#ugh I have so many memories of reading and seeing the most meaningful and beautiful fics or art

[velvet-games]

I think for a while I was kind of sad that my content doesn't get a lot of attention? social media has never been a priority so I can't always put a ton of effort in, and I get so much anxiety about it that my posting schedule is nonexistent lol. but what I've realized recently is that what I really crave is just being able to share interests with a few people?

I yap to my friends about fandom all the time, but we're just never interested in the same stuff. being in the hazbin fandom and working up the courage to interact with creators I love, having my own work be seen,,, it's so cheesy to say, but it's really magical! like I love that I don't have to worry about boring people with the stuff I'm interested in and knowing that what brings me joy and what I'm proud of is also making someone else happy :)

[perditaalottachocolate-blog]

When You Are Ready

Summary: Years after the events of the akuma Truth Luka gets a visit from an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. And they’re finally ready to tell him the truth. Inspired by S4E01 episode “Truth”.

***SPOILER WARNING***

The story below contains spoilers to the ML episode "Truth". If you haven't watched, read at your own risk.

This is for all the heartbroken Lukanette stans out there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Great playin’ with you tonight, son,’ Jagged stuck his head inside Luka’s dressing room. For some reason his smile was wider than usual. 

‘Thanks, J,’ Luka nodded. Even after they managed to mend the 16 year gap in their relationship, he couldn’t bring himself to call the rockman “dad”. ‘You too.’

Jagged’s head remained at the door. 

‘You wanted something, old man?’ Luka asked. They’d been performing together for a few years already, but it wasn’t like Jagged to randomly pay him a visit after a concert.

Jagged gasped in mock offence. ‘I’m not that old, mind you. Still can kick your ass on the lead guitar, rookie,’ he waved a warning finger. ‘I’m heading out, just dropped to tell you there’s someone waiting for you at the back. I let her in because it’s raining cats and dogs outside.’

“Her”?

Plenty of fans loitered around after their concerts, but the security kept them in check. Who could make Jagged invite them inside despite their security policy?

‘Who is she?’

Jagged’s grin got positively sly. ‘An old friend, that’s all I’m sayin’. Just remember to show up to rehearsal tomorrow.’ He winked and shot the young man with a finger gun.

That was weird, even for Jagged. Luka quickly gathered his things, secured his guitar and left the dressing room. The corridor was dark and quiet, with most of the crew already gone, but Luka thought there was something strangely familiar in the air, like a memory of a forgotten song that suddenly slipped into his mind. He made a few tentative steps and turned the corner.

Indeed, there was a woman at the back door, leaning against the wall and fidgeting nervously. She turned a small package in her hands and tapped her foot, as if trying to gather courage. He recognized her song in an instant.

‘Marinette?’ Luka rasped, suddenly breathless.

She turned her infinitely blue eyes to him. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. When was the last time he saw her? At Juleka’s graduation? Maybe a few times after that? 

Her life was already a whirlwind when he had met her, and little had changed in the following years. She was always so busy, always in a hurry. Her song became more frantic, burdened with fear and guilt. Luka couldn’t take it. And so days of silence turned into weeks, then months and years. Despite their best efforts they drifted apart and even her occasional commissions for Jagged never served as an opportunity to meet or catch up. He got on with his life, even if Marinette always held a special place in his heart. 

‘Hi!’ She smiled hesitantly, brushing a stray curl of her hair behind her ear.

‘Oh my gosh, hi!’ Luka dropped his bag and hugged her tight. At first she went stiff in his arms, but it only took a moment for her to relax and reciprocate the embrace. 

‘It’s so good to see you,’ he said, letting her go. ‘How are you?’

It really was good to see her, although his heart stuttered in her presence. He wanted to ask an entirely different question. Why was she here? Why did she come to see him after years of keeping quiet? 

‘I’m okay, you know, just doing my thing,’ she shrugged. That obviously wasn’t how she wanted this conversation to go either.

‘So what brings you here? Still a fan of Jagged?’ He risked.

‘Yeah, yours as well, but- ‘ she paused and took a deep breath, ‘that’s not why I’m here. I’m- ugh, why is this so hard?’ she muttered under her breath.

Luka put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Easy, Marinette,’ he whispered, ‘remember you can tell me everything, always,’ he assured.  

She closed her eyes. ‘This was a stupid idea. I just-’

He waited patiently, feeling her shiver under his touch. Her song became erratic, panicked even. This was so unlike Marinette, he started to worry.

‘You said- that evening by the Seine you said, “when you’re ready”,’ she spoke quietly.

He could barely hear her, but still her words made him come back to that heartbreaking moment by the bridge, when she ended things between them even before they really began. He never found out why, never understood, but also never questioned her decision. 

‘It’s been 10 years,’ he said, more to himself and his memory. 

‘Yeah…’

‘So many things happened in those 10 years,’ he mused.

‘Mhmmm…’ Marinette murmured. ‘Your solo album came out. You were on tour with Jagged. We graduated, went to university.’

‘Hawkmoth was defeated.’

‘Only recently,’ she reminded him. ‘But yeah.’

Silence fell over them. Luka still couldn’t make anything out of her presence and her reason to come.

‘You said: “when you’re ready, I’ll be here for you”,’ she repeated, louder now, more determined, as if she finally found her courage. ‘Are you?’

‘If you’re asking, if I have been in a relationship since we were teens, Marinette,’ he replied carefully picking his words, ‘then yes - I’ve been in a few, actually.’ 

But she must have known that, he’d always been honest, not only with her, but with everyone. He never hid. Not after his akumatizations. He’d learned from his parents’ and his own mistakes. 

Marinette hunched. Before she turned her face away from him he glimpsed a tear in her eye. She bit her lip.

But none of them could ever compare to you, he wanted to say. The song of her heart has changed, matured, but it was no less fascinating. If anything, he found it even more captivating than when she’d been 14. 

However, at least one thing about him hadn’t changed either. 

‘I’m a simple, honest guy, Marinette,’ he said. ‘My heart doesn’t handle rejection well, neither dishonesty. Without the truth-’ he drifted off, letting her come to the conclusion on her own. He wasn’t that cruel to say it out loud.

‘I remember what you said and I remember what I’ve done, what I’ve been like,’ Marinette was calm now, but there was strange gravity in her tone. ‘I wouldn’t have come here, if - like you’d said - I wasn’t ready. Here,’ the box she’d been playing with appeared in front of his face. ‘Open it, when you’re alone. Then you’ll understand.’

‘Understand what?’

‘Me,’ she said quietly, turning to leave.

‘What about Adrien?’ Luka remembered that thorn as well.

Marinette halted with her hand on the doorknob. ‘That’s a long story.’

‘Believe me, I know,’ Luka chuckled humorlessly.

‘Adrien’s still a big part of my life, but we’re not a couple,’ Marinette said in a colorless voice.

‘Just friends?’ He couldn’t help himself.

‘Hah,’ she snorted. ‘Best friends. But just friends.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. Adrien has some stuff he needs to deal with and I- I finally know what I want and what I need,’ she turned and shot him a meaningful look. Then she left.

Luka stayed in the darkness for a while, mulling over the revelations of the past few minutes. Marinette had always cared for the truth, he knew that well. But there was a new sincerity to her today, laced with quiet determination, that shook him to his core. He wished he could comprehend that mystery.

Then his eyes fell on the little gift box and her words came back to him. “Open it. Then you’ll understand.”

Luka braced himself and slowly, carefully raised the lid. 

Oh.

Inside, on blue silk lay a single guitar pick. It was red with a pattern of black dots. 

Oh.

Finally the missing piece of the puzzle clicked into place. The part of the melody that’s been eluding him from the start, just out of his reach, but right under his nose. He smiled to himself as his fingers closed over the pick. And for the first time in years his heart skipped a beat.

[foursideharmony]

The Cat, The Prince, and the Doorway to Imagination (Chapter 1)

Summary: In the wake of the events of Putting Others First, Roman is desperate to feel like the hero, even if for just an afternoon. He invites the core Sides on an adventure in the Imagination, patterned after one of the great works of children's literature that features heroes and villains. But stories in the Imagination can take on a life of their own, and this one seems bent on pushing Roman to be the villain... 

Pairings: Platonic/familial LAMP/CALM, Platonic/familial DLAMPR

Content Warnings: None so far

Word Count: 1463

Read on AO3: here

“I thought I was your hero.”

Roman’s own words echoed hollowly in his memory. The fact was that the…the occurrence with Deceit—Janus—had just been the culmination of a long, slow crisis of purpose for the prince. It wasn’t just the wedding vs. callback dilemma; it had been going on for months. Thomas’s cringing recollection of past phases he had gone through had gotten him wondering whether his current life path would eventually be added to that pile. There had been the encounter with the old friend who didn’t seem to think YouTube was a proper career. Before that had been the dispute with Logan over whether developing his artistic career was even valuable for its own sake, or just a way to keep the lights on and the fridge stocked. In fact…

It seemed to Roman that the period of misgivings had actually begun when Deceit was introduced to Thomas in the first place. Roman himself had inadvertently drawn the connection between acting and deception, and for all Logan’s reassurances to the contrary, a seed of doubt remained.

If lying was wrong, and acting was a form of lying, and Roman was the linchpin of Thomas’s acting abilities…did that make Roman the bad guy all along?

“I thought I was your hero.”

Was that why Thomas seemed to be hitting so many blocks when it came to his passions? Had Roman tainted his own function?

What did it even mean to be a hero?

It had been so simple when they were young. A hero was someone who helped others, preferably by doing flashy, impressive things. Little Thomas had loved the idea of being a hero, and Roman—just Creativity, back then—had dutifully provided him with a portfolio of daydreams. In the fantasies Roman constructed, Thomas could be a firefighter, charging into a burning building in order to rescue a puppy. Or he could be a sheriff in the Old West, rounding up bandits and cattle rustlers. Or he could be a superhero, foiling bank robberies and catching crashing airplanes. But his favorite kind of hero to be was the fairytale prince with a magic sword, defeating wicked witches and saving fair maidens from dragons. He had sent his Creativity to tap that well so many times that the Side himself took on the form of the prince.

As Thomas grew, his ideas about heroism became more complicated, the focus of his imagination shifted, and Roman’s job changed drastically, to cover his Center’s artistic ambitions (and in time, his romantic ones). He hadn’t minded for the longest time, because Patton had been there to handle the new complexities. If Roman’s understanding of right and wrong was a floodlight sweeping across an open field, then Patton’s was a fog lamp, cutting through the gray haze of moral ambiguity. Roman had always been perfectly content to follow Patton’s lead, knowing that the father figure would never steer them wrong.

But now…Patton was sharing control of the fog lamp with Janus, whom Roman had always understood to be one of the greatest villains of Thomas’s mind. Janus embodied dishonesty, selfishness, temptation to evil—exactly the traits a true hero should reject. The gray haze was where he thrived the most; how could they possibly trust him to help guide Thomas through it?

Roman just wanted to understand.

“I thought I was your hero.”

And until he could understand, he just wanted a break from it all. A day where he could just follow his bliss without worrying that he was either playing into evil’s hands, or pushing Thomas to the breaking point. A day where he could just be the hero, and know that he was the hero, and that he wasn’t about to be sucker-punched by all these nuances.

A day like the old days.

He wanted—he needed—a simple adventure, one where good and evil were obvious, and he was the leader of the good guys, and they were able to beat the bad guys with a certain amount of peril and excitement but no actual doubt that they could do it and that it was the right thing to do. And he needed…he needed his fellow Sides (his fellow light Sides) to be involved, so that they would see him as the hero. He needed that. He could set it all up in advance and take them through it, smooth as cream. And they would all have a great time and the other three would lavish praise on him for treating them to something so beautiful.

And as long as he was revisiting Thomas’s childhood understanding of the world, why not go all the way and model his adventure on a story Thomas had loved in childhood? Not a Disney one, for a change…something a bit more intentionally meaningful than that.

He knew just the thing.

Roman set aside his current project and marched himself into the Imagination, intent on his mission.

*****

Hours later, the prince burst into the common area, practically vibrating with anticipation. Four heads swiveled to notice him. He took in the scene in an instant: Logan, standing at an easel with a large whiteboard propped upon it, bearing the heading “WORK/LIFE BALANCE” and a number of bullet points scrawled in three colors of dry-erase marker; Patton and Janus (ugh) sitting on the sofa nearby, engaged in relaxed discussion with the Logical Side and each other; Virgil at the other end of the sofa, headphones clamped over his ears, keeping a wary eye on the proceedings across the room while simultaneously scrolling through something on his phone.

Roman faltered, uncertain of how to begin.

Janus sighed loudly through his teeth—and it was a sigh, not exactly a serpentine hiss—and proclaimed “Mercy me, look at the time.” (There was no clock within his line of sight.) “We’ve been at this for so much longer than I expected while making hardly any progress. I’d best be on my way so we can pick it up again later once our heads have cleared.”

“Aw, Janus, you don’t have to go just because Roman’s here,” said Patton.

“Perhaps not, but I prefer to,” Janus said, shooting Roman a look before spinning on his heel and exiting the room. He assiduously swerved around Roman on the lower steps as he passed, making no physical contact.

“For the record,” Logan said, dismissing the whiteboard and easel, “we have actually made excellent progress in our discussion. I suspect that Janus was engaging in his trademark falsehoods.”

Roman squirmed internally a little. So did that mean…Janus didn’t prefer to leave? Then why—

“So!” Patton said, shifting the room back toward a chipper mood. “What’s going on, kiddo?”

Roman found his voice. “I would like to invite you three…on a quest! Well, more of an adventure than a quest, if you want to get technical. Please come! The story is all set up and we just have to run through it!”

Logan frowned slightly as he often did when considering new information. “Approximately how long do you expect it to take?”

“Hardly any time at all,” Roman stated with absolute confidence. “It has this sort of time…warp…thingie, built in. We go into the Imagination, have the adventure, and come back out at the moment just after we left.” No one replied, so he forged ahead. “And it should be totally safe! A little scary or sad in certain parts, maybe but I can personally guarantee a 100% happy ending.”

“A happy ending sounds pretty good,” said Patton.

“My principal objection has been eliminated as well,” Logan agreed.

Virgil heaved to his feet. “Sure, why not. Got nothing else to do tonight.”

Roman felt his heart swell with pride and affection. It was working! This was going to be amazing! “This means a lot to me, guys. Really. Come on, then! I can't wait to show you!”

He led them upstairs and to his room, where the doorway to the Imagination had been transformed for the occasion. It was always an ornate double door, made of dark-stained hardwood and covered with carvings of fantastic creatures, but now instead of being flush with the wall, it was part of a tall cabinet, a couple of feet deep and smelling faintly of cedar and camphor.

Roman took hold of the door handles and paused theatrically, looking over his should. “Do not be alarmed by what you see inside.” He threw the doors wide, revealing an assortment of fur coats.

“What is this,” Virgil scoffed playfully, “a wardr...wait a sec.” His eyes widened. “Wardrobe full of fur coats...time warp thingie...dude. Are you taking us to Narnia?”

Roman nodded, beaming. “I'm taking you to Narnia.”

[zukadiary]

Mugen Musou / Krung Thep ~ Moon Troupe 2019

Over the length of my trip I saw a pretty fair cross section of this show—way back in mid-March pre-Krung Thep changes in Takarazuka; the live viewing of Takarazuka raku with Miya’s sayonara show included; and last week in Tokyo, the first full day of Reiko’s absence with the cast changes in place. 

I solidly did not enjoy Mugen Musou. I love Tamaki’s Tsukigumi, I love Miya Rurika and was so glad I had the opportunity to see her last show, and no one’s treatment in Mugen Musou was able to save it for me. I think perhaps if you read and enjoyed the novel, and also love Tsukigumi, there’s a decent chance that you’ll like this. I did not read the novel, and it felt very much like I had to as a prerequisite. 

There was an awful lot jammed into an hour and a half. The flow of the show bothered me; there were so many scenes, they changed so quickly, and none of them felt very substantial to me. In Saito-sensei’s attempt to cover as much plot as humanly possible, I think he lost the characters; while I understood generally what was going on, I did not immediately get who many of the characters were, how they knew each other, or why many of them were doing what they were doing. 

That provided a poor setup for my biggest gripe: I recognize that I am an American, and I am not necessarily the intended audience, and that this is certainly a big part of Japanese history and culture, but in the year 2019, the whole samurai honor I-must-kill-everyone-just-to-prove-I’m-strongest thing is not very compelling to me. If accompanied by moving character relationships (which, I hear, the novel has in spades), I can definitely give it a pass; but in the absence of onstage character development, that as the standalone force driving the story was simply not interesting or relatable enough to me to be enjoyable.

With a few exceptions—and this probably just goes back to the overall lack of character development—I thought most of the characters were ill fitted to their actresses. I don’t even think anyone did a poor job, everyone really gave it their best effort; my hang up lies entirely with the directorial choices, and I guess the choice of this show in general. I find Tamaki the most charming when she’s fully in wholesome ideal husband mode. I finally watched Elisabeth recently and liked her Tod a lot more than I expected also, so that was a fair out-of-the-box choice for her. The samurai with something to prove for no good reason other than that he’s embarrassed about his dad did not hit me where I want Tamaki to hit me. Otsu is not really presented with much depth; she’s pretty demure, and she spends the whole show waiting around for men to come back to her and gets sad when they break their promises. I was hoping we’d get something that would allow Sakura to show off her strengths a little more in her Grand Theater debut (although she did play the flute for real). I wanted more pining between Otsu and Musashi, but I didn’t really get it, and what there was seemed kind of one-sided on Otsu’s part. Kojiro, too, was one-note; I’m not sure what there was to him other than “the strongest dude” (oh, and he wears a cross, so he’s CHRISTIAN. That’s BACKSTORY). Miya did her damnedest, and she did manage a kind of cold sexy anime boy vibe, but again, especially for her last show, this was just not the kind of character I most enjoy seeing her play, nor did it play to her strengths in my opinion (with truly all the love in my heart for this woman, I have to say she cannot swordplay her way out of a wet paper bag). On my first viewing I thought Ari was the villain, but after the other two I don’t think there even is a villain; Ari seems to be just a stern guy from a dojo (that Musashi passed through when he was weak and thus *had to* defeat in its entirety when he got strong). Again, I don’t really know what his motivation was, and the character didn’t show off any of Ari’s charms, or challenge her in a meaningful way to try something different. Very few other people got roles substantial enough to be worth mentioning. 

I DID enjoy some specific things:

Reiko’s character, Matahachi, was my favorite, and her portrayal was my favorite. Matahachi had personality, and amidst all this very serious samurai glory business going on, he had sort of his own contrary subplot that I found much more entertaining. He’s a loyal friend to Musashi, but also lazy, kinda dumb, and utterly useless. He runs away from home with Musashi in the beginning, but while Musashi is off on his quest for ultimate strength, Matahachi pretty much gives up, spends a lot of time sleeping in a brothel, has to do manual labor for 5 minutes and gets tired of it, and eventually happens upon a dying man who is trying to carry some sort of scroll of certification to Kojiro. Matahachi is thrilled at his great fortune; he takes the scroll from the dead guy and uses it to steal Kojiro’s identity, attracting hordes of women and scaring away thugs on his “reputation.” His aging parents WALK OUT OF THEIR TINY HOMETOWN with the purpose of finding him and bringing him home, and successfully find him and embarrass him in front of all his swooning admirers. I saw Oda on the first day she took over this role, and I wish I could have seen her after a little more warmup. She didn’t have the charm that endeared me to Reiko’s Matahachi, but she sure can hold her own with the rest of the upperclassmen in terms of acting and stage presence. 

Toki-chan as Akemi, a girl who Sachika’s character took into her brothel and raised, gave me the heart-wrenching yearning I wanted from Musashi and Otsu. In the very first scene after the prologue, Akemi and Musashi are walking and talking (she’s taken a liking to him). Musashi finds a bell on the ground and sticks it into Akemi’s obi. For the remainder of the show, Akemi jingles softly with every appearance and every movement, haunted via sound by the reminder of her unrequited love for Musashi, making all of her longing looks more poignant. 

There’s a scene at the end where Musashi sees a ghost/memory of his father (Shimon). Dad is like WHY DID YOU DO ANY OF THIS? and Musashi doesn’t really have an answer. Same, dad. 

I loved Krung Thep so much the first time I saw it. Then it went through some changes, and I cooled a little on it, but still thought it was really good overall. 

It’s been a 2-act heavy year so far, and Estrellas and Krung Thep (as of me writing this 2 days before Yukigumi shonichi) have been our only revues. I thought that for the most part the music in Krung Thep was beautiful, not really in a jam to the soundtrack way like Estrellas, but in a really nice ambient way; there are a lot of bells and other interesting sounds that we don’t get as frequently. It also has a dazzling gold aesthetic, the kind of spectacle you want as a Takarazuka lover going into a revue.

There were for sure some questionable moments. The boy band number (albeit this time with Sakura at the center of the boys), which, much to my chagrin, seems to have become a revue staple regardless of director, was originally THIS SONG, which I happen to know and love thanks to this Japanese version, so I forgave its presence. This was one of the three numbers that got the axe before filming day, and they replaced it with a synth remix of the Takarazuka classic C’est Magnifique. That rendered it no longer forgivable. The chuuzume was very long and set to Shall we Dance, but like... only the chorus over and over and over and over again with varying flair. It was also turbans doing absolutely nothing to disguise Daisuke’s favorite Latin ruffles, and, if not for the King and I undercurrent, it wouldn’t have fit with the rest of the show whatsoever. A King and I medley maybe would’ve been nice?

Standout numbers:

The first or second number after the prologue (depending on when you think the prologue ends) is a Reiko vs. Ari kickboxing match. It’s hammy and ridiculous and goes on for two whole rounds, which seemed TOO LONG for how awkward it was the first time I saw it... but then when the fight ends, they break into a song about “male friendship” and how they love each other no matter who wins or loses. After that I was stoked, and on subsequent viewings appreciated every detail down to their girlfriends and trainers in the audience.

There’s a beauuuutiful barefoot duet dance between Tamaki and Miya

Mayupon in drag singing in at least 3 octaves flawlessly. There’s an alternate timeline, perhaps a brighter one, where I’m just in Mayupon’s club

Admittedly one of my least favorite revue tropes where there’s a nightclub and a girl and a terrible boyfriend and a new guy who shows up and someone gets jealous and has a gun and the wrong person always dies... but this time Ari is in hotpants

The Grand Hotel numbers in the sayonara show are probably too tough a contender, but the Krung Thep kuroenbi is not only great (messy tailcoats with rolled sleeves, mmmmm) but also almost the best little taidan gift for Miya in the whole thing. I don’t know how they’re going to splice the frames together for the DVD, but it opens with Miya singing a solo, and then she goes down into the floor as the kuroenbi is starting (making it look like she won’t even be in it). The rest of the otokoyaku dance a bit, then Miya comes back up out of the floor dressed to match, and everyone else hits one of those sexy lunges in formation, and then they all turn their heads to look at her in unison. Ugh.

I’m gonna miss Miya!!!!! And I hope Reiko is doing ok.

[tipsytaee]

NCT 127 – “Neo City: The Origin” in San Jose (Fan Account - 190509)

Left work at 5:40pm, arrived in San Jose at 7:10, bought chicken nuggets from McDonald’s, and entered the concert hall at 7:50.

Hall feels kind of like a high school auditorium. Was expecting something a little more memorable.

I was kind of nervous and wondering if the $160 would be worth it, but I was excited about it too. Texted BFR and MKT a quick photo and both replied with excitement for me.

Concert begins.

(Cherry Bomb) Took me a little bit to get energized, but the smooth glide, backward fall, and leg split were everything.

NCT lightsticks are bright af. Every time the girl next to me waved hers to my side, I think I went just a little bit more blind lol.

(Chain) Taeyong’s absss. I was trying to fix something on my phone and, BAM! Front and center on the big screen. That shit came out of nowhere >.<

Didn’t have a lightstick this time, so I was just kinda awkwardly standing there. People around me must’ve thought I was the quietest kpop fan ever. But in my head I was hyped xD

(Ment #1) Taeyong really knows how to pump up a crowd—from his stretched out “Ohhh yeahhhh” that reclined into a sexy, throat-deep groan to his vocalized sports tournament siren after introducing his name. And his little fumble when trying to say “lifetime memories” was cute.

(Fly Away with Me) Ugh, this song put me in a mood. And Taeyong’s bouncing dance moves. He does them really nice.

(Back 2 U) Yuta’s vocals o.o And Taeyong’s soft swag throughout.

Not as many Taeyong stans as I thought, but definitely one behind me. I relate to her every time she screams for him when he does something remotely sexy and the crowd is quiet in obliviousness xD

(City 127) Slower song and Taeyong’s still not able to sit still. He was the only one who stood up and danced around for his part, and he continued to wiggle around in his chair after that xD :3

(Angel) So. Much. Skinship. Taeyong scooting his chair over to Jaehyun and being all squishy, touchy, and adorable with him. More with Yuta & Doyoung, and Jungwoo & Haechan. The line, “I’ll be your morning star” gave me all the feels. I eventually found myself swaying along.

(Jet Lag + more) Yuta’s slow, emotional hair flip and his unrelenting cuteness. If Taeyong doesn’t do it first, this kid might just kill me >.<

(Ment #2) Yuta being cute af and possibly throwing some random Japanese in there? xD

(No Longer) Definitely falling for Taeil’s voice.

So many Taeil, Haechan and Jaehyun stans.

(Regular) Taeyong’s sex faces live are killing me.

(Wake Up) The bars have come out. Hyped by Taeyong’s “Are you ready San Jose!” and subsequent ‘yeah’s and ‘whoo’s and arm pumping dance.

(Baby Don’t Like It) Taeyong literally coming in like a pimp on top of the bars. Sunglasses, posture, attitude, and all lmao.

(Mad City) The vibrations man, the fucking building was shaking.

(Good Thing) Taeyong’s outlandishly flamboyant paint-splatter suit, wtf xD Also his moonwalk is so fucking smooth. Yuta is adorably bouncy in his cute yellow sweater.

Seeing Taeyong’s sex faces in person is ridiculous (part 2).

…is Yuta my bias wrecker?

Chipmunk voices on the mic… (Started with Mark’s mic during Mad City and continued randomly throughout)

Changing lightstick colors with the music. Didn’t expect that to happen here. For some reason I thought it was only a Korea/Japan thing lol.

(Superhuman) The superior song. Always fall for that head snap in the beginning.

I was watching Taeyong for most of the concert, but I swear I saw Taemin’s face flash by for like half a second. I think the desperation to see Taemin live is getting too strong xD

(Ment #4) I fucking looked up and Taeyong had taken half of his sparkly jacket off during the ment. Guns fully loaded. Biceps at the ready. But my poor heart wasn’t >.< Haechan speaking Korean for the first time during the concert kind of made it more real that I was watching Korean idols who had traveled halfway across the world to perform in front of me. Taeyong and his backwards visor and casual black clothes is fucking hot. Taeil getting embarrassed when Johnny told him to growl and flex his muscles one more time, adorable :3 Taeyong did clapping push-ups, aegyo-ed, and fucking dabbed in the span of 20 seconds >.< Jaehyun asking if we’re ready to “get hot.” Boy, I’ve been steaming for an hour now (both literally and figuratively lol. Couldn’t find the time to take off my coat xD)

(Summer 127) The resonance and vibrations from the bass line had me shaking (in a good way). Taeyong’s front group seemed a little lost in the music when they finally went back into choreography—they kept looking at each other like “uh…” and wiggled their arms around aimlessly until it matched everyone else lol. Taeyong went HARD during this song. His panting had me thrown, and he rapped so hard his fucking vein popped out.

(Ment #5) Doyoung’s adorably cheesy fortune cookie story. Fortune cookie read, “You will touch the hearts of many.” Generic but absolutely true ^^ Taeyong’s pouty face before his ending speech. And he put his hands together, almost in prayer, when thanking his fans. It was so heartfelt and sweet.

(Pre-0 Mile) Taeyong’s switch from his soft voice when correcting the crowd’s move for “mine mine” to his deep, loud, crowd-pumping voice at the final “girl you’re just mine mine!” I love his duality. And the way he turned around to walk to the back of the stage for 0 Mile. Hot.

(0 Mile) Taeyong being a mom and picking up Doyoung after he fell to the ground trying to protect his abs xD He’s such a sweetheart <3

For the last three-ish songs, Taeyong was super energetic and hyped for the performances. It got me hyped too.

Their “San Jose is a real vibe-killer~~” xD

Someone threw a rose at Taeyong when they were walking from the left side audience to thank the right side, and he got adorably flustered. He fumbled with the rose a little bit, but he did manage to catch it.

Taeyong picked up the rose he had put down earlier to hold his members’ hands and bow. He was being such a tease with it, putting it sexily in his mouth, tango style, and turning around and pausing every two steps to pose with it. He also put on an adorable “San Jose” beauty pageant sash before posing with the rose and heading off stage. He was the last member to leave and he kept dorking around and teasing his fans, it was so freakin cute >.< (Side note: Found out later he was recently crowned “in charge” of their San Jose stop, which is why he had the sash.)

That ending^ was all I needed to make that whole concert worthwhile. I love you Taeyong <3

Concert ended at 10:40pm. Walked back to my car and drove home listening to nothing but NCT songs.

Post-concert thoughts: In the beginning, it felt like I was just watching another random concert. I was also hesitant about going even before that because I only really listened to about half the songs on the setlist. But I realized there’s something about concert settings that just makes everything sound amazing. The concert eventually evolved into something more meaningful and that I was super spazzy about and into (probably triggered by something Taeyong did lol), but it got so much more exciting after that and I loved it.

P.S. Taeyong’s shirt was sheer????

[imsarabum]

Responses to {Part 29} I Won’t Stop You // Jeon Jungkook, Vampire!AU Asks~

Please ‘Keep Reading’ to find my response to your ask ^^ As always, I have copied and pasted all asks into this post in regards to last night’s chapter to avoid clogging up people’s dashboards and to avoid spoilers for those who may still wish to read the chapter. Thank you ^^

(I have also included asks that I received before this IWSY chapter was posted ^^)

@jungshaking said: I was so hyped during work yesterday. I thought "oh yes a new chapter tonight" MULTIPLE times, but I had to remind myself each time that it was Monday 😩😭 (cont.) tbh I'm so scared that the upcoming IWSY chapter will be the last now that Yoongi is gone

Haha you poor thing! It’s coming soon so no need to wait any longer! And don’t worry, it’s not the last chapter ^^ :3

Anonymous said: WAIT HOLY SHIT IT'S TUESDAY ALREADY??????OMGGGKJSJGJGSK

IKR THIS WEEK PASSED TOO QUICKLY

Anonymous said: IT'S TUESDAY I'M EXCITED

I’m excited and nervous :(

@killingalltheflowers said: I kinda... just tried Merlot wine because of IWSY xD

Ooooh what did you think of it?

Anonymous said: I really think "I was here" by beyonce suits IWSY's last chapter

Yesssssssssss! You’re right!

Anonymous said: Not sure why but I imagined the Sine Nomine to look like a titan with grey hair (from aot)

You can imagine them to look like however you please!! I encourage that wholeheartedly heh ^^

Anonymous said: I am reaaaaady come and snatch my wig oh Saraaaa Take my heaaaaart take it all  *kiss yr cute ass cheeks* --wifey anon 🐇

I hope it won’t disappoint you ^^ and yes pls give me all the kissies and cuddles~~

Anonymous said: Heheheheh it is tuesday ...... 😏😏😏

Indeed it is *wiggles brows*

@jynxy24 said: IWSY IS COMING AND IF YOU'LL PLEASE SPARE MY HEARTEU. I HAVE EXAMS AND I WANT TO PASS BEFORE I DIE. I love you, Sara!! (I'm hoping for a great chapter kukuku :3)

I hope it will spare your heart! And don’t worry my love I’m sure you will do amazingly in your exams ^^ I really hope you will think the chapter is great, I tried very hard :)

@clara-licht said: So in the end, I didn't get the univ invitation and I also didn't get the Wings Tour ticket even after waiting in the venue for hours, so I felt really shitty even until now. (I still can't listen to 2!3! or I'll break down in tears) But still, I look forward to Wednesdays because IWSY can always get my mind off these problems even if only for a while. How many more chapters do you reckon it will be? I, for one, don't want it to end but all good things will come to an end after all :')

Awh babe I’m so so sorry to hear that :/ that really sucks but don’t worry, BTS will definitely be coming back to where you live in the future and you can have another chance to see them okay? Same with the University, are you able to apply for another one? Did you get any more offers? I’m glad that IWSY can make you a little happy ^^ And I’ not 100% sure, but I suspect that next week might be the last chapter, I haven’t fully decided yet! But the final chapter will have ‘Final Chapter’ written in the title :D

@nora2bts said: Hiii! I'm sorry I don't want to be annoying or anything but I binge read "IWSU" and I reallyyyyyyy loved it a lot! I was just wondering if u were gonna post part 29 today, since I can't wait, I've been waiting for what seems an eternity! 😂😂😂 I just wanted to let u know that I really enjoyed your stories, thank you 😊 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

You’re not annoying love! I do write at the top of every chapter that IWSY is posted every Tuesday evening between 9-10pm UK time and I have always stayed true to that so fear not! Thank you so much for enjoying the story my love, you’re so welcome ^^

@clara-licht said: I was listening to Spring Day when I read chapter 29 and for the first time since WT in Jakarta I can listen to the song and sing it happily instead of feeling hurt and upset, because I was so excited throughout the chapter! So thank you for that :) I can't stop smiling, gosh! I really, REALLY want to know how Jiminnie is faring. And I think I fell for Namjoon. That sweet, sweet boy 😍 Oh btw, how old are they all by now? Including Namjoon, Yoongi (had he been alive), Jin, and Hobi?

AwwwwHHHH YES! I’m glad it holds no bad memories for you now my love ^^ Thank you for reading the chapter dear :D And as for their ages, I did specify Yoongi’s was older than Taehyung in a precious chapter (I just can’t remember which chapter, sorry!) and Namjoon is University/college age so somewhere between 18-25 (I decided not to give a specific age). Unfortunately, I never specified Hoseok and Seokjin’s ages in the story but they would have been University age too :D

Anonymous said: “Not only his sun his moon and all his stars" I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

WHAT DID I DO

@semisweetsuga said: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HELLO MY SWEET BABYBOY PUMPKIN SPICE CHAI LATTE WHOM I LOVE VERY MUCH

@mocking-butts said: OH MY GOD IM A SOBBING MESS BECAUSE THIS STORY IS THE BEST THING EVER I CANT WITH LIFE.PLEASE BE NEXT WEEK ALREADY

I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT THANK YOU BABY c:

@shineeshawol204 said: AHHHHHHHHHHHH (cont.) I retract my former statement of you being a BiTcH because mmm i is happy now :) much content, very pleased

YAY I’M NO LONGER THE BITCH, I CAN DIE IN PEACE c: hehe ^^ thank you doll!

@killingalltheflowers said: This. This was the cutest and most heartwarming chapter ending ever. I'm so happy I'm able to go to bed calmly and happily and fluffily for once after reading IWSY xD

It was so heartwarming I felt all floofy when I was writing a lot of it :3 I hope you have a great sleep and have nice fluffy dreams of Kookie! :3

Anonymous said: OK HOLD ON SO CHAPTER 29 WAS AMAZING and then I was just reading your responses to the questions abt chap 28 and then I saw "Don’t threaten me with a good time" and then I was all like waIT A SEC DO U LISTEN TO PANIC! LIKE ALTHOUGH IM NOT A HUGE FAN THE SONGS ARE AMAZING ٩( ᐛ )و

LISTEN I WAS AND STILL AM TRASH FOR PANIC! - AS WELL AS FALL OUT BOY AND MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE I was the definition of a myspace scene queen in my early teens but I listened to an eclectic mix of music - not just those types of bands hehe :3

@animeimmortal said: YAH. DONT LEAVE ME ON THAT 'WILL YOU MARRY ME' SHIT. GAH!. im sorry i love you ❤ buT LIKE BRUHHH i want MOrE ❤❤❤

Listen - I will always leave you hanging c: hehe I love you too! Thank you for reading the chapter as always beautiful ^^

Anonymous said: Babe, the 29th part of IWSY was absolutely amazing ;-; but i feel that the end is nearing.. I loved IWSY so much it brought me to tears and it hurts to think that so beautiful a thing would actually be coming to an end.. Your writing skills are on fleek and the story is well woven.. Thank you so much for such an incredible experience ~ ❤😭😘

The end is definitely nearing, sadly enough :c IWSY has become a real world to me for the past almost 30 weeks of my life! lol :3 I suspect that next week will be the final chapter, but I don’t know for 100% so don’t quote me on that ;D Your words about me are beautiful and I don’t deserve them, but thank you so much my love ^^

Anonymous said: Happy happy joy joy happy happy joy joy!! I'm really excited about how IWSY will end! I hope it ends happily!

Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows for everyone yay!!

@deangetoutofmyspleen said: tUESDAY BRO IT IS TUESDAY AND IM SCREAMING AND CRYING A LIL THIS CHAPTER WAS PURE FLUFF I LOVE LIFE I LOVE LIVING I LOVE EVERYTHING MY HEART IS SO HAPPY

IT WAS PURE FLUFF IT MADE ME SO HAPPY NOT TO HAVE TO ALMOST KILL SOMEONE OFF OR WRITE ABOUT DEATH FOR THE LAST PART OF THE CHAPTER LOL~ thank you so much cutiepie :D

Anonymous said: aaWWWWWWEEHHHH i knew this was coming >////< !! i was so glad for Y/N and Kookie until "wait.. whY IS SHE HAVING A CHILD WHEN THEY AREN'T MARRIED" xD. Keep up the good work Sara!! -holoAnon

Hahaha don’t worry it was just a little accident! Even if Jungkook were to never marry Y/N, I’m sure their relationship would still be a solid, loving and caring one ^^ for all three of them! :D thank you so much holoAnon! :D

Anonymous said: I'm so happy that Joonie is finally at peace with the notion of being a vampire, and the way Y/N told Tae about how Yoongi was happy in his own little world with Tae and their parents was so incredibly heartwarming and what made it even better was what that meant to Tae, and I just ugh. This chapter made me soft. Like Yoongi's gummy smile soft. Thank you for always writing such amazing stories.

Yes - I was excited to reveal why Namjoon was the way he was, so that everyone could understand him better. I felt that this chapter was the best time to do that as the other chapters before the ball kind of painted him in a negative light. But he always had a heart full of gold c: YOONGI’S GUMMY SMILE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER HE SHOULD ALWAYS SMILE LIKE THAT :D hehe~ aww thank you so much and you’re welcome for the story dear ^^

@kookietaejimin said: hi!!! do you know how long iwsy is going to be?

Next week MIGHT be the last chapter but I don’t know yet - sorry! ^^

@the-golden-jhope said: OH MY GOD MY HEART HURTS THIS IS SO CUTE I ALMOST CRIED JUNGKOOK IS LITERALLY THE SWEETEST MAN ON EARTH

HE IS SO SWEET WE ALL DESERVE VAMPIRE PRINCES CALLED JUNGKOOK I

@mysr3 said: "Will you Marry me?"u warm n tortured my heart at the same time for this cliff hanging 😍does this mean IWSY almost over?😖Saraaa how can u managed to b more awesome n amazing than u already r hmm?😘this Ch is so touching! Luv how u mentioned Yoongi~just so sweet n meaningful gosh😍hv to find Prince Jungkook for me asap. The whole thing is well laid out, characters interaction, decisions n everything is on point since the beginning of this series. U genius Girl!Thank you so much! I love U❤️❤️❤️ (cont.) Sry ps Namjoon is such moral character n Y/N's new demeanor is goddess. Am I smelling smut coming next wk hehehe🤔😝

Warming and torturing is something I love doing :D hehe~ IWSY is almost over, yes :( But fear not! I plan on doing a spin off for Tae and Jimin in the future (maybe like 2-3 chapters) on how their relationship formed way before Y/N met Jungkook :D For those of you who love Vampire VMIN! ^^ Thank you for loving the layout and the plot - you warmed my heart in return :D I love you too and thank you so much my dear!! ;3

@adhewitt said: YAY MARRIAGE

YAY WEDDING BELLS

Anonymous said: Gaaaahhh!!! I was waiting for this 😭 I'm crying, will this be a happy ending already? -anonph13

Thank you for waiting for it my love! :3 and a happy ending certainly looks likely, doesn’t it? ^^ hehe :3 Thank you for reading!

@noceurash said: I LOVE YOU!! [sweet chapters like this make my heart so happy hghg] i hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow and i love you!!! ~~~ your writing continues to be so great and i love it. <3

I LOVE YOU TOO!! Awww I’m so happy that it make your heart happy! You’re so cute you literally said i love you twice i swear to god I live for pure lil beans like you :3 I hope you’ll have a fantastic day too!! :3

@jynxy24 said: The ending made me cry god!!!!

Awwwww I hope they were tears of happiness!!

Anonymous said: Wow. This last IWSY update was so pure and beautiful. I love it.

Thank you so much my love :3 I’m really happy that you liked it!~

@koreaisanaddiction said: great chapter. one of my theories were correct. the one about namjoon. but the one about the baby was wrong. i realized i thought about it in the eyes of human logic not vampiric. oh well better luck next time for me i guess.

Thank you for thinking it was great! And yay! one out of two isn’t bad at all heh ^^ Don’t worry dear, I’m still really happy you enjoyed it :)

Anonymous said: Is it bad that I'm actually really completely genuinely satisfied with the ending of chapter 29 of ISWY? and that it would be completely fine if you just stopped the series right there? I dunno, but the way you wrote this chapter, it doesn't make me feel the need to question anything. Sara, you ended it perfectly and now, you're turning me from a loyal maknae-line stan to a namjoon stan. That.... not many people can do. *applauds* Anyways, I love you, take care, and keep writing! <3 - army anon

Awwwww that’s so freaking sweet I CAN’T guh ~~~ I’m legit crying at your message right now, seriously :( haha OKAY I’m good~ lol Well it looks like right now there will be one more chapter to go, but I’m not completely sure or decided yet. There’s still one or two things I’d like to include to wrap things up once and for all :3 AND OMG NAMJOON SNATCHED YOU?! Uh oh..makenae line is gonna have to step up their game if they want you back :3 I love you too and thank you so much for being so kind to me always, you have no idea how happy and cheerful it makes me :)

@min-ty said: SARA OMG THE CHAPTER WAS SO GOOD I say this every week but I find it absolutely necessary that I do BUT SHOOK THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS STORY INTO MY LIFE

Hahahah it’s okay I will still appreciate it 100% no matter how many times you might say it! Seriously :) THANK YOU FOR READING MY STORY because it makes me so incredibly happy :) Thank you thank you thank you ^^

@ananyak26 said: OMG OMGOMG! Part 29 !!!! Yea the last line was soooo adorable!I'm fangirling right nowxD.(Obviously the chapter was good too but the last line oh god!) Great jooobbb!!

Ahhhh yes the last line! Wedding bells!! :3 hehe thank you my lovely, I’m so glad you enjoyed the chapter :3

Anonymous said: u don't know how excited i am when it comes to tuesday!!! i'm so in love w ur iwsy series that i almost literally ran home today to read chapter 29!!!! i really love your readings and please don'r ever stop writing 😢😢💜

I’m so happy that you get excited when Tuesdays come! You’re so cute hehe :D Thank you so much and don’t worry, I won’t ever stop writing! ^^

Anonymous said: IWSY lmao idek what to say anymore it's been like 6 months HAHA I've been reading since the first chapter rolled out its like watching my kid grow up HAHA thank you for writing such a good series have a good week ! -eggyook (cont.) --eggyook  Forgot to say, good luck for your exams !! You can do it :)))

Ahhh thank you for sticking with the story for such a long time! And yeah I feel you, I feel like IWSY has been a huge part of my life and the world has come alive for me this entire time xD Like I’ve kind of been living there in my mind hehe^^ Thank you so much my love and I’ll try my best of my exams! I hope you have a good week too :D

@lostheretics said: petition to make a better life for namjun pls sign it for him he's just a sMol bEan istg T_T it's aLMOST ENDING!!!!   or is it not............*dead af*

Awwwwh don’t worry he’ll have a good like with Y/N and the Jeon’s! And yes, it’s absolutely almost ending :(

Anonymous said: Another great chapter of IWSY but why do I feel like it is coming to an end 😢😢😢

Thank you my love! And yes you’re right - it’s coming to an end :( 30 weeks is a looooong time!

Anonymous said: ahhh bittersweet feeling about I won't stop you like everything is fine now yay and can't wait for the baby but it's gonna end soon I'm so sad

Yes I feel the same way to be honest! IWSY feels like my baby and it’s all grown up now haha c:

Anonymous said: is it just me or is part 29 shorter ??? oh my gosh I can't get enough of it T.T I honestly think after the end of the series you should gather all the chapters and make it into a story book. it's way too good!! -bunnykookie96

Hiya love! Hmmm well it’s the same length as any other chapter really :3 Possibly because it’s just drawing to an end that one might feel like it’s shorter :(  I actually would really love to do that but I have no idea how lol :c Anyway, thank you so much for reading the new chapter my deary!! :3

Anonymous said: I have trust issues because of u its just too fluffy 🤔 Also do you have back dimples ?  And last but not least I can smell a smut coming soon :))) --wifey anon 🐇

I guess I’ll just have to prove you wrong! :3 And yes - I do have back dimples - fun fact, they are referred to as “Dimples of Venus” heh c: I put it in because, well, I just wanted to ;D thank you so much my love and I hope you have a good day/night! :3

Anonymous said: SARA IS IT JUST ME OR YOURE QUOTING PRINCESS DIARIESNSJSJSKSJSNS

I have no idea what a princess diaries is o.o Sorry! :(

[silver-palette]

NCT 127 – “Neo City: The Origin” in San Jose

5/9/19

Left work at 5:40pm, arrived in San Jose at 7:10, bought chicken nuggets from McDonald’s, and entered the concert hall at 7:50.

Hall feels kind of like a high school auditorium. Was expecting something a little more memorable.

I was kind of nervous and wondering if the $160 would be worth it, but I was excited about it too. Texted BFR and MKT a quick photo and both replied with excitement for me.

Concert begins.

(Cherry Bomb) Took me a little bit to get energized, but the smooth glide, backward fall, and leg split were everything.

NCT lightsticks are bright af. Every time the girl next to me waved hers to my side, I think I went just a little bit more blind lol.

(Chain) Taeyong’s absss. I was trying to fix something on my phone and, BAM! Front and center on the big screen. That shit came out of nowhere >.<

Didn’t have a lightstick this time, so I was just kinda awkwardly standing there. People around me must’ve thought I was the quietest kpop fan ever. But in my head I was hyped xD

(Ment #1) Taeyong really knows how to pump up a crowd—from his stretched out “Ohhh yeahhhh” that reclined into a sexy, throat-deep groan to his vocalized sports tournament siren after introducing his name. And his little fumble when trying to say “lifetime memories” was cute.

(Fly Away with Me) Ugh, this song put me in a mood. And Taeyong’s bouncing dance moves. He does them really nice.

(Back 2 U) Yuta’s vocals o.o And Taeyong’s soft swag throughout.

Not as many Taeyong stans as I thought, but definitely one behind me. I relate to her every time she screams for him when he does something remotely sexy and the crowd is quiet in obliviousness xD

(City 127) Slower song and Taeyong’s still not able to sit still. He was the only one who stood up and danced around for his part, and he continued to wiggle around in his chair after that xD :3

(Angel) So. Much. Skinship. Taeyong scooting his chair over to Jaehyun and being all squishy, touchy, and adorable with him. More with Yuta & Doyoung, and Jungwoo & Haechan. The line, “I’ll be your morning star” gave me all the feels. I eventually found myself swaying along.

(Jet Lag + more) Yuta’s slow, emotional hair flip and his unrelenting cuteness. If Taeyong doesn’t do it first, this kid might just kill me >.<

(Ment #2) Yuta being cute af and possibly throwing some random Japanese in there? xD

(No Longer) Definitely falling for Taeil’s voice.

So many Taeil, Haechan and Jaehyun stans.

(Regular) Taeyong’s sex faces live are killing me.

(Wake Up) The bars have come out. Hyped by Taeyong’s “Are you ready San Jose!” and subsequent ‘yeah’s and ‘whoo’s and arm pumping dance.

(Baby Don’t Like It) Taeyong literally coming in like a pimp on top of the bars. Sunglasses, posture, attitude, and all lmao.

(Mad City) The vibrations man, the fucking building was shaking.

(Good Thing) Taeyong’s outlandishly flamboyant paint-splatter suit, wtf xD Also his moonwalk is so fucking smooth. Yuta is adorably bouncy in his cute yellow sweater.

Seeing Taeyong’s sex faces in person is ridiculous (part 2).

…is Yuta my bias wrecker?

Chipmunk voices on the mic… (Started with Mark’s mic during Mad City and continued randomly throughout)

Changing lightstick colors with the music. Didn’t expect that to happen here. For some reason I thought it was only a Korea/Japan thing lol.

(Superhuman) The superior song. Always fall for that head snap in the beginning.

I was watching Taeyong for most of the concert, but I swear I saw Taemin’s face flash by for like half a second. I think the desperation to see Taemin live is getting too strong xD

(Ment #4) I fucking looked up and Taeyong had taken half of his sparkly jacket off during the ment. Guns fully loaded. Biceps at the ready. But my poor heart wasn’t >.< Haechan speaking Korean for the first time during the concert kind of made it more real that I was watching Korean idols who had traveled halfway across the world to perform in front of me. Taeyong and his backwards visor and casual black clothes is fucking hot. Taeil getting embarrassed when Johnny told him to growl and flex his muscles one more time, adorable :3 Taeyong did clapping push-ups, aegyo-ed, and fucking dabbed in the span of 20 seconds >.< Jaehyun asking if we’re ready to “get hot.” Boy, I’ve been steaming for an hour now (both literally and figuratively lol. Couldn’t find the time to take off my coat xD)

(Summer 127) The resonance and vibrations from the bass line had me shaking (in a good way). Taeyong’s front group seemed a little lost in the music when they finally went back into choreography—they kept looking at each other like “uh…” and wiggled their arms around aimlessly until it matched everyone else lol. Taeyong went HARD during this song. His panting had me thrown, and he rapped so hard his fucking vein popped out.

(Ment #5) Doyoung’s adorably cheesy fortune cookie story. Fortune cookie read, “You will touch the hearts of many.” Generic but absolutely true ^^ Taeyong’s pouty face before his ending speech. And he put his hands together, almost in prayer, when thanking his fans. It was so heartfelt and sweet.

(Pre-0 Mile) Taeyong’s switch from his soft voice when correcting the crowd’s move for “mine mine” to his deep, loud, crowd-pumping voice at the final “girl you’re just mine mine!” I love his duality. And the way he turned around to walk to the back of the stage for 0 Mile. Hot.

(0 Mile) Taeyong being a mom and picking up Doyoung after he fell to the ground trying to protect his abs xD He’s such a sweetheart <3

For the last three-ish songs, Taeyong was super energetic and hyped for the performances. It got me hyped too.

Their “San Jose is a real vibe-killer~~” xD

Someone threw a rose at Taeyong when they were walking from the left side audience to thank the right side, and he got adorably flustered. He fumbled with the rose a little bit, but he did manage to catch it.

Taeyong picked up the rose he had put down earlier to hold his members’ hands and bow. He was being such a tease with it, putting it sexily in his mouth, tango style, and turning around and pausing every two steps to pose with it. He also put on an adorable “San Jose” beauty pageant sash before posing with the rose and heading off stage. He was the last member to leave and he kept dorking around and teasing his fans, it was so freakin cute >.< (Side note: Found out later he was recently crowned “in charge” of their San Jose stop, which is why he had the sash.)

That ending^ was all I needed to make that whole concert worthwhile. I love you Taeyong <3

Concert ended at 10:40pm. Walked back to my car and drove home listening to nothing but NCT songs.

Post-concert thoughts: In the beginning, it felt like I was just watching another random concert. I was also hesitant about going even before that because I only really listened to about half the songs on the setlist. But I realized there’s something about concert settings that just makes everything sound amazing. The concert eventually evolved into something more meaningful and that I was super spazzy about and into (probably triggered by something Taeyong did lol), but it got so much more exciting after that and I loved it.

P.S. Taeyong’s shirt was sheer????

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 27. The Honeymoon

The week leading up to your wedding is supposed to be one of the most stressful of your life. …That said, the week following is supposed to be one of the most relaxing.

Hidden away on a secluded island in the Maldives, Chelsay and I found this statement especially true on our honeymoon.

Having the honeymoon immediately following the wedding is a blessing and a curse. On one hand, the honeymoon feels more meaningful when it closely follows the wedding. You’re newlyweds, there’s a buzz, and for about two weeks following the ceremony, anything you do feels like a party.

On the other hand, there are too many good things happening at once. It’s impossible to truly appreciate each experience when things just keep getting better and better. Even two days after the ceremony, at the airport in Paris, I remember telling Chelsay that I wasn’t ready to move from “wedding” to “honeymoon”. I was still replaying September 2 through September 5, and there was A LOT to replay! The reunion, the Welcome Dinner, the Rehearsal, the Chapelle, Le Meurice, the First Dance, Piano Man… There were so many highlights, and without enough time to process, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fully appreciate what an amazing few days it had been.

Still, the most important factor for our honeymoon was that it needed feel different than our other trips. Our other trips have been incredible, but they just don’t have the same weight as a honeymoon. Unfortunately, waiting would take away some of that meaningfulness… You can’t leave work on a Friday and then head to the airport for your honeymoon… You’re tired or frazzled, and it just doesn’t have the same excitement. Simply put, there’s more romance in doing the honeymoon immediately, so to remember everything, we’d just have to take really good notes.

Picking up right where the last post left off: flight day! I already wrote about Chelsay’s question at the airport: what are our lives going to be like now that we aren’t planning a wedding? Although my sentimental written response was better, in reality, I just said that we’d finally have time to relax… starting with the honeymoon.

The total travel time from Paris was about 15 hours, so we’d get to experience A LOT of relaxation time right from the start. We were taking Turkish Air all the way to the Maldives, with a brief layover in Istanbul. The first leg was great (like, surprising really great from Turkish Air). I shockingly and thankfully slept the entire second leg.

The layover in between was actually really interesting though. Ataturk Airport is one of the busiest in the world, and if Istanbul is the city where Europe meets Asia, Ataturk is the front door. Over 1,000 flights go in and out of Ataturk each day, with passengers coming in from Beijing or Berlin, and heading out to Kenya or Kabul. The international terminal has to be one of the most diverse in the world. It’s a cultural circus… different wardrobes, different appearances, different languages, different paces to life. It was like a layover in “It’s a Small World”.  

We weren’t at the airport for too long though, and soon departed for our honeymoon destination: the Maldives, a collection of nearly 2,000 islands located in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

A few facts: the Maldives is the shortest country in the world (the Chelsay of countries), with its tallest point reaching just 8 feet above sea level. Because it’s located on an oceanic shelf, the lowest depth is similarly shallow, so only a thin, turquoise layer of water surrounds the many islands.

After our flight from Istanbul landed in Male, the country’s capital, we still had a short trip to our resort island, Constance Moofushi. We splurged a bit with honeymoon accommodations (YOHO), so the resort actually arranged a sea plane to speed up the final leg of our journey.

This was a pretty cool perk, and it established four themes for the next few days. First, Chelsay and I had a sea plane to ourselves: luxurious privacy. Second, our pilot was flying barefoot and in shorts: casual. Third, from our altitude, we could see the effect of the Maldives’ shallow depth: tiny green dots surrounded by clear, turquoise waters. Breath-taking beauty. Fourth, as we exited the plane onto the resort’s jetty, a large sign read “No shoes, no news.” This was the most important theme: unplug and relax.

The concierge gave us a brief tour of the island while Chelsay and I tried to keep our cool. This place was exactly what we were looking for: sand, sun, beach, palm trees, privacy, activities, all-inclusive. That last sentence could actually sum up the next seven days on Moofushi, but with the goal of completely capturing our honeymoon memories, I’ll expand a bit more… Plus I need to post our videos somewhere.

After the tour, Chelsay and I settled into our over-water villa. The villa is held above the turquoise waters by stilts, with fish and sharks routinely swimming underneath. To maximize privacy, Chelsay and I strategically asked for a room as far down the jetty as possible.

When considering honeymoon locations, we really thought hard about returning to Santorini or Amalfi. Although beautiful, our only hesitation was that they were slightly busy when we’d visited. Our honeymoon was about absolute relaxation, and a Maldivian over-water villa certainly provided this.   …It also provided a large patio for sun-bathing, an outdoor bathtub for star-gazing, an all-inclusive stock of snacks and drinks, and a staircase leading directly into the Indian Ocean.

The next seven days followed a rhythmic routine: breakfast, activity, relax, lunch, activity, relax, dinner, relax, repeat. Note that there are two activities per day… I keep saying that the theme was relaxation, but I’m too active of a person to just sit around all day (Chelsay knows what she signed up for). Although privacy was the biggest factor for our honeymoon destination, activities were at least a consideration, and Moofushi had plenty to keep us (me) entertained.  

Having arrived in the afternoon, Chelsay and I’s first activity after settling into our villa was a sunset yoga class. It was a perfect way to follow ~15 hours of travel, and I knew we’d gotten off to a peaceful start when Chelsay fell asleep during a breathing exercises.

We somehow built up enough energy for dinner at the resort’s phenomenal restaurant, one of the many highlights of the week. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Chelsay and I would make the barefoot walk down the jetty and through the palm jungle to the thatched-roof, open-air restaurant.

This place was like a massive tiki hut, which is how I’ll refer to it for the remainder of the post. Considering its size and the few other guests, Chelsay and I never had to worry about sitting next to (on top of) loud neighbors like in London. Instead, we settled into our secluded table overlooking the water, sinking our toes into the sandy beach below.

At each meal, our well-traveled sommelier, Nash, would introduce us to a new wine: one bottle from Italy, one from South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, etc. One of the resort managers, Rifkhan, would always stop by our table to ensure everything was perfect: from the meal, to the room, to our day’s activities. Finally, our friendly sous-chef, Sven, would swing by to provide a rundown of the day’s options, tailoring to Chelsay and I’s preferences throughout the week (…Sven thinks we’re fat asses).

For Night #1, the kitchen’s theme was oriental, and Chelsay and I enjoy tasty Peking duck and plum sauce wraps, with vanilla ice cream and a warm apple crumble for dessert. Closing our first day in paradise, we fell asleep on our outdoor patio while star-gazing and listening to the waves below.

Given the afternoon arrival, day one was actually fairly brief. Day two was our real first day, and we adjusted to our new island lifestyle quite easily. We started with breakfast on our patio, sipping coffee while overlooking the pristine turquoise water. We then descended our villa’s steps into the ocean for our first snorkel in Moofushi’s house reef. I’d been snorkelling before, but never in a place like this… Everyone told me the Maldives is one of the best diving spots in the world. The problem is that I didn’t even know what “good” diving was, so I wasn’t sure what to expect…  

After a short swim out from our villa, a few fish started to appear. One or two, then five or ten. Coral clusters popped up every ten feet, then five feet, then more and more often. Pretty soon, we were in an aquarium, with thousands of fish curiously swimming around us in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Coral covered the entire lagoon floor beneath us with bizarre, alien-shaped coral formations, going right up to the oceanic cliff at the edge of deeper water.

Chelsay and I settled at the surface and observed the frenzy beneath us: large basher fish that would ram the reef to loosen a meal, skittish schools of smaller fish panicking at the slightest hint of a danger, creepy coral stretching and swaying with the current. This was just activity in the shallow water too! Sea life gets weirder the further you go, and through diving later in the week, Chelsay and I would go deeper and deeper.

We returned for lunch at the tiki hut (salad appetizers, penne bolognese, and chocolate chip cookies) before relaxing on the beach. We played the week’s first round of bocce (Chelsay took the W in a back and forth 13-12 battle), before she caught crabs in the sand. …That sounded weird. I’ll try again: Chelsay earned the nickname “Critter Catchin’ Chelsay”.  …Ugh, weird again. We chased hermit crabs around the beach. …Maybe this was just a weird thing for us to be doing.

Anyway, we followed our beach time with another snorkel. This time we saw sea turtles (Righteous! Righteous!) and several needlefish, which look like tiny eels swimming around the coral.

That evening was Mediterranean night at the tiki hut, and Chelsay and I agreed the chicken shawarma with garlic sauce was the best dinner of the week. Something funny happened on the way to dinner though. We usually left the villa around 7:30, so the sun had already set. It would be dark out, but the jetty has lighting along the path so you can watch your step. As Chelsay and I were walking along, we heard a woman’s panicked yell from behind us. We turned around, but in the darkness, all we could make out was the jetty’s light and a cell phone light… which was at a much lower height than the jetty…

This lady fell off!

We heard the husband trying to help the woman up and everything looked okay, so not wanting to embarrass them, we scurried off to dinner.  We’re terrible people for doing this, but we laughed as we theorized what happened, and kept our eyes peeled for any guests with a limp.

Afterwards, as we walked back to the villa, we pulled out our cell phone lights near where the woman had fallen. We focused our search at the fork in the jetty: the point where the jetty splits in two. One path going right, one going left.

There we saw it… The evidence was damning, and unimaginably clear. Lying untouched in the sand… a perfect outline of a woman. She must have been looking at her phone and, when she hit the fork, just kept going and belly-flopped hard off the jetty.    

Needless to say, relaxation was working for Chelsay and I. It was only our second day, and we were already losing it over this poor woman falling… This was a just a reflection of how loose we were though. On so many of our trips, Chelsay and I have a thing we want to do or a place we want to see. To be clear: that’s our choice, and how we like to travel. Vacations are more about excitement and adventure for us, and we’ve had amazing experiences because of our approach.

For the honeymoon though, this peaceful pace suited us. We didn’t have a worry in the world… which was a shocking turn from the previous weeks. We’d been so absorbed by wedding planning, and work, and traveling. Over those seven days though, we didn’t think about a single thing happening outside of that remote island in the Indian Ocean. 

We slept very easily that trip, and every day started with the pleasant sounds of waves shifting beneath the villa. By day three, we’d settled into our routine: breakfast, snorkel, relax, lunch, bocce (I took round two to tie the series 1-1).

For our afternoon snorkel, we decided to venture into a new part of the house reef. The water was especially shallow at low tide, so Chelsay and I had to avoid kicking or paddling into the coral. We were essentially just lying flat on the surface, but there were so many fish that we had to stay.

With such shallow water and little room to swim, the tide pushed and pulled us without our control. I started filming the current pushing us along: fish, fish, coral, fish, coral, fish, fish, SHARK!

In the below video, you can tell the moment I first see the shark… It wasn’t a big one, but it surprised the hell out of me. For the record, I wasn’t scared, which you can see by me chasing after it.

One second later, Chelsay grabbed my arm like it was the last bag of sour straws at Tesco! Apparently there were two sharks, and the other one had swam right next to her. We quickly kicked and paddled (coral be damned) and popped out of the water with two very different reactions.

These were 4 or 5 foot reef sharks that wanted nothing to do with us, so I was just really excited to see them. Chelsay, on the other hand, hates open water. This was described in the Azores post when we swam with dolphins (she wouldn’t leave the side of the boat). With her big eyes though, these sharks must have looked huge!

I’d mentioned that the Maldives is one of the best diving spots in the world, but because of her open water fear, I still had to desperately convince Chelsay to sign up for an “Introduction to Scuba” class with me. After this shark encounter, Chelsay was 1000000% out.

All hope wasn’t lost yet though:  our dive wasn’t until the next day, so I still had a few hours to convince her. We spent the rest of the day getting back to the main theme of the week: relaxation. We laid out on our patio, soaking in the sunshine with coconut water from the most organic source you can find: an actual coconut.

When the afternoon showers rolled in, Chelsay and I crept under the covered area of the patio. There’s something really nice about being outdoors but covered and dry when it’s raining. I’ve always liked it, ever since my dad and I would watch storms come in from our garage in Texas. …It was also pretty cool to watch from our villa patio in the Maldives.

We grabbed dinner at the tiki hut later, and I’m not sure if this was caused by our shark scare earlier, but Chelsay and I hit the all-inclusive drinks hard that night.

It’s just so easy. Nash would come by and recommend a particular wine: okay, great, let’s get a bottle. Half way into the bottle, we felt like having a more tropical drink: daiquiris *index finger spin* (Wedding Crashers reference). Later, we wanted to bring some wine back to the room… but our bottle from earlier wasn’t chilled anymore. Whatever, they’ll bring us a new one. It’s all-inclusive.

Also, I said earlier that “Chelsay and I hit the all-inclusive drinks hard that night”, but I need to clarify. “We” hit the drinks hard that night, but Chelsay was taking advantage all week. There’s nothing wrong with a little buzz and she was never drunk, but I’d say we certainly got our money’s worth. We met a British couple while we were at the resort, and I swear Chelsay had a glass with her every time we saw them. They thought she was an alcoholic.  

Anyway, the next morning was our “Introduction to Scuba” course. I don’t even know what day it was… third? Fourth? We were so disconnected from the world that I never really knew what day it was.

Chelsay had a decision to make though: in or out?  …She told me she thought about bailing right up until we dove in, but ultimately decided there was no better place to try than the Maldives. She was probably still buzzed from the night before.  

Our instructor’s name was Paolo Belloni (pronounced like the meat “bologna”) – great instructor, great guy, great name. It sounds like someone panicked when asked to make up an Italian sounding name: “Uhhh… Paolo… Bologna?”   I shouldn’t make fun though – he really is a great guy, but he just reminds me of Luigi: I kept picturing him saying “Wah-ha!”

Paolo taught us the basic hand signals, etc before helping us gear up. Chelsay was still very apprehensive as we jumped into the water…

45 minutes later, when we popped back up again, she immediately pulled her mask off and shouted: “I love it!”

I loved it too, and because this was our first dive, everything was new. Obviously the fish and coral were mesmerizing, but the feeling of weightlessness was the biggest surprise. I felt like an astronaut as we slowly floated around our alien surroundings. We loved it so much that we signed up for a five-dive course: five hours of open water instruction that would make us certified scuba divers.

We couldn’t wait for our next dive either, so we scheduled it for that afternoon. To pass the time in between, we played our third round of bocce (another 13-12 nail-biter that fell my way: 2-1 Mike), sipped refreshing iced teas over lunch, and indulged in an Oreo ice cream snack on the beach. 

The day passed quickly though, and it was soon time for our second dive of the day. Our first dive was just an introduction covering the basics of how to breathe through a regulator, how to equalize, etc. This second dive was more of a skills test though, and the first step to certification.

Our first skill was to hover up and down using only your breath, and you have to criss-ross your legs so you don’t cheat. As you breathe in, your lungs fill with air (which is lighter than water) and you float upwards. As you exhale, you release that air and sink back down. At 6’2”, my lungs are relatively large so I floated up and down fairly easily. At 5’2”, Chelsay’s rise and fell was less obvious. With her legs crossed, it looked like she was just meditating in mid-air. Either way, Paolo thought she’d done enough so she passed the test.

The next skill was clearing your mask after water leaks in. To pass this test, you have to take your mask all the way off your head, put it back on, and then clear it by blowing your nose. Keep in mind you’re doing all of this 30 feet under the surface.

I went first without any issues, so Chelsay was up next. For some reason, even underwater, she can’t resist breathing through her nose! Every time she took her mask off, she’d instinctively try to breathe through her nose and suck in a bunch of salt water. She’d have to quickly ascend to cough it all out, and eventually, we just went to a shallow depth to make it easier to surface.

After a few attempts though, it looked like she’d gotten it. She took her mask off, placed it back on, and then Paolo and I watched as the water level in her mask dropped from her forehead to her eyes to her nose and, finally, it was empty. Bravo! High-fives!

The only weird part was that there weren’t any bubbles… You clear your mask by blowing air our through your nose, which then fills the mask and pushes the water out, which creates bubbles. She technically cleared her mask, so she passed the test, but why weren’t there bubbles? After the dive, she admitted that she just sucked all the salt water in through her nose!

Tough lady, but she did what she needed to pass the skills test. She’d earned the tasty wine that evening… if only just to clear the taste in her mouth.

The next morning was our second skills dive, but not before a delicious breakfast at the tiki hut. We actually had back-to-back dives that morning, so we needed energy. We loaded up on coffee and eggs benedict (with ham, which is rare in a Muslim country).

We suited ourselves up for this third dive, and easily passed a few questionable skills tests: grab the end of your fin? Who can’t do that??

Anyway, the benefit of passing the tests quickly was that we could use the rest of our tank to explore. As I dove around (left, right, up, down, over, below), Chelsay took a more methodical, almost investigative, approach. At one point, she’d been staring at a reef for so long that Paolo thought she’d passed out. …He rushed over but was put at ease when he saw her eyes still open. They looked even bigger behind the bend of the scuba mask.

Each of these first three dives were near the island, staying in Moofushi’s colorful house reef. For our second dive of the back-to-back morning though (fourth overall), we’d be taking the boat our for an open water dive. We’d also be going to a depth of 20 meters (60 feet), which was the deepest we’d gone.

At that depth, there’s a compounding pressure when compared to the surface: 26 pounds per square inch, or three times the pressure your body would feel on land. The volume of air in your body condenses under this pressure, which means that it actually takes more air to fill your lungs.This is why you have to pass a few skills test before you can go deeper and in open water.

It was totally worth it though. I mentioned that sea life gets weirder the deeper you go, and this dive was proof. Experienced divers can certainly go further than 60 feet, but there was some strange shit even at this depth. Watch the first video CLOSELY as this chameleon fish appears, and then disappears when I look away! I only noticed this when I watched the video afterwards! Pause at 5 seconds and then play if you don’t see it.

After our alien exploration (and two straight hours under water), Chelsay and I resurfaced in the rain. It was a really weird feeling. At 60 feet, we had no idea it was raining: it was silent and still. Then the minute you hit the surface, there’s rain and wind and waves. …I already missed the peacefulness of diving.

The stormy weather calmed down as we took the boat back to the island, and Chelsay and I enjoyed a lighter lunch upon our return: lentil wraps and sweet potato hummus. We got our fourth bocce game in (13-4 Mike; 3-1 series), but based on the lopsided score, decided it would be our last.

Exhausted from our dive, I took a nap (ME! A NAP!) on the patio while Chelsay studied up for our certification exam. We must’ve been on some relaxation bender, because we followed relaxing afternoon with a 90 minute massage.

The couple’s massage room was actually a cool set up. It’s a thatched-roof tiki hut hidden behind the island’s thick vegetation, and has doors that open to the ocean breeze. As you’re lying on the bed, you face down at a glass floor with a view of the turquoise water below. Small fish swim by to pick at the coral placed within your sight-line and, while Chelsay and I were in therapeutic bliss, we each watched as sharks slithered by.  

Later that night, we followed our sous-chef friend’s recommendation to see even more sea life. Off of one of the island’s docks, the resort keeps a light on that shines into the water. For some reason, fish are attracted to the light, and the fish attract sharks and stingrays and other bizarre creatures. Chelsay and I brought a bottle of wine from dinner and hunted the island for the dock Sven recommended. Once we found the right one, we hung our bare feet (I don’t think I wore shoes once this week) off the dock as hundreds of fish swam below. Over the course of the next hour, we saw several black tip sharks swim through and a massive stingray crawl across the ocean floor.

The next morning was our last dive of the five-part course. After this (and passing our written exam…which Paolo administered…), Chelsay & I would be certified scuba divers!

That’s pretty shocking considering Chelsay’s fear of the ocean. We certainly didn’t come to the Maldives looking for a new hobby, but we left with plans to visit Malta, Mexico, and the Philippines specifically for diving. Maybe someday I’ll write a post about a whale shark we tailed, or underwater cave we explored, or sunken WWII ship we came across.

Back to present day though. This was our last dive and, because there were no remaining skill tests (we were experts by then), this dive was entirely exploratory. We spent it floating through thousands of fish, around swaying anemone, past frightened Nemos, and alongside righteous turtles.

After resurfacing, we still had a full day left and would have easily signed up for another dive. There’s a law against diving too close to a flight though, so the rest of our sea exploration would have to be done via snorkel.

With our underwater skills now perfected, our snorkelling in those last 24 hours was actually more successful than any time earlier in the week. Our last few adventures were a perfect summary of all the sea life we’d seen throughout the week: tons of fish, creepy eels, chilled out turtles, and even more sharks.

Alas, after seven days in paradise, it was eventually time for Chelsay and I to return to London. We packed up (and threw some extra Twix and chilled Haribos in our bags), thanked our friends at the dive shop (who started calling Chelsay “Khaleesi”), and waved goodbye to the island as our seaplane flew away.

Our drop-off at the Male airport was a jarring return to reality. The resort had provided a concierge to escort us all the way to security, carrying our documents and rolling our bags. But from there, it was all us.  

I know rolling your own bag through the airport isn’t a burden, but it felt weird. For the past week, Chelsay and I hadn’t lifted a finger. We hadn’t carried our bags. We didn’t bring our wallets anywhere. We didn’t have any appointments or places to be. We didn’t even wear shoes!

The sign when you first step onto Moofushi reads, “No news, no shoes.” This was absolutely Chelsay and I’s experience. We were in absolute bliss the whole time, and all of this immediately followed our wedding, the best day of our lives.

For seven days, we didn’t think about work or money… or wedding planning! We had enough time to reflect on the wedding (at least enough for me to write 10,000 words in my last post), but we also rarely thought about anything outside of that island. I can’t remember a time I’ve been that checked out since high school.

We landed back in the UK on a Thursday, so at least we still had a few days off before returning to work. It was fall in London by then, so we saw the leaves changing in Hampstead and visited the stags in Richmond. Back in the buzzing city for the first time in two weeks though, we also had to re-adjust.

Although the harsh reality was that this “ended” our wedding and honeymoon, there was also relief in knowing that we were just “starting” something. In the wedding post, I already wrote about what Chelsay and I’s lives would be like now that we aren’t wedding planning. I wrote about how we’d finally have free time, and more sentimentally how we’d explore together, and start a family together, and have five dogs together, and laugh and cry together…

In our happy, busy, adventurous, wonderful future though, it might be hard for us to find a quiet moment…

If nothing else, the honeymoon gave Chelsay and I one week to relax together.