#which definitely adds to the specific flavour of hell

[fromunderdreamingspires]

Air travel these days really is just chanting to yourself life is not always pain and suffering over and over and over again. And you still won’t believe it until you’ve escaped.

[bloody-oath]

Which slashers would use chapstick?

Here lies deep pan crust. Going through the list...

Which slashers would use and need chapstick?

Jason Voorhees: Super crusty. Each kiss comes with free nibblies, i.e., skin flakes with a side of rot. Anti-chapstick. Anti-healthy. Jesus cannot save.

Michael Myers: Not bad. Dehydrated, but not dry. His skin is tough as nails. Additionally, the mask protects his smackers from weather damage. No chapstick, no need. Good on you, Mike.

Freddy Krueger: Bruh. First, give him some skin to moisturise. If the chapstick is tinted red, it will look like tomato sauce on a pair of burnt sausages. Do not even bother. 

Bubba Sawyer: He does not need chapstick. The chapstick needs him. His lips are extra plush, all bounce. Mattresses be damned. Rest your weight on these babies instead. 10/10 would ride again.

Nubbins Sawyer: Adequate. That is the passive-aggressive word we are going to use. Better than what you may think. Not that great though, settle down. Oblivious to skincare.

Chop Top: Well, he *is* the ambassador for Colgate, hello. Does not use the hydrating balm, but would not be against using one. Half a point.

Drayton Sawyer: Oh. Oh, yeah. Stacks of them. Goes through a whole stick per day. Has a huge stash of them in his bedside drawer... No. What do you think? No.

Brahms Heelshire: Send help. If there is no soap usage, there is certainly no chapstick applications. Just give him what he wants and spit on his lips. Voila. Good enough.

Chucky: Lucky bastard never needs to worry. Plastic is fantastic. The softness is debatable, but they are crack-free. Weird though, because despite that, a lot of shit spills out of them.

Hannibal Lecter: Maybe. Actually, yeah. At home? Yes. Did he have one in his cell? Doubt it. Han is a man of self-care. The chapstick he uses is nothing fancy. Clear colour, no fragrance, does the job.

Norman Bates: Perhaps when dressed as his mother. It is a beauty product, after all, and she is a woman. Gender roles in the sixties and whatnot. If dryness were to occur, he may contemplate a soothing solution. Progressive.

Pennywise: Smearing paint on his face is routine, so why not add in a chapstick for the nourishing benefits? Too bad he does not have one. Blood will have to do. Specifically, kiddie blood. Fun to wear, tasty to lick.

Pinhead: Can you imagine? He cannot. Therefore, he does not. Oddly, lubricating his dermis is not a top priority for the Hell Priest. No matter. He struggles to find a lip balm that matches his pale skin anyway.

Billy Loomis: Yes, I am convinced. It is a secret though. If anyone were to find out, in the bin it goes. He only applies the ointment occasionally, but he uses one, nonetheless. If only he utilised the same amount of effort towards his hair.

Stu Macher: Yeah, he uses chapstick... the one Billy owns. Whoops. Vanity is not a necessity for the boy. It is more for shits and giggles than anything else. Like using crutches when you are not crippled, because why not?

John Kramer: Sure, if needed. Why suffer parched lips? Why would a person torture themselves? Why not find a humane, simple, easy to execute solution? Hmm.

Hilliker Brothers: Uh, supposedly? Depends on what you mean by use though. Saw Tooth manipulates it to treat wounds. One Eye fucking eats it. Three Finger wields it as a marking tool to assist with placing his traps. Practical ways.

Jack Torrance: This is the guy who would buy those bizarre flavoured balms, such as bacon and pickle. The novelty amuses him to no end. Boomer like.

Candyman: Beeswax. You guessed it. I said it. Everyone agrees. There we go. 

Leprechaun: If he does use a chapstick, it is not working. Time to switch brands and consult a dermatologist about those blisters. Decayed-looking-ass lips.

Yautja: He learns something new everyday. Chapstick, you say? Do not eat it, but I will try to anyway, you warn? It shall be digested. Likes the sweet aroma.

Ash Williams: Most definitely. Pondered sawing one of his fingers off to replace it with an essential tool that is his lip salve. Not really. He is big on modest pampering though.

The Creeper: Might consider devouring it. That will be as far as it goes. Collects any chapsticks as loot from the bodies of his dead victims. Still trash, but also treasure.

Art the Clown: Totally. Why stop at chapstick when you can slap on tar? A sticky, black, questionable substance. Do not forget to coat the teeth as well. Spread that shit. In truth, it is charcoal - and he just wants a whitened smile.

Mick Taylor: God, no. Do not even dare to offer him a chapstick. You will get it thrown at your face, along with a bullet inserted where it hits your forehead. Blokes do not use feminine products. Bloody oath!

Total: 9.5 / 25

[annoyingloverbear]

ASANO GAKUSHUU X READER HEADCANNONS

Before you ask......don't ask. Yes I like assassination classroom too.

This is a HC about Y/n and Gakushuu attending the same high school.

Ohh boy do I tell you this boi fell hard for you.

And by 'fell' I mean literally fell.

It was one of those rare occasions his father being the disciplined father he is made Gakushuu walk home from school just because he didn't eat his roasted asparagus in dinner last night.

He didn't really mind tho. His home wasn't that far and he liked to see what's going on in the outside peasant world sometimes.

As he was passing a convenient store, he heard some commotion in the alley behind it.

He ignored it and started to walk his way, but he saw a glimpse of a grey uniform skirt and snapped his head towards you.

He saw you, clad in Kunigioka's grey uniform and surrounded by three tattooed bulk men.

"Come on little girl, just keep us company for some karaoke. You see my friends and I we all are really bad singers and would love some help."______"What makes you think I'm good at singing?"________" Oh I can tell you are naturally good at it little bird! Your angelic voice is like as sweet as honey to my ears."________"Back off."_________"What?"________"I said back off you pathetic excuse of a human being before I break your willy and shove it down your throats."________"YOU STUPID BITCH!!!"

He raised his hand, but before he could even swing you neck sliced him in the throat and kicked him down there. He clutched himself as you once again kicked him in his ribs and hope that the blow was enough to keep him down for a bit. You grabbed your heavy aluminium water bottle (those things hurt guys😭 not that I've been hit by one but I accidentally hit myself. it's a great, heavy yet non-obvious self defense tool so carry one around👍) and swung it towards one of his friends. A sickening clang could be audibly heard as you hit him in the head and Congratulations!! You eliminated one more player.

You turned around and swung it towards yet another person who skillfully twisted and yanked your aluminium bottle away from you. This person was similar to your build and was standing in a defensive position, so you kicked the only thing available to you, his shin.

You were surprised as you heard a rather boyish yelp as your victim fell to the ground and grabbed his aching leg. Only then you realized......

Shit it's the previous headmaster's son.

"Oh no!! I didn't mean to kick you are you okay?"_________"I'm fine thank you."

You moved your hand towards the part of his leg which was sprained and saw that he flinched. Clearly he was in pain and seeing that he took care of one of the guys who was hitting on you felt bad so you took him to your house to treat his injury no matter how much he refused.

That was it. That's how he fell for you.

He expected himself to fall for someone who was at the same level of genius as him, but apparently he was wrong.

Why you ask he fell for you? Because you were the only one who can kick his ass purple and speak sweet words to him at the same time.

Seeing that you were an average student, not too good not too bad, he didn't really have a problem with sharing his feelings for you with someone.

The first one to notice it was not Ren, but Karma. Or you could say that Karma found his theory to be correct as he eavesdropped on Gakushuu telling Ren about how he felt for you.

Ren, knowing his manipulating skills encouraged Gakushuu to manipulate one of the teachers to transfer you from class C to class A.

And so you did.

Gakushuu, Ren along with Karma and you. This was a particularly chaotic classroom.

You weren't really complaining, as your grades got better the day you stepped in the class. But you can't shake the feeling that ten pairs of eyes were watching your every movement.

(And lol that was so true😂)

Gakushuu only respectfully watched you and your subtle movements. The way you'd chew on your pencil or nails when you were stuck, the way your eyes turned big round and innocent every time you didn't understand a concept, the way you'd pick on your peach fuzz on your face when you were anxious. Every single habit, every little thing he loved about you, he would have it memorized. Heck when he was feeling stressed out about his future company finances (yes he's planning big) he would pick on his own peach fuzz and smile like an idiot as his heart relaxes and flutters at the same time.

Ren however, watched for your responses to guys. Every time the handsome professor walked in, (admit it, we all have one at some point in our life😏) you would sit up straight, your spine rid of any slouchiness from studying. The way you would cross your legs so your skirt rides up just a bit, and the way your gaze turned sly and your smirk naughty, yes this boy is serious about helping his best friend. Heck he would even come up to you and talk to you to get some type of reaction towards him, but figures out you didn't really like him (ouch!😢)

But Karma stared. And by stared I literally mean stared. Bore holes in the back of your head by staring at you too much. He didn't understand that a guy as corrupt as Gakushuu would fall for a disheveled angel like you. It's not that you weren't beautiful, but the combination of scary principal's son and a smol fluffy bean didn't seem very safe. At times you would even find Karma behaving as an older brother to you. And you weren't one to complain but rather happy that someone in here truly cares for you than judge you for your grades.

Add 7 other girls who were suspicious of you and that's all the people who keep staring at you during the time you're in class.

Every morning you hand in your homework, it was always Gakushuu. You would hand in your homework, he would scan it once and turn around to check others'.

But you knew better than that.

After school was over, you would make your way to the hallway but a strong grip held you back.

"We need to work on your Social Studies. You suck at it."______"But shuu!!!"_______"No buts. Get in the library and wait for me there."

He would drag you to the library and make you study your worst subject (which isn't fun at all🤢) but he would make it a LOT easier for you to understand.

Of course Ren gave him some tips to flirting. Hold her pinky, look in her eyes, compliment her and yada yada yada yada yada......

He did try one of them, but he almost had a heart attack from his heart beating so fast that he decided not to listen to his minio- I mean friend anymore and do it his way.

And honestly he loves his way!!

He loved the cute nicknames you made for him while you whined for him to release you. He loved it the way your face lightens up when he explains there was an easier way to solve an equation.

All the nervousness is his system had vanished.

He also got to the point where when you got an obviously easy question wrong, he would pinch your cheeks while grinning wide.

This made study time a lot easier for you.

You weren't aware that he was like that for and with you only. Only you made him feel that way.

But you found out soon when he got TOO comfortable one day and let it slip out.

"Y/n I think I have a crush on you."

As soon as he said it, blood rushed to your cheeks and drained from his.

Both of you were staring at each other for a hot minute before you broke the silence.

"You're kidding aren't you? I'm not even that smart or that much of a genius in anything. I- but-"

"Y/n I know that. But it's just something about you that I love. I- I can't express in words how much I adore you."

You were starstruck.

Asano Gakushuu. THE Asano Gakushuu likes you!!!!

But you still refused to believe yourself AND his words. Wondering if he was turning into a playboy like Ren.

All you could say was "Then show me."

The library was quiet and you two specifically picked up a spot away from other students, the librarian and surveillance cameras so both of you can goof off. Who knew that this was also the perfect place to kiss?

He gently took your hand as he first stared at your eyes and shifted his gaze to your lips. You acted confident as if you knew how to kiss but god knows you kicked the ass of your first boyfriend before he could even hold your hand.

His gaze stayed on your lips as he licked his and visibly gulped. You wanted to throw a snarky remark but seeing the boy was as edged as a cat you wouldn't dare.

Bringing one of his hands up to your cheek he slightly tilted his head as he came near you before stopping right where your lips weren't touching his but you could feel his minty breath. Obviously waiting for you if you were okay with this, you decided to close that painful space between the two of you.

As soon as your lips touched his, he was in charge. This wasn't a particularly deep or fast kiss. You weren't digging your tongues in each other's mouth but rather just moving your lips to each other, as if giving silent yet intimate messages to each other. His lips slightly glided over yours, and you definitely knew that the way he was kissing you, he was an expert hidden within an amateur. The kiss wasn't heated or passionate in any way, but it was sinfully sweet.

It lasted for about a minute, but felt like an eternity.

Pulling away he stared at you again softly before saying "Thank You" and intertwining your fingers with his.

You were too shocked to react to anything. You were an average student. You got into fights. Your mom always yells at you to behave. Your dad keeps telling you to improve your temper. Why the hell does this boy like you?

He noticed you were staring at him the same way you stared at the blackboard during class when the professor was teaching the quantum theory for the first time.

Now that this boy had finally kissed you, he was bold enough to reach out his thumb and running it over your lower lip before popping it in his mouth.

"Pineapple flavoured lip balm, huh? I thought strawberry was the preferred choice when it came to anything for girls. Including......" his eyes lowered to your legs which felt like they were bare naked in the tiny skirt.

"Shuu!!!! Don't stare at me!!" You shoved him away as he laughed and you covered your face with your sweater paws.

"I'm sorry dear. You are just so adorable I couldn't help myself." He said while stroking your hair.

Little did they know a certain playboy on the other side of the library was paying attention to them the whole time and a redhead was poking his head from above one of the bookshelves.

[ll-underestimated-ll]

No Promptng to be Sent Asks 

Only Answering All the Questions in the Name of Rambling About my Boy

🍯 Food Headcanon

Having retained his sense of taste Leo is prone to occasionally subtly swiping a finger through the sauce he spy’s on plates when he can get away with it. It allows the enjoyment of flavour without leaving him with anything he needs to get rid of before he succumbs to day sleep. He finds himself particularly fond of fragrantly spiced foods of which were a luxury in his ‘youth’ yet are commonplace now. 

🥛 Drink Headcanon

He finds there is no ideal perfect way to sate thirst off of someone. Humans are not a good beverage holder and getting the right angle to sink one’s teeth in is a nuisance. Especially when your fangs are always extended. But he’s opportunistic and so long as someone fits the requirements for him to enjoy the taste of them he’ll make it work.

🐢 Mental Health Headcanon

His paranoia is stronger than lets on and he does all he can to cover it up with seeming carelessness. But considering his age, position, and the numerous traumatic experiences to come simply by experiencing the eras in history he has... a lack of trust in the intentions of anyone around him is reasonable, hell - even beneficial at the end of the day. 

  Even if it does make nightly life a little more miserable.

  Within mortal verses there are definitely some underlying mental health issues going on here that he’s not inclined to have addressed or diagnosed. He views himself as perfectly functional and any red flags are things to be wrangled by his own hand. But in the same way that mun doesn’t know wtf is wrong with themselves they hesitate to diagnose their own muse. 

🦄 Physical Health Headcanon

While he survived the sickness that took his family and a good part of his birth-village he did not walk away unharmed. While still alive he definitely had some issues bronchiectasis going on originating from lung scaring. Due to this putting him at increased risk of repeat infections it’s sort of lends itself to a repeating cycle of illness. Something highly dangerous while living in an era without antibiotics.

  This would of likely played a role in the reason he’s as short as he is.

⌛ Sleep Headcanon

Leo attempts to stick to a schedule and sleep specifically in his room where he can. He can mitigate discerning reality from the nightmares with greater ease if he wakes in a position where he knows he has just been sleeping. He prefers to sleep in his coffin alone for the sake of security, aesthetic, and a sense of discipline. Although he does bring a body pillow with him these nights. Hold it tight to his chest, cross his ankles over the bottom. It works. 

  He does also own a bed. And sometimes he will sleep at his desk or generally sitting up if he has something he knows he needs to do urgently on waking.

💕 Love Headcanon

Leo in his old age and complicated relationships can’t really tell the difference between different types of love easily anymore. This said - he knows there are those he care more for above others. If made to choose between the community or Thea he would have to stop and think about it - it doesn’t matter if he knows she doesn’t feel the same. And he still occasionally visits the grave of the ex he was made to put down. Although he wonders how much of that is to do with feeling some semblance of guilt over the whole matter.

💣 Stress Headcanon

He’s Prince. He’s always stressed and deals with it by making petty entertainment for himself where he can. Even if all it really does is add to the issues he’s dealing with... example: The Gang.

😵 Sickness Headcanon

His sickness in life contributed to his sires decision to embrace him. He was the doppleganger of the only child she’d had that’d lived into their teen years. For her - seeing him repeatedly displaying signs of illness was like watching her son die all over again even if he wasn’t in a highly severe state. Intervention was inevitable.

🤲 Religious Headcanon

He does not consider himself as practicing any religion although does believe in ‘God’ putting him within the Abrahamic ballpark. However he sees no value in worshipping or putting faith in god. Despite this he does believe there is various value to be found in religion even if he personally does not practice.

  He does, however, occasionally still practice confession once in a while. Gotta make the most of that random kindred Priest in your domain.  

🏡 Home Headcanon

He does not like staying in any house alone. The emptiness scratches at him.

🍬 Family Headcanon

Somewhere out there in the world is a mortal family that claims descendance from him. They’re not actually biologically related at all. Was just another part of the cycle of covering up the fact there were a couple of vampires behind the family. Only got to break free from it due him fleeing his sire.

💼 Work Headcanon

His work these nights, outside of Princely community management, is made primarily out of scamming people out of their money in a way that he has a steady passive income. Some effort has to go into roping in new people now and then of course, and he keeps an eye on the markets of interest to him so he can insure his own personal hold over things.

⛈️ Sadness Headcanon

A mild sense of melancholy tints most nights. 

Just a touch of the morbs.

Something mediated by acting like a doofus. 

😡 Anger Headcanon

If there is one thing that really gets under his skin it’s when people do not understand him. This issue presents itself most often when he’s skipped forward to a conclusion and used some metaphor or simile he thinks should be straight forward to the listener. And the thing is - he gets why it can be confusing and annoying for the other party but having to back track and explain himself, especially if his wording was originally for tact or discretion, pings a nerve.

💩 Ridiculous Headcanon

There are numerous mortals living/working within central Auckland that know of him and what he is yet don’t give a singular shit. To them he’s just one of those reoccurring community characters you see on the street and go ‘oh hey there goes Leonard, he’s mostly chill, does bite short people sometimes.’

🌼 Happiness Headcanon

Striven for and always very fleeting. 

[jungshookz]

Idk if this has been sent before but imagine like baker jin and forgetful y/n like she needs to get a cake for yoongi asap bc she forgot his bday and jin is completely okay w working at supersonic speed for this cute little teary eyed person who seems to be in big trouble

➺ pairing; kim seokjin x reader

➺ genre; baker!jin duh, fluffier than jin’s popular angel food cake!! jin and y/n are a couple of cuties :’) 

➺ wordcount: 3.9k

➺ what to expect; “okay! that’s easy. a birthday cake is doable! see? nothing to get teary-eyed over, darling!”

➺ note; i’m not going to lie the one thing that motivated me to finALLy write this request was the phrase ‘cute little teary-eyed person’ i am soFT! I AM SOFT! okay bye i love baker!jin 

                                        »»————-　🍰　————-««

you’ve been sitting in your car for the past twenty minutes trying to remember what exactly it was that namjoon asked you to do for yoongi’s birthday

you know it wasn’t to get everyone to sign his birthday card because that was your job lasT year and also jungkook is in charge of that this year because last week he literally asked you to sign yoongi’s card

and it definitely wasn’t to decorate the venue because namjoon always takes care of that (because he likes things done a certain way and doesn’t trust anyone else with the important job of whEre to place the balloons)

and it also wasn’t to wrap his birthday gifts because according to jimin your wrapping skills are awful and you have the cutting skills of a toddler using those play scissors

it certainly wasn’t to pick yoongi up from his apartment because if that was your job then yoongi would be in the car with you right now (it’s hoseok’s job this year)

and taehyung was the one who curated the invite list aNd took care of the music playlist so you know that wasn’t your job either

so what… in the world… did namjoon ask you to do?

your memory has always been pretty shitty so you probably should’ve written it down

actually you dID technically write it down the day namjoon asked you to take care of it because you remember vividly using your pen and writing it on the back of your hand and then you remember namjoon scolding you and delving into a lecture about the dangers of ink poisoning

but then you washed your hands

and once it was wiped away from your hand it was wiped away from your memory

and that was two weeks ago

so now

here you are

in the parking lot of the venue (you guys are celebrating yoongi’s suRPRISE party at his favourite video game arcade) sitting in your car in complete silence hoping that whatever task you were supposed to complete will just naturally come to you

the party starts at 8 and it’s 7 right now so you still have an hour left to think

you came early to help namjoon set up but then the whole ‘i feel like i’m forgetting something’ thought creeped into your mind and now here you are

and you’re a little afraid to go in and ask namjoon about your mystery task because you feel like he’s going to skin you alive if he finds out that you have noT completed the mystery task

but then again he’s namjoon and namjoon wouldn’t hurt a fly!!!! he’s a sweetie pie!!!

hm

whatever your task is it probably wasn’t that important because namjoon should know better than to send you off with completing something that is integral to the success of yoongi’s surprise party

“you have three seconds to tell me that you’re kidding before i actually lose it.” namjoon presses his lips together before exhaling slowly

okay

so

quick breakdown of what happened after you decided to leave the safety of your car

you came in

said hello to everyone

complimented jimin’s gift-wrapping skills

snuck one of the mini cheeseburger off the foods table

asked tae if he could add dancing queen on the playlist because no party is complete without some ABBA

snuck a mini corndog off the foods table

and then wandered over to a busy namjoon to say hi but before you could say hi namjoon asked you where ‘it’ was, to which you responded with “what… what is ‘it’?”

“by it, i mean the birthday cake. yoongi’s birthday cake. yoongi’s birthday cake that you were supposed to take care of this year because of the revolving system that i- y/n, i need you to say something and stOP staring at me like you don’t know what i’m talking about-“

“oh, the birthday cake!” you snap your fingers before putting your hands on your hips “god, thanks for clearing that up for me. i was literally scratching my head over it for like an hour.”

well there we go!

the mystery has been solved!!!

now you know what namjoon asked you to do for yoongi’s birthday

you were supposed to get his birthday cake!

…

…

…hollup

the smile immediately drops from your face

YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET YOONGI’S BIRTHDAY CAKE

“oh my- oh my goD-“ your eyes practically pop out of their sockets when it finally registers that you were supposed to order a custom birthday cake for yoongi and you definitely did noT order anything for yoongi

“y/n, i asked you to do one thing-!” namjoon groans and throws his hands up into the air

“i know, i know!!!!! it’s okay, i’ll fix this!” you reassure as you rummage through your purse for your car keys “what flavour should i get??? classic birthday cake?? lemon curd??”

“lem- leMON CUR- oh my GOD i want to hurl you into the middle of a busy intersection-“ namjoon feels like he’s about to have a stroke christ almiGHTY

LEMON CURD????

yoongi’s not turning EIGHTY

“lemon curd??” your voice is turning piTchy and that’s an indicator that you are PANICKING “was that a yes for lemon cur-“

you freeze in fear when namjoon suddenly reaches forward and squiSHes your face in between his hand

“shut up and listen to the words that are about to come out of my mouth.” he says lowly and you swallow thickly before nodding

you’re not sure if you like this namjoon

“a four layer cake. alternating layers of chocolate cake and confetti cake. light blue buttercream frosting in between the layers. dark blue buttercream frosting all around. black sprinkles around the cake - not the top, just around the cake, it’s crucial that there are no sprinkles on the top. in black buttercream frosting, ‘happy birthday yoongi’ in block letters.” he almost growls and you feel like your heart is about to fall out of your ass

if anything will teach you to nevEr forget anything again it’ll be this version of namjoon

he’s like bridezilla except instead of a bride he’s a self appointed party planner

“four layers. chocolate. confetti. light blue in between. dark blue all around. black sprinkles all around, not on top. happy birthday yoongi. block letters. black letters. block black letters??” you probably look like a crazy person muttering things to yourself as you huStle back to your car

namjoon said that if you don’t get back to the party with a custom birthday cake by the time the clock strikes 9:00 he’ll kill you and you beLIEVE him

since you’re not going to be there when the party starts jimin said he’ll come up with some buLLshit excuse about you running late so that yoongi doesn’t get too suspicious about your whereabouts

he mentioned that he didn’t really want a cake this year but all of you know how much yoongi loves cake

and you love seeing him make that ‘i’m pretending i’m surprised but in reality i knew this was going to happen all along’ face

it’s so cute!!

you slam the front door shut and hurry to buckle yourself in as you type ‘custom birthday cakes near me’ on google maps

it’s fine! you’ll be fine

you wiLL definitely be able to find some bakery to put together a suPER last minute custom birthday cake

more specifically, a four layer cake with alternating layers of chocolate cake and confetti cake slathered with blue buttercream frosting and covered with sprinkles around it (not on top! just around! very important!) and also it should say ‘happy birthday yoongi!’ and the writing should be in chunky letters using black buttercream frosting

“why do bakeries close so early???” you wonder out loud as you continue to scroll through the results

literally everything is closed

if there’s one thing you’ve learned from this it’s that bakers are noT night owls

c’mon come oN

you’ll take anything at this point

you nearly scream in joy when you see that there’s one bakery that a) specialises in custom cakes and b) is still open for another thirty minutes and c) is not that far from you!!!!

according to google the place called sweet kimfecjins

oh dear god

what the heLL kind of a name is that???

whA-

and it is far from you!!!! it’s a twenty minute drive away from you!!!

under these circumstances that’s not close at aLL

you need a place that’s at the most thirty seconds away from you (you are noT kidding you really need this cake right here right now)

what other options are there

well

there’s a mcdonald’s near you

maybe you can just buy a bunch of those apple pies and use the oreo mcflurries to glue them all together to buiLD a cake

sure, it’s literally the farthest thing from what namjoon told you to get, but it’s a cake!!!!!

…okay you can’t do that to yoongi

if you were presented with an apple-pie-mcflurry nightmare as a birthday cake you would be pretty bummed out

so this means one thing

sweet kimfecjins here we come

surprisingly enough you make it to the bakery in twelve minutes time without running any red lights oR running any pedestrians over

you did honk at a couple crossing the street but you made sure to shoot them an apologetic smile

they still flipped you off but the point is you made it to the bakery with like fifteen minutes left to spare until they close up for the night

and-

“oh- oh no- nonONoOnONONO-“ your eyes are as wide as saucers as you practically slam yourself up against the glass doors right as the (presumable) owner is flipping the sign to ‘closed’ “oh, please- please, google said that you’re not closing for like another fifteen minutes, please, you haVe to help me i nEED a cake-“

namjoon is going to have your head on a stick if you don’t get this cake so you are going to have to beg like you’ve never begged before

jin sighs to himself as he watches the clock tick tock tick tock

it’s been a slow day today

he had a couple people in this afternoon but they only bought like one strawberry turnover to share in between the two of them

who shaRES one single strawberry turnover???

psychopaths, that’s who

and also he had some tourists come in and they bought a box of his carrot cake cupcakes so that was pretty good

he also managed to convince them to buy another box of red velvet cupcakes >:-) it was actually pretty easy because he just had to flirt with the two girls and they immediately were like okAY more cupcakes won’t hurt

…what???

he has to make a living!!!

yoU would do the same if you had to make money

but other than that business has been a little slow

last week he had a bachelorette party cake request and he spent five hours moulding a penis out of fondant so that was pretty exciting

they even gave him a bonus tip because they said it looked very realistic

what can he say?? his hands are magical

but now he’s bored out of his mind and honestly he wouldn’t even mind if he got another request for a penis cake

he just wants to maKE something!!!

he made a couple cakes this morning and put them in the display cases hoping to lure people in to buy them but they’ve been untouched!! so he’s just going to pack up all the leftovers of the day and deliver it to the food bank

hopefully they’ll enjoy all his delicious treats.,.., that they’re getting for free.,,.., even though he would much rather prefer getting compensated for his hard work

do you SEE how beautifully braided the puff pastry is for his apple tarts???????

since no one seems to be buying baked goods at this hour jin decided to close up a little earlier tonight

he’s going to clean up a little bit and do some prepping for tomorrow (his secret to the best chocolate chip cookies is chilling the dough overnight) and then he’s going to pack up all the leftovers and deliver them and thEn he’s finally going to go home and maybe order some dinner or something

as he flips the sign to ‘closed’, he-

“jeSUS fuCJK-“ jin jumps thirty feet in the air when someone suddenly slams up against the glass doors

goD

“oh- oh no- nonONoOnONONO- oh, please- please, google said that you’re not closing for like another fifteen minutes, please, you haVe to help me i nEED a cake-“

thank god the doors are locked because whoever you are you seem INSANE

“i’m sorry, i’m closing up for the night!” jin replies and gives you a shrug “come back tomorrow! i open at 7am sharp-“ jin immediately stops talking when he notices your eyes starting to well up with tears

oh god

he didn’t mean to make you cry!!

why are you crying????

is 7am not early enough for you??

“i- um, i mean i guess i could open at 6:30 but to be honest i might pass out while frosting your cake that early because my beauty sleep is-“

“no, you don’t understand- it’s my friend’s birthday tonight a-and we’re throwing him a surprise party and i was supposed to get the cake for him because that was the task that namjoon- he’s another one of my friends - that he assigned to me but i- well, i wrote it down on my hand but then i washed my hands and then i kinda forgot about it but that was two weeks ago and now i have to get yoongi - that’s the birthday boy - i have to get him his special cake otherwise namjoon’s going to be so upset with me and-“ your mouth is running like a motor and jin can barely keep up with this story because you keep throwing in new details and also it’s hard to hear you through the glass

something something birthday cake something surprise party something bukjoon something something

okay

you know what

you made a fair point

he iS technically still open so he’ll let you in

(and also you’re…,,. kind of cute so there’s that)

a fat tear threatens to roll down your cheek as you continue to blubber and jin holds a finger up

you immediately shut up and jin offers you a smile before opening the door “i’ll help you if you stop crying.”

you nod quickly and reach up to wipe at your drippy eyes

your nose has gone a little pink and your eyes are glossy and jin can’t help but find that even moRe endearing

“now - what did you need?” jin asks calmly as he leads you towards the front counter

“a birthday cake.” you sniffle before clearing your throat

“okay! that’s easy. a birthday cake is doable!” jin claps his hands together after he makes his way behind the counter “see? nothing to get teary-eyed over, darling!”

okay woAh

he’s not sure where the pet-name came from

it just rolled off his tongue so naturally!!!

you hiccup and your nose twitches and jin feels his heart pit-a-pat in his chest

o boy

“but i- it has to be four layers and it has to be chocolate confetti chocolate confetti and then i need blue- light blue buttercream frosting in between the layers and… and i think dark blue buttercream around- or maybe it’s dark blue in between and light blue around-“ you start to ramble again and jin’s eyes widen

chRist

this birthday cake might not be that doable after all

usually he just has to write ‘happy birthday ____!’ on top of a cake and maybe make some pretty frosting roses on top and that’s it

“how about-“ jin interrupts you agAin with a gentle smile, “how about i get you a pen and paper and you can list out all the requirements for this special cake? in the meantime, i’ll heat up a cup of my homemade strawberry milk for you and- are you a fruit person or a chocolate person?”

“chocolate?” you pull a chair out from a table and drag it over so that you’re sitting right by the front counter “i like milk chocolate.”

“lucky for you, i use milk chocolate for my chocolate mousse cake. do you like whipped cream?” jin asks as he slides a notepad and pen over to you

you nod before offering him a shy smile

okay

so far so good

your cake actually isn’t that complicated! it just has a loT of different pieces that have to be put together

and it’s a good thing jin still has some pans of cake that he baked this morning (usually he bakes the cakes in the morning and then lets them rest for the night and then he frosts them the neXt morning so that it’s ready for his customers)

unfortunately he didn’t have any confetti cake so instead he replaced it with plain vanilla cake and then in the blue frosting he threw in a whole handful of sprinkles

and the buttercream frosting is easy to make because he makes them by the buCket so all he had to do was dump food dye in it

and he knows about your time limit so he’s working as quickly as possible

he really wants to strike up a conversation with you but a) he needs to focus and b) for some reason he can’t seem to turn his usual boyish charm on with you because you seem so… delicate?

and you seem to have calmed down from earlier

you’re still working through the chocolate mousse cake and-

jin’s lips press together in a poor attempt to suppress his smile when he notices whipped cream on the corner of your mouth

you seem to be enjoying the cake which is a good thing

“this whipped cream is like, really good-“ you look over at jin (you asked for his name when he first started putting the cake together and just like that the name of his bakery suddenly made sense) ((and now that you think about it it’s actually a pretty clever name so braVo to him!!)) “what brand is it from?”

“oh, it’s- i actually make my own whipped cream, so it’s my own recipe.” jin smiles proudly and stands up a little straighter

“what do you put in here that makes it so good??” you wonder out loud as you scrape some off the top of the cake before sucking it off your pointer finger

“it’s easy, i pretty much just-“ jin suddenly stops whipping the frosting before narrowing his eyes at you playfully “actually, that’s for me to know and for you to nEver find out. how do i know you’re not from some rival bakery??”

“-if i was from a rival bakery i think i’d probably be able to make this cake on my own. instead i came to you and started crying when you said you were closed for the night.” you raise a brow before narrowing your eyes baCk at jin

“touché.” jin snorts as he starts to pipe the message on the top of the cake “so, um-“ he clears his throat and glances over at you briefly “this yoongi - he’s your boyfriend, you said?”

“yoongi?” you laugh lightly before shaking your head, “no, no way. yoongi is not my boyfriend. god, that’d be…. nO, yoongi is not my boyfriend.” you wipe your mouth with a napkin before dropping it on the plate

“right, right- and namjoon is-“

“namjoon is dEFINitely not my boyfriend- i don’t have a boyfriend, so-“ you lean back against the chair as you watch jin slowly piping out yoongi’s name

“ah, i see, i see.” jin nods in understanding

a moment of silence goes by

…he doesn’t know how to continue this conversation

when did he get so awKWARd at flirting????

maybe if he tries to sell you a box of cupcakes like he did with those tourists he’ll become charming again

“do you have a- is there, like, a mrs sweet kimfecjins-“

…and it’s just hitting him that yoU seem to be just as awkward as him when it comes to subtle flirting

“well, if you play your cards right you might just end up with that title, darling.”

your cheeks immEDiately go bright red and jin can’t help but smirk to himself

he’s still got it

“thank you so much for doing this at the last minute, you’re a literal life saver-“ you gush as you dig through your purse for your wallet

there are approximately 18 minutes left until the clock strikes niNE so if you drive as crazily as you did when getting hEre then you should make it back to the party before namjoon gets the chance to bite your head off

“oh, you know what?” jin shakes his head as he makes sure the cake is secure in the box “you can just take the cake - i feel like you’ve been through enough, so this one’s on me.”

“what?? no, i can’t do that to you! it’s such a nice cake!! i can’t just take it-“

“how about-“ jin stops you before you can get into another one of your five minute rambles (you seem to do that a lot) “how about in return for the cake, you let me take you out on a date?”

you blink owlishly at him and jin beams when he sees colour rising to the apples of your cheeks once again

“you- you want to take me out on a date?”

“the journey to becoming mrs sweet kimfecjins has to start somEwhere-“ jin jokes lightly before shaking his head “if you don’t want to, that’s totally fine, but i’m still going to give you the cake on the hous-“

“no, i want to!” you blurt out a little toO enthusiastically before clearing your throat and rEELing it way back “i mean- yeah, a date sounds nice… or whatever.”

“or whatever?” jin teases as he slides the box over to you “i wrote my cell number on the back of the receipt, so… text me, or whatever. let me know when you’re free and we can sort something out.”  

good lord

jin seems to know the way to a woman’s stomach aND her heart

‘i scrape fresh vanilla beans into the whipped cream - that’s what makes it so yummy! there’s also another ingredient but i’ll tell you what it is on our date. see you soon, darling. -your favourite very super unbelievably handsome baker, jin’

help me help you make your wishes come tru (aka send me a request)

requested drabbles masterlist

[mallowstep]

Oh sweet! I wasn't sure because I haven't been following for long so idk if you've posted about baking before in general lol. I don't like, laugh at recipes, you gotta respect the recipe lol. But I just love trying new things when I bake, so I'm happy to share recipes! A favorite among my friends (and coworkers) would be my snickerdoodle recipe! That ones always a hit, though my favorite thing to make are tarts, preferably fruit tarts but lemon or pumpkin tarts are always great haha. I like swapping out the vanilla extract in lemon tarts for almond, gives it an extra kick, like you think that the flavour trip is over but wait!! there's more!! Anyway, the oat story was my introduction to baking (cooking definitely requires stricter rules, at least for me, not ready to experiment with that yet lol), so you've got at least a nine-year head start in terms of when we started baking lol. And the question about pineapple on pizza was because if you did like that flavor combo, I would have recommended a similar thing you can make at home when you don't want an actual pizza. Enjoy your cookies!!

ah yeah i made an excellent chocolate cake a while back that i shared some photos of. it was so much goddamn effort and all i wanted was one slice of -- you know how restaurants sell flourless (but not actually) chocolate cakes/french chocolate cakes and it looks like it's going to be so good but it never is? i wanted what you think you're getting

problem is i had three layers of cake and i only wanted one piece.

i do more pastries and breads than cookies and cakes in general, but until i tame the oven, i'm not attempting puff pastry. also puff pastry takes up a lot of space and we have a tiny kitchen. i do hope to make a loaf or two of bread this weekend tho. maybe i'll share photos.

my favourite thing to make is probably raspberry turnovers, but i make them -- if my family is lucky -- once a year, because it is usually a multi-day process. (it'd be faster if i bought raspberry preserves but i prefer not to.)

after that, it's bread. i adore bread.

that said i'm a notoriously proud baker. uh. at home my family has a tendency to pop up in the kitchen right when things are coming out of the oven lest i deem something unsatisfactory and throw it away.

i still haven't forgiven them for forcibly preventing me from throwing away a ciabatta that failed to rise.

like i said, i've been baking about since i could talk, so i'm...well. not with everything, but with a lot of things, i can make it without thinking. i don't have a banana bread recipe, i mash however many bananas i have, add sugar and butter and egg in correct proprotions, add flour, etc., until the texture is right. basically. i'm tired so if i'm forgetting something basic well. i wouldn't make banana bread without looking at an ingredients list at this hour xd.

i certainly do follow recipes, i'm just confident in my ability to fuck around with them. made my mom a grapefruit cake for her birthday which was one of the more nerve-wracking things i've done because she wanted a really specific cake and i had to adjust from lemon to grapefruit and i'd never worked with grapefruit zest before.

and i'm so with you on not being able to experiment with cooking! hell, baked ziti is literally pasta + sauce + cheese in dutch oven/corningware/casserole dish/etc for about fourty five minutes and i still need to look at a recipe.

then again i've only just started cooking, lmao.

urgh i wouldn't be able to find it now but a while ago i made a joke about how my like. big kid moment was when my mom decided i was strong enough to move the stand mixer by myself. from that day on i was unstoppable.

hnng now i want to make lemon bars.

(i always want to make lemon bars and i never actually make them because i hate prepping stuff for fruit. that's why i rarely make raspberry turnovers even tho i love them. exception is blueberry pie because prep for that is basically pour blueberries in pie tin have a good day.)

um. sorry. i'm tired and like baking a lot and miss my kitchen at home. having A Kitchen is worlds better than last year, but it's not the same.

welcome to the blog! i tend to be chatty when i bake because of waiting periods or my arms being tired or etc, and when it's something Photogenic i like to share pictures.

[bigbrotherlouis]

the bag of chips scene from 'i ate you up the day we first spoke' for the director's cut meme!

whoohoo i actually loved writing this scene and i’m so glad someone asked about it yeeee

(director’s cut meme)

everything eases back into normal. tk picks nolan up for practice, because nolan’s car is inexplicably always out of gas, (this is true, i read an article about it somewhere) and ties nolan’s ties for him on game days, and follows him into his living room to eat all the good snacks nolan hides on increasingly higher shelves.

“how did you even get those?” he asks when he comes out of the washroom and finds travis eating illegal all-dressed his mom had sent down in his last care package. he’s pretty sure they were hidden, like, on top of the cupboards this time. he literally had to throw them up there. (food, when you move countries, is a really big deal. i always want to keep the mutlicultural aspect of a lot of hockey players in mind, because i was a young multicutural person in the united states, and home foods is usually a good way to do it. all-dressed are pretty distinctly canadian, and my cousin gets her parents to send them to her in california, so i borrowed that from her. also i liked the image of TK climbing on the counters to try and get at a bag of chips.)

tk shrugs and crams a handful of chips into his mouth. “smart thinking.”

“those are mine.”

“i don’t see you eating them,” tk says smugly and nolan thinks about it for precisely point two seconds before he launches himself at the sofa. (no thoughts, head empty)

it’s a familiar ritual, this one. tk cackles, going limp so he can noodle off the cushions onto the floor, the bag still clamped in his hand. he scrabbles backwards until he’s out of reach of nolan’s admittedly long arms.

“sucks to suck, babe,” he gloats, except nolan is not emphatically giving up, those are his chips, and he’s not going to let his idiot of a best friend eat them all. tk grunts when nolan lands on his lower half, hard, and pins down his legs so he can’t escape. he sits on tk’s knees and ignores the yelling. (travis “has never shut up once in his life” konecny strikes again)

“mine,” he says savagely, snatching the bag out of his hands. tk huffs, shoving at his legs.

“it’s rude— not to— share— fuck, patty, what are you doing in the gym?”

“some of us don’t skip leg day.”

“yeah, well, some of us aren’t built like a fuckin’ ox,” tk complains, as if he’s not just as in shape as nolan is. “i can’t even fuckin’ pinch you because you’re wearing jeans.”

“now who’s the smart think—  fuck!” (not you, pat. not tk either but still not you.) he shouts, flinching and rubbing at his side. that pinch is definitely going to bruise. tk uses it as a distraction to roll them, nolan’s shoulders thudding painfully against the floor, and straddles nolan’s stomach with his thighs. there’s another struggle but tk gets hold of nolan’s arms, pins them under his knees so nolan’s fists are at his sides. he’s effectively trapped. (too many nolans but what do you do when writing m/m. also this isn’t specific to this scene, but especially in hockey with all its nicknames, i like to write people’s internal narrative with whatever name they probably think of themselves as. that’s why nolan isn’t pat/patty here, and why tk is usually not travis)

“still me,” tk says, grinning at him with undisguised glee. he works the chips free and sits up, putting his weight just under nolan’s ribs so all the breath gets knocked out of him for a second.

“fucker,” nolan hisses, trying and failing to wriggle his way out. “what the fuck, teeks?”

“that’s what you get for not growing up with brothers, bro. gotta fight to survive. survival skills.”

“bud, you don’t even know. sisters have nails and they’re not fucking afraid to use them,” nolan says, his best murder glare in effect. he probably still has the scars in some places. (i know i do) tk snorts.

“sorry, i don’t see you scratching me here,” he says.  

“let me go and i’ll scratch you up real good,” he threatens and then his brain catches up with his mouth, his face going red as he realises what he’s maybe implied. “uh.”

tk doesn’t take the obvious chirp, just raises an eyebrow. there’s a considering look on his face, one that makes nolan want to squirm more and it settles somewhere down deep in his stomach. (so i wrote this scene because i needed a turn for both of them, relationship-wise. iirc, there’s been a few places where tk’s interest might be noticeable, but nothing super concrete for pat or for the reader. meanwhile, on tk’s side, he needed clear signals that pat’s into him before he tries to tell him again.)

“uh,” he says again because his brain is just fucking offline and his arms are still locked under travis’ legs and travis burns hot because nolan can feel it against his skin, through his t-shirt, and this is all going to get incredibly, incredibly awkward in about three seconds. (unfortunately, i love a good run-on sentence to build tension) he’s pretty sure popping a boner because a teammate is sitting on you is, like, not something you can get away with by laughing.

tk shifts, sitting up the tiniest bit, and reaches out the hand that’s not currently occupied with the fuckin’ chips— probably all crushed to hell now, anyway (foreshadowing!! also strategic last mention here so we know that tk is still holding them, and then they aren’t mentioned until the shoe drops for optimal dramatic effect) — and brushes his fingers against nolan’s cheek. he traces the blush from his cheekbone carefully down his neck, pausing to thumb at his jaw, and then bumps his fingers against his collar, where it disappears down into his shirt. (i really liked building the tension here. also this is fully just projection bc i would love to touch patty’s blush once in my life)

“you’re glowing, pat,” he says, so soft, and it makes nolan go redder. he glowers at a spot by tk’s ear, unwilling to look him in the face and see whatever is written there. (would tk actually tell nolan he’s glowing? probably not, but fictionally it gives the reader a good picture of what nolan looks like to someone else. i didn’t want to overuse red-- which didn’t quite feel like a strong enough word-- or blush, so glowing it was.) tk hooks his index into the collar and there’s a moment when nolan thinks he’s going to pull it down, see if his blush goes all the way down his chest— it does, if he’s embarrassed enough. it’s fucking terrible— and he turns his head away, dragging in a breath through his nose. he’s, like, so incredibly fucked that he can’t even think about it without going dizzy. (you’ll probably see this a lot if you look for it in my writing, but i like to add in a “like” or something similarly bro-ish when things get particularly emotionally fraught, to keep it more realistic. also i think it’s funny. anyway, i like the contrast of tk not being able to take his eyes away from something he wanted and nolan not being able to look at it. characterisation, wahey!) it’s better to just not look.

of course, it’s the exact opposite of what tk wants.

“hey,” he says. “look at me.”

nolan refuses, a muscle ticking in his jaw. (this is hot to me idc) tk lets go of his collar to pull on his hair instead, just a little tug of a piece by his ear, and nolan can’t quite bite back the punched-out sound that he lets out. (also hot.)

“look at me,” tk says again, an edge to his voice, and nolan does. tk won’t stop until he does, he knows that well enough. (another look at their dynamic and how well they know each other) he lifts his chin, just a tiny bit, because he’s not going to do anything without a fight. tk’s hand tightens in his hair and it keeps him in place, nailed— ha— to the floor. (i write for the people whose brains make inappropriate jokes at the wrong moments) he couldn’t move if he wanted to, watches helplessly as tk leans down.

the hope in his chest is so thick, nolan thinks it might actually smother him, stop his heart. he’s breathing fast and shallow, almost on the verge of panting, and jesus fuck, isn’t that embarrassing. he’s so desperate, he could squirm with it and he briefly remembers travis months ago, writhing on his very rug and how much nolan wanted to help. he can smell snow again, sharp in the back of his nose. (this does the double work of calling back to an earlier scene-- ya girl loves a good callback-- and also building the anticipation some more. the snow reference reminds the reader that this is still a werewolf au, even in the midst of this. also, once when i was like fifteen, i read something about how to write kisses/romance and it talked about picking one or two aspects of the kiss to focus on-- breathing, hands, the feeling of someone’s mouth, etc. i still use that advice.)

tk shifts his weight and nolan has enough time to think holy fuck, is this happening? before travis fucking konecny upends the bag of all dressed-flavoured crumbs all over his face. (OKAY a lot going on here! it’s one of my favourite moments, really. first of all, here’s the resolution of all the chips talk! sure, i could’ve just abandoned them, but the subverting of expectations was a lot more fun and the story still wasn’t quite ready for them to kiss yet. second, this is tk chickening out. he had two choices and he chose violence. or, like, the buddies option, which is amusing to me because this is not buddies, boys. finally, the full name was necessary to convey nolan’s disappointment and anger, as was the full description of the chips. nolan is upset, and he’s going to notice these things, and that shows up in his internal narrative.)

“got ‘em,” he crows over nolan’s sputtering, letting himself get bucked off onto the floor. nolan wipes furiously at his face, all his feelings a confusing mix of horny and angry and confused, all with the thick overtone of humiliation.

“you’re a fucking dick,” he says and it’s flat, but tk is gloating too much to care. (he’s not, he’s trying to cover, but nolan’s too embarrassed to realise)

“you should’ve seen your face, pat.”

nolan glares daggers at the carpet, the chips spread out everywhere. it’s going to be a bitch to clean up. tk had better help. (makes sure the punch landed, and to give a final resolution.)

he leans against the sofa and waits for tk to tire himself out, listening to the laughter and trying not to get too angry or, like, cry. his neck feels hot, prickling uneasily. he rubs at it with his hand, startles when tk kicks him gently in the ankle. (in order for tk to not come out of this looking like an asshole, i needed him to make up his obliviousness by being observant in other times. and in order for tk to notice patty being mad, i needed to give patty actions that could be noticed, like not laughing along with the joke)

“sorry if i made you mad,” tk says quietly, all the giggles finally worked out of him. “you looked tense (no shit bud) and i thought it would make you laugh.”

it’s not tk’s fault nolan thought he was gonna, like, kiss him. (”like” again, to break up a too-honest moment) it was a dick move but tk doesn't have a cruel bone in his body, so: “it’s fine,” he mumbles and shrugs his shoulder. “it was funny.”

tk preens for a second. “i know.”

“you owe me a bag now.”

“i’ll buy you a family-sized pack. i’m sure they’ll ship it down here, amazon or ups or somethin’.” (patty’s attempting to be normal and tk is attempting to make amends.)

nolan nods and scratches at his face, tipping his head against the couch cushions. (little motions like him scratching his face aren’t super necessary for like plot or development, but it helps humanize characters and i like to add them in whenever i can, as long as it’s not overkill. they can also be helpful in pointing to emotional state without directly saying it.) it’s quiet for a few seconds, just the sound of them breathing heavier than usual, and it would be so normal. should be normal, by all counts, but nolan still kind of wants to crawl into a hole for while. wants to push tk out of the apartment and eat ice cream and google ‘how to stop a crush,’ like his sisters used to do when they were upset. he’s already googled it, a few days ago, and there was nothing but maybe someone’s offered good advice since then. (people make an impact on you, and family even more so, and i always like reminders of how close nolan seems to be with his sisters. also, it’s funny.)

tk flicks him on the wrist. (this is something that tk does consistently through the story, and even though it’s not super important to this scene, it establishes a behaviour in the larger story. that’s important too!)

“pat,” he says and it sounds it’s not the first time. nolan blinks.

“yeah?”

“i just asked you if you were hungry.”

“oh. uh. no, not really,” he answers truthfully. tk wrinkles his nose.

“do you, like, have anything in your fridge to eat?”

“mm, probably not.”

“typical,” tk mutters under his breath, as if he ever has anything regularly stocked besides protein powder and bacon. (protein rich foods that are easy to eat after a full moon, or after a workout) at least nolan has eggs pretty consistently. (also a protein rich food that’s less easy to eat after a full moon, but are easy to make when you aren’t a werewolf) “wanna go get sushi?”

nolan thinks about it. shoves his sweaty hair behind his ear and considers going out to their favourite place and pretending he’s not still fucking mortified. and, like, a little turned on. it makes him nauseous. (i get such physical reactions to emotional things that i write everyone into having them) 

“no,” he says. he’s not facing tk but he can still see him deflate, his shoulders hunching over. “i don’t— no.”

“okay. that’s… okay.”

“i think i’m getting a migraine,” lies nolan. “think i’m just gonna lay down.”

“do you need me to stay with you? keep you company?”

nolan’s shaking his head before tk even finishes the thought. “no, trav. i’m fine, i promise.” (the trav here works as a signal that something isn’t right! it’s why tk looks at him for so long in the next line.)

tk studies him for a long minute, his eyes searching the side of patty’s face presented to him. nolan keeps his expression as blank as possible and stares hard at his feet.

“text me if you need anything,” he says finally, the words coming out slow and gentle. it’s a lot to handle. “i’ll come back.”

“i know. i will.” he won’t, but that’s not for tk to know. he doesn’t move when tk goes out the door, squeezes his eyes shut when the door doesn’t slam into its frame, (tk’s taking care of him, still!) and decides to leave the pile of crumbs to deal with later. (the climax of this scene happened a while ago so this is another little reminder of what happened, just so it’s solidified in the reader’s head after the longish comedown. i end scenes a LOT like this-- two actions, and then a callback-- because they’re simple and effective, and usually sound great!)  /fin

ahh thank you so much for asking!! this was really fun to, like, process through and remember my logic for! i was actually really nervous writing this scene, because i knew the tension and the break had to be PERFECT for it to land right. but i do like how it turned out so at least there’s that. ily!!

[suits-of-woe]

asks that say a lot about you tag game!

tagged by my lovely friend @harry-leroy <3 i’m late on this so not gonna tag anyone but i figured i’d answer the questions!

How do you take your tea / coffee? I’m primarily an iced tea/coffee person. Iced tea is with a bit of lemonade or sweetner, iced coffee (or hot coffee) is usually just a vanilla latte (or lots of milk plus vanilla syrup). I rarely drink hot tea but when I do I don’t add anything, just steep it to be quite strong. I also love chai, hot or iced.

If you could be fluent in any language at the snap of your fingers, which one and why? Spanish. I’ve spent more time on French but Spanish would be much more useful in my daily life, and I always feel a bit guilty that I barely speak it despite being 1/4 Mexican.

When do you wake up? Right now basically WHENEVER (usually like 10) but next week when classes start it’s gonna be 8.

What was your favourite tv show as a kid? When I was tiny it was Teletubbies (to the extent that my parents had to hide the TV I was so addicted). A little later I loved Dora and Blue’s Clues. Once I was in elementary school I didn’t watch much TV though.

Summer or winter? Summer, although this particular summer was awful. It’s the only time I think the PNW has some of the loveliest weather in the world.

Realist, optimist, or pessimist? ??? Right now the world is pretty objectively terrible and I kind of think it’s only going to get worse but I still think I’m lucky enough that I’m probably going to have a decently happy life so...somewhere in the middle I suppose.

Rain or sunshine? Sun! Again, I live in a super rainy area, I’ll take it when I can get it.

How do you mark your spot in a book? With a random object if I’m just stepping away for a moment, but longterm, I dog-ear it. Sue me.

What are your favourite shoes like? Black boots, sort of combat boot-like but also sort of winter boot-like. I’m awful at describing things haha, but they come to my mid-calf and have a little heel and I wear them constantly when it’s not summer.

What would your non-perfume/cologne signature scent be? I don’t have one but I’d love to smell like nice spices or something.

If you were a dragon, what would you look like? Uhhh small with black scales? But I’d want to breathe fire, not acid like D&D black dragons.

Is your handwriting more print, cursive, or a mix? It’s a mix, I connect some letters but not others. It’s also pretty ugly.

What colour would your lightsaber be? *googles to see if the colours mean anything* let’s go with purple I guess?

What is your defining personality trait? Being obsessed with one (1) thing and unable to think about anything else

Roller skates or rollerblades or ice skates? Ice skates but I’m bad at all of them

Are you an only child? oldest / middle / youngest? Oldest! I have a younger brother who’s 17 and a baby (half) brother who’s 5.

What would your superpower be? how would you use it? If I could choose I’d love to be able to teleport, cause I’d want something that wouldn’t obligate me to be a hero but would just make my current life super convenient. I’d save SO much time and be able to do so much traveling. Free for 4 hours tonight? I’ll pop over to the Globe and see a play! Also Canada couldn’t stop me from crossing the border >:)

What’s your clothing colour palette? Mostly black, lots of dusty pink, some florals and lots of neutrals. But to give you an idea, my brother asked me last week why the washing machine was running empty, and I had to explain that my clothes were in there, and were just so black he couldn’t tell.

Pet snake or pet bird? Bird!! It’s my secret fantasy to have a talking bird and teach it Shakespeare quotes.

Weapon of choice in a medieval battle? Throwing knives cause I think they’re cool as hell, not cause I can actually use them. I’d definitely die.

The best ice cream flavour? Strawberry but specifically Haagen-Dazs brand, which is expensive but so good.

What spices do you always use when cooking? I barely cook but I like using mixed up salt instead of normal salt. And sriracha is my go-to to add spice.

Default font when typing? Georgia. It’s like Times New Roman but slightly more fun.

[segenassefa]

6: Brand Focus: Los Angeles Apparel

September – the season of changing leaves, pumpkin spice lattes (those are nasty but if I speak…), and – usually – back to school shopping.

However, now that life has transitioned online, there is no reason to wear anything that is uncomfortable or at least two sizes oversized on a day-to-day basis. But – and don’t fight me on this - there is nothing more satifying than new and quality loungewear.

This is where Los Angeles Apparel comes in.

The brand formerly known as American Apparel rebranded as Los Angeles Apparel – the same basics brand, full of heavyweight cotton, styles ranging from classic to contemporary, and a wide range of colours, everything from neutrals to neon colours.

After bankrupting twice, American Apparel was purchased by Canadian manufacturer, Gildan, in 2017. Gildan went on to rebrand and remove the more notable points of the company’s marketing strategy – namely, the borderline pornographic advertising and sinfully high price range (some AA products can now be purchased on websites such as Wordans and Amazon).

Founder and Montreal native Dov Charney (who has his own demons, including accusations of sexual harassment and mismanagement of funds when he ran American Apparel in 2014*) then decided to take his ideas elsewhere, introducing Los Angeles Apparel.

Now operating out of a south Los Angeles warehouse, LAA poses itself as an ethical, basics, brand, paying workers between $15-$20 USD, as well as overtime pay and benefits, and varies from other fashion retailers in the amount of transparency to behind the scenes of their warehouse and in the production process – many of the brand’s Instagram stories include shots of models, posing outside and throughout the warehouse, and well as videos of various garment and production workers at their daily dyeing, stitching, and cutting tasks. Another plus of this brand is the composition of the garments, specifically their sweatshirts and sweatpants, tops, and bodysuits. Most places do not manufacture goods with 100% cotton - traditional brands either use a 50/50 blend of cotton and polyester, or an 80/20 blend for goods in the heavyweight category. Using 100% cotton leads to a garment that looks even better with wear and tear, as well as prevents pilling, worn out elastic cuffs and hems, as well as less discolouration. Lastly, LAA is mostly devoid of branding – their clothing has no flashy logos or tags, no awkward stitching or excessive distressing, product styles, and unsavoury colour combinations – likely stemming from their roots as a wholesale blanks company. There is a bit of 90’s flavour to the styles shown on the website, included oversized sweats and t-shirts, lots and lots of pleats (pants, skirts, shorts, everything), as well as having more fresh-faced models, both men and women.

I’ve never personally been a huge American Apparel shopper – the original brand was not the most inclusive in terms of sizing as most of their items run on the smaller size (even to this day – their 2XL fits more like a very roomy XL) or were the dreaded “slim fit” (the ugliest cut of clothing to touch down on this face of the Earth, please don’t argue with me). However, since rebranding, Charney and the rest of the LAA team began to embrace more true-to-size and oversized fits. After rebuilding my wardrobe with quality basics, I can say about 80% of my wardrobe is from LAA – the pieces are good quality, minimal, and tasteful. Also, as a person who tries to be as ethical with my spending practices as possible and invest in quality clothing, I feel a bit better knowing the $40 t-shirt won’t be falling apart in the wash or after a few wears. For anyone who has considered dipping their toe into LAA or has been looking for other basics to add to their collection, here is a listed review of my favourite items from Los Angeles Apparel**.

HF09GD Unisex - Garment Dye 14oz. Heavy Fleece Hooded Pullover Sweatshirt

If I had the power to get rid of all of the hoodies in the world and replace them with only one, this would be it. This hoodie is thick as hell to the point where sometimes it feels like canvas, but not in an uncomfortable way. The colours are also super rich – my favourite one is Chocolate (one day we will talk about how brown is the supreme neutral for its ability to be and blend with both warm and cool tone colours, but I digress). Another interesting thing about these hoodies is that they don’t hold smell the way I’ve found polyester blends do and when washed, literally smell like an entirely new garment. This is also one of the products that I found is actually more of an oversized fit, and as with most cotton goods – stretch (but not unreasonably) with wear. It comes in a huge selection of colours as well and the sizing is fairly unisex, as both me and my boyfriend have worn this hoodie and have marveled at the quality. While it is an investment ($100 CAD per hoodie, about double that for the whole set), it is truly the hooded sweatshirt I’ve ever owned.

Size: XL, Colour: Chocolate, Price: $100 CAD

3380GD - Heavy 2x1 Rib Crop Tank

As our beautiful friend who was floating around Twitter not too long ago said, “Get into eeeeet!”. And she was absolutely right. This tank top is made for the people who want to get into the w*fe-beater/undershirt-as-a-shirt trend but don’t particularly enjoy the length or thinness of those traditional tops. This cropped tank is a racerback, but not to the point where it is completely unwearable without a bra, provided you have a convertible bra. This top is also 5% elastane as opposed to polyester (for those who are curious, elastane is a member of the Lycra and Spandex family, so the stretch in this top will also provide some shaping benefits). While it does only come in two colours for the time being, I’m one of those people who owns everything in my closet in both black and white, so this was perfect for me. Another thing to note, all my BBWs, this top does not roll up or require too much adjusting throughout the day, and sits just above the belly button for a cropped look without making you look like Roger the Alien (you know what I’m talking about….). This tank top is relatively affordable, considering the wearability, and the ribbing isn’t too noticeable so if you wanted a nice cropped but semi conservative top, this just might be it.

Size: L, Colour: Black, Price: $30 CAD

1215GD - Heavy Jersey Garment Dye Casual Pants

Ok, you know when you want to wear sweatpants, but you also realize that maybe the occasion is not appropriate, or you just need a little bit of pizzazz without all of the frump? This is these pants. When I first read the reviews, I was skeptical, but after realizing all I own are jeans and sweatpants, I copped a pair. I wore these in 75-degree weather, walked a good three or four miles, and was comfortable all day. Plus, unlike most traditional womenswear pants, these pockets are DEEP. Like Mariana Trench deep, which I love because one thing about me – I’m going to use a damn pocket. I would say to avoid these if you aren’t into the straight leg look because with a t-shirt, they do give very public-school art teacher vibes, but they also come in a huge range of colours. A lot of people complain about the elastic band for a lot of their products (too tight), but personally I prefer that – it provides a longer wear time before you have to wash (since it takes longer for the garment to stretch out) and keeps everything cute and covered. These pants are also a nice alternative to jeans, and even come in the couple shades of blue to mimic the idea of dark/light wash. The price is a little obscene for some casual pants, but I think you’re someone who usually wears pants from Urban Planet, H&M, or even Zara, these will be a nice upgrade, sure to last a very, very long time.

Size: L, Colour: Black, Price: $52 CAD

1406GD - Long Sleeve Garment Dye Mockneck T-Shirt

Another one of my favourite things about LAA is the fact that a lot of their products are unisex (while not explicitly labelled as such, you will see a lot of the same items in both the men and women tabs on their website). I love a good long sleeve shirt, but my proportions were never too forgiving to pull it off without looking like a 1960’s ghost, or like I had gotten dressed in the tent section of Home Depot. This top is more of a boxy fit, but the bottom is cropped enough to make it hit just above the thighs for a nice, slouchy look. The colours in these are also super nice, veering more towards neutrals and pastels. This shirt looks good with bike shorts and tucked into jeans, and (the best part) the white is not see-through at all, which was one of my biggest complaints when buying shirts from brands like Hanes, Gildan, Fruit of the Loom, and Keya. The neckline is a lot higher than most traditional crew necks, but I’m a fan. Plus, I feel like it looks a lot better when you layer jewelry over it. If you’re springing to get a basic colour, I’d say it’s totally worth it, at $41 a pop, considering that it’ll last damn near forever.

Size: XL, Colour: White, Price: $52 CAD

B128CF - Long Sleeve Crossfront Bodysuit

The bodysuit that started it all. Y’all. The number of compliments I get whenever I wear this top is insane, not to mention of all the bodysuits I have purchased from this brand, this one is the most flattering, the most versatile, and the most forgiving, in terms of sizing. The cross-front bodysuit is a happy medium for people who want to get into the criss-cross top look without the hassle of strings and shit like that. Not to mention, many bodysuits in this style tend to be ribbed – and not the good kind of ribbing either *retches*. I own this bodysuit in both a medium and a large, and my advice would be to size down, especially if you’re planning on wearing it without a bra (not much of a choice considering this bodysuit has a deep, deep, V neck) and will definitely add to the effortless look of the whole ensemble. This bodysuit can be dressed up and dressed down, but my favourite way to wear this is with some slouchy ass sweatpants, white sneakers (preferably a little beat up) and a small shoulder bag – ad square or transparent sunglasses for some big 90s energy, like you just left a Bikram yoga class or something. The colours on this could be better – aside from the white, black, and flesh toned colour, I really don’t see a purpose for the coral or blue shade, but I may be biased considering I do avoid bright colours like that. Now, it may seem a little overpriced for what it is, but I promise you – in my years of bodysuit research, the only brand that’s coming close to this, especially for larger chested laydeez, is Capezio, and that’s literally dancewear. Like, industrial ass dancewear. Regardless, this bodysuit is top 2 and it’s not 2.

Size: M, Colour: White, Price: $49 CAD

BD12 - Bull Denim Oversized Bag

If I had to give a name to my aesthetic – particularly when it comes to accessories – I’d say I’m somewhere in between “Bag Lady” by Erykah Badu and first year art student in the Midwest working part time at a dusty bookstore. This bag is more of the latter. For reference on size, it’s about as big, laid flat, as my large Telfar, but when on, doesn’t have the same structure, thus keeping it from looking like a burlap sack (or keeping you from looking like Santa on December 24th). The material is bull denim, which is similar in texture and style to regular denim, however, dyed to give it a rich and uniform colour. Also this bag comes in literally all of the ROYGBIV colours, plus black and white, and in a variety of styles and closures (they have one with a zipper for people who are diligent about things like that, as well as a more standard tote size and shape). This bag is perfect for literally everything – I like it when I go grocery shopping, or even getting from A to B when I have to carry a million things. Another bonus is the construction of the strap is thick without being comical, meaning that you won’t have those nasty lines in your shoulder after a long day, and you won’t have to worry about a strap busting and embarrazzzzing you (Nella Rose voice) when you’re out. In terms of pricing, you could get a little pleather number from H&M for the same price, but if you don’t take yourself seriously, then just say that (kidding!). as someone who loves the look of a good canvas tote, without wanting to look too much like a crunchy granola kinda person, this bag is lowkey one of my favourites (sorry, Mr. Clemens!).

Size: OS, Colour: Navy, Price: $58

Notes:

*= We do not condone predatory behaviour from anyone, but it is important to highlight that just because you love something doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Part of being a responsible consumer is also knowing about who you purchase from, not just what and how things are made. I am aware of this and am taking accountability for not knowing this information sooner.

**= All of these opinions are my own and not sponsored. Product codes will be listed in the title, and sizing, colour purchased, as well as CAD pricing will be listed at the end of each review.

[ask-q-and-picard]

(Ladies, gentlemen, members of the Continuum of all shapes and sizes, please do forgive my absurdly long, depression-fuelled hiatus; I’m doing much better now, so I hope you’ll all accept a lovely piece of Christmas fluff for your reading pleasure as my apology! I shall get to responding to anything I haven’t yet over the next few days, but basically, we’re back, and I’ve had far too much gin and chocolate on this frankly lovely day - bring on the madness, mes amis, and compliments of the season! <3 #celestialout)

(P.S. Oh, and @q-card - not quite the drabble I’m promising for new year, but perhaps the next best thing? xD)

Picard: Will, you were exceptional today. Your diplomatic prowess is a credit to this ship, and to Starfleet.

Riker: Coming from the undisputed king of this sort of thing, Captain, that’s truly high praise.

Picard: Oh, well, I have been known to be good with words, Number One.

Riker: That you have, sir. Still, no potential shirking intended, but I’d rather sleep for a solid eight hours than ever consider co-chairing an inter-species conference again.

Picard: Between you and I, I couldn’t agree more. I think we both deserve an evening of full relaxation, frankly. A glass of the family vintage may even be in order!

Riker: Captain’s orders, I hope?

Picard: Make it so, only do try and ensure you’re sufficiently alive in the morning...

Riker: I’ll take it under consideration, Captain. I want you to know that I’m absolutely not about to leave you at your quarters and request a single drop of Guinan’s secret stash. I wouldn’t be so irresponsible.

Picard: Well, of course you wouldn’t. 

Riker: Glad we understand one another, sir. Night!

Picard: Enjoy yourself, Commander, and thank you. I for one am prepared to have a very much quieter affair. No distractions, hopefully. A little reading, perhaps some ambient lighting - 

...

Riker: Stretching the definition of ‘ambient’ a little there, Captain... and is that a tree? Where in the quadrant did you get -

Picard: I... Number One, what’s the stardate?

Riker: 48634.44, I think - it’s been a long few days -

Picard: ... Ah.

Riker: Is everything alright, sir?

Picard: Completely, Number One. Don’t let me delay your free time any further. I’ll see you in the morning.

Riker: Are you sure you’re -

Picard: Yes, perfect - do enjoy, that’s an order. Goodnight!

Riker: ... Yes sir...

...

Picard: ... Q, what in fresh hell have you done?

Q: ... Oh, has he finally gone? Thank me, truly... and you ought to be aware, my dear! You’re quite the historian, for a linear mortal anyway.

Picard: 48634.44 - 2372, of course, but also December 25th, known to my distant ancestors as -

Q: Christmas! A wonderful time of the standardised Federation year, Jean-Luc! Humans don’t much bother with holidays nowadays, of course - you’re all far too preoccupied with advancing and measuring and diplomacy, as though such things ultimately count. Frankly, I feel you should all lighten up; your family’s wine is quite the treasure, but have you considered adding spices to it, perhaps a little heat? Mulled wine, darling - the greatest tradition of them all.

Picard: Q, I... it’s been a very, very trying few days, as you know -

Q: Well, yes, hence this. You and I, tasteful decorations - slightly too tasteful, in my opinion, but I’m deferring to you, mon capitaine - cinnamon buns, which I haven’t indulged in just yet but are already threatening to overtake almond croissants in my heart, spiced wine, a genuine fireplace... gifts! I have a gift for you, Jean-Luc. You’re going to love it.

Picard: ... You didn’t have to do this, Q. I’d be perfectly fine with catching up on some sleep, and perhaps enjoying a lazy embrace or two -

Q: I don’t ever have to do anything, dear - I’m omnipotent, an authority unto myself. I simply wanted to. Traditionally, Christmas is a time for family... for home. You are mine; I am yours, I hope. Felt appropriate. I can snap it away, of course, if you -

Picard: Don’t you dare. And yes, you are. Thank you, mon dieu, for everything. This is... cathartic.

Q: I... I am. That’s... I truly... you couldn’t possibly understand... wine. We were going to drink mulled wine. And buns! Yes, wonderful -

Picard: I seem to have developed a habit of overwhelming you, recently.

Q: ... I can learn to live with such things, darling. There’s a spiral galaxy in the Theta quadrant, though, that may be in trouble. I’ll fix it momentarily. Just... give me a second.

Picard: I would greatly appreciate that, Q. So this is... warm wine? A fascinating concept...

Q: Yes, with spices, cloves, other such delights - oh, stop talking. I’m going to kiss you now, Jean-Luc.

Picard: Thank the stars for that.

...

Q: So, cinnamon buns...

Picard: Mm, indeed. Indulge me, Q - do you have a new favourite pastry?

Q: ... I may interchange our breakfasts, once in a while.

Picard: ... Dear lord. I didn’t think it was even plausible.

Q: Well, I do so hate to be predictable, Jean-Luc. I imagine you taste of cinnamon, now...

Picard: ... Well, we are a scientific vessel. It would be something of a crime if we didn’t test such things.

Q: Hush, you handsome thing you...

...

Q: ... Gifts, dammit, before you distract me any further!

Picard: Oh, because of course I’m the distracting one here.

Q: You have no idea, Jean-Luc. Beneath the tree, that’s how you all used to do it. A present, meant to indicate your affection towards another - the grandest tradition of them all, wine aside.

Picard: That’s very kind, Q, but I haven’t -

Q: You can replicate me something later, man - get on with it! Honestly, this is worse than that time you were twelve - model starship, really? You’re a walking  cliché, dear.

Picard: ... What? You did not -

Q: Oh no, couldn’t possibly have, of course. It was certainly your dinosaur of a father who thought that was a superlative birthday gift.

Picard: I... did you ever do anything else -

Q: No no, I know how deeply you value your infernal linearity - do hurry up!

Picard: Alright, alright... is this earl grey, Q?

Q: That is not simply earl grey, Captain. That’s the finest of earl grey. I should know - I’ve been cultivating the bergamot for the past month, in a rather despicably mortal manner I may add. It may have a slight aroma of deep space; don’t be alarmed, it creates a divine flavour profile. I fully guarantee it shall have no negative effect on the operation of the ship, unless you happen to take it anywhere near the warp core.

Picard: ... I’ll take full heed of that, yes... this is incredibly thoughtful, Q. And there’s this, too... it’s a box. A small box.

Q: Well observed, darling. You’re good at this...

Picard: ... And it appears to be velvet.

Q: ... Yes...

Picard: ... And it seems suspiciously as though it may fit a ring -

Q: Ah, no. Not in my entire immortality, dear. Far too human, worry not.

Picard: ... Thank heavens.

Q: Quite. You’re not a million light years away, however...

Picard: ... Q, what is this?

Q: Super-condensed nebula. Unbreakable glass, naturally - can’t have you destroying the local galaxy if you happen to take a tumble. And no, I haven’t stolen a phenomena for the aesthetic gravitas, however in character that might be - I made the thing specifically for this.

Picard: It’s... Q, this is spectacular...

Q: Darling, at considerable risk of being entirely too saccharine, the universe, all its infinite majesty, has been my only sanctuary for millions of years. It would have been rather an oversight not to transfer a fraction of the honour to my new one.

Picard: Q, I... may be about to be incredibly distracting, my dear.

Q: Oh, I really hope so.

Picard: No hope required, I assure you, but... you’ve given me a piece of space, Q, and I haven’t gotten you a single thing.

Q: Oh, don’t be so ridiculous, Jean-Luc. You’re here, aren’t you? As though I need anything else.

Picard: ... We may never recover from this distraction, you know. I trust you’ll rectify time eventually?

Q: Mm. Eventually...

[instigare]

Event Report: Wake Up, Girls! FINAL TOUR -HOME- ~PART III KADODE~ Kumamoto

This is an event report from 5th Jan 2019 archived from my Wordpress blog. You’ve probably already read it. I’ll add photos later.

Writing this on the plane back to Tokyo from what I would consider a treasure-filled three days in Kumamoto. I will never forget this weekend and I genuinely dread having to go to school tomorrow.

My flight to Kumamoto was on the day of the live itself, a 0710 flight from Haneda Airport bound to arrive in Kumamoto Airport at 0910. My plan was to head straight to bed as soon as I got home since I’d have to wake up at 3 AM to get to the airport in time. Much to my dismay, the blend of excitement over finally being able to go see Yoppi at Kumamoto, and the anxiety over the fact that if I’m unable to wake up in time I won’t be able to go see that, had me awake all night and I ultimately gave up trying to go to sleep at around 2 AM. Made myself some fried eggs (Yoppi’s favourite food her mom would make her, from her song Watashi no Ki), got ready, and headed to the airport without a second of sleep. Unsurprisingly, I was already dying when I got to the airport but for some reason I just couldn’t close my eyes. Afraid I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep in-flight, I asked some friends over what to do in order to die in the flight immediately.

The answer was simple: down a can of Strong Zero.

Thus, I grabbed a 500ml can of Apple flavoured Strong Zero (青りんご for 青山) at the nearest convenience store, and downed it in one go right before boarding the plane. Little did I know, turns out that was the same amount of alcohol as three cans of beer. I was so dizzy I bumped into people while boarding the flight, and while I did die when I got to my seat, I felt so nauseated and needed to go to the bathroom so often I basically only got 45 minutes of sleep.

I only recovered after arriving at the venue. What a terrible experience. Never doing that again.

In order to fully enjoy Kumamoto, I decided my only option was to go the ultimate TO route and buy 48 tickets in order to maximise my chance of getting front row. I was completely expecting to not be able to sell the extras, but I did! Thank god. Had to go around turning those tickets into money as soon as I got to the venue. I was still a bit tipsy, and one of the buyers even asked me if I was ok and was genuinely worried. WUGners sure are nice.

Thanks to Surname and Dalmo, I didn’t have to worry about buppan either. They helped me get what I want earlier on. God bless.

Finally, it was time to enter the venue.

Since most of the songs were the same, I’m not gunna write both separately, but I will mention when something is Afternoon or Night exclusive.

My seats were:

Floor 1, Row 3, Seat 31 for Afternoon

Floor 1, Row 6, Seat 19 for Night

Since there was no Row 1, afternoon was basically second row. It was two seats away from the aisle which kinda sucked, but at least I was super close. As for Night, it was right next to the left aisle, which turns out to be the best thing to ever happen, which I will talk about later on.

The live started with a message from Katayama Minami and Nanase Yoshino, both talking to each other about Kumamoto. Nanase offers to give Katayama recommendations for places to eat at. Katayama, surprised at how much Nanase knows about Kumamoto, asks where she got all this info from. Turns out Nanase knows someone from Kumamoto, who goes by “Aoyama Yoshino”. The conversation cuts into a phone call between Nanase and Aoyama, but for some reason Aoyama sounded more like Guri than herself… talking with her mouth full, and being completely uncaring of the conversation. They then continue on talking about how they should visit historical places in Kumamoto and how it’s important for everyone to visit Kurokawa Onsen and Hitoyoshi Onsen (LOL). Nanase then talks about how since this is the first WUG live in Kumamoto, she wished more people could come and see Kumamoto earlier. Katayama then ensures Nanase that it’s not too late, and since it’s KADODE, they still have plenty of chances to show everyone how great of a place it is. “KADODE is not a harbinger of end times, but rather a gate that leads to a new path.” Suddenly, they get another voice message from Aoyama, telling them to shower themselves in Kumamoto cuisine, breathe Kumamoto’s freshest air, and to not forget a single second they spend there, and to definitely come visit again, in the sleepiest, most uncaring Guri voice possible. Katayama then asks Nanase if they could come visit Kumamoto one more time even after the live is over. Nanase agrees, to not visit just as friends, but as family.

“Ikuzo, Ganbappe, Wake Up, Girls!”

All of a sudden, Oota-san’s voice appears out of nowhere, screaming his otaku screams, to which everyone laughs their arse off. He shills how Yoppi is back in Kumamoto and how happy she is over it. He asks if we got ready for the live by eating Yoppi’s favourite Kumamoto foods. He does a spot check on us, and he shills some goods, mentioning how “that specific WUGner” wearing the tour T-shirt, parka, and the windbreaker is wearing the perfect armour. Finally, he asks us if we brought with us our love for WUG, to which the crowd screams as loud as possible.

We then hear random rambling from WUG backstage. I don’t particularly remember what they were saying, but it was pretty random. They do the “Ikuzo, Ganbappe, Wake Up, Girls!” ritual real quick, after which Oota-san comes back to scream at us about how WUG-chan is all fired up. We start chanting “Wake Up, Girls! Wake Up, Girls! Wake Up, Girls!”

They show up in sillhouettes behind the stage curtains. The curtains fall with a bang, and we’re greeted with WUG themselves, wearing the 暴君 outfit, ready to perform their first song.

M01. 少女交響曲

That was so unexpected. Now it makes sense why they ended all of the Part II Lives with this song. They were trying to connect it together with Part III. Pretty cool if you think about it. Also, Yoppi was holding back tears with the biggest smile on her face. People in the back probably didn’t notice but being so up close it was really obvious how teary eyed she was. It must be so overwhelming for her. Kumamoto Shimin Kaikan. The biggest hall in all of Kumamoto. A place she has so many memories at. She’s finally standing there as WUG, looking at a sold out venue. It’s so amazing and I’m so thankful and happy for her. I almost cried looking at her.

M02. 素顔でKISS ME

Source: 初！熊本！あいり (2019 01 08)

Is it just me or did I never notice how people mix during the first instrumental? It was so loud and it was amazing and I wish I knew about it before lmfao.

MC1. Introductions

They introduce themselves and talk about how they’re all glad that they’re performing in Kumamoto. Mayushii tells everyone how if you start your year by screaming UWAAAAH, good things will happen this year, to which everyone screams, and then tells us that she made it up on the spot. BAMBOOZLED. Kayatan talks about how tasty dagojiru is during both sessions, and Yoppi talks about how we were all turned into vegetables during the start of Afternoon because of how nevous she was. She then tells us about how recently she had a dream where she was at Kumamoto stop and they were doing their introductions and when she welcomed everyone to Kumamoto, she was greeted with booing. She knows that it would never happen, but it got her even more nervous, and it made her feel like she was in hell. The audience was filled with laughter it was so funny. We then scream that we love her, to which Yoppi responds with how there will never be another chance again so everyone should boo at her. Wihtout hesitation, the entire audience starts booing at her. I will never forget this moment. I boo’d Yoppi at a WUG live in her hometown.

M03. 7 Girls War

HOLY SHIT. I didn’t think it would actually happen but everyone screamed 「熊本おかえり！よっぴー」 for Yoppi’s part, and the way Yoppi’s face brightened up hearing it, it was beautiful. God bless. I furicopied my heart out for this song as I always do.

M04. 言の葉 青葉

Beautiful. Is there anything more to say about this song? All I can do is just stand there and watch how gorgeous they are and how wonderful their singing is, while furicopying, of course.

M03. 7 Senses

Not many people did 「熊本おかえり！よっぴー」 for Yoppi’s part for this song, but when everyone screamed 「まゆしぃ！」 after Mayushii’s 「よ！」, Mayushii’s face brightened up too because there was never a Mayushii call in either 7GW or 7 Senses, but WUGners actually made it happen. WUGners truly are awesome, and it’s wonderful how obvious the girls make it when showing how happy they are. Oh yeah, Yoppi and Aichan did the USA dance in between too.

M04. 雫の冠

Beautiful. Is there anything more to say about this song? All I can do is just stand there and watch how gorgeous they are and how wonderful their singing is, while furicopying, of course.

TIE-UP CORNER

Only at Night, after 雫の冠, does Mayushii quickly mention that it’s now time for the Tie-up corner. Did she probably forget to in the afternoon?

M05. 僕らのフロンティア

I have been waiting for this song for so long. It’s one of my favourite WUG songs and it gives me the motivation to do pretty much anything. I furicopied so hard to this. One thing I don’t like about the live version is how everyone screams HAI during the instrumental before the chorus. I really appreciate the serene feel of the song and that call is really irritating. A movement against it is building up on Twitter though, which gives me hope for the future.

M06. One In A Billion

The calls for this song are so much fun because of how short but impactful they are. Screaming ONE IN A BILLION with WUG is always fun. This song is so good.

M05. One In A Billion

I actually didn’t even notice they skipped 僕らのフロンティア when they opened with this song! I was way too immersed into how good this song is.

M06. 恋？で愛？で暴君です！

Finally! I get to see this song again. It’s the song that got me into WUG and I love it so much. Fun fact, during Yoppi solo event, a certain something happened and it became a normality for Yoppi oshis to scream よしのー instead of オレモー for this song, and it made me really happy that a lot of people finally got the memo and did it too, or maybe my renban and I were just really loud with the よしのー calls. I was also really confused as to why they wore this outfit during Afternoon but never properly performed it, but at least we still got it at Night. Still wish I could see it twice...

MC2. Outfit Talk

They talk about how long it’s been since they last wore the Renai Boukun outfit and take their time to appreciate how cute of an outfit it is. In the Afternoon, they actually forget they last wore it in Shanghai and say Los Angeles multiple times and then correct themselves later. After this little exchange, everyone but Yoppi gets ready to leave but she quickly stops Mayushii and Nanamin, asking them to stay. With that, we enter the Kumamoto special corner.

SPECIAL CORNER

They start by asking asking everyone if anything comes to mind seeing these three specific people. That’s simple. If you’ve watched that Yonayona stream you’d know that these three are WUG’s チーム西日本. Yoppi being from Kumamoto, Mayushii from Osaka, and Nanamin from Tokushima. According to Yoppi, they’re also known as 飛行機組. Ever since before they debuted, until even after all their training camps and the Wonfes introduction, for those two years, these three were be the ones that would have to take the plane to Tokyo for events and training. At Night, Mayushii mentions that she still has the purikura they took together, which Nanamin remembered, but Yoppi, unsurprisingly didn’t, but later screamed “YES YES YES I REMEMBER”, in fact it was supposedly Yoppi’s idea to take it as チーム西日本. But these three aren’t the only ones that had to finally leave their homes behind for their dreams. Their kouhais had to as well. And since there might never be a chance again for them to do so, they perform their next song.

M07. カケル×カケル（チーム西日本）

Source: 7日だけどあけおめ@まゆ

The HAIs and claps were INSANE. Everyone was SO HYPED. RGR’s best song… performed by WUG? Unheard of! Some people even yettaiga’d! It was awesome. Yoppi did Mocchi, Mayushii did Hayamari, and Nanamin did Acchan. It was pretty well thought out, leader did leader, centre did centre, and Nanami did Nanami lmao. At Night, some people did some gachikoi call during the opening instrumental which I couldn’t quite catch, but it was fucking awesome as well. Furicopied so hard, screamed so loud, and clapped excessively. I was dead by the end of it, and I’m sure everyone else was too.

"I'm no longer afraid."

After that energetic performance, Mayushii talks about how they always end up having to follow along with Yoppi’s antics, and sarcastically mentions how she’s everyone’s beloved leader. Yoppi butts in with an “of course I am”. They ask if we saw カケル×カケル coming and if we were surprised. No fucking shit we were god fuck that was amazing. Yoppi talks about how the lyrics of the song has elements that really speak to her and that she’s been wanting to perform it herself, so she took her chance and did so. They then cut into the reading live section, mentioning how this song talks about “home” a lot.

Yoppi: Everyone, welcome to Kumamoto! How did all of you get here? By plane? By train? By walking? Thank you all for coming, whether near or far. The story we are about to tell you is about three girls with hometowns, just like all of you.

Nanamin: Yoppi, who are you talking to?

Mayushii: Talking to yourself?

Nanamin: You’re always like that.

Yoppi: No I’m not. Anyway, the three of us, standing here like this, feels really nostalgic doesn’t it. Here in Haneda Airport.

Nanamin: I wonder if that restaurant is still there! The one we always went to!

Mayushii: That bibimbap place?

Nanamin: Yeah!

Mayushii: If I recall correctly, it was upstairs. I know the way without even looking at the map.

Nanamin: I know right?

Yoppi: We sure did go there often.

Nanamin: We’re here!

Mayushii: That was fast.

Yoppi: My favourite bibimbap is gone!

Mayushii: You’re right!

Nanamin: Eh? I wanted to eat that too…

Yoppi: That nostalgic taste… not being able to eat it again...

Mayushii: But that smaller sized regular bibimbap is still there.

Mayushii: I can’t believe it’s been this five years since then.

Nanamin: It feels like it was just the other day.

Yoppi: During our training camps, we would regularly do airport rushes!

Mayushii: We would often run down staircases carrying up our luggage.

Yoppi: Yeah! That really stressed my body out!

Nanamin: Running while screaming over how we won’t make it.

Yoppi: And didn’t we often study for our tests?

Mayushii: Yeah!

Nanamin: Yeah!

Mayushii: If you think about it, we were at that age when entrance exams were right around the corner. Our centre exams were at the exact same time too.

Yoppi: I’d read out questions to you too.

Mayushii: Yeah, you didn’t understand the questions but you’d read them out regardless.

Yoppi: Yeah. We’d even talk about our school teachers.

Mayushii: And often hearing complaints about teachers I don’t even know!

Yoppi: Yeah! Nanamin and Mayushii did this a lot.

Nanamin: Yoppi, you’d do it too! You’d often talk about your choir teacher!

Yoppi: No I didn’t! (Shut up, she’s here today)

Mayushii: She did.

Yoppi: And Mayushii, didn’t you often study in the plane too?

Mayushii: Yeah I did. I’d listen to music while doing so though.

Nanamin: Music?

Mayushii: Yeah, in-flight radio. The anisong section had a personality I really liked! Not to mention, i☆Ris songs would play sometimes too.

Yoppi: I used to listen to §Rainbow so much! I’m getting flashbacks from back then all of a sudden… YUU-CHAAAAN!

Mayushii: What about you Nanamin? Did you listen to anything while on the plane?

Nanamin: Hmm.. let me think…

Yoppi: It was quite a while ago.

Mayushii: She was probably asleep.

Yoppi: You’re right, this is Nanamin we’re talking about.

Nanamin: Oh yeah! Yuzu!

Mayushii: Oh, you were awake.

Nanamin: Is that so strange?!

Yoppi: Speaking of, who was it that-

Mayushii: Ah! The last flight to Kumamoto is leaving soon!

Yoppi: Eh?!

Nanamin: It’s already this late?

Mayushii: Yoshino, dash! Speaking of, I need to leave soon too.

Nanamin: Me too.

Mayushii: Let’s go.

Nanamin: Yeah.

Mayushii: Alright, see you next week!

Nanamin: See you Yoppi!

Yoppi: You guys too! Bye!

Yoppi: I separate with them at baggage checking. The sounds of the airplanes echoed quietly. I headed to the gate. Five years ago, the feelings I felt in this place, were happiness and confusion around finally being able to go home. What I feel in this place now, are happiness and loneliness. But strangely, despite that loneliness, I find myself smiling, and that’s probably because I realised I have a place to call home. Kumamoto, the place I was born and raised, the place my friends and family built for my heart to call home. While it feels like a far away place, under this vast blue sky that these airplanes fly, it’s in a very close place. I’m no longer afraid.

Nanamin and Mayushii leaves the stage, and Yoppi gets into position.

Yoshino's Letter

After that energetic performance, Yoppi talks about how in the Afternoon they did a reading live, but for Night, she wrote a letter to everyone, which she wrote at 3AM the night before. She’s super awkward before starting to read the letter and it’s so cute, you could tell she was really nervous.

With a slow, piano-only version of the Polaris instrumental playing in the background, Yoppi begins reciting her letter.

Everyone, how are you? I’m fine. The Kumamoto stop is finally here. My first gaisen (凱旋). Are you all enjoying it? Did you eat all the delicious food? Have you fallen in love with Kumamoto? This city that you all came to love, this city where I was born and raised...

I used to hate it.

I’m sure there are plenty of people that know about this. All the frustration that built up ever since I started these activities, all the way until I moved to Tokyo, I can still remember vividly. An everyday life of succumbing to unfairness, and most of it was because I lived in Kumamoto. I was always extremely busy back then, and I never noticed just how many people were working hard for me. The resentment just kept building up, and before I knew it, everytime I’d come back to Kumamoto Airport after work, “I’m back… again…” was all that would come to mind.

In front of WUGners, I always wanted to remain cheerful and fun. So, I would throw all my pointless frustrations at my mother, and made her shed plenty of tears. All that she would do for me, from driving me around, to the bento she would ready for me every morning. I would never thank her, and all that would come out of my mouth were curses. I caused her so much trouble.

I’m so sorry.

Present day, four years have passed since I moved to Tokyo. I can’t get used to it at all. I don’t know any good restaurants. The train system is extremely difficult. For that, I am so thankful for Kumamoto that not only do most train stations only have one platform, but that I know where to get the best monja, which I told everyone about, and I know where to get the best pasta too, but I’ll keep this one a secret. I think to myself that these things exist in Kumamoto, and it makes me glad.

The pointless feelings I held, the frustrations, disappeared as the pointless feelings they were. That was my move to Tokyo.

What should have been obvious was never obvious to me. I terribly regret having ever hated this place that was always by my side. I have a place to come back to, a HOME. I will never, ever forget that.

But that’s not all, I have another HOME that I hold dear to me, and that’s Wake Up, Girls! Nanase Yoshino, who helped fulfill the dream I’ve had since primary school. The members, who are not only my greatest rivals, but my greatest companions. The pleasant staff, who supported us to where we are today. And the greatest family one could ever wish for, WUGners. Thank you all for showing me sceneries I would have never been able to see on my own. Thank you for showing me so many different HOMEs. Thank you for raising me up to where I am now.

Thank you, so, so much.

I don't want to regret a single second until March. I want to show as much gratitude as my heart can handle. I hope that every moment we spend together can be like treasure to you.

If I write any further, I won’t have anything to say in the final MC.

Finally, thank you all for coming all the way to my beloved Kumamoto.

5th of January, 2019. Aoyama Yoshino.

Pin drop silence. Not a single light could be seen. Yoppi’s eyes were glistering with the tears she was holding back. Faint sobs could be heard from around the audience area, mine included.

After reading the letter, Yoppi tells us about how you should never hate your own home, and that we should hold dear everything that brought us to where we are now. She then introduces the next song, while expressing her gratitude.

I cried so much while she read the letter. While she writes about Kumamoto, it’s extremely similar to my hometown of Kagoshima, which is incidentally right next to Kumamoto, and it echoed in my heart so vibrantly. Every single word she said, I could relate to. Being able to stand in front of so many people, and even her own friends and family who were there as guests, and recite this letter, she really is a strong person. I respect her so much.

M08. わたしの樹

Source: お正月明けはよぴの日@かやたん (2019 01 06)

Yoppi sings alone in front of her mic. Visuals of Kumamoto play in the background. Rivers, birds, trees, temples, occassionally pictures of Yoppi herself. I couldn’t take it. People normally talk about how something “made them cry”, but they don’t actually cry, they teared up, or their heart felt heavy, feelings like that. But I actually cried. I don’t know how many years it’s been since I cried like this. I’m asthmatic, and I was actually having trouble breathing. Just thinking about how Yoppi is finally getting to sing Watashi no Ki, a song that she poured her love for Kumamoto and her childhood into, in Shimin Kaikan, a venue in Kumamoto where she holds so many memories, it must be overwhelming for her. She was tearing up as she sang it, and in the night session, she actually choked on her own words and started sobbing. It was actually so painful. I couldn’t hold back my tears at all. The screams from the crowd… 「頑張れ！」「よっぴー！」... everyone started waving their penlights blue as well. She quickly got a hold of herself, and continued singing, but stronger than any song I have ever heard her sing in my life. It was Yoppi at her maximum potential. I’m sobbing just typing this. The images are so vivid in my head. Blurry, but vivid. What I saw in that moment was an angel. An angel named Aoyama Yoshino, and it was at that moment that I realised, I am so glad to be born a Yoppi oshi. The clapping after that god tier performance only got louder and louder. That was the second longest applause at any WUG venue I’ve been to, only topped by Morioka’s special corner.

V01. INTERLUDE

A slower, lighter version of the TUNAGO instrumental played while they showed pictures of Yoppi. From her childhood, all the way to her time in WUG. Pictures of her as a baby, pictures of her school life, pictures of her performances from when she was younger, off shots of pictures she’s posted on her blog, off shots from WUG events, all pictures we have never ever seen before. After that, handwritten messages from each member to Yoppi were shown. I don’t remember the details, but they were from heart to heart and it was beautiful.

The screen goes blank, and they come back on stage wearing the new Memorial outfit.

M09. HIGAWARI PRINCESS (PRINCESS Yoshino ver.)

They changed up this song completely! They use umbrellas instead, with the princess umbrella being pink with a golden rod while everyone else’s were white. The dance was changed as well to match this. Parts where they would pass the stick around turned into them passing the umbrella around while the princess walked under it with the current holder. It felt so fresh, and I’m so glad I got to see Princess Yoshino one last time. Also, at Night, she shouts “みんな、笑って！” to get everyone to smile because everyone was soaked in tears after that special corner. I thought that was really nice of her. God bless her.

M10. 16歳のアガペー

THE SCREAMS WHEN THIS SONG CAME OUT. This is one of my favourite WUG songs. Holy shit, screaming YOPPPPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII at Kumamoto felt SO BLOODY GOOD. What’s cool was that a lot of people read between the lines and screamed Yoppi too even if she weren’t their oshi, which was extremely thoughtful. I can’t say this enough but god bless WUGners. I furicopied like there was no tomorrow and even did all the spins. At Night, there was an Aichanfag that screamed AICHAAAAN during her solo, but we’re used to that at this point.

MC4. New Outfit, New Song

They talk about their outfit and how while we’ve seen it before but this is the first time they’re showing it to everyone. Everyone screams for them to spin. In the Afternoon, Myu takes one for the team and does her ballet spin for us. She then mentions how she is the princess for the day to which Yoppi gets angry and calls her names, to which Myu responds with “I don’t want my princess status stolen by anyone else” in the most ojousama voice she can put out. After that exchange, Mayushii starts shilling some other event goods, and then starts explaining the outfit and MEMORIAL. She talks about how there are four new songs each by a different composer from MONACA and that they will be performing one of those for us today. Yoppi then tells us to try and guess who the composer is.

And the name of the song is...

M11. 言葉の結晶

Source: お正月明けはよぴの日@かやたん

In the Afternoon, there was a group of Monaca oshis sitting by us, and as soon as the first beat dropped, one of them screamed “恵一！！！” which was fucking hilarious. How the hell did they know with that little information? Regardless, this song, the entire performance was amazing. It was so different from anything WUG has ever done before. The song had so many elements that just make you go holy shit, and the dance seemed so sophisticated it’s surprising how they managed to pull off dancing the entire thing while singing. It really felt like this was the product of six years of their hard work, and to think this is the first song they unveil. How mind blowing will the next three be?! I’m not going to explain anything else about the song in case people don’t want to be spoilt. The one complaint I have is that during the instrumental part everyone at the back starts clapping which was pretty annoying when I’m trying to enjoy the new song. A lot of other people feel the same way, including Minyami.

MC5. Last Spurt

They ask us how the new song is, to which everyone responds with loud screams of approval. They talk about how difficult the song is, and how it’s much much harder than any other song they’ve ever done. They then tell us that this song was composed by Hirokawa Keiichi, and the group of Monaca oshis sat near us screamed because they were right lmao.

Mayushii then tells us that it’s now time for the last spurt, and that it’s going to be a hell of a ride.

M12. Beyond the Bottom

I’m sure you all know this but this is my favourite WUG song. The lyrics strike my heart so hard and everytime I see this song live I just can’t wave my penlight. I can’t help but stand there and gaze at them, appreciating their powerful voices and goddess tier performance. Also, I never had the chance to talk about this so I’ll talk about it now. The dance for this song has a lot of elements of them “pulling each other up”. I don’t really know how to explain because I’m not very familiar with storytelling through dance, but the biggest example is when they sing “change your mind, my friend”, the six members singing behind the one singing that line stand diagonally two by two and pull each other to each others positions. I feel like the diagonality expresses vertical positioning, one being on top of the other, and them pulling each other to each others position symbolises how they sacrifice each other to pull the other up. I think it’s really cool, and I’ll think about talking about the song lyrics and dance in more detail some other time.

M13. タチアガレ！

It’s tachiagare. It’s been performed so much and everyone and their mom has seen it there’s nothing to talk about, other than the fact that Yoppi’s solo felt a lot more powerful than usual.

M14. TUNAGO

You wouldn’t think that a slow song like this would be performed after the likes of Beyond the Bottom and タチアガレ. But believe me when I tell you that this song is just as powerful, at least from the context of a WUGner. Although TUNAGO was the theme for 4th Live Tour and the Solo Event Tour, I think it was extremely fitting for today too. In this Final Tour, we’re connecting each member’s roots together, and carving the path to SSA. It was extremely apt for them to perform this song at Kumamoto, which serves as an important point for this tour, being the first stop of Part III, as well as Yoppi herself, as the path she’s walked for the past six years has finally connected and materialised itself to her first performance in her hometown as WUG, and that while it may be the final tour, it’s only the beginning of her story.

Also, I can’t believe I remembered the steps of the「手を繋ごう」part. I haven’t seen this song since… WUG 4th Omiya I think, which was the first proper WUG live I’ve been to. Memories from those times flashed in my head and it just felt really emotional.

After they performed TUNAGO, they said their thanks, and left the stage. Wait! I didn’t get my moneys worth yet! WAKE UP, GIRLS! WAKE UP, GIRLS! WAKE UP, GIRLS!

ENCORE

After what feels like hours of chanting “WAKE UP, GIRLS!”, they finally come back on stage. This time wearing the awesome KADODE shirts with the lovely SHIFT skirts.

E01. Polaris

I was wondering why they didn’t perform this. So glad they it happened in the encore. Sitting so close to the stage, I could clearly see Mayushii’s face light up like the stars of Polaris when everyone switches their penlight to red during her solo. Yoppi also gave my renban and I a LOT of responses during this song in both afternoon and night.

E02. 地下鉄ラビリンス

FINALLY. THIS SONG IS SOOOOO FUN. WE SCREAMED SOOOO HARD. THE UH HAIS WERE INSANE. Fun fact, during the 「ぜんぜんぜん　乗りこめないよ」 part, a lot of people screamed 「オレモー！」 because it was a running meme that day over how many people missed their flights and a couple of people actually spent upwards of 70k yen just to get flights on day to make it to the live. In the middle of the song, Aichan, Myu, and Mayushii legit RUN to the second floor, while the remaining four stay on stage and do call and response for the “rap” part. They said the line, and we repeat the line. It was super fun! After that, the remaining four also walk past the aisles. This is where I got what is probably one of my best responses ever. I was sixth row aisle seat for Night, and thanks to whatever stroke of luck, Yoppi passed by that aisle. She spotted me, waved towards me from the fourth row, kept waving at me, and at sixth row she waved at me from literally 5 cm away, and kept waving at me until the seventh row, after which she gave other people waves. I got the longest wave ever, holy shit. My renban was so frustrated he wanted to switch places with me for when they walk back. Yoppi didn’t even look at him! GET FUCKED IDIOT. Yappari Yoppi loves me.

MC5. Final Messages (Afternoon)

Source: 夢だね(虎>ω<)美海 (2019 01 09)

They talked about 地下鉄ラビリンス and then shilled some announcements, and continued on to their final messages one by one.

Myu talks about how it was her first time on the second floor during this tour, and how even people not her oshis changed their penlight colour to orange for her, and that made her really happy. While she talks about how the entire year of 2018 she spent thinking about WUG and WUGners, someone from the audience screams オレモー！ to which she responds wiith オレモ and continues to talk about how she’s so glad that she was able to come to Kumamoto.

Nanamin talks about how the little things that make her realise she’s in Kumamoto, like the changes in dialect, help her enjoy Kumamoto a lot. She talks about how performing songs like Kotonoha Aoba, TUNAGO, and HIGAWARI PRINCESS in Kumamoto made her happy considering the fact that those were songs that were mainly based in Tohoku but they were able to connect (繋ぐ) those songs together all the way to Kumamoto, and make tons of new memories.

Minyami talks about how she can’t believe it’s already 2019, and how during the new years vacation they didn’t do any practice and instead everyone (almost) went back to their hometowns, and Yoppi bothered her at her home, and how when they thought about how WUGners will be going all the way to Kumamoto while thinking about WUG in their respective homes made them feel really glad. She then casually mentions how the number of people in blue were a lot more than usual (you’re damn right they were), to which Yoppi responds with “you don’t know that, maybe they’re wearing the 継続して欲しいにゃん shirts” (which was actually true). She then finishes with how it’s their first time in Kumamoto and how warm Yoppi’s home is.

Mayushii talks about how Part III has finally begun, and that the theme of the live is to get people to feel what HOME is like, and especially Kumamoto, where the corners were thought up by Yoppi and you can feel Yoppi’s love towards her home a lot. She then talks about how WUG might be based in Sendai, each part of the FINAL TOUR is in various different places, and they want these places to all feel like they’re our homes as we go to each stop.

Aichan talks about how it’s her first time in Kumamoto, and that while she lived in Sendai, she always thought of Kumamoto as an extremely far away place. Now that she’s finally here, she feels like it’s a lot closer than she thought and that she was able to understand that there’s lots of things that she can do for the place, and even though she’s physically far away, everyone’s hearts are still connected. She finishes by expressing how glad she is that her first experience in Kumamoto was with WUGners.

Kayatan talks about how Yoppi was originally the one to bring up the idea of going to everyone’s hometowns for a tour. In response, Yoppi tilts her head, making Kaya go “right?”. Yoppi then finally remembers and mentions how long of a time ago that was. Kayatan then talks about how when Yoppi came to Iwate for the Morioka live, she was really happy over how Yoppi experienced Iwate a lot, and because of that she was determined to experience Kumamoto to its fullest when she’s finally here. She then talks about the reason that she’s able to work so hard today was not only thanks to WUGners, but thanks to Yoppi as well.

Yoppi talks about how everyone says such nice things and how happy she is over that. She talks about how the moment she joined WUG she’s wanted to perform with everyone at Kumamoto, and how the earthquake that happened two years ago made her feel even stronger about this. She wants the context of WUG to not be exclusive to Tohoku, but rather it should be spread to all sorts of different places, and so being able to perform so many different WUG songs in Kumamoto makes her extremely happy, and how glad she is that one of her biggest dreams have finally been fulfilled. She then expresses her surprise that she is standing in 市民会館. She talks about how this was the place she performed a really mundane role in some random music concour during her primary school. She talks about how surprised she is over it and how when she was told that they were gunna perform at Kumamoto she imagined it would be a much smaller venue and had all these different halls in mind that she would love to go to but when she was told it would be 市民会館 her jaws literally dropped. She believed that there was no way that it would be full but WUGners proved her wrong. She expressed her thanks, and then mentions how there is still one more wish she wanted granted. What brought her to where she is today, is choir, and that she wants to perform a choir with everyone. She throws a tantrum over it and everyone responds with “really? Do we really have to?” and casually gets into formation. They then perform that one song they didn’t perform despite having worn the outfit, in acapella.

E03. 恋？で愛？で暴君です！（合唱）

It was BEAUTIFUL. It was only the chorus part that was performed, but it was so mindblowingly amazing I wish they performed it in full. I really wish I had the linguistic ability to describe it to you but it’s impossible to put into words. They really are talented.

Yoppi then talks about how happy she is that her dream was finally fulfilled and it gave her a huge smile on her face. Wait, smile? SMILE?! IT’S HERE.

MC5. Final Messages (Night)

They talked about 地下鉄ラビリンス and then shilled some announcements. They announce the title of their Final live, 「想い出のパレード」, and talk about how they thought of the title together during their uchiage and it really made them think about how difficult of a language Japanese is, and how they looked up all sorts of different kanjis and turned into chuunis. After this, they continued on to their final messages one by one.

Myu talks about how this Kumamoto live ended up a huge success thanks to Yoppi’s hard work. How Yoppi can honestly express herself from the bottom of her heart really made her believe that Yoppi truly is the leader of WUG. She then talks about how difficult the new song is to perform but be prepared for there are three more new songs and they fully convey how much WUG has grown as a unit.

Nanamin talks about how she cried listening to Yoppi recite her letter, and during わたしの樹 when all seven of them sing at the end, she cried so much that she lost her sight (I was too focused on Yoppi to even notice this orz). Listening to Yoppi talk about her mother, she remembered how much she wants to see her own mother and talk to her about today. While Yoppi might be the leader of 底辺ズ, if Yoppi were really 底辺 she wouldn’t be a part of 底辺ズ, and that they aren’t really 底辺ズ! (This made so little sense we were all laughing so hard). Myu then mentions how Nanamin called Yoppi haphazard (行き当たりばったり) in her message during the interlude, to which Nanamin added that if anything that’s Yoppi’s strong point. Finally, she says that thanks to today she was reminded of how much she loves Yoppi.

Minyami starts by talking about how she wants to talk about Yoppi but if she did she’d end up in tears. In fact, she was already about to bawl as she said that. Yoppi also makes a crying face at her, and they both start crying while looking at each other. Minyami says she really wants to talk about her, to which Yoppi responds with a go ahead. According to Minyami, people that can speak their weaknesses are really strong, which is why she thinks that Yoppi is really strong. Being able to recite that letter and even going as far as to telling everyone about her nightmare where she gets boo’d by everyone, Yoppi just blurts out all of that. But if it were Minyami, she would never do it. Yoppi being able to speak her heart like that really makes Minyami glad that she’s the leader. She then talks about how Minyami’s mother is in the audience right now and she’s probably crying as well. Her mother always said that she wanted to go to a live outside of Kanto after seeing everyone elses mothers come from all over Japan to see their daughters perform in Kanto, so she went out of her way to come to Kumamoto. She talks about how being able to feel family ties like that is all thanks to Yoppi, and the fact that so many people came all the way to Kumamoto to see them perform is thanks to Yoppi as well.

Mayushii talks about how after hearing everyone else talk about Yoppi, it made her want to talk about her too, but she won’t, because it would end up really long. Yoppi sarcastically mentions to her that there’s time, so she does anyway. She talks about how Yoppi has troubled her quite a lot, but it’s only because Yoppi trusts her a lot. She talks about how Yoppi always talks about how much she doesn’t understand herself, but she’s probably the one that understands herself the best. She’s able to turn all her weaknesses into weapons, but she does it all unconciously, and how unfair that is. She talks about how close to a miracle it is that she’s able to do these things and get people to follow along with her, and that their trusts and bonds were built thanks to Yoppi in a way as well. So while everyone makes fun of her by calling her a klutz, she;s still the leader. She then says she’ll talk about her more later. Finally, she says that the 門 (gate) of 門出 (kadode) is not a gateway to the end, but rather a doorway to new beginnings.

Aichan talks about how she’s glad that her first live, and first job of 2019 was at Kumamoto. She talks how she learnt a lot from Yoppi today, that you only realise the good things about your hometown after you leave. She also talks about how when Yoppi was talking about her negatives, Aichan thought about how she would never say it like she did. She talks about how it’s difficult for anyone to talk about their weaknesses, and that Yoppi is really strong for being able to do that and that everyone is following her as a leader because of this. (I’m going to be honest, it really felt like Aichan was pulling this shit out of her ass, I felt no love in it and I have no idea why. For one though, Aichan didn’t look at Yoppi once while she was talking about her. It’s just so weird…)

Kayatan starts puzzled as to what about Yoppi she should talk about, and that there’s so much she wants to talk about and she wants to talk about it with Yoppi herself. She then talks to Yoppi about how back then she would often share hotel rooms but recently because they’re all in single rooms now they haven’t really had deep conversations much. She talks about how she was able to feel Yoppi a lot today, and how because Yoppi was the leader, she never had to work as much (sarcastically). Minyami then reminds her that during the first couple of days as WUG, for a very short period of time Kaya was made the interim leader, after which Kaya adds that that position was taken away by Yoppi (sarcastically). She makes fun of Yoppi a lot like this, and then talked about all of the good qualities Yoppi has that makes her a great leader.

Finally, Yoppi. Thanks to Animate Times, the (partial) transcription of Yoppis final MC is documented, so I’ll just translate that while adding the extra undocumented stuff in. Before she started talking though, Mayushii forcefully brought Yoppi to the centre of the stage.

Did you all have fun at my hometown of Kumamoto? Your’re all so loud! Everyone’s so wonderful, they say so much nice stuff about me, but it’s not true. I just can’t hide anything! Whatever it may be about, I want everyone to hear it. But, despite that, there’s still a feeling behind my head of not wanting to say anything (laughs). There hasn’t been any recently, but during watashikais and stuff the more you oshi me the colder my behaviour will be towards you (which explains EVERYTHING, Yoppi never hated me feelsgoodman). Everyone was being tested!

But today, I wanted to properly convey my feelings, which is why I wrote that letter. During the first 2~3 years as WUG, I would always think to myself that I will never come back to Kumamoto. I always regretted being born here, and I would even attack my mother asking her why she would birth me here, and thinking about it now I regret it a lot. But, after leaving Kumamoto did I realise how warm everyone was, and how pointless of a thing I’ve done. I want all of you to feel the warmth of Kumamoto, and impart it to future generations.

I’m! So glad to have met all of you! (audience screams オレモー) You all say such nice stuff to me but I too have something I want to say (言いたいことがあるんだよ)! 好き好き大好きめっちゃ好き! (Yeah, she said めっちゃ instead of やっぱ lol)

Standing here, I am reminded of my childhood when I was chasing my dreams, and finally having my dreams fulfilled, standing here with the members that I love, and the staff that are sobbing at the back there, turn the audience lights on! I can’t see everyone’s faces! (apparently according to some people on twitter the staff were laughing their ass off when this happened) Being surrounded by so many people and having my dreams fulfilled, I am extremely extremely happy!

Part III has finally begun, and we’ll be going at it with all our hearts, so everyone! Please live!!! Thank you all so much for today!

She then remembers that she forgot to talk about something, and starts talking about how this hall is a 聖地 to her, and that if this place didn’t exist she would never have been able to become a seiyuu, which is why she wants to fulfill her final dream of doing a choir with everyone here. They repeat the Afternoon process of exchanging words of unmotivation but ultimately get into position and start singing.

E03. 言の葉 青葉（合唱）

This brought back memories of the special corner at Morioka. It was so beautiful. I’m glad they picked this song, as it means so much as a WUGner, and it means so much to them as WUG too. As they said during their MC, being able to take all these songs that were originally written with Tohoku in mind, and bring it to such far away places and still be able to increase its sentimental value is an extremely wonderful thing. Thank you, WUG.

After this Yoppi talks about how glad she is that she could finally sing this song, as a choir, at Kumamoto, and it put a huge smile on her face. Wait… smile? Masaka...

E04. 笑顔！極上！スマイル！

NANDAKA CHIGAU

SHAAAAASHIIIIN

TEEEE MITAAAAAAA

SHIMAUUUUUUU

NATTAYOOOOOO

TAIGA FAIYA SAIBA FAIBA DAIBA BAIBA JAAAA JAAA

HOUSAKU HOUSAKU

HIIIIIROI

SUUUUGOOOI

NIII KITEEEE

KITE NEEEE

TORA HI JINZOU SENI AMA SHINDOU KASEEEEEN

*fast claps*

They say their thanks, Nanamin waves at me in the Afternoon, and they leave the stage. At Night, before leaving, Mayushii says that Osaka’s next, and asks if everyone is ready. As someone not going to Osaka, I remained quiet as everyone around me screamed. FeelsBadMan.

V02. Post-Live Video Message

With a music box version of Kotoba no Kesshou playing in the background, a small video message from WUG played. In Afternoon, it was them saying how their gunna put in their all for Night, and at Night it was them thanking everyone for coming to Kumamoto, and since Osaka is next, everyone should get ready.

After the live was over and everyone was getting their stuff ready, I screamed with all my heart.

「公式さん！WUG熊本公演！開催してくれて！ありがとう！」

「よっぴー推しに生まれて良かった！」

Everyone screamed, and a lot of people screamed back 「オレモー！」which was awesome. A lot of people screamed 「WUG最高！」 afterwards too and every time someone screamed the crowd roared. We found our way out of the hall, back into reality.

And that was the end. Thank you WUG. Thank you Yoppi. Thank you for showing me what is most likely the most beautiful stage I will ever see in my life. I will never forget this day. 5th of January 2019 will forever be marked on my calendar as the turning point of my life. I’m so glad to be born a Yoppi oshi. I have been saying since the end of November that now is the best time to be a Yoppi oshi, and this live only further strengthened my opinion. I can’t wait to be back in Kumamoto, and I hope the next time I’m back it’s for Yoppi Solo Live. I will always, always support you Yoppi. You’re the only one that matters. Ganbappe!

POST-LIVE BLOGS

Nanami

Firstly, I want to say my thanks for Kumamoto ☆

Yoppi, Mayushii, and me, the three of us Team Nishi Nihon performed Kakeru x Kakeru!

Ranga-chaaaan...!

Our debut felt exactly like the lyrics of this song…

But honestly, this song reminds me less of our past time, but makes us think about the present and what’s to come

It makes me feel sympathy, that’s the kind of lyrics they are （´-`）.｡oO

I wonder if Ranga-chan feels the same way??

Everytime I listen to this song I feel like hugging Ranga-chan with all my heart!

That’s the kind of song Kakeru x Kakeru is to me (*^^*)

The reading live written by Mayushii is our story from 5, 6 years ago.

We would go to Tokyo every week by plane, and we would always head to Haneda Airport together on our way back.

Since we’ve all moved to Tokyo now, it felt really nostalgic and that made me happy! ◎

WUG based in Tohoku, and the three of us from West Japan ^^

Kumamoto, Tokushima, and Osaka tomorrow as well

With the three of us, I’m sure we can bring WUG to West Japan with all our hearts!!

And that makes me really proud （＾ν＾）

Source: 大阪行き新幹線Nanaminn

Kaya

And the first event of 2019 was, WUG Tour Kumamoto!

It’s been a while since we last wore the Boukun outfit!

Also, we wore the new outfit that is being used in the cover art of our Best album that comes out on the 23rd of January for the first time ♪

How was it?

It uses a lot of lace and it’s so cute 💕

Patches and chokers too 💕

With that said, Kumamoto is our leader Aoyama Yoshino’s hometown ☆

She would always talk about how much she wants to go to Kumamoto with everyone! ♪

Her feeling of wanting to make it a success really echoed within us, and made me want to be as supportive as possible.

Everytime I sing the「祈り捧げるよ」part of BTB, what I’m thinking at that moment is different, but today, I prayed for Yoppi, who moved to Tokyo all the way from Kumamoto and is working hard everyday, to have all her future dreams come true ☆

There are people that are already working despite it being right after New Year’s, but came today instead of resting a little bit more!

Everyone, thank you so much!

Yoppi, otsukaresama! ☆

Source: お正月明けはよぴの日@かやたん

Yoshino

Ohayoppi---! It’s me, Aoyama Yoshino. How are you all? Tokyo’s really cold today!

This time, there only one thing I want to talk about! Den! HOME Tour Part 3 KAKODE has finally started!! Den! And the first stop, Kumamoto is finally done~~!!! Including the preparation period, I was sooooo nervous. Thanks to that, I see such weird first dreams. Lmao. But thanks to all of you! It was a success!!! Yay!!! 🎉🎉🎉

It’s finally calmed down a bit so I can write down my thoughts, but just the thought of everyone walking the streets of Kumamoto has me all excited! It makes me want to boast about everything I saw, and I’m sure Kumamoto WUGners feel the same way! ☺️☺️

Things I never would have guessed leaving an impression on people, makes me so glad 🙆‍♀

Something as normal as the taste of dagojiru, which is as normal as that feeling of entering your bed when you’re sleepy. It made me so surprised.

And this! Everyone was wondering what this was at the conbini and it made me so surprised. Is this only sold in Kumamoto? They show that Rakunou Mothers commercial so often on TV!

(Sorry for the sudden selfie)

And with that came the Kumamoto live! 🐻 Since the setlist is a secret for now, I’ll talk about the special corner.

In Kumamoto, Yoppi, Nanamin, and Mayushii formed チーム西日本 (Team West Japan) and covered カケル×カケル by our kouhai unit, Run Girls, Run! Ever since I head this song for the first time, I’ve been wanting to sing it in West Japan. I did the Mocchi part, since we’re both the leader~~◎ There’s a uniqueness to her singing and I love it. Fufu.

We might not be able to meet for some time

I hold my empty hands tight saying

Wait for me, don’t forget me

These lyrics pierced straight into my heart.

After that, in the afternoon we did a チーム西日本 reading live written by Mayushii, and at night I read everyone a letter.

After which, I sang my solo song わたしの樹, which was written with my hometown in mind.

I am glad to have been able to sing this song at Kumamoto.

I am so glad to have been able to sing it as all seven of us.

WUG-chan all talked about how I’m so strong, but in reality I am so weak, but being able to turn these weaknesses into a weapon was all thanks to WUG. On the other hand, everyone being able to hide their weaknesses is stronger! It’s wonderful!!

I am always of no help to anyone, I really am haphazard, I leave my actions to my emotions, and whatever I can’t do I immediately pass to someone else.

But, I was able to grow stronger thanks to WUG! Thank you for making me stronger.

はーーー好き。好き大好きやっぱ好き。

まじでわたしが生まれた理由みんなに出会うためなんだよなあ…？

俺と一緒に人生歩…んでるんだよなあ…？はぁ運命。

(Yoppi doing gachikoi, talking about how she loves everyone and the reason she was born was to meet everyone, and that she wants to walk her life with every- wait, she already is, and it’s fate.)

All of our feelings will be conveyed during this tour! Get ready!

And then, our new song 「言葉の結晶」

P-Professor Hirokawa~~~ Explosion~~~~!!!! The deeper you read into Tadano-sensei’s lyrics, the more complex it gets, but it’s the truth. It was the first time in my life having to erase my feelings and record and perform like this. This song has a lot of messages, and I want to do my best and improve the performance for this song until I’m happy with it.

There is a short version uploaded right now, but please listen to the full version! Although, currently you can only hear the full version at a live!!!!! ◎

Also, this time, I called all my elementary, middle, and high school friends. What all these friends have in common, is that they supported me in fulfilling my dream, and I’m so glad I was able to finally show them that my dream was fulfilled! This was how I showed my gratitude.

The person that wrote the final message in the background video for わたしの樹 came too! 😭✨ I cried so much… I layed down and cried lol.

Kumamoto ended with the staff, and me, crying our hearts out. A lot of things that could only have been done in Kumamoto have been fulfilled, and it was all thanks to everyone!!! Thank you so much!!!

After that, we did an uchiage with all the staff and the members. Everyone kept saying: basashi is great, karashi renkon is great, taipien is great, amakusa daio is great, akagyu is great… they kept saying how tasty all of Kumamoto’s cuisine were and seeing that made me sooooo happy!! I had a huge smile on my face that screamed “Right? Right? Eat more!”, and I probably said that out loud too lol.

Seeing WUG-chan eat like this after so long made me so happy!

Did you all get to eat good food too? Did you all have fun?

I’m so proud, to have been born here, and be able to meet all of you. I’m glad.

Source: 今週の総括・*・:≡( ε:)よぴ237。

[banrionceallach]

Good Omens Crowley thoughts and headcanons

In no particular order

I just found out that the name Anthony can mean ‘praiseworthy’. Which, like, that’s fucking heartbreaking. I firmly believe that no matter how many times Anthony Janthony Crowley protests against being called nice or kind or good, that’s just a self-preservation instinct because if hell finds out he’s doing good he (and probably Aziraphale) would be in danger of getting destroyed. 

On a personal level I think he actually deeply appreciates being told that he’s good. Especially when it’s coming from Aziraphale. This is the guy who repeatedly mentioned that he didn’t mean to fall. Part of him misses Heaven (original flavour heaven with God present and communicating - not souless corporate heaven) quite desperately and wants to be told that he’s still worthy of it.

He was cast out for asking questions. This made him fall, as he says, doing a million light year freestyle dive into a pool of boiling sulphur. Nevertheless, throughout the show he continues to question God (show me a great plan! scene)

That bit where they’re watching Noah’s Ark and he questions Aziraphale: So, giving the mortals a flaming sword, how did that work out for you? To me there’s an underlying question there as well, viz. Did you get punished for disobedience? Did God throw you away too for not following orders or did They understand that you were just being kind, that you are good and caring? What did God think of your kindness? Are you like me now? Are you Fallen?

(The A/C shipper in me adds another unspoken question, which is : Do you need my help getting used to being Fallen? You’re still a kind anxious beautiful fusspot, you won’t do well in Hell they’ll hurt you. Do you need me to protect you? Let me protect you.)

Crowley really enjoys rescuing Aziraphale (from the guillotine, from the Nazis, turning up in a flaming car at the Armageddon and casually sauntering over while tossing Aziraphale a compliment) . Again, I think part of Crowley lives for validation and praise. Part of him wants to be the shining badass (arch?)angel coming to the rescue of his beloved. And when Aziraphale thanks him, he gets to feel that for a second. Yes. You are worthy, you are good, you never should have been cast out.

Shipper headcanon: I am convinced that Crowley has an entire daydream fantasy based around him rescuing Aziraphale from, Iet’s say demonic Nazis with guillotines. In the fantasy, after Aziraphale has been rescued he breathlessly confesses that he’s always loved Crowley and then they do one of those movie kisses where the hero bends the love-interest back as the impressed audience applauds.

He’s been coming back to this fantasy for 5000+ years. By 2019 it’s got quite specific details.

Personal AU ish Headcanon: Due to just not being that evil Crowley is actually immune to holy water. He just doesn’t know it. Possibly this something in a world where he used to be Raphael. Holy water won’t work on Archangels, even Fallen ones, especially not F-in-Evil fallen archangels like Crowley. For an evil Fallen archangel who’s into the whole do evil thing holy water burns like diluted acid, but can’t kill. For Crowley - it’s just water.

Crowley is actually good with kids. Aziraphale’s not terrible either. I think Warlock being kind of a dick is a combination of (a) Crowley and Aziraphale for all their influencing had positions as servants in the household not actual parents. (b) His mother might be okay (no evidence to the otherwise but she’s an ambassadors spouse so is probably very busy with work a lot of the time,) but I suspect that Mr I HAVE A MALE BOY SON Dowling at least probably dropped a pile of toxic masculinity into his kids impressionable head. (c) He’s 11. We’ve all been self-centred little shits when we were 11 (d)  His parents named him Warlock. I doubt that was fun on the playground. He probably deeply wants a name like John or Owen or Tom.

If they actually co-parented a kid together, that kid would probably be fine, if a little odd about religious stuff.

Crowley definitely pulled a fast one and saved lots of mesopotamian kids from the Flood, while Aziraphale quietly looked the other way. (What? The notorious Serpent Crawly interfered with the Almighty’s great Flood Plan? How ridiculous. If he was around I most certainly would have noticed!! Incidentally he prefers Crowley. Er - so I’ve heard. From . .  a demon I exorcised. Yes.)

Looking after 200+ kids until the waters receded meant that Crowley got a lot of experience with infants. He is ridiculously competent with small babies. Also he just likes them because the don’t know enough to be afraid of his eyes.

Funny HC: The Walk is genuinely because after 6000 years, this ridiculous dramatic Snek Man still can’t quite get the hang of legs.

Non Funny: it’s because of the curse God cast on him after he tempted A&E. Crawl on your belly and consume dust . . . .and if you don’t it’ll hurt. A Lot. Crowley has the angel equivelent of Scoliosis. His spine and hips are a mess in human form and he’s a regular on chronic pain management forums.

Coming across posts from kids with severe chronic pain makes him depressed and angry at God all over again.

[eddycurrents]

Hellboy & The BPRD: 1954 - “Ghost Moon”

Story: Mike Mignola & Chris Roberson | Art: Brian Churilla | Colours: Dave Stewart | Letters: Clem Robins

Originally published by Dark Horse in Hellboy and the BPRD: 1954 - Ghost Moon #1-2 | March-April 2017

Collected in Hellboy & The BPRD: 1954

Plot Summary:

At the behest of Bruttenholm’s longtime friend Lady Cynthia, Hellboy, Sue, and Archie head off to Hong Kong to help a British team deal with a spiritual energy that seems to have them scuppered.

Reading Notes:

(Note: Pagination is in reference to the chapter itself and is not indicative of anything found in the issues or collections.)

pg. 1 - I love this opening of Bruttenholm and a couple other agents just chilling. While conceptually it’s similar to many of the openings where Bruttenholm’s gathered a group of agents to tell them their mission, contextually it’s different. It gives the opening a somewhat different feel, as though this one’s unexpected.

pg. 2 - Also nice to see Archie out in the field.

pg. 3 - The detail in these decorations for the Hungry Ghost Festival is incredible. I love what Brian Churilla and Dave Stewart do here.

pg. 4 - “Roland Childe” I’d swear is surely an alias. Because of Browning’s Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. Coupled with his appearance, he seems to scream spy.

pg. 5 - The explanations of the festival are quite nice. Gives it an overall nice flavour to the story.

pg. 6 - Gorgeous layout here. Also, Sue reinforces that doubt as to the identities that Roland is providing.

pg. 8 - The overall amount of information about Hong Kong and then-current Chinese history and politics is interesting. It’s definitely giving the story an overall unique feel.

pg. 10 - I love the layout here. Sue at the end not being confined within a panel when she uses her psychometry is a nice choice.

pg. 11 - And it seems like a ton of people just got their souls stolen.

pg. 14 - I love these two demons. Great designs.

pg. 15 - Although they’re shouting “return them” repeatedly, the demons do seem to have some normal sense of intelligence. So, you’d think that when it became obvious that Archie and Hellboy didn’t have a clue what they were shouting about, they’d try to tell them, maybe.

pg. 16 - I think it’s interesting that before coming into this building, Roland was very adamant about the group sticking together. You wonder what’s changed that now he wants to search separately.

pg. 18 - I like the tone to the blue spirits that Stewart uses. It’s somewhat consistent with what we’ve seen with Vic’s monkey and a few other stories. Its almost argon blue glow really gives it an unnatural feeling.

pg. 19 - Great action here. Also, there’s a little ring that the demon seems to be wearing with a fly in it. I would guess that this is a reference to which house of hell he’s affiliated with in the broader Hellboy infernal hierarchy.

pg. 21 - Sue seems to have a familiarity with the group that this guy seems to represent. I also quite like the building tension in the different story threads.

pg. 24 - Interesting bit of Sue’s family’s backstory.

pg. 25 - Sad that this seems to be all about one of the British agents turning on everyone else.

Also, all of the faces of the spirits are just unnerving. Great job.

pg. 26 - Hellboy’s automatic move of protecting Archie is quite sweet.

pg. 27 - Stockpiling occult artifacts in Chengdou seems to be a reference to what ultimately happened long after in BPRD that caused the psychic backlash resulting in Johann being disembodied.

pg. 28 - Not having a plan when having an incredible amount of power at your fingertips is probably a bad thing.

pg. 30 - The design of the gate that the demons are guarding is neat.

pg. 32 - Dude’s got issues.

pg. 33 - The member of the Golden Crane just throwing himself at Thomas and tackling him is hilarious.

pg. 34/35 - Nice double page spread here. Seeing what’s going on in hell can’t possibly be pleasant.

pg. 37 - This is funny, but I also get the impression that ultimately what was unspoken was that Hellboy himself had to smash the spirit jar. The “SMASH” from Clem Robins is gravy.

pg. 39 - Some people really are delusional.

pg. 40 - Early bits of Hellboy’s family and legacy are just weird. Also, they’ve got a good point about eating.

pg. 41 - I wonder what this is setting up.

pg. 42 - The “Be seeing you” is a nice touch. It was generally how citizens of the Island in The Prisoner said goodbye to one another. This advances the overall idea that this was all a cover for some sort of intelligence operation.

pg. 44 - Which is more or less confirmed here.

Final Thoughts:

Where the previous two stories set in 1954 so far have had ties to the broader Hellboy universe and set up a new recurring character, this one gets back into more of the simmering plotlines that have carried over specifically through these historical stories. It’s only slight and doesn’t form the main thread for the story, but it’s nice to see some simmering plots still on the boil, like Sue’s character arc and the shady goings-on within the occult intelligence community. It’s a nice way to give interconnectivity to the historical stories, without them necessarily detracting from what can also be read as a standalone story.

Also, Brian Churilla is another perfect fit for the Hellboy universe. He has an exaggerated style somewhat in the same wheelhouse as Eric Powell and it really fits the supernatural. His demons, in particular, are a real highlight to this story. There’s a weightiness to their character designs that adds even more to the action scenes.

d. emerson eddy is ready to eat some turkey in solidarity.

[radio-ha-ha]

Top 5 bread?

Ok so now i'm going to introduce you to some types of Azerbaijani, in particular Ganja (my hometown's name) (and yes, i know what it means in English) bread, as well as some other, more well-known sorts.

1. Tandir bread.

This is my favourite bread ever. The signature of my hometown. I have tried it in other places of my country, and it was never as good as at home. Tandir itself is a type of stone oven, it looks like a barrel, and it's heater to really high temperatures. The dough is kinda stuck onto the wall with one swift motion and left to be baked in that way. This is what it looks like in the end:

And you can see the oven itself behind. Very soft and, at the same time, pleasantly crunchy bread, especially when hot and fresh. I could eat it all day tbh.

2. Lavash bread

Another Azerbaijani bread type, similar to tandir, but without the crunchiness, and it's softer and kinda more stretchy?

And ah they also add these black cumin seeds on top of it, they're very useful for our health as well as tasty! they have this salty flavour, which i love. This bread is kinda similar to pitta.

3. "Sukonnu" bread.

Another type of bread produced only in my hometown. If tandir is popular and well-known in the whole country, this bread is absolutely specific to Ganja. It carries the name of the factory where it's produced. I wish i could attach a picture of it, but i can't find it anywhere in the web, see how rare it is? Hence, I'll try to describe it. It's made from white wheat, it's round, thick and kinda chubby, i'd say, with a small hole in the middle. It's a little salty, the crust is slightly crunchy and harder than the one of tandir. Tastiest when hot and fresh mmmmm. I am planning to go home this weekend, and i'll definitely ask my dad to buy it and will reblog this ask with a picture of it.

4. Baguette.

My fave bread when i was a kid. I think, there's no need to provide photographic evidence, everybody know what baguette looks like.

5. Borodinsky bread.

The famous Russian dark wheat bread. Holy hell its flavour is so intense, and so different from any other bread you'd ever taste! You have to try it at least once in your life, it's just 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

I feel like garlic bread would be in this too, since i love garlic-y food, but i haven't really had any opportunity to try it.

Thank you so very much for asking, one of the most interesting asks i've gotten, it was a pleasure to reply to it!!!!

[grimelords]

I just realised I wrote up my June playlist and forgot to post it at all, which benefits no one. July coming soon, but for now please enjoy three hours of two month old thoughts on the new Kanye, the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack and two songs about drinking beer.

Ghost Town - Kanye West: Now that the dust has settled around Kanye's month of chaos I can safely say Ye is great and Ghost Town is the best song on it, though it's not a coincidence that the best song is the one where Kanye says the least.

DLZ - TV On The Radio: I've been obsessed with this song for a long time. The combination of the absolutely hypnotising drums and very good cryptic lyrics about impending doom is exactly my shit. Also the whistling right at the very end is a perfect moment.

Hyph Mngo - Joy Orbison: Someone had a thing on twitter the other day that was like 'quote tweet this with a phrase you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand' and someone said Hyph Mngo and I felt age 100. This song really was such a game changer and that whole wave of stuff like this, Koreless and Jame Blake's EP's around then was such an incredible time to be alive. I am aging decades by the second and will not be around much longer.

The Shootist - Bill Elm & Woody Jackson: I've been thinking about game soundtracks a lot the past month or so for some reason and Red Dead really is an all timer. They did such a great job capturing the whole feeling without it just being a straight Morricone rip-off (though obviously it is mostly a Morricone ripoff).

Touch Me - Wish & Fonda Rae: This song is so fucking good to begin with but then it gets really really good in the middle part and where they just start going hogwild with the sampler on her vocals, and then again at the end when it starts sounding like a Battles song.

In The Vespers - Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld: Ever since I finished MGSV again I've been thinking about open-world stealth as a genre and how I'd do it, and this song is really the perfect kind of soundtrack to the game I'm thinking of. It's already got four alert levels built in, all the way from Tense to FUCk and back down to Calming Down But Still Scared.

Human After All - Daft Punk: Human After All is still a beguiling album in sound and vision after all this time. The amount of noise emananating from every single element in this song, and songs like Technologic is just so strange compared to everything they'd done before and since, but I think that's what I like about it. It sounds like it was made in 1979 when electronics were a novelty and everyone accepted that they'd be noisy as hell. Also I had an emotional moment this month while I was driving and listening to this song and reflecting on how we are all, human.. after all.. so who knows what's up with me.

Disparate Youth - Santigold: The production on this song is insane. The drums, the guitar, the bouncing piano, it just has so much momentum the whole way through and holy shit I just realised that the video I was talking about last month that referenced The Holy Mountain that I couldn't remember is L.E.S. Artistes by Santigold what an incredible two for one.

Violence - Parquet Courts: This song has the potential to be embarrassing but it's saved from itself by the specificity of the lyrics and the backing vocals that sound like a smiling swing band saying 'violence is daily life!'.

Jane Says - Jane's Addiction: The steel drum as the central melody line in this is such a strange and beautiful choice and also this song has two chords and no chorus. There are truly one million ways to make a good song.

Heatstroke - Calvin Harris feat. Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande: I really can't believe I missed this song that came out like a year ago, so thank god my girlfriend told me about it. It's incredible. Everyone is operating at full capacity in this song and the structure is so good, the Pharrell/Thug pre-chorus could be a chorus on its own but then Ariana and Pharrell trade lines foe the actual chorus, amazing. Also when Thugger says 'she got every read bottom like a baboon’ the way the backup says '..baboon' slightly apprehensively cracks me up.

Maximum Black - Bohren & Der Club Of Gore: More Bohren, carrying over from last month. This is one of my favourites of theirs, mostly just for the choir sound and the all-time great sax intro at about 4:30. When you start at absolute zero, dialling it up to a 1 sounds like bomb going off.

Dust Bunnies - Kurt Vile: This is like most Kurt Vile songs in that it's sort of just about hanging out and feeling kind of funny, which is a mindset I really relate to.

Here For The Beer - The Sloppy Boys: A bunch of guys from The Birthday Boys have a band now and it's really great. Comedy music is hard but this album is the best kind where it's just dumb ass rock and roll story songs and odes to partying. The way he says 'autographed baseball' makes me laugh every time.

Beer Pressure - Municipal Waste: Anyway that song reminded me of this song, which is almost the exact same song with a slightly different mindset.

Credulous! Credulous! - BATS: There's really something to listening to a song for ten years and then having it suddenly dawn on you one day that it's about an epilleptic 16 year old in the distant past getting treppaned by a mystic and a team of scientists in the present figuring out what happened.

Please Take Your Hand Away - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: Everyone's (me) always talking about how good The Social Network soundtrack is but nobody's ever talking about how they did a sequel that's just as good and goes for longer than the actual film when they released the nearly 3 hour Girl With The Dragon Tattoo soundtrack a year later. What an achievement!

What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 2 - DJ Shadow: This song is really on a whole nother level. It is really a kind of magic that you can get a 15 minute song out of a two note bassline and a drum loop, but when they're this good it looks easy. The drums especially are just absolutely hypnotising.

One Of One - Kamasi Washington: Kamasi somehow outdid himself on this one my god. The groove in this is just amazing, and the way it twists and turns into something darker and darker before the sun shines through and the hook comes back is incredible. The way the theme comes back all twisted up with strings near the end. Great stuff.

My Exit, Unfair - mewithoutYou: I honestly very nearly got converted in high school just because I was listening to so much mewithoutYou, and it still informs a lot of my religious thoughts. A running theme through a lot of their songs is wrestling with and trying to accept the idea that God has a plan for you that you definitely don't understand and getting extremely upset about it and that's about where I'm at.

Stand - R.E.M.: Apparently this was the theme to a show called Get A Life and it's funny because it really does sound perfect for a 90s tv theme. It sounds like it's two and a half minutes too long. Release the 30 second TV theme version REM.

BFG Division - Mick Gordon: I was watching a guy speedrun Doom on GDQ and the music for that game is so amazing, but it sounds really funy when the whole sppedrun is just clipping through a wall and rocket jumping halfway across the level to trigger the checkpoint. Mick Gordon really nailed this soundtrack, it's a massive part of the atmosphere of the game and it's really the logical expansion of the MIDI themes of the original, it sounds like the original in HD, this is what you thought you were hearing.

Angel's Rest - Marisa Anderson: Marisa Anderson's songs are so loosely structured they often seem dreamed up on the spot, but the sounds and moods seem so carefully considered that the notes themselves aren't so important.

Looks Like I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit Oxygen - Michael Giacchino: If Michael Giacchino doesn't get an Oscar for The Incredibles II soundtrack I'm going to riot. The climax of this is so big I had to stop myself from applauding in the theatre, it's irrepressible.

AM // Radio - Earl Sweatshirt & Wiki: I was having a week where I was really feeling like the phrase "I don't like shit, I don't go outside" and so I suddenly remembered this album. This beat is so, so good. It sounds like nothing else, and it only adds to the alien flavour by giving the second half of the track to an instrumental.

World In Harmony - Adebisi Shank: Adebisi Shank are really the perfect band. They love to have fun and have a big time and they started out with a perfect first album and only got bigger and better by the time they got to the third and broke up. This song is so powerful, and my billionaire dream is to finance a new F-Zero game and get Adebisi Shank back together to do the soundtrack.

Make Luv feat. Oliver Cheatham - Room 5: I'm slowly putting together a playlist of songs that sound like Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust in order to invoke some kind of euphoric 'best night ever' and ascend to heaven but this song is the only other one I have so far.

A Love Supreme Part II: Resolution - John Coltrane Quartet: I don't feel qualified to say anything about A Love Supreme, so I don't think I'm going to. I literally don't know where to start with this. It's damn good music.

"You Got A Killer Scene There, Man..." - Queens Of The Stone Age: This song is a real vibe. This should be a whole genre but I've never really found anything else like it. It's like if The Doors were good I suppose. It's shocking that this song only goes for 5 minutes because it really feels like it could go for 20 and you wouldn't mind. I remember a few years ago I opened this in Audition and slowed it down to 75% and I really recommend it, it makes the whole thing feel as sludgy as I think it's supposed to be and makes all the breaks that much more impactful.

Never Let Me Go - Sarah Blasko: A friend sent me this and said it sounds like a Bond theme and he's absolutely right, especially towards the end where it all starts stacking up. Maybe it would need a bit more brass to be a proper Bond theme but still, I love it.

Protection - Emma Ruth Rundle: I love Emma Ruth Rundle so much and I'm so excited that she's got a new album coming out. The absolute textural thickness she can conjure up in a song like this blows me away. I don't know what it is about her voice but it sounds like the 90s somehow. Does that make sense? This feels like 90s music, like the grunge female songwriter thing went a slightly different way and I love it.​

listen here

[gameting]

“If you haven’t heard of this game already then that’s okay, but if there’s room under that rock what’s the rent like?”

Minecraft Review - Perfectly crafted

Originally created by Markus Persson in 2009, published by his own company funded by the game's huge success Mojang in 2011, and bought out by Microsoft in 2014, the original Minecraft is a far cry from the most current release. Having been in constant development for a decade it's safe to say that Minecraft has only grown mightier as the years have gone by.

The charming pixelated sandbox has gained a following akin to other gargantuan franchises like Star Wars or Disney, striking a flame with the first Minecraft convention dubbed 'Minecon' in 2010. The game itself is very much a love child of the now billionaire Markus' favourite games of the time, and what started out as a passion project has since become a staple of the gaming world.

Story: As a completely open world experience the 'story' of Minecraft is entirely in the players hands; Want to spend the next three weeks farming? Go for it! Want to focus on finding that sweet spot to build your next house? Build away! Wanna murder some tall purple-black dudes who steal your stuff and then use their eyes to find and jump into a portal to then fight a massive dragon? Yeah, me too! The story of Minecraft is non-existent; it's a truly open 'sandbox' experience where the player has total freedom.

As time has gone by however there have been updates that add end goals, such as the aforementioned dragon, but there's no “Nice one for completing the game!” screen so to speak. So what is there to do in Minceraft if there's no story, no tension, no drama or purpose? Well...

Gameplay: The gameplay can be stripped down to four basic functions: kill, eat, build, sleep. At least that's what the alpha version could have been described as. Now, however, you can ride pigs, plant wheat, breed animals, fly, enchant weapons, fish, that's right I did say fly, kill under water zombie dudes, ride horses, keep cats, ride carts, and of course mine AND craft.

It isn't very telling from the list, but there is a lot to do in Minecraft that I haven't even mentioned. So much so that if you leave the game for a few months you could come back to entirely new items and features that seemed inconceivable in the past. I mean the fact that you can fly now? I don't even know how to do that I just saw a friend do it and I've already poured the last week into trying to find out how.

I mentioned that you can enchant weapons, but you can also enchant yourself, albeit temporarily, through the use of potions. Get some glass, make a bottle, and you're one step closer to being able to see better in the dark, jump really high, do more damage or even swim faster under water. The amount of stuff to do in Minecraft can be dizzying, but part of the fun is trying to figure out how to do everything as hard as you can before turning to the wiki.

There are of course baddies in the game outside of dragons and block stealing weirdos; zombies, creepers (the green thing that go boom), skeleton archers, drowned (wet zombies), slimes, blazes (hot shooty boys), spiders, baby zombies and drowned (the worst), Ghast (big white screamy memey shooty boys) and of course other players, the latter of which is one of the best ways to experience the game.

The world in which you inhabit in any video game is just as important as the baddies you slay. Some games push you down linear corridors, some games even tie you to a single path and all you can really do is aim and shoot, and while some games give you large sprawling maps for you to explore at your leisure, in Minecraft, well, the world is made of “chunks” as we pros call it, and it never ends. No, really, it never ends, the game world is procedurally generated, which means you can pick a direction and keep going until you find the perfect mountain to make your home.

There are also a variety of landscapes in the game: taiga (snowy bois), deserts, giant mushrooms, dark woods, regular woods, birch woods, mountain ranges, swamps, igloos, flat plains, and sometimes it's just a lot of water. Whatever your favourite flavour of the real world is, Minecraft has it, and with the ability to pick your seed (the combination of numbers generated when a world is made) you can customise the world you inhabit.

The following of Minecraft also came with game altering mods that can add new blocks, features, animals, bad dudes, good dudes, currency, heck you can even mod in completely different game modes which have since become easily accessible outside of the modding community.

All of this is wrapped up in an easy to learn control scheme with hit, not hit, jump, other not hit, crouch, move around and change your characters perspective between first and third person.

Graphics: Imagine really cool pixel art. Just loads of squares dude.

Sound: The sound design in Minecraft is just so good. Open a door? Mm chunky door sound. Walking on some snow? Crunchy snow sound. The sound effects for items in the game are top notch, but the game really shines with the sounds of the enemies, specifically the creepers. Casually mining and you hear that hissing sound? Well, you were mining.

The music in the game is, as it always has been, gorgeous. Subtle tones that chime in from time to time, gentle piano as the rain starts to fall, ominous noises that can only be described as “bwam” while exploring the depths of the world, all of it works together to create a cohesive sound scape that peacefully fits to whatever you're mining, crafting or slaying. Every thing sounds as it should, and the music has a mind of it's own so it never feels noisy or excessive.

Personal experience: My first real experience with Minecraft was after I 'legally' downloaded it with 'money' on 'my' computer in my own home with my 'hands' on a 'keyboard.' It was an early alpha build and I remember running away from zombies and the hissy green boys by hiding in a mountain. I figured, y'know, wait until day, hang out, then dig my way back to the real world. Only, I'd forgotten which way was out, I wasn't paying attention and ended up spending half an hour punching my way out of an endless wall of dirt.

Between then and now I'm only slightly better at building a 9x9 wooden house, and the green boys don't scare me (as much) any more. Minecraft has been a game that I've left and returned to multiple times, and now as I write this review I find myself playing online with a friend and more invested than ever; when do we fly I ask, I don't know maybe after the dragon my friend replies, and we continue to routinely murder the same bloodline of cows until we're both wearing pink boots and hats. I'd say play it with friends, but sometimes going it alone is just as fun.

Score /10: To be honest I was going into this review with a number in mind, but now that I've finished it I have to say I'm going to keep the number: it's a 10/10. From the timeless gameplay, to the addictive nature of mining and crafting, and figuring out how the hell to fly, I find myself captivated by the simplistic depth of Minecraft, the allure of dying all my sheep the same colour and making all my tools shiny. Definitely leaving my Minecraft world in my will/10.