#watching a video about the voice acting industry

[swan2swan]

KENOBI WAS JUST SUCH A TERRIBLE SHOW

[felassan]

Game Informer:

"Dragon Age Cover Story And Shadow of the Erdtree Review | GI Show by Alex Van Aken on Jun 27, 2024 at 01:57 PM In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, the crew discusses our recent trip to Bioware for our Dragon Age: The Veilguard cover story, our Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review, PS5-bound multiplayer shooter, Concord, a new battle royale from former League of Legends developers, atmospheric horror title Still Wakes the Deep, Dustborn, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and even more! It's a packed show, y'all.  Watch the Video Version: [embedded link to Game Informer video titled 'Dragon Age Cover Story And Shadow of the Erdtree Review | GI Show']"

(On YouTube, the description box for this video looked like this:)

[Article continues] "Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Wesley LeBlanc (@LeBlancWes) The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join us every Thursday to chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Matt Storm, the freelance audio editor for The Game Informer Show, edited this episode. Matt is an experienced podcast host and producer who's been speaking into a microphone for over a decade. You should listen to Matt's shows like the "Fun" And Games Podcast and Reignite, a BioWare-focused podcast."

"The Game Informer Show – Podcast Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:42 - Cover Story: Dragon Age: The Veilguard 00:21:48 - Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Review 00:42:20 - Concord Preview 00:59:04 - Supervive Preview 01:11:59 - The Plucky Squire 01:24:37 - Magic: The Gathering – Assassin's Creed 01:35:01 - Still Wakes the Deep 01:45:52 - Dustborn Preview 01:55:06 - Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Review 01:58:26 - Housekeeping"

"The GI Show podcast is a weekly recap of exciting releases, exclusive details on upcoming games, and in-depth interviews with developers. Watch or listen to a new episode every Thursday!"

[source]

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Felassan's notes section of this post -

In this episode of the Game Informer show, Game Informer talk some more about their trip to BioWare's studio for the DA:TV cover story, when BioWare showed them hours of DA:TV content while playing it live.

Some notes from this and from what they said:

Wesley LeBlanc wasn't a huge DA fan and he went in with no expectations. The job to go to BW for this just landed on his plate due to other peoples' schedules. After seeing the game, it's probably his most anticipated game for the rest of the year and the one he's most looking forwards to

The game really wowed him and stuck with him, he said he is thrilled about it and is engrossed in the fantasy it's bringing

The visuals and world finally feel like what BioWare has maybe always wanted to make

This is the game where the team said, yeah, we feel fully in command of the Frostbite engine, and it shows

The world is more like Fable-type whimsy than prior DA games. It has a high fantasy feel

BW want new people to play the game. They're very aware that it's been 10 years since the last game and the game does a good job of catching people up

Rook as the PC really has no idea what's going on with Solas and all the other lore-specific stuff that's happening in the game, so they kind of act as the stand-in for newer players or people who have not caught up on the lore

But it's not just a game for newcomers, there is still a lot to chew on in the game for hardcore DA fans. BioWare were saying that they know their community, what it wants and what it's looking for out of these characters

Wesley enjoyed the music, visual design, and voice acting

Nothing that they saw about the game stood out as worrisome to him

Wesley has quite a lot of further stories to add to Game Informer's DA:TV hub

Wesley: "On the topic of the [Dragon Age] fanbase, I just wanna give a shoutout to that community, because, wow, I did not, I knew people would be stoked about this cover, but people are really stoked about this cover. And it’s really funny, the day that we announced it, I got like hundreds of new followers. Anytime, if I tweet about Erdtree or Destiny 2, I get like my normal amount of likes, like, a dozen maybe, y’know, whatever. If I tweet about Dragon Age, it’s like. Today I tweeted, ‘my next feature is coming at 3pm’ and it’s at 1000 likes, it’s so funny, like, this community is like rabid for information, which makes sense if you haven’t gotten a game in 10 years. But yeah, so like, shoutout to y’all, I’m loving you guys reading the articles and telling me what you wanna hear about. So if you have any questions or anything, get at me on Twitter for sure, and I will see what I can cook up with some writing for you. But yeah, shoutout to the BioWare community, y’all crazy.”

[source]

[with-my-calamitous-love]

JAMES DEAN DAYDREAM LOOK IN YOUR EYES ♫

rockstar! chuuya x popstar! reader

part 2/3

smut! you are responsible for what you read 💿

at an award show, the press make many speculations about your rising fame and your relationship with the infamous rockstar, chuuya nakahara.

inspired by style

midnight.

if there was an award show, chuuya was going. he was one of the youngest, most awarded rockstars ever. he's charming and handsome, with hands that play his guitar like a god. not to mention his sanguine voice coupled with his broody, meaningful lyrics. he was the subject of every teenage girl's heart.

he was a man that reveled in the fame, charming fans and interviewers alike. but for the most part, he insisted on letting the world watch him act. he knows damn well what the music industry can do to a star, and he's determined to rise above that.

still, every now and then theres a question that makes his gorgeous smirk falter.

"chuuya nakahara! can you tell us who you've been dating?"

"mr. nakahara! what do you have to say about moving on too fast?"

"chuuya! is it true you've started a relationship with Y/N L/N?"

he takes a deep breath. just dissassociate, and smile for the press. its what he does best. "i think some things are best left unsaid. right now, i'm focusing on my album, out november 1st."

the news of his new music is enough to distract adoring fans from his love life, instead heading the questions towards what he does best. all eyes are on him, orange hair slicked back and a loose, white classic shirt. his ability to look stunning despite the pressure brought upon by prying eyes is nothing short of remarkable.

he hears a lot about his newest music video, smiling every time he hears your name come up. the video you two had released sky-rocketed your name, and chuuya's just happy he could help. this time, he can genuinely smile- only when his mind flickers back to the acted, fake, and nothing more than a staged kiss. right?

funny how a fabricated kiss scene made his heart swell for weeks after.

its the first time he's felt that since his last relationship.

even though he's escaped, theres still people who speak on his past relationship, and evidently his past wrongdoings. for a moment there, it seems everyone believed he was a cheating bastard. that he was an unfaithful player who wanted woman like they were trophies. and for a minute, he was.

the fame had gotten to him. singing for thousands of fans, wining trophies and having his name on headlines made the rockstar believe he was invincible. but he wasn't. turns out too many shots of tequila and almost kissing a blonde girl he thought was his girlfriend can really mess up a rockstar. and it did.

the constant speculations on his relationship status made him sweat with anxiety. he fucked up and he knew it. he wasn't happy in his relationship, and found himself wishing for different in the end, but thats never an excuse to cheat. though he never did the deed, that almost was enough. there were reports and witnesses, enough for the media to take it and run. for months, his pr team worked day and night to keep the story at a minimum. and their efforts were surprisingly valiant, with higuchi choosing to stay quiet about the whole situation. chuuya never figured out why, even after their inevitable breakup, but he was thankful none the less.

somehow, you managed not to hear of the entire situation. maybe thats why chuuya was so eager to rope you into his life.

soon, he was no longer on fire. after a long waiting period, he was free to be adored again, leading him to make his music video with you, the same video that brought him back to this very award show, and the video that made him wish he could be next to you right now.

his anxiety is flaring up. he's still worried his career could go down in flames, that he'll never escape his monumental fuck up. that everything he's worked for won't be worth it if his guilt and regrets aren't monetized.

after a few short kisses and hugs, chuuya escapes to a private room, designated for singers and celebrities attending the show. the room is empty, with everyone already out there and dazzling the fans. everyone except you.

he blinks when he sees you touching up your bangs in the mirror. he knows that nervous shake in your hands all too well. this could end in burning flames or paradise.

he approaches, clearing his throat.

you immediately turn around, seeing him. his blue eyes are immediately drawn into your red lips- just what he likes

"you look nice." he utters, coming up next to you and adjusting his own appearance in the mirror. you had been in here for quite some time, bracing you and your pop-princess persona to get out there. somehow, chuuya senses this.

"this your first event?" he asks, blue eyes flickering to you. you nervously chuckle, almost wanting to lie but immediately knowing he'd call your bluff. "yeah... something like that."

he finds this endearing. and maybe he just wants to be close to you, to help you or because he's a god damn gentlemen, he silently wraps his arm around your waist and leads you out of the room.

the fact that this is your first time being so close to the paparazzi is not lost on chuuya. he studies your face, the way you answer questions so genuienely and so excitedly. he knows they wanna ruin your pretty face, and he prays your strong enough to overcome it.

he's so mesmerized by you he doesn't even notice the way photographers and interviewers are freaking out at the fact that chuuya nakahara and Y/N L/N just walked out on the carpet at the exact same time, fueling the already circulating rumors. he knows that they'll have a field day with tonight, but for once, he doesn't seem to mind. maybe because it's with you.

the two of you walk off, enjoying a few drinks and chatting. you've known chuuya nakahara: the rockstar. but now, you've been getting to know chuuya. the guy who loves small dogs, fancy hats and taylor swift. the guy who has the most embarrassing real laugh that he hides from the media. the guy who likes to stalk his own fanpages, and who can't say no to a signature.

and after a few more drinks and some soft arm touching, the two of you clammer into his limousine and speed off to his penthouse.

✧.* ⋆.˚ ☾ .⭒˚ ✧.* ✧.* ⋆.˚ ☾ .⭒˚ ✧.* ✧.* ⋆.˚ ☾ .⭒˚ ✧.* ✧.* ⋆.˚

the media likes to believe they know everything about you and chuuya.

they’re convinced you two dating, that you’re using him for fame and that he’s moving on too fast from his relationship. that you’re not pretty or talented enough for him, or that he’s just a passing thought for you.

what they don’t know is that his head is between you thighs, eating you out like a god damn dessert.

your shaky hands fly to his hair, tugging at him while his lips work their magic. he’s fluid and elegant, yet rough while we works you through yet another orgasm.

every now and then he’ll spit on you, mesmerized by the way it drips down your already gushing pussy. he reaches and maddeningly trails his fingers in a sloppy pattern, letting his essence coat you before diving back in. he’ll start with one long stripe going up the length of your pussy, savouring your cries before diving in.

he’s relentless, determined to make your toes curl and back arch. he’ll let the tip of his tongue trace circles around your clit, watching how it throbs. his thumbs move to part you even further, giving him better access to this meal.

he absolutely ravages you, leaving no part untouched as he tongue-fucks you. his grip tightens on your thighs as you finally cum again, letting him lap it all up like its second nature.

your body and mind are buzzing as chuuya makes his way back up with a trail of kisses, a shit eating grin plastered on his face. “told you i only needed 5 minutes.”

despite your flushed out face and spent, trembling thighs, you utter: “s-shut up.”

he laughs, sitting up and getting you some water. his bedsheets are luxurious, as you wrap your naked body in them. when he returns, he sets it down on the beside and lazily lays next to you, lying on his stomach. his back looks great like this, all his muscles on display.

but you can’t shake something you overheard.

“did you really cheat on her?”

he blinks. of course you’d bring that up after having sex.

he sighs, knowing this was only a matter of time. he shouldn’t feel so guilty. he didn’t actually cheat, though he was close to it. some would argue the intent is betrayal enough.

you’re not sure how to feel. rumours are just rumours, especially in the celebrity world. but you want to know if the man you’ve been falling for has a history of unfaithfulness.

he runs his hands through his air, barely being able to look you in the eye. “i.. came close to it.”

he wants to vomit, having to talk about it again.

you simply nod, seeing on your phone the already sparkling headlines about yours and chuuya’s love lives again. if you doom scroll long enough, they’re already reigniting the flame of his past relationship and how it ended.

you really hope this doesn’t end badly. for his sake and yours.

“are you mad?” he asks, thinking he already knows the answer. you pause for a moment. you’re angry, albeit only a little. most of that anger is towards yourself for not finding out sooner. you’re mostly just confused, if anything.

instead, you resolve to shake your head. “no, i’m not.”

and really, for a moment, you werent. the media was feasting off of something new. those that chose to rehash the past were less popular. the people wanted to see whats new, whats flashy and whats dazzling. right now, its you and chuuya together.

“what does this mean for us?” you hesitantly whisper, sliding down into the bedsheets to see him better. truthfully, neither of you know. the only thing thats clear are the feelings you share for one another.

he simply shrugs. “i’m gonna drag you down, doll. you’re a star. don’t let me do that to you.”

what hurts the most is that he’s right, even if its only a little. but you’re either an idiot, or in love. maybe both.

“..thats okay.” you smile, resolving to put love first, music second.

oh, how you’d come to regret that.

but you don’t relent when he pulls you into his arms, covering you two with the bedsheets. phones are tossed somewhere on the bed, and the penthouse keeping the two of you private. right now, you two could be together in secret. let them call it what they want.

[hsrockstargf]

Object of Desire*

AN: this is my first time posting on here so please be gentle☺️

࿎࿎࿎࿎

summary: Honey Rose, one of the most sought after adult film actress, get picked to do a scene for director Harry Styes. What happens when she finds out that he will be the one doing the scene with her?

work count: 7.5k

tropes: pornstarry

warnings: 18+, language, explicit smut, fluff

══════════════════════

Lights, Camera, Action. 

I’ve always wanted to hear those words be uttered before a scene- to feel the adrenaline rush as I make the script come to life. As a little kid I would whisper them to myself before I would put on a short skit for my grandma, and it made me feel like I was a real movie star. Now at 26 years old- I am the furthest thing from a movie star, but I guess an actress could be the term for my job. 

The adrenaline that I love to feel rush through my veins is present as well as the nervousness that is making my hands sweat slightly. The possibilities of today swirl around my mind as I walk down the long corridor to meet the director of today’s shoot. 

I never thought this is what I would be doing to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly, but I can’t say I’m disappointed. What started out as occasionally posing for a lingerie company to help me get through school turned into signing up for an OnlyFans and making $7,000 a week. 

I never did anything too risque on my page, only posting pictures of me half naked without showing my face and occasionally taking a few requests from subscribers. My following grew exponentially and it continued until I didn’t know how to manage all of the content people were asking me to film. 

A few months ago, a manger reached out to me wanting to represent me. Although this was a far fetch from the job I’ve always wanted, I couldn’t turn it down. Having sex in front of a camera with a whole team watching you and a million more waiting to see it with a person you barely know is scary and intimidating- but I took the job anyway. I like the money and sometimes the sex is actually quite enjoyable when I can get out of my own head.  

This particular job came as a surprise to both me and my manager. Usually, my manager would reach out to a filming company, give them my head shots, and then wait to hear back if they wanted to use me for the scene they were wanting to film, but for this one the director himself reached out to my manager. Apparently, he had seen some of my work and wanted me to be one of the stars in his new video. 

Harry Styles- is the biggest name in the porn industry and someone you don’t say no to.  Not only is he one of the hottest and sought after pornstars, but he is also known for being a fantastic director. Every single one of his videos has at least a million views, if not more; they are hot and sensual, plucked right from all the fantasies that I’ve stored away in my brain. He started out just like everyone else, at the bottom of the totem pole, but he became so successful so fast that everyone in the industry wanted to work with him. Recently, he’s been focusing more on the directing side of his job, foregoing the acting part which many people have complained about, but of course he doesn't care. 

I’m not embarrassed to admit that I’ve gotten myself off multiple times from watching him. Just listening to his deep, slow, and raspy voice would make my cunt slick before reaching into my night stand to grab my purple bullet vibrator. I would press it to my clit and circle it around while I watched him kiss down the length of the random girl’s body before he would uncover her wet pussy and taste her for the first time. He would use both his tongue and fingers to get her off before fucking her into the matress, making her scream out in pleasure as he takes her from behind and slaping the plump flesh of her ass as she comes on his thick cock. He would fuck her through her orgasm, and the sound of both of their moans would make my stomach swirl with pleasure. I would always tease myself, not letting myself come until I knew he was about to orgasm. To not disturb my neighbors, I would flip around on my belly with my vibrator still pressed closely to my swollen clit and bite into my pillow as I listened to his deep moans as he came, finally finding my release alongside him. 

It’s gonna be hard for me to look him in the eye today and not picture him like that; to not think of the way his back muscles flex while hovering over his partner, thrusting into them as hard and fast as he can or the way the vein on his neck pops out when he tilts his head back in pleasure. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to focus on my costar as Harry directs us, only focusing on him and what he wants from me. 

“Honey?” A small woman stands in front of me, holding a clipboard and a pair of headphones hanging around her neck. “Honey Rose?” 

“Yeah, that’s me. Sorry, I guess I’m a little distracted.” I answer to my stage name, and laugh off my embarrassment. She giggles along with me, easing my nerves. 

With an extended hand she says, “Hi, I’m Jenny, Harry’s assistant.” I take her hand and offer her a smile. “I’ll be showing you around and then I’ll take you to meet him.” After we shake hands she pulls away and turns around. “Follow me and I’ll show you where you can put your stuff.” 

We make small talk while walking down the hallway towards an unknown destination. Jenny rattles off all the things she did this morning, preparing for the shoot and she also tells me how excited Harry is to meet me. 

My stomach once again flips at the thought of being in his presence, but I don’t get a chance to think about it more when Jenny stops in front of a door that says ‘Honey Rose.’ 

“I get my own dressing room?” 

Jenny looks at me with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Of course you do. Have you never had one before?” She opens the door, stepping to the side to let me walk in the room first. “Harry always makes sure his stars are taken care of.” 

I shake my head while walking in the room. It’s nothing too extravagant, with a love seat couch tucked in the corner with a small coffee table in front of it and a vanity on the far left wall, but it’s nicer than anything I’ve gotten before. Usually I have to get undressed in front of all the crew before slipping into a robe, so having this space puts me at ease. 

At least I’ll have some privacy throughout this shoot. 

“If you just wanna set your stuff down I’ll take you to meet Harry. He’s just now finishing setting up the bedroom set.” I take my coat off and hang it over the back of the chair and then place my purse on the coffee table. “You ready?” 

“As I’ll ever be.” I stick my hands in my pockets to hide the fact that they are shaking and follow after Jenny. For being as tiny as she is she sure can walk fast and I find myself wishing she would slow down so I can prepare myself. 

The set is a normal looking bedroom. It’s cozy, warm, and inviting. The bed is dawned in white sheets, a white duvet, and a tan throw with brown pillows. The bedside tables are decorated with items to make it look like someone actually lives here and a mirror leans against the wall across from the bed. 

There aren't a lot of people in this room right now, some are setting up certain light fixtures and others are testing out the equipment, but I immediately know which one is Harry. Dressed in long black flared trousers and a matching black shirt, he stands next to the mirror, angling it so it perfectly aims at the head of the bed. 

He hasn’t noticed us yet, but when Jenny clears her throat he looks up in the mirror and immediately makes eye contact with me. “Harry, this is -”

“Honey Rose.” My fake name rolls off his lips and I find myself begging to hear him use my real name. “I know who she is, Jenny. Would be kind of hard not to know.” Harry stuffs one hand in his pocket and makes his way over to me. “I’m Harry.” He extends his hand out to me and it takes me a second before I do the same. 

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you, Harry.” I hope he doesn’t see the school girl blush on my cheeks, but I can’t help but find myself so taken with him. His hair falls perfectly in waves in a slight middle part that frames his face. There is a shadow of facial hair surrounding his jaw and around his lips, drawing attention to the pinkness of them. His eyes shine bright compared to the darkness of his hair; beautiful sea green staring straight at me. The tattoos on his arm stand out and I find myself looking over each and every one, but then I remember that I’m still holding onto his hand. I let go rather quickly and he chuckles at me. “I’m excited to work with you. I’ve heard nothing but great things.” 

“Well, I should hope so.” Two dimples pop out on the sides of his cheeks as he smiles while pushing his hair back and off his forward. “But I’m curious, are they talking about my directing skills or how I fuck?” 

I keep myself composed, even though all I want to do is tell him that my information is coming from the videos that I’ve watched of him. I gather up all the confidence in my body and say, “Both, but I guess I’ll only be seeing one of those talents today.” 

A confused look flashes across his face, but he doesn’t let it last. His lips perk up and he quietly says, “We’ll see about that.” Now it's my turn to be confused. I open my mouth to ask him what he means by that but he stops me. “Honey, would you mind joining me in my office? I just want to go over a few things with you, if that’s all right.” 

“Of course. Whatever you need.” Harry places his hand on my lower back and escorts us out of the room. His office isn’t too far away, but the walk is filled with a thick tension. He ushers me in, and tells me to sit on the couch like the one similar to mine in my dressing room. Harry takes a seat next to me, not sitting behind the desk which honestly makes me feel more equal to him. 

“As you may know, my videos are praised for how real and authentic they seem. I don’t do the corny pizza delivery guy bullshit or any of those cheesy porns that have terrible dialogue and even worse acting. I like to make everyone on set feel comfortable, so that they can actually feel the pleasure instead of faking it. Does that make sense?” He crosses one of his legs over the other, and the way his trousers move it showcases his thick thighs bulging under the surface of the fabric. 

“It makes perfect sense, and I really respect what you are doing here. Most of the time they just throw me in a room with a guy and just tell me to fuck him.” 

“I can promise you that’s not gonna be the case today, but I do need to ask you a few questions. You can answer whichever ones you want or not if you don’t want to.”  I nod my head at him, telling him I understand. That smirk reappears on his face, but this time I don’t get so flushed. The way he’s looking at me makes me want to sit on top of his desk and have his head be buried in my cunt. “I just need to know so I can fuck you just how you like it.” 

“Y-you’re gonna be the one fu- in the scene with me?” My heart rate picks up in anticipation and I hope I didn’t just hear him wrong. He hasn’t done a video in such a long time. Why would he start now? 

“That wasn’t the original plan.” Harry stands up, walking closer to me before crouching down in front of me. His knees touch mine and even through the fabric of both of our clothes I can feel his warm skin. “When I was looking for the girl for this shoot I came across one of your videos.” Harry’s fingertip grazes over my knee and he starts to draw circles on it. “It was just you, laying on a bed, with a vibrator on your pretty little pussy.” He looks up at me, and grabs a hold of my jaw. “You had beautiful moans coming from these lips. I just knew that I couldn’t sit there and watch someone fuck you, not when I could be the one doing it.” 

I turn my head, still keeping eye contact with him. His thumb that was on my jaw now rests against the skin of my lips. I puker them, softly kissing his thumb before taking it into my mouth for just a moment. “You want to fuck me, Harry?” His eyes are dark, lustfully watching as I kiss his thumb, suck on it, and then let it plop from between my lips. 

“Oh, honey.” Harry moves his hand away from my face, placing it on my knee again. With both hands, he pushes my thighs apart and situates himself between them. “You have no fucking clue.” I burn under his gaze. His touch is light and teasing, kneading the muscles of my thighs while he looks up at me. “I still need you to answer a few questions for me. Can you do that for me, honey?” 

“Please, call me Emma.” I don’t mind being called Honey. In fact it makes me feel confident and sexy, but right now I just want to feel real with him. 

“Okay, Emma. Are you okay with me warming you up before we shoot? I can do it right here, spread you out and make you come on my fingers so you're more sensitive while we film. You need to be warm, wet, and ready for me.” 

Harry kisses up the length on my pant leg, placing his lips right on top of the sem and stopping when he gets close to my center. “Yes, please make me come, Harry.” After I give him the okay, he doesn't waste a second before undoing the button on my pants and pulling them down my legs. He takes in the sight of my red lace thong and by the way the air creates a cool sensation on my panties, I know I’m wet for him; and he can see it. 

“I’m gonna ask you a few questions, but you have to promise me that you’ll answer them truthfully, okay?” 

Harry patiently awaits an answer, starting to slowly kiss up my thigh. He kisses both of my knees and continues to switch between both legs as he travels upwards until he reaches my midthigh and sits back up. “Yeah, I-I’ll answer them.”

“Let’s start with an easy one.” Harry drags his hands across my skin, nails scratching slightly. He finds my hips, tracing his thumb in the crease where my hip bends from sitting down. “Are you okay with me kissing you?” 

“Yes, I actually prefer it.” With the grip on my hip, he pulls me to the edge of the couch so I’m barely even sitting on it. He leans into me, pressing his chest against mine as he tucks himself into my neck. 

“Hmm,” His curls tickle my cheek, his sweet smell overpowers me, and his nose teases up my neck. “Is there anything that’s a hard no for you during sex?” I don’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable with.” 

The fact that he isn’t even asking me these questions puts me at ease. Though I haven’t had a lot, my costars never asked me what I was or wasn’t comfortable with. The directors never cared, only making sure every piece of dialogue and every cue on the script was hit. 

“You can do anything to me. If it’s you doing it, I know I’ll like it.” 

“You’re stroking my ego here, Em.” 

The tip of his nose grazes my jawline before it's replaced by his lips. He is still holding onto my hips and even though I love his hands there I wish he would touch me elsewhere. Just from him being this close to me, my cunt is slick and my clit is throbbing, waiting to be touched. 

“I’ve watched you before. I know how you fuck, so anything you want to do go right on ahead. I can take you, Harry.” 

“Oh, I have no doubts about that.” Placing a kiss on my cheek, he stands up and sits down next to me again. “Stand up.” Obeying, I stand up on shaking legs and turn to face him. Legs spread, arms stretched out along the back of the couch, and a smirk on his face, Harry sits there eyeing me up and down. “Strip for me. Let me see what’s mine for today.”

I cross my arms, grabbing the hem of my t-shirt and pulling it over my head. His eyes move to my chest, taking in the matching red lace bra. Harry takes one arm off the back of the couch to adjust himself in his pants as he continues to take me in. “You know, it’s not fair that I’m half naked and you’re still completely clothed.” 

Harry clears his throat and reaches out to grab my hips to turn me around. “This isn't about me.” His fingers find the band on my underwear and my breath hitches when he starts to slowly pull them down. In the wake of the fabric, he kisses where it once laid. “So sit down on my lap.” Pulling on my hips, he sits my naked bottom half on his fully clothed lap.  “Spread your legs.” I hook a leg over each one of his thighs and lean back onto his chest. “And let me make you come, so I can fuck you how I want later.” 

The rings on his fingers are cold on my blazing skin. Touching over the expanse of my stomach, my hips, my thighs and briefly the tops of my breasts he teases me with everything I want while simultaneously avoiding the place I need him most. 

My pussy is soaked with my arousal, dripping down and probably landing on his trousers, but at this moment I can’t find it in myself to care. 

“Do you want me to just rub your clit and get you off that way, or do you want me fingers? Stretch you out a little bit so I fit nice and snug in you?” 

I tilt my head to the side to find him already looking at me. Our lips are so close I fainting feel his skin, but we both don’t make the move to lean in; to fuel the fire we both feel growing. “Want your fingers. Please.”  

Harry looks down at my lips for a brief second before turning his head away from me. Out of the corner of my eye I see him looking at my body that’s spread out for him and the lust in his eyes is unmistakable. 

I take advantage of his head facing forward and tuck my face in the crook of his neck. He smells even better this close up. His smell is sweet, reminding me of walking into a bakery while also being smokey, like a fresh campfire on a fall evening. 

I repeat his actions from early, gliding my nose across his neck. When his fingers finally touch my cunt I whimper into his skin. I accidentally bite into his neck from the shock of finally feeling him. “Hey. You can’t mark me yet, Em. Wait until later and you can leave your marks anywhere you want.” 

The tips of his fingers trace over my entrance, gathering up all the wetness caused by him. He drags them up and uses my arousal to start slowly drawing circles on my clit. Instead of biting him I kiss down the side of his neck to try and quiet my cries of pleasure. 

“Maybe I didn’t even need to warm you up. You were soaked before I even touched you.” 

In my desire induced haze I accidentally say, “I always get so wet for you.” My cheeks heat up with embarrassment and if I could bury myself into his neck anymore I would. 

“Oh?” His fingers speed up, making me squirm in his lap. “Are you telling me you’ve watched my videos while rubbing this little clit of yours? You’ve came from watching me fuck someone else. Is that what you’re telling me?” 

From the bulge pressing into my ass, it’s obvious this is turning him on. I let my embarrassment slip away and just let myself be in the moment with him. “Yes, Harry. I’ve always wanted to fuck you.” 

“Well, it’s my lucky day isn't it, baby?” He doesn’t warn me before filling my pussy with his fingers. Long, thick, and ring clad, his fingers work against my g-spot. Combined with the teasing and his relentless strokes on my clit, my stomach begins to tingle and the muscles in my cunt squeeze around his fingers. 

“God, Harry. I’m so fucking close.” His movements are slow and skillful, not needing to go fast and hard to make me reach my end. 

“You’re a sensitive little thing, aren’t you?” His fingers stop fucking me, but he presses his fingertips up into my g-spot and massages the spot that makes me see stars. Somehow he’s lifted the hood of my clit so he’s directly on my nerves. “Can’t wait to get you underneath me, so I can fuck you into the sheets. Spread your pussy out and take you just like I fucking want.” 

I throw my head back on his shoulder, needing some fresh air. My lungs can hardly keep up with my shallow breaths and I’m so dizzy I feel like I could pass out. “Please, Harry. I need to cum.” 

“You don’t have to ask me. Just let go, honey. Make a mess of me.” 

And so I do. I feel myself clench around his fingers and my ears start to ring. The sound of his voice telling me how good I am filters through the noise, but for the most part I can’t focus on anything except the pure bliss running through my veins. Harry kisses my cheek, as he coaxes me through my orgasm. “Good girl, Em.” 

I fully relax into his chest as I come down from the high. He slips his fingers out from me and puts them up to my mouth. “I would love nothing more than to taste you right now, but I want to make sure the first time I do it’s caught on camera.” 

Harry drags my come across my bottom lip before slipping his fingers into my mouth. He lets me take my time cleaning his fingers up and he keeps eye contact with me the whole time. 

“What do we do now?” I ask after his fingers leave my mouth. 

“You are gonna go get a snack, get your hair and makeup done, and get dressed.” He pinches my bare hip which makes me yelp, but he just smiles at me. “But you gotta get off my lap so you can do that.” 

It’s crazy to see him go from this sexy dominant male to someone who is also playful. It makes my heart beat faster in my chest when he looks at me with a smile. 

I climb off him and go to grab a tissue from his desk to clean off the mess between my thighs. “Nope. None of that.” He snatches the tissue from my hand and puts it in his pocket. 

“I can’t clean myself up?” I cross my arms over my chest and for a second I forget I’m just in my bra, but I’m reminded when Harry’s eyes travel down to my tits. 

“No.” He walks over to my underwear that were haphazardly discarded and kneels before me. Tapping on the side of my ankle, he silently tells me to raise my foot so he can dress me. “While you are getting ready I want you to think about how wet you are. I want you to feel your come on your thighs and think about what we are gonna do. How I’m gonna fuck you. How I’m gonna make you come again.” He kisses my hip bone before standing up, dragging the fabric along with it. Harry makes sure it’s in place and snaps the band against my skin. “I’ll see you later, honey.” 

Throughout getting my hair and makeup done I shift unfavorably in my seat. My underwear is absolutely ruined from my orgasm, but now it's slick with my want for Harry. I can’t stop thinking about what we are about to do. 

In front of me lies my ‘script’. There isn’t much in it other than some lines I need to say. The premise of the whole video is a couple waking up tangled in the sheets together after being away from each other for a while. 

I think about what I plan on doing to him as the girls around me talk amongst themselves. Usually I would partake in these conversations and make friends with them, but right now my brain can only focus on one thing. 

They curl my hair, fluff it out and apply some light makeup to my face. I didn't want any foundation on because it will just get smudged anyway and I don’t want to look sloppy, so all I have on is some mascara and a light lip gloss. 

A silk black robe is wrapped around my body with my skin bare underneath and matching black slippers are on my feet. It was awkard taking my clothes off in front of the wardrobe person, especially considering the poor excuse of fabric that was my underwear. 

 The air is cold in the hallway as I walk towards the studio room and I know everyone that passes me can see my nipples through my robe. 

The room that was once filled with maybe five people now houses twelve. It’s hard to walk in the room with how many bodies there are and I barely see Harry through the crowd. I protectively shield my chest away from prying eyes and lower my head. 

Harry has changed from earlier, now wearing a black fitted t-shirt that shows off his muscles and a pair of grey sweatpants. I can tell by the bulge in his pants that he isn’t wearing any underwear and the sight instantly makes my mouth water. 

He finds my eyes across the room and at first he smirks at me, taking in my skimpy robe and the exposed skin on my thighs. He must see the apprehension in my eyes because he looks around the room and shakes his head. “Anyone who doesn’t absolutely need to be in here needs to get out.” 

Disapproving sighs are heard around the room, but they don’t hesitate to listen to him. Harry is known for being a sweet and caring guy but I’ve also heard that he isn’t afraid to put his foot down when he needs to. 

He waits until all unnecessary personnel exit the room, being left with the camera man and the sound lady. “Are you ready?” Harry kneels on the opposite side of the bed and puts his hands on his hips. 

“More than ready.” I pull the blanket back, ready to slip under the covers and Harry does the same. “Do you usually wear that to bed?” I say referring to his outfit. 

“I could ask you the same.” He grabs the sting that keeps my robe closed and tugs on it, not hard enough to open it, but just enough to pull me closer to him. 

“No. I usually sleep naked. Shouldn’t we make this as natural as possible?” I wink at him and pull his hands so the string gets loose. The silk moves against my skin as the front opens, but I only allow Harry to see me. 

His eyes drink me in, looking at every exposed piece of skin I have to offer. “Are you trying to be the director now? Trying to steal my job are you?” 

“Maybe.” I shrug. “I bet I could do a better job.” 

Harry reaches into my robe, pinches my hip and says, “Get that robe off and get under the covers.” The dimples that I’ve come to love poke out as I do as he says. 

Harry walks over to the two other people in the room and says something inaudible as I get myself comfortable. He must have told them to leave, because after they check the equipment they both turn around and leave. I’m used to people seeing me naked now and I’m not ashamed of having sex in front of people. In all actuality it turns me on knowing that people are watching me and my partner, but we are only focused on each other. 

“You didn’t have to kick them out. This isn’t my first rodeo.” I lay my head up against the headboard and watch as he starts to take his shirt off. No matter how many times I see his bare chest I still swoon every time. This is my first time seeing it in person and I can't wait to leave little love marks on him like he said I could earlier. 

“I know. I didn’t want them in here.” 

“Why?” 

“Just didn’t want them to be in here.” He bends down to take his sweats off, only leaving him in his underwear, before climbing into bed with me. 

“Won’t it be hard without them in here?” 

Harry turns towards me and leans on his elbow. “Those cameras over there are already filming and there are mics around the room to pick up your pretty noises that men are gonna drool over, so no, it won’t be.” He pulls the blanket down to expose my breasts. Leaning forward he takes my nipple in his mouth and lightly swirls his tongue around it. “Just lay down, act like you are asleep, and then wake your loving boyfriend up so he can fuck you senseless, okay?” 

“Whatever you say, director.” He chuckles at me and lays down. I press my naked body up against his half naked form and he groans. 

“Should have thought the whole naked thing through. I already need to be inside of you, so let’s hurry up.” I laugh into his chest and pretend like I’m peacefully sleeping on his chest for a while. 

Under the sheets, I discreetly sneak my hand from his tummy to the tops of his boxers. Being the professional he is, he doesn’t make any noise or give any indication that I’m close to touching him. 

I feel guilty because he got me worked up already and I haven't given him anything in return, so I pretend to wake up and lovingly look over at him. To portray the act of being his girlfriend, I caress his face, push back his hair, and take in the way he looks while he’s relaxing. 

I know he isn’t asleep, but he looks so cute and peaceful laying here like this with me. Throwing back the covers, I expose myself to the camera and run my hand along the top of his boxers. Harry stirs a little bit, trying to look like he’s waking up, but he keeps his eyes closed. 

“I’ve missed you, baby.” I whisper to him while dragging his underwear down his narrow hips. His cock is half hard, laying against his stomach. I take him into my hand, and his warm skin feels so nice against mine. I position myself between his legs while working my hand up and down his shaft. “Wake up, Harry. You’ve been gone for too long. I need you.” 

Once he’s fully hard, I put his tip in my mouth lightly sucking on it while my left hand reaches down to grab his balls and squeeze them. A little moan escapes him and he moves around more as he ‘wakes up.’ I take him further into my mouth, letting him tap the back of my throat before coming back up to lick at his tip. 

I hunch over him more, so I’m on my knees as I blow him. I continue to bob up and down, letting him stay in my throat for longer periods of time. His hands sneak into my hair and pushes it away from my face so he can watch me. “You just have to have my cock in your mouth first thing in the morning don’t ya, honey?” 

His dick pops out of my mouth and I replace it with my hand. I lay my head on his thigh, batting my eyelashes up at him while I jerk his dick in my hand. “I’ve just missed you, didn’t you miss me?” I pout my lip out at him slightly, playing into the needy and horny girlfriend role. Honestly, I don't have to even act that part. My pussy is a mess and I know the camera behind me is picking up on just how wet I am. 

“Of course I did.” He grabs the side of my head and hovers me over his wet dick. “Now, put my cock back in your mouth so I can show you just how much I missed you.” I don’t know why he asked me because he doesn’t wait for me to lower my mouth on him all the way before he’s thrusting into my mouth. 

Harry controls my head, fucking my throat while he lays under me. His moans are sinful, and make my cunt even more slick. I run my hands up and down his thigh, stopping over the tiger and scratching at it with my nails. “Fuck.” He moans at the pain and fucks my throat even harder. “Am I not fucking your mouth hard enough? Huh? You wanted me to go even harder?” 

I pinch his hip, telling him it’s okay to keep going and he does. Harry’s hips come off the bed while he pulls my head down over and over again. Tears leak from my eyes from the pressure, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Throughout all my sexual experiences I don’t think any man has even been this vocal in bed with me. His voice is rough and raspy and his moans are deep and sultry. Every word he says drips off his tongue like honey. 

Harry suddenly pulls out of my mouth and forces my head to look up at him. “Get up here now. Need this little pussy in my tongue now, before I fuck you.” 

The thought of his mouth on me makes me squirm and I move fast at his words. I crawl over his body,  touching his chest and arms on my way up. “Can I get a kiss first, please?” 

“Don’t have to ask me, baby.” Harry grabs the back of my head and pulls me down to his warm lips. Kissing him feels exactly how I pictured. He’s soft but rough, fast but takes his time, and in control while making me feel like I hold the power. His tongue works against mine and I find myself loving the way he tastes. 

I pull back from his lips, knowing if I don’t stop we’ll  just kiss the entire time. If this was just for us, I would kiss him until my lips bruise and all the air evaporates from my lungs, but this isn’t just for us. Grabbing his cheeks, I open his mouth wide. “Stick your tongue out for me, baby. I need to make sure you’ll be wet enough to fuck my pussy with your tongue.” 

“Don’t think I’ll need it with how wet you get, but I’ll never pass up the opportunity.” Harry winks at me as I spit into his mouth. My mouth is sloppy from the kiss we shared and the way he was relentless fucking up into my mouth causing a string of I admire how it looks sitting on his tongue, ready to be used. 

Harry grabs my ass and pulls me until I’m straddling his head. He yanks my hips down, forcing me to fully sit on his face. His moan is unmistakable as he tastes me for the first time and I simultaneously moan at the feeling of his tongue on my clit. 

Grabbing onto his hair for stability and also rocking my hips against his tongue I utter, “Fuck, Harry.” My clit is so sensitive from my orgasm and I know it wouldn’t take me much to finish again. His tongue licks from my entrance to my clit where he sucks it into his mouth and shakes his head to stimulate it further. I sound like I just ran a marathon with how heavy I’m breathing, but I can’t even find the time to be embarrassed about it. 

It comes to a surprise to me when I feel his hand smack my ass once on each cheek, making my skin sting. Harry pulls away from my pussy just for a moment, “Can you not take me sucking on your little clit, baby? Does it feel too good?” He doesn’t wait for a response, just dives back into my cunt and sucks my clit into his mouth once again. As he shakes his head back and forth, his stubble on his cheeks rubs against the inside of my thigh creating a nice achy burn that I will feel tomorrow morning. 

When he smacks my ass again, I cry out and lean my head against the headboard. “Keep doing that, Harry. You’re gonna make me cum.”

“You like me smacking your ass that much, honey?” I nod my head and whimper. He does it again and I nearly come just from that. “You’re such a dirty little thing.” 

After a few more licks at my clit, I come all over his face and start shaking above him. My legs feel like jello and I don’t even know how I’m going to move from the position. “I could make you come on my face like that all fucking day, such a great thing to wake up to.” Harry realizes my weak legs and he runs his calloused hands over my hips and down my thighs. “You still want me to fuck you? Show you how much I’ve missed being deep in your little cunt?”  

“Yes. Please, I need you inside me.” Harry reaches up and wraps his hand around my throat. Before I can even comprehend the fact that his long fingers, that I came around earlier, are around my neck he pushes me off his chest and down to the bed beside him. 

Instinctively, my legs part for him and he gladly slides between them. His dick slides between my slick lips, tip lightly touching my still aching clit. “I can’t wait til I slip right into you.” Harry presses a light kiss to my lips, trailing them over to my cheek, across my jawline, and down my neck. As he goes further down, sucking light bruises into the skin of my breasts, he pinches my chin and turns my head until I’m watching us in the mirror. “But you gotta keep your eyes on me.” 

“But-” 

He climbs up my body, and whispers in my ear, “Listen to me, Em. Be a good girl and listen to me, okay?” 

“O-okay.” My body shivers, hearing him call me my name during sex is everything I didn’t think I needed, but now it’s all I want. Harry trails my body in kisses again and this time I keep my eyes on him in the mirror. He buries his face into my cleavage, licking, kissing, and sucking my skin, leaving his mark behind. His large hands take in both of my breasts when he starts giving my stomach the same attention. 

“Are you dripping yet for me? Do you think I could slip right in?” 

“I don’t know. I guess you could always find out.” I tease. Harry turns his head and looks at me in the mirror. He takes in the smirk on my face and shakes his head while biting his lip. 

“I love that mouth of yours,” Fingertips trace the outline of my lips, taunting me, “but I think I can find a different use for it.” Now fully hovering me, he grabs my hips and wraps my legs around his waist. “I want to hear those pretty little noises you make.” Sitting up on his knees, Harry holds my hip with one hand while lining his cock up to my entrance. “You think you can do that for me? Can you tell me how good I’m fucking you?” 

“Yes, Harry. Just please, fuck-” Before I finish my sentence, Harry is already pushing into me, stretching my pussy out just for him. We both moan out at the feeling, and my nails dig into his abs. Red angry marks are left over the ink of his butterfly tattoo and I wish I had the time to admire the marks I made. 

“Yeah, that’s good.” Harry finally sinks into me all the way and both of his hands are now gripping my hips with a fierce strength. “Mark me like that, baby. Mark me however you want.” 

When my nails dig into his biceps he hisses and starts fucking into my relentlessly. Harry thursts into me while also using his grip on me to fuck my cunt onto his cock. The sound of our skin slapping against each other and the pleasure we are giving each other fills the room. 

I find myself thankful that he kicked everyone out. Usually in these situations I find myself faking the moans, the pleasure, on my face, and the way my body is moving, but with him everything is natural. 

I look at us in the mirror, with Harry now hovering over me and whimpering my name over and over again in my ear. His back muscles bulge and claim my attention as he fucks into me, deep and slow. His pelvis stimulates my clit every time he pushes deeper in me and I reluctantly take my eyes off him to throw my head back in pleasure. 

“Takin’ me so good, Em.” He captures my lips in a kiss and our tongues clash. “I’m gonna need you again, but next time I want you all to myself.” Harry picks up in pace and I can barely hear him over the sound of my own moans. “Just for us, no one else.” 

“I-I think I like the sound of that.” I clench down around his dick that’s soaked in my arousal and I feel the ache in my  stomach, begging me for a release. 

“But you like getting fucked in front of people, don’t you? You like getting fucked like the slut that you are?” He’s so close to my ear that no one will be able to hear his words in the video, but I can and it’s making me drip past him and onto the bed sheets. 

If I answer him I know it would be loud, so all I do is nod. Harry slips out of me and I whimper at the empty feeling. It doesn’t last too long though, because Harry flips me around till I’m laying on my stomach and quickly fills me up again. 

“I wish I could fuck you in every position, but you feel too good squeezing me.” The tip of his dick massages directly into my g-spot with every thrust he gives me and I bite the pillow to subside my screams. “Nuh uh,” Harry wraps my hair around his hand and tugs my face to the side so I’m looking at the mirror.  “Need to see the pretty face as you come.” 

The grip on my hair is released and placed back on my hips to angle them upwards. I slip my hand between my legs and rub lazy circles into my clit. The small stimulation pushes me over the edge, and by the way Harry’s face scrunches up and the deep moans escaping him I know my own orgasm caused his. 

Breathlessly he falls forwards; forehead resting against the space between my shoulder blades. We stay like that for a while, catching our breaths and taking in each other. Harry kisses the skin of my back repeatedly as I sink into the sheets with him still inside me. 

“Well, Em. I think we made a good video.” 

[aannonn]

⭑.ᐟ˚⭐彡 // bold text , strong colors , spoilers

A TLDR about the podcast for those who don't really want to watch the whole 1 hour and a half video !! :> ( I had posted it here before but I deleted it cause I wanted to wait a bit until I finally 'completed' it (technically speaking 'cause I'm only really making a TLDR at what my brain stuck onto or else I may get burnout. (っ °Д °;)っ) so I wouldn't have to edit this post every time . . lol ... feel free to add anything else in the reblogs/notes though !! ^ _ ^ )

The Most Successful Stick Animator in the WORLD Ft. Alan Becker - Dojocast Ep.6

。─ ⭐ Animation vs. Animator/Minecraft Stuff !!

° . They have been working on AvA 11 for over a year ;; 20 minutes long ;; Probably the biggest one they have ever worked on ;; They are doing their best to push it as early as they can , possibly around early december or even late november // { 54:07 }

° . They have a Minecraft Short being worked on about BedWars ;; This one's been really complicated since they are using real Minecraft acting with stickfigures // { 54:56 }

° . Next thing coming up is a Three-Part series about Green ;; It's a surprise. lol // { 55:40 }

° . AvA is going to be atleast Three seasons ;; As long as AvA and Minecraft are popular they are gonna keep going // { 57:08 }

° . King Orange used to be King Gray for a long time ;; Alan was considering to make him a light purple for a while // { 58:10 }

° . Alan's favorite is The Second Coming // { 1:06:36 }

° . Alan had different ideas for the 'fight scene in the box // { 1:19:29 }

° . Animator vs. Animation was originally supposed to be a trilogy ;; At the end of AvA3, everyone was supposed to die ;; His senior year college Teacher, who knew about his animations, gave him the idea to continue the series // { 16:45 }

。─ ⭐ Alan Becker's Production Team & Other Stuff !!

° . Alan's biggest inspiration was his lead animator; Terkoiz = The same one who worked on AvPhysics // { 1:00:07 }

° . Alan is the lead creative ; Hatena is the line producer ; There are three project leads = One takes care of AvA , One takes care of AvM , One takes care of Everything Else ; The animators are not segmented into only a certain series , they work on everything based on their skill set ; Also a Production Assistant that helps Hatena takes notes // { 1:02:34 }

° . An advice for any animators struggling to break into the industry/studios be it Indie or major ones : TLDR: The best thing you can do as an Independent artist is post your work as much as you can, and eventually opportunities will land and you have to take them as they come. You have to put yourself out there; Get yourself into as many doors as possible, and just get to know everyone. // { 1:07:29 }

° . They got inspiration from BoxOfCrayons' Voices Plus Faces !! // { 1:15:27 }

° . Alan made Animation vs. Animator 1-4 completely on his own. ;; Animation vs. Minecraft was when he decided to experiment in having a team of animators, and he did it with the diamond armour as it was an extremely tedious process (he taught 5 animators to do that). ;; in Animation vs. Youtube, Stone and Oxob were the first two animators he trusted to animate stickfigures. // { 27:45 }

° . ABTV is basically a loop compilation of all the AvA/M videos they ever made ;; They are trying to make it fun by adding little transitions between the episodes like "you're watching ABTV !! ^0^" ;; Eventually it'll get to every single transition between episodes; Is unique // { 48:44 }

[redbatchedcumbermayned]

It all started under a duvet held up by an oar

Not so long ago I emailed Chris Tester, the voice of Heinrix van Calox in Owlcat’s recently released CRPG Rogue Trader, and asked if he would like to sit for an interview with me. Having some experience in interviewing people I like, most famously Oscar winner and all-around sweetheart Eddie Redmayne, this was not a completely nerve-wracking endeavour. And within a day of sending my email, Chris said yes. And what a pleasure it was interviewing him: Chris was so generous with his time, that the agreed upon 30 minutes turned into 50 minutes as we brushed upon many topics from his start as a theatre actor to his first voice-over role in a video game to his recently discovered hobby of playing D&D. Of course, we also spoke about all things Warhammer 40k, his new found fame brought on by voicing Heinrix and the insights he could share about the character.

I will publish this interview in three parts over the next week in text form and with the accompanying audio file (the audio quality is not spectacular but tumblr limits uploads to 10MB). If you quote or reshare, please quote me as the original source.

Part 2 of the interview

Part 3 of the interview

Fran: Thank you very much for taking your time.

Chris Tester: That's no problem. No problem at all.

F: So then let's start. You graduated in 2008.

CT: I did. Yes.

F: You started out as a stage actor. Did you always want to become a stage actor or an actor in general? Tell us a bit about your career.

CT: I always wanted to be a stage actor. Yes, as soon as I knew that I wanted to be an actor, which probably wasn't until I was a teenager. But yeah, my first passion was always the stage, and that was kind of borne out in my career. I would have been open to TV and film of course, if it had come along, I'm a huge fan of TV and film as well, but I never got an audition for any TV or film work.

I think I literally did about three short films in my 10, 12 years of actually professionally acting, and it is one of those industries where the more you do of one thing, the more you seem to find yourself doing the same thing to a degree. So yes, watching Shakespeare from an early age was one of my first passions.

And that was what first planted the seed of wanting to do it myself. The whole aspect of live performance is still something that I'm very passionate about. Up until 2020, when the world changed, I was trying to do two or three theatre shows a year, but since 2020, I haven't been near a stage and I doubt right now, especially with the way that the UK theatre scene is going, that I'm going to be back on stage anytime soon. I am resigned to that, but at some point in my career, I know I will be on stage again, because I can't live without it, but only for the right thing, both financially, but more importantly, creatively.

F: Your production company is currently on hiatus?

CT: I was the producer of a theatre company, which was run and was the baby of the director of the company, a guy called Ross Armstrong, who's one of the most talented writers and directors that I've ever worked with. I was helping out with a lot of the administration stuff so that he could still put me in plays. Instead of creating my own work because I'm not a very good writer or the best writer in the world, I support those people who will write me good parts. So yes, it is currently on hiatus, but never say never, we would always be looking to get back. It's difficult right now. It's difficult for all of us, because arts council subsidy, that way of being able to fund stuff, is drying up. We were doing a national tour of the UK when we were doing that [with the support of a subsidy]. There's even less money, there's even more people. I won't bore you with anything more than that, but it's kind of tough. We'd like to come back, but in the right way, and that's tricky to negotiate.

F: It's always hard as a stage actor to earn a living.

CT: Well, I've been spoiled by voice-over as well, and whereas when I was in my 20s and 30s then you're all about your art. And of course, I'm still all about my art, but I'm also about my wife and my cat and the mortgage and the bills and wanting to have nicer things to a degree as well. I've come to terms with that and voice-over does facilitate that as well as it opens you up to different roles and working with different people. So, I can't complain.

F: It's quite similar with making a living as a writer, because with a steady income you get used to a certain standard of living and once you have obligations and bills to pay, I think the stress on your mental health being creative and having all the stresses of regular life thrust upon you brings with it a challenge.

CT: It's a cliche we can very easily fall into: if I'm suffering, then it means I'm an artist. And that's not necessarily very true. It very often means that the art that we create only reflects one aspect of our lives, and it's usually a very tortured one. I am also about having wider experiences and broadening myself out. Whereas I think when I was in my twenties, I was thinking a bit more like: Oh, I'll experience the world and life through my art and just purely through my art. Whereas now necessarily I need to have a life outside of it as well, and then I can justify like I have the life so that I can feed my art or not, whatever. You know, I'll be a better artist by having a bit of a life outside of it. Maybe.

F: But that's what your twenties are for.

CT: Yeah, indeed.

F: Doing the crazy stuff, doing the band stuff 

CT: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, there was certainly an aspect of that in my twenties.

F: So, what brought you to voice acting or voice-over work initially?

CT: Money. Video game stuff is kind of sexy and cool, and I'm a gamer, so that's important. Before I was a video gamer, I was a board gamer and off the back of that, I was a voracious video gamer, partly because I wasn't very good at team sports at school. I was always the person who was picked last in the football team. So that becomes part of your identity for better or worse. But video games, I was pretty good at, not amazing, but I was pretty good at, and I enjoyed it. And it gave me a different form of escapism as well, and off the back of that I always had an interest in them. 

So, the very first voiceover job was a video game: Dark Souls, which is quite a big franchise. At that time, I was your very typically jobbing actor. My acting agent came in and said: I got something for you. And so, I went in with that. But it was only in 2016, 2017 that I realised it was something that you could actually do yourself. People had recording studios at home and they were contacting people directly, not just going through agents. Because I'd basically written to the same 20 voice agents in the UK, mainly in London for like eight years in a row and not received anything. So, you keep knocking on those doors hoping. 

Before I'd even graduated from drama school, I'd burnt a CD and made these cases with my headshot on it and sent them all off at what at the time felt like great personal expense and didn't get anything for eight years in a row.  So, I was a bit like, I'm obviously doing something wrong, but I don't really know what, because I'm doing these workshops and getting good feedback. Then I found out through a couple of online courses, that there were ways and means of doing it myself, and that was a bit of a game changer for me, and within six months of having started, I was earning more through voice work than the bar job and the box office job that I was doing combined. Within six months, I was kind of like: “I gotta quit because I'm actually holding myself back from things.” So that was quite a big shift.

F: Somewhere you said, you started out under a duvet and with an oar.

CT: Yeah. On my website, I do have an image of it. [Dear reader, I could not locate this elusive photo] I literally had to take the duvet off my bed and put it into the living room, which was the quietest space in my then shared flat. I also had to wait until after one flat mate had watched TV and another one had used the table that had their washing on it. One of my flat mates had stolen an oar from some night out and that was perfect in order to be able to erect it over my head and the duvet as a frame. 

I did probably the first four or five months of voice recording like that. Probably about 10, 15 voiceover jobs that I actually got paid for, I was using that because it worked well enough. Since then, I've gone through various different iterations of a setup in the bedroom, to a setup in the hallway, to my current setup. In 2020 we moved to our first house, and this is the spare bedroom which I've had converted into a studio, which means my cat can be here asleep on me or near me getting fur everywhere, but it's fine. I can thrash around and I've got natural light to work in at the same time, which I find quite important. [Pictured below Chris' current setup.]

F: Very pretty. That's good. Guide us through a typical day of yours, if you like.

CT: Oh, sure. I mean, there is no typical day. And yet, and yet, and yet. A typical day for me is, because I am spending the vast majority of the day sitting in this room or somewhere close to this room, because I may need to record at short notice, because the vast majority of jobs are quite short notice. My priority is exercise for mental health more than anything. I've got some weights at the bottom of the garden, and I will get up first thing, and I will go there and I will do that after breakfast. And that's my minimal routine of physical activity done. 

And then I'll come back, and this is so rock and roll. Now what I do is, I spend like an hour on LinkedIn. And that's what you dreamed of as a creative person. Isn't it as an actor? I spend time on LinkedIn regularly every day, because it's a really good networking place for a lot of my types of work, and first thing in the morning, I'm a bit mentally sharper. So that's when I come up with a quick post that may be inspired by a bit of content that I've made elsewhere. That probably takes about 20 minutes and then I spend another 45 minutes to an hour engaging with people and saying hi and introducing myself and asking questions, whether that's with video producers or game developers or documentary makers or pretty much anything and everything. There are a lot of people who are active at that time. And so I do it.

And then after that, if I already have some recording lined up, then I'll prioritise mid-morning, because I've warmed up physically a bit more then, and I'm focused. So, you're going through the scripts, annotating the scripts, recording the scripts, editing the scripts. But then there could be live sessions at any time within that as well. I try to keep hours from nine till six. But occasionally, like with Rogue Trader, that was recorded at various different times of the day because we had people in New York, we had people in mainland Europe, and we had people in the UK. So all different time zones, so that can happen at any time. 

And then I try to do other kinds of bits and pieces of marketing whenever I've got free time to. I do use really exciting productivity hacks, like time blocking. Again, not something that as a creative individual, I was like: Oh God, this gets me so excited, because it doesn't, but it works. It's finding a system that works for you, but still has a certain kind of flexibility and fluidity. I'm trying to make sure that I get outside of the house, and that kind of stuff. 

Recently, over the last year, I’ve started doing audiobooks as well. That long form type of thing is quite nice to be able to dip into because sometimes you don't record for two, three days. You don't get the work. Nothing’s coming in. So, you’re marketing, but it kind of connects you back to the performance side of things to go: I can do a few chapters and you know, that kind of thing. So that's probably it. I try to formalise it, but you know, every voice actor’s day is radically different. There are people, some of the biggest names, going into different studios every week or every day. I very rarely, despite being based in London, I very rarely go into external studios. Like I would say 99 percent of the work I just do from home.

F: So how do you find the right voice for the specific type of voiceover work you do, maybe start with how did you find Heinrix's voice?

CT: Thankfully, Owlcat sent through quite a detailed casting breakdown. So, you get a picture, and that's pretty crucial, as well as a short bio, in terms of the background of the character, but not too much, because you have to sign an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement. But even if you do sign an NDA, I think developers are always slightly hesitant of giving you too much info about the game because things could still be changed. But I think I did get a picture of Heinrix, if not in the first audition, then certainly on the second one. From that you immediately think about the physicality and what might affect the voice, and there was also some direction in terms of what they were looking for. Anybody who has heard the character and me, they do not sound radically dissimilar. There's not a transformative process that I needed to go through, other than his sense of authority and the space that he takes up and the sureness that he has in that he has a kind of divine right from the emperor, so that level of confidence being brought through.

The other part of the audition was about the void ship [the Black Ship] that he'd been raised in and the horrors that he'd seen. And you as the actor have to do the detective work to go like this is showing another side, the more vulnerable side, the side that underpins all of his life choices up to this point. It's essentially playing the opposite to a degree. So it was kind of knowing when to let those elements bleed through a little bit. I think I had probably about a page worth of scripts, quite a lot of script actually to audition with. 

But I don't like to listen back to it a lot, because I think you get into your head. My biggest thing is stage work where it's ephemeral. You say it once and it could be different the next night. The whole point is that there's no one definitive way of doing things. Not quite the same with voice acting, where it's being recorded and you've got to get used to hearing it back. But I try not to overthink it. Just like record it two or three times with different impulses and then review and go like, those two seem pretty contrasting. I'll send those along and hope and then never hear anything back unless I do.

[intoanotherworld23]

His Behind The Camera II

Pairing: Reader x Joel Miller

Warnings: MATURE CONTENT NSFW 18+ ONLY, there is smut in this, oral, female oral receiving, drinking, mentions of porn, adult films, swear words

Length: 2200+ words

Summary: It’s a life that you never thought you’d have, but you’re desperate and you need the money. That’s how you get into the adult film industry, and your first movie is with the devastatingly handsome Joel Miller

Check out my other works on my Hall Of Hunks

Part 1

The schedules were out and it looks like you were already scheduled with Joel. What seems to be multiple times too. Which made your heart skip a beat at the thought.

Guess the ratings went through the roof with you two. Apparently yours and Joel’s video was the most watched video in one night. It made you feel good hearing people were already in love with you.

You really mind doing the rest of your films with Joel anyway, but they told you it didn't work like that. In the world of adult film you had to make movies with people you weren't interested in.

Although you really were looking forward to doing another film with Joel. It had your lips feeling numb, and the tips of your fingers tingling.

Laying on the couch watching random shows you heard a loud knock on the door. Muting the television as you stood up to go see who was at the door.

You weren't expecting anyone nor did you know anybody else in the city. Maybe it was the wrong door, and they didn't realize it. This was someone you didn't expect though to be standing on the other side with a huge smile.

"Joel." You stated looking him up and down. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I would drop by and come see you." Shoving his hands in his pockets as you stood there shocked.

"How did you find out where I lived?" Scrunching your eyebrows at him.

"The office gave it to me." He said like it was no big deal. "I hope that's okay."

A part of you wanted to say yes it did bother you, but you were afraid you would then lose him. Not wanting to risk that you put on a big smile and welcomed him in.

"Of course not it just surprised me."

He walked in as you shut the door behind him. He looked around checking the place out making you a little nervous. Feeling a little unprepared at his unexpected visit. Licking your teeth with your tongue, and smoothing your hair down.

"Nice place you got here." He complimented and you just nodded.

"Is there something you needed?" Asking out of curiosity crossing your arms underneath your breasts.

"Not really I just thought we could hang out." His voice became soft making you feel bad for sounding harsh for his drop by.

"Sorry I just didn't expect you would want to see me outside of work." You choked out the last word. "If that's what you call it."

"No I'm sorry I should have asked if this was okay." He seemed nervous almost like he didn't know how to act.

"It's actually nice to have some company." You smiled to whir he returned. "Since I don't know anybody here."

"Well let's get this party started." He hollered clapping his hands together making you laugh.

"Party for just two people?" Raising an eyebrow.

"Even better." He wiggled his eyebrows at you making your cheeks heat up.

The two of you talked for quite some time about each other. You got to find out that he had a brother and two sisters. He grew up normally from you understood.

Admitting he loved sex and the feeling it always have him, so he decided to get paid to have sex. He started off as a low ranking actor who only got small roles in commercials. He wasn't happy with his life so he made the decision, and he's glad that he did.

Afraid to tell his family what he was doing for the past year, but they accepted him still anyway. It was never brought up whenever he came home for holidays though.

When he did mention sex though the air around the two of you became heavy. It was like there was always this pull towards him you couldn't control. It was intoxicating but also very dangerous.

The way he looked into your eyes and just stared had your heart beating so fast. It was getting hard to swallow the longer you were talking with him. You started to feel that pressure between your legs again. Clenching your thighs together to help ease the ache.

"You got anything to drink around here?" He asked as he stood up.

"Yeah I'll get it." You told him making him sit back down as you headed to the kitchen. "I've got water, soda, tea, vodka, whiskey, tequila you name it I've got it."

"I'll take tequila." With a nod you stood in the kitchen and grabbed a cup with some ice.

Grabbing the bottle you stood with your back to him. You could feel his eyes on you the whole time. Suddenly the room became very quiet and tense. Holding the bottle in your hand it sounded like something moved behind you.

Slowly pouring the liquid into the glass you felt a warm body standing right behind you. Keeping your head down as your breathing became shallow.

As if time was slowing down feeling him press right up against your figure. Your eyes focusing on the still empty glass. Unable to move or feel like you could even breath.

Feeling his hot breath fanning across your neck making the hairs on your skin stand straight. His arms wrapped around your waist as he pulled your body back against his. Dropping the bottle back onto the counter.

His lips softly grazing your exposed neck kissing the skin making you moan. The stubble on his face rubbing against your shoulder as he moved his lips around your neck and shoulder. Your hard nipples pushing painfully against your shirt.

"God I want you so bad." He growled into your ear making you close your eyes.

Leaning your head back against his chest as you let him take over. His touch was so gentle but sensual at the same time. If you weren't wet before you were right now.

"I got to feel how tight that pussy was for me." His left hand moved down your hips moving towards your front. "Now I want a taste."

Gasping as your felt his warm hand reach inside your sweatpants cupping your pussy. His mouth open slightly as he felt how soaked you had become cause of him.

"Fuck baby all for me?"

He teased as his pointer and middle finger rubbed up and down your folds. Hearing the sound of your wet pussy as he slid his fingers down.

Feeling yourself moving your hips around to get more of a feel for his fingers. Chuckling into your ear at how easily he could control you.

"Such a dirty little slut." That was the first time he's called you that, and you loved it.

His other hand gripped your hip as he twirled you around to face him. Sticking the same two fingers that were just inside you into his mouth. Groaning against his fingers as licked your juices off.

Standing there in awe that a man could make you feel this way. Something as simple as licking his fingers had you wanting to bend over this counter.

Grabbing you swiftly as he placed you on top of the counter making you squeal. Maintaining eye contact with you the whole time as he gripped your pants, pulling them down your legs, throwing them to the side.

"Little pussy all wet for me."

He spoke as he looked down between your legs. Your pussy glistening in his view making him lick his lips.

Getting down on his knees as he spread your legs apart by keeping his hands on your ankles. Keeping yourself balanced by leaning on your hands.

He started to kiss from your ankle all the way up to your inner thigh. Every other kiss he would glance up at you to see how crazy he was driving you. Your mouth was opened as shallow breaths left your lungs.

His mouth was inches from your folds, and you found yourself lifting your hips just wanting to feel his tongue. He chuckled at your eagerness, and instead of teasing you more he placed his entire mouth on your wet folds.

Leaning your head back as you moaned out loud. Sticking his tongue out so he could slowly lick you from the bottom of your pussy to your clit that was now poking out.

"Oh fuck Joel." Moaning louder than you intended, but it just felt too good.

Doing that movement over and over again. He started to draw figure eights against your folds. Teasingly sticking his tongue inside you very fast quickly pulling it out making you gasp.

"You taste even sweeter than you look." He groaned as he licked your pussy again.

It was hot to hear him talk about you like this while he was on his knees. You've never felt more powerful than where you were sitting right now.

His tongue was moving faster this time as he rapidly moved it up and down against your pussy. Flicking his tongue around your clit making your squeal as you gripped his hair. He loved how sensitive you were.

"God yes lick my pussy Joel." Those words were enough motivation for him to turn into the animal he was meant to be.

For several minutes he kept the same pattern and rhythm up without breaking a beat. Your hands went from gripping his hair to gripping the edge of the counter. Unable to control your body or hands anymore.

"Feel my tongue baby." He encouraged you not to think too much and just feel. "Imagine my cock."

He then would trace circles around your clit for a few seconds, and then slurp your pussy. He was eating you out like you were legit his favorite meal, and he couldn't get enough of you.

He kept that same movement up until he felt your legs shaking against his hands. Burying his face between your legs as he stuck his tongue inside of you growling when he felt your insides clenching around his tongue.

"That's it sweet baby." He cooed up at you as he maintained his eye contact with what was between your legs. "Feed me."

Looking down to see his mouth practically swallowing your entire pussy. Grinding your hips against his face trying to feel more of his tongue. His hands keeping a grip on your knees to keep you open and spread for him.

Feeling your lower stomach tightening you knew you were seconds away from cumming on his face. Your moans filling the room you were glad at this moment you didn't have a roommate otherwise that would have been embarrassing.

"Ugh yes right there." Encouraging him to not lose the spot that had you seeing stars.

Joel knew you were close as his mouth left your pussy and started to suck on your now swollen clit making you scream. Your legs were shaking and your eyes were rolling into the back of your head.

"God yes yes yes." Squealing through your tightly bit teeth.

Making eye contact with him as you felt your orgasm swiftly approaching you. His tongue felt so good you could stay like this forever. You were never one to be eaten out like this, but if he were the one doing it all the time you wouldn't mind it.

"Cum around my face baby." He commanded you as he stuck his tongue back in your pussy.

At the same time he moved one of his hands so his fingers could flick your clit as well. It was like a fire was being ignited inside of you, and you were about to lose control.

Your senses were becoming overwhelmed and your body was basically grinding against him and the counter. Feeling the urge to pee you kept trying to push his head away from you but he stayed right where he was.

"Shit I'm gonna cum Joel."

You moaned almost as a warning but that only encouraged him to move his tongue and fingers faster.

Joel moved his hands then to your hips when he felt your pussy squeezing around his tongue. He knew you were close, and he planned to bring you to your orgasm. Your thighs clenching around his head as you tried not to suffocate him.

Your stomach tightening as you felt your release hitting you quickly. Joel swallowed every last drop of you and he groaned loudly as he did it. Your body started to relax when you were coming down from you high. 

"Sweet holy Jesus." You panted as you felt a drop of sweat roll down your back.

Joel stood up as he kept his hands on your hips. A layer of your arousal covering the scruff around his lips. Taking his fingers and wiping it off then sticking those fingers inside of his mouth groaning at the taste of you.

You sat there out of breath and satisfied. He looked across your face to make sure you were okay. Once you weakly smiled at him he placed his lips against yours, and you could taste yourself on his tongue.

Placing your hands on his hips as the two of you made out on top of the counter. It was like he couldn't get enough of you, and had to feel every inch of your body.

"Next time you're sitting on my face."

He joked as he poured himself a drink shooting the whole glass smirking when he set the glass down.

“Is that a threat or a promise?”

“It’s a promise sweetheart.” Coming back over to you grabbing your face in his hands kissing you deeply.

[heymeowmao]

2024.11.03 - https://weibo.com/l/wblive/p/show/1022:2321325096691572277348

- /no luck with the AV settings, it seems. off to a great start./ LYN: Blame it on the fact that I haven’t streamed in too long. I’m sorry, excuse me. - /fixes it, sort of/ LYN: This still looks like it won’t do. Is- is this thing messing with me?? Can you only see one half? I think the aspect ratio is wrong. Let me work on it. No rush. /sigh/ I’m speechless. Maybe it’s because I haven’t used it in so long. - /crowdsourcing for help XD/ C: It sounds like we’re in a water drain. LYN: Hold on. Why don’t you wait for me- when I’m done fixing the settings I’ll turn it back on. - LYN: I haven’t streamed in so long that I’ve gotten rusty. I haven’t planned well, but I have just contacted some weibo staff in the hopes that they will impart their wisdom to me. They’ve told me to restart the video, so I’ve done that and it seems fixed. Is the sound ok now? There’s no more echo, right? Can you hear the music? You can. And the laughter? Ok, perfect. Today’s stream will go extremely smoothly. LYN: I’m sweating. LYN: Let me once again welcome you all to my stream. Welcome, everyone! I am seeing you all on this Sunday night. Welcome in. LYN: For the last stream I used a vertical view but everyone said that horizontal was better so I’ve switched back but what I didn’t account for was the issue with the settings, but that’s all been fixed now.

C: Congrats on breaking 1 million (views). LYN: Congrats, indeed. Of course, this is due to the efforts of the cast, crew, and viewers. Thank you, everyone. LYN: I saw yesterday that ZLS was working hard to get a lot of her friends to promote the drama. I saw many different posts from everyone around the industry in support of ZLYM. She’s worked really hard on this, and even /I/ wanted to make a post for her. It would say: “Friends, let’s watch  ZLS’s drama ZLYM together.” I also count as one of her good friends in this industry, right? I wanted to get in on the fun. But then I was afraid that if I did people would accuse me of being dramatic (getting himself involved so that people talk about him). I wanted to post, “Support ZLYM, quickly start watching it!” But then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be proper, so I reconsidered and did not make a post about it. LYN: I’ve learned to restrain myself. I’ve been cursed at so much in the past year that now I’m cautious and timid. If this were me a few years ago, I would promote it to the extreme. But now I’ve started acting as the male lead in dramas, and the ratings so far have been pretty decent, so… as a male lead I need to be more honorable/proper. I don’t want to stir anything up.

10:26 C: Boss, may I go to the upper decks*? LYN: You must thank the *heavenly realm. For letting me meet you. - [t/n: 上舱 = shàng cāng = upper deck; 上苍 = shàng cāng = “upper realm” = heaven ] LYN: /YZJ voice/ Stay on the lower decks! - C: I want to be your personal attendant. LYN: Oh, you must have seen up to today’s ep. (e7), right? YZJ gave DW two choices: 1. Come to the upper deck to be YZJ’s personal attendant, serving only me. YZJ didn’t get to finish, but DW chose the second option. But the second option was to… get hit. I’m speechless. LYN: You want to be on the upper deck? Oh- I don’t need you, though. The upper decks are full. There are no more beds left on the upper deck. Kang Ju sleeps on one, and his cane takes up another. I don’t have any more spaces, so how about you see if you can bunk with someone else? - C: Are there other jobs on the ship? LYN: You mean, other than my personal attendant? There are cleaners, aren’t there? And cooks, and… there are lots of jobs. Putting wood in the furnace (engine?), steering the ship, etc. LYN: /sigh/ Forget about it.

13:35 C: Ge, are there cockroaches on your ship? (蟑螂 = zhāngláng) LYN: /laughs/ No cockroaches, but Zhang-langjun (郎君) (Zhang Jinran) is there. LYN: Oh, Tang Xiaotian is here. Zhang-langjun is here, I saw him in the comments! Report him to management! Oh, we can’t? Zhang-langjun is here, let’s welcome him. LYN: It’s such a coincidence, isn’t it. A lot of things are just bound to happen- they’re determined by fate. Who would have thought that we were just talking about Zhang Jingran- a very handsome scholar, a poet, well-liked and kind, who is helpful to others, talented, handsome and taller than me! Such a handsome fellow, and people are calling him “Zhang-langjun.” - t/n: “Master Zhang”, but can also be interpreted as “Mister Cockroach” depending on where you put the hyphen. LYN: We said this during our livestream the other day, too. When we were shooting and had to call his name- “Zhanglang-jun.” We had already thought of this joke but I didn’t think that the viewers caught on as well. Such a coincidence! Then, I went to shoot at Hi6- also to promote for ZLYM- I had gone as an actor of the ZLYM crew. That slipper… the crew chose it for me. I didn’t choose it myself! When I had gone backstage to change there already weren’t that many selections left, so they suggested I wear the slipper and even asked me if I had any idol baggage. I said, “It’s fine, I can wear whatever. It’s all good. Let me wear the slipper.” At the time I recorded the variety show, the drama hadn’t started airing yet. So… it was just fate’s plan. I didn’t think I would be the slipper, but in the end I became the cockroach’s nemesis. LYN: Welcome, TXT. My “qiáng”. Why is he my “qiáng”? He had sent me a message earlier that read: “What do you mean that I’m your “qiáng”?” I thought about it the whole day- I just got off the plane and was on my way here when he replied with that. I was thinking about it and it’s because zhāngláng = xiǎo qiáng. [t/n: 蟑螂 (zhāngláng) = cockroach; a common online word referring to cockroaches uses the words '小强' (xiǎo qiáng) (little strong); even cockroaches get cutesy nicknames.]

17:53 LYN: Let me ask him if he wants to come on. // If video is not convenient for you, just audio is fine, too. LYN: TXT, I sent you a text message. Take a look at it.

LYN: You’re saying that Li Bofan is here? Oh- welcome, Bofan! [songwriter] C: Change the song. LYN: I’m playing songs in my own stream, and you want me to change it? /sigh/ There’s two possibilities with this friend: 1. They have high standards for music. They must have heard the previous song too much and it’s annoying them, so they want me to change it to something better. The other possibility is 2. They say that Li Bofan is here, so they want me to play this song. LYN: LBF- Start crying! //  I’m joking!! (x3) I shouldn’t be touching his scars. -- 努力的人 (Hardworking People) [written by LBF]

LYN: He said that I haven’t turned on the “join livestream” feature. Let me turn it on for him. Okay- now it’s on. Hold on- I’m streaming on my computer, so- It should work! I’m on my computer. I’ve fixed it now, its on. / Oh- you’re eating? Okay, audio is fine. LYN: Then why don’t we just do a voice call from here (phone)? It’ll save you the trouble of connecting to the stream… // Because I’m streaming from my computer I can’t see the join request. Hold on. Let me see… Maybe we just connect via phone.  LYN: /talking to someone offscreen/ I know it’ll come through the phone, but he hasn’t sent the request. Has he? No- what are all of YOU requesting to join for?? Stop messing around. I’m going to reject your requests! If you’re in the queue then TXT doesn’t have a space! Cancel your requests and stop messing with me. LYN: How long will it take me to find… /scrolling/. Wait- I can just invite him.

23:03 - /trouble getting started/ LYN: Okay! Let me interview you a bit. You now have the very resounding nickname of “Mr. Cockroach”- what do you think of it? TXT: /laughing/ I think this shows the viewer’s love for our drama. I was called “Laobing-ge” in a different drama, before. LYN: Do you mind it? TXT: No, because everyone has their own ways of expressing their love for something. I think it’s great, as long as we have the love in the first place. LYN: That’s fine, then. Thank you, also, for sacrificing so much for our drama. (being called Mr. Cockroach) TXT: No, no. It’s my pleasure. LYN: Are you eating? TXT: Yes, some Hunan cuisine and it’s so spicy. LYN: Okay. Well, do you want to say “hi” to everyone, and let them know if there’s anything they can look forward to in the drama coming up? TXT: Oh, they CAN hear us talking? Then I should blow my nose… LYN: Yeah, they can hear clear as day. Did you think we were talking privately, making secret phone calls? TXT: Oh. Well we’re on 8 episodes today, and- I won’t talk about myself, but I’m sure that people are seeing that YZJ is secretly teaching DW all these survival tactics and that he cares about her. ZJR continues to unhesitatingly help DW, but… Ning-ge will probably show a lot more change, so I hope everyone continues to watch and support. There’s more to the plot waiting for you. LYN: :) Honestly, I think that ZJR’s character is quite charismatic and he’s helped out a lot on the journey. He’s very upstanding. In the later episodes my relationship with him will undergo some changes, as well. Also! I saw a funny video today- the part where you were being pursued by killers and you took a rock to slam on their feet. TXT: /laughs/  LYN: Did you see that? TXT: Yeah, and someone had commented that they feel sorry for the killers. LYN: I saw a comment that almost made me die from laughter. TXT: I think I saw it, too. LYN: The comment said, “I’m a patient with severe paronychia* and I can’t bear to watch this image. It sincerely hurts to look at.” [*nail inflammation resulting from trauma, inflammation, or infection] TXT: I hurt, too. I was exercising and two of my nails... LYN: I’ll send that video to you, later. It was so funny. LYN: Friends- you can go find that video. When ZJR is using a rock to smash the bad guy’s feet. TXT: I even replied to that author, I said I was smashing cockroaches. LYN: Oh, you replied? TXT: Yeah. LYN: Okay, well- you eat. Later when you have some time I’ll call you over to come play. TXT: Okay, no problem. Bye, everyone~ Ning-ge, you continue. LYN: You, eat. TXT: Ok! LYN: Everyone, please give TXT some attention and follow him. There are more interesting plots and performances waiting for you. Please pay him some attention. TXT: Bye bye, Ning-ge.

28:00 LYN: Usually I use my computer to livestream, so sometimes connecting with someone is a little difficult. There’s a bit of a delay, which complicates things. Okay. It’s fine. C: What is paronychia? LYN: Go look it up! I won’t be explaining the symptoms and pain of having paronychia to you, here. This joke is the type where if you get it, you get it but it you don’t, then forget it. I don’t know why I have to be explaining this to you, when my drama is airing (and he could be talking about it instead). Along with treatment methods and the harm it brings to the body? What’s the point in me telling you this? To put it plainly, paronychia is when the nail grows into your skin. It hurts a lot. It hurts even when you're not moving, let alone when you’re grabbing a rock to smash feet. It’ll hurt you to death. C: The edges were red and swollen. LYN: Stop talking about it. Let us end this topic about paronychia here, okay? I have a drama airing, so my hope is that we can be talking about ZLYM when people enter the stream, so that they can go and support the drama. But here they are, entering the stream to hear us chatting about paronychia. Is this a side story? The Story of Pearl Girl: Legend of Paronychia??

30:35 C: Turn off the “join livestream” function. LYN: I won’t turn it off just yet. What if the female lead comes in, later? What will it mean that TXT came and I opened the connection, but now that the female lead is here I’ve turned it off? People would be able to hold that against me. There are people hating on our drama already, you want to give them the excuse to say that the male and female leads don’t get along? That’s game over. 

31:25 C: Coconut Chicken. (yēzǐ jī). LYN: Is that the name you’ve come up with for me (Yan Zijing)? Mr. Cockroach is a pure tonal pun, but “Coconut Chicken” is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? I think you’re just here for clout. It’s a little… not so… natural. LYN: If you wanted to call me Swallow Spirit (yànzi jīng), that’d be okay. For example, Fox Spirit, but I am a Swallow Spirit. /sings a bit of a song he associates “swallow” to/

32:26 LYN: Let me tell you- I am someone who is not affected by negative comments. Someone in the chat wrote four words, “the plot is average.” Friends- a normal artist will not respond to such a comment, but I am the type to face difficulties head-on. What type of person do you have to be, to come into one of the actor of this drama’s livestream when we are all having fun, just to say the words, “The plot is average.”?? You’re the type of person who makes a lot of noise online; but in real life- For example: a property just had its grand opening today and they’re celebrating with fireworks, but you walk over cracking melon seeds and just say, “The structure of this building is just average.” Eight security guards will come out of nowhere and beat you up! You really don’t know how to speak. You’re only good for making noise online. In real life, you’d go to a restaurant on its opening day, look at what other people are eating and say, “These dishes were cooked just averagely.” The chef is going to beat you over the head with their ladle. LYN: How annoying! LYN: Also I want to discuss a problem with you. “The plot is average.” If the plot is average, go find the drama crew! Go ask the screenwriter, what are you harassing me for??? You must be sick. Go find the scriptwriter’s weibo account and leave them a message, why are you complaining to me?! I’m just an actor, here to perform, so there’s no use in complaining to me about the plot. If you wanted to say that my acting was mediocre, that, I can accept. But for the plot? You’ve come to the wrong door. Get out. LYN: You’re such a bad person, so annoying. You’re likely to have paronychia. Later you can have Mr. Cockroach go treat it for you. This must be a sever paronychia patient: they’re in pain, so making a fuss will make them feel better. Go have Mr. Cockroach treat you. Follow TXT’s weibo account, as he’s a paronychia doctor. With his miracle rock you won’t ever have to worry about paronychia again. 

36:30 LYN: The stream isn’t lagging. It’s because ZLYM has a promotion group, so I told them that I was going to go back to Beijing, but that I’d maybe do a livestream tonight. I told them about it, and ZLS asked me when I would start streaming, so she can come and send me gifts. I told her that my gifting is closed, and how about she just sends me 66 over WeChat for the ceremony of it and be done with it? So she supported my livestream that way. LYN: I’m kidding! How could I ask her for a red envelope?? I told her that my gifting was closed and she was happy she could save some money. But I told her that when I was streaming, if she had nothing else to do, she could come over and greet everyone. She’s the main lead of our drama, after all. So it would be nice if she could come to chat. She said OK, but that I had to remind her because she’s flying out somewhere tonight, she’s about to get on a plane. LYN: Our entire drama, including the producers and platform are all very attentive towards the promotions of this drama. I’m sure you can see it. We hope that more and more people can be aware of ZLYM, like it, and watch it. I hope it can bring people relaxation or enrich your lives, just a little. C: Lusi is here. LYN: Oh? Let me look- LYN: I realized something embarrassing- which is that when I was connecting to TXT a little earlier, I found out that I wasn’t following him. So when I sent him the invitation to come on my stream, I also subscribed to him as well. LYN: Lusi is here, so let me connect with her. So she can come on and say “hi” to everyone. // ?? What’s her weibo ID?? No- she’s not in here? It’s okay, we’ll wait for her. C: She came, then left. LYN: … Ok, fine. I’m guessing she wanted to spend some money but saw that the gifting option was closed so she went back out. LYN: She’s here now? Okay, she’s here! Oh, my goodness. (sifting through the requests) She’s here. // Um. I sent the request to her, but it’s telling me “Please remind the other part to upgrade Weibo to the latest version.” C: She left to recharge (add money to) her account. LYN: No, she doesn’t need to. LYN: It’s telling her to update to the latest version, so… I’ll invite her again. All she has to do is accept.

42:05 ZLS: What does this mean? What does this mean? LYN: It doesn’t mean anything- it means that we’ve successfully connected. ZLS: Oh, it connected! It told me that I’ve upgraded! This is so professional, Liu-laoshi! I really like connecting like this. This is my first time doing it. LYN: Of course! This is my previous area of expertise! ZLS: This is really professional! I like it. Hello, everyone. “Lao-da, put on some bgm.” Someone needs some music. LYN: Why don’t you greet everyone, first? ZLS: Hello, everyone. LYN: There really is a delay. // It’s okay- you can speak! - /she’s going through a security checkpoint, so they’re asking about the things in her bag/ LYN: Did you see today’s episodes? It’s the treasure hunt, today. ZLS: Last night, I- Oh, no. I haven’t had the time to watch today’s updates. LYN: Mhm. ZLS: I was in a hurry to catch your stream, so I’m happy. LYN: So what you mean is that catching my stream is a little more important than watching the drama? ZLS: It’s more important. Very important. LYN: So my stream has delayed you from watching the drama. ZLS: I said that your stream was more important, right?! LYN: I know- what I mean is that you should watch the drama when it’s time (and not get distracted), so that you can support ZLYM. ZLS: What are you- Okay. Okay, laoshi. LYN: Yesterday I saw that you were working hard and requested a bunch of your good friends to promote the drama, so I was telling everyone that I also wanted to repost and ask people to support your new drama. 

ZLS: Sorry- I need to go through the security check. Let me tell you- sorry, Liu-laoshi- you’ll have to go through the checkpoint. Hold on! Go through the checkpoint, ok? Wait a moment!! LYN: Oh- she’s showing us the inside of an x-ray machine. Now we can so some research on it. She said I’ll have to go through the machine- but I’m holding my phone?? Okay, well. LYN: This might be the first time in my life- I’m sure that while I was being screened, all of you who are watching the stream right now have also been screened. ZLS: Sorry, I’m sorry! Sorry, everyone!! LYN: It’s okay! ZLS: Ten million people have been screened, sorry about that! I had to go through the- but it’s fine now. Sorry, sorry. Otherwise I would have delayed when everyone else is already waiting for me, and then I’d be in trouble. I think-yeah. LYN: Go ahead. ZLS: Everyone is very safe! Everyone went through, so you’re all safe. LYN: /laughing/ Yes, we’re all safe. Thanks for your hard work. On behalf of everyone here I want to tell you that “you’ve worked hard” yesterday to promote the drama. ZLS: Well, you’re the one streaming. And I felt that there was nothing more that I could do. What touched me was that a lot of friends that I don’t talk to that often also helped to promote the drama for me, probably because it was my first time asking them such a thing. And then- because I know that people are busy- and you know that most of the time you have to lighten it by saying “Oh, it’s no problem if you don’t have time. I was only asking.” LYN: “If it’s convenient for you, please help me to promote my drama.” ZLS: Yes, yes. - /talks about someone she only met yesterday, but was very sincere and encouraging/ ZLS: I was happy to see that everyone was willing to help and it felt a lot more meaningful than just a regular drama announcement. LYN: Of course, we’re thankful to all these friends. ZLS: Yes. Thank you, Liu-laoshi. Thanks for your hard work. Thank you to the fans- LYN: Thank YOU for your hard work. ZLS: It’s nothing. I want to thank you and your fans, and my fans, and the actors. We’re all working together to protect the show. I’m thankful that you like the drama.

ZLS: Oh! Your dog popped up! [t/n: a sticker in the comments] LYN: It’s a special effect! ZLS: Daimi!! LYN: Okay, well. You should catch your plane. I won’t disturb you, but it was nice of you to come at the last minute to greet everyone. ZLS: Yes, please support Liu-laoshi’s stream, and thank you everyone! Okay. LYN: You’re using my platform to extend your thanks to everyone, is that it? ZLS: Yes, that’s right. This platform is great! LYN: You can come more often to promote your dramas and I will collect less of a fee from you. ZLS: I think that’s a great idea! We can even join the stream. I think I should just promote my dramas with you in the future. There are a lot more people watching, here. LYN: That’s the truth. I have good equipment here, too. I have BGM! ZLS: Oh, right! You have the laugh track! /lyn plays some bgm/ Wow! LYN: It’s very impressive. You can give it a try next time, okay? You can promote your songs here, too. I can promote everything. ZLS: Ok, sounds good. Thank you. Thank you, Liu-laoshi! I should catch my plane now. LYN: Oh, my. Thank you for coming over and you’re welcome to come play more often. Have a safe flight! ZLS: Ok, ok. Bye! LYN: After you get off the plane, remember to watch ZLYM. Support ZLS. ZLS: Ok, ok. I’ll go and re-post ZLS’s weibo in support of the drama. LYN: /waves/ Okay. ZLS: How do I get out of here?? :) LYN: I’ll do it, I’ll do it.

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51:08 LYN: Ah! Oh, it’s back. Ok. LYN: I think that’s a good direction for the future of my business (having his actor friends join the stream to promote their dramas). LYN: I wasn’t kicked out. - /thanks people again for promoting ZLYM/ LYN: People are so nice, aren’t they? I started streaming and TXT and ZLS both came. TXT’s out there eating, too. But they still came over to be a guest. It makes me happy that everyone is working together in the hopes that we are properly promoting the show to everyone. I saw something even more touching though, today. After I saw it, I cried. The first thing is that I saw many of you had reserved cloud servers (?). It’s touching, because I know that they’re expensive. 30 yuan for a private room. Why do I know it’s expensive? Because I also paid a lot of money- but it’s not worth mentioning, because I know it’s what I should do! I spent a lot of money and- I don’t regret it at all. Thanks to all the friends who reserved the server in order to promote the drama, so that more and more people have the opportunity to watch the drama. I hope that if you were able to get the server, that you are able to watch ZLYM on time. Don’t have rushed to get the reservation but end up watching a different variety show instead… C: What’s the point of that? LYN: It’s like buying a membership for everyone. For example, there are some students out there who don’t have a lot of spending money, and therefore won’t buy themselves memberships to watch dramas. Then, some friends can come out and buy a membership for them, so that they can watch the drama. C: I didn’t get one. LYN: If you didn’t get one, then buy one. Please support the drama, ok? C: I bought SVIP. LYN: Yes, I did too. Did you think that as a big artist we can get memberships to big platforms for free? No, we still have to buy them, too. How strange is that? It’s a drama that I filmed myself, but I still have to pay money to watch it. I’m kidding! That was a joke. (about it being strange) LYN: Our friends are great and have kept promoting for me, which I am grateful for. I also expressed my thanks to them in the group chat yesterday. I know that every time one of my dramas air, that my fans have a hard time of it. Thank you for your hard work, everyone. Right now, your Ning-ge will offer you a deep bow. 

56:45 LYN: I really enjoy reading the comments that are a little mental. Someone just posted a comment that read, “Then, why don’t you kneel for your fans?” /laughs/ That is, “If you’re so thankful for your fans, express your sincerity and get on your knees. Kneel, if you’re so thankful.” Some people… I want to share something with you- LYN: If you’re going to be so sarcastic, then it will be really difficult for you to survive in a workplace. Getting back on topic- if I were to kneel down in this livestream- So what? There’s no need to speak so mockingly. Do you think you’re Yan Zijing? Friends- I’m gonna kneel! This person is provoking me! Well, I’m the type of person who doesn’t back down to provocation. You really want to do this? You said, if I were really thankful, to kneel down to my fans. I’m going to do it. And what about it?? Let’s do it. /points at the camera/ Watch me. - /makes like he’s going to get on his knees but ultimately uses his hand trick/ LYN: I knelt. C: You mustn’t! LYN: You’re a good actor.

C: That scared me into sweating. LYN: What does that mean? Why would it make you sweat? You afraid that if I kneeled down… then what? I don’t know. C: I’m going to cry. LYN: No, no. Don’t cry! Kneeling is also a form of respect and becoming sworn brothers. It doesn’t matter- even if I did kneel it would be in the name of friendship. C: Bow to one another as husband and wife. LYN: That’s not worth it. Let us just bow to one another as sworn brothers. We may not have been born in the same month, day, or year, but we can die on the same month, day, and year.

1:00:45 C: Ning-ge, did you play the erhu yourself? LYN: Did I play the erhu myself… Um. Did you think I was like a blind person, and that as such playing erhu should come naturally? - /puts on some shades to blindly feel around/ LYN: Is that what you mean? LYN: I didn’t play it myself. I was making the motions, but the sound was filled in during editing. Yan Zijing was really playing, though. 

C: Did you provide the beads for the drama, too? LYN: No- most of them were mine, but part of them were the crew’s, because some of the scenes required me to… throw the beads. /laughs/ I had to throw them at someone’s face, and I couldn’t bear to do it with my own. Most of them really are mine, though. Yu Yonghai- who plays Kang Ju- he gave me a string, and he put another string on for me. I gave him one of my plain ones and he gave me a matching one. He is also a hobbyist. He gave me a string of old xinyue, bodhi, and cinnabar, and I used that in the drama.

- /a comment about more puns of the name Yan Zijing; LYN: You can call him whatever you want./

C: Are the pearls in the drama real? LYN: If I were to say they weren’t real, would that be bad? If I were to say during this live that all the pearls in the drama were real, would that make it seem like we are serious about the props? Why don’t you just ask me if the gold bars in the drama are real?? Ask me if we really chop off people’s heads, while you’re at it. /sigh/ If the execution were real, actors would be one-time use, like chopsticks and tableware. Disposable. The beheadings and everything are for real, yeah. LYN: You know how YZJ is deeply poisoned? As the actor who plays him, I was also poisoned. It gives you a sense of immersion. On the day of filming wrap, I died.

C: Ning-ge, did you really play YZJ yourself? LYN: /laughing/ Uh? What type of question is this, I can’t wrap my head around it. Hold on. ??? “Ning-ge, did you really play YZJ yourself”? … No, I didn’t. I didn’t play him myself, no. A different actor did everything and they used AI to swap his face out for mine. That’s popular now, isn’t it? I don’t know when it started, but no matter who acts in a drama, they all have to use AI to switch the face and post it online to ask, “If it were this person instead, wouldn’t it have been a better fit?” If they’re more suitable, you should have had THEM act in the first place. Of course, I’m not talking about myself, here. I have also been face-swapped, you all know this happened with YNGS. But there are always these posts, “If this role were played by this person, wouldn’t it have been more suitable?” And in the comments are a bunch of fools adding fuel to the fire: “Yes, yes. This person is more suitable. It’s not bad?!? This looks good!” LYN: If acting relied on good-looks alone, then any good-looking person could become an actor. 

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1:05:55 LYN: I hope everyone here can support Fangs of Fortune (FoF/DMGL)! It’s airing at the same time (as ZLYM) and is also a very amazing project. It’s extremely not bad, ok friends? There’s a singer called Liu Yuning, who sang one of the songs, called “Unintentional Big Dream (无心生大梦)”, okay? Let’s take a listen. -- 无心生大梦 (Unintentional Big Dream) [Fangs of Fortune OST] LYN: This song is my first time trying a new style (for me). When I received the demo I was wondering if I would even be able to pull it off. But I grit my teeth, because life is all about breakthroughs and I’ve never tried this style before. So I gave it a try. I recorded it, and I quite liked the result. LYN: Next week’s Hi6 should feature the FoF crew. I will also be there. I’ll be representing the ZLYM drama crew.

1:08:37 C: My mom says your mouth is poisonous. LYN: Did your mom watch that part in the drama? Yan Zijing has a poisonous mouth and he licked his own lips and poisoned himself to death? LYN: Thank you. I’m guessing Auntie has some good taste. I’ve seen Aunties and Uncles around me- not Brothers and Sisters, because I am already old- I see that they’ve also been watching ZLYM. They’re sincerely watching it. C: Will you go to Hello Saturday? LYN: I already went. I was on the episode that aired yesterday (11/2). You must not be my fan! All of my fans know that I went to record for Hi6. So if you haven’t yet subscribed to my weibo, please do so. That way you will always know what I’m up to. Ok? Support me. C: My mom says you look like a son-in-law. LYN: Ehm… if you get a chance, take your mom to get glasses. She saw incorrectly? Or maybe she was a little confused, just now? It’s possible that she saw incorrectly. Take her to get some glasses or something. Look after her.

C: Ning-ge, people are making fun of you online. What do you think of that? LYN: Friends, it’s like this- I am very thankful for YNGS. The ridicule and hate I received during that time was- I’m not exaggerating- almost three times worse than it is now. What I get now is actually not bad. The first thing is that the original group of people probably aren’t spending the money to purposely put me down anymore, and secondly the haters aren’t as enthusiastic about me anymore. They’re probably tired. After everything, they’re only saying the same things that they were last year. They just need to simply copy and paste their comments/opinions from last year and be done.

LYN: /whispers into the mic/ Friends, there are crazy people in this stream. Watch out. There are crazy people here. Earlier you told me that there were people hating on me, to which I replied, (basically) “So what?” Just now someone posted, “I’ll go kill them all!” Did you see that? It’s terrifying! I was told someone was hating on me and someone else posted a message saying that they’ll go kill them all. Really. LYN: Don’t do that!! There’s no need- what sort of grudge, and how much must you hate someone??? There’s no need. Don’t be like this. Calm down. It’s okay. (x3) Let me tell you- the people who hate me, deep down, actually love me. If you really hate a person you don’t even want to SEE them, but these people tirelessly pay attention to every move I make. They listen to every single word I say, trying to find something to use against me. Think about how attentively they must be listening to my timbre, my voice, my resonance, on top of looking at my average face. Right? How much must they have to pay attention to me? On a base level, it’s love. If they didn’t care about me, how would they know where I am wrong or which point to use to ridicule me? So really, they love me. Don’t kill them. Save me some face, and spare their lives. Spare their “dog” life. Ok? C: I’ll go all out. LYN: Don’t!! You’re going to fight the haters? It’s enough. That one person alone was terrifying enough. LYN: “Spare the individual under the knife!” [t/n: used to save someone from execution]

1:14:00 C: Why did you only have one sip of champagne yesterday? LYN: Because… my alcohol tolerance sucks. LYN: Just one sip was enough. It’s not like I was there to get drunk. It’d be a sight if I were to attend an event and just drink all their alcohol.

LYN: I’ll repeat myself- I hope you all can support FoF. If you’ve watched ZLYM and have nothing else to watch, you can support FoF. Widen your horizons. There’s also another drama called Our Days, which is also airing on CCTV. It’s a high-quality drama and this song has a sense of the times, which really helps you to become immersed in the drama. It’s called Our Days. -- 这一路 (This Journey) [Our Days OST]

C: You’ve done quite a lot in this stream tonight. LYN: I skimmed past this comment and at first thought it read “You’ve done some inhumane things in this stream tonight.” I saw wrong. I did a lot of things in this stream, yeah? I promoted ZLYM, and the dramas for which I’ve sung OSTs for (FoF, OD). Of course! We focus on cost-effectiveness and after-sales services. If YYXH had asked me to sing their OST, I would also help to promote them. But they didn’t come to look for me, so there’s nothing I can do. That’s just how it works. I accept the money to help people alleviate their “disasters.” It’s that simple. So I won’t be helping to promote YYXH today. Despite the fact that I am quite close with the actor-friends of YYXH, to each their own. Please be understanding. Excuse me, I’m sorry. We’ll work together the next time.

1:17:12 LYN: There’s also another very good drama airing called A Beautiful Lie. It’s on iQIYI and it ends today, friends. If you haven’t seen this drama yet, you can go support it. If you’ve finished watching ZLYM and you don’t have anything else going on- this drama has ended and all the episodes are out now. You can check it out, okay? It’s called “A Beautiful Lie” and you can take advantage of your break to watch it from start to finish. This song is called “You Are The One.” It’s a song I sang for the OST, and I hope you like it. -- You Are The One [A Beautiful Lie OST]

LYN: That’s right, and there’s another drama which is airing, called The Rise of Ning. This drama stars Zhang Wanyi and Ren Min. We also recorded an episode of Hi6 together, and I was happy to get to know these two new friends. So, friends, if you’ve got nothing to watch after finishing ZLYM, you can check out Rise of Ning, okay? In this drama I sing a song called 泼墨. -- 泼墨 (Splashed Ink) [The Rise of Ning OST]

LYN: There’s another drama, called Kill Me Love Me. Some very amazing actors brought to life the very beautiful drama called KMLM. I think it’s already finished airing, right? In it I have sung a song called “不敢逢春 (Do Not Dare to Welcome Spring). I hope you all can support this drama as well. Even though it’s already finished airing- the membership period for it is already over- but you can watch this great drama in your free time. Okay? Please support it, friends! -- 不敢逢春 (Do Not Dare to Welcome Spring) [Kill Me Love Me OST]

C: Ning-ge, do you still owe OSTs? LYN: I owe two, and there’s one I haven’t decided whether I will take or not. They haven’t been recorded yet. Thanks for your support. C: Do you have more? LYN: Of course I do. That’s right. This song is from the drama Story of Pearl Girl, which also stars me. The OST is called 惟愿 (Wish). -- 惟愿 (Wish) [The Story of Pearl Girl OST] - C: Ning-ge, your dance at the press conference wasn’t half bad. LYN: /glares into the camera/ You don’t need to say it like that. - LYN: This song is from a drama airing on Youku. This is the ending theme from the amazing drama called ZLYM. It’s sung by a singer that I really like- Modern Brothers Liu Yuning. This drama is about a pearl harvester- /laughs at himself/ It’s too “official.”

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C: Ning-ge, is the ending a BE or HE? LYN: The ending… I think it’s fine if I tell you, because everyone already predicted this ending. The ending for ZLYM- for YZJ’s part- nearing the end he started to find the reason to keep existing in the world. He ends up finding something that made him truly happy. But in the end, he was taken away by aliens. The moment he found happiness, he was taken away by aliens. Which planet did they take him to? Maybe that will be revealed in the second part of ZLYM; it’ll be called The Story of Pearl Girl: Interstellar. It’ll tell the story of what happens to YZJ after the main storyline. It’s okay, because it’s an open ending. It’s not a sure thing where the aliens took and left him. It’s also possible that he was cremated. He was lit up, like a lighter. Or maybe they threw him to a different planet, full of Mr. Cockroaches. It’s a planet that gives him a headache because the planet is full of Mr. Cockroach. The story is about him fighting with these Cockroaches, I’m guessing. C: As long as you don’t die. LYN: I already said this before- the mortality rate of the characters I play has reached 80%. As long as LYN is in the role, the character’s mortality rate is already 80%. 10 characters, 8 have died. That’s just, inexplicably, how it is. No one else has reached this point, have they? Very few people can have this effect. The mortality rate of any character that I play is 80%.

C: Lao-da, you can watch an ad, then come back to life. LYN: /laughing/ Wow, that’s an idea. For example, a character I play dies near the ending. At this point a 30 second ad pops up on the platform. “Would you like to resurrect Ning Yuanzhou?” Use 30 seconds of your life to resurrect. That’s an interesting way to interact with viewers. You can resurrect protagonists. I’m sure this will be an expensive ad. This way, when you’re filming the drama you can shoot an alternate version where the protagonist isn’t dead. Another example! When you’re filming, you shoot two versions- one dead, and the other not dead. Then, when it gets to the last episode, a window will pop up. “If you would like to purchase an ending where the character is alive, please pay 6yuan.” So the people who want this character to be alive can pay to watch an ending where everyone is alive. There can be multiple endings to choose from: A) The leads are in love. B) The leads aren’t in love. C) People live. D) They’re all dead. If need to spend 6yuan to unlock each ending. The platform sure can make a lot of money, that way. 6yuan for a resurrection. Not bad. C: You’re a shrewd businessman. LYN: /YZJ voice/ Of course.

C: Spend money to determine life or death? LYN: Yes, because the audience is God, and God can decide whether you live or die. Right? Even for me- whether as an actor or before when I was a waiter in a restaurant or a salesperson in a clothing shop- this is a service industry. As an actor, you serve the audience, and serve the drama crew. In this case, we are also service workers. The consumers are God. You can spend 6yuan to determine if we live or die. Only 6yuan to hold the life of a character an actor has played in your hands. Is it worth it or not? C: 3yuan for half-dead but not alive. LYN: Do you think this is Haidilao?? There are large portions and half portions??? “Give me a half serving of duck blood!” Half-dead? What does that even mean?? Someone who’s catatonic? The person is lying there, alive but mentally dead. Half-dead. Can’t you just grab your roommate and pool your money to split the bill? You pay 3yuan and they pay 3yuan, and together you can eat a full meal! Honestly…

1:31:20 C: Ning-ge, quickly apply for a patent. LYN: What’s the point in that? I’m sure that a lot of platforms have thought of it. If I can think of it now, then platforms have thought of it ages ago. It’s just that if such a thing really was released… the platform might get cursed to death. Then that means my idea was a bad one. :( LYN: I can joke about it in my stream but I’m sure that if any platform out there really does implement such a thing they’d be cursed to death by the viewers. I’m saying it as a joke, friends. Please don’t take it seriously. Because- how can I put this? The platform wouldn’t need to use such measures anyway because doing so would affect their stock value. It’s not worth it. The money they make in stocks is probably higher then your 3-5 cents. LYN: But my Yan Business Empire WOULD use such a measure. The Liu Group Business Empire would. XD

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1:32:20 -- break #1 - /troubleshooting bc we can’t hear the audio from the video he’s playing as commercial break/ - /he CAN play Hardworking People, but it’s not the full version (and he needs more time than that)/ - /video editor OP has new works, but he hasn’t dl-ed them to this computer yet bc he just got back/

1:38:32 LYN: I’ve found out that there are some friends who have already predicted my prediction. Oh my goodness. You all are too amazing. Why don’t you go be a streamer and be done with it? I think you’re too amazing. You’ve already predicted what I was going to say! I JUST sat down and I saw a comment scroll past saying, “When Ning-ge comes back he’s definitely going to say, “The neighbors weren’t fighting, they were watching e7 of ZLYM.”” Amazing. Hey- why don’t I sign you as one of my artists? Your reaction-time is too fast! Episode 7 of ZLYM is YZJ’s first fight scene. I was already prepared to come back and tell you about it but you took my baggage and- what is it called? You didn’t spoil the joke… there’s this thing in crosstalk where members in the audience- “pao le”! Yes. You’ve “dug up the baggage”! Aiya. But, your reaction ability makes me really admire you. I’m impressed. Not bad.

1:39:50 C: Can you see me, Lao-da? LYN: I can see you all! Of course- yes, you’re a new fan. LYN: I want to take this time to thank all of my fans and friends. I’m really grateful for all of you. You’re there for all of my offline activities, program recordings, and such. When I was recording Hi6 for two days you were down there shouting and supporting me. I want to sincerely thank all of you. Thank you, and you’ve worked hard. I hope that you are happy, though. Okay? LYN: I know you’ve been helping me to fight against the haters and to promote the drama, and the very talented friends among you make video edits. When I see what you’re doing I feel touched and a little proud. I just want to say that you all are pretty talented! C: Ning-ge, I believe that good fortune will arrive. LYN: I-I’ll work hard, okay? I’ll do my best to work towards that goal. I don’t dare to acknowledge the fact, but I can work hard. People must have dreams. Maybe your dream, to others, can appear ridiculous or make people give you spurned looks and spit, but you just need to believe in and work hard towards your own dream and I’m sure you’ll find an answer.

1:42:45 LYN: See? I’ve just finished saying that and already there’s someone pushing me, asking if I’ve looked at any scripts recently. Um. Well… I haven’t. I already said- I’ve come back to being a singer. That means it’ll be hard on you for a while longer. LYN: The reason I’m not too anxious about it is because I still have three dramas that are waiting to air. Of course, if I come across a good one I will definitely accept it. Mainly it’s because I’ve been pretty active lately with business, variety show recordings, and some stage performances. I’m not in the mindset to sit down and look through scripts. And… I’ll look at them in a couple days. Don’t worry- I’ll give them a look. I’ll finish what I’ve got going on first, and will be busy for a while yet. Such as discussions for my concert, recording the OSTs that I owe, and… in any case I will be adjusting my own physical condition. 

C: How’s the second album coming along? LYN: The second album… I think it’s just short one song now. I’ve collected another one recently, so now I’m only short one. If I wanted to release it I could grab any song to add and release it. I do have some songs that I like, but the question now is if I really want to get this going right now or not. I CAN release the album, but I would need to form more concrete plans first.

1:44:53 C: I feel like you’re in a better condition now than when you were filming. LYN: Yes, because I got fatter after I came back. My skin and body are in a much better condition than when I was filming, because for the past four years I’ve been in Hengdian and haven’t left it. I think it’s okay, though. This year and last year the two guzhuang dramas for which I am the male lead have aired and they count as an acknowledgement of the past four years I’ve worked here. The reception for YNGS was good, and I think it broke 10k views, right? Actually, on iQIYI that’s hard to achieve. There aren’t many dramas in a year that can do that, if you think of how many drama that are released in a year. So YNGS already achieved great results. But I always see some inexplicable commentary. LYN: Of course, I can understand why people say this about the drama. People have said that “The ML in YNGS is too unfortunate (looking). I got halfway through and stopped watching.” And people were following along, saying “Yes! The people around me all said the same- they got halfway through and stopped watching because the ML was ugly.” I guess it’s my fault, otherwise YNGS would have surpassed 2m? Blame me. Think about it- so many people STOPPED watching and it already broke 10k. If the continued to watch, maybe it would have broken 20k. Right? Because about half of them stopped watching because of me, and I am one of the leads. I’m sorry- I was the block that kept YNGS from hitting 20k. Sorry, sorry.

LYN: And then, this year, the same words are flying around. I will never be free. There were comments saying that the ML is too ugly and that they won’t watch the drama. I opened up their Douban reviews, and attached was a really long image- someone sent it to me and told me, “Check this out, Ning-ge.” It was a really long image. They weren’t my anti, but an anti of one of the other actors in the drama- and they gave a one-star review to any actor that I’ve worked with. Meanwhile all the other actors received five stars. So- it’s an enemy of one of the people I’ve worked with, but the blame is all on me. [t/n: I’m confused] This person must have felt like a genius. Actually, I want to say that maybe you didn’t know who the protagonist was- you might not even know me. It’s also possible that it’s because I’m ugly. That’s entirely a possibility. But the problem is, there was no need to drag me into it! I was just here to blend in, you didn’t need to drag me in and use me as the weapon. I know I don’t look very alert, but there was seriously no need. If you’re so amazing, pick your fights one-on-one but don’t use me as a shield. You used a borrowed knife to kill! I’m too miserable! C: I’ll go kill them! LYN: No need!! Are you all crazy?? YZJ looks so mean but he hasn’t said anything about killing anyone. He’s only mean on the outside- on the surface level. But here it’s like there are a group of you gathering together and are ready to commit murder. 

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1:49:35 LYN: I want to thank all my good friends, my fans, and the people who are in the stream today, who are probably watchers of ZLYM. Many of you must be fans of other artists, or just passing by. I want to thank you for your support of ZLYM. I, Liu Yuning, will toast to you all. Cheers. C: Drain it. LYN: You people- Let me tell you, I really see all sorts of people in my streams. Have you ever met a person like this- for example: a groups of friends go out for drinks. “Come on, let’s drink!” Okay, drink. /sip/ “You- you didn’t drain your glass. What, are you raising fish? Drain it! Drink it all. If your feelings are deep, you’ll drink it in one shot. If your feelings are shallow, then one lick is all it takes. You’re a grown adult man, you should down it. Do it, do it!” “If you don’t drink, then you’re not giving me any face. Quickly, down it.” … Do you know anyone like that? I don’t know- I think they exist, because I’ve met them before. C: Acting as me? LYN: You’re THAT person?? It’s really annoying. C: Sounds like me. LYN: Oh, there are so many people who act like that? That tracks, because the stream's full of people who would kill an anti if they got the chance. LYN: Actually, friends, I am also this type of person. How else would I know how to act them so well? We’re the same type of person. I am not discriminating against you. Come then, friends. Let’s act that out again. LYN: A toast to all of you, and thank you for supporting ZLYM. I hope you can continue to watch until the day it finishes airing. Continue to support it, okay. Thank you. I’ll toast to you. /one shots it/ LYN: Drain your glass!! What are you doing, raising fish?!? Drink it, drink it! - LYN: ! (to Daimi) You gave me a fright, you. - /picks Daimi up, but she’s not in the mood for sitting/ - LYN: Down it, down it! What are you doing? /laughs/

1:48:45 C: How did English speaking go yesterday? LYN: I know I always brag in my streams that my English is so good, but when I actually need to use it I’m lost. I’m dumbfounded. The thing I’m most afraid of, you know- a normal person would be like this. For example. To my understanding, when a foreigner wants to communicate. First, they will say “Nice to meet you.” Then, of course I know how to say “Nice to meet you!” back. “Nice to meet you. Thank you, thank you.” But after two sentences, they think I KNOW English!! That’s a bug (glitch), friends!! “Nice to meet you.” “Yes, nice to meet you, too.” Then they will start- /”speaking English fluently”/ To which I- /can only smile and nod, laugh politely and say “yeah/of course/thank you/cheers” in response/. /sigh/ LYN: The most embarrassing thing is that you just finished saying, “Nice to meet you” and they start talking. After a while of talking, while they are awaiting your response, the person next to them (translator) says, “Oh, he can’t speak English.” And THEN, the person you were trying to talk to just goes, “Ah.” I’m sure they’re thinking, “If you didn’t know how to speak English, then why did you say “Nice to meet you”. I think you look like a mudfish (ni chou)!” LYN: But the good thing was that I could understand about half of it. Half-guessing and half-listening helped to me understand half of the conversation. I also watch foreign movies, and I’m the English class representative of Dandong Cooking Second Technical School, after all. You knew that. I went to study how to be a cook, but there are English classes.

C: You had such a history? LYN: ! A new friend. I caught you. I told you I was the English class rep of my cooking school, and someone asked, “You have such a history?” You’re either trying to flatter me, or you’re a new friend. Friends, let me tell you- you have to pay attention to the details. From this single point alone you can infer that I have new fans. Even if they’re not my fan, I still have a new friend in my orbit. They’re not my fan, but we’re still considered friends, right? Nodding your head at someone can mean that you’re friends, right? I will nod my head to you right now. /Nods/ That’s how you make friends. LYN: This means that the YZJ’s drama has attracted fans. :)! So for those of you who are acknowledging our friendship by nodding your head, if you have not subscribed to my weibo yet, please do so. I am Liu Yuning. I welcome you all.

LYN: Oh, my. You are quite educated. Someone used the term “as close as old friends.” C: I’m not a new fan anymore. LYN: That’s good, too! ~ Welcome new friends, without forgetting old friends. The road is easier to walk with more friends. At this moment, you all should be thinking of this song: -- (朋友 (Friends) - Zhou Huajian) - /someone hands him something/ LYN: Huh? Friends- Youku platform is too kind. I just said something that I need to apologize for- I was too narrow-minded. My bar was set too low. Friends, I want to cry. I made a joke earlier, asking why I had to buy SVIP membership to watch my own drama… /holding back his fake tears/ It’s like this- to the directors, first of all, I was joking when I commented on having to buy membership to watch my own drama. But they have gifted me with 1,001 SVIP cards. Friends, aren’t they so righteous? This means that I don’t need to spend money to watch any drama that airs on Youku in the future. Maybe I’ll save these cards, and for example in the future when I have a daughter, I’ll use it as her dowry. It’ll pass down from generation to generation. C: Ning-ge, can you give them to us? LYN: I can’t. Thank you, Youku. Thank you. C: Raffle them off. LYN: I won’t! Why should I?? I’m keeping them for myself! They sent me 1,001 SVIP cards, and I’m going to keep them for myself. Why should I give them to you? I won’t!  -- 朋友 (Friends) - Zhou Huajian LYN: Friends, sing along!! LYN: I was too short-sighted. I can’t believe they sent me 1,001 cards. But what if I turn around and start selling them? One card is 30yuan, then that means 1,001 cards is…. 31… 33,030yuan! [INCORRECT] C: That’s 1110, not 1001. [this woud be 33,300yuan, actually.] LYN: Oh, sorry. /thinking/ C: It’s 1101. // They charge by month. LYN: Oh, it’s by month?? Help me to calculate- how many years is 1101 months? Ten years? Nine? They’re using this as an opportunity to educate me. 9- 91 years?! C: 91.75 years. LYN: /lol” “.75”! They gave me 91years of membership??? HUH?! Wow, 91 years of membership. Oh my goodness, then that really IS going to be passed down through generations. I’ll need to give this to my children. LYN: They already put it in my account, so I don’t think I can give them to anyone. Sorry, friends. But what if I sell my account?! What if I sell my account, with the caveat that if my drama airs they have to go and leave comments. That way no one will found out that I’ve sold my account. I’ll sell the account to them for cheap, but every time a drama of mine comes out they have to go leave comments for my fans. LYN: That’s so dumb. I’m kidding! Thank you- thank you, Youku. I’ll strive to live until I’m 125 years ol; someone counted it for me and by then I’ll be 125. This account is going to be a target for hackers in the next 91 years… C: What’s the password. LYN: The password is yanzijing666. You can try it. LYN: ZLYM started ariring on Nov 1, so that’s meaningful. [t/n: not sure why he made that comment.]

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2:06:12 C: This is my first time seeing a ML play an erhu. LYN: ? I think that’s true. Usually it’s playing the dizi (flute) and playing the guqin. For the most part in guzhuang dramas it’s either dizi or xiao, the guqin. Erhu is pretty rare- not saying it’s never happened- it’s just rare to see, especially for the male lead. Other roles would play it, of course. But specifically the male lead, and not a supporting character or those fortune tellers by the side of the road. Think about it. C: Violin! LYN: I was talking about guzhuang dramas. Have you seen a violin in a guzhuang drama??! Why don’t you just get an electric guitar, then? We’ll do death metal. There’s no way.

C: Male God, how long have you been streaming for? LYN: She called me her “male god.” I don’t think I count as that, but maybe as a “male psycho.” How long have I been streaming for? Let me take a look. Two hours. It’s been two hours. Why? Where you looking for me for something?

1:08:07 LYN: The character of YZJ is quite… I’ve said this in an interview before, too. He’s special, and a character I enjoyed portraying. Maybe- not humbly speaking- I can see my improvement in acting through YZJ. Let me praise myself. I did improve. Because, honestly speaking, after I finished filming for YNGS I felt that I had made a breakthrough somewhere. I don’t know, but that’s how I felt. I’m not trying to say that my acting is amazing- I don’t act well. I’m still a very immature actor. I just want to share that even though I am immature, after YNGS I feel like I came to an understanding. I figured out how to handle acting, so I was able to experience/feel a lot more. After YNGS, I filmed another drama- you know (ZY). After going through that drama, I came into YZJ. Although he didn’t have any outstanding performance, I think it’s the smaller details that were more difficult to get a good grasp of. After watching my own performance, I want to say that I think that I have matured just a little bit. I’m happy for that, and I’ll keep working hard! LYN: Liu Yuning. I have high hopes for you. Jiayou. LYN: I saw a teacher comment on my performance, saying “You weren’t as natural as when acting in YNGS.” YNGS… (NYZ) was a different role entirely and the way I acted as him was different. The baggage they (Ning Yuanzhou vs Yan Zijing) each had to carry was different, so therefore their characters were different. Keep watching. One day, you’ll understand.

C: Who’s YZJ’s little sister? LYN: His sister? YZJ’s mom and dad had a little girl, and she is YZJ’s little sister. That’s how she came around. There’s nothing strange about it. His mom and dad had another kid, who is a girl and younger than him. So she is YZJ’s little sister. Yeah. C: Do you find her later? LYN: Didn’t you hear what ZJR said? “Sometimes you think the clue is lost, but the clue is right next to you.” When I was reading the script and saw this part I said, “Who’s YZJ’s little sister? Don’t tell me it’s Duanwu?!?” Because we’re seeing the same thing- I was reading the script and I saw that and was thinking “Is Duanwu his little sister?? How am I supposed to act from now on? Does this scriptwriter really want to play with this type of plotline? Is that okay?? Will it pass the censors?” XD - [t/n: Discussing the term used for when one sibling loves another, but idk what it is in English, let alone Chinese. There’s a nicer term than “incest”, I’m pretty sure.] LYN: In any case, I was thinking, “It can’t be HER, right?” - [t/n: honestly, I also had a split-second where I went there.] LYN: But you should keep watching… because it might really be her! I don’t know. Keep watching. You’ll get an answer to who YZJ’s little sister is.

LYN: Youku came to comment, “We must be generous to Mr. Yan. Come to ZLYM and watch Yan Zijing stir up the business world.” Our platform’s boss- I mean, leader- is here. I’m very thankful to Youku. Thank you, thank you. They left a message, did you see it? Why don’t you go start up a conversation with them? LYN: My fans are the best, in that they are thankful to whoever treats me well. 

C: YZJ’s little sister isn’t ZJR is it?!? LYN: /GASP!/ D-did you buy a copy of our script? I heard that our script can be bought online for 5yuan each issue. You’re not the consumer, are you? I heard the electronic copy is being sold at 5yuan each issue, but it used to be 10. Maybe the market wasn’t good enough, so it dropped to 5. In that copy you saw that… my sister is ZJR?! What did my sister go through to in Linglong Cave to turn into a boy?!? XD LYN: Oh- maybe it’s because our family- I am 1.90m tall. TXT is taller than I am. That’s fitting for my little sister. Usually the second child in a family is taller than the first. It’s true, then. He’s my sister. LYN: The friend who commented this is actually very right. Because not once in the drama does ZJR deny the fact that he is my sister. He didn’t deny it, which means that it’s true. LYN: This theory is… quite wonderful. You can use it for anyone. For example, you can say, “Liu Yuning, you’re an alien. Why? Because not once in your life have you ever denied the fact that you are.” Isn’t it strange?! It sounds strange, but also reasonable. 

C: Change the bgm. I want to listen to 惟愿 (Wish). LYN: Alright, as you wish.

C: So do you have a sister or not? LYN: I do. Yan (?) Ding said before he died, that my sister was still alive, right? So there must be a storyline in here in relation to that. I have lines referring to it as well. When the matters in Guangzhou are handled, I’ll be going to Shaozhou to find my sister. So, what’s next? Actually friends, Shijiu is my sister. I saw in the comments that someone had guessed so. I was watching the drama and reading the comments scroll by and someone commented, “Cui Shijiu isn’t his sister, is she?” Because the story that’s been revealed up to now is that the Cui family’s pearl farm used to be owned by the Yan family. They stole my family’s pearl farm, and took a child while they were at it. So Cui Ding must know who my sister is. It’s actually Cui Shijiu. It’s a possibility I also thought of when reading the script. The farm used to be the Yan family’s, and when the Cui family took it they also took the daughter. It’s reasonable. C: What “pig” farm? LYN: I can’t believe you wrote the “zhu” for “pig.” You OBVIOUSLY must not be watching the drama! We’ve been talking about it for a while now- ZLYM!! Friends- You know what, I am ashamed. Because- - /creates a banner that reads “Please watch ZLYM. Thank you~” and puts it up on screen/ LYN: - I should have put this up sooner. When the platform came by, I didn’t have this up. I should have had it there long ago. See? Friends- this space up here is advertising space, now. Today it’s been bought out by ZLYM. In the future, for my next stream, maybe ZLYM would have finished airing so our cooperation is over and this space will be free. Other drama crews could then purchase this ad space. 200 yuan/night. Unlimited scrolling. How about it? / But can the scrolling speed be a little faster?? Ok, I got it. I can just repeat the message a few times.

C: CSJ can’t be YZJ’s sister because her eyes are too big. LYN: !! Do you think you’re very funny? Do you think your comment is very amusing? She- can’t she take after our dad?!? It’s normal for the children of a family to look different, isn’t it? Especially with boys vs girls. For example, the boy looks like mother and the girl looks like father. Isn’t that normal? What’s the problem?? There is no problem. Why did you have to bring it up?! Why does it HAVE TO BE the eyes??? Don’t you know that my eyes are my bottom line and you’re not supposed to mention them???? You’re going to give me a breakdown. You think you’re so funny, huh? LYN: There are antis everywhere, and no matter what you do they’ll say, “Look, he cares so much.” Don’t even mention it! This is moral kidnapping. You stand on your high ground and kidnap others. For example, someone comes to curse at me, and I try to refute. They’ll say, “Aiyo~ You’re trying to explain? Look how much he cares about this. If he didn’t care, then he wouldn’t bother to correct people when they’re wrong.” >.< I hope you eventually meet a person like this in your work environment. LYN: No, no, don’t kill. No need for killing. Save me some face. C: I’ll go kill them. Leave it to me. LYN: It’s fine. It’s fine, really.

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2:24:54 -- break #2 LYN: Let me play a video for you, and I’ll come back later. I need to use the restroom- I drank too much water because I was toasting to you too much earlier. I'll come back and we can continue to chat for a bit. If you have any questions- if you’d like to interview me, for example they always gather questions from fans to ask me during interviews. You can just ask me directly. I’ll choose some questions and answer you directly, okay? We can interact. We’ll do an interview. If you have any questions, we can chat. You can also ask me questions about filming, and whatever else you’re curious about.

2:31:50 C: Lao-da, will you hold your concert in Singapore? LYN: Singapore… I won’t be going. It’s... overseas. I don’t have any plans for anything overseas at the moment. Because I’m not popular to that extent yet. I know I have an overseas fanbase; many of you told me about it last time. I have a lot of foreigner fans, for which I am happy for! But for now, I won’t be going overseas because I’m not that popular yet. I’m sure that if I did have a concert overseas people would come to watch. But it would also be a lot of you (in China) flying over to watch me (in another country). There’s no point in that. C: I was really happy to see you in Macau the other day. LYN: We’re friends, now. If we met once in Macau then we can be considered friends, right? If you met me once and we’re able to exchange words now, then we’re friends already. Please watch ZLYM, thank you.

2:33:45 C: Can you talk about NYZ? LYN: Of course I can. - C: The lyrics are gone. LYN: Ok. /brings them back/ - C: Does YNGS have a part 2? LYN: Yes, it does. It’s ghost story. If I’m in it, I’ll be acting as the ghost. A horror movie, a little thrilling. I have a lot of fans and friends who are girls- so maybe they would be less receptive to horror movies. Why would I say (that I’m a ghost)? Because at the end of YNGS, Ning Yuanzhou died… He was stabbed to death. So the next part would be a horror movie, set in the underworld. It’ll be set over by Fengdu County. (aka Fengdu Ghost City) It’ll be about people from Fengdu and the customs there. You can look out for it. It’ll be called “Er Nian Guan Shan.” C: I’ll watch an ad to revive him! LYN: /laughs/ Oh~ Right! That’s a good idea! If you want a second part to YNGS, you could do this- The start of the first episode of ENGS would be a viewer watching YNGS. Then, they’ll receive a pop-up that reads, “If you’d like to revive NYZ (and all the other heroes who have died), please pay 6yuan.” The viewer will pay and then ENGS will officially start. That’s a possibility. Watch an ad to revive the hero after 30 sec. It’ll give you double the gold coins too, right? Watch a 30-sec ad to revive NYZ, and right when that’s done another pop-up: watch 1-minute ad to double NYZ’s force value. C: I’ll pay 60yuan. LYN: Don’t do this.

C: I want to see the Six Paths Hall Prequel. - /misspelled a word to make it “Six Questions”, so LYN makes fun of them for a bit/ LYN: You must be preparing for the high school entrance exam, huh? Jiayou. Once you solve those “six questions”, you can revive NYZ.

C: What job did NYZ have when he was working in An County? LYN: Don’t ask! This is the only secret that he’s kept: what his job was when he was undercover in An County. You can think about it yourselves.

C: Does it take a long time to braid Yan Zijing’s hair? LYN: Not really. Actually YZJ’s hair/makeup was pretty quick. Because his braids- you girls must know of a thing called fake bangs, right? He has fake hair, like how you get extensions. He’ll braid the extensions and tie it to his real hair. 

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2:38:30 C: Trending topics #7. LYN: Is it positive? It’s not a bad topic, is it? C: #2. LYN: You can’t look in “My Topics”! It’s because you follow me, so you see that I am at #1. If you want to look accurately, you should- C: #1. LYN: #1?? Huh? #2 in Entertainment, but #1 on the Main list?? Don’t lie to me. Especially now, when my drama is airing- my mood is very fragile. I can very easily be pushed towards a mental breakdown. I’m very sensitive right now. Because when YNGS was airing I has hurt too much. So- I don’t want to experience that type of pain again. Let me take a look. LYN: I saw it. The topic is just “LYN wants to repost ZLS’s weibo (post).” /sigh/ That counts as a positive thing, right? It’s drama promotion.  LYN: I saw them- I have a team, and they send me screenshots, too.

C: Ning-ge, I started liking you because of YNGS. LYN: Thank you.

LYN: In in regard to the trending topic, I was not tricked. My fragile heart was saved. Thank you, to Weibo, for supporting me and my drama. Thank you to the team that works on the livestreams, as well. I had a small problem with my stream and they helped me to resolve it immediately. They taught me how to fix it, and I understood how. So “Thank you”, to them. Thanks for supporting us, and thank you for supporting me, Liu Yuning. Thank you.

2:43:00 C: Did Kang Ju teach YZJ all of his fight moves? LYN: The plot doesn’t give an explanation, but I don’t think he did. Because he grew up in a very- Since you’re on the seventh episode today, you know how YZJ fights. He grabs the arm and breaks it with a kick. Deadly and cruel. Including this- /gestures with an elbow/- almost like wrestling. So even though it doesn’t explicitly say how, from my understanding of YZJ- because his past hasn’t completely been revealed yet- but he grew up in an extremely harsh environment. He survived by crawling and fighting. All of his fighting skills are pretty much lethal. He’s not doing any of this for show; he fights to kill. Because in that kind of environment, any mistake can cost you your life. That’s my understanding. So as you can see from they way he fights in E7, he’s very cruel. He’s not the type who fights beautifully and looks like he’s flying. He’s going to immediately break something to make you quickly lose your fighting ability.

C: HE or BE? (happy ending or bad ending) LYN: Uhhh… /halfway towards Mongolian throat singing/ HE or BE? I can’t tell you. There’s no way I can spoil that for you. There’s the third possibility: it’s related to aliens. I’ve already told you- the ending is that he was taken away by aliens and went to another planet where there’s nothing but cockroaches. At the end it crosses over into a different, Three-Body (scifi) genre. C: Look up the ending to the original source and you’ll know. LYN: The original source of this original work has not been written to the end yet. This drama’s source material is only a preface, but not much story otherwise. This is an original script which borrows established backgrounds and characters, but the rest of it the scriptwriter wrote themselves. C: Aren’t you afraid I’d really believe it (about the aliens)? LYN: What do I have to be afraid of? The end is that he was taken away by aliens. That’s all there is to it.

- /promotes that ZYLM will air on three stations/platforms at once/ - /does the rounds thanking everyone for their support of his livestream and of the drama/

2:48:10 C: Will you work with Li Bofan again? LYN: He asked me the other day, “Ning-ge, what type of music do you like?” and I told him that as long as he wrote it and he thinks it’s good, I am okay with anything. I don’t have any fixed genre. I want him to write, and if there’s a song he likes that he think suits me, all he has to do is send it to me. 

C: Ning-ge, are there any parts in this drama where you have to show some skin? LYN: /sigh/ Uh… more or less. Because in guzhuang dramas the more the ML appears all arrogant and domineering in the first half, the more he’ll suffer in the second half. If he doesn’t suffer and stays arrogant until the ending, that’s a villain. How does one define “suffer”? Either shot with an arrow, stabbed with a knife, axe, hammer, a drop of blood on the head*. Anything is possible, you just have to suffer some injury. I don’t think the blood drop is possible though, because in that case you’d be turned to ashes immediately.** In any case, you’ll have to suffer some injury. [*t/n: I think he’s referring to a game or something, here.] LYN: You’ll see that a lot of dramas all do this- and I’m not saying that we don’t- the ML gets injured and the FL takes care of him. Think back on the recent guzhuang dramas you’ve watched lately- didn’t every one of them have this situation? Either it’s tending to the injury, feeding them the medicine , or bandaging a wound- there’s always such a scene in these dramas. Think about it- isn’t that the truth? You can say, “But Ning-ge, this drama that I’ve watched didn’t have such a scene!” and that’s okay- I’m sure there are some that don’t. But most of them do. LYN: This drama does have a scene where I am injured and the FL… didn’t care. In the end, the one by my side was Kang Ju. /laughs/ I’m kidding! You can watch what happens when the time comes. There will be a bit of injury. But even if I show some skin, there’s nothing to look at because I don’t have any sort of figure. I’m not like others with their well developed muscles, pecs, abs, and biceps/triceps. I don’t have that, so we’re not trying to “sell” you anything with my showing of flesh. It’s just a requirement of the plot. I can’t “sell” you any meat, anyway. I’m not worthy of selling any. I don’t have any muscles. 

C: If I spend money can I get a sneak peek? LYN: Peek at what, my showing of skin? What you mean is that if my gifting option were open, you would send a gift my way in expectation that I take my shirt off for you? You wish. That’s the first point. The second point is- you’d openly solicit a male actor?? If I were to report this to the police I could have you arrested. Your words were a bit too frivolous. You think you can buy me with money??

C: The 2ML showed his. LYN: What does what he does have to do with me?? If they want to show off, let them. Everyone has their own limits. Mine is to show as little skin as I can while shooting these dramas. Because it’s… embarrassing. I’m afraid to lose confidence because of it. My second limit is that if there are any scenes that require getting underwater, I’m not taking that drama, because I’m very afraid of water. LYN: When I first saw the ZLYM script, honestly I was a little afraid. Because the front part was all about pearl fishing. I was reading through the script and was dreading coming across “something happens to the FL while she’s in the water harvesting pearls and the ML has to jump in and save her” or “the ML falls into the water and bc the FL is a good swimmer, she goes to save him”. I was the most afraid of seeing such a scenario, because that would mean that I would be shooting a scene underwater. LYN: I’m afraid. Once I’m in the water, I can’t breathe. Or rather- the moment I’m in the water I WANT to take a breath. For example- if I’m on the shore and getting ready to go in. 3, 2, 1. /holds his breath, not going in the water/ I can hold my breathe above water for about a minute. But as soon as I’m in the water I can’t even hold it for ten seconds. I suspect that I was a fish in my past life. Once I’m in the water, I just want to breathe. I don’t know why. - /talks about how much he was practicing holding his breath for that one scene in Heroes, and he could hold it for a long time! But as soon as he was in the water he took a great big lungful of H2O./ LYN: I just starting breathing! Instinctively, I wanted to breathe (in the water)! Do you know how it feels to be underwater and breathe through your nose? It feels like you’re choking on it and the source of the water is through your nose (bc mouth is still closed). This is why Ning-ge has been a little slow these past two years. I used to have a quicker reaction time, but I’ve been slow because “my brain is filled with water.” [t/n: this is an insult people use when they want to ask why you’re an idiot.] It was filled with water. When I resurfaced it shot out my nose. After that scene, I don’t dare to take any more that involve water. I’m afraid of dying. Because I don’t know why it is, but as soon as I’m in the water, I want to take a breath.

C: Your brain was filled with water and it’s been a few years since then but it hasn’t dried? LYN: I don’t know if that’s how it works. You mean that it’s been three years since my brain was filled with water, so it should have dried up by now? It’s like this- I don’t know if you wear a watch? If you wear your watch in the shower, there’s going to be water vapor inside your watch. Water got inside it, and just letting it dry on its own is not going to fix it. The brain is the same- once water gets in, it won’t come out. Sometimes you think its dry but actually there’s still water in it. The brain is always going to be wet and damp. In Dandong, we have this saying to describe people who aren’t too bright- we say that their “heads (brains) are damp.” C: Use a hair dryer to blow dry your brain. // Take it out to sun-dry. LYN: You think I’m Sponge Bob? C: Throw your brain in a rice bucket. LYN: /laughs/ Oh yeah, they say if things get wet you can toss it into rice and it will absorb the water, right? That’s one way to do it. Tomorrow I’ll buy 400kg of rice, fill a tub with it, and sit inside. Other people take baths (in water) and I’ll take one in rice. That’ll do it.

2:58:55 C: People say that you have a specific horse that you use in Hengdian, is that true? LYN: No. I saw it- our platform went to Hengdian to conduct an interview and they went to the horse stables. They found the stable master and he said, “This horse, 123, is designated for use by LYN-laoshi.” That’s true. Whenever I’m in Hengdian I will always ride that horse. But there are a few horses to choose from, not only 123. 123 was used in several scenes, though. For the most recent SJYM, I think we used Lao Jia. Maybe it’s because the production always pairs me with a black horse, or a dark-colored one, so they’ll have me ride 123. At least with that horse… how should I put this? You can bribe it a little- bring it snacks everyday and at the very least it won’t kick you, right? LYN: At the very end of the interview- after hearing the last sentence my heart skipped a beat. The host had asked, “Among the actors you are familiar with, who do you think is better at controlling the horse?” The stable master said, “Oh, Liu Yuning has good control…” and I didn’t hear the rest. They mentioned me first. They said my equestrian skills are good. I was thinking, “You must be tricking me.” There’s that saying, isn’t there? “The stubborn of mouth will be beaten, a good swimmer can drown, and a horse-rider will fall to their death.” Of course, that’s not how the saying goes but the meaning still applies. LYN: Whenever I make it into a new crew, the director will usually ask, “Xiao Ning, can you ride a horse?” and I will reply, “I can’t. I KNOW HOW, but I’m not very good at it.” So I’m afraid that this interview will get out- I don’t dare to say that I know how to ride. The more confident you are- you know? (the more arrogant and prone to mistakes.) One must not be too confident. I keep telling myself that I have to treat horse-riding with the utmost of respect. I have to be respectful of the horse. Their height and weight are all greater than ours. In a natural environment your survival rate is not as high as that of a horse’s. So you have to be in awe of them, respect them, and treat them as a friend. C: You didn’t ride any less for having said you didn’t know how to ride, though? LYN: Well, if the production insists…

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3:01:55 -- Break #3 LYN: Watch a 30-sec commercial to revive me. C: You’ve made me cry miserably (by playing 别梦寒 for the break). LYN: You’re fine. 

LYN: Anyway, please support ZLYM. It’s currently being broadcast on Youku, and when I woke up this morning I received the good news that it’s broken 10k views. That’s great and I’m really happy. I hope you all continue to  watch and support the drama. I also saw- because I see very few comments on my stream- but apparently an actor from our crew, Zhu Rui, was here? I’m thankful for that, and she plays the role of Bai Niao, whom we will see later on. She’s another amazing actress, so you can check her out. I hear our drama is also Youku’s fastest to break 10k views, so I’d like to of course thank the viewers and our celebrity friends who ZLS lured in. Thank you for your support. I’d also like to thank the fans of these celebrity friends- Thank you very much. C: Reimburse the money used to pay for the membership. LYN: So you mean that if you’ve spent money to watch one of my dramas, I should reimburse you for that support? Should I also pay for the duck necks/tongues (snacks) that you’re eating while watching the drama, too? Should I prepare drinks (starts naming them), too? Would you like me to pay for those?? C: I want to drink Chunzhen. LYN: Oh, well that’s ok. Chunzhen works- you can support it more, if you’d like. When you’re watching the drama you can partake in some Chunzhen drinks and snacks. And if you’re up late watching dramas and your skin condition is not too great because of it, you can use our L’Oreal products- face masks, hydrating serums, and etc. Replenish and moisturize to make your skin look more beautiful and youthful. 

LYN: Today’s update has been up to- /counting/ episode 8, right? If I’m remembering correctly it should have aired up until the Treasure Hunt. It’s my first fight scene in the drama. C: Your brother is here. LYN: Oh? Kang Ju is here? Welcome! I also said this earlier, but the actor’s name is Yu Yonghai. He’s a very splendid actor who is very serious on set and works very hard during filming. It’s actually a lot harder on them (supporting actors) than most of the leads. LYN: Yes, he’s given me beads before, for my birthday.

3:11:30 C: Wow, you’re streaming. LYN: Yes, I have been for about three hours now… You’ve only just come now? What took you so long? LYN: If I don’t have anything big going on, and especially as my drama is airing, I’ll come to stream. While you’re watching the drama and you think something looks fun or if something comes to mind like “how was this part shot?” or “what were you thinking when you did this scene?”, you can come to my stream to share it with me and I’ll chat with you. Ning-ge will take you and reveal the secrets behind the whole film and television industry. No- that doesn’t seem like a good thing. (the way he said it) It sounds like I’m going to say something bad. /rephrases/ Ning-ge will take you and reveal the mysterious story behind the drama. 

3:12:35 C: I want to ask LYN, what part of the drama left you with the deepest impression? LYN: Your question is a lot like ones I get asked in interviews. “I think the scene that left me with the deepest impression was… There are quite a few. Because, how should I put this? There are several scenes to highlight that reflect the conflict and drama of the story. So for me, I… I’ve forgotten everything. Oh, of course, I can’t respond that way. I don’t remember.” C: !! LYN: No, don’t interrupt me!! What do you mean I can’t remember??? One of you hit the nail on the head, actually. “The scene that left the deepest impression on me was the very last scene, where YZJ boards the UFO. Every step he took was like a step on his own heart. Each step was heavy. When I stepped foot on that UFO- when that escalator descended- only an actor can understand that feeling. I don’t believe the audience would be able to understand was he was feeling in that moment. I hope that my expression can help everyone feel YZJ’s happiness, sorrow, and fear of the unknown.” You can check it out when the time comes. C: You saw the aliens? LYN: That’s right. With heavy steps I set foot on the spacecraft, and the alien who came to greet me cried. It was also deeply moved by my performance. I stepped with heavy feet and the actor who played as the alien cried with every step I took. Although they were wearing a little green alien costume, I could still feel their sadness. The tears flowed out from their feet. The alien cried.

C: How was the fire on the pearl farm shot? LYN: Do you mean the arrow shot from afar, or the fire on the inside? The indoor fire is just shot as it normally would be. The arrow was green screen. When I shot the arrow, it was at a green screen. The scene was created with special effects in post. That’s normal. You can’t REALLY build a building and burn it down in a fire. I gazed upon that green screen and felt a trace of hatred in my heart. C: Spoiler! LYN: What’s there to spoil?? Do you not normally watch xianxia? And even if you don’t, have you ever watched a spy movie or the like and there’s a gunfight? You don’t think they’d give real guns to these actors, do you? That’s all special effects; they have to be. Look at all those xianxia with immortals flying everywhere. Aren’t those all accomplished with large fans and wires? Do you think a push of the hand would create such a strong lift-off? That’s straight up a fan- /whoosh/. There are many scenes atop a mountain where a slight breeze gently makes the female actress’s hair float and look beautiful. The truth is that below the camera-line there’s a group of people each with a small 25yuan electric fan. You can buy them on Taobao. The rechargeable kind. Did you think they were really standing on the top of a mountain? What they’re actually standing on is what the professionals call a one-meter stand. It’s a stage that’s one-meter tall and the camera shoots upwards from below- because we can’t aim it at the ground, so we aim it at the sky. It only gets the actor’s face and chin, clothes and hair; and there are two small fans below, making the “wind”.

C: Did you laugh at all while “playing” the erhu? LYN: No, no bloopers because I am a professional. :) In the beginning though, I did. When I was first learning/playing- I laughed. Because I don’t know how to play, so the sound- /imitates the sound while maintaining a serene expression/. Even if /I/ were to be able to hold back my laughter, I don’t think anyone else on set could. There was another scene where I had to play the erhu while everyone else danced! 

C: Ning-ge, should I watch ZLYM or your stream? LYN: You can do whatever you want to do. ZLYM had already updated, so you can watch wherever you want- it will still be there. As for my stream, there’s the playback. So you can come back whenever you want to  watch it. Do you have difficulty making decisions? I do as well. So, you can play rock-paper-scissors with your left and right hands. /plays a match/ Ok- right hand won. I will watch LYN’s stream first. 

C: How are scenes in the sea shot? LYN: You mean in the beginning, when they’re on the sea floor? They build a water shed. Our crew spent a lot of money to build a water shed, and we shot in there. It was… quite expensive. Did you think we were really throwing people into the sea?? Why don’t you ask if the shark was real or not? This friend is very innocent. C: Did they really go into the water? LYN: Yes. You can tell when things are shot really in the water vs. when they’re not. - LYN: Actually, I’m grateful that friend didn’t ask if the shark was real. “If the shark was real, how was it trained to listen?” C: Is the shark real or fake. LYN: The shark was definitely real. We borrowed one from an aquarium. I told you earlier, didn’t I? Actors are disposable, just like the chopsticks you get with your takeout. When you buy takeout, don’t they ask if you want to pay 50cents for utensils? We actors are the same- 50cents and disposable. If the shark bites us to death you can just throw us away.  - C: Was the ship real? LYN: The ship was real, but we were shooting on land. All of the water was put in with green screen. There’s no way… no way they’ll drag us out to sea. Also, I don’t think the quality of this ship was suited to being on the water for very long, so it’d be dangerous. - C: Ning-ge, the shark was real? But I thought it looked so fake. LYN: /laughs/ No making fun of our special effects! What do you mean?? We were just talking about whether the shark was real or fake, and I told you it was real, so you’re going to ask me why it looks so fake??? For this things in the drama, you’re supposed to watch just to get the meaning. If you understand that the FL is in danger, then it’s done its job. When the shark appears, what is it to you whether it’s real or fake? The shark wasn’t there to let you see how exquisite our special effects are. We’re not filming Jurassic Park, here! This isn’t Jurassic World. Seeing the shark is to let you know that there’s a hidden danger. Is it really necessary to discuss whether the effects were good or not?? There’s no need, really. This isn’t a xianxia drama, where the special effects are to look cool or bring authenticity to the world. Nor is it a monster film. It’s just there to let you know that there are sharks in the water. Why are we taking this so seriously? There’s really no need. 

C: Are the pearls real? LYN: The pearls were all real. They’re from those oyster/clam opening videos you see online. A few of us actors stayed up one night to stream an oyster-opening video. After we opened all those shell we took the pearls from them to use as props. That’s what we did. The pearls were all real. 

C: Is the hair real? LYN: The hair…? Are you talking about my hair- YZJ’s? It depends on what angle you’re looking at it. From the crew’s perspective, it’s a wig and not my own hair. But from the wig’s perspective, it’s all real hair. You haven’t heard those vendors on the street when they pass by your house calling, “We accept hair! Accepting long hair!” You haven’t heard of that before? They go out to collect real human hair in order to make wigs. “We accept hair! Accepting long hair!” XD C: I haven’t heard of it. LYN: You must live in the city. Over in my hometown you hear it all the time. 

C: Liu Yuning, are you a real person? LYN: I already told you that I didn’t act in this drama at all. They just used AI to switch in my face later. 

C: Is the ending sweet? LYN: So sweet it’ll choke you. After you watch the ending you’ll gain 2lb. It’s that sweet. Even if you don’t eat anything- just by watching the ending alone- you’ll gain 2lb. The sugar intake will be too high. Be careful. I promise you it’ll be sweet. If it’s not sweet, I’ll give it to you for free. This melon is guaranteed to be sweet. If it’s not, I won’t take your money for it. C: I don’t like to eat sweet things. LYN: No way? I promise you it’s going to be sweet, but you don’t like sweet? C: If it’s not sweet, will you reimburse for my platform membership? LYN: I won’t be, no. LYN: You don’t like sweet? In that case, let me tell you- the ending is sour like an unripe pear. There’s all sorts of heartbreak and suffering. The ending will torment you to death. Really. Just wait for it. After you watch the ending, you’ll lost 2lb. Why? Because it’s so sad that you’ll keep crying, so much so that you’ll tremble and sweat. When all the water weight has left your body and you stand on the scale, you’d have lost 2lb. This is a weight-loss drama. You can weigh yourself before you watch the finale, then weight yourself after you’ve watched it. You will definitely lose 2lb. C: If I watch it twice, then will I lose 4lb? LYN: /laughs/ ?! Hey- that’s… you’re very smart. You say, “Lao-da, I want to lose weight.” I tell you, “Watch the drama, and you’ll lose weight.” Then you reply, “If I watch it ten times, will I lose 20lbs?” I don’t know if that’s possible, but you can try it. Watch it 60 times and lose 120lbs.

C: Were the scenes on the ship shot on a real ship? LYN: It was filmed on a real ship but it wasn’t in the water, but on land. Some of the cabins weren't on the ship- rather they were sheds build on land. It’s convenient to shoot things on a ship. 

C: Ning-ge, what meaning does the blood pearl have to you? LYN: The blood pearl, of course, is a very important thing. I can’t tell you, but later you can post on weibo: “Has anyone bought the script and can tell me? What does the blood pearl mean?”

C: Have you ever hit your head while filming? LYN: I often hit my head. That gave me the most headache. There were a couple times I hit my head pretty hard. There were additional three-four times I didn’t hit it that hard. The cabin was too low. I kept forgetting, so I would walk around and hit my head on the door frame all the time! After shooting a day in there my neck hurt SO MUCH. Because I didn’t dare to lift my head, I went around like this (neck extended low). Oh my goodness. I was hitting my head so much. Sometimes you just forget, turn your head, and bump into it. C: Why didn’t they make it higher? LYN: … “Why didn’t they build it higher”?? Go ask the director, why ask me??? I’m not the builder or artist, so I’m not there to build up the sets. Go ask them, how should I know?? I don’t know either. Why didn’t they make it higher? I also wonder. D: LYN: It’s not because we didn’t have enough money. Making it higher would only take a few extra pieces of wood. This height must have been specifically designed. It was the perfect height for me to stand up straight- with the exception of the door frames, which should be expected to be lower. So apart from the doors frames, you’ll notice that the roof is my exact height when standing up straight, save a couple inches. If I were to speculate on the director’s intention, he probably wanted to convey that: “YZJ is only an upright man when on his ship. But when he’s off the ship, he’s nothing.”  LYN: The early episodes are all mostly on the ship, because I don’t leave it much. I left it in the latest episodes to attend the Treasure Hunt. C: Did Zhang-langjun also hit his head? LYN: He definitely must have! I don’t know, though.

C: How can I get into YZJ’s company? LYN: We were thinking about this while filming- how should we be pronouncing “Yan Zijing”? Because at first we knew that the character for “yan” (4th) in surnames is pronounced with the 1st tone. Just like the “ning” in Liu Yuning changes tone when used as the surname “Ning”, as in Ning Yuanzhou. We were thinking about what to call this character, and I tried it both ways. Yan Zijing (4th tone) was smooth. But Yan Zijing (1st tone) didn’t seem as smooth. I don’t know if actually both work? But if using the surname, it should be 1st. // Using the first tone makes it sound like this kid’s been drowned. That’s what we were thinking while filming. Yan (1st tone) Zijing. :|? Doesn’t sound very manly. So when I was acting, I basically used the 4th tone. It sounded more impressive. But the problem is that later when I went to dub my parts the laoshi said I should change it back to the original tone. It just… doesn’t sound very impressive. 

C: Ning-ge, you’re trending at #5. LYN: Thank you, everyone. Thank you, weibo. - /promotes ZLYM again/

C: Ning-ge, in E8, what are YZJ’s feelings towards DW? LYN: Now you’ve come to ask about how my understanding of  the character? I have to answer these types of questions carefully. As an actor, you have to answer these questions carefully, because people with find a problem with whatever you say. I already saw someone a couple days ago trying to make people play to their tune. What did they say, “This ML is really dislikable. The first thing he does mistreat the FL. He doesn’t respect women.” Tsk. They’re clearly trying to stir things up. It’s BECAUSE I respect her, that I don’t treat her as a woman. Everyone on my boat is equal and punishment and reward is given fairly. If you do something wrong, you’ll be punished. But likewise if you do something right, I will definitely reward you. This is the company’s system. These are the rues of this world. You know?? LYN: Also, in the beginning I didn’t know the FL and I wasn’t close to her. YZJ’s personality was clear from the beginning. Zhang-langjun and I went to the pearl auction and I told him then, “You’re such a good person. You can meet anyone and want to help them.” Later there’s a scene of us playing chess and there was a critical line there, too. I said, “There are so many pitiable people in the word, but can you help them all?” These actually are proof of YZJ’s morals. He CAN be kind, but… has a very formal standard for evaluation. He’s not someone who would save or pity anyone. He’s not this type of character, but if you like this type then Zhang Jinran is your man. C: Kill them all. LYN: YZJ is a very sensible and clear-headed person.

3:37:40 LYN: Also, before the drama had even aired people were saying that in order to get revenge, YZJ shot DW through with an arrow and that his character was the worst, etc. That’s complete nonsense and the plot wasn’t even like that at all. But people will use these out-of-context in order to comment on my character, which I think is really unnecessary. So, friends, please don’t be led on by these kinds of things. LYN: No need to kill anyone over this. Spare their lives. No one has it easy.

C: Is the hairpin a token of love? LYN: I can tell you that it’s not.

C: Ning-ge, can you talk about the roles you’ve played in the past? LYN: I can, but I wouldn’t know what to say about them. // Or ZLYM? I can talk about them all. - C: Bai Choufei. LYN: Ok. BCF’s is a role I liked very much; he’s unrivaled. For that time. Every character will leave you with regrets, right? My regrets for him- honestly speaking, these are words from my heart- was that my own proficiency in acting wasn’t very high at that point in time. If we were to liken it to a skill chart, my strength was there but my performance was not. Acting requires the use of certain skills, and at that time I didn’t have those skills yet. I had used my intuition/real feelings in order to act as BCF. So when I was shooting for the drama I was often quite weary because I was too invested in the character. I used my heart to express the acting, but it’s an exhausting way of performing. Normally, one would be able to use skills to accomplish the same effect. That’s were my regret lies, with this character. If only my skills had been better- not saying that I am very highly skilled right now- just saying that if they had been better, the character would have been more richly interpreted. But I’m already very satisfied with it, because when I look back on past roles there are some things that I may not be able to ever reproduce. I was just too invested. - C: Hei Xiazi. LYN: Hei Xiazi… I really liked the character, and thought he was similar to me. He’s a little like how I am when I’m streaming. There’s a saying in this industry, “Acting well is not as good as looking alike.” I offered up a different topic, but this is what we say, on the inside. In a normal casting, acting well is not as good as fitting the look of the character. I may not be like Hei Xiazi, but there’s some part of my personality that matches and fits the character more. There’s a joking/teasing side, but when he needs to be serious he’s reliable. I was happy to have played him. LYN: Sometimes if you tell me that an actor played a role with a high-status, I don’t even believe it when I see it. With this type of person, it means that he doesn’t look the part- not to comment objectively on his acting or whether be is good-looking or not. That’s secondary. The thing is that when he’s standing there, he doesn’t LOOK like someone who would have a high status or be in a position of power. That’s really unbearable. It just… doesn’t fit. Other people can just stand there and already fit the look. You don’t have to act, because you ARE him. These types of people are more suited to the role. 

LYN: Sometimes if a character is similar to me in some aspect- personality or state of mind- I’ll try to express that similarity more clearly. This helps to make the character feel more alive. LYN: I don’t really want to talk to you about acting, because I’m not really worthy of doing so. I’m just a singer. If i say too much about it, people are going to think I’m putting on airs and “teaching” you about acting. I’m not. I’m just sharing how I approach and get into my roles. I won’t talk about it anymore, because it’ll look bad if I say too much. Because I… don’t understand it (wasn’t professionally taught). No more of this topic.

LYN: When actors are shooting, there are certain scenarios that are quite fun. There were a few dramas of mine where the actors were all very good, when we’re together. For example, in this scene there are 4-5 people. Normally when we get on set the director will tell us to do a run-through. We know what the scene is about, so we’ll start running it through. We start going through our lines, and at some point there’s space enough to make a change. But with one change something else has to change to accommodate. We’ll play off of each other so that the scene can play out with more life, to make the drama richer, more fun and more reasonable. Some dramas may only have two pages worth in writing, but if we think there’s something that’s excessive- once we are familiar with each other, there’s no need to say much- there’s no need for too much explanation, so we’ll decide to cut that part in the script out. Some dramas may only have a third of a page in writing, but we can turn it into ten minutes’ worth of time. It’s entertaining and emotional. When you meet such actors, shooting with them is an enjoyable experience. You’ll feel the creativity flowing in the environment. You’ll believe that you ARE your character, and the people around you are your friends and relatives. This is why I think acting is interesting- because I enjoy this process; I enjoy creating with everyone. Sometimes when we’re shooting with a partner, especially for one-to-one, with you sitting across from me and we’re having a conversation. You one line, then me one line. I especially like filming scenes like this. Because sitting across from the other actor lets me observe them and change my own rhythm of speech, performance method, and inner state to react in the best way. I feel it’s almost like an interview, like a conversation. I think it’s really interesting. As if I’m watching to see what move they’ll make so I make my move in turn. After I’ve made my move and they were able to counteract, I’ll need to think of my next play. It’s fun. I enjoy the process and it’s really satisfying.

LYN: Sometimes I’ll watch the dramas of other actors in my drama ad see how they act. If there’s good things to learn, I want to learn from them. If there are bad things or things that were different from how I was imagining, I will avoid and try to mask those shortcomings. That’s how I am- I’ll look at other people’s work, and that way I can learn from them. C: Ning-ge, you keep working with veteran actors. LYN: Of course, working with mature actors means that there is definitely something for me to learn. 

LYN: Okay. That’s about time, everyone. Thank you all for your support and companionship. Many of you probably started watching from the start and haven’t left, so thank you for your company and support. I hope you all can continue to support ZLYM. If I have time coming up I’ll come to chat with you. It makes me happy that we get to chat like this. Thanks for your support and company. It was great to have you and I hope you had fun. Let’s meet again in my next stream. Goodnight everyone!

[lesbiankimdahyun]

new match

1.1K words

CW: A/B/O dynamics, sorry we're really playing The Long Game here

[A!Mina x O!Reader]

As a backup dancer in the kpop industry, you were constantly making connections with every music video, award show, and world tour you danced in. Other dancers became your friends easily, but idols? At best, some became casual acquaintances of yours. For idols you got to know for longer periods of time, like during tours, you sometimes came away with their personal number stored in your phone’s contact list. 

But you never texted them. The thought felt embarrassing to you, too vulnerable. Besides, all of the idols who had given you their number so far were Omegas like you. Maybe you’d act on it if you had an Alpha’s number, but you didn’t, and you were at peace with that. 

Until one day, your friend Somi approached you at the end of group practice with a new soloist idol.

“Hey,” she said, tugging at your dance bag to get you to hold back. “Have you seen this?”

She held out her phone open and you took it, peering at the rectangle-shaped screen. At first glance, it looked like someone’s dating profile. Except…

The someone was you. All of the photos were of you. There was no written profile besides your name and age. The words “PROFILE UNCLAIMED/INACTIVE” were just below your name. 

“What? What is this?” you said, nearly throwing her phone back at her. “That’s me, what the fuck!” 

Somi winced, taking her phone back quickly. “I had a feeling you didn’t know.” 

“Know about what? What is that?” you asked, now wondering whether you should ask to see it again. “Oh my god, is my identity being st–”

“It’s an app,” Somi said quickly, lowering her voice as a few more dancers scurried by you. “Calm down, it’s just–” she hesitated. “It’s…basically like Tinder, but almost exclusively for idol Alphas and Omegas.” 

Your eyes widened. “Idols? But then how am I on there?” 

“I said almost,” Somi said, emphasizing the word. “If you’re known or noticed by other idols, sometimes they add outsiders they think are hot, like hair and makeup artists, music photographers or dancers.”

You stared at Somi. You watched as she ran a few of her fingers through her bangs and combed through them, as if that offered some sort of additional explanation. 

“How do you know all of this?” you asked, crossing your arms. “Are– are you on there?”

Somi blushed. “I– not right now,” the other Omega said. “I just finished my heat so I’m kind of taking a break.” 

Your brain was racing a million miles a minute to piece together what she was telling you. 

“So you’ve used it? You have a profile?” Your questions came as quickly as you could say them. “Let me see your profile! How does it work? Idols? Who have you matched with?” 

Seeing now that you were less upset and more intrigued, Somi finally smiled. “Slow down, Y/N!  I’ll tell you everything on the walk to the train. That account is yours if you want it.” 

After getting instructions from Somi on how to claim your profile and create login credentials for yourself, you came home. You threw your phone on your bed and then jumped in after it. Somi told you you’d have to verify your identity if you claimed your profile. You hated how eager you were to get up and go back out into your apartment to grab your bag. You rooted around for your ID, rolling your eyes at yourself. It’s not like you were going to have the kind of luck Somi told you she’d had. What if she was secretly lying and there weren’t actually any attractive Alphas on there?

ID in hand now, you moved to your kitchen. You set your phone and ID down on the counter while you grabbed a bottle of red and a glass. 

After taking a long sip, curiosity got the best of you and you finally unlocked your phone. You downloaded the app and followed the prompts on your screen to claim your profile. It required you to upload photographs of your ID and submit a selfie to verify your identity. You also signed a severe privacy agreement. 

This better be worth it, you thought. 

A few minutes later, you were into your new account and you quickly made some adjustments to your profile. You swapped out some of the photos of yourself for ones you liked better and added a short bio. An ‘O’ appeared on your profile after your name and age. 

Buzzing with excitement, you tapped your way back to the home screen quickly. Now you finally could browse and see which Alphas awaited you, and which non-idols had been deemed well known enough to be included. As you started swiping through, you couldn’t believe it. There were more Alpha profiles than you thought there would be. 

Taking a breath, you slowly and meticulously started swiping through profiles, reading every line of their bios, taking in each photo. Some of the names and faces you saw made your eyebrows lift in surprise. (G)I-DLE’s Yuqi, Red Velvet’s Seulgi, Dreamcatcher’s Siyeon, JiU and Dami, even MAMAMOO’s Hwasa.

The idea of not matching with some of the Alphas you saw was devastating, but matching with them was even scarier to think about. 

Not matching with Fromis_9’s Saerom almost shattered your confidence, and not getting a single match with any of the LOONA members you saw made you debate deleting the app right then and there. But then you remembered your profile had only just gone live, so you went on with your night to give yourself some time to be swiped on. 

You ate and then showered. When you came back to your room to get dressed, you noticed a new notification on your phone. Your first match!

Your eyes went wide when you saw who it was. (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon. 

A wave of excited warmth rushed over you. You flicked through her photos, admiring the pretty Alpha. You then frowned for a moment, remembering one of the app’s antiquated traditional rules. Alphas had the first move– Omegas couldn’t send a message first. 

You sat there for a few moments, as if willing a notification to come through, but your phone stayed motionless in your hand. You set your phone down, ready to move onto doing something else. It wasn’t worth waiting around to see if a message came through. 

After washing your dishes and helping yourself to a second glass of wine, you settled in on your couch to read for a bit. Just as you were about to pick up where you left off, your phone vibrated. 

Soyeon.

[gabessquishytum]

Omegaverse Pornstars

Both Hob and Dream are pornstars for their different sceondary genders - they've never worked together for reasons, but lately their companies have been discussing getting their highest earners/biggest stars together for a video or two, depending on if the have chemistry.

It's generally pretty "easy" to be an alpha or omega pornstar - outside of heats+ruts, there is a very low chance of getting pregnant; heats & ruts are super regular after your first and the work is unlikely to throw a performer into either state,,,unless they somehow are meeting/with their "true mate". And honestly, true mates, made the hell up! The perfect person for you,,*scoff* both Dream and Hob having been having sex as a job for long enough that getting slick or throwing a knot is just work -- there is no magic to it.

Well,, the first day of the first shoot, Hob and Dream get a whiff of each other and ALL BETS ARE OFF. The cameras start rolling and it's maybe 5 minutes after they kiss for the first time that heat and rut hit them hard -- is it a win for the Porn companies to have a recording of true mates 1st time? Because it's not like they could be separated without someone losing a limb.

Ooo this is great, i actually haven't even considered porn in an omegaverse universe before! And I always love talking about porn au stuff!!

Dream is an alpha, and there's absolutely no mistaking him for anything else. He's slim, but there's hard muscle framing his entire body, and his stamina is legendary. He's incredibly popular not just for his appearance but for his voice. He has an alpha voice like no other, one that gets through the screen to his viewers. He says cum? Every omega watching cums on the spot. It's a talent that's got Dream to the heights of his industry and he pretty much calls the shots on his career now.

No one really expected Hob to be popular in the omega porn industry, but they were all wrong. The videos where Hob is tamed and forced to submit for an alpha always go viral. He's not particularly pretty, but hes got a very nice cunt, a very nice mouth, and there's just something about him that reels alphas in. Some say it's the way he makes eye contact with the camera. Some say it's because he looks like he's enjoying himself. Maybe it's because deep down, everyone knows that he's truly untamable.

Or so it seems, until that fateful day when he and Dream catch each other's scent. Even when the footage is edited together it's possible to see the shock in Hob’s eyes. Because he's on his hands and knees before he can even blink, presenting for his alpha and displaying his throat to be marked. It isn't acting or playing pretend anymore. Dream is right there, pressing against him and nuzzling his scent glands and Hob is purring in response! He has never, ever purred for an alpha before. But he wants this one. This gorgeous alpha with the sharp blue eyes is Hob’s, and if he doesn't get his knot in a few minutes he's going to stop presenting and start demanding.

Dream is mostly fogged up in his rut but he is also so charmed by this warm, gorgeous omega who has obviously never really submitted to anyone in his entire life. Dream thinks he's wonderful. He knows Hob’s work, just like Hob knows his, and he has high hopes for their compatability! But he should probably get his knot inside his omega before Hob stops purring and starts biting, right?

Dream and Hob do allow the company to release (part of) the recording, but only because they want to use it as a way to announce to their partnership: in both life, and work. Neither of them wants to give up their job and the solution is simple. They'll just film with each other!

Dream using his alpha voice to force bratty, unruly omega Hob to cum is going to be very popular indeed.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So I was watching video essays on RWBY, and on Steven Universe, and they got me thinking about this show.

Do you think there was a unified creative vision behind Miraculous, or did the writers each have their own ideas about what the show was and where it should be going? Are there any moments or episodes that stand out as being approached differently from the rest of the series, or points where it seems almost like a tug of war between two interpretations of a character (beyond the general inconsistencies this show consistently struggles with)?

Nothing comes to mind as particularly out of the norm save for Derision. While pretty much every major character is a mess of contradictions, the contradictions are so common that it's just par for the course. Any episode can feature any version of the characters no matter who the credited writer is.

RWBY isn't a great show to compare things too because it was a small, indie company trying to make a show in-house and struggling because they didn't really know what they were doing. Miraculous is made by industry professionals and seems to be following the industry standard where the writing comes first so that it can be fully vetted before we sink money into expensive things like voice acting and animation. Even then, it's (loosely) writing -> approval -> storyboards -> approval -> voice acting -> final animation -> editing. There's really not much room for people going rouge. That's why any theory that Miraculous or really any major network show was tampered with always makes me raise a questioning eyebrow. I get why people want that to be the answer, we want a good explanation when tragedies happen, but the truth is just that there are a lot of bad writers out there. Television is not a meritocracy.

Heck, even amazing writers can produce crap in the fast paced world of modern writing across the various creative industries. The pressure to get stuff out asap to both keep costs low and produce content while interest is high is no joke! It's part of the reason I prefer making fan content. It's just so much more relaxed!

[ateez-himari]

LXST; RECORD TWO

[NEW UPLOAD FROM ATEEZ]

LISTEN TO 'TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN' NOW ON YOUTUBE (until 4:38)

Liked by m.by_sana and 1,203,389 others

ateez_official_ LXST; Record Two

#ATEEZ #애이티즈 #HIMARI #히마리

View all 890,839 comments

sleep_token So glad our fans brought this ethereal song to our attention 🙌🏻 If you're ever looking for someone to collaborate with we'd be more than willing

hynjinnnn i'm so grateful you trusted me to photograph you and bring your ideas to life, it was such an amazing experience 💛the song is so beautiful that i might be responsible for half of its steams right now, save me a seat at the next tour stop🙏

teezify these photo concepts just get more breath taking and the fact that the water is used to portray the emotions of the song...🤌✨️

youremystar an alternative rock/progressive metal song with HER voice, we really are winning guys 🤭 and the creative direction was all her so it really makes those pics more impressive, I can't even explain how I feel looking at them

himarry.me We as a society underestimate just how creative her mind is...she replaced the vowel by an x to make it a series with different themes 🤯Thank you for working so hard our maknae, but please remember to rest 💕

bluebrry she actually performed it at the Toronto concert...I got chills. not only was she acting but she was singing live the entire time, also Mingi as the toxic masked figure from the video?? this stage alone should get an award 🤩👏🏼

08 July 2024 • See Original

Industry Reactions

Mingi made sure his Instagram story was filled with praise for his girlfriend 'from the moment this song started playing in the studio I felt like I was diving into her heart. I'll never grow tired of hearing that angelic voice even in the depth of my dreams so if you won't stream the song, I will 😤Tiny, please show lots of love to my angel, she deserves it especially after the amount of work that went into this track alone. She fell asleep so often in her studio writing everything from lyrics to the music video directions that I had to make her sleep in mine most nights just so I could bring her home later'

J Hope made an unexpected post on Weverse 'I don't usually make song recommendations but I feel like people need to hear this one at least once in their life. We watched her grow up so I was able to see the amount of potential her production had and yet I never thought to hear something so out of the ordinary, she's really advanced to a new level'

American singer Halsey showed fondness for her friend's younger sister on X 'I've only gotten the chance to meet this sweet girl twice yet she's been stuck in my mind ever since and this song is proof of her impact. It goes beyond the restrictions of her industry, it draws your entire being inside the track almost as if under water. I can't properly explain this song so go stream it!'

Woozi surprised fans with news of their friendship on Weverse 'There have been many talented producers who worked with me in the past but Himari instantly stood out to me with the brilliance of her musical mind. We got to talking more as friends and she told me that she didn't take classes until their early debut days, she just watched people like Hongjoong and Yoongi hyung. When producers say that this girl is a genius we really mean it. Take Me Back To Eden is a mix of two different genres yet she makes them work so well together with just the use of her voice, that's a true artist, someone with a creative vision out of what people expect or are comfortable with'

(G)I-DLE leader and producer Soyeon expressed respect on an Instagram story 'Usually senior idols are the ones serving as role models for their juniors, but after hearing Take Me Back to Eden I have to admit that despite being three years older, I really do look up to Himari. What she has isn't just about natural talent, it's hard work, constant learning, harmony in a team, long hours...a lot of us producers admire her work ethic. Her creativity is absolutely mind blowing, she's without a doubt one of the pillars of this generation and I'm sure younger idols will talk about her for a very long time ❤️'

Netizen Reactions

@/bulleobulleooo on X 'That one scene with Apollo when it turns into a man hits so hard...because the sound was beautiful but the chords were cutting her fingers the entire time. Relationship wise that means he was whispering loving things in her ear while destroying her. Omg then the part where she's singing 'Grow back your sharpest teeth, you know my desire' in tears while he's making her look up at him?? This MV is so meaningful'

@/ateenypresent on X 'this is definitely about being lost in someone's corruption 🤔 look at the details, she even has bruises around her eyes like she was burnt by the 'funeral pyre' she keeps talking about being drawn to'

@/himaswife on X 'Hear me out, I think this whole project is about the evolution of toxic love. The first track was about desire for another person, lust, or being drawn in by someone, this one hints to being so blinded by toxic love (of the person she was drawn to) that she loses herself to the point of wanting to go back to previous innocence yet not being able to due to still being trapped by the other. The next one might be called last and talking about the separation from that person.'

@/secretlyjjoongrami on X 'Wait Eden is the beginning, where everything started, but it also represents perfect harmony. With all the clues in the video I think she's been corrupted by the masked man and broken to the point where everything inside her is in chaos. Maybe that's why her dress when he's around is black and torn, but the reflection in the mirror is wearing white, same thing when she's in the water...'

Min Siblings Updates

Yoongi's private message 'My Himari, please know that I'm more than sorry for everything happening at the moment I promise I'll fix it. This is very unfair to you, I can only imagine how stressed everything must make you right now, how much my stupidity bled onto your life. I wanted you to know how proud I am that you're working so hard especially on this incredibly creative project. Your soul is pure art itself, I hope you'll always be able to express yourself like this. Your big brother is so sorry, I love you, always ❤️'

Hanzo's private message 'Don't worry I streamed your new song the second the notification appeared on my screen, Haneul heard it and won't stop asking for me to 'play auntie's song' ㅎㅎ This is a beautiful project but please remember to rest, Hongjoong says he's worried that you have more nightmares lately. Pretty please send me the next track before it comes out, for your big brother that you love so much 🥺My amazing, artistic little tiger, I love you 💕Remember to send me a message when you land in Rosemont!'

Translated from Korean by Google

[cyanoticfireflies]

Hazbin Hotel - Rewatch Thoughts (Episode 1, Part 3)

I know Adam has his guitar and Alex Brightman voice, but is he an actual rockstar in Heaven?  He’s going on about his gig in his anecdote. 

They talked about how Lilith empowered demon-kind with her songs – but how did Heaven get its groove then?

I’m so fascinated by this because Adam knows who Charlie is.  He knows she’s Lucifer’s daughter, which pretty much makes her Lilith’s daughter (theories in the epilogue, theories in the epilogue) which means that she could have been Adam’s daughter if his first wife hadn’t run off with another guy.  Honestly, considering how immature and spiteful Adam is shown to be later, sitting down and talking to Charlie and having lunch “with” her is reasonably chill behavior on the Adam scale….  I’m kind of getting “that weird uncle that peaked in college” vibes from him.

Starting from about this point is where Lute begins to become more interesting to me than Adam.  We get what he’s like.  But when he’s asking whether a girl would want a “lesser” guy to him, Lute shakes her head, agreeing with him. 

She hasn’t said a word so far, but immediately she’s on Adam’s side – not at all appalled that this guy representing Heaven is acting like this and in agreement with him even.

Lute will remain fascinating to me, just saying that now.

Adam goes into listing what he thinks is “our biggest problem” and knowing what we know about Adam later him possibly having herpes is both amusing and scary.  I’m pretty sure he uses the exorcist army as his own harem.  Maybe that’s why all of them are so angry.

(Yes, I think everyone caught the fourth wall break.)

(We’re not the ones who refuse to go out in public without a mask on, big man.  Well, at least not since COVID numbers went down!)

I really want to find out Niffty’s backstory. 

I’m sure Vivianne already has the whole thing drafted out in her head.  But that complete paralysis when the camera was rolling seemed like a trauma response.  And that’s in a room that has a guy that is frequently raped on camera standing a few feet away from her.  Niffty goes totally dissociative until she hears the word “cut” and the camera beep off.  So, so curious.

(Have some nightmare fuel.)

I feel like working in the film industry Angel would be the perfect person to explain “fix it in post” to Vaggie if she hadn’t bitten his head off.  He literally raises his hands in surrender when she snarls at him, so done with all of their shit.

What room is Vaggie in when she’s editing the commercial?  We know there’s a reasonably better working TV down in the living room since they were watching it at the beginning of episode 4, and that room doesn’t look like hers and Charlie’s room that we see later on.

And why did this seemingly unused room get matching elephant statues for the mantle?

Alastor shows up to be generally unhelpful and kick her while she’s down, as he’s wont to do. 

Alastor’s shadow thing is so interesting to watch.  In some ways, it almost acts like Asmodeus’s extra faces from Helluva Boss, mimicking Alastor’s emotions.  But then other times it acts semi-separately.  Is the shadow thing supposed to be Alastor’s unfiltered id behind his veneer?

(You can actually kind of see a non-psychotic deer form for Alastor when the camera bugs out when Vaggie is trying to video him.  That looks like a deer to everyone else too, right?)

When Alastor has his “this face was made for radio” freakout, he’s missing the X in the middle of his forehead that he always has later, which is just an interesting detail to note.

I also feel like “who or what you are” is something that could come up later on.  We know that Alastor is an aberration in Hell, having powers at levels never before seen from a Sinner.  Either his deal goes back farther than I was suspecting or else he’s been very not-usual from the start.

I feel like what Alastor does here with Vaggie is the first (or second if the pilot is cannon) step along a long road to desensitization.  We make him see two deals in the current timeline in the show – once to not have to fuss with the TV ever again, once for a favor where Charlie “harms no one.” 

He seems to be getting them used to making little, insignificant (or maybe significant, depending on his favor – it was very specifically worded) deals with him.  Like when you try to get close to a stray animal so inch your way towards it one step at a time.  Though in this case Alastor would probably do the biting…

I also feel like it’s very telling that Alastor didn’t bother to offer to do his whole set/costumes/crew thing when Vaggie first asked for help with the commercial.  Only when helping with the commercial was in some way beneficial to him.

Are these dude’s Alastor summons a couple of times other Sinners, or are they just fake, temporary creatures?  Does that mean that Alastor is controlling them or are they equipped with some sort of rudimentary AI that lets them perform the tasks he’s set to them?  If they are other Sinners, Husk and Niffty are out of uniform.  If they aren’t, Angel can probably keep the one he hits on later as a fancy sex toy without many moral implications.

(Alastor should give up being the Radio Demon and give Velvette a run for her money in the fashion industry.  Angel and Vaggie’s outfits in particular are *chef’s kiss*)

I hope Alastor’s closed captions staff are better than Amazon’s, though. 

Also, at some point during the flash back to the hotel, Adam has finished his pile of ribs.  I don’t know how if he never shuts up enough to let someone else get a word in edgewise.

Adam and Lute start talking about the Exterminations, and Lute mentions that she “got a good 275 this year.”  (We’ll be coming back to that number later, by the way.)

Adam seems impressed by this, telling her that was “bad-ass” and giving her a fist bump.  While calling her “danger tits.”  Lute does not, in fact, punch Adam in the face for this.  Again here Lute seems totally on board with Adam’s… Adam-ness.

She seems like some of the girls that I’ve known from school, work, etc that go out clubbing and actually will give the time of day to the guys who wear sunglasses inside and think that negging is a successful way to get women’s attention.  Lute, you are encouraging bad behavior!

But that’s not surprising since Lute is quickly revealed to be a zealot, a fanatic, an extremist. 

She hasn’t just drank the Kool-Aid, she was pouring the fruit punch flavored powder mix into the pitchers for other people to add the water to. 

(Is this because if you, personally, catch an angel making one you de-angel-ify them?

Her belief system is carved in stone, and unfortunately for Charlie and all of Hell that belief system is that Sinners double-dying is not only an acceptable thing but an excellent thing.

Lute does reveal something here that has the potential to become important later: that Lucifer made some kind of arrangement that spares the Hellborn from the exorcisms. 

Vivziepop’s other show “Helluva Boss” focuses a lot more on the Hellborn than Hazbin Hotel does (obviously, with Hazbin being focused on the redemption of Sinners.)

The Hellborn that we see/know/spend time with in Hazbin are going to include: Charlie, Keekee, Razzle, Dazzle, the Egg Boys, Fat Nuggets, and that’s pretty much it.  Everyone else aside from background characters in Hazbin – I may have missed one or two – is an open target.  I guess maybe fallen angels must also be exempt since no one is trying to go after Lucifer himself.

Lute’s words do seem to upset Charlie a bit.  “How little you matter,” she said, and it looked like a hit to Charlie’s battleship.  Which I know Charlie is a bouncy blonde ball of daddy issues at this point, but it really seems like the opposite, doesn’t it?  Like she – and the other Hellborn – were being protected.  Is Charlie upset that the exorcists aren’t coming after her because they can’t, so they don’t really care about (killing) her?  Maybe that’s just Charlie’s guilt for being exempt?

Charlie tries to explain her plans to Adam and Lute, but by this point we all know that she’s not going to succeed, right?  At least her crayon drawings are kind of cute.

“Hell is Forever” sounds like one of the songs that the youth pastors I grew up having to go hang out with every other week (divorced parents, split custody) used to make religion cool to the youngsters. 

Very Skillet, Fireflight, etc.  This ain’t your grandpappy’s religion – except the whole eternal damnation part.  Except I’m pretty sure they would have censored some of the “fucks” to let us have this one.

Adam kind of cuts through all of the divine judgement propaganda to get to the heart of things in the second verse.  This isn’t even about population control or final death or any of that – he and his exterminators just enjoy it.

 Since we find out later that no one else knows about the exterminations, I imagine that the exterminators have to be – up to a certain point, at least – on their best behavior in Heaven.  This kind of makes Extermination Day a bit like “The Purge” for exorcists. 

One day to go nuts and get it all out of their systems.  Frankly, it might be a little bit dangerous for Heaven to stop the extermination; after several thousands of years of having that release valve, if it was suddenly taken away that pressure could go pretty kaboom – and Sera won’t let that kaboom happen anywhere near her Winners.

(Charlie is right.  Where did all of these backup singers come from?  They’re gold, not full monochrome like Lute, so they’re probably not real exorcists they yanked into the meeting room from the lobby.  Adam must have a “give me a posse” button in the Heaven version of the meeting room.)

Adam’s big reveal comes right at the end of the song.  They’re moving the next Extermination Day up to six months instead of a year out.

Who approved this plan?  Did Sera sign off on this?  This seems like really bad population control practice.  The exterminations seem to already be getting worse and worse (Carmilla Carmine says specifically that this most recent extermination was brutal, with approximately 15% of the Sinner population being wiped out.) 

If they increase the pace and severity of exterminations, that’s almost a third of the population each year.

I stopped going to church a long time ago, but that number seems interesting…

Revelation 9:15: “And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.”

Revelation 9:18: “By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.”

This may not mean anything.

(We'll pick up in Episode 1, Part 4 due to Tumblr's 30 images-per-post limit.)

[cayde-orcat]

This is a long one, get ready. I'm speaking right now as a former Vivziepop fan (yeah, specifically her along with her shows.) don't let your hyperfixations cloud your judgement from real criticism. Before you ask YES IT IS OKAY TO LIKE THE SHOWS, YES, ITS OKAY TO WATCH THEM. Buying merch? things like that, probably not very cool.

Listen to me carefully: Your enjoyment of a TV show has no impact on your moral character. I am only educating you about a petty, malicious, and greedy public figure.

These videos and their second parts are both really important to watch, I think (links at the bottom of this post)

But to summarize if you don't want to watch these videos:

The Original Voice Cast:

The voice actors of the original pilot did MOST of the work funding that pilot, were led to believe by vivziepop that they would be in the full show, and then almost EVERYONE that worked on the pilot was dropped.

The goodbye song from the og voice actors was nothing more than a professional goodbye.

One of the voice actors was told they were dropped from the show right before her husband died. She described it as "the last heartbreak he ever helped her through." She had been left in (I believe) millions of dollars in debt from it all. Her and some others held a Livestream to help her out, and Vivienne told them they cannot use the voices of the old cast during the stream. They would have made significantly more money if they had been able to do this, voice acted skits and requests is what made the Hazbin Pilot possible, and what made them so much money in the first place. But apparently, because Viv wasn't benefiting from it, they couldn't use those voices.

Spindlehorse's work environment:

Spindlehorse takes in mostly fans of the shows, and animators with little to no professional experience, they are easy to take advantage of and ARE taken advantage of. I won't go into pay rates because I'm bad at remembering numbers and you should watch the first video for all of that, but the turnover rate at Spindlehorse is FIFTY PERCENT. A good average turnover rate is 10%.

The pay gap between their favorites and everyone else is, gross, honestly. Their normal workers get the industry standard, while their favorites get significantly more than that.

Many people who haven't signed an NDA have talked about how bad of a work environment it is. Some have even talked about how hard Viv and other people in management are to work with.

Kendraw, art theft, and false allegations:

This is going to be a very light summary of a LONG video. Watch VIVZIEPOP VS KENDRAW for a better understanding. If you do not want to watch the video, here you go:

Kendraw was, to my understanding, a good friend of Viv before the pilot came out. Kendraw's pronouns are they/them. Viv has always known this.

Kendraw would give Viv a lot of suggestions for the pilot, to the point where they basically wrote it for her. Viv had called herself a bad writer during all this.

They also made a concept drawing of Cherri Bomb, and when they showed it to Viv, she asked to "work off the post" and credit them if she did so.

This was Kendraw's art.

This, was Vivziepop's. (This may not be Cherri's first official render, but it's one of them.)

Kendraw was not given credit for this drawing, not given credit for his ideas for the pilot, and MANY others weren't given credit for their work on the pilot as well.

Kendraw asked Viv calmly, why they and others weren't given credit. Vivziepop told them she felt attacked, and went on to misgender Kendraw to other people, along with accusing them of talking inappropriately to a minor, instead of just, giving people the credit they deserved.

There's more to this situation, but I know people will only read so much, so this is just a little surface scratch of how BAD of a person this woman is. Not enough people are talking about this, too many people are groveling at her feet.

Let me remind you that it is FINE to like Hazbin and Helluva. I'm not the boss of you, I just think people need to talk about this so much more than we are.

We need to be aware of the people we idolize.

VIVZIEPOP V KENDRAW: the deepest dive:

https://youtu.be/DwRb4ydYTdQ?si=V4Hk6TIhLVOZAAXd

Vivziepop is a Bad Person - Part 1

https://youtu.be/pQqQhF5Q3EA?si=AAsLlPAMPQkYzVUU

[ecargmura]

Oshi No Ko Episode 18 Review - Akane's Oshi No Ko

“Oshi no Ko” has two definite meanings:

My bias (oshi is Japanese idol slang for bias) in the sense of having a favorite star or character (it can be used for fictional media or just someone you idolize in general)

My bias’s child (which is the premise of the story as Goro and Sarina died and reincarnated into Aqua and Ruby Hoshino, their idol bias Ai Hoshino’s child).

Kana is basically Akane’s “oshi no ko” in the sense that she was her idol (the first definition). She’s the source of Akane’s admiration and idolization. Because she wanted to be like her that she chose to become an actress. However, there is a saying that one should never meet their heroes because her actual encounter with Kana as a kid changed her. She learned about the harshness of the entertainment world with how auditions can be rigged. It was because of that one encounter with Kana that she chose to read about psychology obsessively (how is that librarian not questioning the types of books Akane was reading at the library?) and that’s how her acting improved and how she got to where she is now.

Akane and Kana’s rivalry is so interesting to watch because of their circumstances and how it leads to where they are now. Akane and Kana both got into acting, but the type of acting they were in are very different. Kana was the child star of the film industry while Akane was the child star of the theater industry. Akane has supportive parents while it doesn’t seem like Kana has her parents around as she did mention they live elsewhere in Season 1. Akane is the one dating Aqua while Kana is stuck in a one-sided love with him. They have such a complicated respect for one another and I like it a lot. This is how rivalries should be like—wanting the best for each other but also wanting to one-up the other. I think the best thing about their rivalry is that Akane hates the actress Kana has become in the present. She loved the Kana who was radiant when the focus was on her. She hates the Kana who has to step back to let others shine.

However, what Akane does not know was that her first meeting with Kana was after Kana met Aqua who had upstaged her in their first acting gig together. That encountered had caused Kana to be in an inner turmoil for the next twelve years. He had humbled her and then the rest of her child star years had been going through situations where she’d just get work because they need her. After her re-encounter with Aqua, Kana now knows how to give others spotlight when needed. However, she still holds back even when she wants to go all out. I hope that she’s able to revive that radiance next episode. I feel like it’s going to be like that.

The animation was really good. It wasn’t as great as the previous episode, but I loved how Princess Saya was shown. I also loved the part where Saya twirls around and then pans to Akane as a teen and a child reaching her hands out to Kana, signaling for her to dance at the same pace as her. However, my favorite part of the episode was Kana dashing towards her idol group members until Akane, as Princess Saya, stops her. That was like a jump scare in a way. I thought there was something wrong with the video at first.

The voice acting for Akane was really good. I always associated Manaka Iwami as a soft-toned actress, but this episode got me rethinking. She can pull off a deeper voice and she should use that in future works. It’s just too good. I can’t wait to hear Manaka Iwami voice cool older ladies or stoic girls because I know she can pull those off well.

I honestly can’t wait for next week’s episode. I feel like it’s going to shine on Kana and show off why she’s the genius child actress who can break into tears in ten seconds. However, I can’t deny that Akane was the star of this episode. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[sasagero]

A3! Act 15 Chapter 19: Actor, Nanao Taichi

NOTE: I am still learning Japanese, so this may not be completely accurate. If you notice any mistakes, feel free to let me know!

Issei: Hey, this is the first time we’re having a one-on-one discussion, isn’t it.

Taichi: P-please take care of me!

Issei: I’ve heard from Tenma about what kind of actor you are, but as the president [of the Sumeragi agency], I’d like to be able to hear all about it from you.

Taichi: Y-you got it!

Issei: You began acting when you were a child, right?

Taichi: Y-yes!

Taichi: But I only appeared as an extra… And then when I eventually auditioned for Godza, I passed as an ensemble member.

Taichi: U-um, from there—

Issei: You don’t need to be so nervous.

Taichi: S-sorry!

Issei: After transferring to MANKAI Company, you’ve played as the lead several times, and lately, you’ve only acted on stage.

Issei: Could you tell me why you wanted to once more take on the challenge of acting in a film?

Issei: To begin with, why did you completely retreat from the film industry…

Taichi: That’s… I was in the same drama as Ten-chan, and his presence and performance on set completely overwhelmed me…

Taichi: No matter how hard I worked, I thought that I could never become someone like that, and I ran away from the film industry.

Taichi: From there, even though I turned to the world of theater, I still found myself failing. It was then that I met Ten-chan again.

Taichi: I definitely had a complex over him at first, but in my current theater troupe, I was able to gain confidence as an actor, little by little.

Taichi: Finally, Ten-chan acknowledged me as a fellow actor and rival.

Taichi: When Ten-chan called me his rival, it made me really happy…

Issei: …So that’s what happened.

Taichi: Right now, Autumn Troupe is heading towards the New Fleur Award, and we’ve all decided to challenge ourselves by trying to break out of our shells.

Taichi: I overcame my setbacks from my previous theater company on stage, so I thought I’d like to try and overcome my setbacks from acting in films, too…

Issei: When you say you overcame those setbacks, you’re referring to “Stray Devil’s Blues,” aren’t you. Tenma told me to watch the clips.

Taichi: Eh, really?!

Issei: In order to understand Taichi Nanao as an actor, he said I should watch it. He picked out some other clips, too.

Taichi: (Ten-chan…! Thank you…!)

Issei: This time, you want to get revenge on set for when you were a kid, right?

Taichi: That’s right.

Issei: However, even with the pressure of an important work looming over you, you picked this difficult role… you’ve got some courage.

Issei: Even though it’s just a one-off drama, the role’s of a young boy who lost his voice after going into psychogenic shock.

Issei: Among all of the offers you received, you picked this complex role well.

Taichi: Because I’ve been unable to give a flashy sort of presence, the only weapon I have is all of the knowledge born from the many experiences I’ve had.

Taichi: I’ve always thought about what other people think of me and how I can attract attention, and I’ve been observing what everyone’s attracted to…

Taichi: I feel like I’ve naturally come to express the little details like people’s gazes and gestures.

Taichi: Also, I’ve seen a lot of actors on a bunch of different sets, and I’ve stolen the things I’m jealous of from my co-stars.

Taichi: Carefully listening to my co-stars’ performances, as well as connecting to more delicate plays—I want to become an actor who can take advantage of both of these skills.

Issei: When I watched the video that Tenma gave me, I felt that I’ve been waiting for someone with a different kind of charm than him…I’m sure that you can become that kind of actor.

Taichi: Thank you so much! When you say that, I feel like I’ve gained some confidence!

Issei: Tenma didn’t only tell me about how you’re an actor, but I’ve heard over and over about how you’ve been his friend commuting to school together throughout high school and college.

Issei: Instead of going to a performing arts school, Tenma went to a normal high school because we thought that by leading the same high school life as his peers, it would enrich his acting life.

Issei: We wanted him to interact with people from his own generation and be inspired by them. In other words, we wanted him to find a rival.

Issei: That, and as parents, we wanted Tenma to make friends that were his age.

Issei: Ever since he was young, he’s been working with adults on the same sets, you see. Well, that might just be a parent’s selfish desire.

Issei: You made that happen, and for that, I’m grateful. As you take your first steps, I’ll be rooting for you.

Taichi: I’ll definitely live up to your expectations, President-san!!

Issei: Of course—but President-san is a little…

Taichi: Yessir, Sumeragi-san!!

Issei: Yes, do your best.

Igawa: Please excuse me.

Issei: We just wrapped up the interview.

Igawa: Thanks for your hard work.

Igawa: Taichi-san, starting tomorrow, let’s work hard in preparation for filming.

Taichi: Yeah!

Tenma: “What’s with your voice…?”

Taichi: “...”

Tenma: You should be conscious of the camera here—with the nature of the scene, I think it’ll come out better if you can effectively express yourself through your facial expression.

Taichi: I see.

Tenma: Not just as an actor of Mankai Company’s Autumn Troupe, but as an actor of the Sumeragi agency, do your best.

Taichi: Hehe, saying that I’m under the Sumeragi agency kinda makes me happy. I’m gonna work hard!

Tenma: How was the interview with my dad?

Taichi: Thanks to Ten-chan, it went smoothly.

Taichi: Ten-chan promoted me so much, I was really happy! Thanks!

Tenma: It’s nothing. I just explained the actor Taichi Nanao in a way that’s easy to understand.

Taichi: Once again, as both your friend and rival, please take care of me!

Tenma: Yeah.

Taichi: From here on, we’ll be coworkers at the same agency, too.

Tenma: That means I’m your senpai.

Taichi: Ahaha, Ten-chan-senpai!

Taichi: So that I don’t embarrass you as your rival, I’m not gonna hold anything back and really get you worked up, so get ready!

Tenma: Looking forward to it.

Tenma: …Speaking of, if my schedule frees up, I might stop by when your filming’s wrapping up.

Taichi: Eh?! That makes me super nervous, you know~!

Tenma: What happened to not holding back?

Taichi: This and that are different~!