#the staff decided to play like 5 rounds of ‘guess which number I’m thinking of’

[sokkas-therapist]

Hi hi hi! I have a quick poll question for all the Atla fans that were at Comic Con Revolution today!

If you got in, reblog and put in the tags what time you got in line. If you didn’t, reblog with how long you were in line for, and or what you heard/were told regarding wristband distribution. I’m genuinely curious, lol

Me and a couple hundred other people were in line for over 2 hours and didn’t get in 😭

[thenakedgingerwrites]

Cock in a Box (part 1)

How they convinced me I’ll never know. Well, that’s not true. The allure of free alcohol after dropping nearly $17k on my upcoming wedding certainly helped fuel my willingness to participate in this embarrassing contest.

Without going too far into a back story that I’m sure you guys don’t care about, this past weekend was my bachelor party. I was taken to Atlanta by a group of my good buddies and the 7 of us in total were living it up for a long, 3-day weekend in and out of bars, hotels, and strip clubs. It was our first night there when Kevin heard about a bar with an unusual game: Cock in a Box.

The gist: there’s basically a line of glory holes that you stick your junk through for the audience to vote on which they like best. All participants get 2 free drinks (well, of course; no top shelf stuff) BUT the chosen winner gets free drinks all night, whatever they want.

The downside is that if you’re chosen to be the winner, you have to accept the award so everyone would know it was YOUR dick. Apparently pictures are allowed at this bar. 

With enough liquid courage in us we all reluctantly agreed to give it a go, some of us probably more excited or terrified than the others. I thought to myself, I’ll get two free drinks and some people will have a picture of my dick but no way to link it back to me. I mean, my cock was fine, Sarah didn’t seem to have any complaints, but I knew I was average at best. I assume the crowd will go for the biggest one and I wager one of my buds is packing something bigger. I’d hate to be them. Or would I? I guess I wouldn’t mind a couple extra inches.

Anyway, we got to the bar and it became clear pretty quickly that this wasn’t a bar catering to female clientele. 

“It’s a fucking gay bar, guys!” Brad exclaimed when we got there.

“Well,” Rodger said, “I guess that makes sense. I’ve never really seen a lot of women vying to see a bunch of dicks.”

“That’s not the impression I got from your wife,” Dan joked.

“Oh ha ha ha.”

I spoke the first words of hesitation, “do we still want to go through with this?” It was one thing to be showing my dick to a bunch of female strangers, it was another thing for them to be gay men.

Kevin doubled down, “It’s still free booze. Who knows, someone might even buy me some drinks in an effort to get lucky!”

The group razzed him on that and how not even a troll would find him hot, but I did have to admit he had a point. Our group was, generally, good looking. We’d all taken care of ourselves in the  years following college sports and while some of us packed on a few pounds since the glory days we were all still big. I knew gay guys liked that at least.

“It’s Ben’s big weekend, let him make the choice,” said Mike.

Sean, my little brother, was the last of our group to speak, “I’m not a big fan of this idea either, but if Ben’s in… brother solidarity.”

I leaned into the crap Sarah was always spouting out about ‘live in the moment’ or ‘enjoy the ride of life’ and said, “fuck it. Let’s get some free drinks.”

At the front part of the club, Kevin expressed our interest to participate in the game. It quickly surfaced that we were a bachelor party of straight guys and that seemed to tantalize the person taking covers. He let us in for free!

Once we were inside one of the staff ushered us over near the back of the club and explained what we were to do. Apparently we had arrived just on time as the game starts around midnight on Fridays only.

There were 10 boxes near the back part of a stage where I assumed drag shows or beauty contests or something went on. You could get into them from behind the stage so no one could see which one you got into. They were basically just telephone booths made out of plywood. Not super appealing but I guess did the job.

The staff member said once we were in there the MC would start the show and more or less we’d be told what to do from there. They would narrow down contestants by number, which was painted on the outside of the boxes as well as the inside so we knew what number we were.

The guy checked us all out, salivating, and recommended we play with ourselves a bit when we get into the booth to ‘fluff up a bit.’ That idea sort of grossed me out and I knew I wasn’t going to be winning anyway so I already decided this crowd would be getting a soft, limp anonymous dick in exchange for free booze. 

It’s probably worth noting that all my buddies and myself included are white(ish). I’m not racist, I swear, but at the small Tennessee college I went to there weren’t many people of color. I say this only to demonstrate that I felt like I had a good level of anonymity since it would be my dick against 9 other dicks that probably looked like mine.

The staff guy said to choose a booth when Sean asked where the other 3 guys were. There were 10 booths and we only made 7. “Oh,” he said, “when management heard you seven were together and straight, he decided to make it just you guys.”

We looked at each other and silently decided if we were still okay with this but I guess what does 3 other dudes matter. I guess now we knew one of us would be getting free drinks. That is, if they accepted their win.

We all walked up and into our respective booths. Kevin was beside me to the left and Dan was to my right. The other guys filed in. When I got in and drew the curtain behind me for privacy, I realized that I was NOT in box “3” like I thought I would be but “5.”

I heard Kevin yell, “I guess they randomize the box order too.”

Then Sean called out, “That’s good, I was worried you’d be sad when they talked about how small #2’s dick was and we’d all know it was you!”

Laughter among the guys, including myself, rang out.

In the box, there wasn’t much and not a lot of room. There was the infamous hole on the front side about three and a half feet up. I wondered what shorter dudes would do but then I also saw the wooden blocks stacked up on the side. I guess that’s for them to stand on if they don’t reach the hole.

The hole.

I looked at it timidly. My nerves were starting to climb as I realized what I had signed up for. What we had all signed up for. The plywood had been sanded smooth around the lip of the hole so my fear of splinters was gone but not my fear of the unknown number of gay dudes on the other side eagerly awaiting to look at our dicks. MY dick!

I was starting to second guess this whole thing and chicken out. The guys may not let me live that down. Well, I’m not going first at least.

The music faded out after the end of the song and someone cleared their throat into a mic.

“Gooooood evening, queers, steers, and bears. Oh my! Welcome to this week’s Cock in a Box competition. I’m your host, Anita Gudphuck, and we have a super special treat for you men tonight.”

My palms were getting sweaty.

“For you see, tonight we only have 7 contestants…”

Boos erupted from the crowd along with vocal pleads that they wanted to see more dick. I swear, gay people.

“But the seven we have are… straight guys on a bachelor party weekend!!!”

The original distaste for the limited offering turned into an uproar of cheers and whistles. What’s the deal with gay guys liking straight guys so much anyway?

“But, we’re all in for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if we all agree to play by some secret, sexy rules. Will you all play along?”

More cheers from the audience. What did he mean by ‘secret’ rules?

“Okay, now, no one shout out the secret rules as we don’t want our mystery men to know. Up on screen there, you’ll see what to do.”

There was a few moments of silence and then some laughs, some ‘oh my goods,’ and a ton of applause and cheering.

“Do  you think you can all follow those rules?”

“YESSSS!” the crowd yelled.

“Okay, well then let’s play Cock in a Box! Straight boys back there, are you ready?”

I didn’t want to shout out but I guess none of my buddies did either. Maybe that would reveal us when we had to go out and get our drinks.

“I’ll take silence as a ‘yes, ma’am!’ Now, get your cocks in hand and ready to be judged! I recommend a few pumps and shakes to liven the guy up.”

I can’t believe I’m doing this. How did I let Kevin convince me to do this? How did he convince all of us to do this? I undid my jeans and shucked them down my thighs. Looking at the bulge in my boxer briefs I took a deep breath. There’s no way I can do this right? No way any of us could do this, right?

“Okay boys, Let’s! See! Those! Cocks!”

I stood there for a moment, unwilling to be the first in case this was some sort of prank. The seconds felt like eternity.

“Are all you straight boys shy? Or are you just embarrassed by your tiny dicks?”

The audience laughed and started to call out things along the lines of ‘show us what you’re working with.”

I was sure we had all gotten cold feet when the crowd started applauding.

“There’s our first contestant! Ooo and what a nice dick!” Whistles in the audience agreed with her statement.

“Oh and another! And another! That’s three straight boy dongs right there.”

They’re actually doing it. Fucking hell. Well, tipping my metaphorical hat to Sarah’s dumb slogans, ‘when in Rome…’ I reached into my briefs, pulled my dick out and stepped forward, guiding it through the hole. 

Even more cheers through the audience, louder than the others it seemed like. 

“Four, Five! That’s some nice looking -- oo Six!”

“Come’on last guy, don’t be shy. Your friends all took the plunge.”

I wonder who was getting cold feet. I noticed now that there was a mild warmth on my dick which I now wagered was spotlights making sure people got good looks.

A final round of applause, “and there he is. Nothing to be ashamed of there, number 8.”

And just like that, we all had our dicks out to a crowd of gay guys on my bachelor party weekend. I didn’t necessarily want to be on the other side, but imagining the site was ridiculous. A long plywood wall with seven cocks sticking out of it with numbers crudely painted above them.

Dicks of straight men in a gay club, selling out the exposure of our junk for a couple free drinks. This would make a weird story to tell in the future I guess, at least among ourselves. I wasn’t planning on sharing this with anyone else.

Little did I know how weird, embarrassing, and hot the night was going to go.

[falseroar]

Is This Your Card? Part 5: Silver Bullets

((The hunter discusses the possibility of Mark being a werewolf with the others before the district attorney finds a strange note and the mayor issues a challenge.

Links to Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, and a link to the masterlist for the whole au.))

Abe swore under his breath while the chef did not feel the need to hold back as he began to rage that he wasn’t paid enough for this.

He tried not to look at the attorney as he straightened up, or at whatever expression the mayor had on his face right now, trying to focus instead on what this might mean.

“I assure you, Master Markiplier was not a werewolf,” Benjamin said, his calming hand outstretched toward the chef in particular, who just batted it away. “I am fairly sure one of the staff would have noticed that.”

“Except Mark was firing people left and right, wasn’t he?” Abe found his mouth moving on autopilot, just as it had when he first saw Mark’s body and turned on the attorney. The idea then had been the same as whenever he came across a witness—accuse anyone of murder, and they’ll start spouting off all they know if it means clearing themselves. Or that was the theory he generally went by, but instead the attorney had just seemed more closed and withdrawn than normal, their eyes so distant he wasn’t sure they even heard him then. Maybe, in retrospect, accusing someone of killing their best friend while they were still in shock might not have been the most tactful thing he had ever done.

Now he doubted he was helping much, even as he pushed forward with his current line of thought. “There’s barely anyone left on the staff now, isn’t that right?”

“Well, correct, we’re down to three at the moment, but Chef and I are still here most of the time. And even if Master Markiplier has been less…inclined to socializing lately—”

“You mean locked up in his bedroom half the day,” the chef interrupted with a scoff. “Man could be doing anything up there for all I care, so long as he paid me. Guess that’s out of the window now.”

“Mark was not a werewolf,” the mayor said, his voice straining with emotion. “We don’t even know who sent those cards or why! Why should we believe anything they say?”

An uncomfortable silence went around the room, and Abe thought of his own pair of cards tucked away deep within his jacket. The knowledge that he wasn’t the only one to receive a second card wasn’t as comforting as it could have been.

“Man, I’m just glad I didn’t get one of them death cards,” Chef muttered under his breath, only to immediately glance at the attorney when he realized what he had said aloud.

For their part, they didn’t acknowledge the remark. Instead, apparently still thinking of what Damien had said, they asked, “The box those cards were sent in, where is it?”

“It should still be in the dining room,” Benjamin said, a tinge of embarrassment in his voice as he added, “I’m afraid that I haven’t had the time to fully clean the house as I should, there have been so many…distractions this morning.”

“Yeah, I’d call finding out your boss has been murdered one hell of a distraction,” Abe muttered, unsure if anyone heard him over yet another round of thunder and lightning. “Now why don’t we have another look at that package?”

He led the way, pausing only once when he noticed the figure sitting alone in a darkened room, the shapes of plush chairs and hanging curtains suggesting a home theater of some kind, but Damien broke away from the group first with a murmur about having a word with the Colonel. Abe shrugged and continued on, glad he wasn’t the one who had to have that conversation.

In the dining room, Benjamin went to the side table and picked up the box, which he handed over to the attorney. Abe had to admit he had expected the butler to hand it to him, but he managed to hide his irritation if only because he probably would have handed it over to them in private, if for no other reason than to see what they could pick up.

Looking for it, he saw their nostrils flare as they looked over the outside of the box, pausing on the label that Mark showed the table last night, before frowning as they gave the box a slight shake.

“There’s something else in here.” They opened the box and turned one of the flaps out to reveal a piece of paper stuck to the underside, which fluttered with the movement but did not let go of the cardboard until they pulled it free. “Mark must have missed it when he opened the package last night.”

Their eyes skimmed over the short note before handing it over to Abe, allowing him to see that it was a series of lines typewritten much like the notes on the cards.

“Well, what’s it say?” Chef asked impatiently, and against Abe’s better judgment he began to read aloud.

“The cards have been dealt, the game has already begun. Whether you choose to play your hand or not, fate has already decided which chambers are loaded.” Abe turned the note over, but there was nothing else on the back to help explain. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Loaded chambers, sounds like Russian roulette to me.”

Abe spun around to see the Colonel standing at the door, the Mayor at his shoulder.

The Colonel shrugged at the expressions on the other faces in the room and said, “It was just the first thing that came to mind. What kind of game are we supposed to be playing then? I do hope it’s not Jumanji, took me ages to get out of that one.”

For someone who just found out his friend was dead, the Colonel seemed surprisingly blasé about this whole affair, Abe thought to himself. Then again, the man had seen enough death and undeath on the battlefield that maybe it took more than that to rattle him these days. Still…

“Clearly, the game of some sick and twisted individual,” Benjamin answered. “They must have planted the accusation in Master Mark’s envelope in the hopes that one or all of us might turn on him.”

“Well, whoever did it didn’t know what they were dealing with if that’s the case,” Abe said. When everyone stared at him, he felt the need to explain, “When I was examining the body, I found signs that Mark had been stabbed 37 times, poisoned, beaten, strangled, drowned, and then shot, in that order. Not exactly the way to go about it if you knew you were about to take on a werewolf.”

“Mark was a werewolf?!” the Colonel shouted. “Why, don’t be absurd! Where would you get a ridiculous idea like that?”

“Mark’s card,” Chef said, while Abe flashed the card in question. “We found it on him. But maybe the killer didn’t know, and that’s why they had to go through all that other stuff before the silver bullet finally put him down.”

“And they somehow had time to try all of that against a werewolf?” Benjamin asked. He raised his hands, gloved palms up, in a shrug. “Is it just me, or is this making less sense the more we learn about this situation?”

“Or mayhaps we are making this more complicated than it need be,” the Mayor said, his voice betraying an effort to keep his emotions in check. “Silver bullets are not exactly common.”

Suddenly, every eye in the room was on Abe, and not in the good way.

He felt the heat rise to his cheeks as he said, “Oh, sure, blame the monster hunter. Even if I had a motive, which I don’t—”

Chef cleared his throat and gestured towards the “Werewolf” card still in Abe’s hand.

“Please, like I would waste time with all of that other stuff if I wanted to kill a werewolf,” Abe scoffed. “Rule number one for dealing with werewolves: go straight for the silver.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the District Attorney wince and pinch the bridge of their nose with a sigh.

Right. Maybe that didn’t come out like he wanted it to.

“All the same, if everyone here who happens to possess a gun would be so kind to show their ammunition?” The mayor’s eyes were burning in to Abe now, but the hunter didn’t blink. He’d faced far deadlier stares than the glare of an elected official. Metaphorically and literally deadly, in the case of that one Gorgon who really didn’t handle rejection well.

“You know what? Fine. Colonel, anyone else here got a weapon?”

There were head shakes around the room, except for the chef who for some reason looked at the ladle he brought with him from the kitchen as though considering it for a moment.

“Never bothered with silver bullets myself,” the Colonel said as he pulled out his own gun, the same one he’d been waving around willy-nilly last night. “Homo necrosis, any kind of bullet will do, or a baseball bat if you’re feeling cheeky.”

“They’re expensive,” Abe agreed as he pulled his gun out of its holster. “That’s why I only use them when I have to, otherwise the ones I have on hand stay in a case I keep in my jacket.”

Both men unloaded their guns at the same time in front of everyone, revealing five bullets and one empty chamber each. In the palms of their hands, the ten silver bullets gleamed as they caught the light.

((End of Part 5. Thank you for reading!

Link to Part 6.

Tagging: @silver-owl413 @skyewardlight @withjust-a-bite @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @weirdfoxalley @95fangirl @lilalovesinternet-l @thepoolofthedead @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @geekymushroom @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-anxiety-blog @shyinspiredartist @avispate @missksketch ))

[jhsbrat]

stories that never were pt.5 

i don’t play tag, bitch i’ve been it

genre: stories that never were pt. 5, idol au, lovers to enemies au

word count: 1,787

warnings: rough sex, unhealthy relationship, both oc and namjoon are idiots 

Noise. Lights. Flashes. In the midst of it all, you’re focused on the toupee of the man three rows back, synthetic brown hair laid askew on his perfectly round head. He reaches up to itch at it, knocking it even further off center, eyes still focused on his notes in front of him.

I need to give him my stylist's number, you think to yourself, taking a swig of water and swishing it around in your mouth before swallowing to aid your thirst. Then there’s a tap on your shoulder and you look up to find your manager hovering beside you.

“Are you ready?” He whispers, adjusting the mic propped on the table in front of you. “We’re about to start.”

You sigh and nod. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Sejin straightens up and fixes you with a stare. “Remember, just like how we practiced. You’re polite and cordial. Only talk about your new album, no going off track.”

“Yeah, sure.” You wave him off.

“Listen to me, promise that-“ He’s hushed by a stagehand and pulled off to the side, behind the curtains shielding staff from the flash of the reporter's cameras. You look up and paste that soft smile your agency made you practice a hundred times in the mirror in preparation.

“Good morning, thank you all for coming,” You speak into the microphone demurely. “I would like to start taking questions now.”

The room erupts into noise after your welcome statement and you blink for a moment before pointing randomly at a woman off to the side, eagerly waving her hand.  

“Hello,” the woman coughs and glances down quickly at her notes, “First, I would like to congratulate you on all your success so far. It must have been an interesting journey for you to have started from making songs in your basement to being signed and releasing a full-length album with Big Hit Entertainment. How are you feeling right now?”

A softball, easy. You knew the answer to this off the top of your head. “It’s amazing and incredibly humbling. I’m so grateful to everyone that had a hand in supporting me to where I am today.”

Hands shoot up again and you point to toupee man now, curious to know if his voice was as thin as his hair.

“Early critiques of your new album are calling the changes to your sound “meteoric” and “exponential”,” he rattles off in a squeaky tone. “Some are going so far as to say that it’s a complete 180 to your SoundCloud days. What is your response?”

“I would say the equipment I get to work with now is a step above the trial version of Audacity, so that’s probably why.” You grin and there are soft chuckles heard throughout the room. You wait a second to let them write that down and then point to a younger guy directly in front of you. He grins politely, bunny teeth revealed, before leaning closer in his seat and looking down at his note pad as he reads off his prepared question.  

“Your collaboration with Gloss has proven to be very successful and it’s helped land you on XXL’s Freshman Class for this year. Billboard is even crediting it as one of the best songs of the year. But not everyone feels the same. How do you respond to rapper RM’s claims that you’re just ‘a singer who raps’?”

The room quiets for the first time and you blank, lost in thought, catapulted back into time at the mention of the name.

“Jesus Christ,” Namjoon groans, throwing his head back.

You look up at him, mouth sliding off his cock with a wet pop. “Not quite,” you reply, snarky, giving him a lick.

The man lets out a breath and looks down at your figure, kneeling on the cheap carpet of his makeshift studio, knees rubbed raw from the polyester. The tight spandex of your dress hugs your body and he has to gulp and look back up again before he comes to the sight of arched ass alone.  

“You talk too much,” he complains half-heartedly, fingers yanking hard on your hair and bringing the heat of your mouth back where he wants. You rake your teeth along his length in retaliation and it shocks him, his body spasming from the feeling before you take all of him back in your mouth in one go, wet slurping sounds quickly filling the small space.

(Neither of you would ever admit it aloud, but you’re both pain sluts, reveling in the sting of a harsh slap or ache of a hard bite. It fed a hunger both of you possessed, but could never quite fully sate in its entirety. Which is why, you suppose, the two of you kept returning to this place, finding that nothing could stoke your fire quite like pain twinged pleasure of a too hard fuck.)    

Your fingers trail up and down his torso, pink-tipped acrylics threatening to scratch at the sensitive skin of his chest, and it’s that coupled with the look you give that sends him hurtling towards a premature finish. Your eyes are stretched wide, carefully applied mascara now running in rivers down your cheeks. It makes him hot thinking you did that for him, that your hair is tied up in a ponytail so he can yank on it and your nails are manicured to prick at his skin.

(Though he knows it would be delusional to believe you would dress for any man, he still likes to indulge in this fantasy, at least temporarily, because then he could pretend at least for a little while that you were his.)

With teardrops hanging at the tips of your lashes, you give a hard suck and moan, the vibration enough to tip Namjoon over the edge. You swallow, but don’t let up quite yet, and he has to shove you off when the overstimulation becomes numbing.

“Whore,” he sighs, but his words carry no bite and he bends forward to thumb at your chin and kiss you softly. Your teeth tug at his lips as you pull away, grinning softly before you stand up to search for your panties from wherever he flung them off an hour ago.

“We can’t keep doing this, I only came to talk to you and now I’m late for a dance lesson,” you sigh, shimmying your underwear back up your thighs.

“Mhmm, but we say that every time.” Namjoon tucks himself back into his pants, watching you pull the hem of your dress back down and regrets not marking up your ass when he had the chance. “And what are you still doing those classes for?”

You fall into the chair by his keyboard, intentional in your decision to not sit next to him when you speak next. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about-“

“Wait, let me guess,” he chuckles, walking closer to look down at you and wipe away the remnants of the streaked makeup around your eyes. “They finally kicked you out?”

You bite the inside of your cheek, annoyed. “No, Joon, I-“

“No, no, I got it! They kicked you out and banned you from ever coming again-“

You swat his hand away and stand up, pushing back from the chair and grabbing your bag to walk out the small room. “I’m just going to leave if you’re not going to listen.”

“Wait, wait,” he grabs your wrist, but is still chuckling softly when he pulls you closer. “Go on, tell me. But do it quick, we still gotta finish that song from last week, Yoongi is waiting for the lyrics before he can start making the-“

“I got signed,” you blurt out, frustrated with his constant interruptions. Namjoon freezes and blinks, his hand still wrapped around your own.

“You got…signed? Like, to an agency?”

Sighing, you nod, letting your hand fall from his own. “Yeah. I filled out the contracts yesterday.”

He blinks again. Then his mouth spreads into a grin. “Very funny, you had me going. Okay, I got the message, I won’t joke about those classes again.”

You stare at him, confused. “What are you talking about?”

His grin widens and he turns to find his phone. “C’mon, stop kidding, let’s get started. I’m just going to call Yoongi so we can-“

“Namjoon, I’m not fucking kidding. An agency scouted me and I decided to sign with them yesterday.”

His back goes rigid from where he’s standing hunched over his bag, looking for his device. He turns around to face you, smile gone. “You-you’re serious right now?”

You nod, chewing on the inside of your cheek. “I thought you’d be more excited, I’ll get to actually perform the songs I write now-“

“Excited? Excited? For what, for you to be pranced around like a prized show dog?” He spits.

Your head jerks back, blood boiling hot at the vitriol in his voice. He doesn’t take note of your shock, continuing on his tirade instead.

“Please tell me you’re joking. Please tell me you didn’t actually willingly choose to become part of the empty machine that is that industry, to become a-a-a-“ He stutters, then looks away before turning back to you and it frightens you how his eyes go cold. “A mindless slave.”

Post-coital glow completely dissipated, you feel your skin heat up at his words and you step close enough for the tips of your noses to touch. “I make that choice and suddenly I’m nothing more than a cog in a machine? You think there’s nothing left to me?”

He stares down at you, jaw clenched. “If you decided to sell out like that without a gun to your head, then yeah. I do.”

There’s a squeeze at your heart from his words, but it doesn’t stop you from speaking next. “Then you can die mad about it.”

His teeth hurt from how hard they grind against each other as he watches you walk out the studio, choosing to forgo collecting the last of your belongings in the room in favor of having a dramatic exit. He realizes it hours later, laying on the torn up couch after he’s angrily scribbled his feelings out on ripped pages of paper. Sighing, he promises himself he’ll apologize when you eventually come back to pick them up.

You don’t.  

The sound of Sejin releasing a soft cough off to the side brings you back to the present, your gaze focusing once again on the man in front of you. The badge hanging around his neck reads Jeon Jeongguk and you drag your gaze back up to his wide eyes expecting an answer. Smiling, you lean forward into the mic to speak.

“And I still beat him on the charts, didn’t I?”

e/n: yea boiii

[whstletomyheart]

Why YG TREASURE BOX is a complete mess and YG is playing with us. (A rant?)

First, its important to understand what or YGTB is and how it was promoted for this we should understand the events that happened before.

NOTE: YG will be referred to as a they since there are other people besides YHS Making the Decisions.

All of YG’s boy groups were made through survival shows.

BIGBANG=BIGBANG DOC

WINNER=WIN

IKON=WIN/M&M

So it was pretty obvious that they would reuse this concept for their new bg.

Now its safe to assume that the group was set to be made around Bang Yedam, he’s popular in Korea plus that he was the moat famous trainee .

Now this is the general assumption that the original silver boys lineup ot11 were the lineup set up to debut. This is the reason why they were promoted through Mixnine (GonSukKyu) and Stray Kidz (YG vs JYP). But we all know Mixnine failed and that some trainees left making YG To rethink their concept and lineup.

Now we must remember that prior to the show starting YG teased that Yedam, Hyunsuk and Raesung were basically confirmed members.

Raesung, due to personal reasons decided to not participate in the show (the best decisions honestly).

Currently YG as a company is at a point were every fandom in it has problems with the company. This is all due to the amount of mismanagement towards the majority if not all the groups and artists. YG despite being the house of great and unique artists doesn’t know how to mange them which leads to long hiatus, less music and cbs,etc.

Now lets analyze the problems with the shows format. Moat idol survival shows have the same format. Which is simply individual competition. This means that the contestants will be evaluated and the voting will be individual or 1 pick (produce 101).

YGTB showed the beginning to be more a team survival show in other words a group compete with other groups (Win). But around the second and third episode its revealed that the show will be individual, shifting the format. This is first seen strange since a consistent theme in YGs previous groups is their teamwork but this is because since predebut the trainees are grouped into groups.

In the show we are never truly explained about how the show works and if it is its vague and very contrictdactory. Plus a lot of unfair and frankly weird things are shown ( compared to other survival shows)

Examples of this are:

• Number of final lineup is always changing: from 7 to 9 to 7 to 6 to 5 to 7 it would change depending the mood od the ceo.

• YHS changes rules at whim: YHS changes or adds rules

• Missions: the missions to compete against the treasure team were barely explained. Winpink came to the show mostly just for name Dropping cause they didn’t show why they chose who they chose. The ep were winner 2seung was going to examine their performances was cut to almost nothing more than click Bait.

• The rounds or missions made little sense , at the beginning it 1:1 , then 2:2 (duo), then team genre(?)/concept (in my opinion they weren’t that different in my opinion to be a concept eval but oh well)and putting a position battle at the end ……makes little sense

In Produce and other shows its usually a cover, position, concept and then original song evaluation. Showing the growth.

• Lack of original ygtb songs most survival shows make their own songs fir the concept and final evaluations (example Mixnine). YG is company that prides on self production but not once was this used despite various trainee being able to ( Yedam, Hyunsuk, Byounggon, Asahi, Yoshinori, etc.) . Even if the boys couldn’t yg producers could’ve made songs just like in Mixnine.

• Lack of fan events besides liking a trainees video and channel there weren’t chances for the fans to feel really close to them. With the individual channels they could’ve done random lives but no. Or fanmeetings.

Despite this the show did release a series of interesting content that honestly saved the show.

• Not letting all the trainees participate in the treasure swap and cutting and not airing the performances certain trainees made. Leaving the fans to have to watch fancams.

Now to explain the real mess, throughout the whole show fans were confused on how they could help their faves in terms of voting. YG opens voting till the last 2 episodes and makes it a group voting meaning you have to vote for a group of trainees. According to fans this means that the lineup with most votes will have an advantage to debut. On the last ep its revealed that Isn’t case at all. The trainees only got extra points depending on how many ranks or lineups they were in. In other words again it was individual voting. They didn’t explain this till ep 10 when the voting’s was done. Along with this they added the final nail to the coffin. These online votes were only worth 20% of the final score. With onsite votes at a 30%. But YHS gets 50% of the score, so basically YHS gets to choose at the end od the day so fan votes mean close to nothing. If a trainee did well on votes but isn’t YGs fave they wont pass and vice versa.

On top of all of this YG makes sure fans aren’t in the recording of the ranking to obviously avoid discord and only announces half the lineup for what we can only assume is for drama. Only YG and some staff know the lineup. Instead of releasing it all its adding more anxiety and desperation . Which can be seen in the fighting, the rumors and spamming.

Now that we’ve established that YGTB is a mess of a show that makes Mixnine look good, lets talk about favoritism and screentime. And why I don’t understand YGs intentions and the lineup.

Ok let get this out of the way YG/YHS always plays favorites, this isn’t new at all. We can see in the show that there are trainees YHS likes way more compared to others. In other words he tends to be very biased. On top that he likes to brag. The first ep is basically look at all the visuals I got.

All it takes is to watch the show to know who Yg/YHS like more baaed on screentime and arcs made. Lets Look at the confirmed members most got solid screentime. Yedam is pushed from the get go to being a super star trainee that is basically god where other trainees don’t want to be against him. Junkyu is cute and talented a good future asset, we see how he gets screentime from the start with his confidence arc. Plus its important to note that in Mixnine YHS’s fave was Junkyu . Haruto from the start was the Japanese trainee YG was interested in and he Gets the most screentime from the Japanese trainees. Jeongwoo was promoted through his vocal and how yg likes him, he gets attention. Junghwan On the other hand gets way less screentime then the other member but still way more than other less known trainees.

That being said a lot of the team b, team c and team j trainees get very little to no screentime. Jongseob who won Kpop Star didn’t get much screentime and performance was cut. Mashiho’s screentime is mostly reactions or being a friend.

Silver boys got the most screentime overall they focused a lot on their teamwork and bond giving fans the hope that they would debut. Which is were im frankly confused and would love to understand the why.

Why make silver boys participate in this show and emphasize so much on them for basically nothing?

Why bring Jihoon back?

Why bring Seunghun back?

After hours and hours of thinking and reading opinions. I came to a few theories:

A) YG wants to debut a fresh, young and visual new bg. For whatever reason, so choosing the younger trainees makes sense. Probably modeled around Yedam for a more pop sound in comparison to WinKon Some accounts state that a lot of kfans were pushing yg for a younger and visual group. Basically discarding the older trainees. Also this lineup has YGs faves who were the younger ones. If this is true YG will debut Yoonbin and Masiho or Yoonbin and Jaehyuk (his screentime in the last episodes makes me think so). Basically in this theory YG had an idea from the get go and they only used the silver boys for clout. This is the theory that makes me the saddest tbh. But still it doesn’t explain why yg would care so much about silver boys. Like bringing them back and emphasizing so mucho on how they’re a team. Plus it discards the power Hyunsuk has with one of the most stable fandoms.

B) The theory before the lineup was dropped was that yg Is testing the silver boys for the last time which made sense till the last episode. But SB stans have been very loud and spammed his Instagram, trended a hashtag and are contacting companies. This means they have a strong fandom so this might help.

C) YG will add more members to the lineup I think 9 is more realistic than 11. Based on screentime maybe Hyunsuk + Seunghun.

D) YG will debut all of ot13, doubt this since YG hasn’t have that big of a group and I don’t think YG can handle it. If it was SM yeah but not this. (I like this one tho )

E) YG will debut ot13 but in 2 teams a pop team and hip-hop team. Pop=treasure7 Hip-hop=silver boys +a member (I love this)

F) YG will debut SB but under the black label.

G) YG wont do anything except debuting the og treasure7 . And the sbs will leave the company and split up.

These are all the theories I have.

Tldr: YGTB has a lot of flaws as a survival show being extremely unfair and the situation with the lineup is the most chaotic thing ever. Whatever yg does will make people mad.

The worst part is that it worked as always YG doing the minimal manages to pull us in just to disappoint us. Just that he managed to drag more people this time.

At this point I’m done with the guessing and the rumors, I just really want to know what’s going on and the security that my faves are ok even if they’re in or not in the group. Cause not debuting in the group isn’t the end they can debut with another group or go solo. My point is that it isnt the end for their careers.

[rknak]

                    *·—————   𝕄𝔾𝔸 SEASON 5 !!

                                                              ( DUO ROUND )                                                 feat. CHOI MINHO — @rkmason                                               ♡   I’m Yours + Down In The DM   ♡

when it’s time for the remaining dancers to stand on the stage, nakyung chooses to stand in a corner at the back. she hadn’t expected to make it to top 3 — especially since that was something they didn’t even know was going to happen. it’s when they’re all standing there that she realizes how small she is compared to everyone else. it’s not only in size but in everything else. when the second name is called and it isn’t hers, the girl covers her mouth with a hand, holding back any other reaction for them to catch. she could probably cry now, but she wouldn’t.

somehow, when they announce who would partnered with who is when her shock truly peaked.

as soon as his name was spoken out loud her eyes went straight to him. of course she knew where he was seated. how couldn’t she? but then they said her name right after which basically meant that next week the two of them would have to be in a performance together. that basically meant that the two of them would have to work together during that entire week. before he can find her, her eyes fall to the ground. oh, god… she had just been paired with romeo himself.

                    *·—————

he’s nice and polite ( and tall ) and nakyung can only wonder if he had paid her any attention throughout the competition or if this is the first time he actually heard her name. it’s not something she asks, though, because it’d most likely put them both in an awkward position.

it’s mind-breaking to get his contact information and suddenly, all of nakyung’s dilemmas over being part of something like this appear so small. she was starstruck and that was enough to numb anyone but most certainly lee nakyung, your resident superfan.

minho ( which she guesses is what she should get used to calling him by ) invites her to go out and have dinner together. it’d be good to discuss any ideas and get to know each other and nakyung can’t stop thinking this is probably all false. it doesn’t feel like a dream, but she had had dreams that felt like real life before. she had also dabbled in the fanfic life before. this was a perfect case of y/n and she couldn’t believe she was it and not barbara palvin.

for their first official gathering inside a proper practice room ( provided by him, of course ), he tells her to bring someone else if she’d like just so it won’t be too awkward for the two of them to be together. even if it’s something nakyung hadn’t considered before, she appreciates it. technically, they were strangers to each other, after all, and it’d be smart to be wary of anything.

“come on, please! you can just sit in the corner and do whatever you do!” nakyung chooses her brother as her companion, but the older male doesn’t look too happy with her decision. “it’s romeo! please don’t let me down in front of romeo!”

it only takes a bit of her little sister charm for it to work. her brother does about the minimal that he could. in one of the corners of their practice room, joowon sat and turned on his computer. he had things to do for college, so there were enough things to grab his attention where he was. from time to time, she could still feel his gaze either from behind her or through the mirror. ends up it was good to have him there, after all.

nakyung thought it’d be the opposite, but it makes it less awkward when she asks for minho to sign one of the convex debut albums she owned. it’s better that he felt fine doing it, but at least she pushed that horse out of the rain on their first day of practice. if he had refused she could have worked on getting their friendship mended throughout the rest of the week. turns out things were turning out okay for her. god, maybe she might as well go for the win.

she had never choreographed anything before and it felt heavy on her that minho would probably need to do it all, as well tone it down a bit to match her level of skill. nakyung adds creativity input while they discuss what exactly they’d like to perform, but she would have never guessed to go much further than that. except that when they put their thoughts to practice, the man makes sure to teach her everything properly so that she can get the movements right, and then asks for ideas of her own to add into the final product. it actually felt like she was doing something this time unlike the previous round when she had to prove her worth with a choreography she didn’t have her heart on. she’d really like to win with this. she really would.

                    *·—————

their seats are assigned this time so they’re in a corner, minho more than her. this also means they’ll be the first ones to go. she’s unsure how she’ll truly feel about it until she’s on the floor, but right now she’s a bit nervous. the factor of having fewer performances would already put more attention on her, but her partner being one of the people getting the most attention out of this could only mean she’d be getting some of that too — possibly not in a positive way.

so she pulls at her fingers, something the girl usually does when she’s nervous. the only remedy now is to wait.

and she does, sitting where she’s told while occasionally picking at the choker around her neck to make it more comfortable. when it’s time for the judges to go to their seat, she’s not as surprised anymore. there’s only a smile on her lips as she claps for their entrance. they look about as majectic as ever, and the aura around them will probably never truly fade. nakyung wishes one day to be like them, but there’s still a long road to roam.

they had requested a sofa for their performance days prior, to which the staff agreed to deal with. when it’s their turn ( which is the first turn ), one of the couches from backstage is on top of the stage and waiting for them to use it. as numbers go, minho introduces himself first, and then the girl gets her chance to do it too. “i’m contestant 5030, lee nakyung! please watch us nicely!” she seriously hopes they do and that hopefully their high expectations wouldn’t not be met because of her.

she’s the one who starts by laying down on the sofa, minho on the floor. they’d be playing the roles of a cat and a dog, respectively, and a playful fight normally associated by the two animals. the idea came from cartoons they liked such as tom and jerry, and her brother being there made it easy for her to think of how fighting like that could be. and so, their main idea was formed, and hopefully, people would enjoy it as much as she does.

when the audio starts playing it sounds like someone is leaving a house, the sound of a door closing and a car driving off notifying people that the two are alone now. nakyung, the cat, tries to sleep peacefully, but of course, that minho, the dog, decides to go pester her. it’s when their first chosen song starts to play. it’s a soft contrast from what’ll come later, and since it was very famous when it came out, people would probably easily recognize it or sing along.

once she’s out of the couch they start to dance, not completely leaving the theatricals behind them but putting a bit more focus on what they had to show. they had a concept, after all, and they didn’t plan on only using it at the start and then leaving it behind. minho raises her in the air as she extends her legs out and then lands on the floor. when she’s up again, he turns around, and nakyung jumps on his back like a playful cat would. it’s a hard thing to do considering their rather significant difference in height, but the way her arms not so completely connect to his shoulders is sort of useful when the girl slides herself back down to the floor with an unamused face. it says sure, the dog won this time, but a cat is always planning ahead.

it’s when he extends his arms and she goes running to him that this proves correct. her hand in a fist aims at his face, but them practicing it beforehand made it certain that she wouldn’t actually hit him. the loud sound of glass shattering makes it seem like so, though.

nakyung giggles onto her hands and the song around them starts to change. this is the change people should have been waiting for. it’s strong, energetic music, and the girl pops her chest, following along with the planned choreography. they didn’t completely leave their concept behind, however. her hands often act like paws, her expression is coy like a cat, and the added sound of growling puts in the dog factor as well.

as their performance start heading to its end, they get into a shuffle dance leading onto their final pose. minho holds onto her as she smiles to the judges, but the sound of an arriving car warns them that someone is back. as simply as that, the man throws her on the floor, but she catches herself safely after days of practicing for this. nakyung shakes herself in anger and, on her way back to the couch, makes sure to step on minho’s stomach.

back to their original position, it’s how their performance ends.

waiting for a few seconds, she stands up after minho does, bowing to the judges and the other contestants before walking back to their assigned seats. the whole way there, there’s a smile on her face. what they had to do was done, and now all that’s left is watching everyone else. “i think we did well.” she whispers minho’s way while the next act gets ready. she truly thinks they did.

[ai-da-ice]

[Fan Account] The Da-iCE a-i Contact Fan Meet Experience!

On 6/8 I went to my very first Da-iCE fan meet, ai-contact 5 ~Fight Back~. Unlike with concerts where I had a good idea of what to expect due to watching all of Da-iCE's concert DVDs, I really had no idea what the fan meet would be like or what the group would do during the event. I was bit worried that it would be 100% talk and I wouldn't be able to follow well, but to my pleasant surprise, a lot of different things happened during the fan meet outside of just talking, and I was able to understand quite a bit of it!

The venue this time was Toyosu PIT, which is somewhat on the small side. There are no higher levels, only the ground floor. I was in the 20th row, which put me closer to the back than the front, but my view was still decent. They also had a few monitors set up, but I didn't really need to rely on those too much throughout the night.

I arrived a bit early to buy merchandise. Da-iCE's fan meets usually have some unique merch options that differ from their tour merch. This year's merch line up included a new lightstick for the group's anniversary year, which I really wanted so I could complete my lightstick collection. I also bought 3 pins for the group-- these are given randomly and you can't choose which member or design you receive. I got I LOVE TAIKI and I LOVE YUDAI pins and one Hayate design as well. Since I love all the members, I don't want to sell or trade, but I may possibly buy some Sota versions from a fan if I can find them at a good price!

For the fan meets, if you buy a copy of the new single, you can also receive a ticket for an event after talk. At the after talk, you can write a question for the members on a slip of paper which they may select to answer. You also receive a random new seating ticket for re-entering the building. I got ticket number #405, which put me around the 10th row, much closer to the stage than my original ticket!

The main event started at 7 PM with a video of the members playing rock-paper-scissors to determine who would be the event MC. Naturally, Sota lost, which meant he would not be participating in any of the games, but would be in charge of directing the members in all their challenges. The very first thing on the agenda would be to choose an event keyword. The staff would keep track of how many times each member used the word and tally it into their final score to determine the event's "winner." The keyword of the event this time was "yabai," a word used in Japanese for many different things. It usually means something like "incredible" or "cool," but it can also mean "dangerous" or even “scary” depending on how you use it. Toru-Yudai-Hayate-Taiki weren't told the key word, but us audience members were shown on a screen.

Right after the key word was selected, my question about whether or not there would be performances was answered as the music to Hayate's solo song "Sunadokei" began to play! I've never seen Hayate perform solo in person before, and let me just say: HE WAS INCREDIBLE! Hayate has said in the past that he doesn't have a lot of confidence in his voice and didn't intend to join the entertainment industry as a singer, but his level of control and stability was quite good for someone who isn't a lead singer! I was so impressed by his delivery!

Next, Sota also got to perform his solo song from Kake Hayabusa, "Owari Aru Tabi". As expected of Sota, the performance was absolutely gorgeous, and he conveyed the emotions of the song powerfully and beautifully.

With these two performances wrapped up, the group started playing games. In the first challenge, the members had to collect fans from the audience using different categories. Hayate had to collect people whose birthday was June 8th. Yudai had to collect people who still used old fashioned flip phones. Toru collected people with a specialized professional license. Taiki collected people who had dice-shaped fashion accessories. Unfortunately, I didn't fill any of the requirements, but the fans who did were taken up onstage and could talk to the members a little bit about their birthday or special items. I couldn't get an exact count, but it looked like Taiki collected the most people, and Hayate the least for this category.

After that, the group played a gesture game. The audience members were shown a word or phrase on the big screen and we would have to mime it for the members to guess. Some were song titles like "You&I" or "Tokyo Merry Go Round," but others were more complicated like the members' radio programs or special events. Toru ended up winning this game, with Yudai coming in last.

After the first two games, we were back to performances! Toru performed his solo song "hitofuyu". Even though it didn't match the summer weather since it's a winter song, he still delivered a great performance. He seemed a little nervous to be performing on his own, but I think he did a good ob overall! The group then got together to perform the 5 vocal, bossa nova version of "HELLO." They've gotten really strong at performing as 5 vocally, so I hope they continue the trend of doing 5 vocal songs in the future!

The next performance was chosen by a fan vote. We had three options: Stay, what you say, and Did You Know? Yudai had a sound level meter, and we were supposed scream "Haaaaaaaaiiiiii!" for the song we wanted them to perform. I originally voted for "what you say", but it tied with "Stay" and we had to revote, so I changed my mind to "Stay" so I could hear Sota's epic high note. "Stay" wound up winning and we received a great performance of the Fight Back era masterpiece. Unfortunately, Yudai made a little mistake in the choreography right when he was at the front of the formation, and we teased him a little for it ^^ When the performance was over, he jokingly hung his head in shame for a bit.

After, the event went live for about twenty or so minutes on SNS-- Da-iCE's Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, etc. We were also allowed to film this portion with our cell phones if we wanted. Da-iCE played a video announcing the release of their upcoming 4th album BET (out August 8!) as well as their upcoming tour beginning in September at Makuhari Messe and ending in January was two days in Osakajo Hall. I was so excited to hear about the album release, but a little upset that I'd miss out on the tour. It's about one month after I'll have moved back to America, and I would have really loved to see it T^T While the live broadcast was still recording, the group also did a performance of new single FAKESHOW.

When the live broadcast shut off, Sota announced the event keyword to the remaining four members and the staff showed the tally of how many times each member had said it. It was a surprisingly small count: Taiki, Toru, and Hayate had each said “yabai” 3 times, while Yudai had only said it twice.

With that final game over, they tallied up the total score. Toru won by a huge margin (his score was 26 and the next highest score was Hayate with 14), and Yudai and Taiki tied for last. Toru's prize for winning was a box of specialty food, while Yudai and Taiki had to do a punishment game of spelling the word "Osakajo" with their butts. It may have been a punishment for them, but it definitely wasn't for us! While Sota was decided what word they would have to spell, they did a little bit of twerking and model posing for us >_< I wish I could have taken a video to share the visual delight, but rules are rules!

The group wrapped up with a relaxed and light hearted performance of TOKYO MERRY GO ROUND where they spent as much time laughing and trolling each other as they did performing. They also threw out signed balls to the fans, but I didn't come close to catching any. Since I was closer to the back, whenever a member threw a ball to our area, it would hit the rafters of the building and fall to the ground.

When the event was over at close to 9 PM, we had to go outside again to re-enter for the after talk. Like I mentioned, I was in row 10, about in the center. For each fan event, different members would be answering the questions, and for our event we had Yudai, Hayate, and Taiki. The after talk was very brief and the boys dug through the questions and pulled out the questions they thought were the most interesting to answer. Unfortunately I was suffering from a bit of a stomachache this point (having taken a two hour walk on a full stomach before the event, bad idea T^T) and my concentration wasn't so good. My brain wasn't very much on what they were saying, since I was just kind of staring dazedly at their faces. Forgive me! The one question I caught was about where they wanted to visit in America-- they said LA and New York, the obvious choices! The after talk went by quite quickly, but it was good to have the chance to see them again, especially since my view was much closer than the original event.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience, and I'm so glad I got to go! I really feel like there are no walls between Da-iCE and their fans. They talk to us comfortably, like friends, and aren't afraid to show off all their silly sides. Even though their popularity is increasing, they still feel like the companionable, humble guys they were back when they got started. Every chance I have to see them really makes me so happy inside :D

[axiomsofice]

Kraken: A New Threat Rises

The much anticipated Seattle Expansion Draft was not quite what anyone expected, and until they take the ice we can do nothing but speculate how this team might perform. One thing is for certain, Seattle’s approach to the onslaught of transactions was far closer to GM Francis’ Hurricanes than to Vegas’ previous expansion, in terms of strategy and vision.

It is under this context we can start to assess the main strengths and themes of the inaugural Kraken outfit, and immediately one commitment stands out, defence. A hallmark of Francis’ aforementioned Hurricanes tenure, this was clearly a focal point in choosing a coaching staff. Coach Hakstol’s track record is quite strong at this moment of time. His work with the Flyers is ageing well, and as an Assistant with the Leafs the team’s defence transformed from weak to strong. Ultimately, where it matters most is on the ice, where the roster is consistent with their Coach and GM in said defensive ability.

Right away the blueline should be among the top third of the league as it boasts a very deep group that has some star power as well. Giordano and Larsson are established defenders, so we know they will deliver quality minutes. Oleksiak signed a big deal with the team, and well deserved. Even though he’s the same age as Larsson, he’s continued to get better every year. If that trend continues at all the rest of the league is in trouble. Vince Dunn had a tough final season in St. Louis, but he’s shown he can play enough in his young career that many have called him Seattle’s Shea Theodore, which might be a bit bullish, but he certainly is around the same age and coming from a similar situation. With the three mentioned prior with him he will not be overextended, and in fact between the four their skillsets do seem to cover a lot of bases.

Beyond that Carson Soucy projects for 3rd pair minutes, a role he excelled at in Minnesota. Jeremy Lauzon was one of my easiest choices in my own Seattle Expansion mock, coming from an important role on the Bruins. He’s fast, physical, and aggressive, and Boston is definitely not thrilled to have lost him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he found his way further up the lineup at some point. This is already 6 good NHL caliber defenders and we haven’t even touched on the brothers Fleury (Haydn, Cale), Will Borgen, Denis Cholowski, and Conor Carrick, who would all be fighting for time on any NHL team. Without a doubt the Kraken have the tools to ice a very strong defence group.

However, this defensive philosophy is present throughout the forward group as well, it takes every player on the ice after all. Yes, looking through their forwards one might try to wonder who will score for the Kraken, it does lack the name brand excitement retrofitted to the Inaugural Vegas team, but they are both defensively strong and deep, and they most definitely will not cheat you for effort. Perhaps the perfect player to encapsulate these characteristics is Colin Blackwell, and if you’re wondering who that is, that is exactly what I mean. He played his way onto a Nashville team two years ago, played well enough to sign with the Rangers, played his way onto Panarin’s line (to the dismay of those who wanted Kakko or Lafrenire to get minutes there) and played so well Panarin is rumoured to have asked to keep Blackwell on his line. As Babcock famously said of Hyman, “the stars like to play with someone to get the puck back”, Blackwell has thrived on doing the dirty work.

And he’s not alone. We saw Yanni Gourde play a huge role on the Lightning’s 2nd most important line (sorry Stamkos) in back to back cups, forming a legendary checking line with Coleman and Goodrow. In 2021 I learned both Tanev brothers are severely underrated, so Brandon will be a lot more than a pretty face once the season starts. Finally both Wennberg and Jarnkrok are really well rounded, defensively responsible, and physical players. Throw in Mason Appleton and that’s 6 really intense forwards to start with. Particularly Gourde and less so Wennberg have a bit more offence, but all 6 could chip in 10+ goals in a full season as well, which starts to add up as we go through the lineup.

Schwartz is a strong signing, a bona fide top 6 winger does a lot considering the rest of the roster, but Schwartz has posted strong defensive numbers with the Blues throughout his career. Eberle adds a splash of offensive flavour that is needed. Donskoi is a good middle 6 forward but if you aren’t familiar with his work, the guy’s got mad dangles. McCann has had a tumultuous carrer path thus far, but he’s coming off a strong year with Pittsburgh, and he might be one of the best power play options on this team. He was on pace for 25+ goals last year and could easily equal that pace again in his 25 year old season. This quartet should be the offensive catalysts of the team, and if they could all get 15+ goals it would put the team in a good spot to be successful.

The two biggest x factors, especially when it comes to Seattle’s goal scoring potential, lie with Morgan Geekie and Alexander True. Both have proved to be strong offensive players in the AHL and are ready to be full time NHLers. Both have positional flexibility as well, and if they can both play well enough to take a hold of a role in the top 9 forwards this team would be so much better for it.

All this attention to detail in terms of preventing goals against will make the netminders’ jobs that much easier. Grubauer’s played really well on strong teams, but has been a bit injury prone, so his contract does remind me of the Leafs signing Andersen 5 years ago. The injury history, as well as the continuing trend of tandem situations in net, justify the overqualified Drieger. Joey D’Accord is a good 3 as well, regardless virtually everything would have to go wrong for this group to underperform.

It’s for these reasons that it’s hard to imagine Seattle being that bad of a team this year, and as everyone chuckles at the on-paper strength of the Pacific Division, it’s not out of the question that they make the playoffs. It’s getting ahead of myself, but they seem rough and tumble enough to do really well in the playoffs as well, and if they finish 3rd they’ll probably play Edmonton in the 1st round…

As we go forward it will be interesting to see how their treasure trove of cap space is utilised, and most likely they might be waiting to see how they perform before deciding how to use it to their advantage. It’s easy to see how adding a talented but expensive played might not cost a lot, and simultaneously vastly improve the quality of the team. Tarasenko is one that’s been speculated, and honestly I think that would take them into a legitimately good team tier.

The final, and perhaps most important point of their offseason is the acquisition of Matthew Beniers. I’m not sure they will have a shot of selecting so high in the near future, and to be able to grab a great centre prospect, especially considering how scarce that opportunity is for even an expansion team (ahem, VGK), and the strengths and weaknesses of their roster, it bodes so well for the future of the Kraken beyond 2022. Many said he is a good defensive centre, a good support player, a good transition player, some Larkin and Bergeron (stylistic) comparisons, and it's easy to see how that would fit in so nicely whenever he makes the jump (my guess is spring 2022, after NCAA season).

[thewriterandthestoryteller]

Lets look at an older piece of writing...

Hey guys! First of all, I want to apologise for the meltdown that I had about wanting to delete my account. That was all absolute trollop that I ranted about when I was feeling down earlier today. I also want to thank all of the people who took the time to leave me lovely messages that really lifted my spirits and gave me the motivation to post. Thanks again you lot, you know who you are!

Now onto the juicy stuff. I was scrolling through my drive, minding my own business, when I stumbled across a piece of writing that I wrote for an assessment in Year 7. As @cog-writes explained in one of her recent posts, I actually wanted to ‘curl up into the fetal position’ as I read this monstrosity. I’ll quickly mention that it was that same post that made me decide to post this mistake instead and look at how much I have improved, rather than deleting it and trying to forget about it. (The post is titled Top 5 Things We Can Learn from Our Artist Friends, I highly recommend you read it, it is incredibly well-written!) 

This piece was for an assessment on detective fiction, in which I had to write part of a detective story to get a final grade when we finished looking at that topic. This was back in the days when I was obsessed with BBC Sherlock, so I essentially used identical characters with different names and wrote them into my own story. The grammar in this story is incredibly wrong, but I miraculously got a ridiculously high grade for it. I haven’t touched in since then, just so you can see how truly bad I was at writing.

I hope you enjoy it much more than I did reading it for the first time in years!

Nervously, I opened the door to slightly reassuring chatter filling up the space around me as I scanned my surroundings. Then it hit me. I had no idea who I was looking for. I decided to use the process of elimination. There were four occupied tables. The first consisted of a group of young women in short skirts and white blouses. The second was occupied by a middle aged man , a ham sandwich , a packet of Walkers Cheese and Onion crisps , and a bottle of water. The next table along, there was an elderly man seated an on the other side of the room were a young couple talking in hushed voices.

Now, which table do you think my potential boss was seated? Place your votes now ladies and gentlemen….

It was none of them.

I know , I know that was a bit unfair. But if you were paying attention , I did leave some clues for you. The first table was a no go ; one of the few things that his letter told me was that his name was Joseph. Clearly not one of those girls. Would you bring a date to a job interview? Unless you were one of the weirdos who thought I wasn’t going to open a mysterious letter I found at my doorstep that same morning , probably not. That eliminates the couple on the fourth table. The ‘elderly’ man ; clearly not fit for a job like detective work. Table three incorrect also. I eliminated the second table as well - there was nothing that made that man look like he ran a successful business like the Black’s clothing line. If you guessed that table , that one was tricky and I thoroughly understand your mistakes. D-. Don’t be bitter about it, I got it right!

But the point is none of the guests met the criteria. I was about to walk over to the gentleman with the ham sandwich and introduce myself , but then I heard the door close. I turned around to inspect the new arrival.  A man of about average height. Quite skinny , with skin the delicate shade of ‘ I never go outside ‘ pink. Messy dirty blonde hair the respectable side of too long. Dazzling blue eyes. Arched eyebrows , and cheekbones that would have put Benedict Cumberbatch to shame. Stunning. Absolutely gorgeous. What , one can admire a handsome face! He was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans , tight button up shirt , and Adidas zip up black hoodie , and Nike trainers. Expensive taste. Young. Fit. Perfect match to my criteria. I watched him study the inhabitants of the café, frown , then turned around to face me and smiled

‘ Mr Watson ‘ he said and offered his hand

‘ Mr Black ‘ I replied as I shook it.

‘ Can I get you a drink? ‘ he asked as he awkwardly smiled at the table of girls.

‘ I will admit, I have already eaten. I didn’t want to look like I was greedy’ I muttered a little self-conscious.

He smiled sympathetically and indicated to a vacant table nearby. I took a seat opposite him.

‘ I suppose I could settle for a Sprite ‘ I said as a waiter came over to serve us.

After our order had been taken, we then went on to talk about more important business.

‘How is this ‘interview’ going to work then? ‘ I enquired

‘Well I am currently working on a case, and I am very confused’ he muttered

‘ What seems to be the problem?’

‘I haven’t found any evidence I can use to convict the murderer.’

‘ What murderer? ‘ I snapped

‘Just hear me out, I could really do without any interruptions’ he muttered slightly irritated

‘ Now, I’ve been left these notes at the scenes - I’m guessing from the murderer’

He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out two crumpled pieces of paper. He handed them over for me to examine. On the back of them , they were labelled one and two - I guessed that would be chronological order. Naturally I opened number one first, it read;

A detective was in his hotel room when he heard a knock at the door. He went to answer it and there was a young man in a black suit at the door. When the detective answered the door the man apologized and said that he thought this was his room. He then left and the detective called security. Why was the detective so suspicious of the man in the suit?

‘Huh’ I murmured

‘Anything?’ Joseph enquired

‘Surely you have heard this riddle before’ I said shocked. Joseph shook his head in response

‘ I don’t suppose you could offer any insight, I have no clue as to what these notes mean’

‘It is one of my favorite riddles’ I declared ‘ The detective called security because you wouldn’t knock to come into your own hotel room. If it was sincere, the man would have walked straight in the room to be met with the detective!’

Joseph sat in silence.

‘ Out of curiosity where was this note left? ‘ I asked ‘ And what was the case that came after? ‘

‘There was a murder in a hotel room’ he explained ‘I was checking into this hotel and found this note blu-tacked onto the door. I then heard a squeal down the hall and a poor young woman had been stabbed in her room’

‘Was anyone nearby when you were investigating?’

‘ Nobody unusual. Just very concerned staff members for the most part’ he muttered ‘Why?’ he asked.

‘ I would need to see the second note to confirm it is the same person, but I believe this killer is trying to get your attention’ I continued

‘ How could you figure out that from a riddle? ‘ he countered

‘ It is not the riddle but the note itself that tells us that. When you were younger did you ever leave a note on the table for your parents when you were going out?

Joseph nodded so I took that as an indication to continue.

‘ It is meant to tell you about something. From this riddle I can already guess that the man we are looking for is or typically wears a black suit’ I concluded

Joseph stared at me in shock.

‘ I really have overlooked that. You’re definitely hired now ‘ he said surprised as he handed over the second note

I smiled, knowing that I would not have to go back to that Tesco anytime soon. I discarded that thought and focused in figuring out the second riddle. It read;

A rich man lives alone in a small cottage. Having a disability, this man had everything delivered to the cottage. The paperboy was doing his rounds on Thursday when he noticed that the door to this man's cottage was open. Through the door , he could see a dead body in a pool of dried blood. A police officer arrived to inspect the scene. On the doorstep was two bottles of milk , Monday’s paper , a catalog , flyers , and and unopened letter. The police officer suspected foul play. Who does he suspect and why?

‘ Hmm’

‘ Well..’ Joseph chided

‘ I know the riddle , but I don’t really know what it is implying’ I muttered concentrating

‘ Well let's take things one step at a time’ he suggested ‘what does the police officer think?’

‘ The police officer suspects the paperboy; He had been doing his rounds on Thursday and on the man’s doorstep was Monday's’ paper but not Tuesday or Wednesday’s. The boy must have known not to deliver it because it was him that killed him’

‘ I don’t understand quite how you do it’ Joseph wondered out-loud

‘ Mum’s favorite dinner party game’ I replied

‘That must be fun’ he said sarcastically

‘Tell me about it’ I responded dryly ‘ But I still haven’t got a clue what our murderer could mean by that second riddle. Do you think it is to throw us off?’

We were interrupted by a waiter serving us our drinks; for me a can of Sprite and Joseph ordered a Diet Coke. I quickly noticed my can looked slightly off balance, almost as if it wasn’t properly balanced on the table. I turned it over and saw another note blu-tacked to the bottom. I tugged it off and showed Joseph.

‘ Open it quickly’ he hissed ‘One thing I have observed is I always find one just before a crime’

I unfolded the note and scanned the riddle. This one read:

Two girls ate dinner together and they both ordered iced-tea. One girl drank hers very fast and finished five glasses in the time the other girl took to drink one. The girl who drank five survived, but all the drinks were poisoned. How did the girl who drank the most survive?

I heard a loud cry from the other side of the room and one of the ladies in the blouses cried , ‘SHE'S NOT BREATHING SOMEBODY HELP HER!’

Following was a loud clatter from the kitchen. I saw a flash of black and Joseph followed at speed.

‘HURRY SHE NEEDS HELP, IS ANYONE HERE A DOCTOR?’ the lady screamed.

Panic set in - I was needed in two places at once and I knew that I couldn’t do both. My colleague was most likely apprehending a murderer, I made a good first impression I didn’t want to throw it away by letting him get killed. But this poor lady is dying , an ambulance can’t save her now and it didn’t look like anyone has the experience to help. I focused on my breathing and used my instincts to do what I felt was the right thing…

[closetofanxiety]

New Jersey Death (match) Trip

I’m sorry this is long. If you’re reading on a mobile device, I know Tumblr makes you scroll through the whole thing instead of respecting their own html cut. 

Let’s just get this out of the way: I’m not reviewing the matches from Game Changer Wrestling’s Tournament of Survival 3. I haven’t watched enough death matches to qualify even as a mildly informed observer, and you know what? They kind of run together. It’s hard to distinguish one from the other, when you’re seeing one after the other.

When the first light tube spot happened on Saturday night, with a loud POP that could be heard everywhere in the building, the crowd erupted. By the time the hundredth light tube spot happened (not an exaggeration!), late into the show, no one in the crowd reacted at all. At some point, you just become numb.

I will say that, for sheer “Oh my God” spectacle, it’s hard to beat this kind of wrestling. I posted a bunch of short clips to my Instagram story, and friends who care not a whit about wrestling were messaging me all night about them. “What is that?” “Where are you?” “That looks insane,” etc. And when you’re standing a few feet away, the brutality is mesmerizing and almost artistic, like Artaud’s idea of the theater of cruelty, but for real.

On the other hand, all the criticisms I’ve heard of death match wrestling were on display: the comparison to the numbing effect of pornography seemed apt, as did the common complaint about guys who are theoretically trying to kill each other calmly waiting while their opponent sets up the next ridiculous spot. During one match (Ciclope vs. Alex Colon? I don’t know. They genuinely run together, especially in a tournament), one guy was setting up panes of glass on two chairs, but they kept slipping off, so THE REF started helping him out, while his opponent just waited on the turnbuckle for the suplex. Tell me that’s somehow less of an “exposing the business” scenario than an intergender match.

So, the matches were fine if you like death matches. Ciclope won, and good for him. What follows are my disjointed recollections of my first - and presumably last - experience at a death match tournament, lazily organized by chronology.

Saturday, June 2, 5:15 p.m.

I arrive at “the historic Starland Ballroom,” which turns out to be a grim loading dock of a building in an industrial park. The parking lot is practically full, and I am arriving 15 minutes after the scheduled bell time, thanks to traffic jams in Meriden, Fairfield County, and New York City. Let me say this: if I never drive across the George Washington Bridge again, it will be too soon.

Luckily, I have not missed anything. Doors were supposed to open at 4 p.m., but there is still a line of people snaking around the side of the building. We’re not just on Indie Time, we’re on Death Match Indie Time.

The crowd is about what you’d expect, with a uniform of black T-shirts and baggy shorts and a general commitment to ill health, although there are more women here than at most wrestling shows I’ve been to. I may be the only person here who has a favorite book. I see three different TSOL t-shirts, which somehow makes sense. I am surprised at the number of WWE shirts I see. I briefly thought about wearing a Kevin Owens shirt, but feared I’d be mocked and derided; within minutes of arriving, I see a huge guy with sleeve tattoos wearing the same shirt. There are more WWE shirts here than CZW shirts, in fact, which I guess is not surprising, given the enmity that exists between the established New Jersey promotion and the GCW upstarts. There are, in fact, more T-shirts here that say “CZW is Pussy” [sic] than CZW shirts.

There are people tailgating in the parking lot, and fragrant drafts of marijuana smoke drift by. A burly guy in an orange T-shirt that says SECURITY waddles up to me and tells me I can’t bring my shoulder bag inside the venue.

“I understand, safety first at the death match tournament,” I say. He nods, either not getting the joke or deciding whether I need to be restrained in a chokehold.

5:35 p.m.

I’m through the doors. There are metal detectors and bored-looking bouncers in orange shirts, because this is a crummy rock club. A guy in front of me with neck tattoos is told he has to take his bottle of prescription medication back to his car. A woman is arguing about a bag search.

There’s a small table set up just behind the metal detectors. It’s hard to know who might be part of the GCW staff. A guy in a black T-shirt and baseball cap is yelling at a woman, possibly about people getting in with bogus tickets.

“I know every name on every ticket sold,” he tells her. Then, to me, he says, “What’s your name?” as I hold out my crumpled printout.

I tell him, and he says “You’re good.” I don’t feel good, but I go in anyway.

The venue is absolutely packed. There’s a ring set up in the middle, and a VIP seating section on what must be the stage for all the shitty bands that play here. There are rows of chairs on all four sides of the ring, and all of them are occupied. Behind the chairs, in standing room areas, crowds of people jostle for position.

My ticket theoretically entitles me to a seat in the third row. Pathetically, I hold my ticket up to a person working at the GCW t-shirt table and inquire about getting a seat.

“Sorry, bro, first come, first served,” I am told. I could have saved $15 and bought a general admission pass, I ruefully reflect.

It’s standing in the back, near the t-shirts and the barbecue vendor, that I notice the long bar is empty. This is a shame, as I am extremely thirsty and would pay at least $10 for a bottle of water. It turns out the venue decided not to serve alcohol tonight, which is the first good decision anyone has made all day.

I wander around, noticing merch tables and the Nick Gage-mocked treats for sale. No one has any water. The treat woman, God bless her, points me to a small bar in the back of the room where the venue is selling pizza, Red Bull, and bottles of water. I buy two and want to sob in gratitude.

“Yo, we’re starting soon!” a voice announces over the PA. It is now 40 minutes after the announced bell time.

5:45 p.m.

A man in black shorts and a baseball cap bounds into the ring. The crowd erupts in cheers. It is the same guy who knew every ticket buyer’s name. This must be a GCW owner.

“Yo, look at all these mothafuckin’ shot callers in this place!” he yells, and the crowd roars its approval. Are GCW fans shot callers? Am I now, by extension, a shot caller? I feel briefly stirred, until I reflect that a genuine shot caller would be allowed to bring his shoulder bag into the venue.

The guy tells us that regular ring announcer is sick tonight. “He’s in the bathroom, shitting and puking,” the guy says, and the crowd cheers, as if excited by any bodily function. Instead, there’s another ring announcer, who is dressed like a frat guy at a golf course and sounds like the world’s most convincing Joel Gertner impersonator. I mean, he really, really sounds like Gertner. It was uncanny, and throughout the night, it was weird to hear that voice and see it coming out of a guy who incels would characterize as a “Chad,” instead of a tubby, hairy Long Islander with a leopard-print neck brace.

We’re ready to go. The music starts. It’s Nick Gage’s music. The crowd goes insane. I am watching from the small bar at the back of the room. I have two bottles of water and a cupcake. I wanted the “MDK” variety (red velvet with cream cheese frosting), but the woman told me they all melted, so I get the “Ultraviolent,” which is just a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting. It’s a little soggier than I’d like, but it hits the spot. I am eating a cupcake and watching men rake pizza cutters across each other’s faces. This is Roman decadence. Our society is doomed.

The matches come and go. Shlak is here; people on Woke Wrestling Twitter hate Shlak and regard him as a Nazi, but I don’t know exactly what the source of that grievance is. He was recently shot in the leg, as he posted on Twitter, along with the motto, “I welcome death.” He gets a big welcome here. In his match, Markus Crane - who is introduced by Not Joel Gertner as “The Devil’s Big Red Dick” - repeatedly does horrible things to the leg where Shlak was recently shot. Eventually the referee stops the match and awards the win to Crane, which results in bloodthirsty disapproval from the crowd.

As this is going on, I notice a man watching the show at the bar, with his 8 or 9 year old son. I briefly think about calling the police, but instead I pay $3 for a slice of pizza that I saw delivered in a box and have another water. Between matches, members of the ring crew use huge industrial brooms to sweep all the broken glass out of the ring, because, safety first at the death match tournament.

7:30 p.m.

It’s intermission now. I don’t know who’s winning. I go over to Takayuki Ueki, the Big Japan wrestler who lost to Nick Gage in the first round. He seems nice. I buy a Big Japan yearbook from him and get him to sign it. Some other guys are selling loads of wrestling magazines from Japan. I buy one with a Minoru Suzuki cover and one with a Naito cover. I am a gormless tourist. “Got any joshi magazines?” I ask. The guy looks at me like I just asked him to make me a casserole. He does not have any joshi magazines.

I buy a Tournament of Survival shirt with all the participants, because I want to remember one of my most questionable decisions as an adult. Now I have a shirt with someone who may or may not be a Nazi. I will not wear this on first dates.

The show starts up again. I’m standing closer to the ring now. During one of the matches, I get hit with broken glass from one of the light tubes, a spot happening about 15 feet away. I decide to go back to my spot in the bar at the back of the room. I have another water.

Nick Gage comes out to wrestle Ciclope. A guy tries to start a “U-S-A!” chant and is immediately drowned in a sea of booing. I’m oddly relieved that the death match crowd in 2018 has no time for jingoism. After 10 minutes of brutalizing each other with glass, pizza cutters, light tubes, a fishing pole (don’t ask), and whatever else, Ciclope beats Gage with a schoolboy, which is hilarious. To me, anyway. The crowd is infuriated. Nick Gage was infuriated, and suplexed the ref through a pane of glass. Well, Nicholas, perhaps you shouldn’t lose matches to routine roll-up pins, hmm?

Joey Janela comes out. He’s wrestling the resurgent PCO in a non-tournament match. This is my first glimpse of the new look PCO, who I have vague memories of from childhood, during his goofy Not-the-Mounties stint in the WWF as one of the Quebecers. Pierre Carl Ouellet, Indie Darling, is one of the weirder and better wrestling stories of 2018. It would be like the Ding Dongs coming out of retirement to win the PWG tag team championships with a dizzying routine of high spots.

Janela and PCO start with a lockup and go into chain wrestling, and it’s like listening to jazz after hours of black metal. It’s so different and refreshing. Eventually they start breaking out the Home Depot supplies, of course, and since part of Indie PCO’s gimmick is that he has a gross, welt-covered chest, there are lots of chop spots involving that. But this is a good match overall. A solid 3.5/5 and my favorite of the night.

9:00 p.m.

It’s time for the main event: Ciclope vs. Miedo Extremo. It’s a death match. Ciclope wins. I scoot out early so I can exit the crammed parking lot and get on the road to my hotel, which is in Neptune. I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow at Asbury Park, where I plan to visit some weird places for a newspaper column I write. It’s also, unbeknownst to me, the day of the Asbury Park Pride parade, so the town is quite full, which explains why I paid $250 for two nights at a Red Roof Inn. I may be the only person in the state who, in about 12 hours, was a death match spectator, Catholic Mass attender, and inadvertent Pride parade viewer. What a day. What a weekend.

[elevenhoursinfront-blog]

7th December 2017

We were up at the crack of dawn, which is quite literally around 0500.

The sun was so hot already we were sweating like we'd done a marathon. We both thought that a shower wouldn't go a miss but it wasn't an option. I didn't want to make the family feel awkward either, let alone myself.

We sat in the sun eating our breakfast. Suddenly the chickens woke up. We didn't know that we were sleeping close by to a chicken home but we quickly found out. They were so loud and there must've been loads of then. It was obviously their breakfast time and they were 'patiently' waiting!

A woman walked down towards us and the chickens, she went over to feed them to shut them up, or so that's what I would do. She came over to us and introduced herself as Helen. It was strange as we never saw her last night and she was middle aged woman. We thought the lady laying on the sofa was Helen. We got that wrong. It must've been her mother.

Helen said that we were welcome to stay as long as we liked, we didn't have a check out time or anything. She was actually very lovely and made us feel a load better about being in her property. If only we met her last night, we may not have had to wee on her grass. We even went in the middle of the night too... Sorry Helen.

She told us about a beautiful hike up the mountain near by that we would probably love to do. We said we'd give it a go and that we would be leaving soon to do so. It was only 0800 and I needed to put sun cream on. She advised doing the hike before it got too hot.

We got ourselves up and dressed (in the van). We left pretty pronto but we weren't going to do the hike. It was far too hot already, plus it would eat into one of our days in Brisbane City!  

We had an hours drive and we needed to check into a new holiday park. First thing on the agenda: SHOWER.

I done the driving into Brisbane which wasn't too bad. We're both nervous when it comes to driving in Australian cities because they're strange. They have hook turns and odd lanes that disappear into thin air. Sometimes you can turn right when there's no traffic lights but sometimes there are! It's all very up in the air. We don't understand it.

We pulled up at our new caravan park – Ashgrove, around 1030. The lady behind the counter was wearing a 'Hippie' T-Shirt which was the brand of our camper van. She checked us in and we were on our way. She explained how best to get into the city, which is by bus. She helped with what bus we would need and circled out the things to see on  a map.

We parked in our spot and pretty much ran to the showers. If we were in a cartoon programme, you would see green lines all around us. We stank. I guess that's the life of camper van.

We were ready to face the day by 1130. We locked the van up and left for the city centre! Steve and I have not been in a big city since Melbourne so we were so excited to be in civilisation again.

We walked the 10 minutes to the bus stop. A few busses came by but not the one we needed. We probably could've jumped on, but we were going with what the lady said at the desk. We needed the 425 which turned up shortly after. We both bought a zone 1 ticket for $4.60 each (day light robbery). It was 5 stops.

We were shocked at how much Brisbane loves their bus transport. They basically have an under ground world that runs just for them. It was so strange. The majority of bus stations were underground, too. We were baffled. It was just a bus but we daren't say that out loud, Brisbane people may find that offensive.

We got off the bus at Southbank. This is where the majority of 'stuff' is. We walked across a bridge and it showed fabulous views of the city. I just love the skyscrapers. I took some photos and we continued walking.

We came across The Wheel of Brisbane. We decided to go on it as I have never been on the London Eye before. We would get great views of the city too. I was like a child. The tickets were $20 each which I thought was a bit expensive so I checked out Groupon, as I do. As if by magic, there they were. Tickets for two people - $23. What a bargain! We're getting one adult for free, almost. We had loads of money on our Groupon account (thank you Steve) so we just bought them with one click.

We got onto the wheel straight away, there was no queue.

It had such amazing views. Steve said that the London Eye goes so much slower and that it takes about 45 minutes to get the whole way around. This one went round in about 3 minutes and we kept going for 12 minutes. The staff give you a map with numbers and places marked on it. There's a speaker inside which tells you about each place and you can spot it as you go around. Quite informative really. A good job we went on it first. We were able to see where we were headed next.

After the inner child in me was over the wheel, we walked down the jungle like board walk towards the lagoon. Mel lived in Brisbane for the last month or so of her trip. She arrived home in the UK two days. She said that Brisbane was her favourite city and Mel loved Melbourne. We talk every day still and she text me to say, “How long do I leave it before I see you when you're home? One day?”. She makes me laugh so much. Is it weird to click with someone so well, in the first time of meeting them? I know we'll be great friends for a very long time.

Anyway, back to Brisbane.

The lagoon was really nice, better than Cairns. It wasn't better than Airlie beaches lagoon but I don't think anywhere in Australia will have a better lagoon than Airlie.

The lagoon was made up of two sides – pool water and 'sea' water. I'm not sure whether it was salt water but it had sand all around the edge and as the floor. Steve and I are going to spend the day here tomorrow and we pick the pool side, he hates getting sand everywhere.

We walked around the area of Southbank and loved every minute of it. We found a cash point for the first time in 5 months for our banks so we got money out. Australia charges you if you don't get money out of your own banks hole in the wall. They love to charge you for everything here!

After walking about, we decided to go over to North Quay. This is where all the big buildings are and most importantly, the shopping! We had to get a ferry over which was brilliant. They had a ferry system to take you up and down the river so that you can get to different parts of the city. You can walk and get the bus but it's fairly large and why wouldn't you just jump on the ferry?! 

We could get the ferry because it's included in our bus ticket, but we couldn't be outside of our two hour time frame. The tickets expire which is weird.

We had no idea what ferry we were getting on but we went for the first one to turn up. Luckily, we were right. North Quay was the first stop so we were on and off within moments. 

We walked off the ferry and up two flights of stairs (I picked these over the lift and Steve was horrified). We were in the CBD (Central Business District). We've spent many months in the middle of these so we felt right at home. It was a lot worse mind you, being Christmas time. It was lunch time too and no Australian has home cooked lunches at work. They all literally go out for fast food. There's food courts in every street on every corner so why wouldn't you? I would get HUGE if I lived here in the CBD. When I worked at Momentum in Melbourne, Lena always went out to get food. On a few occasions, but not many, she managed to persuade me to come out. Persuade isn't the right word though, I love food so it was an easy decision.

We stopped in the middle of Queen Street. The local police force had a Christmas Concert going on and I was loving it. They had a band playing, mostly bagpipes and they had people dressed up. There were stalls all around with Crime Prevention stuff to take/sell. It was great. It made me miss work though. We watched them for a while, clapping and laughing along before Steve's stomach got the best of him. He was suddenly starving. Actually starving this time though. I know he's mentioned starvation before, but this time, he really means it.

We walked around trying to find somewhere to eat. We weren't short of anything – we had too many choices! I didn't really want to eat out because I'm so focused on saving money but we were both hungry and we didn't bring lunch.

We eventually found somewhere, had lunch and then we were on the move again.

We were in and out of shops, which was stupid really. We're both DESPERATE and I literally mean desperate to buy stuff for ourselves. We hate our clothes and with every right too. They're all stained and mouldy now. We've not really been able to go out and buy anything for ourselves for a whole year which is horrible to think about. We tortured ourselves and went into our favourite shop... Zara.

We said that we would save up for a year or so and then go on a mega shopping spree, just on ourselves. I need to lose weight before I shop for myself so it'll be another year before I can spoil myself but it'll be worth it. Steve wants to get straight back into football so he'll be losing weight too. I literally cannot tell you how bad we want to shop though. We're finding shops and things that we don't normally get and finding excuses as to why we need it! We're delusional.

We went into the big Myer centre to look for our cards. The Myer centre is like a Lakeside along the city street. Half is designer and half is your normal stores. We had been looking all day but we came across a toy shop and kept our fingers crossed. We went inside and found the card section... No Backpacker. We were so sad. If it wasn’t going to be here, in a city, it wasn’t going to be in Australia. We did, however, find Uno for $9.99 which is the cheapest we’ve seen it so far. We bought it and got over the fact that we would have to wait until we were home to find our beloved card game. 

The guy on the counter said to try a different shop on level two. It was a store for card games, mind games and board games. There’s no harm in trying. We travelled to the store and went inside. It was packed. People must’ve been doing Christmas shopping on their work breaks! I saw Steve jump and I turned to look at him - WE FOUND IT!!!! It was being sold for $25 but we had to get it. We loved it so much when we played it at Fraser Island. We were both in utter shock. I’d never pay $25 for a pack of cards but these are fun. 

(I’m bragging about these cards and when everyone at home plays them, you’re going to think we’re weirdos). 

We went to celebrate and get a pint. Steve took us up to a very, VERY, posh roof top bar with a pool. As soon as we walked in, I told him no. We got the lift back down and searched for a pub. I wasn’t dressed for a posh bar let alone did we have the money for it. There were loads of corporate people there and I just felt awkward in my flip flops. 

We found an Irish pub and enjoyed a jug of beer. Cheers! We had a game of cards and left to go home. We were so tired after being woke up with the sun. We enjoyed sitting there, as the sun was setting, cooking dinner. We are absolutely loving van life! We played numerous games of Backpacker before we watched an episode of I'm A Celebrity on the data which we probably shouldn't have. We then went to bed. 

We couldn’t stop saying “I can’t believe we found it!”. 

[thesecretheadteacher]

Bullying

I make no apology for the length of this entry as the topic of bullying is a very emotive one. Where it occurs, it can be such a damaging and destructive set of actions, leaving the victims upset, hurt or, in a few cases, contemplating or going through with attempts at suicide. It is probably one of the biggest fears parents have for their child whilst at school and also something they feel unable to help with.

The scale of bullying: Once again, for those of us who were raised in the 70s and 80s, we are likely to have witnessed or experienced bullying on an industrial scale. These were the days before there was any awareness or acceptance of difference: the closest anyone got to neurodiversity back then would be if it was the name of a new wave pop group. Anyone with autism, ADHD or any other, fairly common, condition, was just seen as a ‘weirdo’, anyone who was slightly effeminate, or merely kind was ‘gay’ and anyone whose skin colour was darker than you would expect from a 2 week holiday in Skegness, was a N word or the Asian P word. These were just the verbal bullying, of course there was also the physical bullying, I think I was lucky to get through these years with both testicles intact, as they were treated like mosquitos – someone always looking to swat, flick, kick, stamp, punch or knee them, and the resulting excruciating pain provided the watching group with the highest form of hilarity. I guess it was probably different for girls. Fortunately, such sustained and ongoing bullying is very rare and, though parents should be vigilant, in the vast majority of cases, it is something that can be dealt with very easily and effectively by the school.

What is Bullying?: The key starting point for tackling bullying is knowing what bullying is. Most parents will be using their own experiences, possibly from school, but more likely form the media: whether that was watching Gripper Stebson with his 1950s teddy boy style, grabbing various Grange Hill characters by the throat as part of his dinner money pyramid scheme, through to Nelson Muntz giving Bart a wedgie on the Simpsons. Or maybe from stories or videos, some truly horrific, of young people being set upon and beaten up by groups of kids. None of these, however, help to clarify what bullying is.

There is no legal definition of bullying in the UK but, in a school context most would view it as ‘repeated behaviour which is intended to hurt someone either emotionally or physically, and is often aimed at certain people because of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation or any other aspect such as appearance or disability.’

As well as knowing what it is, it is important to know what it isn’t, because there are many things that rather than having a negative impact upon our children, are actually valuable and important learning episodes (I can hear myself morphing into Oprah here):

-        Falling out with each other – this happens and is an important part of their development into adulthood to deal with conflict with others. Unfortunately, far too many parents see this as bullying because their child might be upset as a result of it.

-        Day to day rough and tumble – this particularly applies to boys as they grow up. There is some good science around the importance of ‘horseplay’ (Fry, D. P. (2005). Rough and tumble social play in humans / Pellis, S. M., & Pellis, V. C. (2012). Rough-and-tumble play: Training and using the social brain). Think of it like young animals that jump and climb and wrestle and fight. Having done thousands of break and lunch duties, I am very familiar with what is horse play and what is a bit more serious – the basic guide being are they all having fun, it is very easy to see if someone isn’t or if one individual is being targeted – that is where we step in.

-        A one-off omission: for example not being invited to something outside of school.

-        Not liking someone: we cannot make pupils like each other. This is another important learning point to help in growing up. I am sure we all have people in our own lives that we don’t like, but through our adolescent development, we have learned how to deal with that.

-        Arguments: these happen all the time, as anyone who has been married will testify.

-        A single act of telling a joke about someone. We have all been the butt of a joke at some point - usually funny for others, less so for us.

Of course if any of these things become repeated or several of them happen towards the same child, then yes this would then constitute bullying.

How to deal with bullying: this is what most parents want to know and is the point at which some parents go horribly wrong. So here is my step by step guide:

1.      The most important thing is that the child tells someone. Staff in school are usually excellent at spotting things going on – I have lost count of the number of times I have been on duty and, amidst the mass of humanity that makes up lunch time, spotted a child looking a bit down, on their own or upset.

2.      Watch out for changes in your child: mood swings, sudden aggression, withdrawal from family life (though take care as these are also the default setting for most teenagers.)

3.      If your child can’t talk about it, get them to write it down.

4.      If it involves social media, which increasingly it does, switch it off – delete the apps and don’t engage.

5.      NOW CONTACT THE SCHOOL. I have put this in caps because this is the most important thing. Having discovered you think your child is being bullied, you will be feeling angry, shocked, protective, aggressive and maybe even feel you have failed your child. This heady concoction of feelings is not a good place from which to start to address the issue.

6.      Work with the school: the vast majority of schools deal with these things on an almost daily basis. They know the other children, they see the interactions, they know the parents of the other child or children. They care deeply about your child and the other children and they will do what they feel is best.

7.      If things don’t get any better, then escalate the matter within the school – schools are hierarchical and above a form tutor is a head of year, above them a member of the Senior Leadership Team and above them the headteacher.

How not to deal with bullying: the steps above should lead to the matter being resolved and your child returning to their usual happy, or at least apathetic, experience of school. However, I have had plenty of first-hand experience of parents who decide to handle the matter differently – none of these led to a better outcome than following my advice, and some led to far more serious outcomes for them.

-        Don’t start the discussion off by being abusive or threatening the school for ‘failing your child’. Venting your anger on a poor receptionist won’t make the wheels move faster.

-        Don’t start at the top. I have had many examples of parents contacting me directly, as headteacher, to deal with a falling out between two pupils. Though I have decades of pastoral experience, there are far more appropriate people to look into the matter. It isn’t that I don’t care, but the school and education system wouldn’t really be getting its money’s worth out of me if I spend 6 hours a day in ‘circle time’ with Year 7 girls who have fallen out.

-        Don’t go above the top. On a number of occasions I have had parents decide that, rather than inform the school, they think the matter would be resolved quicker by going above the school to the Local Authority, Ofsted, The Diocese, local MP, Parish Priest, the press, the Pope or anyone else they could think of. Needless to say, none of these people are really in a good position to unravel the reasoning behind why Sally didn’t invite your Bethany to Cineworld last week.

-        Don’t encourage your child to take matters into their own hands. “I’m sorry Sir but I have told him, if anyone says anything to you, you just punch them” or “You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t tell your son to hit them if they say anything.” Well-meaning as this advice from some parents is, it isn’t really great preparation for the world of work. For that day when little Billy grows up, gets his job in middle management and has a falling out with Steve from accounts and decides a good right hook might progress things. So unless you have grand plans for your child to move into the gangland underworld, it really isn’t good advice.

-        Don’t take matters into your own hands with the parents. Often when parents raise a concern about another child bullying their own child, they will want to meet with the other parents. Nearly all schools will avoid doing this, not because we are being obstructive, but because a) the parents (usually) aren’t the people who have fallen out and b) both sets of parents will have only heard their own child’s version of events and will be overly protective. It doesn’t work. Likewise contacting the other parents by text, social media or be going round to the house – all of these are like trying to put a fire out armed with aerosols and petrol. I have witnessed parents going for each other outside the school gate, or picked up the pieces afterwards when one or more parents have been charged with assault.

-        Don’t take matters into your own hands with the child. No matter what you have been told about the other child, they are still that, a child. I have known many occasions where a parent has approached a child directly to ‘warn them off’ like some sort of mafia enforcer. Now I don’t know how they have thought it would play out in real life, but the reality is usually that the child is with some friends, feels like they can’t lose face and so rather than say “Yes of course Mrs T, it was wring of me to behave like that towards your little Mickey, it won’t happen again, take care.” It ends up more “Who are you talking to? Get away you Pedo. I didn’t do anything. F*&k Off, I am going to get my dad on to you.” To be fair this approach does often end the initial bullying and is replaced by family warfare, police action and lawyer involvement.

Don’t arrange a ‘settler’. This is where both sets of parents arrange for the children to meet up and have a settler (a fight to resolve things). For many of you reading this, the very thought would be horrific, but for some of the communities I have worked in, this is the ‘honourable’ way to do things. I have known parents set up times / places for the fight, have rules around not jumping in and even drive their children to the event, like an evening at a Justin Bieber concert. This is not just for boys, I have known it happen with girls too and heard a child describe how her dad had watched her get knocked all over the place then afterwards suggest that the matter was no closed.

[imkeepingtrack]

Recap: 21.5.19

I didn't leave this morning. My alarm went off at 6 and I was tired and decided not to. I also didn't want to mess anything up for M as we planned to meet today before our biology exam.

I've been on T 20 weeks today.

I got woken up at 9:45 and had a shower. Went down to the office to see what was going on and went to a small version of my favourite shop with one of the staff to get lunch. I was just going to get a meal deal but B gave me £5 and the staff I was with said I should spend it so I got egg custard tarts and some chocolate too. She made me pain au chocolat when we got back, and some for me to take for M.

Mc texted to say L wasn't in (what a surprise) and to text her when I arrive, so I replied asking who was invigilating my exam. She said it was the staff member me and M argued with before the holidays, and I told her we had argued and I didn't like her. She got it changed to the maths teacher which was a lot better. He's funny.

I put a load of biscuits in a tub and took them as well as the lunch food down to college. Then M asked if I wanted to go to McDonald's with them and their dad so I did. I just got cheesey wedge things and a drink. It was good to see M.

We went and messed about in the quiet common room when we got back to college. M "corrected" a map of the building that's stuck on a notice board. A lot of it was actual corrections like crossing off staff who don't work here any more, but there was also some funny renaming of places. We then threw a load of top trumps cards out the window. I only did a few but M did a load and it was so funny seeing where they landed. On the table next to us there was a piece of paper with a list of likes and dislikes, and one of the dislikes was LGBT. So M wrote a load of silly things in the likes column and we had a laugh.

Then the staff woman we argued with before the holidays turned up and was just hanging around outside the door watching us but not coming in? I got anxious because I didn't know if she thought she was still invigilating my exam or what. Then the maths teacher came in and she just put the cards we'd thrown out the window on a table and left. Whatever. I think she was going to have a go at us but then decided not to. Mc came in a minute later and said she thought it was great that we did it and something like we "expressed our dissatisfaction" idk probably not those exact words. It was funny.

I went to do my exam with the maths teacher. I had the food in a carrier bag and when we went into the room the exams officer was there and said something about it not being allowed but I said I was taking everything out the bag and packaging and she seemed ok with that, but then apparently she emailed the house saying if there was an exam board person there I would have been disqualified. I don't think she knew what she was on about because that's never been the rule when I've done exams before. I've just put my stuff on the other side of the room and not gone near it. Who knows.

I panicked a couple of pages in to the paper. There were questions that I knew the answer to but didn't know how to put it into words and it annoyed me. I went for a walk in the garden with the maths teacher, but I was scratching behind my ear as a distraction and an auditory stim, and I've now got a minor friction burn there. It hurts to have my headphones on it.

Went back in and did the rest of the paper. I definitely failed but whatever, I was expecting that. I tried to answer most of the questions, although some were complete guesses and 1 was me naming a molecule JimBob. Of the whole tub of biscuits, I had 1 jaffa cake and the maths teacher had 1 oreo.

Came back to the house and hung around for a bit, and I've now got the first 90 elements of the periodic table memorised. Got 10 more in.

Started another game of chess with LSG while he cooked dinner.

I decided I wanted domino's so S took me to get it. I accidentally ordered to the one near my mum's but S phoned up and they transferred the order. I got a meatball feast wrap and garlic pizza bread. We also went to a supermarket to get Ben and Jerry's because it was on offer. The birthday cake stuff is just so good.

I ate the domino's and chatted to S for a bit, about the college interview I have tomorrow and my targets and stuff. She said I seemed like I was doing better today. It's because I have a solution to the problems- leaving tomorrow morning. Not that I told her that. I did tell her I was going to go for a walk relatively early in the morning, so it won't be a complete surprise. I said it's to try to sort my sleep cycle, chill out a bit before my interview tomorrow, and get some work done. Lollllll. She asked if I feel safe here. I said yes.

LSG came a bit after that and we finished our game of chess. I ate my ice cream while we played. I didn't eat that much of it. I won because he gave up. On Friday it wasn't a particularly short game, but not a lot of pieces got taken, whereas today I was left with my king and him with his king and a bishop. He was just chasing me round the board and got bored He said we're playing best of 19.

He was saying some irritating (and just wrong) things about autism. He just believes everything he says so strongly I can't even consider arguing with him. Talking about how ASD is too big a diagnosis because it goes from "rocking in a corner unable to communicate" to "people able to function" and just seriously. Shut up. He was going on about people using a diagnosis as an excuse and saying that there's nothing people can't do, they just won't. Fuck right off. Saying about how as a kid now he's probably be diagnosed with ADHD but he wasn't because it was years ago and he "just had to get on with it". He said he's worked with hundreds of autistic people and somehow that means he knows autism better than someone who is autistic? I wasn't very happy. He was talking about how someone with 1 severe autistic trait would get a diagnosis and someone with 29 that barely affect them wouldn't, and I absolutely wasn't having that. If you have only 1 autistic trait, it doesn't matter how severe it is, you're not autistic. If you have 29 autistic traits (he was using it as a maximum number kind of thing), it doesn't matter if they don't affect you lots, you're still autistic. Maybe you've found ways to work around it or whatever, but that doesn't remove the autism. He made me really cross, because I try so hard. Maybe it looks like if doing ok a lot of the time, but that doesn't mean I am. Without my diagnosis, chances are very high I'd have killed myself by now.

I'm sat downstairs with a mug of warm milk. It took me ages to get to sleep last night so I'm trying to make tonight easier.

I'm going in the morning. I have a full plan. I've written an explanation. I'm scared but this genuinely feels like my best option. I've known basically since I got up this morning that I'll go tomorrow. I'm anxious but trying to stay calm. I've told S I'm going for a walk, I have everything ready, and yeah. It just feels like the right thing to do. I guess we'll find out.

I'm going to sit upstairs with some more warm milk, listen to some music, and play hue until I can go to sleep.

Food:

Pain au chocolat - 11:15

Cheesy wedges, oasis - 12:15

Sandwich, quavers, egg custard tarts, jaffa cake - 2:00-3:00

Meatball wrap, cheesy garlic bread - 7:00

Birthday cake ice cream - 8:00

[sambart93]

2017.05.06 Aramaki Yoshishiko LMN Event - Round Two

So I thankfully and luckily hit for MakiChan’s photobook event but only for the second one. It was a while ago so I’ll try and member what happened... I was about number 130- or 160-something which sucked because we were going in number order so obviously those that had number 1 got the first seat on the front row but it wasn’t too bad I ended up about 3rd or 4th row from the back and some people even ended up standing the entire time. The venue place is actually tiny! I was surprised we got so many people to fit in. 

MakiChan ended up wearing one of his outfits (the white one) from his photobook with a cute tan/beige top underneath so it wasn’t see-through xD while we were going inside and waiting for the event to begin they played the making DVD on the two TV screens they had up. I’m pretty sure the MC was a staff member of Pony Canyon because I didn’t recognise him.

Some notes and comments and things he said from the event, definitely not in order xD :

☆He fell from his bed earlier this week which had never happened to him before.

☆ He had Budweiser Light for the first time in Guam during the shoot for this and it was the first time he thought a beer was ‘umai / tasted good’.

☆ They took the photos in real time. They were there two days and they literally constantly took photos of him so it’s all very real e.g. him eating, in the super market etc.

☆ He likes to wake up 2 hours before he has to work as he likes to take his time before work.

☆ He wears PJs to bed unlike most guys who wear nothing.

☆ He was looking at the pictures in the photobook and said “there’s lot of embarrassing pictures in here. While I was doing the CD recording (the animate tokuten) you can just hear me like ‘oh this is embarrassing...so is this’ “ xD so I look forward to hearing that!

☆ He talked about how he likes sunsets and took pictures/photos of the sunset in Guam and the MC asked where’s the best spots to see the sunset in Japan/Tokyo and MakiChan said he loves bridges, so going to rainbow bridge in Yokohama or Odaiba bridge and the one near Shimbashi and seeing the sunset is best. “I often go” (I think the one near Shimbashi). He means these places:

☆ He said he had horrible stomach pain after finishing HakuMyu (so May 1st-ish) so it made us a little worried that perhaps he’s over doing it work wise.

☆ LMN stands for Light Mackey Night (I hate the way he spells Maki in England but oh well...) but he also mentioned that during live streams before the release of the photobook, fans guessed what LMN stood for and eventually everyone was convinced that LEMON was what it stood for. At first he was annoyed that the fans just started using that name but at this event he said ‘ファンが付けた名「LEMON」も気に入って来た / They called it Lemon and I quite like that name now too so we can use both’ xD

☆ He also didn’t want the name to be all about him. He had looked at others photobooks like Masshi (Wada Masanari) and UeChan (Ueda Keisuke) and, for example with Ueda Keisuke’s title was 「全部、俺」/ ‘All Me’, and decided he didn’t want the title to be just him. Just “半分俺 / half of him” would be good enough. He said they could’ve easily just left it as “Aramaki Yoshihiko First Photobook’ but he wanted something else. So he honestly went through the alphabet ‘ABCD...EFG...’ and when he got to LMN he was like ‘Oh! That’s good! The M is Maki, me! Now lets figure out the other two letters’ so the title is on 1/3 him xD He’s such a strange boy haha He said deciding the name was really difficult and they really only had three options in the end so Light Mackey Night was easily chosen.

☆ Even the morning shots are really him. ‘My face in the morning when I wake up was properly shot (for this photobook). *shows morning shot* This really is my wake up face!’ and I have to say DAMN his morning face is naturally beautiful! My face is puffy as fuck in a morning, especially my eyes... the bag under my eyes slowly lift as I wake up but it takes a good 30 minutes at least xD he just wakes up looking like that?! Lucky bugger...

☆ He doesn’t really eat at night (me too!) because work finishes late. And if he does cook it’s usually in the morning because he doesn’t have time at night. This leads into the (what I think is the) amazing Nabe story! 

☆ He loves Nabe (Japanese hotpot) in the morning for breakfast and everyone thought this was super weird except me and one other girl! I was totally nodding away and being like ‘yeah I get it! Me too’ but the EVERYONE was like ‘eeeeeh?!? what?!’ and MakiChan and I were like ‘EEEEEH?! this isn’t normal?!’. Turns out the reason why people don’t do it in the morning is because it takes too much time to cut all the stuff up and put it in the pot. BUT MakiChan (and me) said ‘just cut everything up in the morning or before I go to bed. I can laze in bed while it’s cooking’ I was 10000% in agreement with him! Because of everyone’s disbelief, MakiChan asked ‘who here loves Nabe in the morning?’ and only me and one other girl (I didn’t look behind me) put our hands up! I was so shocked! 

☆ And MakiChan’s favourite is kimchi nabe and I was like ‘ME TOO!’ (but internally) so I was super happy and super shocked at how similar mine and MakiChan’s favourite foods are ^_^ 

☆ He said he eats nabe like one a week and I’m like 3 times a week

---

Cheki Time!

So this time we couldn’t choose what poses we wanted to do; with it being a Pony Canyon event and not his own TokiEnta event then obviously the cheki rules are different. 

So MakiChan said ‘I’ll decide the pose so just listen to me and don’t be shocked whatever pose I give you’ to which we were like ‘what poses is he gunna get us to do?!’ but he played it safe and just did either PEACE or LOVE HEARTS with everyone ^_^ 

he did peace with me and so naturally put his arm around me ^_^ Also we got a short, short time to talk to him and I was very selfish and said ‘It was my birthday on Monday!’ and he said ‘Happy Birthday!’ in English and I literally all I could muster while shaking his hand was ‘Ooo great pronunciation!’ *bangs head* I’m a selfish dick... don’t worry I apologised to him in the two future letters I sent to him xD and the next time I properly saw him he was all smiley with me so he forgives me selfish request... I really should’ve just been like ‘I LOVE ASA NABE (morning hotpot) TOO!’ xD I really should’ve... kinda regret I didn’t BUT!!! I did get a Happy Birthday from him sooo <3

CHEKI:

The cheki is so good but PLEASE ignore my idiot arm in the center... it does not exist... it looks so stupid *sigh*

---

I was going to upload me looking at the photobook for the first time on here but A. the video is too long and B. the video is too big and C. I cannot be bothered splitting it up and posting it in parts again, SO if you wanna watch my reactions and see the photobook in full then here’s the twitter links instead:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Final

Okay! 7 more reviews to go!! xD

[ai-da-ice]

[Fan Account] Da-iCE’s NEXT PHASE Live in Saitama!

Da-iCE hasn’t listed a tour date for Tokyo yet (which makes me think another performance might be added to the end of the tour, but of course this is just me guessing), so for my very first Da-iCE tour performance, I made the trip to nearby Saitama to see them perform during their second day of the tour at Misato Cultural Center. It was about an hour and a half from my apartment, but as I’ve mentioned before, Japanese performances don’t require you to line up early-- if it’s a seated venue, like this one was, you’ll have the same seat no matter how early you get there, and standing venues still have entrance order numbers written on the ticket.

Once inside, there were several vendors. One to encourage people to sign up for the fan club, one selling Da-iCE albums, one passing along info for signing up for a credit card with Da-iCE's image on it, and lastly the standard merch table. I'd already purchased the light stick, but this time I also grabbed a tote bag since my normal purse isn't big enough to carry around the giant novels I'm always reading >_<

For this tour, I finally broke my bad streak of lotto numbers and snagged a seat in the third row. Each row was divided into left stage, middle stage, and right stage. I was the leftmost seat in the left stage area, and based on the dance formations, we got a lot of visits from Yudai and Taiki in particular throughout the night.

Before the show, the staff asked us to take out our light sticks, and we were all surprised to find out that they have a special function! When they're in range of the current concert venue, they can be controlled to change colors from their standard purplish-blue shade. Throughout the night, they were frequently moved from red to green to yellow to aqua blue and so on. The staff did a really good job of matching them to the tone of the songs and stage lights.

After demonstrating the light sticks' magic power, there was a short, futuristic intro video, and then the boys stepped out of this cool, dice shaped construction made out of the video screens and the show began!

Breaking down the night by song:

NEXT PHASE: When the album came out, Da-iCE claimed this would be their new show opener to replace FIGHT BACK, and it really fills the role well! The boys were wearing different costumes than their Tonikaku HEY gear, but their looks had a similar theme-- bright colors paired with retro style jackets. They all looked amazing (Sota’s back to 100% red hair!) and kicked off the show with some very strong dancing.

Watch Out: Even though this song came out last year, it's really grown as one of my favorites, so I was psyched that this was their follow up. Once again, it was a great pick to bring up the energy, and the vocals were as on point as ever. I love the bouncy parts of the dance during the “Won’t you try it?” section of the chorus.

Step Back: This was our first use of prop/special stage design of the night, and let's just say CHAINS WERE INVOLVED. I'm not joking. The set design featured prison-esque bars and the boys danced with prop chains binding their wrists. And yes, it was as good as it sounds. This was my first time seeing this song live, and I have to say that the dance was stellar!

Noise: After Step Back, the boys had a short introductory MC (trolling Sota ensues) where they also asked everyone how many "Phase" concerts they've been to ever since Phase 0 kicked off. They transitioned into Noise, one of my fave songs from Fight Back, using headphone props. Every time one of the boys put on the headphones, a certain kind of music would play and they would dance to it. For example, when Taiki put his on, it was a really upbeat techno track, so he did an almost seizure-like dance to it, then close with one of his trademark funny faces when he pulled the headphones off. When it was Yudai's turn, the intro to Noise started, and the boys began the performance with the headphones on. Every time they pulled them off, the music would change to tinny and muted, in the radio-esque style the original song evokes. It was really well done! But as Yudai mentioned on Twitter yesterday, he did make a few mistakes in his timing of pulling of the headphones, but I wish he wouldn't worry too much since it was a really complex performance and overall they did a good job with it!

Free Falling: This was our second set design on the night. A table with several chairs and a round of shot glasses (and I think some Jack Daniels as well?) were brought out, and the boys delivered this more rock-based number with a smoky bar room theme. They made good use of the chairs and table in the dance routine as well, and the performance came across like a cool, movie-like moment.

Chocolate Sympathy: Since the chairs were out, it was time for Da-iCE's famous chair dance routine paired with one of their sexiest songs. Chocolate Sympathy should be illegal, that song paired with that dance is too much all at once T^T. As I was watching, I kept on thinking how badly I want a CS instrumental because that beat is jamming, and in a sense I got my wish, because after the performance was over, it was time for performance solos from the dance line to the tune of the CS instrumental (remixed slightly, naturally). They played a quick game of Musical Chairs to determine who would go first. Hayate lost (after Toru took his chair, causing Hayate to dramatically fall over), so he led off. His dancing, unsurprisingly, WAS DOPE. Following his solo, he dashed offstage, and it was Taiki's turn. After, Taiki and Toru did a bit of a duo dance together, then Toru wrapped up, and both he and Taiki left the stage.

Koigokoro: Immediately Koigokoro kicked off with a costume change, since Yudai and Sota had been backstage during the dance solos. They were now wearing dark pants paired with a white dress shirt with a simple design in black down the front paired with a black bow tie. VERY sharp. The two vocals started off, and since Hayate had also had enough time to change costumes, he led off the dancing solo. Taiki and then Toru appeared later in the song. This is by far one of my fave Da-iCE songs and one of my faves to watch live. The vocal line absolutely kills it, and the dance is beautiful and emotional. One of my faves of the night.

Reason: Since we were in slow song mode, they transitioned into Reason, paired with a background video of the boys walking through the streets of Japan. This is one of the most beautiful songs off the new album but I keep forgetting that, so this was a good reminder to have it on rotation more often.

Sugar High: While the Reason videos were playing, the staff had set up coat racks with blue velvet suit jackets behind the screens. When I saw them, I thought next up would be Kirenai Mama no Coat, but it was actually our new OT5 track from Tonikaku HEY, Sugar High! Dressed in their daper jackets, all five members participated in the harmonies in the track, and they did a FANTASTIC job. I really do hope Da-iCE continues this trend in the future. Taiki is already at a great level of vocal ability, and Toru and Hayate’s confidence in their abilities seems to have skyrocketed.

Setsunakute (acoustic): And continue the trend they did! As a B-side to a pre-debut single, this song doesn't get much play at concerts, but Da-iCE brought it back with all 5 members on vocals! Not only did the dance line sing, but they actually sang the majority of the song! I'm praying Da-iCE will release this in some form, because it was glorious. Taiki did the first chorus on Toru did the second, and both of them delivered beautiful.

Yudai darted off stage following this performance, leaving the other four members to handle the MC while he changed costumes. The members speculated what Yudai would talk about for a solo MC and decided on 'protein'. Sure enough, when Yudai emerged in the new costume (black, white, and red-- Da-iCE's colors!), he chose to talk about protein while the other members changed. Unfortunately, I have a very limited knowledge of protein vocab, so I didn't quite follow >_<

[at this point, I can't remember for sure which of the next two songs was performed first, but I'm making an educated guess here lol]

Into You: All the boys were now in their Da-iCE colors after the costume change. They looked great, but Taiki's black piece, a button down, had the misfortune of sporting Guy Fieri-like flames... Taiki, I thought you were the fashionista!

I wasn't expecting Into You to be performed, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was! This is Da-iCE’s killer cover, and they SLAYED it live. And the Hayate jump kick move from the music video was there as well. And Sota's iconic "A little dangerous my boy" :D

I'll be back: Since we got Setsunakute, we also got I'll be back! This will also slightly edited, so instead of the Sota rap(ish?) bits on the second verse, we got a dance break. I'm personally a huge fan of Da-iCE dance breaks, so even though the performance was a little shorter than the original track, it was an amazing watch.

Fantasy: Another track I've never seen performed before, and another track improved by adding a dance break to the live performance. It makes me wish the dance break instrumental was part of the original track, I think it really enhanced it!

Five: Our first pre-debut mini album classic! This is one of my personal favorites from the pre-debut era because I love how the lyrics represent their bond as five members. I'm hoping for them to turn this into an OT5 vocal song one day, but as for now, I was thrilled to see this live finally! Also, our section finally got a much needed dose of Hayate fan service when he visited left stage.

Tonikaku HEY: Before performing their latest single, Da-iCE did a mini competition to see who could get the loudest audience "HEY"... of course, it was Sota vs. the rest of the members :D All a-i are winners, so the boys didn't choose favorites in the end. This song is kind of like the new "Hush Hush" where the audience participates in the dance since the moves during the chorus are simple hand movements the audience can follow. It's such a fun live track and you can tell the group really loves performing it.

BOND: This is a pretty light hearted song, so the boys were mainly paling around during the performance. For the set design, three sets of big white steps (the symbol for NEXT PHASE) on wheels were brought out, and the members played around on the steps and wheeled each other around. As the audience, we were in charge of the "pa-pa-party party" vocals

Stand: Another pre-debut mini-classic! The boys had stashed autographed balls under their stairs, so spent a portion of this track pitching them to the audience. None came close to me, but a girl at the other end of my row caught TWO. Guess my luck could have been a little better, even though I got third row.

Kimiiro: After all their fun with the last song, the boys calmed down and directed our attention to the screens, which flashed the release date for the new single. They than had a full performance of the new single, which I LOVE. It's not quite in the same vein as their previous summer singles, though it is uptempo. If anything, I think its vibe is half way between those songs and Sora, which is a really good sound for them. Can't wait for the release!

TWO AS ONE: I saw this performed live at Tokyo Swish and their vocals and choreo combination was really moving moment at the time, so it was beautiful to see it again. I love the MV, but I really wish more of the choreo was featured so you all could see it. I really think the story it tells is beautiful, especially since it's a thank you song to the fans.

ENCORE TIME!

Everybody: We heard the opening words of Everybody, but Da-iCE was nowhere to be found onstage...we whirled around...and there they were, in the audience! The five members walked around the aisles and shook hands with fans as they passed, much to everyone's delight! A lot of areas were reached by all five members, but the staff kept blocking the group from coming to my area because it was a tight squeeze between the edge of the rows and the side stage. Toru didn't care and broke through anyways. I made good use of having two hands and got a double handshake from Toru as he passed. YES!

Osaka Lover: I love this cover from the new single and think it's perfect for summer, so I'm glad they included it in their encore line up. The dance was great, so I'm extra psyched that we're getting an MV for this on the upcoming single!

Paradive: Da-iCE's most famous single closed out the night in upbeat, towel waving style. It's such a fun song, and Hayate's dance part during the instrumental has become so beloved that the members shout out "HAYATE" before he starts it. It's a great way to close on a happy and exciting note!

The two girls sitting next to me had talked to me before the encore and found out my favorite member was Sota. I'm not sure what I did to deserve such generosity, but one girl gave me a Sota NEXT PHASE wristband, and the other gave me Sota postcards. I was really so touched! At every Da-iCE I've been to, people have come up to me and asked me about how I got into the group, which is really so amazing for me! I feel a little awkward sometimes being a foreigner who stands out a lot since I'm the kind of person who prefers people (members of Da-iCE excepted) not to focus on me, but everyone has really shown me kindness and helped me to become more comfortable. My first Da-iCE tour performance was a total blast!!!

[sleepynobie]

19 Relationship Goals (707 x Reader)

(A/N: This would be my fav from all time lol XD)

1. Role Play

Zen: Guysss!! Hear me out!! I got an offer to become a model in one of the famous fashion company!

(Name): Congratulation Zen

Zen: Awww thank you ;). I guess they're really appreciate how awesome my body is. I am God's most majestic creation after all

(Name): ....

Zen: Hmm? Are you speechless right now? I know, I understand how you feel (Name)..

(Name): SEVEN HAS THE MOST GORGEOUS ABS LIKE OMG DO YOU KNOW HE WORKS OUT EVERY SINGLE DAY AND TOUCHING THEM FEELS SO HEAVENLY #absgoal #therealGod'smajesticcreation #screwyounarcissist

Zen: Uhh (Name)... Are you okay?

707: WHAT THE HELL SEVEN, I'M NOT LIKE THAT! NOW GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE OR I'LL THROW ALL YOUR HONEY BUDDHA CHIPS OUT

(Name): But that's what basically you're saying last night ;)

707: What?! No! Aghhh sorry Zen but I'll be right back

*707 left the chatroom*

(Name): Totally can't wait for tonight~

*(Name) left the chatroom*

Zen: ... These two...

2. Same Clothes

"Hey you two-" Yoosung waved happily as both of you finally arrived after waiting for a while to watch a movie together since he's looking forward for it too and need someone to watches with him. You two happened of wanting to watch as well so you didn't mind watching with him. However, Yoosung's expression changed into a horrified one when Seven wore a girly clothes with similar fashion as you.

"What? Why are you looking us weirdly?" You looked baffled before turning your attention to Seven "He looks pretty right?"

"Well of course duh. And today, I'll be Lucy okay?"

You giggled before nodding "Yes Lucy"

"Wait wait wait, what are you two trying to do? Why the hell are you dressing as a girl, Seven?" Yoosung asked and tried to comprehend what was the motive behind this.

"To make Yoosung for having two girlfriends!" Both of you said the same thing before clinging on his arm on each side.

"But the two of you are dating! Not me!"

"But you're our homie! Besides, don't you feel happy for having girls on your side? Right, (Name)?" Seven smiled to him before to you.

"I know right, Lucy!" You smiled back to him.

"ONE OF YOU IS CLEARLY NOT A GIRL!"

"Well detail doesn't matter. Anyway, let's just go in~" Seven cheered and you cheered as well before basically dragging him inside the cinema, much to Yoosung's dismay.

3. Switch Clothes

"Hellooo guys! Welcome to God 707's house!" Seven greeted the rest of the RFA members who came to celebrate the return of his twin brother before he dabbed.

However, it wasn't the real Seven.

"(N-Name)?! That's you right?" Zen asked.

You laughed and tapped his shoulder while pointing to yourself "What are you talking about? I'm Saeyoung! The cute tomato! Anyway, come in!"

Zen sweatdropped while Yoosung just chuckled nervously, Jaehee sighed, and Jumin... Just giving straight face as usual. However for them, what came worse was that when they looked at Seven... Dressing as you.

Seven was laying sideway on the couch while posing like that "Draw me like one of your french girls" meme. To make it even worse, he purposely showed his thigh since he was wearing dress of course. Meanwhile his brother could only facepalm from distance.

"Hey guys! Look how sexy I am~" Seven smirked seductively and trailed his fingers on his thigh. This made you blushed in embarrassment as it wasn't like what both of you planned and quickly chided him whereas Seven seems whining at how 'great' his idea was.

Zen was the one that received the most shock and seems traumatized by the sight. Yoosung facepalmed, sometimes wondering why was he his friend. Jaehee merely gave a 'wtf did I just see' look and Jumin felt uncomfortable but tried to compose himself.

But anyway, this is how you two usually do in daily life (and Saeran has to cope with this shit)

4. Texting ft. Puns and Flirting

(Name): If you're a fruit, you'll be a fine-apple ;)

707: I HAVE A PEN, I HAVE AN APPLE, UGH, APPLE PEN

Zen: What the? You just ruined the pick up line man!

(Name): I have a pen, I have pineapple, ugh, pineapple pen~!

Zen: Wha...

707: I have (Name), I have me, ugh, Mini me and (Name) *dabs*

(Name): *DABS*

Zen: .... You both really meant for each other huh

707: Of course we are a great pear right~

(Name): Indeed... I'm berry grapeful that I meet you, Seven <3

707: Aghh stop being adorable! Dammit, olive you so much!! *kiss emoji*

(Name): Awww... Your words are raisin my smile now X3

Zen: BOTH OF YOU GET OUT

707: I guess someone does not found our conversation appeeling *shows a picture of him peeling off a banana* HAHAHAHA

*Zen left the chatroom*

5. Cleaning (Not really LOL)

"Hey, I was doing just fine before I met you, I drink too much and that's an issue, but I'm okay" You said started singing with your broom as the standing mic.

"Hey, you tell your friends it was nice to meet them, but I hope I never see them again" Seven continued with his duster as the mic.

"I know it breaks your heart, moved to the city in a broke-down car and" You then sang the next line before Seven took over again.

"Four years no calls, now you're looking pretty in a hotel bar"

Then both of you sang together "And I, I, I, I, I can't stop. No, I, I, I, I, I can't stop"

You two were about to get into the refrain where suddenly Vanderwood shouted "WOULD YOU STOP SINGING AND START FREAKING CLEANING?!"

Seven said in surrender before he grumbled "Okay okay... Even though you're the maid-"

"I can hear you"

"Let's continue on the next room" You whispered to him and Seven beamed before both of you chuckling together and went to the next room, claiming to clean it and left the current room on Vanderwood. But of course, you two were actually singing again until Vanderwood had to scold both of you again.

And that is why, Vanderwood will be their forever maid #shot

6. Gaming (First Person Shooter)

"I'm so sorry I got shot down a lot" You sighed and the other teammates were quite being a bitch when your team loses because of you.

"What are you talking about? You work really hard" Seven said before sighing too "Those guys are the one that being rude to you"

"Maybe... I should quit?"

"NO!" Seven replied before puffing his cheeks "Don't worry, this time I'm gonna make sure you're okay and win"

You looked confused but Seven seems confident looked reassuring so you shrugged it off. Turned out that he became a sniper and kept following you while shooting anyone that secretly tried to shoot you. Then, he told you the position of the enemies that are coming on your way. Thus, you ended up winning over even beating the number of kills by your teammates.

"Now who's the noobs here" Seven chuckled evilly as he typed sarcastically to piss them off. Although it was kinda cheating but you grinned at how adorable your boyfriend was for trying to make you feel better.

"Thanks Seven" You kissed his cheek which made him slightly blush before grinning.

"At least I managed to bang a girl~"

"SEVEN. NO"

7. Defending from Your Ex

"Pfftt... That's your new boyfriend?" Your ex stifled a laugh as unfortunately he met you when you were on date.

"Well yes why? At least he's so much better than you" You blankly replied while Seven frowned at him.

"Whatttt? How is he better than me? Besides, I'm even already got a girl who's hotter than you" Your ex scoffed before laughing and you glared at him.

"Wow this guy is such an asshole" Seven stated and as your ex heard it, he instantly scowled at Seven.

"The hell did you just say?! You wanna fight with me?!"

You and Seven instantly looked at each other, as if knowing what to do next before suddenly you two began to perform a dance.

Seven and you held hand and he twirled you before you jumped into his arms as he carried you bridal style. This made your ex looked confused and Seven spun around before deliberately hitting your feet on his face.

He got taken aback by the hit before glaring as he was attempted to punch you. However, Seven crouched down and let you off him, managed to dodge your ex's punch before you quickly stood up and slapped on his face. This was followed by Seven where he slapped the other side.

"And thank you for watching. Have a nice day~" You smiled sarcastically before holding Seven's hand and walked away with him.

8. At the Water Park

"Ready?"

"Totally!"

You both sat on the float where you sat on the front part while Seven on the back. The staff then pushed the float before you both started sliding down on the slide. Of course since the slide that you chose was the super bowl, you two decided to sing a song while sliding down. And when it was on the bowl..

"YOU SPIN MY HEAD RIGHT ROUND, RIGHT ROUND~ WHEN YOU GO DOWN, WHEN YOU GO DOWN DOWN"

Even if there was another pair showing up, you didn't care at all and sang before eventually slid down into the hole and finished the slide.

"I think we nail it" Seven commented as he gave a hi-five which you returned and grinned.

"Totally~ That was fun! I just hope the staff doesn't kick us out"

(Based on real life experience LOL)

9. Beach

"Woah damn... She looks great on that beach dress" One of the guys whispered to his friend and he seems agreeing as it showed how they started to approach her.

The guys walked up to her and greeted until they realized, it wasn't a pretty lady that they expected.

"Well hello there gentlemen!" The 'lady' with long, yellow wavy hair smiled and began to flirt with them. Judging from the voice and the physical shape if you looked closely, it was obvious that this person wasn't a lady at all.

"Uhh..."

"My my, you two have a really nice physique" She said in rather seductive way as her fingers began to trail on one of the guys's abs. This created a chill on the guy before both of them began to back away as they wanted to escape.

"U-Umm... We have to go see ya!" The guy smiled nervously and even stuttering before quickly left the scene.

"Pfffttt! Their freakin reactions oh my God!" You came out from your hiding spot as you were recording the whole thing while the lady who turned out to be Seven just smirked proudly.

"I told you, I could pickup some guys!"

"Well you attracted them but they didn't want you sadly" You giggled.

"Yeah... I mean how could you just ignore this beautiful lady here right?" Seven sighed dramatically and you giggled even more.

"True! How could they ignore Lady Lucy!"

Seven laughed "I like that name. I should keep that name for my female self"

"Well then Lady Lucy! Let's test your luck whether you could get a man or not!"

He smirked and flipped his hair "Sure. I'll show you I can do it"

And one time, someone actually fell for it and Seven was absolutely horrified that he even got carried bridal style by the guy. You recorded the whole thing of course and shared to the RFA chatroom which made it worse for Seven as he felt slightly traumatized. So after that, you just gave him a full attention and comfort him by cuddling.

10. Karaoke

"Seven, we are going to sing unravel" You said and chose the song from the tablet.

"Huwaa... You want to strain our voices huh?"

"More like, I wanna scare the staff when they brought our food and drinks" You grinned mischievously and Seven who didn't think of that suddenly grinned along with you before taking the mic.

You both started singing and of course you tried to follow the high notes but ended up not so good. But Seven managed to sing high notes which made you jealous but whatever, what matters was the fun part right? Fortunately, just a good timing (Well you sort of predict it but yeah), the staff came into the room and you were practically screaming starting from the refrain.

"YURETA YUGANDA SEKAI NI DAN DAN BOKU WA, SUKITOOTTE MIENAKU NATTE, MITSUKENAIDE BOKU NO KOTO WO MITSUMENAIDE"

The staff put the food and the drinks awkwardly. Out of nowhere, it was Seven's turn especially when he was hiding behind the door the whole time. Oh and did I mention the room was dark with only the TV screen to illuminate the room? So yes, it was certainly creating a jump scare for the staff.

"DAREKA GA EGAITA SEKAI NO NAKA DE, ANATA WO KIZUTSUKETAKU WA NAI YO, OBOETEITE BOKU NO KOTO WO"

You both heard the staff screamed before she quickly walked out and closed the door. You both felt slightly guilty but it was certainly a successful prank as both of you gave hi-five to each other.

"I think she's gonna hate us"

"She probably blacklist us but oh well, let's finish this song!"

11. Gaming (Console games)

You sat comfortably on Seven's laps and rested your back against his torso while he sat on the gaming floor chair. Both of you were competing on a fighting game where somehow you were leading because of the miracle of pressing random buttons. Seven pouted as he lost again and you cheered before grinning to him.

"Looks like I win again~"

"Yeah and this time you keep using the same freaking move. That's not fair"

You shrugged before returning to the screen "Well, let's play one more time cause I wanna eat Honey Buddha Chips already"

Seven nodded and you two played another round. Well of course you had to use the same technique although Seven managed to counter as he began to get used to it. However, what surprised you was that suddenly, you felt something on your neck which made you instantly blush when you knew what it was.

"S-Seven?! You're.. Distracting me!"

But of course this boy paid no heed as he continued to do it until he finally managed to beat you.

"Yes! Defender of Justice finally prevails!" Seven cheered and you were silent for a moment as you lowered your head down. This made him look confused of course, wondering if he made you angry because he was kinda cheating.

"(Name)? Umm..-"

However suddenly, you stood up and straddled on his laps with you facing him. You gave an 'innocent' smile although your intention didn't seem innocent at all.

"I suppose I have to pay back for what you did to me huh, Seven?"

Seven widen you eyes and chuckled nervously before welp, it wasn't a gaming session anymore.

12. Couple Photo

"Okay... What the actual frisk Saeyoung? Do you want me to break my bones?"

You gave a blank look when he pointed a couple photo that both of you looked through using his computer since you kinda wanted to do a unique one but you need inspiration.

Seven chuckled nervously "I'm just kidding.. But this looks so cool right? There are a lot of pictures like this too"

You sighed before scrolling down to search other photos "Well sorry to disappoint you that I'm not that flexible. I'm just a potato okay?"

"Well a cute potato indeed" Seven grinned "And I never say I'm disappointed. Why would I when my girl is perfect as she is?"

A blush appeared on your face before you smiled and punched his shoulder playfully "Shut up"

You both then kept searching for pictures but somehow you felt something lacking. They were all indeed cute and different but they didn't really define both of you.

"Hmm... I want to show something that is cute but it defines how we are... What do people think of us though?" You asked Seven.

"Well.. Memes, cats, and cross dressing?" He replied and immediately you laughed at how accurate that was.

"Should we combine them all and create our own couple photo?"

Seven nodded and with some inspirations that you received by googling, you two began on your couple photo shoot. Oh and unfortunately for Saeran, he will have to be your photographer since Seven begs for it LOL.

And this is how it becomes.

Yoosung: WHAT THE HELL SAEYOUNG-HYUNG?! HOW COULD YOU SIT ON (NAME)'S SHOULDERS LIKE THAT?!

Yeap. Seven sits with leg on each side of your shoulders while dabbing to the same direction. Oh and also, you both wore neko mimis

(Name): I am just that strong lol

Seven: She is~ I'm so proud of my girl, I love you <3

(Name): (///) Awww I love you too <3

Zen: Oh no... DID YOU TWO REALLY HAVE TO DO THIS? REALLY? Dammit I just sneezed..

Seven: EMBRACE THE CATS

(Name): YEAHHH

Yoosung: GUYS, ISN'T THIS MORE IMPORTANT ON HOW WRONG ON THAT SAEYOUNG-HYUNG IS ON TOP OF (NAME)?!"

Jaehee: ...

Seven: I'm always on top of her ;)

(Name): No! I can be on top of you!

Jaehee: Poor you that you have been deceived

Yoosung: What? O.o

Saeran: Basically, my idiot brother cross dress as (Name) and vice versa

Seven: Eyyyy Saeran is here!

Saeran: Shut up

Yoosung: EEHHHHH?!

(Name): Booo, it's spoiled already

Seven: But it's one of my favorites! We have some others too~

And Seven began spamming with pictures of both of you mostly dab but in different poses. One with you sitting on his laps, stand next to each other and dab on opposite direction, Seven cross dress as you carrying you as Seven bridal style (and of course with you dab), your and his phone next to each other where you dress as Honey Buddha Chips on his phone and Seven as Dr. Pepper on yours, and lastly the most normal one from all are the selfie of both of you with neko mimi and duck lips from the chips.

"Should we make a unique family picture next time?" You asked and Seven nodded excitedly before grinning at Saeran.

"It will be great right, Saeran?"

Saeran gave a disapproved look "No. Exclude me"

13. Trolling

Seven: We did the trend! (A/N: Just pretend it's really you two with your original clothes and all okay lol)

Zen: Oh! (Name) is so pretty!

Seven: Of course she is! That's my girl ^^

Yoosung: You two make me jealous T^T. Stapphh

(Name): Hihihi thanks Zen! And Yoosung, you will get one someday!

Yoosung: Thanks (Name)! I hope she appears soon!

Seven: *Sends his cross dressing picture*

Yoosung: WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN?

(Name): Seven... Are you gonna cheat on me..?"

Seven: Of course not! I just thought Yoosung will like it ;)

Yoosung: BRO, NO. Oh my God, (Name), I totally don't like this kind of stuff okay?

Zen: What the hell Seven? This is a nightmare.. I have traumatized enough by your previous picture

(Name): Umm... *Backs away*

Seven: Pffttt

Yoosung: AGHHHH, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, SEVEN!

Seven: Ehhh why? T^T

Yoosung: (Name) is gonna think weirdly on me... OTL

(Name): Pfftt I'm just joking Yoosung, don't worry!

Seven: Yeah chill man

Yoosung: Huh? Really? Wait... You both just teased me together, didn't you?

Seven: Yeap. HAAHAHHAAH

(Name): Hehehe sorry Yoosung~ You're just so cute XD

Yoosung: Meanie T^T

Zen: These two..

Jaehee: That's a pretty picture. Finally something normal from you two

Seven: Hey! What's that suppose to mean?

(Name): Thanks Jaehee ^^

Jaehee: It's true. Both of you always send either cross dressing pictures or cats or memes

(Name): Pfftt

Seven: Well that's what we always do and we never change that

Zen: Huh? What do you mean?

Jaehee: Wait.. Are you saying that..

Jumin: The picture in there is Seven, not (Name)

Seven: Oh! Juju is here!

Yoosung: WHAT?!

Zen: NO WAY SERIOUSLY?!

Jaehee: *sigh emoji*

Seven: Yeap. So thank you for calling me pretty ;)

Zen: .... I'm gonna smoke for a while

Jumin: *Resend the picture plus the one for Yoosung*

Zen: THE FRISK?! YOU TRUST FUND JERK! I'M OUT!

*Zen left the chatroom*

Yoosung: I feel like I can't trust any photo you send me

Jaehee: That's just how they are

Seven: Yeap so stay tune for the next picture to see whether it is me or the real (Name) B)

(Name): Hihihihihi

14. Matching accessories

"Seven, Seven!" You smiled as you came to him with your hands on the back.

"Yes, what is it my dear 606?" Seven grinned and turned his attention from his computer.

"There's something I wanna give since you know, we are a couple and all" You said before you gave a small box of present to him. Seven looked slightly surprised of course since it was the first time after you two just become a couple. He opened the box excitedly while you just watched him happily. The present turned out to be a couple bracelet which he just noticed after seeing you wear one of the bracelets. What he loved the most was how you remembered about his proposal of marriage in space, therefore there was a decoration which was a small UFO spaceship with you inside. The one that you wore was the one with Seven inside and really, he found them super adorable.

"So umm... Did you like it..?" You asked sheepishly and suddenly, Seven enveloped you into a hug before burying his face on your shoulder.

"I love it so much. Thank you (Name)"

You smiled and hugged him back.. Before slightly panicking when you heard a small sob coming from Seven. Later on, you both started wearing it together and even showed it to the RFA members of course on how cute you are.

"Relationship goals guys!"

"Shut up!"

15. Hiking

"Oh my God is this still long?" You whined as you and Seven had gone for hiking as holiday. However, you didn't expect it to be this long.

"A bit more (Name)! It will be worth it, really" Seven said as he tried to motivate you.

"That's what you said a while ago" You pouted "Piggyback me, Seven!"

"I wish I can but, I have backpack to carry you know" Seven said and held your hand "Come on, I thought we're going to take a photo like in Lion King?"

You looked at him before sighing "Of course, that's why we are the meme couple"

"Exactly"

Seven and you held hands and you asked him to distract you from the tiredness, only to slightly regret when he kept bombarding you with puns that made you lose from being able to counter him.

"Gahhh I run out puns!"

He chuckled "Too bad, I guess you will never beat me in terms of puns then"

"Shut up"

Both of you kept going until finally, you could saw the goal already where you were on top of the mountain. The view was mesmerizing at the greenery of the other mountains and trees which complemented the blue sky. You hugged him in joy as both of you achieved it before starting to selfie together.

And of course, the moment has come.

"It's about the time... We create the beloved pose of Lion King" Seven said and you nodded before he carried the long cat plushie that he brought (lol) and posed like in Lion King. You took the photo before you asked him to take one for you too.

"Yessss, this is gold!" You said excitedly and Seven grinned until suddenly, he had an idea that he wanted to try.

"(Name)"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want me to carry you like in Lion King?"

You widen your eyes and pondered for a bit. Well, you brought the tripod and camera so you could put the timer but could Seven actually carry you?

"Umm.. Will it be fine though?"

"It's gonna be fine! Trust me okay?"

You nodded and Seven smiled before you prepared the camera and quickly went to Seven as he started carrying you while you curled to make you smaller. It required a couple of takes as Seven couldn't able to hold properly that you felt that you nearly died before finally, you got one.

"This is just so beautiful" Seven said dramatically and wiped his non existent tears.

"Yeah that almost cost my life" You deadpanned before sighing "Let's never do that again"

Seven chuckled "Yeah... I don't wanna risk losing my girlfriend after all"

16. Surprise Present

Most couple gave flowers, chocolates, or even teddy bears for his girlfriend. However, this would be a different case for Seven as right now, he was waiting for your reaction upon seeing the present.

"Seven, I'm home-" You widen your eyes as you saw a huge box and you suspected that it would be another Seven's shenanigans.

"You're in there, aren't you?" You muttered and frowned before you pulled the ribbon and took the cover part. You expected that he would suddenly stand up and appear to surprise you which you had predicted of course but instead, you found a bunch of Honey Buddha Chips.

"Uhh.. Okay... Maybe it's a gift for Seven?"

"No! It's a gift for you!"

Seven said as he suddenly appeared from the box and stood up, spreading his arms to hug you. You widen your eyes before shrieking in surprise and took a step back instinctively. You panted and clutched your chest as you tried to breath and calmed down, making Seven laughed.

"Mission success! Surprise, (Name)!"

You glared at Seven for a bit, only then to look amazed when you noticed he was wearing white cat onesie.

"So... This is my surprise present?"

"Yes!" Seven grinned "It's me and this"

He dug into the box before taking another onesie which is a black cat onesie "Let's wear this together, meow!"

You looked at awe as you took the onesie before you quickly changed it in bathroom. You then walked out and grinned where Seven who was already out of the box, smiling at you.

"My girl looks so adorable~"

"You're more adorable!" You said before tackling him into a hug "Thank you so much for this! I always want an animal onesie!"

Seven grinned "Your welcome! Oh yeah, I also bought your favorite cake so if you want, you can take it in the fridge"

You beamed before giving a kiss on his cheek "Oh my God I love you so much! Let's eat together, Seven!"

Seven nodded before both of you shared the cake while still wearing the onesies.

17. When you're down

There would always be time when you just felt depressed and hated yourself. Feeling useless, worthless, do not even deserve anything that you wished you just disappear. You tried to mask it with cheerful face as you didn't want to worry Seven but of course, he had been through this before and he knew, your smile seems different these days that he decided to confront it.

When he heard that you had been feeling down lately because you felt that you had so much flaw and didn't have any good points, his heart just shattered. What do you mean by not having good points? Having a lot of flaws? That weren't in his dictionary. He defines you as someone who saves him. Someone who is perfect and means a world, no, a galaxy even to him. For someone that actually can made Seven think like this, he was sure that you were very important to him.

In that whole day, Seven was beside you and comforted you by cuddling. However later on when you suddenly fell a sleep, he spent the time to take a book and started writing on each page of one good point that you have and why there is no reason for you to think such negative thoughts. Ever since that incident, whenever you felt down, you would cuddle with him and read the book that he made for you as you read one by one.

"What do you mean I'm like Katniss?"

"Because you're strong and admirable?

"There are other strong women out there though"

"Yeah but-"

"And Katniss is only a fictional character. There are real strong and admirable women like Joan-"

"Okay it's just that there is cat there okay? You know Katniss? Cat-"

"Oh my God okay. I got it, Seven. Say no more"

18. Playing music

It was a night time where you both managed to find a quiet place and sat on the grass. For some reasons, you were feeling a bit sentimental that you actually brought a guitar and had been wanting to sing something, especially for your boyfriend when he had been the most precious person for you. And so, after both of you spent time for stargazing, you decided to start singing as a song came up into your mind.

"Eh really? You're gonna sing a song for me?" Seven looked excited and you nodded before you started strumming on your guitar and sang.

I'm telling you

I softly whisper

Tonight, tonight

You are my angel

Seven widen his eyes at how familiar this song was since not only it was one of your favorite but this song was really emotional.

Aishiteru yo

Futari wa hitotsu ni

Tonight, tonight

I just to say...

Seven smiled and closed his eyes as he enjoyed listening to you.

Wherever you are, I'll always make you smile

Wherever you are, I'm always by your side

Whatever you say, kimi wo omou kimochi

I promise you "forever" right now

You smiled at Seven before continued singing again.

I don't need a reason

I just want you, baby

Alright, alright

Day after day

Kono saki nagai koto zutto

Douka konna boku to zutto

Shinu made

Stay with me

We carry on...

Suddenly, Seven somehow sang along with you which surprised you slightly you before singing along with him.

Wherever you are, I'll always make you smile

Wherever you are, I'm always by your side

Whatever you say, kimi wo omou kimochi

I promise you "forever" right now

Wherever you are, I'll never make you cry

Wherever you are, I'll never say goodbye

Whatever you say, kimi wo omou kimochi

I promise you "forever" right now

Then you let him sang solo.

Bokura ga deatta hi wa futari ni totte ichiban me no kinen no subeki hi da ne Soshite kyou to iu hi wa futari ni totte niban me no kinen no subeki hi da ne

You whistled at Seven at how good he was at singing where he just grinned sheepishly. Then both of you continued again.

Kokoro kara aiseru hito

Kokoro kara itoshii hito

Kono boku no ai no mannaka ni wa

Itsumo kimi ga iru kara

Wherever you are, I'll always make you smile

Wherever you are, I'm always by your side

Whatever you say, kimi wo omou kimochi

I promise you "forever" right now

Wherever you are

Wherever you are

Wherever you are

Seven clapped his hands while you giggled slightly before smiling.

"I hope this song goes through you"

He then stopped clapping before he smiled and leaned to you, pressing his lips on you.

"It certainly did" He said after pulling away from you.

(A/N: It’s One Ok Rock - Wherever You Are just in case if anyone wants to know XD)

19. Birthday

"Seven? Are we there yet?"

"Nope, just wait a bit longer"

You sighed as you were currently being blindfolded while Seven was leading to God knows where since he said it was the best birthday present you could get. Well you were looking forward for it of course but being unable to see for long time felt uncomfortable for you.

"Seven?"

"Not yet. I know you're excited but we're almost there"

"Okay.."

You both kept walking and Seven kept entertained you by joking so you could just get distracted for a while from the complain of haven't reached the place yet. But after a while, you two finally arrived and Seven was ready to took off your blindfold.

"Are you ready (Name)?"

"I always am! Now take it off"

He laughed before he took it off, only to reveal you a blank space while he quickly took a VR and the controller.

"Wait.. What is going to happen?"

"Wear the goggle first and hold the controller okay?" Seven said and helped you to wear it which you nodded. Just when you wore the goggle, you noticed that the controller had a function as a brush. Therefore, you began to get excited as it seems to be something that you thought it would be impossible.

"No way... I could draw anything here?"

"Yeap" Seven said after wearing the goggle too "I mean don't you always want to draw in larger scale? This room will be your canvas, (Name)"

You screamed in excitement before hugging Seven, with the careful of not hitting the goggle of course.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! This is awesome!" You said and couldn't helped but squealing before you started drawing. But then suddenly, you had an idea as you wanted to draw a space and then maybe you both could take a picture with it?

"But you do realise it's only in VR right?" Seven asked and you looked as if you just realized before feeling disappointed.

"Oh yeah... It won't happen in real world... We won't have our wedding in space..."

"But that doesn't mean it's impossible to do~"

Seven grinned and you looked confused but he told you to draw to your heart content. Although you still felt slightly sad about it but you decided to enjoy right now when you could as you drew the planets, milky way, even the terrifying black hole lol. But you also draw the beloved UFO Spaceship and also rockets along with the astronauts.

"Seven, are you drawing Nyan cat?"

"Yes. Yes, I am"

You laughed and let him be with the drawing while you continued on your own. Seven also added Elizabeth 3rd because he wanted it to be here even though he couldn't get it in real life. After you are all done, you took a look around again before you took off the goggle. To be honest if it was even possible, you would want to stay in VR and enjoy this everyday. However, Seven asked you to remove as he already removed his and you had no choice but to remove. But suddenly when you thought it would disappear as soon as you took off the goggle, they didn't disappear and instead remain the same.

"No way... Holograms?" You asked and Seven nodded before grinning.

"It took a lot of efforts to be honest. I have to request Jumin earlier and planned to use my money to pay him. But he refused since he said to use it when we actually have the wedding in space so this kinda ended up not from me-"

"But you thought of this right?" You said before smiling warmly and hugged him "Thank you so much! This is really the best present I ever receive! I had so much fun!"

Seven smiled and hugged you back "Ah yeah, you know when we cosplay with our wedding clothes?"

"Yeah?"

"I brought it here. And at least I hire a photographer to take the photo for us~"

You widen your eyes and pulled back before you heard someone entered the room.

"Oi, let's get this over with" Saeran said coldly and you beamed before hugging Saeran as you thanked him.

"Alright! Let's have our wedding in the space that you've created, (Name)" Seven said and you nodded before grinning.

"It's me and you, idiot! But yes, let's have our wedding here~"

And both of you changed to the wedding clothes and actually performed a little ceremony with Saeran as the priest (LOL) while he was recording the whole thing. Then of course, both of you took a lot of photos with different poses and this had become the most favorite picture that you have.

"We definitely need to have this at home"

"Ah yeah... The VR is your present too"

(A/N: This is what I meant for the VR thing XD)