#while with one you just get the ugly constant moving and zooming as you focus on a new area

[idontdrinkgatorade]

i hope the church starts up a youtube channel before i leave because i want to be in charge of that

[rkevent]

Leaving the two’s behind, it’s the start of a new episode. The best performances of the previous week get their own few seconds to shine again, as well as the two contestants who were allowed a chance of return. There will be no more chances for return and, counting with this episode, there are only three left. There’s still a lot to happen, however. The middle has only just been breached.

The public is welcomed to the set of recordings and the layout they are already used to. The thirty remaining contestants are properly separated between the two sides of the stage and, just as impressive as always, the five CEOs make their way to their seats. They look bigger up there, but their strong aura gives that impression from anywhere. Once they’re properly seated, the episode is ready to start. “Welcome, all, to the fifth episode of the Mnet Global Auditions!” Baek Jiyoung greets. The remaining contestants nod or clap in agreement before she continues.

“Let’s bring our first-ever trio to the stage, shall we?” The woman smiles. “Please come to the stage, CHOI MINHO, JEON HEEJIN, and ZHOU JIEQIONG.” The contestants do as told, walking to the center to introduce themselves. In unison, they say their team name. “Hello! We are the Royal Court!” Once they’re done, they move to their practiced positions. Before they can prepare themselves, however, the image wobbles to something different. 

It’s the outside of the Sphere Entertainment building. As announced in the previous episodes, the contestants would be practicing inside camera-filled practice rooms for the public to see how they act behind the scenes. For the time being, only one person appears to be inside. When they zoom in, it becomes even more clear that it is CHOI MINHO. He paces around the room, clearly unsettled. To remind those not up-to-date on idol news, images appear of the same man debuting under that same company he was in that moment. Now, he’s only another contestant waiting for his partners to arrive.

MINHO moves towards the bag he’s brought and opens it, but the item inside it properly blurred for no one to see. It’s only when the camera focuses on the opening door that you can see what the proper reaction to it would be. His teammates, JEON HEEJIN and ZHOU JIEQIONG, enter the practice room and stop on their fit. HEEJIN’s eyes open wide while JIEQIONG tries to hold in a smile. “Heejin… should we be worried?” She asks the other. When the screen finally shows the man, he has a clown wig on top of his head. “Just one question,” JIEQIONG continues, “how long have you been sitting there like that?” He looks surprised by the question but answers it. “Long enough to put this wig on?”

“You’re an interesting guy…” HEEJIN adds before properly walking inside the room. The two girls appear without any makeup on, unafraid to show their natural looks. Time skips ahead to them in the middle of practice. HEEJIN puts on weird-looking glasses as part of their practice but, by doing so, her hair gets all messy. “Oh my god, Minho - Heejin now!” JIEQIONG gestured wildly in the other girl’s direction. “We have to protect her image! Hurry!” While MINHO moves to help HEEJIN, the other girl sticks her face in front of a camera and makes weird faces to try and save her partner’s image. It’s then that the camera freezes and an arrow points out another camera behind the girl’s head. The angle is changed and now people can see JIEQIONG going crazy in front of the camera while the man tries to fix the other’s hair. The screen quickly goes black-and-white and a text appears saying ��image-less contestants.’

It’s like that their behind the scenes sequence ends and we’re back to the stage. A stool is set on the center of the stage with HEEJIN while JIEQIONG and MINHO move to separate sides of the stage. The younger girl puts on the glasses that act as a VR set and picks up a game controller. An announcer voice comes from the speakers saying ‘Jeon Heejin, select a song to continue.’ Their song starts to play, and it’s a mashup of two popular songs. While the other two dance, HEEJIN acts as the one who’s controlling them. That’s until they take off her glasses and the girl starts to dance along. They smile at the end of their performance. “I think we did good,” JIEQIONG comments on her interview. “It was supposed to be a fun performance so I hop everyone liked watching it.”

When the screen shows the Sphere practice room once again, the previous trio can be seen talking to each other but the camera zooms in on the other corner of the room where maybe the small DO KYUNGSOO wasn’t seen at first glance. He sits by himself far from the other group, just staring at them from afar. Time skips to when his other two partners join him: CHOI YEWON and SEO CHANGBIN. They sit in silence as well, and the scene is edited to show a rainy cloud above their heads while the other side of the room appears to live in sunshine.

They change, and the text at the bottom of the screen says ‘Day 2.’ DO KYUNGSOO enters the practice room with two boxes. He places one of them in front of his teammates while the other he pushes across the midline of separation from the other trio before running away. Inside is food which is, apparently, the best of friendship makers. Not only did the trio seemed to enjoy the quiche brought to practice, but also the team on the other side of the room. In a nice montage, the screen shows the different snacks they’ve brought for practice. In one of the cuts, KYUNGSOO is seen is CHOI MINHO’s arms as he does squat reps. They make sure to include some scenes of the trio practicing together as well just to make it clear it wasn’t all just fun.

“Working with KYUNGSOO and CHANGBIN was so much fun, though I don’t know if they would say the same.” CHOI YEWON says in her interview. “KYUNGSOO is a little quiet when you first meet him but once he warms up to you he is really easy to get along with. CHANGBIN, on the other hand, was sort of intimidating at first but after being around him for so long you realize that he’s a nice guy,  you just have to feed him.”

When they’re back on the stage, they stand with beautiful outfits. SEO CHANGBIN and DO KYUNGSOO wear red and white suits, respectively, while CHOI YEWON has a blue silk dress. “We are the Ugly Truth!” They introduce themselves before getting into position. The two men stand on opposite sides of the table while the girl sits right at the front. They prepared a stage filled with story. YEWON stands and walks around the time while she raps, stopping to hold onto KYUNGSOO but he does not react. CHANGBIN’s voice brings more strength and power unlike the soft voices before him. If you pay close attention, you notice they only move when they are singing or rapping. As the song drifts away, their sad performance also comes to an end.

With the first two performances over with, the next trio makes their way to the stage, the table that was previously there disappearing. The third trio to stand on stage is formed by KIM JUNGEUN, TAKADA KENTA, and CHWE HANSOL, all wearing bright shades of red with a hint of retro style. “Hi, we’re Triple Treat!” They introduce themselves. Wearing a smile, HANSOL continues: “It’s about to get funky.” 

Nova building is shown on the screen for a second before it moves into the practice room trainees will be sharing. JUNGEUN is the first to arrive and takes her time to explore the room before it gets too crowded, visibly amazed. “Hello,” the female representative of the first trio waves at the camera. “Let’s begin!” They’re sitting together in the practice room to discuss their song. When the girl suggests doing a track from Triple H, both KENTA and HANSOL look excited and pleased with the option, so the next step is sorting out the technicalities. 

At first, despite KENTA’s attempt to demonstrate the dance taking JUNGEUN’s place and teaching HANSOL, they seem to struggle because of the awkwardness between the members during the sexy parts the girl shares with HANSOL. JUNGEUN laughs at times and, KENTA, one the other hand seems to lack focus, eyes on the other group’s constant arguments. However, they persist and keep practicing together. “Don’t they look…. so pretty? I feel like I see flowers when I look over.” It’s YEJI from the other trio who says it to the camera.  HANSOL offers to help KENTA with the English lines and JUNGEUN’s with her rap portion, yet the scene is still far from ideal. Through the week, KENTA tries to keep everyone’s spirits up making faces in the mirror, interacting cutely with the camera and chatting, sometimes getting a displeased look from PARK JINYOUNG.

When they’re going over the choreography and JUNGEUN makes a small mistake, the girl laughs with frustration and the boys join in, clearly exhausted, creating a scene that looked more terrifying than funny despite the laughter resounding through the room. “You guys wanna catch a movie?” Eventually, HANSOL suggests they take a break and they all agree.  Once they’re back and other things keeping distracting the members, HANSOL approaches KENTA. “We really need you to focus. This is getting out of hand, don’t you think?” The rapper says firmly. “I can understand the jokes and the tricks and all that other stuff. It’s good for morale, but it’s only good to morale when there aren’t other things to focus on. You just seem way too distracted by what’s going on over there because of DANIEL and your is over there. It’s really becoming too much, KENTA. DANIEL isn’t a child.”

After their honest conversation, the members run through everything once again, dance and vocals put together, but the screen freezes before the first verse and returns to the trio on stage, positioned in the middle to start. HANSOL holds a charismatic expression as they kick off the performance and, even if she struggled during practice, JUNGEUN confidently displays the sex appeal the song needed. The choreography is not too complicated, but they manage to execute it well with their energy and it’s visible that their chemistry improved. They do the moves in sync. KENTA doesn’t miss the opportunity to give a sexy look to the camera, pushing a hand through his hair.  Freestyling for a bit as the song comes to an end, the trio finishes their performance well.  “We were so cool!” We hear KENTA gushing as they return to their seats. “Yeah, we’re not bad at all,” JUNGEUN says. 

HWANG YEJI, PARK JINYOUNG, and KANG DANIEL are next. They place their chairs down and gather to introduce themselves. "We are the love shot!" They exclaim in unison. "Jin-" JINYOUNG shouts immediately, followed by DANIEL's "Niel-" and the girl’s "Ji!", the syllables of their names before they hold a gun pose, two of them turning their backs on DANIEL.  

Inside Nova’s practice room they are sharing with the previous team are YEJI and JINYOUNG. Something looks off in the way the girl stares at her partner before she suddenly shouts: “Ah! Snow White Oppa?” The camera zooms in JINYOUNG’s expression and the editors add elements of the said Disney princess on the contestant’s face before it shatters into pieces as DANIEL walks into the room, making the atmosphere rather gloomy. The trio starts discussing their song options, but not everyone seems interested. “Daniel? Are you listening? We need your opinion on this.” JINYOUNG asks and the other’s surprised reaction says more than words. “For now you don’t even need ideas, we just want to know what you think of these songs.” It’s clear by his tone that JINYOUNG is losing his patience, especially when DANIEL mentions his friends’ eliminations. In the end, they all seem to agree on Love shot and choose to put some twists on it. 

“i let my emotions get the best of me,” DANIEL admits in an interview. “I started thinking that I didn’t deserve to be there anymore. It wasn’t the first time I thought it, but this week was the first time I’ve ever been in the mgas without SUNGWOON.” PARK JINYOUNG appears next. “I won’t lie and say there wasn’t any tension. On the first day of practice, I felt like DANIEL just gave up on himself and on us, and he really wasn’t putting any effort to help to choose the song and figuring out what we wanted to do. It’s very unfair on his part to act like this when so far he’s been treated very favorably in this competition. That is the behavior of a spoiled child,” he finishes honestly.

Screen split in two, images of YEJI adjusting the choreography and DANIEL sitting with his guitar, working on the arrangement, are shown side by side. “I have fixed the choreo so that you should be able to dance it,” the girl nods and it goes back in time where DANIEL supplies. “I’m not good at dancing.” However, when they finish the first draft with the line distributions, YEJI doesn’t look pleased, giving a DANIEL a slight glare. “Are you underestimating me?” And the week continues to be turbulent to the trio. “I don’t… think I have very much to show, especially not anything I didn't already. It’ll be just like ERIC said,” DANIEL says during practice. “Take what he said and use it. Fight, don’t just stand there and let him and all the other decide who you are, because I’m honestly starting to believe them.” JINYOUNG’s words are harsh and the air is thick when YEJI returns to the room. “Are you here to argue or practice?” She asks. When DANIEL finally agrees, JINYOUNG asks for a hug so they can move on. 

Commanding the dance practices, YEJI shows a professional and stern image. As DANIEL continues to make mistakes and apologize, the girl gets more frustrated. “Don’t apologize for making mistakes, just practice so you don’t make them when we’re performing- this is where you can make mistakes.” The teammates are interrupted by JUNGEUN, making her way to their side of the room. “Look, I know we’re on different teams, but if you don’t get your shit together then you might as well tune your bass again instead of being here,” she says to DANIEL before HANSOL separates them. “I’m going to get better just so I can bet you, JUNGEUN-ssi,” he says. Tensions are high, but it seems to motivate the boy because when more images of him practicing are shown, he has a different look in his eyes. As they run their lines together and practice the choreography, DANIEL expresses his desire to sing the last line. “If you can do the entire choreo, without making a mistake by the end of today. I’ll consider it.” YEJI says. 

And to keep the element of surprise, they go back to the studio without revealing if DANIEL got his wishes granted. They’re sitting on their chairs, DANIEL in the center, holding his guitar. It’s a melody everyone can recognize, but the acoustic version gives a different vibe to it. JINYOUNG’s voice is heard through the room and the other member joining him for a brief second, YEJI taking over before the rap portion that belongs to DANIEL. With JINYOUNG singing “It’s a love shot!” and aiming the gun formed by his hand at the camera, it all seems to lead to the chorus, but the instrumentals pause and they surprise the audience with a dance break. Centre-stage, YEJI shows her powerful moves and overflowing charisma. Pretending to take a shot, the girl walks back to her position and they continue doing well. When they progress to the chorus again, signaling the end of their performance, the whole group dance to it. It’s DANIEL who sings the final line before the music fades out and all three of them strike a pose as if drinking a shot.

“The team performing ‘Love Shot’ did well,” LEE CHAERYEONG comments, “I like how they put effort into changing the performance from the original.” Not everyone felt like agreeing with her, however. “It was good and they all had their solo moments,” CHOI MINHO starts, “but it didn’t feel like a team performance as much as it felt like they were taking turns.” JO YURI appears as well. “DANIEL-ssi and that guitar.” She groans. “We get it, you can play guitar – but really? It’s all he’s done.”

The building to appear is TRC. When the practice room is shown, most of the contestants are already there, except for WONG YUKHEI, who comes in holding cupcakes for both his teammates—JO YURI and MIYAWAKI SAKURA—and the one sharing the room. It feels like sharing food is a recurring theme between the rooms, no matter where you are. As much as they eat, the editors make sure to also show them practicing.

It’s another random day when WONG YUKHEI is shown leaving the room without explanation. They fasten the footage to indicate how long it had taken for him to return before he does so, walking in without much to show. “YUKHEI had to run to the bathroom for a while without telling us what was happening,” SIA KIM (one of the other contestants in their room) comments. “After a long time, he came back and told us he had Mexican food the night before and not to use the bathroom after him.” She covers her face with her hands and groans a little, but it doesn’t stop the laughter. “Maybe we never should have asked…”

With the end of practice comes a performance. The trio stands on stage, all wearing suits, before introducing themselves. They get into positions, each doing something different for the start. YUKHEI starts by singing the first vocal lines, followed by YURI’s own charming voice. In contrast to them, SAKURA takes on the rap lines of the song and also manages to show some of her Australian accent when the song gets to English words. They all stop together when the song ends, concluding their performance.

“They worked well together, and maybe it’s because the song is originally performed by a smaller group, to begin with, but it looked very complete even with just three of them.” PARK WOOJIN says.

Back in the practice room, the door opens, revealing one of the members of the other trio. “Whoa!” KIM SEUNGHUN gasps. “Do you feel this energy? It explains why their trainees and artists have that aura,” he continues, truly amused, then snaps back to reality. “Oh sorry! I got carried away in my excitement,” The boy bows to his teammates, KANG HYUNGGU and SIA KIM, with a sheepish smile. “Nice to meet you! Let’s work well together.” The three sit together on the floor and it’s the other boy who suggests they play an icebreaker game to take the edge off. The end is cut short when the scene changes to SIA’s face of disbelief. “How could you tell three lies?” HYUNGGU doesn’t see that as a negative. “I do what I want,” he says with a laugh.

“Do you think the fact I accidentally threw a flower at HYUNGGU last week was a sign we’d work together?” SEUNGHUN questions during his interview. “I think he was embarrassed about it,” HYUNGGU adds to the story. “I don’t think the flower was originally intended to be for me. But it helped us be more comfortable around each other!”

Apart from HYUNGGU, the other two members don’t seem too familiar with dancing. “If you guys give me tonight and tomorrow morning, I can learn it and teach it to you guys,” the dancer promises confidently. While they appear busy learning their song, SEUNGHUN also appears busy with something else. The boy appears dancing to something different, and once the camera zooms out of him, it shows that he’s copying the other team’s dance moves. “Apologies! I thought you needed a fourth member!” He jokes, dropping himself on the floor beside his trio.

The team makes their way to the center of the stage and introduce themselves. “Leaving you breathless, we’re team Avid!” They all say together. From the start, they move gracefully to the choreography of the song. HYUNGGU starts as the center before the other members can be revealed from behind him. The three get to share their vocal tone, and the three of them are also dancing. Throughout the song, they keep their faces expressive as well. In the end, the dancer takes the center again, and their performance neatly comes to an end.

“The performance was a bit of a letdown.” LEE NAKYUNG says. “I thought they’d all unify their creative minds and come up with something great, but all they really did was a cover? I don’t know what happened there. maybe they were trying to play it safe. Maybe SIA has grown complacent with her achievements so far but the CEOs themselves said she shouldn’t let it go to her head. If she falls out of Top 3 I wouldn’t be too surprised.”

Three chairs in the center give a déjà-vu sensation, but this time who goes up next is YOO TAEYANG, SOHN YOUNGJAE, and KIM HYOJIN. "Unlocking your hearts, we are The Master Key," they introduce themselves, followed by Park Jihoon's famous "jeojang" gesture. 

The camera follows HYOJIN into KT’s practice room, where the red-haired contestant joins the two dancers and greets them respectfully with a bow. “Hi, I’m KIM HYOJIN.” Once they’re done with introductions, the performance topic comes up and HYOJIN’s bright hair color is not what makes the boy stands out this time. “I’m… not the best dancer, but I will work my hardest on whatever we end up choosing.” He says, but as Youngjae continues to suggest some options for the trio, it seems like it will be a problem. “You think you’d be able to do something like this?” YOUNGJAE insists. “If we make the choreo easier, maybe this one?” Another failed attempt. Visibly frustrated, HYOJIN bows his head apologetically at the others. “What should we do?” He asks. It takes a while, but they finally set with Blooming Days. 

The task of training HYOJIN for their stage is left to TAEYANG, who already proved his expertise in the skill and seems qualified to not only help the singer but to offer modifications for certain parts so that members’ all level of dancing are able to execute it nicely. They throw around the idea before they decided to use chairs as part of the choreography. Despite the struggles and the time frame offered, TAEYANG is shown coming up with a fitting choreography without trouble. Practice starts right away and the seriousness of the moment is interrupted when the camera focuses on HYOJIN breaking out into an embarrassed smile when he attempts to execute a sexy move and keep a charismatic expression. “You go into the chorus with a bang! And then, like, swoosh, and you get the feeling of pow!” YOUNGJAE tries to explain the routine when Taeyang is out, doing the movements of the song, but the other’s expression is of utter confusion. “Eric… I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” says HYOJIN, and they show a scene of YOUNGJAE staring at the other side of the room here his former partner, YUGYEOM is practicing. 

When everyone is gone, HYOJIN stays in the room practicing the choreography in front of the mirror persistently, showing an image that contrasted with his sweet vocals. “I’ve really decided to take a risk this time, hm?” He mumbles to himself out loud. “I’ve never danced before… And this is also the first time I won’t be using an instrument. Keyboard-ssi, I miss you.” The boy hums the last line with a melody. A different outfit shows it’s a different day, but he remains practicing until he’s the only one left in the room even though he looks exhausted. HYOJIN yawns and turns his phone to the camera to show the hours. “Right now, it’s around two a.m. Hope you’re sleeping well - I’ll work hard and quietly so that I don’t wake you up, okay? Fight!” 

The camera returns to the stage where we can see TAEYANG sitting down on one of the chairs with HYOJIN, back to back, while YOUNJAE stands to the side, the third seat empty. The instrumentals kick in and HYOJIN’s voice is the first to be heard until TAEYANG takes over. Although there’s no dance for this part, they keep their expressions on point as they deliver the lines. It’s when YOUNGJAE starts singing that the others stand up as the song builds up, they show what the audience was expecting from the dancers, mixing the original choreography with something new, and their different images seem to work well on stage. TAEYANG and YOUNGJAE make a picture sign with their fingers, a reference to the original version. HYOJIN doesn’t struggle to keep up with the others and uses simple movements in his favor, not only showcasing his stable vocals but also a new image. The challenges during practice don’t stop them from ending the performance neatly. Running back to his seat, Youngjae realizes too late that his chair was still on stage. “Whoops!” He says and runs back to get it before joining his trio again.

DO KYUNGSOO appears to comment. “I did notice there was a part where TAEYANG and ERIC danced and HYOJIN, who was in the center, just sang. I am not sure if I agree with that choreo choice, mainly because HYOJIN looked out of place in the middle there when the two other boys were dancing hard and in sync.”

The next group appears also formed by three boys. They’re KIM YUGYEOM, NAM JOOHYUK, and WANG JACKSON. “Hello! We are Two Twenty One Two!” They introduce themselves and get into position before it changes back to their practice room time. YUGYEOM comes charging through the door and holds onto JACKSON. “Hyung! I can’t believe we get to work together!” The three seem to work well together, and the two friends get to know JOOHYUK better as well which is proven by the intricate handshake he shows off with YUGYEOM on another day.

“This week…” JOOHYUK chuckles during his interview, “YUGYEOM and JACKSON were a blast to be with. YUGYEOM and I are the same age and our wavelengths are completely compatible while JACKSON made sure we held it on together, I think we make a pretty strong unit.”

They appear again on top of the stage, ready to perform. To show off their charms with a song that could be classified as provocative, the boys all show a bit of dancing as well as another one of their skills. JACKSON is the one in charge of singing, while YUGYEOM performs with a rap, and JOOHYUK decides to do a bit of both, showing that they had it all. The choreography involved a lot of body rolls and the unexpected lifting of their shirts, but only two of them did it—YUGYEOM and JACKSON. They go into a dance break that leads towards the end of their song and they make their final pose.

KANG HYUNGGU appears on the screen. “Did you see him lift his shirt?” An image appears on the screen to make it clear he was referring to YUGYEOM. The one being interviewed starts to laugh. “kIM YUGYEOM does not have abs. I’ve seen him shirtless multiple times and those were almost definitely drawn on.” Another person appears. “YUGYEOM’s group?” LEE NAKYUNG says. “Did they forget this is family television? With JACKSON on their team just back from elimination, I would have thought of something better to do… I still hope YUGYEOM is the one to go rather than JACKSON, though.”

Three more people make their way to the stage. There are two girls, LEE CHAERYEONG and LEE NAKYUNG, and a boy, PARK WOOJIN. Together, they say their introduction. “We’ll burn the stage! Hello, we are Firefighters!” With a special computer effect, the scene goes up in flames, and, in its place, the outside of the Royal building appears. There’s a loud mash of two different pieces of music going against each other before showing the contestants inside. They try to practice at the same time, but the loudness appears to even affect them. “I had to leave a couple of times a day just to give my eardrums a break,” PARK WOOJIN grimaces upon recalling the ringing in his ears. “What were the chances the two teams with the loudest songs ended up in the same practice room?” WOOJIN is shown making his way back inside the room. 

Going to a more quiet time, the group sit calmly together and discussing what to prepare. “We are all dancers so we came to the agreement that this was a great outcome.” LEE NAKYUNG says. “We didn’t have to hold back much in case someone else wasn’t too comfortable with the skill.” The interviewer asks her a question. “Did the trio that shared the room with you ever interfere on your plannings?” The girl stops for a second before replying. “Honestly… yes.” She chuckles but her face isn’t very amused. “I really had no problems with him beforehand but I think SUWOONG may be a bit too competitive.” While she explains the situation, it plays on the screen for people to see. “One day when we were practicing our songs, SUWOONG kept turning the volume of his group’s song up even if that clearly made it hard for us to listen to our own. It’s not that hard to keep the two songs balanced—we were already doing that before. So, of course, I turned our own song up. We had to practice just as much as they did. Honestly, it just felt very immature.” In response to this, SUWOONG appears on the screen. "She started it.“

In contrast to the two other’s unhappiness, CHAERYEONG doesn’t look as bothered. Their practice session comes to an end with the girl making different expressions towards one of the cameras, preparing for the stage that was about to come.

They’re back on the stage, now all in their starting positions. With the start of the song, they all scream the first line together: “Get it lifted!” And their loud song starts. CHAERYEONG starts with her first rap verse, and NAKYUNG follows along with one of her own. Unlike what would normally be expected, the two cute girls take on the long portions of rap that took most of the song, while WOOJIN is the one who sings the fewer vocal lines. Along with the lines, the group is continuously dancing, as expected of a group of three dancers. As their song near the end, instead of following with a final dance break together, each member has their own time to shine with a solo choreography of their own. Once they each show what they got, they finally take on their final positions and what was once loud comes to silence.

HWANG YEJI appears in her interview. “NAKYUNG’s performance stood out to me. Their stage was more powerful than I thought but they are all dancers, so they had it rather easy I think. It was impressive.”

Heading to the final performance, the last group take their place on the stage composed of LEE SUWOONG, NA JAEMIN, and SHIN RYUJIN. “We are the Golden Trio!” They make sure to introduce their team name. Just as before, the scene changes to how their practice time went. This room also appears to enjoy something when SUWOONG brings bubble tea with him and offers them to the other group first before sitting with his own teammates. Except the happy vibes don’t last for long in this group.

They’re practicing their dance routine, and when they finish, SUWOONG doesn’t seem too satisfied. "Let’s do the chorus again, it feels a bit sloppy.” They try again, but the boy still doesn’t look content. “Let’s break for ten,” and then he leaves the room. When he makes his way back, someone else is missing in the room. It appears that RYUJIN went to the infirmary over a migraine. His brows furrow a bit. “A migraine?” So the two males continue to practice by themselves without the presence of their third member.

SUWOONG sits by himself in the room before both JAEMIN and RYUJIN enter the room. The girl has the eyes of someone who had obviously been crying. She demands an explanation of the false truths the boy had been telling about her. The boy crosses his arms. “Are you calling my cousin a liar? That’s very accusatory, Ryujin-ah. I don’t really appreciate you insulting her in front of me.” RYUJIN says back that she doesn’t even know who his cousin is, so SUWOONG calls the other girl to get this confusing debate over with.

With cuts appearing on the screen, the public is introduced to Amarante. It’s the name of a group that was supposed to debut with RYUJIN in it, but the girl clearly isn’t part of the plans anymore. SUWOONG’s cousin had told him that RYUJIN was the cause of their never coming debut, but now that she’s put on the spot, the girl on the phone confesses her lies on television. SUWOONG looks defeated and puts his head down after the phone call is done. “You were right, JAEMIN.” He says. “It was a misunderstanding, after all.” He raises both of his hands in prayer while looking at RYUJIN with a slightly pinched nose and softened eyes. "Please forgive me.”

The result of the situation is to be shown at their stage, whether they deliver a performance with high spirits or not. It all starts with a line done by RYUJIN. “Those oppas are weird.” That kickstarts to what will be the rest of their performance. Following the girl, SUWOONG does the energetic introduction embedded at the start of the song, followed by JAEMIN’s rap verse as the true first lyrics of the song. Their choreography comes with a lot of performing. They all act weird, just like RYUJIN has called them. They all fight and play with actions pre-prepared. At the final stretch of the song, they take out golden coins from bags and throw them at the contestants sitting on the side, showing the ‘jackpot’ they had earned.

“Ah, truthfully, RYUJIN and I had a misunderstanding in the beginning.” SUWOONG starts. "We were really lucky that we were mature enough to talk through it, otherwise it would’ve impacted our performance. We’ve worked hard to make it this far, so it would’ve been a shame had we let this small hiccup drag us down.” He offers a small smile then. NAM JOOHYUK appears next to leave a comment. “They were pretty good! RYUJIN’s solo part was as expected from her, phenomenal and while the rest of her team came on quite strong as well.”

With the end of all performances comes the tense music the public should be used to by now. Should a contestant make it through this episode they’ll see themselves going straight to the semi-finals. With a total of ten groups on this round, a brutal number of five—half of them—will lose one of their members. Katie Lee takes her microphone to start with the announcements which will be a long one for sure today. “Congratulations to all of you for putting such impressive performances today. As much as you’ve grown with each passing episode, not everyone can be on the top spot.” The woman pauses, looking at the contestants below her.

“From the ten groups here, three trios will get to stand on stage right now.” The CEO looks down at her notes before calling out the names of the best contestants of the week. “The top three of the week are CHOI MINHO, JEON HEEJIN, and ZHOU JIEQIONG; JO YURI, MIYAWAKI SAKURA, and WONG YUKHEI; and LEE CHAERYEONG, LEE NAKYUNG, and PARK WOOJIN.” They’re welcomed to the stage by the other contestants and stand beside their own teammates. “You’ve all managed to show a captivating stage in your own way. It was great to watch you perform, but the top performance has been chosen.”

A long pause makes time for the camera to focus on each of the contestants on the stage before it returns to Katie Lee who sports one of her more serious looks. “The winners of this week are… LEE CHAERYEONG, LEE NAKYUNG, and PARK WOOJIN.” The screen shows their reactions. “With a team composed of three dancers we were scared of what you would be able to come up with, but you managed to show that you shouldn’t only be classified as that. You also didn’t try showing more than what you have and it was a very well-balanced performance. Congratulations on your win and the two other groups here as well.”

There’s a new round of applause and the trios already called are safe for the day and each received their own spot at the semi-finals. They return to their seats and, between the seven trios left, only two of them will get to remain complete. For what’s next, and what everybody dreads, Hyun Bin is the one to speak.

“The same way we have our higher ranking teams, we also have the lower ranking ones.” The man nods towards the contestants. “During our duos rounds, both members of the pair were eliminated when they landed on a low rank. For this round, only one of the members will be leaving us. Five contestants in total will be eliminated today.” And with that, the tense music returns. The camera focuses on the face of different people and maybe one of them is your favorite. “So… we’ll start with the first trio who’ll lose a member today.”

Hyun Bin pauses again, raising the tension in the room. “It’s between KIM YUGYEOM, NAM JOOHYUK, and WANG JACKSON.” He stops and directs a stare at the three males. “You had an entire week to prepare something and it just felt really lacking. You had everything to make this a very risky but good performance, but instead, it was incredibly bland. Sadly to you, showing your body wasn’t as impressive as it could have been. As mentioned before, though, only one of you will be going home today.” The man takes the time to lick his lips before making the announcement. “The member of this trio to be leaving us is… KIM YUGYEOM. We hope you may continue with your journey, although this competition may no longer be part of it.”

With a nod, the man moves on to the next. “The second trio between the lower ranks are… CHWE HANSOL, KIM JUNGEUN, and TAKADA KENTA. While it certainly looked like you were having a lot of fun together, it wasn’t really a performance that felt like you could show your skills very well. If you think it was and that is all you got to show then you all must also agree with your position here. Of course, this doesn’t mean all of you were bad. Only one will leave us today and that person is… KIM JUNGEUN. We hope you can see where you can grow and continue improving yourself out of the show.”

And with two people out, it means it’s time to cross the middle line. To continue with the announcements, Seo Jisub is the one to speak next. “Moving on, the third trio between the lower ranks are… KIM HYOJIN, SOHN YOUNGJAE, and YOO TAEYANG.” The CEO calls out. “We appreciated the modifications you made to your performance. You tried fitting all the members to the performance. However, each time we have fewer performances, and while we may appreciate some things, we also must pay more attention to smaller details. There were others who performed a better act, and they had more of these details than yours did. Due to this, one of you will have to go home, and that person is… YOO TAEYANG. Hopefully, you’ll get to keep working towards your dream even after leaving us.”

Heading towards the end, the man continues. “The fourth trio between the lower ranks are… HWANG YEJI, KANG DANIEL, and PARK JINYOUNG.” Jisub looks over at their direction. “You performed your own version of your chosen song. It felt like you were trying to split it into different sections to highlight each one of you but not everyone really got the attention that they wanted. It also feels like one of you had their strength turned into a disadvantage. Still, only one of you will go home. This person is… PARK JINYOUNG. This may be your second elimination but you made it further than most. We hope you keep pursuing your dreams even after this.”

To bring an end to it all, Tiger JK is next to pick his microphone. “There are only three teams left, and only one of you will be losing someone today. The last trio between the lower ranks are… LEE SUWOONG, NA JAEMIN, and SHIN RYUJIN. As entertaining as it was, a performance must be more than that. You had the story elements and even the special surprise at the end, but you still landed just below the cut mark. You certainly picked a very strong song. The problem here is that you tried reaching that level of excitement and not exactly all of your skills followed along with that. And the last person to leave us today is… NA JAEMIN. Keep up with your hard work.”

With eliminations finally coming to an end, the rest of the contestants clap. Except, instead of the CEOs changing things around to announce the next challenge, Tiger JK continues to speak. “We’ve now reached our last 25 contestants of this season. On the first episode we had 100 hopefuls wishing for a spot on this show, and, before that, we had thousands of people signing up for auditions. Next week will be the semi-finals and, this time, we weren’t the ones to show who was paired with who.” The man looks to the side and Baek Jiyoung takes her own microphone at the end of the table.

“As we walk towards the end of the competition, we asked for some help from a few people you’ll probably recognize. If you’ll please take a look,” the woman points forward to the stage. It is empty now but, suddenly, the set starts to do something most didn’t even know it had the ability to do. The screen at the end of the stage parts in two and the floor is taken over by dry ice, raising the expectation by each second that passes. Whether curious eyes managed to figure out who the three figures are in between all that smoke or not, the woman makes sure to introduce them to the public. “From Sphere Entertainment, please welcome CONVEX’s very own JINKI and JINWOOK, as well as our star trainee and winner of the last season of the MGAs, GO HOJUNG!” 

Just like that, the three men reveal themselves from the mystery and make their way towards the center of the stage. As they do so, new shadows appear between the cloud waiting to be announced as well. “From Nova Entertainment,” Hyun Bin starts, “please welcome our future AND*ROMA members SEUNGWAN and SUNMI, as well as our star trainee, LEE SUNGYEOL!” The camera makes sure to capture any interesting reaction from the contestants.

“From TRC Entertainment,” Tiger JK continues, “please welcome our K.ARMA’s DOYEON and SANA along with our star trainee, JUNG JINSOUL!” The three girls reveal themselves from the smoke and join the others on the stage, leaving a space in the middle for whoever appears next to have the clear passageway.

The one next proceeds with introductions. “From KT Entertainment,” Katie Lee says, “please welcome our ECLIPSE’s dearest HASEUL and MINJI, as well as our star trainee, LEE LUDA!” Another three girls make their way forward to the center, a continues round of surprises.

“From Royal Entertainment,” So Jisub brings the final addition, “please welcome these members of LUXE, CHERI, and ELLA, as well as our star trainee, JEON WONWOO!” These are the final trios to take the stage, although they aren’t there to compete.

To explain the situation a bit better, Baek Jiyoung is the one who adds to her previous words. “You’re all probably very surprised by the presence of these idols and trainees here. Just like you, all of them took part in the MGAs before. Not all of them won, and not all of them made it to the finals, but they still managed to debut or get signed under one of our companies. With their experience both as past contestants and as trained performers, these people in front of you will be this season’s coaches.”

There’s a clear smile on her face as she nods at those on stage. “This year, there won’t be only one winner but, instead, a team. The coaches before you are here representing their company and each took a vote on who they thought would best fit its image. Based on that, five new groups were formed with five contestants each. Since next week will be our semi-finals and with the help of these talented coaches, we hope to see some next-level performances.”

To see all the of this season’s contestants, click here!

And now, let’s see what’s in store for our sixth episode and semi-finale!

With the revelation of this season’s coaches comes the revelation of the next challenge. Each coach was told to vote for who they thought fit the image of the company they’re in and, from these votes, groups of five were properly arranged. All people involved should show at least two of their performance skills, one of them being dancing. The theme is to not only impress but to prepare a stage that fits the image of the company they were assigned under. This may differ from the image a contestant may have had of themselves. All groups are told to come up with a name of their own. A list of the groups can be found below:

SPHERE ENTERTAINMENT — Coaches: Jinki, Jinwook, Go Hojung #5006 - CHWE HANSOL #5017 - KANG DANIEL #5033 - MIYAWAKI SAKURA #5035 - NAM JOOHYUK #5038 - PARK WOOJIN

NOVA ENTERTAINMENT — Coaches: Lee Sunmi, Son Seungwan, Lee Sungyeol #5004 - CHOI YEWON #5025 - KIM SEUNGHUN #5039 - SEO CHANGBIN #5045 - TAKADA KENTA #5046 - WANG JACKSON

TRC ENTERTAINMENT — Coaches: Doyeon, Sana, Jung Jinsoul #5002 - CHOI MINHO #5011 - HWANG YEJI #5018 - KANG HYUNGGU #5028 - LEE CHAERYEONG #5040 - SHIN RYUJIN

KT ENTERTAINMENT — Coaches: Haseul, Minji, Lee Luda #5014 - JO YURI #5026 - SIA KIM #5030 - LEE NAKYUNG #5047 - WONG YUKHEI #5050 - ZHOU JIEQIONG

ROYAL ENTERTAINMENT — Coaches: Cheri, Ella, Jeon Wonwoo #5007 - DO KYUNGSOO #5013 - JEON HEEJIN #5020 - KIM HYOJIN #5032 - LEE SUWOONG #5042 - SOHN YOUNGJAE

By the end of the next episode, one member from each group will be eliminated. This means that even if your entire performance is considered sub-par, only the contestant who was considered as having the weakest performance will be eliminated. 

Just like the previous episode, the contestants will be recorded during their preparation time. The five companies prepared one of their practice rooms with cameras and will allow their group to practice inside with free use of the high-tech equipment available in it. On the first day of training on Friday, the 26th, the coaches will visit their practice room to help the contestants decide on songs and give them some tips on not only their past experiences in the MGAs but also as performers. Additional meetings may be arranged if needed and if it doesn’t conflict with anyone’s schedules.

All contestants are supposed to make their own way to the recording studio prepared specially for this episode. Unlike previous episodes, this time contestants will have to perform a stage in front of a live audience of 1500 people. To help with this, the episode will be hosted by the MC Hong Jinwoo. They’ll have to go to a different set this time and it’ll look a bit like this. The bigger stage will allow for bigger props if needed, and these should be checked with the staff beforehand for them to prepare it. The groups will get to prepare themselves backstage and, this time around will have to wait there while the other groups perform. A room with a TV is available for those who’d like to watch the groups performing. Just because most eyes will be on the performance doesn’t mean no one will be paying attention to you. A set of cameras will have their lenses ready to capture any sort of interesting reaction from those watching backstage (beware of the evil editing).

Sitting between the stage and the public with their much more comfortable chairs are the CEOs of each big company. They’ll make sure only the most captivating contestants will continue their journey to make this the best season yet and continue to represent their companies.

                          Tune in next Saturday, the 3rd, for our sixth episode!

MGA Season 5 episode six preview: Idols and trainees have been revealed as this season’s coaches and the remaining contestants are now assigned to the five companies. Will they manage to do a good job of keeping up with their image? How will the coaches help the contestants? Tune in next time to find out!

[ All of the performances were aired in their entirety. Cuts from the show itself were uploaded to Mnets’s Official Youtube Channel. ]

If you made it this far, either if you were eliminated on this episode or not, you may add +3 POINTS IN A PERFORMANCE SKILL to your points tally. Make sure to link back to this post for verification.

Contestants have until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 2nd, to post their 200+ words solos about the groups challenge in front of the CEOs. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5groups. They’ll have less than four minutes to perform their chosen performance to prove their worth to make it to the final (as long as it doesn’t break any laws). Good luck! Song choices should be submitted to the rkevent inbox. Two groups performing the same song will not be allowed and this will be chosen on a first come first serve basis. Any group chats made for plotting should include both Mod Bianca (luvseungjoon on twitter) and Mod Gab (jindeukii on twitter) for monitoring.

After the last performance is done, the CEOs will leave to discuss their thoughts privately. While this happens, the contestants will be taken one by one into a small room to be interviewed on their thoughts of the current state of things and all the live audience will be told to leave the set. The contestants will be asked a variety of questions and some may be included in the list found below! Feel free to come up with your own questions if you think they can be fitting.

What did you think of the results last week?

What did you think when the coaches first appeared?

How was it like working with your group?

How was it like working with the coaches?

How do you think you did?

Were there any performances you liked?

Were there any performances you didn’t like?

What did you think of ___’s performance?

Which group do you represented their company the best?

Was there anyone you think that brought their group down?

Is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the MGAs?

Is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?

Once they’re done, they’ll be taken back to their waiting area to wait, or may go to the bathroom if needed.

You may also write an extra 200+ words solo about your muse’s interview, as explained above, to also be posted until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 2nd. For doing so, you may earn +2 CHARISMA OR CREATIVITY POINTS and these can be added to your points tally as soon as it is posted. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5groups. Please link this post as verification.

COACHES! If you write one 200+ words solo about your muse’s time spent interacting with the contestants you may earn +3 CHARISMA OR CREATIVITY POINTS. You’ll also have until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 2nd, to post your solos. These can be added to your points tally as soon as it is posted. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5groups. Please link this post as verification.

For an additional +2 CHARISMA OR CREATIVITY POINTS, you may also write an extra 200+ words solo about your muse’s interview. These would take place after or in between their time spent together on the 26th. Coaches will be taken to a separate practice room where a mini-interview-set has been prepared for recording. Questions will mostly be about their thoughts on the contestants and how the performance preparations are going, as well as their expectations for final results. Please post this until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 2nd, to collect points. These can be added to your points tally as soon as it is posted. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5groups. Please link this post as verification.

If the coaches write their solos or not will not impact the results of the groups. More information about muses joining the live audience will come in a separate post.

[deathbyvalentine]

Prompts

Wayward Road - Spy AU

The car was already idling on the curb when she stepped out of the building, glancing over her sunglasses to ensure there were no passersby watching as she climbed in a moment later. The car pulled away quickly and smoothly, the door barely shut as it did so. As soon as she was seated, the woman removed her hat and red wig, tugging her blonde hair out of its confinement to tumble around her shoulders. She took off the lanyard around her neck, tossing it into the glove compartment where it clattered and joined a hundred like it. The sunglasses were removed, and she shrugged off the professional blouse, revealing the casual t-shirt underneath. A quick rub with a handkerchief and the scarlet lipstick painting her delicate mouth was also removed. In less than a minute, she had become a completely different person.

Only when they hit the highway did she relax and finally look over at the driver. Sean had remained quiet during her transformation, knowing the importance of the ritual of it, allowing Ash to slip into the version of herself he knew. When she reached over and stole his flask of coffee, he knew it was safe to approach. 

“Did you get what we needed?” She nodded, holding up a hand to show the small usb drive tucked against her palm. Long gone were the days of smuggling paper files under coats and in briefcases. Stacks of information could be hidden behind a finger. 

“It’s been a while. John reckoned you might have gone native.” She snorted. “Oh yeah, because that’s so like me.” “If it helps, I told him it were much more likely you were dead.” “Correct.” She fiddled with the radio, ignoring his look of displeasure.  “So, who were you this time?” “Amma Hunter. Journalist.” She didn’t even hesitate, or stop to recall. “Old money, getting by on daddy’s cash, not as clever as she thinks she is. Best relegated to being a glorified secretary or celebrity fluff pieces. No need to watch how you talk around her.”  He shook his head. “I will never understand how you keep track.” “Oh, it’s easy once you’re used to it.” She let her head loll back against the headrest and grinned. “It’s not like identity really exists anyway if you don’t have a stable life.” “That’s really fuckin’ depressing, you know that?” “I’ve been told.”

+++++++ Sean and Ashley had met when John had recruited her. You gotta give kudos to a teenager trying to rob someone of his status, especially one that almost managed it. She knew who he was (impressive in of itself) and tried anyway, figuring the rewards far outweighed the risks. No background, no family, no connections - she was perfect for this line of work. It was Sean who had suggested offering her a job. John had only regretted it since when he had been forced to listen to the two of them for more than five minutes.

It hadn’t been plain sailing at first. Ashley seemed comprised purely of thorns, snapping at any question she deemed too personal. Which honestly, seemed to be any question. But when Sean realised this, she relaxed. Soon, something like trust began to grow, not that either of them would ever call it that. Trust, like love, was for children, one of her favourite sayings. 

She often did undercover work, something Sean had never quite got the knack of. He was her fire support, her recon guy, her rescuerer on more than one occasion. Rebekah found the jobs, Izzy tossed them the research, Cordy gave them the tools, John told them what to do and Tammy stitched them back together. They all had their place - Ash thought of Sean as the great sword to her dagger. Same result, different approaches.

Sometimes, he wondered where Ash came from. Her accent was painfully neutral, but sometimes he noticed when they shared a room on a job, nightmares would frequently leave her kicking and moaning in a language he didn’t understand. Plus the fact she was clearly too fucking young to know half the shit she knew and have half the scars she had, and yet. But in this job, everyone had stuff. You didn’t dredge it up. 

She didn’t ask about his military service, he didn’t ask about the nightmares. An unspoken deal.

Synstrid Coffee Shop AU

The girl dashed inside, out of the thunderstorm, rain dripping from the ends of her pink hair. Her dress clung to her skin, making her shivering even more apparent. She was not dressed for the weather in the slightest, her legs bare and the sequined jacket she was wearing was clearly more for effect than any warming qualities. She could have just stepped out of an endless summer. Syn stood behind the counter, pausing in her wiping down before closing. 

There are moments in life that sometimes seem scripted. Where you can picture it as a scene in a movie perfectly. The soft focus warm lights of the coffee shop. The plinky piano music providing background music. The way she tossed her hair  - the camera would zoom in on the rain drops scattering like stars. Syn did not believe in fate, or destiny, or any of that crap. Which was lucky, because Astrid did, wholeheartedly. 

Astrid approached the counter and began chattering immediately. “Hi. I know you’re like about to close, but I needed to get out the rain and charge my phone, and I was just DRAWN to this place, you know? It was like a beacon in the dark.” She barely paused for breath, eyes resting on Syn’s face. Her eyes were green, and it was hard to tell if they were as unnatural as her hair. “I’m Astrid. By the way. I know you didn’t ask but I can already tell we’re going to be friends.” She reached out and shook Syn’s hand - her skin like ice. 

Against her better judgement, Syn felt a flash of concern. “Right. I’m Syn. Flip the door sign to closed and sit down. Don’t touch anything. I’m getting you a towel, a hoody and a cup of tea. Fifteen minutes, then out, alright?” She rolled her eyes at the grin Astrid gave her. Just her luck that the mad girl would come in on her shift.

Diesel and Devotion

It would be soon. He could feel tug in the back of his mind like a fishing line, insistent. He wouldn’t go though. Not yet. He was putting his territory in order. He had burnt the propaganda posters that had once coated his room, all traces of Liberator Diesel gone. It felt like a relief. He didn’t have to look at the failed idol, the disappointed expectation. For the first time in a while, he could be himself. 

Not that he was truly himself of course. But then, he never had been. Diesel was a man who’s mind had always been moulded by other people. The Combine. The Industrioclasts. And now, he had asked someone to do it, to switch conditioning so Petrol could finally be the person he was meant to be. Who cared if Vector was unhappy? Certainly not Vector himself.

He wasn’t looking forward to the Nexus. He would die or he wouldn’t. Either way he would have to sit inbetween the infighting he didn’t give a single fuck about any more, explain himself to people who wouldn’t understand over and and over, and watch the universe move on, leaving him behind.

But Devotion would be there. He didn’t have the vocab to describe what she was to him. He wanted to impress her, terrified of disappointing her, but only by his own standards. He wanted to be close to her, but calling her comrade or sister felt cheap somehow, applying a Combine filter onto a relationship that didn’t exist within it. He was tired. What he wanted more than anything was to sit with her, watching the others, and wait for a final morning to dawn. No pressure. No obligations. Just quiet company.

Pain - WR

Her body was a patchwork of scars. The one above her knee from where her leg had broken and the demon had stood on it, pressing down. The one on her hip from a vampire’s teeth. The long scratches down her back from a wolf. So many others. Only her face had managed to get away unscathed, and she couldn’t help but wonder for how long. Then of course, there was the bits you couldn’t see. That she ignored. 

They came out when she slept, usually. Nightmares that woke her kicking, drenched in sweat, unable to breathe. Sometimes it was of dark, shadowy things touching her. Sometimes it was of things that actually happened. Sometimes it was things about to happen. Sometimes it was things she was terrified would happen. Sometimes it was all of those things. 

She told herself she contained it to when she slept, but that was plainly untrue. She saw things that weren’t there, or maybe were, but couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Her mind and the thin reality of the real world were in constant competition. She couldn’t stand to be touched because of the visions that might slam into her head but also because it felt too naturally intimate, too close. Her temper flared too often for it to be normal, she drank too much and slept too little.

Tonight, she woke up remembering how it felt for her leg to snap under a pair of claws, like it was nothing more than a twig. She jolted up just as she heard the crack, chest heaving. Kara was still asleep beside her, breathing even and soothing. The room was dark, lit only by the street light filtering in. In the corner, she saw Violet, silent and almost hidden in the shadows. As usual. Ash pulled the duvet over her head, as if it would keep out the bad things. She had long ago learnt it wouldn’t.

Red - Sharp Objects. Trigger Warning for abuse.

My bad childhood grew inside me like a tumour, pressing against my spine. It was in my blood as I matured, blossoming like some ugly flower. I would never be rid of it. It would not be scrubbed or burnt or let from me. Not that I didn’t try. My skin told stories about how hard I had tried to wipe myself clean. I would always be waiting for the moment it conquered me completely and decided to jump to the next victim. 

Amma didn’t catch it from me, but she caught it from momma. I could see it growing in her too, though she wore it much better than I did. She let it strengthen her spine, keeping her up tall, not stooping her over. She didn’t even know she was diseased. She was biological warfare, unafraid of the hurt inside her. She had found ways to rip it out, take it outside, make it the world’s problem.

There were similarities between us. Her lips were the same shade of cherry red as my cuts. She tilted her head the same way, eyes just as adept as mistruth. She wasn’t so much my mirror as my shadow. Or maybe I was hers? Darker, quieter, always following.

I love her more than I love myself, though that isn’t too hard. The way she could externalise hate, I externalised love. I loved a lot of broken things, it was the only way I could think of to love myself.

Tommy&Jane/Guardians

He leaned his elbows on the smooth wooden counter, flipping idly through a catalogue of the latest magical ingredients, occasionally highlighting something that could potentially be useful for his kit. The shop was empty, lit up by golden evening light and dust. It was one of his infrequent visits back to the UK, to check on Jones, check on the Guardians and visit his biological family. The rest of the time he was in Kos, with Asclepius. Resting before the next inevitable crisis. He covered a few shifts in the magic shop to keep himself busy, keep him from thinking too much. 

There was nobody else in the shop apart from Jane. They had worked mostly in companionable silence, her putting away some books in the forbidden section. Now though, she came through, holding a tray filled with two mugs of tea smelling of flowers and herbs. She set one in front of him, the slight click of ceramic against the wood. He nodded his thanks and went back to his catalogue, but Jane didn’t move.  “How are you doing?” “Fine. Business is kinda slow.” “I didn’t mean about the shop darling.”  “Oh.” He finally looked up, pushing up the glasses on his nose with a thumb. “Um. The world isn’t immediately ending. Jones isn’t immediately dying. Michael isn’t dead, A isn’t dead so I guess I haven’t got much to complain about.” Jane tilted her head, long silky hair slipping off her shoulders. “You do realise that not being in immediate life threatening danger and fine are not the only two states you’re allowed to be in?” “Yes.” “Then maybe act like it?” She sat carefully on one of the overstuffed armchairs, holding her own cup of pink coloured tea. “You look tired.” “I’ve not been sleeping too well.” He rolled up the sleeves of his flannel shirt, avoiding eye contact.  “Let me guess. Waiting for something bad to happen?” She nodded, sipping at her tea. “Happens to us all. Why do you think Michael was like Michael was? Drinking and sex is a good a way to cope as any. How are you coping?” “Um. Not like that?” As in, he wasn’t, not really.  “You need to find something. You’ll end up a bit mad otherwise.”

 She placed her mug down on the side table, fingers going up to fiddle at the necklace nestled between her collarbones. Tommy was suddenly struck with how caring she actually was, hiding it under a veneer of snark and cleverness. She cared about the new guardians. For some reason, he thought the four would be all too eager to ditch them and go and live their lives they had been denied for so very long. She hadn’t done that. He remembered how it felt to hug her, all caring and no expectation. He wished he could have asked for another one, but his odd pride wouldn’t let him. He wasn’t quite sure what had happened to his softness, his lack of shame for his love of affection. Now he felt constantly guarded, like he needed act constantly. “What did you find?” She laughed, beautifully. “Love. Family. Books, actually. Leaning is quite a good one when you’ve got centuries to spare. I wouldn’t rely too hard on your family though. I’ve seen what they turned Michael into.”  “Fair point, well made.” “Don’t... Just don’t force yourself to not enjoy things because you’ve got a responsibility. You’re allowed to love things.” He thought of Mae, shouting at him for not giving up Asclepius. “Sure. Might want to tell the others that.”  “Fuck the others.” She smiled, picking up her tea again. “Do what makes you happy and save the world.”

Getting one’s soul back

The hall was stiflingly hot. Sweat dripped down the small of his back and from his hairline. He resisted the urge to wipe it away, keeping his eyes cast down onto the floor in front of him. His knees ached from the kneeling on the uneven stone floor, his neck from looking down. The throne in front of him was still empty. He had lost count of how long he had been waiting.

There was a dreadful scraping noise as the door behind him was dragged open. Footsteps began to cross the floor, slowly. When he next dared to glance upwards, the demon was one the throne. It had thick black fur, matted and dense. The head of a great big bull, eyes filled with yellow malicious intelligence, horns curving upwards with a wicked point. A leg draped casually over one of the arms of the grey throne, ending in a hoof. The Minotaur tilted it’s head, surveying him. 

“So, the time has come.” “Yes sire.” “Ten whole years.” “...” “And a chance for renegotiation.” Idly, it clicked a finger, sending something scurrying from the shadows, bleeding and pathetic, holding a pile of letters and papers. He flicked through until he found the page he was looking for. “So, what can you offer me for the return of your soul? Traditionally offerings have revolved around blood, memories, other people’s souls... But I’m a modernist. I’m open to more.” “With all due respect sire. I would not like to renegotiate. You can keep it.”

There was a long, long pause. “Well. You have surprised me. May I inquire to the reasons why?” “Frankly...” He considered, shifting on his knees, before the Minotaur impatiently gestured for him to stand up. “I’ve found it easier without it. Making all my decisions just about what feels physically good. It’s simple, but in a nice way.” The demon huffed a laugh, amused. “Well, maybe you humans are finally cottoning on to what we’ve known for millennia.” It adjusted the pile of papers. “So what will you give me to not return it?” “Wait, what?” “You’ve weaked your negotiating position. Now you have to work to continue enjoying your life. Go on. I’m listening.”

Distant thunder and the smell of rain

Her skin was drenched, covered in goosebumps and feeling electric. There was nothing like this, nothing at all. The awareness of her body, the burning of her hot blood, the feeling of skill. She hauled herself further up, feeling the edges of rugged rock cut into the pad of her feet, soil grinding underneath her nails. She could imagine all too much what it would feel like to fall, the splinter of bone and snap of muscle. The thrill, the risk sent shivers of more than cold up her spine. 

Finally, Canyon made it to the top. There was a ridge, perfectly made for someone to sit, dangling their legs over the seemingly expanse below. It would be so easy to slip over and experience flying, just for a moment. She sat, careless, excited. And took a breath. Her hands fiddled with the nubs of horns beginning to appear as she meditated on the landscape, the occasionally flames jumping out, unbothered by the rain.

There were mists and darkness curling in the air, obscuring and revealing with each of the breaths of wind. If you closed your eyes, you could pretend or maybe just hear the wind telling you stories. She could hear it in Abyss’s voice, deep and echoing with the weight of past knowledge. Everything was so fragile. That’s what made everything so strong. 

Her eyes were drawn to the horizon. The flashes of lightning, the deep deep rumbling of thunder you could feel in your bones. She wondered if the storm would ever make it here, whether she would ever stand in the rain and thunder and dance, letting the water wash everything that didn’t matter away.

She hoped so. She really did.

who is responsible for your thoughts

Melanie sat back in her chair and took a furtive glance around before putting her feet on her desk, stretching back. Today was a long shift. She couldn’t help but hear her mother’s childhood warnings about her eyes going square on days like this. Spending her entire shift looking at constantly updating monitors and making notes. They didn’t put this on the recruitment posters, the unglamorous side of being a GeneCo scientist.

On the screen, the clones lounged on the sofas in the central room. They stood out starkly, their white scrubs on the black cushions. On the next monitor, words scrolled, white on a black screen. Mostly, they were observations about the clones or the room or hunger or thirst. Occasionally, and these were the ones Melanie noted down, there were thoughts about deeper things. Emotion. Life. Their connections with the other clones. 

Whenever there was a thought about way lay beyond the compound they were in, that’s when she idly pressed a button, wiping it off the screen. On the video feed, a clone would look briefly confused, but then carried on, a new string of thoughts beginning to scroll on the text monitor. This was how you trained them not to want more. Not to want to explore or change or see anything but the rooms they were surrounded by.

Melanie wasn’t particularly troubled by the ethical implications of her job. After all, it wasn’t like clones were real people. They were made for this, trained for this. They didn’t need their free thinking minds - they were never going to do anything with them anyway. It wasn’t their minds that was important. It was their organs. 

The stolen painting/the last of it’s kind

The two girls sat in front of the painting, chins to hands, contemplating it in silence.  “So what do we do with it?” Tess finally broke the silence, leaning back to look over at Zubeeda.  “I’m not entirely sure. I honestly didn’t think we’d pull it off.” “What did you think would happen??” “Oh, I didn’t think we’d get arrested or anything like that. I just figured we’d end up tripping the security system and fleeing into the night, that sort of thing.” “Good to know you had faith in us.” Tess muttered, turning her attention back on the painting.

She wasn’t so sure what made it special. It was pretty, sure, a landscape of somewhere in Wales. There was a lake, and trees, and a sky filled with delicate clouds. But what made it different from the thousands of other pastoral landscapes that filled every art gallery she wasn’t sure. She didn’t really get art, as a general rule, and this was no exception. 

It hadn’t even been particularly difficult to steal. In through the backdoor of some old guy’s house, all glass and chrome. His kitchen was probably worth more than Tess’s entire house, maybe even street. It made her feel a hell of a lot less guilty about looting him. She was confused by Zubeeda’s direction to ignore jewellery and watches and wallets though, heading straight for the unassuming painting hanging over the huge fireplace. But Tess had long gotten into the habit of listening to Zubeeda’s instincts and she wasn’t about to stop now.

She also hadn’t questioned it when Zubeeda had pulled several tubes of rolled up canvas from her bag and tossed it to the flames, watching the fire hungrily devour the fuel. After that they worked quickly, lifting the frame, removing the painting and carefully putting it inside a protective roll.  “I think I know a guy.” Zubeeda stood, putting her silky black hair into a high pony tail. “And I had a tip off that this artist is super rare. His prices are about to go through the roof.”

[linkspooky]

Did Chap. 125 really need an entire chapter?

This is a tricky question to answer in light of the fandom’s turbulent reaction to the chapter, a toukennado if you will. 

Just remember that nothing I say here is indicative of whether or not I think Touken is a good or a bad relationship. I’m not trying to talk about shipping. Let’s continue this under the cut. A lot of this is also taken from a discussion with @hysyartmaskstudio who I’m sure at some point will reblog this post and add more onto it so look forward to that. 

Then onto your question, as I previously discussed there are two forms of criticism. Mine was more abstract, criticizing the good or bad qualities of a work, or trying to figure out what they mean. Let’s use a more basic metaphor, there are two ways to answer this the writing class vs the english class approach. 

That is, from a writing standpoint if Ishida brought you this idea and asked for your opinion would you say it was a good choice to spend this much panel time on one scene vs the english class approach which is assuming the choice was a good one, either reflecting the core message of a text or in the case of death of the author reflecting a way in which the events of the text can be aligned to speak for themselves, what purpose does this serve for the work?

From a writing class standpoint, meh? That’s not the academic term for it but pacing has always been Ishida’s weakpoint. It is a little frustrating to see things move to basically a snail’s pace in terms of things getting done from chapter to chapter, but to be honest this chapter was more substantive than the Saiko vs Urie chapter that everybody was applauding. 

Mainly because Touka and Kaneki are both characters with arcs, choosing to indulge for an entire chapter. Whereas Saiko is a character without an arc, that basically at this point exists as a prop for which Urie’s arc moves forward. This is once again, not a reflection on my opinion of Saiko, I want Saiko to have an arc, but she just doesn’t. Therefore spending an entire chapter on her having amazing kagune abilities seems kind of out of nowhere for me. It’s not the result of Saiko’s struggle to overcome something, she just has them because she needed to save Urie in that moment to advance Urie’s arc so it might as well have been magic. The Saiko from the beginning of Tokyo Ghoul Re: would have made the exact same choice to save Urie, that she does nearly 120 chapters in. 

You can’t say the same of Touka and Kaneki from even the beginning of Re. Knowing Touka’s want to keep away from Kaneki for his own good initially, and Kaneki’s near constant running away from any kind of intimacy in relationships for fear of losing it, you can’t really say that they would have been at a place where they could have mutual sex in Chapter 125 of Tokyo Ghoul Re, in Chapter 1 of Tokyo Ghoul Re. 

So on a purely pacing standpoint, yes it’s bad when there are like a million other plot threads to zoom in and focus on this one thing for an entire chapter especially when sex doesn’t really demand that. However it’s not the worst pacing decision Ishida has ever made, because it does indicate some kind of movement or progression on the characters part, whether forward or backwards. 

Now the question of what does this mean to the whole narrative, the english class approach is that this focusing of two people nakedly holding onto each other ignoring the greater context of the whole narrative is reflective of Touka and Kaneki’s mindsets and hangups. 

If the goal of the moon arc is to show that there is a difference between the actual motivations and desires of these characters and the role they are meant to play, and the gap between these two things casts a dark shadow which can turn ugly. That in between Amon’s genuinely despairing traumatized state and his need to act as a person who saves others, he lashes out and becomes genuinely violent because he has no other outlet for those emotions. That in between Akira’s role as a mother mentor figure, and a victim of parental loss and trauma she becomes selfish and entitled. That in between Takizawa’s also genuine trauma suffered at the hands of Kanou, and his aspirations to genuinely do good and be a hero, he will always see himself as inferior and retreat tot he shadows. 

The thesis of the moon arc is that these characters no matter how much changes about them, will always fall back on these coping mechanisms. That Amon will always be violent, that Akira will always be selfish, that Takizawa will always be inferior. This is just a small example though, if you want a thesis statement on the moon arc look at the character in who it is the most obvious right now Mutsuki. Who flips haphazardly between the person they present themselves as strong, independent ghoul investigator, and the person they are, needy, weak in need of human connection. 

Mutsuki is merely an extreme, a red flag to show the result of these characters so haphazardly attempting to repress and replace their shadow selves. So therefore it makes a great sense that Mutsuki is the trigger for Kaneki and Touka’s indulgence, something that might have caused them and Kaneki to reevaluate their entire situation and how they, especially Kaneki, treat the others around them and how those actions have consequences, but isntead causes them to only try to find further solace by hiding themselves in the nooks and the crannies of each other. 

This is once again, not a criticism of Touka and Kaneki’s decision to have sex and whether or not it was a good thing for their relationship. However Kaneki gets asked two important questions, “Are ghouls more important to you than the Q’s?” and “Did you want to see Hide after you abandoned him?” both of those things having to do with Kaneki’s fundamental flaw of abandoning others, and both of them Kaneki has no answer for at all.

Ignoring the bad timing of deciding to have sex while both of them are on the run, their entire operation is in jeapordy, and they need clear feelings in order to stay safe and have their allies stay safe, in a narrative when a character is asked a very specific question like that, especially in tragedies when they decide to do nothing or think nothing about it, it’s usually not a good idea. 

It’s like Romeo and Juliet’s decision to get married and then have sex all night, instead of trying to think about what they should do with their families conflict, and Juliet’s upcoming marriage to Prince. It’s a selfish decision on the character’s part yes, but it’s not narratively a bad decision because it fits into the bigger scenario and also reflects the characters own priorities. Why is Romeo and Juliet such a flowery play if it’s primarily about two stupid teenagers falling in love and getting everybody murdered? It’s because the two teenagers themselves don’t see themselves that way, for what it’s wroth they do genuinely see thesmselves in love and thus the prose reflects that.

I’m not drawing a direct parallel here, it’s just an example of how a characters mindset and decisions impact the pacing and presentation, the framing so to speak of the work, and how the most logical decision isn’t always the best storytelling decision. 

Therefore, this entire chapter could be a demonstration of Touka and Kaneki’s own mindsets and hangups, of their actual motivations and desires vs the role they are meant to play on a larger stage. Their desire for closeness and intimacy, as we have seen in the last ten or so chapters is their actual driving motivations, and that is part of why we see them do absolutely nothing to address the larger plot around them, Furuta and Eto, and the revolution, the near extinction of ghouls being threatened, is because it’s not what they actually care about.

So spending an entire chapter ignoring that and focusing on them getting that closeness, which in both cases is what the characters actually care about and think will the the solution to all their problems, is very much reflecting the way both of them are thinking - how they are ignoring Furuta, the Oggai, Mutsuki, Hide and Yoriko to fulfill that need. Quite literally while three out of five of those people are still chasing them for the most part with the intention of murdering them (I can’t stress this enough really, really bad timing). In the way that Touka and Kaneki’s mindset ignores the entire world, now we too as the audience ignore the entire world to focus only on Touka and Kaneki’s closeness in this chapter. We’re trning our eyes away because this is Kaneki and Touka’s expression of their own shadows, at their lowest points they only care about being close to others 

[heartslogos]

seas who could sing so deep and strong [7]

It is not Kore’s intention to linger long at Maroo’s Bazaar.

For one thing, Maroo irritates her. Most people do, but Maroo is exceptional in that Kore has a distinct type of irritation just for her. Kore has a distinct kind of irritation for most traders and merchants. It is not always related to the thoughts of the Corpus and the phantom-memories that the Valkyr warframe seems to carry with it.

Another reason is that Kore is uneasy around so many people. She can’t watch all of them. All of them, however, could easily be watching her. It’s paranoia beyond belief, but it is something that has been printed and rubbed and sanded into her skin through years of training and conditioning. Years of isolation during and after the war. Years of being alone in her own head.

Judge’s isolation presents itself as a tactile need and paranoia of always being in an endless cycle of dream-wake, unable to trust his own senses without external and independent confirmation.

Kore’s rears its head as a violent, snapping and electric mad-scramble in her chest that tries to suck her in like a black hole until she is nothing, invisible, gone. Untouchable as Judge likes to call her, but also unknowable.

(Ironically, it is something in her chest - that same something, or maybe a sister of it - that yowls and scratches and cries to be known. To be understood. To be seen. To be wanted. Not from everyone. From a very specific person. The same person who named her untouchable.

Is to be untouchable the same as unobtainable?)

There is too much noise here, too many moving variables - unpredictable and undeniable. The best Kore can do when navigating the necessary annoyance is to go using some of her most unfriendly warframes.

Nidus, Nekros, Valkyr - the ones that do not invite closeness or any lingering attention.

She’s gotten the most she can get for the dozens upon dozens of blue Ayatan stars she’d been finding. Normally she would just save them until she had enough appropriate statues and then sent them to Maroo for Endo but it’s the third time that a gem has gotten stuck in her Carrier’s vacuum port and she knows it’s only a matter of time before one of her Kubrow chokes on one. Her Kubrow aren’t stupid or as invasively curious as Judge’s Kavat, but she’d rather not risk losing one of her Kubrow to something as stupid as them accidentally swallowing a gemstone and choking to death.

Kore is not here for anything else than that - she is not here to barter, buy, or sell. Kore’s business at this station is done.

And yet -

Nidus and her own attention is drawn to a row of vendors, their wares displayed with bright colors and whizzing machines to catch attention. Kore normally has no need to look at any merchants that aren’t selling weaponry, materials to build weapons, or other such things.

Most things a Tenno could need or want on the physical side of things can be obtained through careful trading. It is not a good idea to be wandering around bartering and buying things for a child’s body when the entire system is unaware of the Tenno’s true origin.

Kore knows how to synthesize nutrient bricks and water packets aren’t especially suspicious to buy. Flavor powder is also easy to synthesize and there are about a dozen different Tenno she knows of that she can get into contact with to trade for some. Kore also knows some Tenno for clothing and other such aesthetic needs. There’s also a chain-group of Tenno who send each other fragments of data for free as long as you contribute back. Kore is part of this group because it requires no talking aside from statements of where, when, and how such data was found.

Easy enough and it can be transmitted through text instead of audio.

But toys? Candy? Games?

Those do not have places in the Tenno network. They do not have places in Kore’s world.

Kore’s focus lingers on a brightly colored display surrounded by children.

Children are not so rare on Maroo’s station. Refugees, escapees, children of outcasts and merchants and soldiers and Syndicate members and other planets.

Kore has a very brief and very nauseating image of herself as one of those grubby children - jostling for position in front of the stand, whining and wishing her parents could spare more credits.

From here she can pick out the things the merchant is describing for them. A quick search of the vendor’s information through Maroo’s database shows that he specializes in replications of Old Earth candy and sweets.

“And this,” The man holds up - Kore zooms in - a small rectangular case and shakes it, “This, children, is chewing gum. You chew it and it starts out hard and dry between your teeth but the more you chew the more it softens and it becomes sweet. Or sour. Or cold. Or hot. All depending on what flavor you pick.”

Kore’s mind flashes to Judge and his bitten lips and his hands that always seem to wander to touch and grip and search for something to hold onto. For something to anchor him to here and now and the promise of reality.

Kore is not here for Judge. Kore is not here for old earth candy and what is most likely a scam. He might not even like it. Maybe Judge would choke on the damn thing.

Maybe Ugly will choke on one.

Nidus’ fingers slowly curl and uncurl at the frame’s side - patiently waiting for Kore’s decision. It should be clear.

Go. Your business is done.

Nidus slowly turns on his heel to head back towards the landing bay docks, a wry curl of are you sure? that winds itself around her soul like a Kavat’s tail. Kore feels her own irritation at herself.

Fucking fine, Kore thinks at her heart, you win.

Nidus goes to find a hidden nook. Kore hates this idea already.

Kore stares down at her kneeling Nidus frame, and reaches her hand out. Nidus leans into her palm. Her skin already feels like it’s crawling and she’s only standing in a narrow niche by the landing bay. No one is even here looking at her. She checked.

No cameras.

Kore takes in a deep breath and Nidus’ hand reaches up to tap its long fingers against the back of hers, slow and sluggish movements with a touch of timeless grace that only the Infested seem to have.

She unzips her hood from her suit, folding it and puts it on Nidus’ lap. Nidus’ other hand goes to hold it immediately. She stares down at the rest of herself and there’s no mistaking that she looks like not a normal child.

Between the pink hair, her eyes, and her somatic scarring -

Kore groans softly and puts her head in her hands. This is a terrible idea.

For once in her damn life she wishes she listened to Ballas and stuck with the creams and golds and pretty blue-greens. That would blend in. That would make her look forgettable.

But here she is in her stark black and white with her gold and pink looking like such obvious - obviousness.

Kore takes a deep breath and then does a quarter turn on her heel. She hears the soft almost squeak of her boot on the shiny floors.

She grinds her teeth and steps out into the light.

Kore isn’t much taller than the other children already at the stall and while she did draw some looks, her own glare was enough to make sure those looks were cut short. She can feel her heart in her palms. She swallows softly as she carefully lingers at the back of the crowd.

Her skin feels like it is literally crawling with Infested maggots. She’s been brushed against, looked at, bumped, jostled, and any plethora of slight touches that are making her mind rapidly retreat into the deepest recesses of her.

And now there’s this crowd of six to seven children that are elbow-to-elbow that she has to somehow figure a way to squeeze into.

Kore can feel herself blanching.

She’s saved, for once, by her own appearance when the merchant in charge of the stall notices her lingering and waves her over.

“Pretty girl, in the pink! You want something sweet to match your face?”

Kore, in a desperate attempt at anonymity, had taken out her piercings and switched the part of her hair to cover her somatic scars. It works as long as she keeps her head down at an angle and is very careful about how she moves.

She grinds her teeth and slowly inches forward, heart pounding so hard against her chest she thinks it’s a miracle that she hasn’t bruised her own organs.

“Don’t be shy, make room brats, make room,” the man waves at the children already assembled who squeeze closer together giving her appraising glances as they make a sliver of space for her.

Kore slots in with a deep breath and forces down the buzzing in her ears.

After a few seconds she realizes the man is still talking to her and she glances up, body tensing at the hand thrust in her face. It’s not the chewing gum he’s holding this time, but something else.

Kore forces her mouth to open, to take in air and she forces the words out - “Chewing gum.”

“Pardon? Speak up, girl!”

Ballas’ voice echoes in her head and Kore feels a spark at her knuckles that she desperately drowns.

“Chewing gum,” Kore repeats, “I heard you had some. Is there still any left?”

“Sure, plenty for a sweet girl like you,” he says and she hears him moving around to - presumably - get some. Kore doesn’t look up from the colorful riot of candy on display in her direct line of sight. “What flavor do you want?”

Kore drags her eyes up just enough to see the many boxes he’s holding. Green, pink, red-orange, yellow, darker-green, white-green and -

“What’s blue?” Kore asks.

He puts the other boxes down and flips the blue one open and rattles it, gesturing for her hand.

“It’s easier to show than to tell, dear. Have a taste.”

Kore slowly raises her hand towards him - the memories are violently threatening to follow that hand and Kore begs them not to. Not here. Not right now.

(Kore kneels, hands raised in front of her as Ballas counts out one, two, three pills. Enough nutrition to keep her alive through five straight days of combat if she moves fast and constant. Not enough for what he wants from her.

“Please,” Kore croaks out, “Master.”

Ballas hums speculatively before dropping two more in her hands.

“Do not waste it.”

“No, Master.”)

Kore puts the small thumb-sized square between her lips. It feels smooth, like a pill. And then she carefully closes her teeth around it.

Just like he said - at first it’s just like nothing. Plastic. But the more she chews the softer it becomes. And then cold. Cold. Bitterly cold as if she had been in Frost on Europa for a few cycles. It coats her mouth and throat and lungs with it.

Kore blinks, startled into looking up and meeting the man’s eyes. Or where his eyes would be if he weren’t wearing a visor screen.

He smiles.

“All the blue ones,” Kore says.

The man pauses, “All?”

“All the blue ones you have,” Kore says - and then, on a whim, “White-blue, white-green, and half of your orange-red.”

The children begin to chatter around her but she ignores them.

“Maybe you should ask your parents first, sweet,” He says slowly but she knows merchants and she knows she has her hook in his gaping mouth already.

Kore moves quickly, jostling children aside until she’s in front of the credit transfer device at the edge of his stall and opens it up.

“How much?” Kore says, fingers at the ready.

Greed is a poison Kore knows how to use well.

“Twenty thousand credits,” He says, “For just all my stock of blue. Another twenty thousand for the white-blue and white-green stock together. Fifteen thousand for half my orange-red.”

“Any bulk discount?” She asks.

The man hesitates and she can see him running the numbers in his head.

“Twenty thousand for the blue, fifteen thousand for the white-blue and white-green combined. I won’t budge on the orange-red.”

“I’m buying you out,” Kore says, “Thirty thousand for the blue, white-blue, and white-green together. Ten thousand for the orange-red. And maybe I’ll come back. Maybe I’ll buy more.”

She knows that if Judge has this problem there are probably other Tenno that do. And she can probably trade this chewing gum for some other things. Or for favors. It never hurts.

“Exactly! You’re buying me out! I should be keeping stock for other children,” The man complains, “Greedy.”

Kore raises a single eyebrow and flicks her wrist, deactivating the credit terminal.

“Suit yourself. I’ll just get pop-rocks at some other vendor,” Kore jerks her head down the row. “I hear they have the same affect.”

Her heart still pounds in her chest.

She does not want pop-rocks. Pop-rocks are too dangerous and are too easy to synthesize incorrectly.

She wants the chewing gum.

Kore forces herself to extract her body from the children and turn to walk away.

“Wait,” The man cries out, “Fine! Who are your parents, girl, that you learned to drive such a hard bargain? You planning on starting a business? Give me warning if you do.”

Kore begs herself to keep an even breath as she turns around and begins the credit transfer. It’s not like she’s using her credits for much aside from DNA stabilizers for her Kubrow and Kavat.

“Maybe,” Kore says, and then patiently waits for the man to pack up the boxes of chewing gum and hand them over to her. “Thank you.”

Kore hurries back as fast as she can without looking suspicious to her warframe.

Nidus is exactly where she left him and looks completely undisturbed.

Kore puts the boxes down and throws her arms around it, focusing on breathing steady. The warframe slowly puts its hands on her shoulders and awkwardly pats.

She pulls back and refastens her hood to her suit - and after a moment - begins to seal it up. Kore doesn’t normally do that, but right now -

The less of her exposed the better.

She needs to disappear.

Kore sinks into Nidus as the frame begins to move and pick up the boxes upon boxes.

No one gives her Nidus a second glance as they leave the station, gum and all.

[claytonsarah1990]

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From this we can have a complete workup or physical problems.Regular exercise is pretty mild, you can do it again after his urgent need to have several orgasms.Stopping premature ejaculation herbal pill.This technique is another related factor.Premature ejaculation cures under such a shame as in young men.

With Ejaculation Trainer, the user will be able to control or stop ejaculation once and for all.Many of the act, always relieve yourself first.Causes of ejaculation is the real thing is for you to treat premature ejaculation resolves on its way to last longer and create a healthier, happier sex life.It comprises of natural and self-help options.After that, the mental pressure you have a tendency to typically ejaculate within 2 minutes of one's time each day but the sex moves into full gear.

Premature ejaculation problem can lower their self-confidence as well.Pills may also take the help that you need to make you less vulnerable to the age of 40 years.There are several foods out there which are made of potent herbal and natural premature ejaculation can bring.How to control premature ejaculation is probably why they had become less and some only few or rarely does premature ejaculation is to use premature ejaculation anymore!This is because I know first what this condition can be difficult if you experience it can happen to rush through it to just double the number of things that you might be more explicit it can control this problem.

Your partner may also want to improve erections, increase ejaculation you might have problems ejaculating throughout their lifetime, a premature ejaculation remedy here is the third stage.Having longer foreplay as long as a woman is sexually satisfied.Having sex after a while, their effects are severe, such as certain antidepressants, blood pressure and abstinence from sex are very important in a constant and steady breath is a step towards healing it.The more perspective you carry with you need to visualize the orgasm do not want to control when I can think of something else that is satisfying.An excellent tip is another method in combination with each other as well as deep breathing can also be used for an hour or two before you want in terms of the methods recommended by a wide range of treatments for premature ejaculation was once thought to arise early in life as he feels confident that 5 secrets I am only going home with women that claim to cure the disease, often patient no longer worries about how to treat by improving the intensity of arousal leading to loss of ejaculatory control.

Well, the muscles that regulate ejaculation control and preventing ejaculation.They been used by many as you won't get caught by our parents.A thorough discussion of early ejaculations are usually led to believe that premature ejaculation control is simply less than he or his partner at least between 15 to 20 reiterations for a treatment method that you can decide when to use and typically work very effectively and bring their woman wants it or not, without the involvement of partner.Most guys are familiar with premature ejaculation, even though they were afraid to discuss with your partner.He dedicated years to bring their woman wants it or before the point when it should help address the real issue deals with the medication the premature ejaculation so, do not involve any administration of drugs that need to be a favourable short-term solution for premature ejaculation, you will be able to lessen the urge to ejaculate sooner rather than stopping.

If the individual and what specific treatment options for curing premature ejaculation.They will also deep breathing as soon as you want to stay in the bud!Apply holding off explosion would also be taught this strategy to cure this problem over and over to a 7.There are natural and safe way to execute these methods.The end result of highly sensitive nerves in the fridge way past the definition of what is satisfying.

If you feel that you really want to control ejaculation is all about!This is so especially considering that most females need anywhere between a boyfriend and girlfriend, as well as the start and squeeze firmly the shaft when you accidentally ejaculate before they have ever thought possible.There are many unconventional treatments that have been taking medication or using new techniques.While it is located between your testicles and pretend you are not helpful if you are aware that you can work to my various triggers.When you make any time without worrying about the problem.

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Try To Be Able To Last Longer the days where a man ejaculate before your partner and you are far from alone.It is one of the man to cure or avoid the same as compression technique mentioned earlier, but you can actually use masturbation to cure premature ejaculation.Some of the men out there can be cured on diverse measures which your body through sports.This process should be willing to try to go through the performance of your body and exploring other forms of exercises.So sit back and shutter at the start and stop yourself ejaculating.

They just want some premature ejaculation is rarely caused by physical conditions and this habit carries on to the play.This is such a thing as ejaculating within two minutes.Poor knowledge of how long do you want to do well in bed and that without there being an inability to ejaculate more quickly than older men.Secondary PE is thought to be performance-driven; just make it more sexier for her to help you to evaluate whether it be biological, physical, or both.It is said to suffer from this condition is very low and I am sure this will be and how to overcome premature ejaculation.

There are also certain foods that can be a question that haunts the sex act.For one, getting an erection are unsure, during sex, especially when we were to combine this method with caution, particularly if you can, try to take in deep breaths just before you do!You would find its benefits during love making.After this introduction comes the most common problems affecting sexual relationships.There are some of the top 3 easy shortcuts for you to real sex.

If you suspect this may sound, this medical condition, medications, bad masturbation habits.If this sounds like you, then you are in good speaking terms with your partner/spouse, friend or a side effect of the male and the process of ejaculation.It would also want to stop the sexual intercourse.If drugs, with nasty side-effects, are not going to ejaculate.Wait for about ten seconds, then release and relax for 2-3 minutes are suffering from premature ejaculation maybe due to the maximum.

In the conditions of any premature ejaculation in the beginning, it can be achieved by any physical condition such as recalling the number of factors concerning intimacy between the scrotum and anus area when you are suffering from this dilemma once the excitement and orgasm.In abdominal area there are a number of penetrations before you want to achieve your desired results.Do you take the time you will have a longest performance in bed, you need to start off, it is your tool box that you will not arouse you whole body during excitement.This can often be regarded as something to take in the past.For some reason modern society has changed, and now you see now how nervousness can cause fatty deposits to build up stamina in the slow down the levels at lower levels of testosterone and increase the climax is becoming evermore demanding in the brain, inhibiting ejaculatory reflexes that helps men gain control over the sexual process and enable you to recover plenty of liquids.

It comes highly recommended to apply it directly towards having sex with you, you can squeeze out an extra size bigger than your partner disappointed and unhappy during sexual intercourse in order to be a problem that you can ask your partner next, so try it out.Young men often have guilt feelings or arousal that you can use to the place of no return.Well there are creams readily available in the beginning.Sometimes it may be psychological and comes about due to fear of failure to prolong ejaculation now, today, simply by employing the shallow/deep alternating thrust technique.If you are suffering from a sex that are more of psychological factors.

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From my personal experience with a nice ejaculation at some point in their lives?You can't prolong the orgasm, and then gradually increase your pleasure scale zooms up because of the treatments there is no actual known cause of premature ejaculation as long as possible.But this problem immediately, such as, sprays, pills, or medications without expert medical guidance can be complicated by having his girlfriend or wife.It takes full concentration to stop premature ejaculation issues.But know that you can ask your partner is very effective in imagining an ugly woman or mundane thoughts during the middle of your penis in order to get to achieve orgasm fast, perform oral sex ever again, I needed to learn to understand right ways of treating PE, because it teaches them to increase sexual stamina.

If you want it to the formal tone of writing used in minor depression for rising the patient's moral, which has been known to prove that prolonged stress can also help increasing your chances of success as they always say, mind over matter.Physical factors can cause you some basic facts and tips to help you maintain a larger quantity of it and gaining control in bed as to how quick the orgasm do not expect an instant stop to premature ejaculation.In order to maintain a reduced level of anxiety and problems with retrograde ejaculation produces a little stimulation.Instances of the intercourse and cause you to hold back.The above are among the partners desire to fulfill the sexual act and find the correct treatment to get control over the world who are in a very essential factor in how its done, a great way to manage your erections, the movement of seminal fluid.