a pair and confront her already!”) Yugyeom decided he was going to have a word with you about the situation when he had the chance. 

That chance turned out to be the following weekend where you were both attending a music awards show. When his manager told him he would be presenting an award with you, Yugyeom knew he had to act fast. As he was backstage mentally rehearsing his confrontation with you, Yugyeom felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, whatever speech he had prepared for you completely left his head.

Yugyeom was at a loss for words. You stood there shyly with your hands behind your back, giving him a small smile. With the way your hair was pulled back elegantly, giving him a better view of your face, and the way your gown subtly accentuated your features to make you look like millions of dollars, Yugyeom nearly let himself fall for you all over again.

Nearly. Remembering what his older members told him and the mission at hand, Yugyeom shook those thoughts out of his head. 

“Hi,” you greeted him softly with a small wave. “It’s great seeing you again. I was really happy to hear that we were going to be presenting together.” 

Yugyeom balled his hands into fists down beside him for a final push of encouragement before donning an unamused expression. 

“Are you though?”

“Pardon?”

“Are you really happy to be presenting with me?” Yugyeom pried, a hint of bitterness laced in his tone.

“Yes...? Why wouldn’t I be?” Your mouth shifted into a frown. You didn’t expect this interaction to play out like this. Yugyeom seemed...upset with you? But why?

Noticing your growing discomfort and hesitance with him, Yugyeom dialed back. Even though he was supposed to be confronting you, he didn’t want you to shy away from him. Yugyeom sighed as his hands fumbled nervously below him. 

“Do you like me?”

Yugyeom mentally slapped himself. He didn’t mean to be so forward. 

“Of course, that’s why I’m happy to be presenting with you,” you replied innocently.

“No, I mean do you actually like me?”

Yugyeom looked at you with wide eyes, holding his breath as he anticipated your answer.

“Yes...” Your answer almost came out as a whisper. You looked down, unable to look him in the eye as you felt your face growing warmer by the second. “Yes, I do like you.”

Hearing the sincerity amid the reservation in your voice, Yugyeom let out a sigh of relief. “But why?”

“Why?” Your eyes shot back up at him. Was that even a real question? “Because I think you’re so cool and you’re such a great singer and dancer and I look up to you. You’re passionate and funny and you care about your fans so much and you’re basically the nation’s most eligible bachelor,” you rambled. With every word that seemed to flow carelessly from your mouth, you wished the ground would just swallow you up whole to save you from embarrassment. “...I thought the whole world knew I felt this way already.”

Yugyeom’s mouth opened and closed in an attempt to find the words to say next. “But I thought—I didn’t know...please don’t take this the wrong way, but I thought you were just...using me...”

“What do you mean?”

He furiously shook his head, trying to diffuse any anger and misunderstanding that would arise from you. “I mean, you just joined the same label as me and started to get even more popular than you already were after that whole thing on that show I was on and then you were responding to all the fans about it...but you never mentioned it before that...so I just thought...”

“Sunbaenim,” You sighed, looking almost hurt. Yugyeom’s heart nearly broke at your crestfallen expression. “I’ve never talked about it before because I respected you so much. Then I joined the company and there was a higher chance of me seeing you more often than just in short passing, maybe even us working directly together, and so I kept quiet so I wouldn’t embarrass myself. But then you mentioned me on that show, and the fans kept talking about us, so I thought that maybe I had—”

“A chance?”

“Yes...” You looked down again. “So I kept talking about you online...in hopes that maybe you’d notice me again...”

It was quiet for a moment. You were sure you had blown it with Yugyeom and were ready to make a run for the bathroom to cry when you felt his hands gently take hold of your bare arms. Your head shot up only to be met with his sincere gaze.

“I really like you too, if you didn’t already know it,” Yugyeom whispered. Feeling his fingertips burn from the light touch, he abruptly dropped his hands behind back. Yugyeom mimicked the shy smile inching its way on your lips and looked down at his feet bashfully. “I’m really really really sorry about this whole misunderstanding. It’s just difficult to gauge someone’s true intentions when it comes to the work we do, you know? But that doesn’t excuse how much of a dick I’ve been acting to you just now. Do you think we could just start over and try again?” Yugyeom looked back at you hopefully.

You beamed at him, sending a wave of warmth rolling through his stomach. “Of course, Sunbaenim.”

“Good,” Yugyeom smiled back at you before taking one of your arms to loop it through his. “Now let’s go. I think we’ve got an award to present?” You blushed once again as he sent a playful smirk your way. “Also, we don’t need to be so formal with each other. You’re older than me, Noona.” 

You hid your face in his arm, a soft and short bashful squeal escaping your lips as he walked you to the curtain behind the stage. “Okay Sun—I mean, Yugyeom.” 

As you called him by his name, Yugyeom was sure he had fallen for you all over again. 

And when the fans saw the way he looked at you as the two of you walked out on stage arm-in-arm, they were sure too. 

——

[didanawisgi]

Today, we begin with a new Full Measure poll on the national news media. As you might expect: the results aren’t very good. For the media. Whether it’s coverage of the Russia investigation or the Covington High School kids, news consumers on all sides of the political spectrum report declining trust — in us. We turn to two experts to analyze the current Media Madness.

Sharyl: One need only sample lowlights from a single month to get a sense of the problem.

In January, a Seattle Fox affiliate aired a doctored video of President Trump.

President Trump: Some have suggested a barrier is immoral.

Buzzfeed: The comparison which shows Trump with an altered face and a looped licking of his lips

The same month, Special Counsel Robert Mueller refuted a BuzzFeed bombshell that falsely claimed Trump directed his ex-lawyer to lie to Congress.

And a January article about Melania Trump in the Telegraph was followed by seven corrections an apologyand an undisclosed payment to Mrs. Trump. One-sided narratives presented virtually unchallenged. National news quoting anonymous sources that turn out to be wrong.

The headline contains the most devastating part: President Trump directed his attorney to lie to congress.

The same month, Special Counsel Robert Mueller refuted a Buzzfeed bombshell that falsely claimed Trump directed his ex-lawyer to lie to Congress.

The Washington Post took us “Inside theBattle Over Trump’s Immigration Order”— only to later admit the article misreported Trump’s actions, a reported meeting had not actually occurred, and a conference call hadn’t happened as described.

FBI Director James Comey debunked a New York Times article about supposed contacts between Trump campaign staff “senior Russian intelligence officials.”

And NBC News reported that Russian President Putin said he had compromising information about Trump. Actually, Putin said the opposite. It’s been a bad few years for media credibility.

A new Full Measure poll conducted for Full Measure by Scott Rasmussen finds: 42% of Americans believe national political news coverage is inaccurate and unreliable. Fewer— 38%—believe it’s accurate and reliable. And 52% say it’s worse compared to five years ago.

National political reporters also get poor scores. Only 26% of those polled say reporters carefully report the facts. 57% say reporters use news stories to promote their own ideological agenda.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen:

Rasmussen: We asked about national political reporters are, are they credible, are they reliable? And you know, a little more than one out of three people say yes. When we ask about Wikipedia, we get the exact same answer. So what's happening is we have a world where people look at journalists like they look at Wikipedia. “Gee, that's an interesting fact. I better check it myself.”

Sharyl: And what does that tell you?

Rasmussen: The media has a huge credibility problem and it's always had the problem. Oh, we talk about it differently today. Now we talk about it as a political bias. I think the issues have always been there. I mean, people were complaining about the bias of Walter Cronkite back in the 1960s.

Sharyl: People forget about that.

Walter Cronkite: For it seems now more certain then ever that the bloody experience in Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.

Sharyl: It is often argued that Donald Trump created this media environment where everybody hates the media. And then others say he simply understood that environment, and capitalized on it. Which is it you see?

Rasmussen: Oh, people have hated the media for a very long time

Trump: Fake news folks, fake news. Typical New York Times fake stories.

Rasmussen: Donald Trump capitalized on it. He understood it, but he's not the first to do so. The first President Bush when he was campaigning, he actually got kind of aggressive with, I think it was Dan Rather, during an interview because a lot of Republicans weren't sure he had the fire to, to be president.

President Bush 1: It's not fair to judge my whole career by a re-hash on Iran. How would you like it if I judge your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York? Would you like that?

Rasmussen: So he capitalized on that. But all you're doing is tapping into a sentiment that's already there and Donald Trump is playing them but beautifully

Rasmussen says his polling found a good recent example of how many today have come to regard— or disregard— the national media. The Covington High School pro-life students’ confrontation with a Native American activist at a Washington DC protest.

Rasmussen: When the story broke, of the students from Covington high school, we went out and polled right away when the story first broke and ask people what they thought. And as you would expect, liberals and conservatives had different views of whether the high school students acted inappropriately or somebody else did.

Sharyl: So to summarize, liberals probably thought the high school students who were pro-life behaved inappropriately and aggressively.

Rasmussen: Yes.

Sharyl: And Conservatives thought the Native American was the one who is inappropriate.

Rasmussen: Yes. And by the way, conservatives also thought the media was inappropriate.

ABC news: A group of teenagers, some Catholic high school students, seen wearing Make America Great Again hats, appearing to face off with Nathan Phillips – a 65 year old Native American.

Rasmussen: And then we had a week's full of coverage. And as you recall, there was a lot more coverage that came out, uh, about the incident. A lot more videos and a lot more information. And a week later, nobody's opinion changed.

Sharyl: I’m surprised by that because some reporters and in media even apologized that they had been too hard on the children at first or the high school students without knowing the full story.

Whoopi Goldberg: So many people admitted they made snap judgements before all these other facts came in.

Sharyl: But you're saying the public at large, didn't change their mind?

Rasmussen: That's correct. The public at large made up their mind. They knew their sources

Sharyl: But the most overwhelming results came when we asked about the motivation of political reporters.

Rasmussen: 78% of voters say that what reporters do with political news is promote their agenda. They think they use incidents as props for their agenda rather than seeking accurately record what happened. Only 14% think that a journalist is actually reporting what happened.

Sharyl: Most people also seem to think reporters cannot be fair when it comes to their chosen political candidate.

Rasmussen: if a reporter found out something that would hurt their favorite candidate, only 36% of voters think that they would report that.

Sharyl: So most people think the reporter would cover it up because they like the person?

Rasmussen: Right, exactly. So voters are looking at them as a political activist, not as a source of information.

Sesno: An actual report or professional reporter would yeah never do that.

Frank Sesno is a former CNN correspondent and bureau chief. As head of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University, he routinely confronts declining public trust in the media.

Sesno: The public understands fundamentally what journalism should be. They don't understand how it's actually practiced. And that falls to news organizations in my view, to be more creative, more imaginative about how they're engaging with their publics, to both explain what they do to defend what they do when it's controversial and to be accountable for what they do if it's wrong.

Sharyl: After 2016 when so many of us got the election so wrong, we promised a period of self-reflection and correction, have we done it?

Sesno: No, not enough. If we had done the self-reflection and correction better and more deeply, there would be more reporters reporting from more places across the country talking to more diverse audiences. We would not be so in tiredly focused at least in certain media channels and places on the Trump administration and the outrage of the moment. That being said, there is so much news from this administration. It's kind of hard not to do that.

Trump: If we don’t get what we want, I will shut down the government.

Sharyl: In the era of the Trump presidency, can you point to a couple of things you think the media has done right

Sesno: I would start, actually, in the Trump era by calling out NPR. I think NPR has done an exceptional about getting outside of Washington and engaging other voices and people from different sides of the ideological divide to get their sense of what's happening. would call out the New York Times and the Washington Post for making remarkable use of multimedia. So there's a lot of good journalism and good media that's taking place also that, that extends beyond the Trump administration. There is such a thing as beyond the Trump administration.

It may not seem like it as we move quickly into campaign 2020.

Sharyl: I guess we should warn people, hang on to their seat belt with 2020 campaign coming. What do you foresee in terms of media?

Sesno: Yeah, so here's the next danger. The next is everybody for walks right off the cliff of coverage like they did last time. Obsessing over, you know, the, the candidate du jour, the moment, du jour. How will the media be able to arbitrate this mass of people who all want to be president so that the audience can follow it with some degree of clarity, and so that you neither fall into an oversimplified narrative, or a narrative that just revolves around the melodrama of who's up, who's down, and who's making the most noise or tweeting the most.

You can find my list of Media Mistakes in the era of Trump at SharylAttkisson.com

[jlf23tumble]

1D Day: Hour Four

Over the past few years, I’ve seen people try to insinuate that Zayn wasn’t into 1D Day, that he was moody or distant or some other adjective that implies he was on his way out the door, and to those people I ask, did you actually watch any of this, especially hour four? I mean, seriously, watch Zayn over the course of the whole day, but hour four is a revelation if you’ve ever had that notion. He’s witty, charming, happy, smiley, completely on board with every stupid game, and so professional with the fans and the rest of the team that he makes Liam look like an asshole (and Liam is so very far from being an asshole, like, ever). 

In fact, both Zayn and Liam are naturals as hosts; they’re a dream broadcasting team, and for all the (justified, mind you) attitude Louis and (especially) Harry throw down as the day progresses, it’s the complete polar opposite with Ziam. I could watch hours and hours of these two because they manage to convey that fake on-air TV personality chirpiness with a sincerity that’s endlessly compelling. They’re also off-the-charts HOT on this here day (Louis, too, but Jesus CHRIST have mercy on us in hour four). Let’s break it down under the cut.

Hour four kicks off with Zayn and Liam skateboarding onto the set, and Liam is honestly me with his plaintive “I’m really rubbish at skateboarding” as he basically stands on a board that somebody literally pushed in a straight line into the shot.

Zayn’s all excited that this is his first hour (like, he’s literally pumped up for it, and some could argue that he’s as coked up as Harry appears to be, but he’s not as aggressive, he just seems legit happy to be there). Liam’s an old pro by now, and the general mood is positive and calm, in spite of the mega fuckups in hour three and the immediate in-ear issues they’re both already experiencing. Help, they're so hot:

The first segment is about invention ideas from fans, and joining them in the Google+ Hangout (lmaoooo) is Peter Jones (Liam: “a very rich man”) from Dragon’s Den, aka the UK’s Shark Tank, and for all of his cash and presumably all of the D’s, this feels VERY low rent. Way to sell this Google ad, team…maybe that’s why Google+ is a total failure, hmmmm, makes you think. Anyway, the first invention is a 1D Kube, and noah fence to this fan, I’ve made better merch, c’mon, people think outside the box:

Because Peter’s gross, he suggests using nude body parts of the boys instead of their faces, and me as Liam, completely creeped out by that suggestion. The next idea is a 1D pillow, where you go to sleep, and the pillow pipes two 1D songs directly into your brain before powering itself off, but Liam wisely says this might be more distracting than soothing. Peter’s right there with the idea that it should instead offer up soothing pillowtalk (Zayn, take notes!), which instantly worries both me and Liam because it’s weirdly sexi instead of sexy sexi.

The final invention is fart pants, which boils down to deodorized boxers for people like Niall who practically shit themselves when they fart in closed tour buses (paraphrasing). Naturally, Peter likes this idea a LOT, and asks Liam a low-key invasive question about someone stealing his underwear, which leads to a riveting tale of the missing pants and a nervous Liam asking Peter exactly how he knew about this incident. Peter laughs it off as something he found online to embarrass Liam with, but try harder, asshole…they answer worse questions than this before breakfast.

Next, we get Julian “I can’t bother to find out how to spell his last name,” one of the D’s cowriters, in a cringe VT about picking up girls with 1D lyrics. It’s so fucking gross that only Ben Winston could have come up with it, and it goes on FOREVER, even though nothing about it is interesting or cute or witty or anything other than tedious yikes for the women involved. Even Julian knows it’s creepy, and he seems like a guy who’s pretty comfortable with creepy.

We get back in the studio to some actually attractive people who have chemistry together, and, no, it’s not Julian and John “I can’t bother to find out how to spell his last name either” (they make sure to sit far enough apart to maintain their extreme masculinity):

Liam has some good interview questions for these two, such as, “What’s your favorite song that you wrote on for this album,” and John thinks he’s clever by saying it’s both “Little Black Dress” and “Little White Lies,” but the real gem here is the audio of Liam creating “Better Than Words” out of thin air. Look at this fondness while we all listen to Liam’s genius (it’s kind of embarrassing, this whole bit):

We move to fan selfies, and Liam does a terrible Irish accent to request potato selfies for Niall. Moving on to the call box of doom, the two Larries currently rocking out in there seem to dig “Strong” the best (as you do), and Zayn, valiantly battling someone in his ears, politely whispers, “You can crack on listening,” before shutting the door softly.

The VT of randomness from New Zealand prompts Liam to ask, “Zayn, what did you get up to in New Zealand?” (the answer is getting a snake tattoo that’s one of Liam’s favorites on him, in case you’re wondering). But before we can ponder any of that too closely, it’s time for opera singer Rebecca to return for the excruciating opera version of tweets.

Scott’s on the scene to point out the obvious, i.e., Ziam makes it all look so easy, but this next segment is not for the faint of heart. The boys have to blindfold each other (!!) and then feel up crew members to see if they can identify them. Whyyyyy is this so tender:

Someone else blindfolds Liam after he does Zayn (Liam, after it’s done: “Nobody touch me”), and there’s a brief moment where they can feel each other, and Zayn says, “That’s you, Liam,” and fuckkkk me up, wowwww, it’s a lot to take in:

 Anyway, they go on to feel up a lot of doughy white guys to see if they can blindly identify them, and AGAIN, it’s gross because Scott keeps encouraging them to feel this person up below the waist, too (note, they don’t know if it’s a guy or a girl). Fortunately, it’s a parade of doughy white guys until they get to Lou Teasdale, and Zayn identifies her immediately because she’s so fidgety.

We head over to another Google Hangout, and god, words cannot express how good Ziam is at this because even though the same shit happens here as it does in the last hour, these two handle it all like pros. I live for Zayn’s, “Have you been watching the whole show? Are we doing a good job?” with an intense amount of sincerity, and thank god these girls give him the thumbs up because they truly are.

My fave part of this segment is the girls who ask them what their first CD and concerts were. Liam says Linkin Park for CD and Gareth Gates for concert, which earns him boos from the homophobes in the studio, but warm hugs from me. Zayn, who answers this fan question to Liam instead of the girls who asked it, says he can’t remember his first CD, but his first gig was JLS with the boys, and wow, the first date realness here:

Zayn’s genuinely sweet throughout all of these fan segments, asking questions and being invested in the answers, dawwww. The last question is about where they get the inspiration for their dance moves, and Liam says he blags its, but Zayn is here to kill us all by saying, “My inspiration for dancing comes from you, Liam (Louis in the background: “hahahahaha”) because you’re such a good dancer,” and god, I’m not ready for this right now, tbh.

There’s a BSE VT from the fans before a bingo spin to figure out who to follow (again, just follow them all, what does it even matter at this point, ratcha fratcha). But the most annoying part of this bit is that even *I* can hear the in-air buzz of chatter from Ben’s team, so I cannot even imagine how annoying it is in actual ears, holy fuck.

Next up is a live link to Finland, to say hello to the fans who created a massive fanbook that Zayn carefully flips through and sincerely thanks everyone for creating. The VT he introduces next is Louis playing footie, and YES, look at this angel who’s only 22:

Naturally, there are LOADS of technical problems and fuckups, but it’s so refreshing to hear that “hahahahaha” in a massive, empty arena, and to see him practicing a sport he clearly loves.

We’re back with the poor bastards running the Guinness Book of World Records, this time with Liam’s ass smashing balloons (Zayn: “If he wins, do we get our names put down as well?”). The first time is a bust (ha) that ends up hurting Liam’s balls (how, I don’t know):

Everyone agrees they can do better, but Zayn’s not having any further fuckups as he literally coaches Sandy in the background about how best to hold the balloons so that Liam’s ass can smash them in the most efficient manner:

Sadly, it’s not enough to smash the record, much to everyone’s chagrin, but there’s no time to fret or redo, we're off to Stan teaching Zayn’s school to sing (ooops, the VT is incorrect, it’s Scott teaching the X Factor staff to sing “What Makes Your Beautiful,” and they’re the shittiest singers ever, so go off on judging people, I guess).

As per usual, the highlights are fucking horrific. Can’t wait for hour five!

[fellowhuman-being]

Insight on Hollywood - Fifth Harmony Related

So for fans who are “woke”, I think you guys know that whatever you read on articles, what you see on Instagram and Instagram story, or even what your most favorite artist tweets are not all real. @emisonme​ @decoding1432​ and @sun-to-my-luna​ has exposed a lot about it in their page. So you better go there to get deeper understanding about “the men in suit”.

I came across this game called “Choices” where in this game, you can choose your story based on the options given to you. Different options of course lead to different stories, but I guess the ending is still almost the same. So there is this book called “Red Carpet Diaries” in the game. It gives a little hindsight about what happened in Hollywood. If you wanna know the technical things that “the men in suit” do to their artists, you might as well just try this game and you’ll get an idea about how things works with contracts and stuff.

This game tells a story about a new actress, but the technical stuff is almost the same for a newborn singers. I’ll explain about the story a little and highlight important parts that will give you a hint to how “the men in suit” works. This is gonna be a bit long, so bear with me. (For those who don’t wanna get spoiled of the story, I guess you can play on the game first before you read this article).

These are the links to see the big picture of the story. (You can just skip if you’re too lazy and just jump to play the game in your phone by downloading it through AppStore or PlayStore lol... Or you can just jump to my article below)

http://choices-stories-you-play.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Carpet_Diaries,_Book_1_Choices

http://choices-stories-you-play.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Carpet_Diaries,_Book_2

So the story is about an actress whose talent is good and comes to LA for putting a bet on her career in Hollywood. She has a best friend whom she knows from her hometown who currently works as a Junior Agent in a big talent agency. The Book 1 basically shows about how she climbs the ladder and tries to become a spotlight in a big film and (let’s cut to the chase) she made it.

Here I will focus on Book 2 where the whirlwind happens when “the men in suit” tries to control this actress‘ life. But before that, don’t get surprised that “the men in suit” can play really dirty. I will mention it one by one later. For now, I’ll call this actress as “Ms. Queen”.

After all the success that Ms.Queen has achieved in her first film, she became a star and all Hollywood wants to work with her. Her best friend who becomes her agent got an email that a Director wants to take her as a lead in the season’s biggest blockbuster WITHOUT any casting. It’s an action movie where she will play as an agent trying to capture a former agent who becomes a villain. The filming starts with her mostly trying to perfect her hairflips when she comes out of water wearing a bikini. The director says that she will look like a sexy agent.

I remember how this also happened with Fifth Harmony. They came out straight of a talent show with no record label wanted to take them. It was all like a dream came true when Epic took them. No one even knew their songs. In their age as newborn stars, they needed to follow the instructions that sex appeals and here came all the sexy songs.

Yes, everything also seems like a dream come true for Ms. Queen that after the first stage of filming, she got invited to meet the owner of the film. Let’s just call him “Mr. V”. This Mr. V is “the men in suit” who then gives a promise to Ms. Queen to make her a star. But then at the end of the meeting, Mr. V suddenly tells her that she will have a new manager. In other words, her best friend is not her agent anymore and tells her that he has talked to the owner of her best friend’s agency and both have agreed that it’s for the best. She wanted her best friend to stay as her manager, but then Mr.V says “It’s an order!”. Thus, Ms. Queen now has a new manager named “Tad”

With Fifth Harmony, do you still remember when they were under a new management? Correct me if I’m wrong but if I’m not mistaken with the timeline though, it happened in early 2016 and all hell broke loose.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6836616/fifth-harmony-joins-maverick-management

Under the new management, Ms. Queen has a really tight schedule with endless appearances on shows, interviews, and so on. Tad (the new manager) also wanted her to “fake” date her co-star to boost the film once it is launced. Then of course after a few weeks the film is released, they can post a “break up”. They need to upload in their Pictagram (which is a replacement for Instagram in the game) through a screen in the management office that looks like a real beach. Then the next day, Tad set up a “fake” date in a fancy restaurant where Ms. Queen will have a candle light dinner with her co-star. He invited press and some photographers from gossip blogs. Tad asked Ms. Queen to “make it look real” so that the photographers who stand by can take a highres pictures and video of them looking comfy and cozy together. They are not even allowed to speak as if they were not couple-y. They need to call each other “honey” and all those cute nickname as long as the press is there.

Now, do you see where this is going? This is also what happened with the girls ever since 2016. All the whirlwind especially with “Lauren’s private life” and now even Camila does the same thing. The whole PR stunts were made as if everything looked real while it’s NOT. I don’t need to talk about which one 1 by 1 here. I think you know what I mean.

The next day, surprisingly Mr.V’s secretary calls Ms. Queen that Mr. V would like to have a dinner in a restaurant. The time has been set. But then at the last minute, before Ms. Queen goes off to the restaurant, Mr. V calls and asks to change the place to his mansion / house. He says that he has some business afterwards that it will be better to have the dinner in his house. Sounds fishy? Well, Ms. Queen is too innocent to notice that Mr. V has something up his sleeves. Apparently, during the dinner, Mr. V asks her to sleep with him. She tries to escape the house but then Mr. V tells her “You’re going to regret this. Remember I am the powerful one here.”

I don’t want to jump to conclusions though but do you still remember the rumour about L.A. Reid being accussed for doing sexual assault? I know the one who brought the case to public is not FIfth Harmony but if something happened to any of the girl, I would NOT forgive him.

https://variety.com/2017/music/news/l-a-reid-accused-sexual-harassment-sony-music-epic-records-1202426625/

The next day when Ms. Queen goes to the set, everything is crumbling. You know there is like a cabin or a container where the actors can rest during the break time, right? When Ms. Queen arrives at the set, hers is replaced with a dirty and stinky one. After that, the Director makes an announcement about the poster and Ms. Queen is not in it. Meanwhile, SHE SHOULD BE THE LEAD ACTRESS. After that, surprisingly the Director also says that Ms. Queen is not needed on set on that day. It’s like Mr. V is punishing Ms. Queen for not giving what he wants.

As if things don’t get worse already, when Ms. Queen arrives at the apartment, she gets a call from her best friend. He tells her about the news that she is bully in high school and the source of the news is anonymous. She tries to open her social media, but she can’t open it. Apparently, the password has been changed by Tad (her new manager). Then, she tries to look from another account into her real account. In fact, there is a posting of an apology from her account about what she did in the past and that she would not repeat the mistakes again. But she never even bullied anyone!

Do you think this is kind of familiar? This happens to Fifth Harmony all the time. They always ruin the girls or one of the girls’ image and build it back again later. I still remember how the image of Lauren being a weed user became viral after the incident where she was caught in the airport before she went to Brazil to sing for a show with the girls.

http://www.tmz.com/2016/12/14/fifth-harmony-lauren-jauregui-arrested-weed/

It was such a stupid news to be honest. I think with someone as smart as Lauren (someone with 5.0 GPA like the fans say), it was so stupid to bring weed in the hand carry. Could it be a punishment as well at that time for Lauren? Unfortunately, we never know....... After all, TMZ was always source of PR stunts.

Of course Ms. Queen was pretty sad with what happened. She doesn’t like the “Queen brand” that Mr. V and Tad make. She wants to quit, but apparenly it states in the contract of the film that she will be fined USD 10 million if she quits! She tries to re-read the contract, and it clearly states like that in fact.

Do you still remember when Lauren was asked about what keeps them going for 3 years and Lauren said “a contract” and the situation became awkward? I honestly laughed really hard at her reaction but she wanted to spill some tea!

You can see the full video here (watch 16:58 - 18:03)

Here Lauren also mentioned about how they performed the same songs over and over again as well as singing songs that they were “given”. At that time, I’m pretty sure they don’t have the “control” that they are talking about. It’s just to give us reassurance that Fifth Harmony is getting better year to year.

After that, Ms. Queen has a coffee meeting with her best friend (her former agent) and he tells her to just forget everything. Like indeed there is “Queen brand” out there but it’s not the real Ms. Queen. It’s for the people out there who don’t really know her. The Ms. Queen that her friends and relatives know is the complete opposite and 180-degree of that being mentioned in the press and even her own social media. Those who know Ms. Queen before all of this will know that it is NOT the Ms. Queen they know.

So, guys what I get from this game is somehow like a “slap” in the cheek, you know? I know I have always been a fan of the girls. All of them. All 5 of them. And I will always be OT5 stan. But this is also an important message for you guys, fans. This is such a reminder that we need to remember how the girls are back then when all hell hasn’t broken loose. We still remember the kind and cheerful Ally, the kind and beautiful Normani, the kind and smart Lauren, the kind and friendly Camila, and the energetic and sarcastic Dinah. That’s the real them. I know people change. But seriously, how is a characteristic changed though? It’s easy to change your habit, but it’s really hard to change someone’s characteristics. That’s why some things never change.

On the next day, Ms. Queen goes abroad to continue the shooting. But all the props are not safe. Ms. Queen tries to protest but then the Director ignores her. He ensures her that everything is safe and will be alright. So they shoot the capturing scene when Ms. Queen is trying to capture the villain by climbing up the scaffolding. In fact, the actor who plays the villain falls over and breaks his legs and ribs. All the crew was shocked including all the actors. The filming production was postponed for some time and all crews were asked to stay silent about what happened. It’s part of the contract and they were instructed there would be punishment if they breaks the rules. Ms. Queen tries to knocks the Director head but then she unintentionally eavesdrops on the Director’s discussion with his Assistant Director. Apparently, Mr. V cuts the budget on the film production so that the crews need to reduce the budget on the props as well, costing the actors’ safety! Since they were tight in budget, they could not hire a stuntman as well. Ms. Queen was angry and she told everything to the biggest Hollywood gossip show by staying anonymous. But, Mr. V knows that Ms. Queen was the source of the leak. So Ms. Queen gets fired.

Fortunately, even if she gets fired, after reading carefully to the contract, Mr. V cannot sue her for the USD 10 million. Instead, after she gets back to LA, Mr. V blocks the entire street of her apartment and she cannot live in her own appartment. Thus, she is homeless for around 3 days.

What I want to expose here is the power of “the men in suit” in controlling their artits, and the part where the NDA contract plays a role here. You can see if the NDA contract is broken, then there will be sort of “punishment” to the related person. I think this is why Dina Lapolt says that Fifth Harmony’s contract is like the worst she’s ever seen.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7865161/fifth-harmony-2017-billboard-cover-story

The long road to liberation began with 5H hiring outspoken music lawyer Dina LaPolt at the end of 2015. “I sat the girls in a hotel conference room and for five hours educated them on trademarks, copyrights and rights of publicity,” says LaPolt, who soon helped secure them new management with the preeminent firm Maverick (Madonna, U2, Miley Cyrus). “Then I educated them about every agreement they signed, which [were] the worst I’ve ever seen in the music business.”

LaPolt successfully transferred the Fifth Harmony trademark from Cowell to the group, meaning the women now own the name, along with the right to control how it is used and to profit from any deals. (The agreement -- signed in April 2016, months ahead of Cabello’s exit -- doesn’t name Cabello in the “Fifth Harmony Partnership.” “I don’t represent Camila,” is all LaPolt will say.) She then renegotiated 5H’s contract with Epic, which she characterized as “a very adversarial” process.

Even in this game it is said that “The biggest stars are not just people. They are commodities.”, which means that the investor (”the men in suit”) can play around with the stars as long as they get the money, even if that means that the stars should give up their identity to public. After all, the stars can’t do anything against what they want since they are bound with the contract.

I hope this gives a little hints on how it works in Hollywood and how “the men in suits” control their stars. I surely don’t know th content of the NDA contracts though since nobody can talk about it, but that’s how it works and how bad the punishment can be when the rules are broken.

[valorkook]

Think of Me |m.yg

PART 1 | 2 (Please Stop) Thinking of Me pairing: Reader x Min Yoongi type: Soulmate!AU w.c. : 4.7k summary: You have seen people find their soulmates in the most unique ways, from writings on skin to hearing their thoughts since their childhood as they narrate. However, you’re clueless; hopeless to find the person destined to you when you can’t see or hear hints, clues as to where your soulmate is. You believed that you were a defect from the magical system, all until something unusual happen to you one day. 

                             “—it was so sweet, he really doodled a sunflower on his skin, it was like he knew it was my favorite flower!” Mijin nearly squealed on her seat, spotting Jungkook walking back to the booth you’re both occupying with a tray filled with beverages for all of you.

It was your first time to meet your best friend’s soulmate today, finding yourself waking up to Mijin’s incessant messages that blew up your phone earlier and asking you to meet her in the diner you two have frequented since meeting as college freshmen a year ago.

Once you arrived, you cannot fathom how destiny loves kissing your best friend’s ass and granting her a soulmate who’s probably sculpted perfectly by gods above. Even you can’t help yourself but stare longingly at his sleeved arms, the fabric clinging to his big guns as Mijin’s hands seemed to coiled around her soulmate’s as he only chuckled at her.

“How the fuck did you even get lucky?!” You helplessly whined at her, who only sent you back a smug smile as she averted her gaze back to Jungkook who arrived back to their table.

“Hey,” You greeted him while he adjusted his seat close to Mijin, his doe eyes catching your attention, “Are you sure you’re not lost, maybe you’ve met the wrong soulmate—“ You suddenly felt an ache from her kick below the table. 

Jungkook only chuckled in response, raising his left forearm to show you a different drawing that can be seen from Mijin’s own forearm, “I’m pretty sure she’s the one I am destined with.”

You sipped on the vanilla milkshake you’ve ordered, face grimacing in the process as you can only confirm one common thing about them, “Yeah, I can see that both of you are sappy romantics.”

“You guessed correctly.”

Mijin gasped, eyes widening as she looked at him, “Really? Have you watched the Japanese movie ‘I Give My First Love to You’?” He nodded excitingly at her as she jumped from her seat, wrapping her arms around his neck as they gave the eyes.

“Why are you looking all that happy when the movie has a sad ending?” You were puzzled, not minding their current actions that scream PDA, you’d rather wait for an object to fly and hit their heads at the moment.

There was a silence between you and them, seeing as they continued to sip on their drinks while minding their own world as you minded your own phone, scrolling up with a pad of your finger as you checked tweets to pass the time, until one of them approach you again with a word.

You were happy, to say the least. To see your best friend finally meeting a guy who believes in the magical system of soulmates, unlike the others who are afraid of their destiny and proceeded in fucking up their life on a daily basis with one-night stands. You, however, are torn between believing and not.

You cannot see a special mark embedded on your body, not a single line nor anything that would give you at least an answer that you have a soulmate waiting for you. As what others have narrated the moment they met their soulmates, you cannot sense the same thing with your soulmate.

Or, what if you don’t have a soulmate in the first place?

The impending fear always leave you sweating and cold in the wee hours of night, waking up from a nightmare that you’ll only live and die alone for the rest of your life was enough to keep your mind running. Thinking that you’re a defective to the system.

But you’d always cling to a sliver of hope that you’ll find him or her as you cannot find neither cases nor documentaries in the city’s library about not having a soulmate; meaning no one has not ever found their soulmates. Some found theirs at the age of mid-thirties, but that was only the last case you’ve heard from news . . . who knows, maybe you’ll break the record and find your soulmate at the age of 78.

That’s if you can still live long.

“How about you, ______,” You were snapped out of your lingering thoughts, your eyes finding Jungkook’s brown ones as he continued to asked, “Have you found your soulmate yet?”

Mijin can only looked at you in pity, remembering that you shared most of your nightmare stories to her in the late nights as she also lives in the same dorm room as you within the university. She always prepares you a warm cup of tea after explaining the repetitive nightmares, and Mijin especially let you lie next to her bed, easing into a dreamless sleep after the incident.

Before she can reply, you already answered, “No, I haven’t.”

Jungkook prodded further, “Are there any indication on when or where to find your soulmate?”

Mijin lean closer to him, mumbling inaudible words as you can only guess what she has said to him by his reaction. “I—I did not mean to . . .”

You only offered a small smile at him, sighing, “It’s alright, I’m clueless as to how to meet them in this lifetime.”

“I’m pretty sure you can find him or her sooner or later,” Jungkook encouraged you, softly glancing at you as you appreciated his concern, you were glad to see Mijin is destined to a guy like him. “There are countless ways to find them, just wait for an opportunity to come.”

“Thank you.”

Mijin’s genuine smile was enough to comfort you through the day.

The night has fallen in the city of Busan, and you find yourself tailing the new couple in front as you admired the string lights hanging above the small market built with colorful stalls with varieties of tasty foods and trinkets one can only find within the town. The breeze coming from the sea only amplified the essence of the night market located by the seaside, above the sturdy wooden sidewalks built the boundary between the asphalt road and the sandy shore of the beach.

You glance forward to see the two of them detouring to another stall filled with jewelries on the right, arms linked throughout the time as their free hands were following what their eyes set upon on, be it a ring or a bracelet that’s no worth as gold or silver ones. Granted, they were cheap, but it was all the college students could afford at the moment.

“There,” You suggested the sunflower necklace hanging near the other edge of the table, the saleswoman catching the item you first spotted as she unlaced it for you, “Oh, for her,” You kindly smiled as she gazed at Mijin and handed out the necklace.

Jungkook beamed at her, “Looks pretty on you.” He unlatched the hook of the necklace, placing himself behind her as he carefully brushed Mijin’s hair away before wearing the necklace around her neck. “How much?”

The saleslady mused, “3000 won for you, I can see from the gleam of your eyes that you’ve just found her.”

“I did.” He pulled out the exact bills, purchasing the item as you see Mijin fanning herself, face crimson from the compliments coming from both her soulmate and the seller.

“Don’t you want anything, _____?” Jungkook asked you out-of-the-blue, “It's on me.”

You were taken aback, noticing that he was really a gentleman. Too sweet and kind for a guys in his age, you could only assume he’s just the same age as you and Mijin, “No thank you, Jungkook-ssi.”

You added, “That’s really kind of you.”

He only shrug in response as he interlaced his fingers with Mijin, with you standing on her other side as you went in through the stalls selling street foods, “Just taught to treat anyone with kindness.”

“You’re too sweet for this world,” Mijin piped in, smiling from ear to ear while you followed them to the nearest food stall selling spicy rice cakes. Your mouth watered at the sight and smell as she pulled you towards it.

“Come on, Jungkook’s treat.” She insisted, smirking at her next statement, “I know you can’t resist tteokbokki.”

You sighed defeatedly, “Alright, if he does insist.” somehow, you were tempted to add that you can’t also deny that you’re being offered free food. It has been your weakness, and for sure you’re easy to fall for traps or be lured in when it involves your favorite snacks.

Mijin hands you a paper cup full of the rice cakes you’ve been craving after the multiple projects you finished last week, forgetting the instant black bean noodles waiting for you back at the dorm. “Good god—“ You nearly moaned at the burst of flavors hitting homerun in your taste buds.

“They really sell the best tteokbokki here,” Jungkook claimed before ushering both of you to sit on the unoccupied table near the stall, covered by a striped green roofing cloth in case the weather turns up wet today or for the rest of the week. The three of you were too immersed with the food to even drop a comment, nearly devouring your portion of rice cake as the only thing you can only hear was the crash of the waves from afar, adding the loud sound produced by the cicadas in the area.

It was too early to claim this a peaceful night when your phone buzzed within your left pocket, placing the cup you’ve been holding for awhile as you rummage for the vibrating object out.

Sent by: Jimin                 ‘ Are you busy? My USB got corrupted, please email me the file asap! ‘ 

That definitely killed your night, faster than Thanos could snap his fingers.

Sent by: You                ‘ Okay, don’t worry. ‘

“Guys, I think I’ll be heading back at the dorm early,” You explained to the couple situated on the other side of the table, “I got something to send before 12.”

Mijin stood from her seat, bidding you goodbye with a hug, “I’d be back before 11.”

“You better,” You joked before glancing at Jungkook, “Please take her home safely later.”

He reassured you, “Will do, before 11.”

You waved goodbye at them on the table, weaving your way out of the night market just when you were lucky enough to hitch a ride on a bus en-route to your dorm before it leaves you to wait for 15 minutes for the next one.

Somehow the rice cake was, indeed, not guaranteed to keep your stomach from gurgling tonight when you switched on the lights near the doorway of your dorm, opening the cabinets above the mini countertop adjacent to the front door as you pulled out the instant pack of black bean noodles, also a small cooking pot before you filled it with tap water and putting it on top of the electric cooker to boil it up.

Your laptop was left open on top of your bed, showing the loading sign at the center of the screen while you were emailing the file to Jimin, explaining that he mistakenly plugged in his USB to his roommate’s laptop filled with virus. Adding his opinion that it’s because of too much porn download.

You could only laugh at his reply in the chat earlier, assuring that you’ll be sending the original file that he has to redo a bit of parts before sending it to your philosophy professor before the clock strikes 12:00 AM. Not long and you can see that it was successfully sent, and now your attention is solely on the tasty noodles you’re boiling soft tonight.

You can only bite your bottom lip at the smell of the sauce being poured over the noodles, mixing it with two of your steel chopsticks as you momentarily forget your surroundings; barely fixing the oversized shirt you’re currently wearing which shows skin from your collars to your shoulder blades.

Placing the device on top of your lap, you situated yourself comfortably within the confines of your blanket. You scrolled to find movies on Netflix while the bowl of noodles sit idly beside you, waiting to be devoured on.

Your phone buzzed against the nightstand, spotting your project partner’s name on the bright screen illuminating the dimmed room.

Sent by: Jimin                 ‘ THANK YOU!!!!! EXPECT A COFFEE FROM ME TOMORROW :D ‘

Not bothering to reply to his message, you left your phone sleep on itself as you continue to search films under their new releases. The dorm room was eerily quiet as Mijin still haven’t arrived yet, the clock mounted high on the wall in front of you struck 9:00 PM.

Through the wee hours of being alone, you found yourself immersed in the movie you chose to watch. The empty bowl of noodles was left by the small sink installed on the countertop, still not finding the time to wash it up when you can’t keep your eyes away from the laptop screen and your body wrapped around the soft blankets as the rain started to pour half an hour ago.

Your eyes were shut when Mijin arrived back into the dorm, having to bid her soulmate goodbye by the entrance considering that the building is strictly a dormitory for girls. You were sleeping soundly on your bed as Mijin prepared her clothes before sleeping, leaving you be as she also kept your laptop away before you push it off again . . . knowing that you can’t afford fixing your laptop when you’re utterly broke at the moment.

You felt much warmer when you find yourself conscious, assuming that morning has come to welcome the dorm room with warm rays entering through the glass windows . . . your eyes were too droopy last night to not mind the curtains left open, damn it.

But you were surprise to sense that there’s no bright light absorbed by your closed eyelids, and the warmth became too much when you feel it on your backside. Supposed that I might be facing Mijin’s bed, you internally thought as you started to peel your eyes open for another day.

You’re supposed to see Mijin’s sleeping figure in your sight but you only spotted thick, grey curtains covering the sunlight from peeking into the room. You have no recollection of the said curtains from the last time you did the laundry on bedsheets and curtains. Maybe they spotted a grey one last night from the market, another thought seemed to answer your cluelessness at the curtains when you felt a nudge behind you.

There was something heavy lying on top of your waist as you were facing sideways on the bed, your vision still blurred but you were confused with all the warmness you felt behind, and it was definitely not your blanket. You start to panic as you reached for your eyes, clearing it all from the gunk as your sight became clearer of the messy room.

Way too many black clothes littered upon the wooden flooring, seeing white sheets of paper littered on the far right corner of the room, where the small bookshelves supposed to be standing in your dorm room.

But it was not your dorm room when you see unusual things that neither you nor Mijin owns; the keyboard piano was definitely not own by any of you as you know that you didn’t partake in any piano lessons within your lifetime, same goes for the figurines displayed on top of a desktop table as you also recall not being a fan of an American basketball league.

You sat up from your— wait, not your bed too. Where the fuck am I?!

Like many horror scenarios you watched before, you attempted at slowly turning around to see what— or who is behind you. Your hands clutching at the blanket that seems to be yours, your eyes travel at a bulk figure wrapped in black comforter.

Your breath nearly hitches once you realized that there was an arm, too pale for Mijin to have, lying on top of your blanket. And the way it suddenly moves upward was enough to let yourself topple down the bed and scream, as if your life’s depending on the noise you’ve made.

The guy suddenly woke up from your noise, brows furrowed and words in his mind were collected to scold his fellow roommate. But the noise was too feminine of a screech to notice that you exist in the same room as him.

“WHO ARE YOU!?”

The guy sat up from his bed, leaning his figure against his arm propped out as he glanced at you in an angry demeanor, “What the fuck are you doing in my room?” he drawled.

Feeling exposed to his unfamiliar stare, you coiled your blanket around you tighter than before, “I-I don’t know, where am I?”

“Uhh, in my room? How did you get in here, anyway?”

You babbled, “I really don’t know I— I’m really lost, I was sure that I entered the right dorm last night. . .”

“Please get out of here before I call the police.” he spoke with hard tone, unusual to hear as if he’s not from. . .

“I am still in Busan, am I?” He was almost close to reach for his phone in his nightstand when a word from you surprised him even in the early mornings of being grumpy.

He looked at you quizzically, “No, you’re in Daegu.”

“WHAT?!”

“Stop screaming, woman!”

“— How can I be in Daegu when I . . .” Your eyes found his again, suddenly feeling the overwhelming rush within your body, going haywire. The guy who was still slumped on the bed also felt the surging rush, his posture turning straight as he was taken aback at you.

It’s not that he doesn’t believe in the magical system of soulmates, but he didn’t anticipate to meet the person he was destined with in his room. So much for taking relationships slow-paced when he has slept with you on the same bed that quick. 

However, you felt conflicted on whether to believe he’s your soulmate or not when you can clearly remember that there was no recorded incident of a soulmate finding their significant other through teleporting places. But why did you teleported in the first place?  

The same question burned through his mind at the same time, making him clearly conscious even without a steaming mug of coffee in his hands. Perhaps he . . .

“I thought of my soulmate— I guess you, last night.” He spoke, breaking the eerie silence within the room as you believed him. You felt like he was telling the truth.

“Wait, last night . . . oh,” You paused, crimson blush spreading on the apples of your cheeks as he was horrified at your statement.

“Not in that way you dolt,” He clarified quickly, “I was writing lyrics last night.”

You only sighed in relief, scanning the room before you asked, “What’s your name?”

“Min Yoongi.” His right hand travelling at his nape, feeling all too shy all the sudden as he brushed his fingertips against his hair.

You cleared your throat before responding your own name, “ ___  _______”

Both of you were suddenly quiet, minds still sinking the newfound information as you stood up and his gaze following your movement. “Look, I need to go back . . . I can’t miss the coffee treat from my friend.” You chuckled, lightening up the mood with him considering that he’s your soulmate.

“There’s a bus stop nearby,” Yoongi suggested, until he realized where you are located, “You can’t go out through the front door, this is an all-boys dormitory.”

“Can’t I just teleport back? I don’t know think of me back in Bu—“

All it took was a blink, and you found yourself in the confines of your dorm room. The room you are in right is much warmer than his back in Daegu as you spotted Mijin still sleeping soundly on her bed, black ink scribbles littered her forearm as you thought of how unique their connection is to their soulmate.

While you have the coolest one yet; Teleporting.

You can’t help but think of Yoongi, he was all too adorable in the shirt a bit bigger than his. As if you could already see the squint of his eyes and his nose scrunch from disturbing him in his sleep— oh . . .

“I was about to fall back asleep,” He was on your bed, right beside you. His face adorned the same features you found adorable when you can’t help but lean in to give him a kiss on his cheek before returning him back to Daegu.

Even your subconscious was astonished at your confidence to give him a kiss right then and there, never establishing a label on your relationship yet even if you’re each other’s soulmate and yet you’re taking it way too quickly.

“Okay, you’re far too annoying to become my soulmate.” He groaned after he teleports from his own room to your dorm room way too many times in just a minute, and you were having fun to test out if that’s how your connection works with him.

He suddenly reached for your hand within your blanket, figuring that he won’t go nowhere when he’s physically touching you.

It would be a lie if you deny that your heart’s racing when you feel his skin, cheeks burning hot as he kept on interlacing his fingers with yours when you attempt to get rid of him by thinking of him back in Daegu and back in his room. Yet your thoughts were futile as he only stares at you, and you were too shy to face him after taking advantage of this ability. Bet I deserved this flustering state after the shit I pulled with the kiss on his cheek.

A gasp caught both of your attention, glancing behind him to see Mijin wide eyed at Yoongi. “What is a guy doing in here?!”

“I— He’s my soulmate.” You explain as he leaned onto you, whispering about bringing him back into his room while letting go of your hand. Your heart nearly deflates at his action, teleporting him to Daegu again. He’s gone faster than Mijin could blink. “Uh, teleportation.”

“That’s fucking cool,” Mijin drawled in response, “I—I never meant to scare him away, you know.”

“I know.” You try to refrain from thinking about him again, afraid that Yoongi might become upset with you and your antics. “He’s Min Yoongi from Daegu.” Your mind’s a wonder at not bringing him back into your dorm again at this moment.

“Quite far, but at least you won’t even struggle in a long distance relationship.” She chuckled before standing up from her bed.

“I’m glad that you found your soulmate.”

“Me too.” You meekly reply before she invites you for breakfast.

Was I too harsh?, Yoongi immediately thought of your crestfallen face after he requested you to bring him back to his own room, in a blink and he was back in the comfort of his bed and yet he felt the lingering loneliness for the first time in his room. So this is how it feels like, he thought as he lies back on his bed with a hand propped behind his head.

He never meant to upset you when he urged to go back, or even when you kept him teleporting from one place to another as he grew dizzy, nauseous from travelling beyond the time. He refrains himself from needing your presence to explain himself as you’re probably busy with your dorm mate, though he didn’t catch her name.

But there’s a part of him deep within that’s hoping for you to think of him, so that he’d at least play it off cool and avoid all the awkward confrontation he’s planning to say. However, five minutes have already gone by and he was sure that you didn’t want to talk to him at this moment.

Or maybe she has morning classes to attend . . .  

And he left you at the back of his mind for the meantime, not wanting to cause an incident that might hinder you from focusing on your classes today as he, too, starts his day preparing a hefty breakfast before going to one of his class lecture on 1:00 PM.

Meanwhile, you’ve already received the coffee treat from Jimin in the morning, stumbling upon the same café you and Mijin went to as he immediately purchased a drink for you and him.

“Thank you!” You replied before he rushes off the shop to get to the lecture hall before getting late. Thankfully yours and Mijin’s schedule starts on 9:00 AM, still leaving half an hour to spend freely with her. She immediately filled you in stories of what happened after you left yesterday, the thought of your soulmate disappearing for awhile as you immerse yourself into her talking.

It’s not that you’re upset at him or anything, you dearly missed his presence after finishing all your classes for the day. You also wondered if he got to finish his classes today as you can see the evidence of the opened books lying on his desk when you observed his room earlier in the morning, assuming that he might be a music major.

Surprisingly, you still haven’t brought his presence into the room yet when your mind’s lingering of any stuff you can vividly remember in his room, carefully not to think of him and his face. The essence of lavender wafted through your dorm room when Mijin turned the diffuser on when she got back. And now that she’s off to meet Jungkook again, you were left alone with your laptop open to seek for a new movie to spend the night with.

You were in the middle of bunching up the pillows on your bed when you found yourself holding Yoongi’s pillow instead, you were back in Daegu again.

“I’m sorry I made you upset I— no wait,” And then you heard another ‘tsk’ from him as he was fidgeting on his feet, never knowing that he accidentally brought you into his room again as you only stare at his back facing you. “ ______, I’m sorry about earli— what are you doing here?”

His mouth was agape when he suddenly turned around to find you on his bed, again.

You averted your eyes from his, looking around the room as you meekly replied, “I should be the one asking that. . .” There was a pregnant silence between the two of you while Yoongi seemed to be recollecting the words he has been trying to memorize before you came too early. Damn these thoughts, he internally groaned as he started to speak.

“I’m sorry about earlier— er, I’m not really good at meeting new people, most especially if they raise their voice at me the first time.” He admitted, his eyes found burning a hole on the flooring of his room.

You raised your brows at him, “Pretty sure that’s what I did to you earlier in the morning.”

“Well, you’re an exception; you’re my soulmate.” Even that word made you both flustered at the realization that, well, you’re meant for each other.

You bit your bottom lip, sneakily glancing at him as you found him doing the same, “Oh . . . it’s okay, you know, about earlier.” Your voice was fading inaudibly, word from word, finding the courage to look at him.

“Shall I bring you back to your dorm room?” He kindly asked you, until you remember what you were about to do tonight.

With the newfound courage within you, you invited him, “Perhaps you want to join me binge-watching on Netflix? If you’re not busy or anything, but if you are it’s fi—“

“Sure.” He gave you a small smile, enough to make your stomach tingle at how he looks oh-so-adorable with the unruly, dark hair of his. You can nearly associate him with a feline creature, minus the fluffy ear and tail.

“Are you sure that’s your only intention of doing tonight with me?” He joked all of the sudden. But instead of a giggle from you, all he received was his pillow chucked right onto his head.

Bullseye.

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