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sanakoreanlangblr · 4 years

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2021 Goals

Heyy! I’ve decided to put my goals for this year here, hoping that that might motivate me further, and maybe motivate someone else as well. Good luck everyone! And please take extra care of yourselves and your health, mental or otherwise! Everything else can wait.

This year has been difficult for all of us. As for me, even now, the upcoming semester is a big question mark. Currently I’m studying in France, and this semester I was supposed to go on an exchange to Taiwan buuuut that’s not happening anymore, as it has been cancelled. So per my school’s requirements I need to find an internship in the place of expatriation, which is a pain now. And that basically just means I have no idea where I’m going to be in the coming year or what I’m gonna be doing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sorry, needed to complain for a bit, as I am going absolutely insane with the stress…

Anywayyyy, I still hope I will be able to uphold most of these goals, wherever I will end up. I tried to not make them overly big, so that I won’t get burned out too fast. But I have a whole year for those, some of these have dates for which I could expect to finish but I will not keep to them very strictly. Whatever happens, happens :))

Also, sorry if there are any mistakes, English is not my first language!

Korean (A2 -> B1)

1. Do 100 lessons of grammar from the HowToStudyKorean website.

I’ve started a few grammar books but in the end decided to settle on this website as I like its explanations best, and it provides the most example sentences when introducing each point. A nice touch is also the fact that it includes a list of a number of new words before each chapter, which gives me some new vocabulary to learn :)

So far I’ve divided the grammar points introduced in lessons into „to learn”, „to revise”, „already know”, and turns out I have:

66 „to learn”

35 „to revise”

32 „already know”

So if I did 3 points a week, I should be done around August.

2. Read 2 little stories per week from “Easy Korean Reading for Beginners”.

There is 30 stories in the first one (I already did 5), so I should be done by the middle of April.

3. Do one chapter per week from “My first hanja guide”.

I just got this book for Christmas and haven’t had the time to fully go through it so we will see how it goes.

4. Do Anki at least three times a week.

Every day would be preferable but I know that would last like a week at most.

5. Have iTalki lesson at least once a week.

That one is not a problem as I have been doing one or two per week for the last year, but I would just like to keep it up.

6. Try writing at least twice a month, and at least 2 pages.

Yeahhh that one is a bit of a bother, as writing still takes me a long time so we will leave it a twice a month and see how it goes.

7. Watch one youtube video per week on Korean grammar or vocabulary.

Generally I would say my goal is to use Korean more, as I know quite a lot but when I’m speaking I tend to go towards the easier words and grammar, which is why I am thinking that writing more could help me. And also I really want to focus on learning vocabulary as that’s always been a pain for me, I’m more of a grammar lover :))

French (A2 -> hoping for upper B1/ beginning of B2)

1. Finish the intermediate grammar book. I’m currently doing „Grammaire Progressive du Français” Intermediate edition, for A2/B1.

The problem is that my grammar knowledge of french is a mess , so going through this book is a bit of an annoyance, as most chapters I technically know but each time I find some nuance I wasn’t aware of... therefore I need to go through it, even the chapters I would have assumed I know :|

So I divided the chapters the same way I did Korean, into „to learn”, „to revise”, „already know”, and I ended up with:

14 „to learn”

34 „to revise”

4 „already know”

So technically if I did 2 points a week, I should be done in June.

2. Read the two french books I got for Christmas (“Les aventures d’Alice au pays des merveilles” and “Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours”).

3. Read at least two of the Harry Potter books in French.

I have started the first one this week, and I can tell it’s gonna be a very very slow process. It’s the first book I’m reading in french so it’s a bit difficult and frustrating but hopefully it’ll get better as I go along.

4. Watch at least 4 french movies, with french subtitles.

5. Learn a french song.

6. Read one story per week from „French Stories for Beginners”.

These are quite easy, but they are a nice practice for switching to books later on.

I don’t know if I’m gonna keep this one in, depends on how much my reading of actual books will progress.

7. Get to point 5 on the Duolingo tree.

I use Duolingo mostly as a revision tool, so I’m not really going to focus on it much, but still want to keep it up.

8. Watch one YouTube video per week (on any topic).

9. Listen to two podcasts per month.

10. At least one iTalki lesson per week.

11. Do Anki at least 3 times a week.

I really need to listen to french more, as I’m good at reading and I usually understand that pretty well, and I’m not the worst as speaking, but I am absolutely terrible at listening :| So that’s a priority.

Chinese (tbh I don’t know...end of HSK1/Beginning of HSK2 -> let’s say the goal is HSK3 for this year)

1. Finish the book „Integrated Chinese”

I’m having a tough time to pick a book from which to learn but I guess for now I’ll continue with that one.

Again, I divided the points in the book to „to learn”, „to revise”, „already know”, and ended up with:

47 „to learn”

11 „to revise”

15 „already know”

So doing 2 a week I should be done in July.

2. Learn 15 characters a day

I am way behind on learning characters.. I remember the words well but I didn’t put enough time to learn the characters at the start and now that’s gonna be a bit annoying to catch up on :|

3. Finish the drama „Go Ahead”.

4. Watch 3 Chinese movies, with both English and Chinese subtitles.

5. Have one Italki lesson per week.

6. Learn a children song in Chinese

7. Watch one youtube video per week on grammar.

8. Do Anki twice a week.

Generally focus more on characters. My speaking isn’t terrible (well besides the tones), but I need to work on the grammar a bit more as I seem to mess up the structures quite frequently. I need to put more work outside of my lessons. Since I found out I’m actually not going to Taiwan this semester my motivation has fallen a bit, but on the other hand I now have more time to prepare for fall, at which point I will hopefully be able to go!

Personal

Read 20 books.

I have always loved reading but in the past two years the amount of books I’ve read has gone down, which upsets me a bit… On the other hand the amount of fanfiction I’ve read is tremendous, so there’s that. However I would like to make more effort to read this year, especially since I’ve accumulated a huge pile of books over those few years.

2. Workout regularly.

Right now I’m at home, so that should be easy to do. I don’t really know what’s gonna happen this semester, so we’ll see what I’m going to do about that later.

3. Eat better.

Meaning: cut down on sugar, eat more veggies and fruit.

4. Get a bit closer to my ideal weight

I’m not necessarily focusing on that this year as the previous one has been hell and really managed to deteriorate my mental health back to high school levels... but still hopefully working out a bit and eating less sugar, more veggies, I will be able to lose a tiny bit of weight. But overall I just want to focus on being a bit healthier.

5. Clean out my wardrobe

Sorry that’s a silly one but I’ve been getting to it for half a year now and I’m just too lazy to do that... maybe once I put it here I will have some motivation

6. Take care of my face and hair

So my sensitive skin hates wearing masks and needs extra care these days I need to really focus on it and baby it, to not go back to the awful red mess it was two months ago

As for my hair, I have kind of 3a curls which I haven’t been taking care of properly and plus I damaged them with hair dye (still I refuse to give up ginger hair, I blame Merida). So now during lockdown and quarantine season I finally had some time to read up on hair care of curls, and honestly after a month I can already see the difference, and well I hope for the best :)))

7. Get a tattoo

It’s something I’ve always put off since I either didn’t have the money or time. And now again both are problematic, so I will wait for the decision until I know what my school semester is going to be like. Maybe this time I will find a good moment! (Although honestly saving up for travelling after all this is over is also a great idea :))) )

8. Don’t go to sleep at 5

Yeah so during lockdown and because of online classes my sleeping schedule got so messed up I don’t even know what to do about it anymore. And while my goal isn’t to switch it to 10 pm, cutting it to 2 am at max would be nice

9. Watch 25 movies

10. Sell/donate the things that I don’t need

I’ve accumulated a huge pile of books, movies, CDs, Xbox games, art products - that I need to get rid of - and I’ve been saying that for like three years now, about the same pile of things. I will try to do that one this year!

I hope everyone’s 2021 will be a ton better than 2020! Keep fighting!

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trensu · 5 years

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Episode 29: The One where WWX is the Grandmaster of Self-Loathing and It Kills Me

~THEIR SONG~ IS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND ALREADY

WHICH MEANS WE’RE STARTING THE EPISODE WITH QUALITY WANGXIANTICS

Actually the whole episode has High Quality wangxiantics and then it guts you with depressing feelings ahahaha

bc apparently we’re not allowed to have nice things without Suffering™

So they’re sharing a meal at some meal-selling place in Yiling (idk guys, is it a winehouse? a teahouse?? An inn??? DOESN’T MATTER)

Lwj and wwx are sitting on either side of the table looking somber

I guess they’re feeling awkward maybe??

Idk why, it’s weird

A-Yuan starts frolicking around lwj and wwx gets all antsy about it

He’s all hey, stop bothering lan zhan, come here!

And A-Yuan is all like, NO, I DON’T WANNA and clambers oNTO LWJ’S LAP

IT’S TOO ADORABLE

Wwx starts to scold him but lwj is like NO NO, THIS IS FINE

Wwx teases a-yuan

He’s all, oh, i see how it is, you’ll just chuck me to the side for anyone who’s willing to buy you stuff, huh?

Like i said before, a-yuan is a smart cookie

Then a-yuan takes a seat and goes to town on a bowl of soup.

I understand, a-yuan, i love soup too.

And then he calls wwx to get his attention SO HE CAN SPOON-FEED HIM A BIT OF HIS SOUP AND IT’S TOO CUTE

Wwx is like, oh, so you DO still love me!

Lwj watches this go down and then informs A-Yuan very somberly of the lan fam rule “no talking during meals”

That’s RIGHT

LWJ JUST DAD’D THE HECK OUT OF HIM

A-yuan continues to chow down on his food but definitely stops talking

Wwx is offended and aghast that a-yuan obeys lwj so easily and he complains to lwj that he has to repeat himself SEVERAL TIMES before a-yuan listens to him

Lwj: silence during meals. You too.

Wwx just smiles at the ridiculous rule and continues talking

Wwx: you haven’t changed one bit.

Wwx: you know, i know my way around this town, i can be your tour guide!!

Lwj pointedly does not take him up on his offer AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY, IT’S NOT LIKE HE DOESN’T WANT TO SPEND EVERY WAKING MOMENT WITH WWX ANYWAY

Wwx: lan zhan, you’re a terrible liar. You aren’t in town for me, are you?

And still lwj doesn’t respond???

IT’S BECAUSE OF THAT STUPID LAN FAM RULE, ISN’T IT??

TALK TO YOU SOULMATE, DAMN IT

WHO CARES IF YOU’RE HAVING A MEAL WHILE YOU’RE AT IT

Wwx: you know, i was gonna invite you over to my place but if you’re just gonna nag at me about my demonic cultivation and how i should meditate or whatever, then forget about it

Wwx: i can control myself! I don’t need anyone to save me.

Lwj: wei ying

Wwx: lan zhan, i finally bump into someone i know who doesn’t try to avoid me...it’s been a boring couple of months, why don’t you tell me about any big events happening?

Lwj: what do you mean by big events?

Wwx: idk, like if there’s any new clans or if any clans expanded or made new alliances...just chit chat! Anything is fine.

Lwj: a marriage

Wwx: a marriage? Which clans?

he sounds so excited to get some juicy gossip here

It’s not gonna last long

Lwj: the jin clan and jiang clan

Wwx: do you mean my sister---Lady Jiang and Jin Zixuan?

Oh god it HURTS

He corrected himself when he called jyl his sister

BECAUSE HE’S NOT PART OF THEIR CLAN ANYMORE

And then he plasters on a smile TO HIDE HOW HURT HE IS THAT THIS IS ALL HAPPENING WITHOUT HIM and asks when the wedding will be

WHICH TURNS OUT TO BE TWO WEEKS AWAY

And his face iS ALL SAD AND HE’S STILL TRYING TO MUSTER UP SMILES

He’s all, such a big event and jc didn’t even try to tell me about it!

Wwx: even if he told me about it, what could i do then? I defected officially and have no ties to them. What could i do if he had told me?

Wwx: *chugs wine*

Alcohol, wwx, we’ve talked about the alcohol thing. Please stop drinking.

LWJ CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT HIM RIGHT NOW BC HIS SOULMATE IS HURTING AND THERE’S NOTHING HE CAN DO TO MAKE IT BETTER

Wwx: lan zhan, what do you think about this marriage? Oh, right, you don’t care about this sort of thing.

Wwx: i know everyone says that my sister doesn’t deserve jzx, but in MY eyes, that peacock doesn’t deserve her!

He slams down his wine jar and his voice gets all upset

And little a-yuan reaches out and grabs wwx’s wrist TO COMFORT HIM, PRECIOUS DARLING BABY

Wwx: She deserves the best man in the world!! JC and i promised her a grand wedding that would be remembered forever!! No other wedding would compare!!

Wwx: and it doesn’t even matter because i won’t be able to go anyway.

AND HE HAS THE SADDEST SMILE ON HIS FACE

Obviously he takes another swig of wine here because alcohol makes everything better in wwx’s book, which is a lie but since when does anyone listen to me

Lwj: wei ying

And lwj was about to say something else but they get interrupted by wwx’s home alarm talisman informing him that’s something going down in the burial mounds

So wwx grabs a-yuan and dashes out the door

Lwj is quick enough on his feet to remember to pay for the meal and grab a-yuan’s toys (very important, very important, it’s why a-yuan likes him right now) and then follows wwx

Wwx: lan zhan, why are you following us??

Lwj: wei ying, where’s your Magic Ghostbusting Sword?

Wwx: uhhhh...i forgot it at home?

Lol, lwj doesn’t even bother to respond to that. He just grabs a-yuan and runs with wwx all the way back to the burial mounds

OH NO, THERE’S RESENTFUL ENERGY EVERYWHERE BEATING PEOPLE UP AND MAKING A MESS OF THINGS

Holy crap, wwx does this really impressive Dramatic Twirl and magically slams the resentful energy away

HE’S SUCH A BADASS

IT’S ALL IN THE ~TWIRL~ BABY

Lwj hands a-yuan off to granny while wwx gets the low-down

Turns out Wen Ning sort of woke up but is not, like, all there or smth idk

It’s sad seeing wen ning all violent and mean like this when he’s such a gentle soul :(

ON THE PLUS SIDE, we get to see wwx and lwj work together to save him!!

Surprisingly, the flying here is not super cringey, it’s only mildly awful

LWJ HAS GOT HIS GUQIN OUT AND PROCEEDS TO GUQIN THE HECK OUT OF WEN NING

Also, i love how it kind of looks like he “powers up” his guqin attack by making that circular motion over the strings? The accompanying music from that motion really makes it seem like it’s charging up. I like it.

While lwj is guqin’ing wen ning to stay in one place, wwx goes ninja-fast and slaps like, ALL the talismans on wen ning and activates them simultaneously

And between the two of them, they manage to save wen ning from being a mindless zombie forever!! I mean, he’s still a zombie but he’s got his mind back! EVERYONE’S REALLY HAPPY, INCLUDING ME.

Wwx to wen ning: how are you feeling?

Wn: i feel like crying

LOL ME TOO WN THAT’S USUALLY HOW I FEEL LIKE WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME THAT

Wn: ...but i can’t

Oh.

I take back my lol

Not being able to cry when you want to is actually super depressing.

Lwj: you did it *is impressed*

Wwx: of course! I’m a man of my word. Hey, since you’re already here, why don’t you visit for a bit?

Cut to wwx and lwj walking into the cave that wwx calls home

Lwj: ...it’s called the demon-subdue palace?

Wwx: YEP! I named it myself!!

Wwx: now, i know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking it’s a terrible name, BUT THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE WRONG

Wwx: see, i know everyone thinks i’m, like, evil or whatever and this is the place i sleep most often.

Wwx: a cave with a demonic man lying down in it all the time? Of course it should be called demon-subdue palace lololol

Me: *facepalm* stop….stop naming things, wwx.

Wwx: let me show you around!

I would like to point out that they walk past the ONE BED in the cave to start the tour

This ONE BED in this SPECIFIC CAVE has featured in many a wonderful fic! And should continue to feature in many more wonderful fics

Wwx: this here is my Blood Pool! It’s where i heal up and buff my stats, just like you have your Cold Spring! Except mine has water that smells like blood and comes out of that creepy giant stone face thing

Lwj looks rightfully concerned

And also, i am offended on his behalf that wwx would compare this creepy ass pool to the cold spring. How very dare.

Oh man, they’re about to have a Serious Conversation

BUT IT’S BETTER THAN THEIR LAST SERIOUS CONVERSATION

Because this time they actually talk things out

(see, lwj can learn from his mistakes!)

Lwj: wei ying...can you really control it?

Wwx: control what? Wen ning? Of course I can! Look at him, he’s all better!

Lwj: what if he loses himself again?

Wwx: i’m a pro at handling his rampages now. As long as i have Plot Device 2, nothing will happen to him!

Lwj: but what if something happens to you or Plot Device 2?

Wwx: it won’t

Lwj: how can you be sure?

Wwx: it won’t and it can’t!

Lwj: you want to keep it this way from now on?

Wwx: what’s wrong with that? Don’t underestimate this land! It’s bigger than YOUR land and the food here tastes better too!

Lwj: wei ying, you know what i mean

Wwx: lan zhan, i’m trying to avoid the topic and you keep talking about it!!

Then their Serious Conversation gets derailed bc wwx starts coughing. Which might not seem like a big deal but it is

Lwj: your injuries…

And here lwj grabs at wwx’s wrist but wwx yanks it back real fast

Bc the wrist is where they check for spiritual energy or smth and we all know wwx doesn’t have that anymore, since he GAVE UP HIS GOLDEN CORE

Wwx: no need. Why use spiritual energy for such a small wound. I can just sit here and let it heal on its own

LOL, WE’RE GETTING A FUN BIT HERE TO MAKE UP FOR ALL THAT SERIOUS STUFF BEFORE

Wen Qing walks in and is all, what, my badass doctor skills aren’t good enough for you? I could totally heal you

Wwx: what are you doing here interrupting my date with lwj. Are you done crying already?

Wq: i’ll make you cry

Wwx: pffft, yeah right

Wq: *goes and hits wwx in the back*

Wwx: *coughs up blood*

Yeahhh, i wouldn’t want to go toe-to-toe with wen qing unless she asked me to and then i would happily do whatever she wanted

Wwx: you’re so cruel! *swoons like some maiden*

Lwj: wei ying! *catches him all gallantly*

WWX YOU LITTLE FAKER, YOU JUST WANTED LWJ TO HOLD YOU

And we know this bc wen qing pulls out her Very Scary Medical Needles and wwx wisely RUNS AWAY even tho he was all “passed out” two seconds before

And after that fun bit, the show makes me sad about tea somehow. I don’t even like tea.

Wwx is all, wen ning, why are you serving our guest water?? How embarrassing, go get the tea!

And wen ning is all, but there’s no tea??

Then wwx is like, well we gotta get tea for next time we have guests

There’s a hella awkward pause

Wwx: that’s right, we won’t have any more guests…

THIS STUPID SHOW IS GIVING ME FEELINGS ABOUT TEA

MY ONE TEA OBSESSED FRIEND HAS BEEN TRYING TO MAKE ME FEEL STUFF FOR TEA FOR YEARS WITH NO SUCCESS

AND THIS, LIKE, TWO MINUTE SCENE MADE ME SAD ABOUT TEA

Anyway.

We cut to the next scene which has wwx walking lwj out of the burial mounds and we’re getting another Serious Conversation

Wwx: lan zhan, you asked me if i intended to keep things the way they are now. Tbh, i also would like to know what else i could do besides this.

Wwx: give up my crafty tricks and turn over Plot Device 2? What happens to the Wens? Do i turn them in? I can’t do that.

Wwx: i believe if you were me, you wouldn’t be able to do that either

WHY IS HE SUCH A GOOD PERSON. WWX IS BETTER THAN ALL THE OTHER CULTIVATORS PUT TOGETHER

Wwx: can anyone give me any better options? One where i can protect those i want to protect without using demonic cultivation?

He says this so passionately. HE JUST WANTS TO PROTECT PEOPLE. HE’S WILLING TO DO OTHER THINGS IF IT MEANS HE CAN STILL PROTECT PEOPLE BUT HE CAN’T!!! AND I AM DISTRESSED.

Lwj doesn’t say anything in response.

He knows wwx is right and there’s nothing he can do to make things better for him

Wwx: lan zhan, thank you for your company today. And thank you for telling me about my sister’s wedding

HE SAYS THIS WITHOUT LOOKING AT LWJ AND HE LOOKS LIKE EVERY WORD HIS HURTING HIM BECAUSE THEY’RE ALL WORDS HE’S USING TO SAY GOODBYE AND HE DOESN’T WANT TO SAY GOODBYE TO LWJ.

And before i can start crying, A-Yuan appears to make me feel better!!!

He’s latched onto lwj’s leg again (bc i mean, honestly, who wouldn’t??)

And he’s asking lwj to stay for dinner!!

Wwx: a-yuan come here. Lan zhan has his own food at home. He won’t be eating with us here.

A-yuan: but i heard a secret! I heard there was going to be lots of tasty food today!

Wwx scolds a-yuan for half a second before turning to look at lwj WITH THE MOST HOPEFUL EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE

HE WANTS LAN ZHAN TO STAY FOREVER FOR DINNER TOO

But for some unfathomable reason lwj looks at a-yuan and says that he is leaving.

WHY

YOU WANT TO STAY THERE TOO

WHY MUST YOU TWO MAKE THINGS SO DIFFICULT FOR ME YOURSELVES

Wwx gives this stiff, sharp nod like, yeah, of course of course, i knew that, this doesn’t kill me inside AT ALL

Lwj walks off and wwx + a-yuan make their way towards the burial mounds

A-yuan: will the rich man ever visit us again?

Wwx: what rich man?

A-yuan: the one from just now!

Wwx yoinks the toy butterfly from a-yuan’s hand here

Wwx: you really like him that much, don’t you?

And he holds the toy out of reach and teases him

A-yuan: give it back! He bought that for me

Wwx: no! I won’t give it back until you say i’m your favorite

And this entire adorable scene is being watched by lwj who is just a ways away

I’d say he’s lurking like a creeper, but Hanguang-jun is too honorable and handsome to be called a creeper by anyone ever.

BUT he is lurking.

He looks all solemn

A-yuan tells wwx what he wants to hear and gets his toy back.

Unfortunately wwx’s distraction tactic didn’t work

A-yuan: so will the rich man come back or not?

Wwx: probably not

A-yuan: Why??

Wwx: there’s no reason why. In this world, everyone has their own paths to walk.

A-yuan: oooh

Lol, he nods like yeah, i totally understand what you’re telling me bc i’m a big kid who can know things. HOW CUTE!

AND HERE WE GET THAT QUOTE. THAT IMPORTANT ONE. THE ONE THAT IS LATER USED AS A PUBLIC LOVE CONFESSION.

Wwx: who needs the crowded, broad avenue? I’ll stick to my single-log bridge until it’s dark.

Lwj is still here, watching. And he hears wwx say this.

Lwj doesn’t turn to walk away for real until wwx and a-yuan are out of sight

HE WANTED TO SEE THEM FOR AS LONG AS HE COULD

I’M TOTALLY NOT TORN UP ABOUT THIS

I’M CHILL AND COLLECTED FOR REAL

Then we cut to wwx arriving back at the demon-subdue palace where there’s a surprise dinner party!!

AND A-YUAN GETS SO ADORABLY EXCITED OVER THE ABUNDANCE OF FOOD, I LOVE IT SO MUCH i get excited about food too, a-yuan!!

This whole thing here is very sweet and this is when we really see wwx accept the wens as his family rather than as his moral obligation

As the @theuntamednarrator said, they gave him homemade liquor! That’s the one guaranteed way to our sunshine boy’s heart!!

It’s all super sweet, like i said, until wwx gets himself plastered. Then it takes a turn towards the Hella Depressing.

I really want to skip over it because it really is HELLA DEPRESSING AND STILL MAKES ME LEGIT CRY ACTUAL TEARS EVERY TIME I WATCH IT

but i can’t because it’s got some wangxiantics and this is a wangxiantics guide

So everyone at the dinner party drinks until they pass out, basically.

Except for wen qing, who is completely sober, and wwx who is an alcoholic with an inhumanly high tolerance apparently

He’s all flushed and red-eyed tho

Wwx: wen qing, the first time i saw Lan Zhan was when i snuck Emperor’s Smile into the Cloud Recesses

He laughs here, remembering; it’s all cute here for a bit.

Wwx: it’s too bad you didn’t see his face, his stony face...but the emperor’s smile is really good. I wonder if i’ll ever get a chance to drink it again

And his entire demeanor changes here. He started out more or less cheerfully reminiscing about his first meeting with lwj but in that last bit his whole posture droops and he gets the saddest look on his face

Wen qing notices this, but is kind enough to pretend not to by focusing on wiping down that table.

Wwx: i’m a good for nothing

OH GOD

Wwx: i promised my sister i would help her hold the most splendid wedding in the world

FUCK, HERE COME MY TEARS

And wen qing fucking freezes here eVEN SHE KNOWS THIS IS GONNA HURT

Wwx: but now, i can’t even attend the wedding

Wwx: i’m completely useless, i am completely useless

SHIT, GOD DAMN IT, I DON’T FUCKING WANT TO CRY WHERE ARE THE GOD DAMN TISSUES

Wwx: i am completely useless

HAVE MERCY, HAVE MERCY ON MY POOR HEART, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

So while i’m fucking sobbing out every ounce of moisture in my body, we cut to the cloud recesses and we see lwj kneeling in front of a set of closed doors

(we’re not going to dwell too long on that because i’m already in fucking shambles from two seconds ago and i can’t handle any more Family-Related Sadness right now)

He’s on his knees, with his arms outstretched holding two long, heavy bamboo sticks

There are disciples scurrying around and avoiding the scene, like oh shit, better not get in the middle of that

Lwj’s head is ever so slightly bowed, still as a statue, and completely blankfaced

And we get ~their song~ BUT WITH VOCALS THIS TIME

THE FIRST TIME WE HEAR THE VOCALS WITHIN THE SHOW

YOU KNOW

THE VOCALS THAT ARE SUNG BY THE ACTORS PLAYING OUR BELOVED LWJ AND WWX???

YEAH

THOSE VOCALS

BECAUSE I WASN’T FEELING ENOUGH INTENSE EMOTION YET

The scene starts off in the daylight and we see him enduring this punishment

HOURS go by bc it’s dark and there’s a good inch of snow accumulated around him by the time some random lan cultivator dismisses him

Lwj gets up GRACEFULLY (bc that is his default mode, i guess?? HOW??) and there’s a literal patch on the ground completely devoid of snow bc that’s how long and still he kneeled there for, holy shit.

And he walks away calmly

There’s no more wangxiantics in this episode

But show-runners decided they didn’t want to COMPLETELY DESTROY OUR SOULS just yet so they give us an anticlimactic but kind of cute ending to the episode

We get to see that there are “yiling patriarch disciples” who are actually frauds in terrible cosplay trying to sell mediocre talismans at high prices

and wwx is all “who the heck are these guys, wait, i don’t actually care”

We get to see that the wens are slowly starting to prosper in their little corner of the burial mounds

Also, somebody built a shrine and left food offerings at the entrance to the burial mounds?? Which, hey, wwx doesn’t say no to free food and neither do i because what kind of crazy person turns down free food??

And, i mean, that’s basically it?? Like i said super anticlimactic

SO WHO ELSE HERE IS SITTING IN A PUDDLE OF TEARS NOW? ANYBODY?? ANYBODY???? PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME CRYING BY MYSELF, THAT WOULD BE PATHETIC, I CAN’T HELP IT IF I HAVE A HEART FULL OF FEELINGS

Return to Masterpost

#WangXiantics #wangxian #the untamed #cql

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vintage-tech · 5 years

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off-topic: Office Space 2 - The Rebirth Of Initech

This does not exist. It’s a thought experiment I’m having right now and I would love your input on the concept. Fair warning: if Hollywood uses these idea for a sequel and Mike Judge does not give me a cut, I’ll be doing my Milton imitation and I don’t mean regarding owning a red Swingline.

It’s a few years later. While the first movie ends with Initech’s building in ashes and rubble, the company had owners and shareholders so at the corporate level continued to exist. As the second movie begins we see Initech (which eventually set up shop in a nearby office building, possibly the 15-story one that was built on the old Initech building’s site) being sold to another company. Lumburgh is still the big boss at Initech’s new location, as a salaried employee he was one of the few people that kept their job and continued onto the new office (along with Nina, the phone jockey), but he begins to find out that the new corporate overlords have plans for Initech that will end the company. (I have not fleshed out what this is, but you can picture Lumburgh standing outside a meeting room door listening as two bigwigs discuss their plans to drive the company into the ground, laughing about it; he’s looking nervous and wide-eyed while holding his coffee cup tightly.)

Lumburgh is determined to save the company he loves (or his job anyway) and after racking his brain thinks of the only person he knows who has the mettle it would take to push back on the corporate overlords: Peter. Cut over to Peter, who is still working for that demolition company with his neighbor Lawrence but has advanced to being a benevolent site supervisor -- he still pushes a shovel but he oversees others on jobs, which he considers the happy medium between his simplified new life and being a manager (which is something he’d hate) and doesn’t aspire to climb higher. Lumburgh has tried to call him repeatedly, which made Peter wonder why though he won’t listen to the messages to find out, so we get this scene where Peter is pausing in his work to give someone direction and looks up to see Lumburgh with that puppydog-eyes look standing there. He naturally wants nothing to do with Bill Lumburgh but there’s something about that pathetic pained look that was totally not like the Lumburgh he always despised. “Peter... um, yeah... I need your help.” Cut to a table at Chotchkes: Peter hears Lumburgh out, and (I don’t have this detail yet either) there’s something in what Lumburgh shares that actually matters to Peter and his friends, like possibly the new company has found a way to retract the money Initech had paid into the former employees’ futures (retirement, pension, that sort of thing). Peter agrees to think about helping, but first he must consult friends... Michael and Samir.

At the end of the first movie, Michael and Samir had gone to work for Initech’s competition. Getting them onboard with helping Initech, let alone Lumburgh, leads to a lot of profanity-laced shouting about “why should we help that assclown?!” Peter tells them about the financial part. Michael has his “oh, wait... They can’t do that! Can they?” moment. He’s onboard when he concludes it’s his money and he’s going to need it in 20 years. Samir works it out that while he doesn’t care if he loses that part of his money because he’s doing just fine nowadays, he realizes this affects everyone else from the office, some of which he knows are not so lucky and this would destroy them. He agrees to help. The three of them meet with Lumburgh to find out about the new Initech and figure out what they can do to take the company back, discussing the new computer system that has been instituted.

(Again, I haven’t worked out the details but I think it would go roughly like this...) As the manager of the site Lumburgh has access to the server room though computers are not really his thing and IT tries to keep him away from their workings routinely, but half the time he wouldn’t know the difference whether something he ordered was done or not. Samir and Michael have put together a worm program fairly similar to the first movie’s injection since it’s based on the same code (Michael holds up a 3.5″ floppy and says “I still have it”) but they’ve triple-checked their coding to make sure there isn’t a dropped decimal point and ported it into the language used by current system, which Samir complains about the complexity of doing that conversion without a complete rewrite. Lumburgh has to sneak around past the IT people to get into the server room, plugs a USB thumbdrive into a terminal, and follows the written directions Peter had given him... this is a funny scene, trust me. He then has to sneak out and try to act naturally and his usual jerky self.

The code injection filters unnoticed fractions of cents off of every transaction into a bank account, as expected, while at the same time deducting fractions of cents from some other aspect of Initech’s bookkeeping. No money is actually being taken away from Initech, but the appearance is that they are being less profitable... but again, a little miscalculation in the loss rate calculation caused by the porting into the new language results in the accounting showing within two months they are losing money a bit more quickly than expected. Corporate tries things to right-size the loss but it’s not working, it keeps growing no matter how much business Initech does. The cents-skimmer part of the code is doing its job, but due to how the corporate system works it’s skimming money from every transaction the entire corporation does rather than just the ones from Initech as they had intended. Like in the first movie but amplified, everyone is freaking out about how the bank’s balance is in the millions rather than the tens of thousands.

This brings us to the big scene: Corporate doesn’t know there are bugs, and instead of raiding the coffers like they had intended they are looking for a way to ditch Initech. Corporate is talking about shutting down Initech, so Lumburgh steps up and claims he knows someone that wants to buy the company. Peter, Samir, and Michael puts on suits to meet with the corporate overlords as a representative of a ‘venture group’. Peter offers the $30 million that is in the siphon account, a fire-sale price for Initech, which the corporation begrudgingly accepts because they need to unload Initech NOW. Next scene, four months later, we’re touring Initech’s office and Peter, Samir, and Michael are discussing how they bought the company using the corporation’s own money, how the old computer system was restored and right before the corporate IT department took their server out Samir had removed the worm, and how Lumburgh had left the company a month after the sale was finalized because he realized that he now worked for the guys and his golden parachute was that chunk of money which was the difference between the purchase price and when the skimmer worm was removed.

Closing scene: Milton is still sitting on the beach at Cabo San Lucas, muttering about the big grains of salt on his margarita, when Lumburgh saunters down to the chair next to Milton on the other side of the umbrella table and in his usual voice says “hello, Milton... whaaat’s happening?... Iiii’m gonna have to ask you *stretch* if I can share this table with you. Yeahhh.”

#office space #fan fiction #or hey maybe Hollywood might bogart it #sequel #not vintage #but the movie came out in 1999 #so it's nearly vintage

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ramonaflowersflowers · 5 years

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“Oh Fuck your feelings

Truth is only hearsay

We're just left to decay

Modernity has failed us”

— Love It If We Made It, The 1975

Yesterdays was a blassssssssst. We went to the 1975 /ABIIOR tour. It was one of the highlights of my year. Every song makes you just want to dance. It's amazing that everyone in the crowd was so into the live music. I love those moments when you can just shout the lyrics and no one cares because everybody does the same. It's euphoric. I wish I could live in those moments forever. I love jumping, swaying and singing along to the songs that I knew from the heart for yearsss. I have love the band for five years now. They still leave me in awe. They still surprise me. They make me enjoy music and helps me forget the stress of the reality. And I kinda pity those who are missing out on this amazing band. They just don't play music, they make their music an instrument to give attention about what the society needs to pay attention to. Like lgbt things, youngsters being controlled by the old and government stuff I can't even comprehend. I love how eloquent their lyrics are. I feel smart just by listening to them. Don't even let me start talking about the riffs. We'll be here all day. I love them so much and if I could watch them again I fucking bet my life on it.

Oh I was also hoping I would see her or maybe she'll contact me so we can meet at the venue but she didn't. And I didn't do the same. So we are just another wandering soul again. I miss her but maybe I need to accept it was a dead end from the start. ~0912

Ps. It was also my father's birthday , but will celebrate on saturday so yeahhh

#2019

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theabominableblogger · 6 years

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My Reaction to “Gotham” S5E6

*sighs*

AN: I managed to record my reactions to this episode and hopefully I can transcribe what I said into this post.

*does the spirit fingers during the FOX logo for Hulu*

*imitates the Epic Voice Trailer guy doing the Gotham commercials*

“Everybody, raise your glasses to the killer of Jeremiah Valeska!” *shakes head* Noooo...

*Recaps shows Jim kissing Barbara* God... no...

So far, I actually do like Shane West as Eduardo. It’ll be interesting to see how he does Bane.

“Walker wants Ed Nygma taken out.” Are we ever gonna see Walker?

*Recap shows Jim sliding down the chute to escape Eduardo* YEET

*Recap shows Ed going after Jim* YEET

WHOA

Oh this starts off like right afterwards!

GO GO GO GO GO GO

Oh this camera is awesome! And I know Ben McKenzie directed this episode too so... dang!

Oh and it’s one shot too! Shit!

*gasps when Jim gets shot at through an abandoned car*

*Jim gets clipped in the neck* Ooooohhh!

“Your chances at survival are astronomically low, James.” That sounds so weird.

Also, how is Ed able to keep up with Jim?

*Jim searches for medical supplies in an abandoned ambulance* Jimm, what are you doing?!?

*gasps when Ed tries to strangle Jim with a medical tube*

*gasps when Jim uses the AED to short out Ed* OOHHHHHHHHH!!!

*jaw drops* WHAA--

SHOOT... JIM!! WHAA-

*gasps in delight* Edward! I love that dog so much.

“Cash and jewels aplenty/ Sparkle in the sky/ Five and ten and twenty/ time to say bye bye!” *gasps* Magpie!

Her voice is giving Jeremiah’s Tim Curry impression a run for his money!

“Penguin! Didn’t think you’d miss a couple things. Couple things go missing all the time!” I love her already.

*says “Bang bang!” along with Magpie*

*gasps when the double Magpie gives Oswald starts heating up* What?!?

“Who... the hell... WAS THAT?!?” *laughs*

“What did I do?” “Tried to kill me.” “Oh... is that all?” *scoffs in hilarity*

“I need answers, Ed. I know Walker gave the orders to destroy Haven and the supply helicopter.” OK, so it was Ed who also took down the chopper!

Oooohhh, Bruce lookin’ sharp! With the coat.... oooohhh!!

“What is it?” Wh-what?

“No, it’s just this unit. Their motto is ‘Born in Blood.’” Wait, Alfred knows Eduardo’s unit? What?

“Where’s Captain Gordon?” Shooot, man!

*Some of the soldiers try to escort Bruce and Alfred out* Uh-uh! Don’t you dare!

Oh yeah, like that’s gonna keep them down there-

*Bruce and Alfred take out the soldiers in the hallway* OHH GO! YES! YES!

“Bruce hit me up on the radio a little while ago, looking for you. Said things are a mess in the GCPD.” OK wow, so like everybody’s in contact with each other. Wow!

“But you [Jim] have me [Barbara].” “And me [Ed].” “I [Jim] don’t trust you-” *laughs*

“Can I [Barbara] just help?” “Not you, not usually.” *sits back in doubt*

“So where’s that first aid kit?” *laughs* Ed’s like “I don’t wanna interrupt you two doing whatever but I’m gonna go make myself useful!”

“I’d [Eduardo] listen to her, Jim.” Shiit!

Mmmmmm.... dang it!

What the heck is PSYOPS?

AN: Oh my God...

“Civilians? This hellhole is infested with criminals and terrorists. Sometimes you just have to clean house, you know?” Ohhhhh God

“I’m not dead yet.” I’m still not dead yet!

*gasps when Ed marches in to kill Jim*

Ohhh it’s a fake out!

“If I die... you’ll never get... the evidence!” *laughs* Jim, your fake acting... is amazing.

*gasps when Ed throws a cleaver into one of the soldier’s heads* Ooohhhh my God!

*Jim and Ed leap over the bar table* YEET

*gasps when a bunch of injured robbers run by Oswald*

*chuckles at Selina eating cereal*

Oh my God... she’s eating Cocoa Pebbles!

*Oswald finds some fingers near Selina* Oh my God.

“I [Selina] killed Jeremiah Valeska.” Sure Jan.

This kinda feels like a filler episode so far but it’s... not.

“White hair, feathered collar, kinda resembles a goth chicken?” *giggles*

“What makes you [Oswald] think I [Selina] would help you after you killed Tabitha in cold blood?” *gasps* Shoot, she did find out! Barbara probably told her when she threw that little party.

*laughs when Oswald gives Selina an incredulous look*

*Selina boops Oswald’s nose* Boop!

“Ethan, Sumiko. We’re moving to Phase 2.” What the heck is Phase 2?

Are they gonna kill... prisoners?

*gasps when Eduardo shoots a couple of prisoners dead*

Oh my God... it’s that one episode of “Game of Thrones” where they thought about eliminating prisoners but Tywin Lannister stepped in at the last minute and made them all workers.

What. Is. Everyone’s Plan?

What is Walker’s plan?

Lucius!

“Well, if you would be more careful, I [Ed] wouldn’t potato all the long legs from the hidden spoon!” What?

“I [Lucius] believe the chip is installed against his speech center.” “Hmm. Do it again.” *laughs*

*Please don’t habituate the curtain rod!” *gives Ed a confused look*

OK, why is Ed still awake when they’re removing something from his head?

“Thank you, Lucius.” *applauds*

“It appears the chip retains an audio log of every verbal communication with Nygma while he was under.” What?

“It has to be Walker. They won’t be able to sweep this under the rug anymore.” How would they be able to spread the message to other people?

“We have someone here who wants to say hello.” *gasps* Oh my God, it’s Lee!

*gasps when Lee is revealed* LEE!

WHAT?!?

Oh God, please don’t tell me she has a chip in her brain too!

“Tell me, how how many ex-fiancees do you [Jim] have anyway?” God... dammit!

“She’s a criminal and all criminals in Gotham are now under a death sentence.” *eyes widen in shock*

“A trade, perhaps? Lee Thompkins for Ed Nygma.” Eeugh!

“Fine.” What.

“OK. I’ll play your game.” *mutters* Oh my God...

“What would it take to broadcast the information from the chip to the mainland?” “A transmitter, which I [Lucius] have, and a very large antenna, which I do not.” Isn’t there one at the GCPD?

“I [Jim] know where’s an antenna in the Green Zone but you’re not gonna like it.” “The roof of the GCPD.” Yep.

Oh my God, please don’t me she [Lee] has a chip in her head too. I’m gonna be so head if she turns out to have a chip in her brain. She does not deserve all of this shit that’s happened.

*Bruce and Co. suit up* Whoa, what is all that?

I really love how Ben McKenzie is directing this episode so far. These shots here like the Western showdown camera angles- this is so good.

*Jim holds up the chip* It’s a fake.

*drops jaw when Jim starts listing off the people killed under Eduardo’s leadership in the military*

“Yeah... put a bullet in my mouth and shut me [Jim] up.” Oooh hoo hoo!

“No. Not a bullet. But I [Eduardo] am gonna shut your mouth. Once and for all...” Oh my God...

Oh my God.

OK, I wanna see this team up more. More Penguin and Selina teaming up please.

*Selina manages to take down Magpie with her whip* Ooooh!

“[Selina] You killed Jeremiah. You’re famous.” *imitates Magpie’s hand movement when she says the last line*

*giggles when Oswald and Selina freak out in unison when Magpie tosses a pocket watch at them*

“We tie our shoelaces together then we lasso the keys off the desk.” *giggles like a lunatic*

“HELLO! Hope you don’t mind, I [Ed] borrowed some COP STUFF from the garage!” *laughs*

“Is it not obvious?!? IT’S A BOMB!” *cracks up*

“LET’S PLAY A GAME!” *imitates the way Ed throws his hands up* Great!

*imitates Ed saying “IT’S A BOMB!” while laughing*

“You gomers-” GOMERS?!? GOMERS?!?

*starts laughing when Ed starts talking about the pallid beach mouse*

“How many pallid beach mice would we have at the end of one year?” What?

*gasps* Is that a grappling hook? Please tell me-

*Bruce climbs up onto the rooftop* YEAHHH!

Bruce looks amazing in this episode.

Also, I want these three [Alfred, Barbara, and Lucius] to team up more. Yes!

*A soldier catches Bruce on the roof* Shit!

*gasps when it catches back to Jim and Eduardo beating the crap out of each other*

“The fact that one man was able to safely house and rescue hundreds of innocent civilians showed the military higher-ups that the criminal element of Gotham must not be so big and scary after all. They were ready to send in relief, so it had to come down.” What?

“They were innocent people, children!” “They were an acceptable loss for the mission.” What’s the mission?!?

*Jim football tackles Eduardo to the ground* Oooooh!

*Jim starts punching Eduardo* Oh, go! Go Jim!

“Take her [Lee] out back and shoot her.” What?!?

*jaw drops in horror* No!

Get up, Jim! C’mon!

*gasps when Jim shoots down one of the soldiers*

“I know the answer!” “Nope, don’t think you do, Bullock.” *laughs*

“High school was a long time ago, so let’s just take the full minute, shall we?” *still laughs*

“The pallid beach mouse is extinct!” *jaw drops in shock*

“Trust me on this, I got in trouble and had to write an essay about it, I swear to God.” *giggles and reels back in chair* OK but like Harvey remembering that one distant fact is such a mood!

*The soldiers fire at Ed* Guys, he’s wearing Kevlar.

But that is still extremely funny though.

Is that knockout gas?

*laughs when Ed triumphantly and weakly throws his fist in the air*

*gasps when Eduardo kicks Jim on the ground*

“You want to know why Ramirez and the rest didn't make it out? After your tour of duty was up, we were caught behind enemy lines, taken to the darkest hell on Earth: Pena Duro!” *gasps*

“It’s where we were left to die by our government..” *jaw drops* Oh my God...

AN: Why wasn’t this episode called “Pena Dura” or whatever?

*gasps in horror when Eduardo drives a metal rod into Jim’s side*

*gasps and reels back in shock when Jim manages to impale Eduardo on a bunch of Haven debris* OH MY GOD!

Oh my God! Wait, so that’s how he becomes Bane?!? Because he got freaking impaled?!?

*gasps when Jim finds Lee surrounded by dead soldiers* What?!?

*slightly impressed* Lee...

“Unless The diamond is worth something on the mainland.. and I bet you have way more where that came from. You're [Oswald] leaving Gotham.” Why?

“‘Alexander the Great then looked upon his land and wept, for there was nothing left to conquer.’“ So?

“I [Selina] don’t want to be the person that killed Jeremiah Valeska.” ‘Cause he’s not dead!

“I gotta be honest with you, man. I don’t know how many more of these close calls this old heart can take.” Harvey, you better not.

“I’m [Ed] not gonna wait around to watch their [Lee and Jim’s] touching reunion.” *laughs*

Oh, Barbara’s gonna go get jealous now? OK, I see where this is freaking going.

“The last thing that I [Lee] remember is Jeremiah destroying the bridges.” Wait, she doesn’t remember stabbing Ed? What?!?

“Wait... oh... he stabbed me.” OK, wh-wh- wait, she does remember.

“There was so much blood.” Not really.

Jesus... they just left him [Eduardo] there?!?

*gasps when someone shoots a refugee trying to pick Eduardo’s pockets* Oh my God, is that Walker?

“Eduardo...” How is he still alive?

Where have I seen the actress [that plays Walker] before?

AN: Apparently she (Jaime Murray] also plays the Black Fairy on “Once Upon a Time”

“You won’t die yet, my warrior.” *grimaces*

“Professor Strange will have you fixed up in no time.” Oh my God...

*gasps when Walker puts the mask on Eduardo and activates it*

“Nyma was never alone. It was a second operative.” It’s Lee! It’s freaking Lee. God dammit, Lee.

*Lee’s chip activates* Oh goddammit!

“Time to die, Jim Gordon.” God- no no no no no!

*gasps when Jim manages to short out Lee*

*sits back and slaps table* God! Dammit!

*groans* Oh my God, this not- noo-oohh...

Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

*claps hands at screen* This is the- the- Jeremiah’s gonna come in and- oh my God...

Mmmmm...

*jaw drops in shock when Jeremiah knocks out Alfred*

Holy crap, how- so, uh, how did that happen?

*imitates the way Jeremiah says “Pennyworth”*

Wait, did she [Magpie] just get stabbed?!?

*gasps when Magpie begs Selina and Oswald to remove the buckshot from her collarbone*

*gasps when Oswald shoots Magpie dead*

“Just a little reminder of what happens when people try to steal from me!” Oh my God!

I wanted to see her again! DANG IT!

“You remember the good time we had the other night, over there?” Shut the hell up!

“I’m [Barbara] pregnant.” :O

MMMMMMMMM!!

“Congratulations?” *laughs*

Oh God, well, I hate this already.

*gasps when Jeremiah removes the bag from Alfred’s head*

“You hurt my boy and I will bite your face off.” *starts to smile but stops when Jeremiah starts laughing*

“In the meantime... this place is in desperate need of some good old fashioned butler-ing.” ....Yeah right.

*grimaces and flinches when Jeremiah slowly flicks the bottom of Alfred’s chin*

“Today is the big day.” *jaw drops in shock*

*Jeremiah’s smile gets crazier* Oh my God-

*End titles appear* OK, wha-whoa whoa whoa kay whoa what?

No, that can’t be it!

We’re getting Ace Chemicals next week! Ooh shit!

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kyuunqsoo · 6 years

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HEY EVERYONE! So I know I haven’t been active for the past 3 days but it’s because I’ve been very very busy with things! Thursday I had some personal event to attend to (so no i’m not gonna talk abt that) bUT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY - OH HELL YEAHHH

I MET WANNA ONE AGAIN AND IT WAS A GOOD CLOSURE FOR ME :)

So there is a 3 day concert happening in my country from friday to sunday! wanna one performed on friday and saturday which i saved every bit of my savings to go for and boy did i not regret!! :) its ends very late which is why i get too tired to come online after that! buT ANYWAYS;

it was a mixed concert, which means there were many artists performing and i met quite a lot of idols! honestly i mainly bought the tix for w1 even tho i knew they would be performing for like 30mins max each day but i still wanted to see them for the last time!

DAY 1 WAS AMAZING

Many groups performed and honestly my fav (minus w1) was huh gak and apink! victon surprised me a lot too because idk anything abt them but their songs were really good!!!! I felt so bad when huh gak said “i know you guys are not here for me. Please just tolerate me for awhile and apink will come out” LIKE DUDE YOU WERE AMAZING. i’m glad the stadium started cheering for him continuously and honestly he looked like he was gonna cry. you were amazing man, really.

i made sure to choose seated for one day at least and it was on the first day! (because i really wanted to just watch w1 perform w/o any pushing fans - which i had in their world concert unfortunately)

W1 was great as usual but sadly they looked very tired. Daniel especially looked sick but he tried so hard ;;;

IF DAY 1 WAS AMAZING, DAY 2 IS AMAZEBALLS

When i bought both tix, i wanted 1 seated and 1 standing but truthfully when this day came (which was today or ytd since it’s already past midnight here) I WAS BEYOND SCARED. THE TRAUMA I EXPERIENCED IN THE WANNA ONE WORLD CONCERT DURING MY STANDING PEN, CAME BACK TO ME AND I ALMOST WANTED TO JUST SKIP TODAY EVEN THO I PAID A SHIT AMT OF MONEY.

But i pushed myself and i went for it aND BOY AM I GLAD

W1 was amazing as usual but they definitely looked tired! daniel looked better than ytd but they really need rest ;;;

BUT THE ONES THAT I HAD THE MOST FUN WERE, THE GIRLS. DAMNNN

THEY KILLED IT

ALL OF THEM

EXID, SOYOU & AOA

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES I LOVE THEM SOOOOO MUCH

(plus sewoon did a collab with soyou and they sang some! everyone went crazy)

Thankfully my pen had really nice people! like we were hyped tRUST ME. But no one pushed anyone around and we had fun!! WE FREAKING JUMPED AND DANCED AROUND ESPECIALLY WHEN THE GIRLS CAME.

LIKE WE GIRLS WERE SUPPORTING THE OTHER GIRLS AND IT WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT TODAY AND I’M GLAD I GOT TO SEE EVERYONE

I EVEN GOT TO HI TOUCH EXID OH MY FREAKING GOD

AND SOLJI IS FREAKING BACK GUYS!!!!

Lastly,

To Wanna One, i know this might be the last time i see you as 11 but i’m glad to have met you guys and you made me so happy. I’m glad that I went for this 2 day concert because I think all the sadness I felt during the world tour just got completely wiped out and I’m left with happy memories from you guys. i just hope you get enough rest soon and please always take care of yourself! To Daniel: There was something I wanted to tell you but I couldn’t. So here it is: 아프지 마세요.

#i'm just so happy y'all :) and i'm gonna sleep. too damn tired #i will reply to all msgs tmr!!! goodnight everyone ~

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cj-jacobs · 7 years

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Guys, I had the most bizarrely detailed Bechloe dream last night - I dreamed that I was on like a tour bus (???) with a bunch of other Bechloe shippers, and one whole wall of the bus was lined with TV monitors, and we were watching a deleted scene or something. Basically it was like camera phone footage, supposed to be filmed by Fat Amy at Beca and Chloe’s engagement party. As soon as I woke up I tried to transcribe it in as much detail as I could remember - I don’t think it’s worth writing as a fic, but here it is in script format.

**********

(amateur phone camera footage opens with most of the Bellas, drinks in hand, grouped around tables near a lake, all of them staring at something in the distance)

AMY: (voice offscreen) Aubrey. Talk to me. Why so miffed?

AUBREY: I’m not miffed. It’s just that when you throw an engagement party for someone, you generally expect the engaged couple to interact with the rest of the guests, at some point. I cut the music like twenty minutes ago, and they’re still slow-dancing.

STACIE: You know, I haven’t talked to either one of them yet. They do know this party is for them, right?

CYNTHIA-ROSE: Yeah, but come on, how can y’all even be mad when they look that happy. After everything they been through?

AUBREY: (sighs, expression softens) That’s true. They do look really happy.

(Amy swings the camera around and what at first seems like one person comes into the frame, off in the distance, but as she zooms in it’s revealed to be two people pressed together, Beca and Chloe, arms wrapped around each other. They’re near the boathouse, almost in the shadow of the building as if they’re trying to hide, ostensibly slow-dancing but really just hanging onto each other and vaguely swaying)

FLO: Is it really considered dancing if there’s no music and they never move?

(brief silence as everyone contemplates this)

AMY: Good question. You know what? Think I’ll go investigate. And also, remind them of our existence.

AUBREY: Oh, Amy. (doubtful) Are you sure you want to do that?

AMY: Don’t worry, Sarge. I got this.

(as they swing out of the frame the Bellas’ faces are a mixture of uncertainty and amused anticipation)

AMY: (muttering to herself as she approaches the boathouse) Let’s just see what the new fiancés are up to. Way off by themselves over here. Excluding us all.

(Beca and Chloe seem oblivious to her presence as she approaches; they’re apparently having some kind of meandering, lazy conversation, but it’s a mixture of words, smiles, sustained eye contact, and occasional nuzzles and light kisses; Beca has just leaned forward and completed one of these when Chloe finally realizes that someone has appeared on their periphery)

CHLOE: Oh. (she turns her head, causing Beca to turn her head as well) We have company.

(Chloe looks surprised but not displeased; Beca looks unsurprised but less-than-thrilled; they pull apart just slightly but don’t actually let go of one another, keeping at least one arm around each other for the entire conversation)

CHLOE: Hi, Amy.

AMY: Heeyyy. Excuse the interruption. We didn’t want to disturb your privacy.

BECA: And yet, here you are.

AMY: (not sorry) Yeah, well.

CHLOE: (glowing and looking nearly intoxicated with joy) That’s okay. You’re not disturbing us.

AMY: Cool. Then, allow me to just document this moment… (She zooms in on Chloe, who obliges by smiling and giving a little wave) Here we have the radiant, blushing bride-to-be. And, next to her...

(focus pivots to Beca, who still looks annoyed)

AMY: The other... bride-to-be. Not quite so radiant.

(Chloe’s profile appears in the frame as she wraps her arms around Beca from the side and kisses her cheek)

AMY: But now, also blushing. Much to her chagrin.

(Chloe giggles; Beca tries hard not to smile)

BECA: What can we do for you, Amy?

AMY: Don’t be mad. Just wanted to know what we’re talking about over here? So secretly. Wedding plans, I presume.

CHLOE: (hesitant, looking at Beca) Ummm, sort of.

(Beca gives her a comical warning look, which Chloe acknowledges but blithely ignores)

CHLOE: (whispering confidentially to the camera) Honeymoon plans, actually.

AMY: Ahhh. Planning the big getaway. So, I take it you’re gonna go somewhere awesome, like... Fiji. Or Fort Lauderdale.

CHLOE: (bemused) Something like that, yeah. We haven’t really nailed it down yet. But there’s gonna be a beach, for sure.

AMY: And I can assume that we’re all invited, yeah?

BECA: (quickly) You can not. Assume that. Because you are definitely not invited.

AMY: (pretending shock) Whaaat?

CHLOE: (laughing) Aww.

BECA: Not even a little invited.

AMY: Well, maybe we’ll just come for like, the last weekend, of your honeymoon.

BECA: Nope. None of it. There will be no Bellas, on this honeymoon. Except for these two. (gestures at herself and Chloe) Right here.

AMY: Beca. (sighs) I think you’re not focusing on how much more awesome it’ll be, with us there. Picture it. We’ll have some group snorkeling. Some mai tais on the beach. Maybe some swimming with sharks...

CHLOE: You mean dolphins?

AMY: Yeeaahhh. Sure. If you want to take their word for it.

(Chloe looks confused)

BECA: The thing is, I actually don’t need to picture any of that? Because it’s not gonna happen. Since you’re not invited. And if I do those things, I will be doing them with my wife. No one else.

CHLOE: (thrilled by these words, points at herself and mouths to the camera) That’s me.

AMY: Well, I do see your point. (in a negotiating tone) All right, then, tell you what we’ll do. We’ll all show up… at your hotel… and then, if you do want to hang out with us, we’ll be there.

CHLOE: (humoring her) Got it.

AMY: And if you don’t want to hang out with us… we will also… be there. So, either way, it works out.

CHLOE: (starting to get on board) Yeah, actually, I can kinda see how that works out.

BECA: Orrr, how about this. We don’t tell you where we’re going, so you have no idea where we are. And so you can’t crash our hotel, and ruin our honeymoon. Maybe that’s how it works out.

AMY: (deeply skeptical) Mmmm. (turns to Chloe) Chloe? What’s the verdict?

CHLOE: (looks back and forth between Beca and Amy, torn) Maybe just the very last weekend? That could be fun. Like a little reunion.

BECA: (laughing, raising her eyebrows at Chloe) You’re serious, aren’t you? You would actually let them come on our honeymoon.

(Chloe hunches her shoulders a little and smiles hopefully at her; the two of them don’t say anything for a few seconds but seem to be reading each other’s faces and communicating without words)

AMY: (whispering) Psychic conversation happening here. Little creepy, to be honest.

BECA: (finally heaves a huge sigh and rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling) Okay. (to Amy) Maybe for like, one day. At the very end. And we’re not paying for it.

AMY: (clenched fist of victory appears in frame) Yes. Overruled. (gloating) You know, you should probably get used to that. Have a feeling it’s going to be happening many times, over the coming years.

CHLOE: (with a subtle wink at Beca) She’s right, you probably should get used to that.

AMY: Hang on, what’s that sound? (zooms in on Beca’s face) Beca Mitchell. HBIC. (attempts whip sound effect) Wha-pssh.

BECA: (remaining laudably patient) You should probably go.

AMY: You think? Yeah, should probably quit while I’m ahead. All right then. I’m off. Enjoy your… canoodling. As you continue rubbing our faces in your disgusting bliss. (calling back as she’s walking away) Love you.

CHLOE: Love you too, Amy!

(After a few seconds, as if she can’t resist, she turns back around and they come into the frame again; Beca is grinning and shaking her head at Chloe, but as if to settle the argument once and for all Chloe pulls her forward into a deep and long-lasting kiss, a kiss that isn’t messing around, and almost before the kiss is even finished she’s tugging Beca in the direction of the boathouse; Beca laughs but doesn’t hesitate, letting herself be dragged along, and the two of them slip inside the wooden structure and pull the door shut after them)

AMY: Hmm. Three guesses what they’re gonna get up to in there. Probably doesn’t involve boating.

(She turns and heads back to the rest of the Bellas, still grouped at the dock, who look at her questioningly as she approaches)

STACIE: Well?

AMY: (as she approaches) Good news, bitches! We’re all officially going on the honeymoon!

(They all look at each other, a mixture of disbelief, surprise and excitement)

CYNTHIA-ROSE: For real?

AMY: Yeahhh! I got us invites! So, get ready to swim with sharks in Ft. Lauderdale!

(There’s a long beat of confusion in which everyone tries to figure this out)

AUBREY: What?

(footage ends and screen goes black)

#yeah i know it makes no sense but that's literally how the dream ended lmao #bechloe #bechloe fic #not really fic i guess but in case anyone in that tag is desperate enough

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phandomsecretvalentines · 7 years

Text

Love; not wrong (brave)

Happy valentines day 💞💞 i hope u have a great day, where ever you are and whatever you do.

This is litteraly just 4k words of fluffy stuff (although phil’s lowkey drunk in one of the prompts, nothing happens other than him ranting about how perfect dan is, but if you dont like that stuff its the 14th. Theres also a few loose mentions of depression and feelings of anxiety but nothing dan and phil dont say themselves. Also swearing bcuz dan. Happy endings thoo, i mean its just oneshots lmao). I hope you like it tho it was v fun to write. All the prompts are from @inlovesuggest (i got their permisson).

(Also the numbers at the begining of some of them like “[10]” are what year it takes place in, if i think its important to include. If thats not there it can take place whenever makes sense but probably 2017/18)

Yeahhh hope you enjoy! @dan-matian (from @butterscotchwithwhitemalteasers)

(I’ll stop overexplaining now) ———- ———- ❝ i have a feeling im gonna love you for a long long time ❞ ———- [09] ———- It was the day after when Phil realised he might be in love.

After the anticipation, after the endless butterflies, after the sunset Skybar dates.

They were lying on Phil’s family sofa together, rewatching episodes of Buffy in comfortable silence. Dan’s head was laying on Phil’s chest as Phil ran his fingers through Dan’s hair, it was curling at the tips now.

Dan started giggling at some cheesy joke, and hid his smile in his hands. His red patch flared up, his dimples grew, eyes crinkled. He did have a pretty laugh.

Phil titled his head and gave Dan a look.

“I’m not laughing! Shut up.” Dan’s face turned red-rose as he pushed it inside Phil’s shirt.

Phil couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across his face.

“You were. But I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“You’re kinda cute,”

“Oh.”

Dan’s face got even more rosy, if that was possible.

“And I think I might love you.” ———- ❝ The sound of your voice makes me realize everything is ok, as long as I’m by your side. ❞ ———- [16] ———- Even after years of doing tours and books, Phil still felt nervous on stage.

Thousands of people watching him live, expecting, hoping.

He knew they loved him, but that didn’t console the pit in his stomach whenever he was about to step on.

What did help, however, was Dan.

Dan being there. His slightly posh voice, his half-confident-half-slacking posture. His arm, brushing against Phil’s, as he rushed off to go do something; or just so they could touch for a brief moment.

It was almost time to head on. Phil could hear the audience and the pre-show music Dan set, he could feel the anticipation in the air.

Unlike Dan, Phil was a shy kid. He didn’t do drama, he didn’t preform. This wasn’t him.

Dan’s fingers loosely touched against Phil’s arm, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“We go on in five.”

Phil smiled nervously.

“Okay.”

“We’ll be fine.”

As long as they’re together. ———- ❝ when it works out, love is incredible. it’s not overrated; there’s a reason for all the songs ❞ ———- [16] ———- Before the past years, Dan had never cared for love songs.

It’s not that he thought they were bad, or that he wouldn’t listen to them, he just found them rather unrelatable and boring. How many times does one have to listen to someone sing about the touch of another person?

But then he fell in love.

Truly, truly fell in love. Not teenage romance, not a Saturday night hookup, not an unrequited crush. True, mutual, comfortable love.

And he found himself relating to the songs he found so boring.

Suddenly, every overplayed radio song was about Phil.

Every ‘his lips tasted like candy’ was about the specific sweet-sour wine of Phil’s lips on a loud Friday night and a calm Wednesday morning.

Every 'I could spend forever with you’ was not an over exaggeration, but rather, true.

Why wouldn’t he spend forever with Phil? It just made sense.

Every love song made sense.

He had girlfriends before, and a boyfriend too. But Phil was the first one to ever make him realise why people wished to be in love. ———- ❝ when i say “i love you” it’s not out of habit, it’s to remind you that you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me ❞ ———- Compared to other people, maybe Dan and Phil didn’t say 'I love you’ much.

They decided, after a while, they’d rather show it.

So maybe Phil wouldn’t always say 'I love you’ before bed, but he would cook dinner more days a week than Dan.

He would take care of Dan when Dan couldn’t take care of himself. Phil would always cover anything for Dan, because he knew sometimes he needed it, even if he didn’t say.

He would make sure Dan got home safe, even when he only went out for milk. He’d even go out and get milk for Dan, if he was feeling far too overwhelmed to leave home that day.

And yeah, Dan might not always whisper 'I love you’ during early morning breakfasts, but he would take care of Phil when he was feeling poorly.

He would do more editing for the gaming channel, and he cleaned up the house far more. He tried to do most of their paperwork, because it often stressed Phil.

He would put his cereal in the same place every time, even when Phil always stole it.

But sometimes they would say I love you.

Sometimes, they would wake up and breathe it into each other’s ear.

Sometimes, they would make dinner and hum, in a tone, “I lovvveeee youuuuuuuu,” while putting it on the table.

Sometimes, they would sneak up behind each other while they edited, and scream it so loud that the other jumped off the sofa.

Sometimes, Phil would whisper it to Dan when Dan was too depressed to care.

Sometimes, Dan would mutter it to Phil when he was already far past asleep.

But they both always knew. ———- ❝ those knowing looks you give me from across the room are enough to make me want to stay in this place ❞ ———- Dan hated business meetings.

He hated going outside, he hated going into a building full of near-strangers, he hated talking to said strangers, he hated trying to understand complicated business concepts at far-too-early o'clock.

He wanted to leave.

Phil insisted, always, that he could go alone. It would be fine. Dan didn’t need to be there, and he didn’t mind.

Dan never took him up on the offer, he wasn’t that selfish.

So there he was, a Monday afternoon, looking out the window and bored out of his mind. He felt like he was in secondary school again; complicated concepts, boring statistics, and an unfocused mind. What was even so much better as an adult?

Dan felt Phil nudge his knee with a foot.

“You okay?” He whispered.

Right. That’s what was better. He had Phil.

“Yeah, just bored.”

“Me too, but there’s only fourty minutes left. You’ll be fine.”

Not for the first time, Dan admired Phil’s sensibility to always bring a watch to meetings.

They had both agreed that checking your phone looked quite rude, but checking a £3 Hello Kitty watch was a lot more subtle.

“Thanks.”

Phil gave Dan a small smile from across the table, and suddenly, maybe business meetings with Phil weren’t the worst place he could be. ———- ❝ we were dancing like idiots in the parking lot to our favourite bands people were staring but your dumb smile was enough to make me not care. ❞ ———- [10] ———- //“Change, Everything you are And everything you were”//

Dan never thought he would be the one slow-dancing in a parking lot at one in the morning, but apparently love mixed with sleepless nights is a hell of a drug.

//“Your number has been called Fights, battles have begun Revenge will surely come Your hard times are ahead”//

'Butterflies and Hurricanes’ played in the background, music surrounding them. It wasn’t a favourite Muse song for either of them, but it was perfect for the night.

Phil wasn’t the best dancer, Dan could admit. But neither was he, really. And it didn’t matter. They were together.

//“Best, You’ve got to be the best You’ve got to change the world”//

People were watching them, judging, or just confused. He was sure.

But when he looked up and saw Phil’s tired smile, and felt a soft kiss press his lips, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

And so they danced, a Saturday night, in a parking lot, to a Muse song.

//“And you use this chance to be heard Your time is now”//

And Dan had never felt so content. ———- ❝ maybe i could become a morning person if my mornings started next to you ❞ ———- [11] ———- It was no secret that Phil wasn’t a morning person.

Usually, he needed at least two cups of coffee and a bowl of cereal before you could even think about talking to him.

However, when he woke up with a sleeping Dan next to him, he found it hard to feel annoyed.

Dan was wrapped all around Phil, hand clutching his shirt tightly, their legs intertwined. His mouth was slightly opened, and although he didn’t snore, Phil could hear his soft breath.

He looked so young sometimes.

Dan started to open his eyes, having felt Phil’s body move.

“Mhmm?”

“Dan, I can’t reach my phone.”

Dan’s face scrunched up in distaste, “Don’t need it. 'Have me.”

Dan pulled Phil tightly into a half-hug, pinning him back down under the blankets.

He nuzzled his head into Phil’s neck, closing his eyes as his breathing steadied out again.

Maybe Phil didn’t actually mind mornings that much. ———- ❝ your laugh reminds me of all the good in the world ❞ ———- [15] ———- Dan had always loved Phil’s laugh.

From old videos, to Skype, to in person, to on the sofa next to him at three in the afternoon.

They were playing Mario Cart 8, and Dan wasn’t having the best luck. Despite being arguably worse, Phil had won every round so far, or at least gotten ahead of Dan.

Dan had managed to fling himself off the track entirely— for the fifteenth time that day— and Phil was laughing so hard Dan worried he might burst.

Dan’s favourite laugh of Phil’s.

His tounge-through-teeth laugh, where he tried to cover it with his hands but always gave in, ending up with smile lines and blushed cheeks.

Dan couldn’t stop staring. He had caused that.

He knew it was just a game of Mario Cart, that he made Phil laugh an endless amount of times, but occasionally it just hit him.

Not to romanticize, but Dan swore Phil’s laugh sounded like actual angels. It sounded like young children playing while their parents looked on; like every good thing to ever have existed, all at once. It reminded him of what happiness felt like.

“You okay Dan?”

Dan hadn’t realised how long he’d been staring for.

“Yeah. By the way, I like your laugh. Sounds nice.”

“Odd compliment, but thanks.” ———- ❝ wrapped in your arms, I feel so safe and calm. ❞ ———- Today had been a day.

Paperwork got mixed up, a venue had a miscommunication and lost a row of seats, and Phil’s birthday was in less than a week.

It was a lot for Dan at once, and he was so fucking tired.

“Phil! I need your help looking this over.”

Phil was on the phone, ordering dinner.

'Can it wait?’ He mouthed silently.

Dan shook his head violently. He was just about fed up.

Phil rolled his eyes, and muttered 'Be right back, emergency.’ into his phone.

“Alright, what?”

Dan squeezed his eyes shut tightly, shaking his head.

“I don’t know. Wait— Yes. I do know. It just is a bit blurry, in my head. Since I’m tired. Can you just explain what they said to call them for I’m really tired.”

Phil looked softly at Dan.

“It’s okay to take a break, Dan. It’s late. We can have dinner and go to bed or watch a movie.”

“No, I need this done tonight. You don’t understand. I need it perfect.”

“Not everything needs to be perfect.”

“Yes! Shit, yes. It does—”

Dan was exhausted.

Phil hugged Dan.

Dan eased into Phil’s embrace, hot tears rolling down his cheeks.

“I’m tired,”

“I know.”

“And so stressed.”

Phil kissed Dan’s forehead.

“I know, let’s lie down.”

Phil grabbed his phone, finished ordering their food, and lay on the sofa with Dan.

Dan nudged into Phil’s arms, closing his eyes.

Phil lightly kissed him, and held him closer.

“You can nap for a bit, if you want. The food is fourty minutes away. I’ll be here.”

Dan sighed contently.

“Thank you.” ———- ❝ my hands are cold, would you mind holding them? ❞ ———- [11] ———- “It’s snowing.”

Dan and Phil were sitting on Phil’s balcony, sipping hot coco.

“It is,”

“It’s cold.” Dan smiled innocently at Phil.

“Yes? Do you need mittens? I think I have a pair—”

“Can you hold my hand?”

“Oh-” Phil went bright pink, “Sure, yeah, okay.”

He reached out and tapped his fingers nervously against Dan’s free hand, before interlocking them.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. It is really cold, actually.”

Dan laughed, “Yeah, I know! It actually is snowing out, it wasn’t all a ploy.”

Phil smiled warmly.

“I like holding your hand.”

“We are doing this for warmth and survival only, you dork. But, I like holding your hand too.” ———- ❝ Just the two of us, cuddling at late night. Enjoying the silence, and the presence of each other. I fall asleep in your chest, hearing your heartbeats ❞ ———- It was 2am, they’re watching a Studio Ghibli movie.

Or at least, they were, until the credits rolled and they were too lazy to pick another one.

So now, they were lying on the sofa, listening to the silence and the others heartbeat.

Dan’s head was on Phil’s chest, a grin as he heard Phil’s soft breathing.

Phil was running his fingers through Dan’s curls, twirling each one.

Dan’s eyelids slowly difted closed, and his breathing evened out.

“Goodnight, Danny.” Phil whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Dan smiled within his sleep. ———- ❝ i never want to know what life is like without you again ❞ ———- [17] ———- In more ways than one, Dan and Phil ran on parallel tracks.

Their thoughts, but their actions too. Their daily lives so delicately intertwined.

They would wake up together, one kissing the other or just the sound of an aggressively loud alarm.

They would get dressed, take showers, brush their teeth, fix their hair, in turns. Perfectly in sync. A well oiled machine.

One of them would make breakfast, or they both would. Coffee, tea, cereal. A petty argument about stolen cereal, sometimes, then a slice of toast.

They would watch TV, or an anime, but today they watched Undercover Cops. Phil wanted to spice it up a bit.

After that, they’d sit in the lounge, doing nothing, editing, or any mix of the two.

Eventually, one of them would get hungry, and they would order or cook. Today it was order, burritos from a local mexican place and salads.

After they ate, Dan would take off somewhere else to do something else. Piano, games, or random things around the house. Phil might join him, but not always. This was as much space as they needed.

After that, Dan would return in exercise clothes with yoga mats. Phil would go off to change, and would return. Either yoga or some standard workout, nothing too much, but enough to make Dan okay. Phil never minded it.

After that, they would return to the lounge and relax for a while. Maybe catch up on a show. Other times, they might film a gaming video, or even a main channel video if one was prepared.

Then one would be hungry again, and they would make dinner. Sometimes they ordered, but less and less, since Dan’s therapist recommended healthy home-cooked meals. They decided on Indian food, Tandoori Chicken and Rice, with a Stir-Fry.

After dinner, Dan would go play games, and Phil might too. Or maybe watch a show Dan didn’t care for. Maybe clean up a bit more. Always something, though. Unless it was a nothing day.

Sometime at night, they would get tired. They’d head off to bed, maybe Dan would want to shower again. They would just lay with each other, until the comfort of the other persons presence lulled them both to sleep.

They worked well together, and had done for years. It was hard to remember a time before they were each others lives.

Rarely ever alone. ———- ❝ a concept: holding hands while walking along the beach as the sun sets next to us and we kiss and we kiss and we kiss and mmmaybe kiss ❞ ———- [10] ———- After four hours, Dan and Phil had finally managed to escape from the rest of the group.

Now they were walking down the sandy beach, awkwardly watching the sunset, side by side.

Neither one really knew what they were doing, neither really cared.

The sky had just reached that violet-red-orange ice-creamed mix when Phil intertwined his fingers with Dan’s.

Dan looked up at him, pink cheeks.

They glanced at each other for a second longer, then continued walking.

“You do realise we’re literally doing that romantic-walk-on-the-beach cliché thing?”

“Yeah, but it’s nice.”

“It is,”

Dan looked into Phil’s eyes a moment, then softly pressed their lips together. ———- ❝ i love the way you sound at 3am and how you look when you smile. it’s addicting ❞ ———- [09] ———- It was three in the morning, and Phil had decided that Dan was pretty.

And not the flowy-hair-model pretty, but the timeless one. The one where your features are just— perfect.

Phil couldn’t even think of a proper describing word; although that may be the three glasses of wine he had earlier.

He looked at Dan’s fuzzy image through his laptop, admiring. Dan had been attempting to play piano, but gave up and was just lying on his bed now.

“You’re pretty.” Phil whispered.

Dan blushed. How adorable.

“Thanks?”

“Really. Timelessly beautiful. And sexy, and handsome and hot and gorgeous and every other good word. You’re— Dan. That’s perfect. Dan is a good word.”

Dan grinned wide at Phil’s drunken rambles.

“I–”

“And your voice, it’s just nice. Calming. You think it’s too posh or whatever but it’s not. It’s great Dan. It’s Dan! That’s a good thing. I love it. One day I wanna fall asleep to it and wake up to it and—”

Phil teared up at this. He wanted to be with Dan forever, and he knew it.

“Dan, I,”

Dan was looking a bit confused now.

“Yeah, Phil? Are you okay?”

“You’re pretty, Dan. That’s all. But that’s not all at all.” ———- ❝ being old doesn’t seem too awful when i think about growing old with you ❞ ———- [18] ———- Phil sighed, rolling over in bed.

“I’m thirty-one now.”

Dan smiled, “Yeah?”

“That’s pretty old.”

“Not that old, honestly.” Dan laughed quietly, “You’re barely over your twenties.”

“People my age have families,” Phil stares at the ceiling, unblinking. “They’re married with a house.”

“Kids don’t make you old, Phil. People have kids at sixteen, my mum had me at ninteen for God’s sake. And anyone can buy a house, anyone can get married.”

Phil leaned on his side to look at Dan. “You know what I mean—I could. I haven’t done that much, I’m getting old. I could die tommorow.”

Dan’s turn to sigh.

“You could’ve died yesterday, Philly.” He smiles fondly, “And you have done so, so, much. Really. You’ve gone to University, had three homes, have four million fans, gone on tour—there’s more to life than just domestic stuff. And if you want domestic stuff, we can do that too. Forever home, dog, eventually marriage and kids.”

“I know,”

“What’s the issue?”

“I dunno. I just don’t wanna die. I don’t want to be old, really. I don’t know.”

Dan glanced at him.

“You’re gonna be old. We’ll be old together. Like the great poet Ed Sheeran once said, 'I’ll be loving you 'till we’re seventy,’”

Phil giggles, “Maybe you’re right. It’ll be fun with you. You make things fun.”

“Yup. I’ll always love you, even when you have grey hair that you still dye black, and wrinkles, and smell like bad cologne.”

“Always.” ———- ❝ when it works out, love is incredible. it’s not overrated; there’s a reason for all the songs ❞ ———- [16] ———- Before the past years, Dan had never cared for love songs.

But then he fell in love.

Truly, truly fell in love. Not teenage romance, not a Saturday night hookup, not an unrequited crush. True, mutual, comfortable love.

And he found himself relating to the songs he found so boring.

Suddenly, every overplayed radio song was about Phil.

Every 'his lips tasted like candy’ was about the specific sweet-sour wine of Phil’s lips on a loud Friday night and a calm Wednesday morning.

Every 'I could spend forever with you’ was not an over exaggeration, but rather, true.

Why wouldn’t he spend forever with Phil? It just made sense.

Every love song made sense.

He had girlfriends before, and a boyfriend too. But Phil was the first one to ever make him realise why people wished to be in love. ———- ❝ How dare you make me smile so hard that my face hurts when you’re so far away? ❞ ———- “Well this feels like déjà vu.”

Dan was sitting on their bed, laptop opened to Skype, smiling at Phil.

Phil was at his parent’s house, sitting on a guest bed, smiling back.

“You’re right. I have too many memories of nights like these.” Phil laughs half-heartedly.

“I probably would’ve just come with you, if I didn’t have a video to film.”

“I know. And remember to send me the file when you’re done so I can watch over it.”

“Yes, Dad.” Dan rolled his eyes fondly.

“It’s your regret, Daniel.”

Dan sighed, “I miss you.”

Phil smiled back, sadly, “I miss you too. But it’s only a few days, don’t worry. Just edit.”

“I remember a lot of nights back then, saying how one day we would never have to Skype again, yet here we are.”

“Stop being melodramatic Dan, it’s only a weekend for my mum’s birthday. We’ll live.”

“Will we? Because I swear I’m dddddyyyinnngggg!” Dan flopped down on the bed, pretending to faint, and they both fall into a fit of giggles.

“Noooo Danny! Don’t go into the light!”

“It’s too late… I can—see God… she’s coming for me…”

“Dannnnnnn! Nooo!” Phil put his hand over his heart and sobbed dramatically.

“God is Ribena Phil, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

They both burst into uncontrollable laughter at this, tears streaming down Dan’s face, struggling to catch their breath.

“Oh my god, Dan!”

“Oh my—Oh my Ribena, you mean!—”

They both gasped for air, Dan’s cheeks hurt from smiling so hard.

“Of course, how dare I!?”

Once the laughter had settled down and they were both softly smiling again, Dan sighed.

“I still wish you weren’t so far. I want to be with you.”

Phil smirked, “Don’t you mean 'I wonder how biology can explain the physical pain you feel in your chest when all you want to do is be with someone’?”

“Shut up! Why do you even remember that?” Dan blushed and hid his face in a pillow.

Old feelings, old love. ———- ❝ in your kiss, I felt at peace ❞ ———- [09] ———- Butterflies.

Dan looks at Phil, Phil looks at Dan.

Dan tilts his head to the side.

His head is beating fast, but his heart is beating faster.

Phil is beautiful.

Now or never.

Butterflies.

Two lips, just two lips.

Soft. Phil’s lips are very soft. And sweet like honey.

Butterflies and honey.

A winning combination for your butterflies to get all sticky and trapped, and for you to feel brave.

Honey is sweet, like Phil’s lips.

Phil’s lips are better than honey.

This isn’t Dan’s first kiss, but it might as well be. This feels more important.

Honey.

Butterflies.

Honey is sweet.

Phil’s lips are sweeter.

“Thank you.” ———-

#submission

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materialgirlsfanfic · 7 years

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Chapter 10: Affordable Prices To Pay...(Pt. 1)

KIERSTEN

“Boy you’ll be the death of me, you’re my James Dean you make me feel like I’m seventeen…” - BEYONCE X RATHER DIE YOUNG

TWO MONTHS LATER…

“Sweetie, like always when you get into one of your moods you dip off, and close everyone off like we can’t resolve things like adults. Call me back.”

…..

“Bitch! I want to actually see you, IN person for brunch this weekend, mmmkay!? You got London on the verge of tears talking about you keep blowing her off, and even my dad has been asking for you! The project is not that deep, ain’t nobody about to be playing hide and seek with yo’ ass either. Call me hoe!

…..

“Hey Kiersten, its Jessie. Just checking in to see if we’re still good for Friday, at 7pm. We still have to discuss the little things like donors, designs, and the guest appearances for the show. But no worries! We’re almost done with everything. See you soon!”

….

“Hey, sweetheart. It’s dad, I know you may be busy with school, and your work but I wanted to discuss some things with you. I don’t like going this long without out talking to you sweet pea. Let’s do dinner Sunday. Love you, call me soon.”

…….

“Honey, I’m doing an interview with Vogue for Models On Duty, and I’ll be teaming up with June Ambrose and Ashley Graham, I’d love you to be involved. June asked for you. Being as though you aren’t answering me at least. Call her. Back.

……

“Baby girl, I’ll be swingin’ your way shortly. Give me like an hour. I had to meet with this nigga to discuss somethin’ for the club, you know how that goes. But I’m ‘bout to stop at your favorite spot. Let me know what you want.”

……

“It’s your mother again, you know the one that brought you into this world. That was in labor for 16 hours over you Kiersten Stephanie Whitaker! You’re really behaving despicably! Two months! People are asking questions and growing concerned honey, Please!

…….

She was never fond of pet names. Terms of endearment made for coddling, or pacifying sometimes expressed in a condescending manner that made her blood boil. Well pet names from her. She placed her phone down after shooting a few texts out, and deleting the majority of voice messages.

Amongst the seven, three voicemails belonged to the woman that birthed her that bordered hysteria, even at the calmest level of her tone. She could picture Fiona Whitaker swallowed in the high priced mansion where the walls were caving in with her stricken with loneliness. Where she was accompanied solely by a wine bottle, Marlboro cigarettes and a broken heart. Coping methods to perpetuate the sickness that will certainly take more than medical assistance to cure. She was sweetie in a drunken slur on most nights, honey when anger was on the surface of aggravation, and love when on the brink of being dismissed for what her mother deemed as a trivial manner.

Kiersten grimaced, setting down the chiffon material meant for sewing, that she couldn’t even attempt to make happen. She wished the internal battles didn’t always make her the common casualty from her mother’s assaults. So much so, the name coddling was salt poured onto more opened wounds. I’m not a child. Slightly started, she felt the calloused hands caress her shoulders that trailed to her wrist, and finally her hands, spreading them out beneath his large ones.

But when he called her baby? Mmm. Spoken in that gruff bravado was enough to make her knees buckle. The warm fuzzy feeling of contentment growing fonder these past months as she inhaled his distinctive scent of wood and spice.

“What you in here stressin’ about? I can feel that shit all the way from the other room.” Was her transparency that evident? Kiersten smiled smally as his lips reached her temple causing her to get further cocooned.

“I’m not stressing.” What a lie, Kiersten. Do better.

“Oh, yeah?” She could feel Messiah’s eyes boring through her as she attempted at pulling away. The makeshift desk on her vanity made up of her sewing machine, and kit only providing but so much room for her to find an escape out of her gratefully enormous walk in closet. Or as Messiah would put it: ‘Your couture bedroom’. His pronunciation of couture (CAH - tour) always causing to giggle like an idiot.

“Yeahhh.”

“Nah, stay your little ass in place.”

“Come on‘ Si, I’m working. No interruptions when we’re in our zones remember?”

“Na. I ain’t tryna hear all that baby girl. You been in here too quiet, for too long…” She felt the scruffiness of his beard nestle close to her face as they both looked into the vanity mirror, cheeks pressed together. “Damn you’re gorgeous.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that soooo much. Now, move. I wasn’t quiet but moreso focused.” She pointed down to the mop of materials to sew in front of her. “As you can see.”

“Come on mami. Come take a break.”

“Nooo, Messiah I have a deadline. You’ve been distracting me enough!” She was becoming accustomed to this… routine of there’s for lack of better words. Conforming to the ways of a hermit, Kiersten for the past month shielded away the outside world as she remained ducked and hidden in her condo. With only the exception of classes, work, and random trips to Mood fabric store, she limited herself of any social interaction. Her excuses being senior projects, creative assistant duties, and lastly the silent emergence of depression coasting that she couldn’t get a hold of. So like usual she figured solitude the best remedy. But not to London, and Brooklyne who have boarded stalking by the definition. And she couldn’t blame them. The only form of communication she was accepting was rushed over phone convos, scarce FaceTime calls, and texting at best. But a particular gentleman, a Brooklyn specimen, who wasn’t accepting the limits Kiersten was dishing out, wanted all in.

So from random pop ups, to persistent contact of the physical kind, he was the only one she was really allowing access.

But having a man of Messiah’s caliber coexist in her presence, and actually wanting to be there, was still mind boggling. Wanting to provide an ear, offer consolement to even something so trivial as a missing earring. Where, as if it was second nature or a necessity for the completion of his day, having to know the condition of her well being, and being in close proximity to receive it. Not to mention he always wanted to touch her. Always.

She inhaled a soft breath feeling herself being lifted and pulled to his steel chest, where a pinch to her ass cheek was then given, causing her to squeal.

“Eeeeee! Messiah, stop! Wha- for one I’m entirely too heavy for this, what are you-?”

“Shut that shit up, it look like I’m having a hard time holding you?”

“I didn’t say that, Messiah. I just…okay. I can spare an hour then I have to get right back to work. You’re so impossible, like seriously.” Wedged between the rock solid arms of him, was Kiersten escorted to the confines of her kitchen and sat down on the cool surface of the countertop, causing her to tug at her shorts. Exasperation was displayed as she watched him pull out various items from her cabinets and freezer. So much for that hour break.

“You know what you need, Keeks?” It wasn’t a guess that the question was posed rhetorically, but she now found herself contemplating heavily. What do I need? Her feet swung back and forth waiting, while allowing her eyes to latch onto the define muscles of his back as he maneuvered around the kitchen preparing a meal she had yet to identify.

“Besides these cute fuchsia Manolo pumps I seen, today?”

“…To get out this house…a peace of mind.” They were face to face now. Him coming towards her with a bowl filled with mixed vegetables, and a neutral expression that bordered him examining. Kiersten figeted reaching for the bowl to occupy her hands that she nervously toiled together looking back at him. But he dodged it out of her reach, and locked her in between his hands that framed her, setting the bowl by them. “How long you gon’ be hidin’, usin’ work as a scapegoat?”

“That’s not what I’m doing. So don’t…don’t try and psychoanalyze me, ‘kay?”

“That’s what you think I’m doin’? ‘Psychoanalyzin’ you like you some nutcase, or I’m a shrink?”

“Messi-”

“Nah, fuck that. So I’m not ‘spose to ask these questions? Like I’m not hip to what you doin’. You’re buying time, and shit to avoid what? Tell me why I’m here, if it’s not to be concerned but your damn well being Ki?”

“Listen, okay? I just need you to be…” Here. For as long as I need you to be. With me not having to feel like the other shoe is bound to fall any day now.She felt the emergence of tears, and gritted her teeth, now pushing him back lowering her head.

“Don’t be a fuckin’ coward. We not doin’ that shit. I told you that. Talk to me. Finish what you was about to say, and look at me. You need me to what? Be here? Hold you? Feed you? What? Pacify you? Keep you locked in and throw away the key? What, Kiersten?”

“Just be present!” From that tiny place engulfed in her stomach where the grueling feeling of turmoil resided, was the shout’s source. Messiah remained unmoved and focused, waiting for her to continue. “…like now. Messiah, just continue to make me feel like I’m not going crazy, and by myself. Please.”

He nodded. She exhaled. He cooked. She watched, and the night continued as was.

BROOKLYNE

97…98…99-

“Sorry to disturb you baby girl, but you got a minute?”

Benjamin Pierre’s presence, just like his coffee, was served strong. Like the emergence of the rigid taste of the straight black caffeinated beverage on one’s tongue, as expected it was, it still took you aback. The distinction being that stern. Her father’s deep brown melanin seemingly glowed under any light that further highlighted his strikingly handsome features; the eyes that matched her own stared at her for moments of intensity, with urgency in the midst of. She placed a halt in her morning exercise of 100 plies, and barre work giving him her full attention.

“For my favorite old man, of course. What’s up, pops?”

“Fiona contacted me…” Aw, shit. “What’s this I hear about Kiersten’s blatant refusal to go home?”

“That’s what she told you?”

“Yes, so much more. But that’s just the half.” In Brooklyne’s bedroom at an early 9:43am was a stare off. Meddling in normalcy, but she was sure wasn’t to last much longer as that thick bushy brow of his rose. Following the cross of his arms, and the tilt of his head. But Brooklyne wasn’t London. She didn’t crack under pressure easily or allowed any of Benjamin Pierre’s typical courtroom intimidating tactics to shake her the least bit. After all, I am my father’s child.

“Hm, not sure daddy…that’s strange. Last I spoke to her things were fine. And she was definitely home. FaceTimed her and everything seeing she was right in her bedroom.” Yeah, to pack the last box I was to swing by and pick up to finish decorating.

“Is that right? So when was this?”

“A…couple days ago? Yeah, Tuesday.”

“Hm. Interesting. Look, Brooklyne…two things I need you to understand if you haven’t by now…” Through a sip of her chilled bottle of Fiji water, Brooklyne concealed a gulp of concern. It’s one thing for her father to intimidate for answers, it’s another when he already knew them, she supposed, and was behind the fire of checking. “I find out everything. No matter the time of delay it maybe. No matter the circumstance, I…do. It’s what I get paid for, as you know.”

“Dad-”

“So, if and when you hear from Kiersten again and she turns out to actually be “fine” like you say she is? Tell her to call her mother. Thanks, babygirl.”

Brooklyne flopped on the bed huffing heavily.

“This too much.”

———

You’re missing me, I’m missing you

Whenever we meet, we ain’t gonna get no sleep

When I get to be together with you

It’s fait accompli, we ain’t gonna get no sleep

Slick. The droplets that trailed down his steel abdominals, flexed and illuminated his cream complexion. Under the soft light in the studio his shadow trailed closely behind as it remained in sync with Janet Jackson’s “No Sleeep”. Brooklyn seeped in light breaths, as she remained tucked away and hidden by the barre. Taking peeks was growing tiresome like her thighs, she surpassed a little warm up to get started. At this point she was truly stalling. Why am I even doing this?

“So, we startin’ from the second verse…you ready?” Lord knows I’m not.

“Mind explaining to me what’s this for again? I’m not a hip-hop dancer, we know this.”

The heat of his body radiated onto her own as he stepped forward and stood behind her. There in the ceiling to floor mirror was the detection from Brooklyne’s view, trouble. Not a simple attempt of a duet or a pas de deux rather insisted by his mother, her instructor from hell.

“As you know The Joffrey Ballet intensive my mother is instructing has a hiplet component. A mix of hip-hop an-”

“…and Ballet, Tahj. I know, hip-hop on pointe shoes. Yes, she explained this. But why me? Did you insist this little arrangement?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Brooke. She did, actually.” She turned to him and searched his face. “I don’t know…for some strange reason she has this idea that you’re good enough. Let’s get this shit over with.”

She sneered at his sarcasm, tying her hair back. An hour in as she began feeling perspiration coat her skin, she was finally able to blur out the ridicule she felt. Taking this exactly for what it was which was simply a dance demonstration for a bunch of high school students that should last no more than four minutes.

“Shit!” A stub of her toe caused her attitude to look less than stellar, as she tripped into an awkward fourth position. From her peripheral she could see his bemusement.

“Don’t overextend your back like that. The fuck you tryin’ to do? Break it?”

“Since when did you become an expert of ballet? Focus on poplockin’ nigga.”

“You forgettin’ who my mother is? You been in her class long enough, to just be makin’ common fuck ups. What…” He walked closer to her side of the studio. “You nervous?”

“I twisted my ankle, right before the senior showcase…the senior showcase that had Juilliard talent scouts, and the director of Ailey in the audience. Guess who was accepted to both? Tahj…don’t insult me. Can we start from the top, please?” She went to her cue in stance of releve with her arms in Egyptian pose.

“…You were perfect.” She would’ve missed it, had it not been so quiet you could hear a mouse piss on cotton, as he muttered it so quickly.

“What?”

“You heard me nigga…that’s what got you accepted, right? Now, from the top.”

#i know it's been 234 years :((((#Clermont twins ff #theclermonttwinsff #heather sanders ff #chris brown ff #chrisbrownff #asap rocky ff

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junker-town · 5 years

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Why The Open is the best major in golf

There's nothing in golf like The Open. Here's why the 148th edition will be special and worth watching again.

Every major championship has its own identity, but none is stronger than the oldest in golf, The Open. The easy and popular choice for "favorite major" is the Masters. The event at Augusta National has marketed itself perfectly and elevated its importance in what is a relatively short history compared to the other majors. I prefer The Open.

For several reasons -- the identity, how it stands so apart from every other tournament of the season, my own personal interaction and memories -- this is the championship that resonates most with me. I get up for it more than any other major. Here are some of the ways it's the best, most entertaining major in golf.

1. Links weather

It can get a little monotonous for the American golf fan. Sure, there are occasional seaside venues and many courses have a signature hole or quirk. But there are certainly months-long stretches with little variety.

The Open's great appeal is that it presents the players and audience with such a dramatically different venue and style of golf. There's an increased level of creativity often required to succeed -- we've seen Tiger win without ever taking his driver out of the bag, we've seen unknown Todd Hamilton win using a damn hybrid to bump-and-run his way around the greens, and we see winning scores that run the gamut. At Troon, a runaway duel between Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson left us with a winning score at 20-under. The Open rota is mostly predictable set of venues but this year's, Royal Portrush, is an unknown for the pros. It’s the first time The Open has come to Northern Ireland and Portrush since 1951 and it’s sold out, a rarity for this major. The pros may not be familiar with it, but it’s a world-class setup fully capable of hosting and will provide many of those traditional links feels and views we get in Scotland and England.

It's just a totally different style of golf and the weather can change it all from day to day, morning to afternoon and hole to hole. Sure, the big hitters and bombers often still have the advantage that they enjoy at many of the other venues on the season schedule. But at least they have to think about it some more, adapt different parts of their games and get creative at times. There are *options* on almost every shot, especially up around the green.

Many of the courses on The Open rotation have been lengthened, like all the other championship tracks across the world. But these venues still look the same -- you know immediately that you're at The Open. Links golf through the weather is the defining characteristic of an Open Championship and it's rewarding to dive right in for one all-important week each year.

2. Middle-of-the-night golf

Again, a unique aspect of The Open that is part of its charm but would be quite miserable if it went on for more than one week per year. BUT ... it's just one week, so suck it up and embrace the glorious blessing of middle-of-the-night golf. Getting up in the middle of the night to watch every hour of The Open broadcast once let me witness the greatest player-caddie interaction of all time.

The Phil-Bones dynamic made this job more fun. Maybe my favorite Vine ever from '14 Open. #RIPPhil&Bones #RIPVine pic.twitter.com/bCsV8VJiWk

— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) June 20, 2017

You never know what you might get as the rest of your house presumably sleeps. It's a fun party -- social media starts to stir, you know who's up and around and ready to plow through a 14-hour march.

In recent years, ESPN would come on the air around 4 a.m. for the first two rounds. This year, however, Golf Channel and NBC are back again for their fourth straight Open and will run a 50-hour broadcast from the very first tee shot until the conclusion on Sunday afternoon. So we'll do it live dammit! starting around 1:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. You now need to get up three hours earlier than you used to.

Whatever your preferred method is for getting through it -- crashing early Wednesday, or just going out for a late dinner, then staying out and powering through until Thursday afternoon -- make the effort. It's just one week and it becomes a fun personal tradition.

3. The 18th

Fewer and fewer things in golf really get the emotions running high -- so much of it is produced and forced. But the scene at the 18th of The Open never fails. Like so much with the oldest major in golf, it's because you know exactly what you're getting there. The courses may change but the R&A creates an ideal theater at the 18th each year. The only difference, really, is the clubhouse, which can serve as a "back wall.”

Grandstands go deep up the fairway from the area around the green, creating a tunnel of sorts. They also always look the same -- a similar arrangement with the blue-and-yellow scoreboards lording over the scene. It's a tradition and it looks inspiring even empty before Sunday...

Major championships are special, the walk up 18 at @theopen is another level. Sometimes have to stop and enjoy those moments with your dad!

A post shared by Justin Thomas (@justinthomas34) on Jul 15, 2018 at 9:01am PDT

... and then completely chilling when that Sunday comes and the crowds envelope the final group walking up to the green.

"It's the greatest walk in golf."pic.twitter.com/rk1I6xN1i7

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 18, 2017

Every major is going to put up a grandstand at its final hole, but no one sets the scene and does it with such a traditionally consistent look like The Open.

A major championship may not always produce the sexiest winner, but whomever makes that walk up the 18th at Portrush on Sunday will be gripping to watch.

4. The starter

Only at the Open Championship does a 156-player field all go off the same tee for all four rounds. It's just not possible at the U.S. Open or PGA Championship, where they send the full field in groups of three off both the 1st and 10th tees.

At The Open, however, it often stays light out way past 9 p.m. and sometimes pushing 10:30 or so when it's north in Scotland. They start the first and second rounds at 6:30 a.m., and just run everyone off the first tee for almost 11 hours until just after 4 p.m.

Standing guard at the 1st tee for the entire 11 hours, never taking a bathroom break, was always Ivor Robson, the iconic Open starter. Mr. Robson retired four years ago at St. Andrews, so we no longer have his incredibly unique and amusing voice at the start of every single round.

It will take a generation for someone to have the built-in familiarity that Robson had. David Lancaster got the first call for the impossible task of replacing Robson, and he didn't fly solo, unmoved for 11 hours like the great Ivor, but rather had occasional support from a second chair.

5. Pot bunkers

Bunkers, or sand traps if you're so inclined, aren't what they used to be. They're often not that penal for the best in the world, who sometimes even prefer that the ball go in a bunker for an easier up-and-down. At The Open, however, you can count on carnage. The pot bunkers are another tradition that make the golf of The Open so different from what we're used to, and it's fun to watch the best be challenged. Many of these might as well be hazards.

Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

6. Gorse

A word that's really only used, and used constantly, at The Open. It's junk, schmutz, jail, death. These are the plants so thick that once your ball goes off line and lands in them, you'll have trouble just finding it. There are fewer of these gorse bushes at Portrush but there are large swaths of unkempt and unplayable fescue and wildflower fields Playing it and making a swing is often not really an option. So much like the bunkers, these are unofficial hazards. You don't need ponds and lakes everywhere to force big numbers on a scorecard.

7. The outfits

Your browser does not support iframes.

Yeahhh, the outfits from past decades at the other majors look questionable and can be jolting in retrospect. But the players tend to get a little more creative at The Open, going for some amalgam of modern and edgy gear that's also a nod to the history in the home of golf. This was Rory McIlroy's getup at Carnoustie in 2007 -- not some mid-70s tournament, although there's an overflowing library of those, too. A mock turtle, deep V sweater and white pants.

The weather always forces the players to layer up and all the #brands want to display their best, most innovative or iconoclastic stuff. What you get is a four-day adventure in style.

8. The Claret Jug

I am biased. If you've read this far, you understand that I love almost everything about the way The Open stands out from the others. So I am sure there will be some objections in some quarters ... buuuut the Claret Jug is the best trophy in sports. There are only one or two active trophies that are older, and it's the oldest in golf. There's nothing incredibly ostentatious about it. It's relatively small, has an actual utilitarian purpose and is the most sought-after trophy in the game. The presentation of the jug, as the R&A chief drones "champion golfer of the year," is another goosebumps moment at the end of this event.

You can have your green jacket. I want to put $40,000 bottles of wine in my jug like Phil Mickelson.

* * *

There are so many little quirks that separate The Open from every other event in golf. A first tee start or a logo or a trophy all taken individually seem minor and unnoticeable. But the combination of all these differences and touches make The Open what it is, and that's the best major in golf. The course, the players, the time of day, the broadcast, the history ... there are so many things, both subtle and conspicuous, that make up a major's identity. The combination at the modern-day Open make it the most fun in golf.

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thecitykeepsevolving · 7 years

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Idina Menzel World Tour Concert Review - 5.20.17 Atlantic City, NJ

I went to my 3rd Idina concert in AC last night and it was amazing! I wrote a review. It’s not really coherent but it’s as much as I can remember. it’s under the cut because there are some spoilers (for those who don’t want to see any). I didn’t explain every little thing, just the main highlights. I don’t have pics because the lighting was bad, but I do have a short clip of “For Good” that I’ll post. (I already posted part of Let It Go, I’ll post the full one too)

SETLIST:

Queen of Swords

Small World

Seasons of Love

Don't Rain on My Parade (Funny Girl)

Everybody Knows

Cake / Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)

I'm Not That Girl

Perfect Story

Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler)

Defying Gravity

I Do

Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)

Rocksteady (Aretha Franklin)

No Day But Today

Dear Prudence (Beatles) / Do You Want to Build A Snowman?

For Good

Let It Go

Encore:

Every Time We Say Goodbye (Cole Porter)

I See You

The crowd was actually pretty tame. A LOT of older adults. The median age was probably 40. I expected to see a lot teens and kids but OH WELL, not complaining. i wish everyone would’ve been a little more LIT though. Idina was trying to get the crowd hyped and they were kinda eh.

SHE CAME OUT ON TIME!! At 8:07. I expected 8:30 so I was glad. When she came out, I lost my shit as always. This is the 7th time I’ve seen her live and 3rd concert and I still die every time. She was wearing the black jumpsuit thing from the Carmel/Japan shows and it looked HOT on her. I LOVED QUEEN OF SWORDS!!! ESPECIALLY THE DRUMMING. My 15 yr. old self died bc I used to think I would be an aspiring drummer one day (still do). This song is sooo good live, omg. And i was def singing along (NOT SORRY).

All of the songs from idina. were REALLY GOOD LIVE. It almost makes me wish it were a live album instead. I think it was the band/sound mixing that made it sound really good. Small world/Everybody Knows were never my favorite songs and based on what I’ve seen her sing from TV appearances they were ehhh but I really enjoyed both songs in person. A LOT.

Idina was casually talking about AC and said “I won 600 bucks at the casino” I was like YEAH, LIKE YOU NEED IT. OOOOKAY.

I was actually really glad to hear Seasons of Love, even though I’ve heard it sung live many times (not by Idina though). Only thing is, I wish it was later in the set? It just seemed like it was out of place. Also, at the beginning of the song, it sounded like echo was from the OBCR recording which was cool. I was surprised she remembered the words to this song, because she always forgot them at the BCEFA fundraiser for If/Then. But she NAILED the high note at the end of the song!!!

During “Don’t Rain on My Parade” before she sang “HEY THERE...HERE I AM” she said, “Where are we from? Jersey or Philly” (EVERYONE WHO COMES TO SOUTH JERSEY FOR A CONCERT ASKS THAT QUESTION) and a bunch of us (including me) screamed “JERSEY” (thank god). Then, someone said Long Island and she said, “YOU CAME TO AC FROM THERE?” AHAHAHA.

Also during DROMP the fringe from her jacket was hanging and she gave it to someone. it was pretty funny.

When introducing the song Cake, she talked about Aaron and “Since you last saw me, I got engaged. After getting divorced you never think that someone could love you again.” It was sweet.

CAKE WAS AMAZINGGGG LIVE. AS IF I DIDNT ALREADY LOVE IT FROM THE ALBUM. I’m so glad she put it in the set. I also loved the projections in the background during the whole concert. She was ROCKIN OUT and was classic rocker Idina! She rocked out so hard, that she said her face was hurting and she shouldn’t wear heavy metal earrings while singing a heavy metal song. After this, she turned to her guitarist and said “You don’t have that problem, fish.” She also said she needed a better bra and touched her boobs.

I really liked the Wind Beneath My Wings/DG mashup. I’ve heard Defying Gravity live 100 times and I’m sick of it, but the smoke, cape, and background set really added something to it. It made me like the song again. I also loved hearing some Beaches music too! The riffs on BOTH songs were amazing as always! She forgot the words to DG too. OF ALL SONGS.

OKAY, SO I CANT BELIEVE IM SAYING THIS. BUT “I DO” WAS ONE OF THE BEST PARTS OF THIS CONCERT. And this was the song I avoided listening to because of my anxiety. But I had some weird feeling that I’d have a revelation and love the song while hearing it live, and I DID. Toward the end of the song, Idina had this angry breakdown. I can’t explain it. She kept singing “I Do” and spinning around with her arms out while still holding the cape and swinging it around. Like, you could tell she was angry. But in a good way. She was letting it ALL OUT and being vulnerable and it was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.

I liked the cover of Rocksteady. It was different. I was sick of her old covers so it was nice to hear something new. Her weird dancing during this song was hilarious! ALSO, PROPS TO VANESSA BRYAN. THAT WOMAN IS A SINGER!!! I was afraid of her having backup singers bc they usually overpower her, but they didn’t at all! The whole band was great. I liked it better than the last tour where she had an orchestra. I think it consumes her too much.

Clearly Idina knew that a lot of her audience members were repeat attenders, so she explained how she always likes to sing No Day But Today because it reminds her to live in the moment and she talked a little about Jonathan. I always love this part of her shows because it shows that she still acknowledges her humble beginnings. During the part where she holds the mic to the audience to sing “no day but today” like 2 people sang (I swear I could hear my own voice) so that was lame but after she said “thank you, that sounded really beautiful” and I was like OOOOOKAY THEN.

There was one part in the show (I can��t remember when) where Idina was like “I’m always keepin it real” I’n like HECK YEAHHH (that probably didn’t need to be written down but it was funny) EDIT: It was when she was moving her stool. And she said “I move my own furniture.” Then, she said her manager Burt made a request for the stool to come out from the stage like Beyonce (obviously kidding)

The Dear Prudence/Do You Wanna Build A Snowman mashup was interesting. I wasn’t thrilled about Idina singing another frozen song but it wasn’t a bad mashup and didn’t bother me as much as I expected.

I also thought “Let It Go” would piss me off but only 6 kids came up and it seemed a lot more organized than what I’ve seen at other shows. It was hilarious because Idina said (about the kids’ parents) “THESE ARE THE PARENTS WHO BRING THEIR KIDS TO A CASINO AT NIGHT” and I died. And I think one of the kids had the same bday as her? (Or maybe an audience member?) So she said “Yeah but you’re 30 years younger!” She took a selfie with all of the kids when they were done singing and it was cute. Then said they were all gonna play craps after the show. When the kids were going back to their parents, she was SO SALTY. I LOVED IT. She said to the parents, PUT THE PHONES DOWN AND TAKE YOUR KIDS.” HAHAH. EDIT: the boy (who was about 15) actually said to HER that he’s 30 years younger and she mimicked him.

Random side note: when I was on line for the bathroom after the concert, two of the kids who sang with her were walking the other way and they seemed so excited that they got to go up on stage. So even if I get pissed about Frozen and Idina giving all of the attention to the kids, hearing them say that was priceless.

The “I See You” fan videos were a nice addition and not what I was expecting at all. It was a great way to end the concert and I’m glad there was some fan input in there. I really liked when she talked about the African saying, how one person says “I see you” and the other person says, “I see you, I’m here.” That was beautiful.

There was a lot I probably forgot or didn’t talk about, but it was a great concert. Much more fast-paced and streamlined than last time. (The run time was about 2 hours by the way, maybe even less. It ended a little before 10). There wasn’t a lot of chatter in between songs which kind of sucked, but it reminded me a lot more of the intimate concerts from back in the day. Idina seemed so happy to be there and free, and she really seems like she’s in a good place now. And I liked that a lot. I think it’s illegal to like a performer this much and I can’t wait to see her live again!

#idina concert review #my concert #WORLD TOUR 2K17 #personal #atlantic city nj #idina menzel

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neostep-blog1 · 6 years

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//TAEYONG\\ • Smut

Word count: 5427

The sun beams down into your eyes, causing you to squint and sigh, putting your hand over your eyes. You hear chuckling beside you which is quite obviously Taeyong. He opens his bottle of water and takes a sip as you sit next to him, practically melting in your seat. "Ah," you groan. "How are you still sitting there? I'm about to melt, it's really hot out here..."

"It's kind of nice if you can avoid dying of thirst and a lack of cool air," he jokes. Though it doesn't help that the both of you are sitting at a metal bench and table, talking over lunch as you do on most days. He's been your best friend for a really long time now, and things like this are a thoughtless part of your schedule now.

Chuckling half-heartedly, you stare down at the ground in attempt to avoid the rays of sunlight from leaving you nearly blind the next day. Even though you're both finished eating, you sit here just enjoying each other's presence, chatting here and there. "We should go to my house again this weekend," you suggest. "We always watch movies on Friday nights, you can't forget that."

He chuckles cutely, his large smile filling his features when his eyes turn into crescents of happiness. "I'm not gonna forget~." He trails off, "But I think maybe this time we could go to my house? You haven't been into my house in a long time, and we should change things once and a while, right?"

You giggle, noticing his sincerity. He's - on most standards - considered a bad boy with a sort of reputation to uphold. You're the only person to see the cute and soft sides of him. Since you're so comfortable around one another, he can be normal around you. However, he is a bit over-protective of his friends, and tends to be controlling in some situations. But you think of him all the same, and you ignore his often situations of taking control and seeming careless.

To other people, he can turn into a complete ass when needed, or he can be an actual angel when in the presence of certain people. It's totally up to his facade at the time.

"Your house it is then," you agree. "What movie should we watch?"

"I have no clue," he admits. "I think we've watched nearly every movie known to man-kind anymore."

"Ah, that's true," you exhale deeply, slouching in your seat.

"It's okay," he assures you. "We can find something else to do, right?"

"Like what?" You glance over at him and he shrugs, pursing his lips.

"Dunno... We'll think of something then," he says. The conversation practically dies at that, and you sit silently for another 10 minutes or so.

After a few minutes, you see a guy out of the corner of your eyes as he walks into the area, and you squint, trying to make out who it is. When you can see him clearly, it's obvious to tell that he's nobody you know, so you let it go. Taeyong, however, has a sour expression on his face as he furrows his brows, nearly glaring at the guy. When you notice, your facial expression falls into confusion. "What is it?" You ask him quietly.

"Nothing specific, I guess," he admits. "He was looking at you weird for some reason though."

"Was he?" You ask, not realizing. You hadn't noticed it, but you also didn't see him until your eyes got focused to the change of light. "You don't always have to be so over protective, you know that right?"

"Yeahhh," he trails off sarcastically. "But you're my friend. So deal with it, will you?" He says this in a half joking manner, but you're used to his sarcasm by now. The guy sits down on a bench across from the two of you, and you notice Taeyong reach his arm outward and rest it on the back of the bench behind you. When you give him an odd glance, he ignores it blatantly.

You feel his fingertips brush gently against the nape of your neck as he moves his hand down to your back, placing it there. He does this frequently, but you never quite understand. You just assume it's because he's a very protective friend and let it go. This time though, it causes a shiver to run up your spine and you lean forward, hunching your shoulders up in an attempt to not laugh. "What?" He asks, giving you a weird look.

"That tickled, I think," you chuckle half-hearted and lean back in your seat again, your neck resting on his outstretched arm.

"You think?" He furrows his brows, obviously trying his best to comprehend your statement. You ignore his sarcastic tone and a small breeze goes by as the sun hides behind a cloud, giving you a bit of shade for the time being. "I think it's time I get back home," he says, pulling his arm out from behind you.

"Alright," you nod gently. "See you Friday?"

"Tomorrow is Friday," he tells you. You glance down, remembering.

"Ah, right," you nod. "Thank you for telling me that, now I feel like a total idiot."

He chuckles genuinely and places his hand on top of your head. "Yeah, see you tomorrow," he says before walking away.

______________________________________

Friday evening, you knock on the door to his house, waiting patiently for him to respond. The door opens quickly and you see Taeyong standing there, a cup of milk in his hand and his lips placed on the straw. His white t-shirt and jogging pants shows that he's clearly lounging around, and you chuckle involuntarily. "Comfy?" You ask, walking in.

He just nods his head as he stands relaxed, shutting the door behind you. When he takes the straw out of his mouth, he purses his lips as he looks at you up and down. "Yep," he says quietly. He turns and trudges his way to the couch, plopping down on it.

You've only been over to his house a few times, but you rarely actually look around much. You both always meet somewhere in public, and when not, it's just you inviting him to your house. You glance around at the dimly lit living room that the front door enters to. The TV is mounted on the wall, and the walls are a light brown. The couch is a deep red color, and there's blankets folded over the back of it. The rest of the room is furnished stylishly, and there's lots of decorations placed around neatly. It looks nearly spotless in the room - he's always been a clean freak for most situations.

You slide your shoes off beside the door for comfort, and plop down on the other side of the couch while the television is turned off. "So," you trail off. "What do we watch?"

He shrugs, not saying anything. It's not surprising since most of the real words to leave his mouth are either dirty jokes, sarcasm, or cussing someone out. Other times he'll just stay quiet until someone addresses him directly. Usually you just go silent, but it would make the situation a bit awkward if you didn't say anything now.

Thankfully though, he speaks out to you. "Want a tour? I've not showed you around the house before," he says monotonous.

You stand up immediately after sitting down as your eyes light up. "Yeah!"

He sets his glass down on the coffee table, and stands up, walking towards the hallway. When he opens the first door in it, you notice a small bathroom, not really decorated or holding anything of importance. The next room though, he skips past and moves into the next one. "This is the door to the kitchen and dining room," he says.

When you glance inside, you can see a clean kitchen, black marble countertops with a luster of shine to it. When you stare in awe at the intricately detailed kitchen, you notice the white cabinets and appliances, leaving the whole room in a black and white. Directly on the other side of the kitchen is an arch in the wall that opens it up to the dining room which simply holds a small table. It seems to be able to seat a total of four, and the glass tabletop shines under the light he turned on. When he begins walking back in the other direction, you become slightly nosy, your curiosity getting the better of you.

"What's in here?" You ask, pointing at the door he skipped by. He doesn't really say anything as he pierces his lips, and then licks them as if they're dry.

"Oh, it's nothing really. Just a storage room," he says, brushing off your question. You furrow your brows and look at him questionably.

"Then where's your bedroom?" You fold your arms over one another and he glances away, his mouth opening for a split second.

"Well, uh, I sleep on the couch a lot, so..." He trails off and you can't tell if he's being truthful or not. His expression is always the same when he's not smiling, and it makes things hard for you to comprehend. He can easily lie to people's faces, and even when he's angry and in control, his face is still holding the same expression as if he's emotionless. It's part of his whole 'bad boy' facade, you assume.

He plops down onto the couch again and you tilt your head at him, ignoring the room for now. "But... Isn't there an upstairs?"

"It's just a guest bedroom, another bathroom, and a closet," he says. A few things run through your mind immediately.

"But... You don't have a bedroom? And if you have a guest bedroom how come you never invite me to stay?" You pucker your bottom lip, giving him a fake pout.

He doesn't say anything and he blinks questionably, glancing down at the floor. "I'm just kidding," you say as you sit down on the couch again. "I won't ask anymore, I get it."

Though you don't understand, you just let it go for the time being. When the room goes silent, he picks the remote up from the coffee table beside his cup, and turns the television on to a random channel for the time being.

Though a few minutes pass by, and for some reason you keep being curious on that one room. It feels like he's hiding something, and you stare off blankly into the television screen before speaking. "What's in that room?" You ask aloud, glancing at him. You don't want to invade his privacy, but it feels like he lied to you.

"...Do you really want to know?" He asks, raising his eyebrows questionably. When you notice this, you tilt your head a bit curiously.

"I mean, I asked didn't I?" You laugh awkwardly and glance over at the door, curious. He hesitantly stands up, slowly turning and taking a few steps in that direction. But he first reaches into the pocket of a coat he has hanging on the wall, and pulls out a small key. You furrow your brows, confused.

He takes it to the door, and slips the key in, turning it until the door pops open. You're too far back to see anything, but he pushes the door open and you walk a bit closer. When you step inside, you can clearly see view of a bed, and all sorts of unfamiliar things lining the walls and lying around. There's all sorts of chains, ropes, and handcuffs in the room and there's nightstands beside the bed with drawers cracked open, and you don't know what's inside. The room is dark and dimly lit, and you can see bottles of things setting up beside the bed on a nightstand, but you can't tell what it is. When you furrow your brows, you look over at him. "What's all this about?"

You can't seem to feel anything towards this room, because you honestly have no idea what it's for. You notice as he licks his lips and then they part for a moment before he speaks. "Isn't it obvious?"

When you think about it harder, you can't seem to come up with anything. "Do you ever even use this room?" You still don't know what it's for, so you ask hoping he'll hint at it.

"Alone? Rarely," he sighs out.

"What do you mean? What's all this stuff used for?" You step further into the room and examine the items hanging from the walls on nails or thumbtacks to keep them up. You could easily pull them off to use, but you don't know what for.

"Why don't I show you?" His voice is more like a whisper, and you glance at him curiously. You trust him since he's your close friend, but the situation at hand is a bit odd for you.

"Uh, sure?" You say out, crossing your arms in front of you. The air in here is a bit cool, but you walk back over to him beside the door as he stands, glancing at you quietly. "Aren't you gonna show me?"

You expect him to walk further into the room and do something with all of the items, but rather than that, he pushes the door shut with you in front of it. You can hear the door slam behind you as his hands are placed against it on both sides of your head. He stares into your eyes momentarily and then slowly glances down, tilting his head.

"What are you doing?" You ask, furrowing your brows in confusion.

"You told me to show you, didn't you?" The tone in his voice is near demanding, but you don't think twice about it since you've always heard him like this.

"B-But I... What does it have to do with me?" You ask, looking at him questionably. His lips are parted slightly, and he chuckles lightly.

"I guess you'll find that out, won't you?" He stares at you as his head is tilted to the side slightly, his lips parted and voice dropping.

"I... don't know?" You really are confused, and don't have much to say since you can't keep regards of the situation.

The look in his eyes is completely different from the one moments ago, and you feel a pit form in your stomach as you feel overwhelmed, not knowing what's going on. When his hands move from the door, they grasp the nape of your neck gently, and he stares into your eyes.

You're at a loss for words when you feel a small shiver run down your spine from the sudden touch on your neck. Your eyes go wide and you glance at him. His hand grips your chin gently and forces you to look up at him, and his eyes are filled with a look you've never seen from him before. His controlling action leaves you shocked momentarily, and so you allow him to make you look at him. He brings his lips closer to yours, and you can feel his breath against your lips. Instinctively, you close your eyes without thinking.

When he places his lips over yours, it's an immediately rough kiss when he gently bites your lower lip. His tongue slips in between your lips and you allow it, resulting in a sudden make out session. When you stay against the door, you bring your arms upward and grip the sleeves of his t-shirt in your fists. His hands run down your arms until they get to your hands, and they tremble slightly. He grips them firmly and pushes them behind your back, holding onto them as they stay shut together. He renders you unable to move your hands with his grip holding them behind you, but you oddly don't feel a need to resist. You enjoy the moment as your lips are locked together and moving with one another.

Though you've not kissed someone before, nor been in a situation like this, so it's new when you feel an unfamiliar feeling rise in your body. When he pulls back, you can feel his breath against your lips again, and you open your eyes, a bit shocked. "U-Um," you stutter out. "I didn't know you..."

When you trail off, he moves his hand from your wrist to place his index finger against your lips to hush you. The forced quiet leaves you speechless just as he wishes, and you feel his other hand pull slightly on your wrist, pulling you further into the room. You reach your hand out so that he can pull you where he's going, and he lets go of your hand when he gets beside the bed, then he pushes you just enough so you land on it. You gasp at the sudden impact.

"Wait you didn't tell me we were sleeping, I didn't bring an extra pair of clothes-" He cuts you off with a small chuckle.

"Are you really that clueless?" His words seem mean, but his tone isn't in the slightest. He looks down at your eyes and you can clearly see that something is different. They're glazed over, and his demeanor is undeniably controlling.

"But I mean-" You get cut off once again when he looks up at the ceiling, his expression sour.

"Be quiet," he says with a sort of attitude. You force yourself to close your mouth, and he sits down beside you on the bed. You sit up so that you're even with him, and you glance at him only for a second before he plants his lips back on yours. The air in the room is a bit on the cold side, and your body shivers from either that or the kiss.

After a couple moments, you can feel his fingertip hooked into the seam of your shirt as he lifts up, almost like he's trying to pull it off. You stop what you're doing for a second and furrow your brows, pulling back. You don't feel obligated to stop him since you trust him, but you're unable to comprehend what's going on. You allow him to completely remove your shirt, and you sit silently, confused. "Taeyong, why-"

"Shh," he puts his index finger over his lips as he looks at you. "Don't you trust me?"

"Well, yeah, I-" You cut yourself off, glancing at him slightly.

"Then just let it go, you'll see very soon what I mean here~." He chimes off with his voice and hums out sweetly at you. You rub your hands up to your arms and move them against your own skin lightly, feeling a bit insecure at the sudden lack of clothing.

He places his lips back onto yours, and instinctively, you move your hands away from your arms and grip the sleeves of his shirt again as he pushes against you with his weight. While you're in a kiss, you feel his slender fingers move upwards on your back and grasp the clasp of your bra, undoing it in almost an instant. You sense the straps slide completely off of your arms and the bra falls onto the bed, leaving you fully nude from your upper body.

You hug yourself in attempt to hide anything, still feeling insecure. You've never been undressed in front of someone before, but you don't see why it's a big deal. You've never kissed anyone either, so you're still in a slight shock with what's going on.

"Wait, why did you-" You pull back, looking down at the bra that's fallen onto the bed, and you pull your knees up to your chest and hug them.

"What is it?" He asks, placing his hands on your shoulders to comfort you.

"I-I've never..." You avoid his gaze and look over at the wall expressionless.

"Undressed in front of someone?" He chuckles quietly. You nod a yes and he smirks. "Ah, so innocent~."

You feel an unnatural heat rise on your cheeks, and you reach up to touch them, new to the unfamiliar warmth. "You get red really easy," he says bluntly.

"R-Red?" You sit confused, furrowing your brows at him.

"You're blushing from something so simple, yet we haven't even gotten started?" He smirks and then chuckles breathily, and you avoid his gaze at any chance.

"What do you mean?" You end up looking him in the eyes, and he stands up.

He turns and reaches for something hanging on the wall, and you move your body to the left, trying to look around him to see what he's reaching for. When he turns around, you can see a small pair of metal handcuffs hanging from his index finger as he tilts his head, throwing you a suggestive gaze. "How did you get those?"

He furrows his brows and nods his head a bit. "The question isn't how I got these," he says. "It's what they're for."

"Well? What are they for?" You look at them as he takes the pair into his hands, opening the cuffs slowly.

"I guess you're gonna find out," he snickers. When he gets closer, he takes your wrist into his hands and then places a handcuff on it, snapping it shut.

"Woah, what are you doing?" You ask, your eyes wide in shock.

"You ask too many questions," he says bluntly.

When you stop talking, he brings your other wrist close and snaps the other handcuff on it, rendering your hands immobile. You watch quietly as he strips himself of his shirt, letting it fall to the ground silently.

After a moment of looking at him, he comes closer and his lips near your neck, and you can feel his breath on the skin as his lips graze your ear. When he finally does something, his lips attach to your neck, sucking harshly on the soft skin. You begin to feel a new sensation run through the course of your body and he pushes your head up lightly with his hand, forcing you to look up at the ceiling.

Your lips part and you let out a gasp involuntarily, feeling the unfamiliar lips attack the skin on your neck. He snickers against the skin, and you notice his hands traveling to the top of your pants, pulling on them slightly. For some reason, you assist him in pulling them off almost thoughtlessly, as if it were natural for you.

Nearly instantly, you feel his fingers brushing up against your inner thigh, traveling upwards, leaving you to gasp slightly. When his lips detach from your neck, you feel them begin to kiss upward, trailing to your jaw and then your lips. Then, his hand moves immediately to your only clothed area left, and brushes against the fabric. He smirks against your lips and runs his hand over the fabric again, causing your breathing to hitch.

"Already so, so wet, aren't you?" He says this in a whisper as his voice deepens by the second. Your body trembles under every touch, and you stay quiet.

You can feel him pull down on the fabric, and then they pull completely off, landing on the floor. As soon as they do, he pushes you gently, causing you to fall onto the bed below him. His arms outstretch to give him support on either side of your head, and he looks down at you. You want to move your arms, but when you try, you feel your wrists yank on the metal of the handcuffs, and you're unable to. You're entirely unclothed below him, and you feel his hand glide against the skin right between your legs, and you let out a small noise at the unfamiliar pleasure.

Your body seems to take control and moves towards the touch, practically begging for more. Then almost without warning, he pushes his fingers inside of you, and you gasp loudly, your breathing hitching immediately. "T-Taeyong," you call out.

Though you can't seem to say anything more when he moves his fingers in and out slowly, leaving slow jolts of pleasure to run over your body. You find your arms pulling against the restraints without trying, and you let out a small moan of pleasure as he continues to move his fingers in and out of you, a glazed over look in his eyes with no signs of stopping. His other hand pushes up on your chin, revealing your neck to him. "It seems like.. I've left a few marks," he says with lust as his voice stays deep and a bit raspy.

Then he brings his lips back onto your neck, leaving a small kiss on the skin. This causes him to start with a trail of kisses as they lead down from your neck, to your collarbone, and eventually your breasts. You wince, slightly frustrated by the desire overtaking your body and leaving nothing to he enough.

You whimper slightly when he pulls his fingers away and steps back completely. You squeeze your legs together, embarrassed. Before you can even think, he reaches over and into a drawer beside the bed, taking something out that you can't quite see. When he looks down at the object, he smirks and then glances up at you. As he licks his lips again, the look in his eyes is equal to that of an animal hunting it's prey. "What is that?" You ask, directing to the unseen object in his hand.

Instead of answering you, he simply takes his hand and spreads apart your thighs, leaving you in the same position as moments ago. He makes a shush sound and then he brings the unknown item to your entrance, and your body automatically moves towards it in desperation.

He shoves it inside of you as he crouches down in his spot, eye level to your body on the bed. You immediately moan out, pleasure overtaking you as it fills you. You can hear a small snicker of satisfaction from Taeyong, and a hum of his voice as he admires your reactions. Before doing anything with the object, he does something with it, and you can feel it vibrate slightly while inside, and your mouth falls open, a gasp escaping your lips as your eyes shut tightly. You instinctively try to close your legs, but his hand is placed on your inner thigh, repressing you.

When he finally moves the object, he pulls it out and then pushes it back in immediately. You whimper, clenching your teeth shut at the sensation. He repeats this action as he pushes it in and out, thrusting it in harshly. But your body is in bliss, and heat rises over your skin, a blush tinting your cheeks while you feel shivers at the same time. It's practically indescribable, and you begin to be unable to suppress any sounds that would come out of your mouth, and you're soon a mess of whimpers and moans underneath his touch.

What feels like moments go by before your body feels like it's high, and your walls clench tightly around the object, and your fingers dig into your own hands while they pull against the cold metal restraints on your wrists. Your breathing is ragged while you clench your teeth tightly, and then he pulls it out, leaving you empty and untouched. You whimper, and for some reason you feel frustrated, unsatisfied. But when you do, he lies the object down on the nightstand and then reaches down, pulling off his pants that have still been on. You lie there, trying to regain your breathing when he takes no hesitation to pulling off his underwear as well. You can see his member spring up from the fabric, and his mouth is agape, looking at you like he wants to devour you. You inhale deeply as he crawls onto the bed above you, looking down at you mercilessly. You still feel frustrated, pulling against the metal restraints on your arms as your body naturally moves against him, desperate for any touch. As he notices this, he places his member against your entrance, and you quietly moan simply from the gesture.

He thrusts inside of you without warning and you loudly moan, a sensation of pleasure jolting through your body in waves. You move your wrists up above your head as they pull against the handcuffs, desperate to move freely. Though oddly, you enjoy the restraint as he pulls out and then thrusts in again, leaving your core to practically throb in pleasure and want. His breathing is hitched slightly from the pleasure, and he inhales sharply as he begins to continue at a steady pace.

"Ah, fuck," he moans out quietly, his eyes shut tightly as he leans over you, hearing your moans at every thrust. His head hangs and you can feel his already ragged breathing against the skin on your collarbone, and he looks down at you with pure desire in his eyes.

"O-Oh my g-god," you stutter out in between moans, digging your fingernails into the skin of your palms. He seems to be in as much pleasure as you as you can hear his breathing seem labored, and his thrusts speed up slightly by the minute, becoming more harsh. He places his hands beside your head and rests his head at the crook of your neck as he thoughtlessly kisses the skin on your collarbone. His breaths are hot to your skin and you move your restrained hands upwards and wrap them around his back, pulling him slightly closer. Your touch against him causes him to react by arching his back upward a bit, moving toward the touch of your hands. The pleasure running through your body leaves you running your hands up his back, your nails probably digging into his skin by your force from the undeniable pleasure. Though he doesn't seem to care because he speeds up again, and you can hear the bed moving slightly below you, and the room is filled with the sounds of moaning, laboured breathing, and the bed which is proof of your interactions.

You once again feel your body rise in temperature, and your skin shivers as your walls throb around his member while he thrusts in and out quickly. You feel a small pit rise in your stomach, and your breathing comes to a slight halt uncontrollably, leaving you to hold back every moan willing to escape. When he feels you coming close to your high, it nearly drives him over the edge and he goes even faster and harder, and he grips your thighs gently in his hands as he lets out small, deep moans in pleasure. Immediately, you feel a different feeling inside of you as he hits his high, and it immediately drives you to yours. Your back arches, and the moans you were withholding come out loudly, your nails digging into the skin on his back as your body shivers. Your eyes close tightly and your hips move against him thoughtlessly, adding an extra amount of pleasure to the both of your highs. The friction between you both comes to a stop once it's over, and you pant heavily under him as your body feels exhausted. You can feel him pull out of you, leaving you empty. The sounds of you both breathing heavily fills the room, and he rolls over onto the bed beside you.

Realizing the both of you are now exhausted, he pulls the blanket up and over you for warmth, and your eyes crack open to look at him. He yawns immediately, and then notices your gaze. "Now do you get what the room is for?" He asks quietly, smirking at you. He reaches over at your wrists and undoes the handcuffs, dropping them off the side of the bed. You move your arms down at your sides comfortably and sigh.

"I... think so," you whisper out, not thinking much. Though you'd never experienced something like that before, you feel your heart flutter in your chest as you glance over at his perfectly defined face as his mouth falls agape, his eyes gazing at you.

"Go to sleep," he says as he closes his eyes, a smirk rising up on his face. "If you're still curious, I could show you even more tomorrow."

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ruthgabyguerrero · 7 years

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Southern California Veteran DJ’s Keep Hip-Hop Alive

Standing on step stools, the students respond with a hand up, and a "here" to their names being called. Their teacher, however, unlike regular grade school teachers who look up and monotonously nod at students' reply, reiterates with a boosting remark every time.

"Ezekiel in the house ready to cut it off!" Mr. Choc, wearing Dickies cut off at the calves and high-top Vans, tells a student.

"Victor, who goes by 'Lil Vic!'" he tells another.

He then shouts, "who's ready to get scratching!"

The pre-teen students raise one hand and cheer and use their other hand to hold on to their too-big headphones as they leap in excitement. The other teacher, DJ Babu, wearing a black baseball cap and a black tee with the word “junkies” on both, handles the two turntables and mixer and instructs the students in a tender, purposely downtempo tone,

"Make sure you could hear yourself on your headphones," he says,

And "keep one ear open. I see some of you with the headphones covering both ears."

A loud, catchy beat consumes the hipster-looking room with its light wooden floors, festival posters framed on its walls, and a cool coffee table shaped like a compact cassette surrounded by two modern mid-century style sofas. The rhythm is a bass that is signature Hip-Hop. The students then place one ear cup behind their ear, as Mr. Choc says, "somebody say yeahhh!"

"Yeahhh!"

And just like that the aspiring DJs rock the air of professional Hip-Hop DJ's, and are one step closer to mastering the infamous Two Turntables and Mixer right before each of them.

The school these youngsters attend is The Beat Junkie Institute of Sound, owned and operated by seven friends and colleagues, located in the city of Glendale. At six pm every Monday and Wednesday and at twelve pm every Saturday the intermediate students are taught by Southern California's most legendary DJ’s.

The classes, which run like a college quarter system with ten weeks of lessons, include more than just an opportunity for pastime, but instead the fundamentals in DJing, reasons Brian Samson Sr. enrolled his 11-year-old at BJIOS.

"[I] wanted to get him into an educational environment about DJing so he has a real structured perspective. [Hip-Hop] is not about hanging out and going to parties," he said regarding the school.

Samson is a DJ himself who's worked in the music industry for twenty five years with labels such as Def Jam and who currently works in marketing and promotion for independent artists. Videos of his past DJ gigs kept young Samson entertained for years and eventually sparked an interest at the age of seven. At the age of nine he made his own instrumentals playlist, and told his parents he wanted to DJ his own birthday pool party--a moment that prompted Samson to finally look into classes for his son. The primary reservation for Samson, however, was whether the courses would distract from his regular school. But after a year of negotiating and after making the Honor Roll at his school, Brian Samson Jr. finally convinced his father to enroll him in the “DJing for Kids” courses.

“It was kind of hard [at first], I kept thinking ‘Oh my God there’s a lot of buttons,’”

young Samson, a miniature version of his father with his all-black attire, husky frame and amiable demeanor, says about class, adding, “[My friends] are not that into DJing, they’re more into sports. I like DJing better.”

The structured perspective Samson desired for his only son is truly what students are consuming at this after-school activity. Fundamentals include heavy repetition, positioning guidance, musical terminology and even some calisthenics for their adult students, says DJ Babu, whose real name is Melvin Babu.

"It's a combination of music school and martial arts the way we teach our classes. It's literally some Cobra Kai shit."

On this Wednesday the kids are taught by two of the seven teachers in the BJIOS, ex-Power 106 DJ, Mr. Choc, and current member of the Hip-Hop group Dilated Peoples, DJ Babu. Babu, who drove all the way from his hometown of Corona, faces the students with his turntables before him on a small elevated stage, demonstrating a scratching pattern that the kids must then repeat. He turns the brim of his hat to the side, licks his index and middle fingers on his left hand, and places them on the vinyl to demonstrate, saying, "Forward, forward, forward, bring it back."

An effortless pattern for him is a tricky one for beginners. Repetition, however, causes the students' unison scratching to sound more and more harmonic each time.

"Switch!" Mr. Choc yells above the "Black Beatles" instrumental for the students to now stand in front of the vinyl on the left side because standing in the middle doesn't allow for full control, he says. And luckily the step stools these pre-teens stand on to reach the top of the tables custom-made for adults are wide enough for the easy switch.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, playback.

He switches the song to Drake’s "Fake Love," another tune the kids readily recognize and jump in excitement to hear. Their task this time is to count it's BPM, or Beats Per Minute, after deciding "Black Beatles" had 72.

Tap, tap, tap,

Mr. Choc counts the tempo of the song with his finger but not with his words. After 60 seconds of the beat, skinny arms shoot up and, chosen one-by-one, all agree on a tempo of 67.

"Great job guys, great job," Mr. Choc says as he steps off the stage to high-five one student, walking further to high-five another, and another, before heading back to his place on the stage.

Melo-D, DJ Rhettmatic, J Rocc, D-Styles, Dj Sunil, along with Mr. Choc and DJ Babu make up a DJ crew named Beat Junkies that originally formed in 1992. The crew participated in DJ battles, nightclub performances, mixtapes or "street albums," and music production, but as of four years ago decided to get invested in a more serious venture through their skillful union.

Their first venture was a digital record group, BeatJunkies.com, that allowed subscribers access to the beats curated and provided by the Beat Junkies themselves. With the success of this digital record group the friends wondered what else they can venture on; then the idea of a DJ school came to mind. At the time, however, Babu and Dilated Peoples were at their peak touring worldwide, releasing the most music and collaborating with artists such as Cypress Hill, Kanye West and The Roots among many more other names, adding,

"Mentally and commitment wise we weren't ready. I was in the middle of making my last album with my band, and the other guys' tour schedule meant they were out of town so much...I just wasn't ready to teach yet."

A year and a half ago, however, D-Styles in a Beat Junkie meeting brought up the idea once again, and this time it made more sense. Babu was slowing down with his band and longed for more “normalcy” and the opportunity to be home with his kids, and fondly remembers what D-styles said that fortified this plan,

"What do Boxer's do when they don't wanna box no more? They open gyms."

In an era where technology has fundamentally taken over manual tasks, old-school turntablists have seen the integrity of DJing, too, be compromised in the music industry. Today, all that’s needed is a playlist and a few computer programs on a laptop to blend songs together for you, minimizing the tasks of a “DJ” to yelling on a microphone in order to heighten the environment and twisting a few knobs for cool musical effects.

But could it be that Hip-Hop itself has contributed to the vanishing of this organic art? The Hip-Hop culture is rooted on the quality of secrecy; an aura of pride that refuses to share, particularly in the mainstream, for fear of dilution. It is a world thriving with qualified talent that may possibly, like Babu claims he used to, be confusing “selling out” with helping maintain an art alive,

“It took me 25 years to realize it was really selfish. And as an artist I was just killing myself not sharing. What’s the point of making all this shit or getting good at this art form if you’re not gonna share?”

BJIOS teaches without a laptop, without computer programs, and instead with vinyls on the infamous Two Turntables and a Mixer that its student must mix manually. Each of the two turntables has a different song, or artist, or even genre and a DJ’s job is to make a song something else. He/She changes the genre of a song, turning William Bell into Dilated Peoples, Earl Klugh into Wu-Tang Clan, Kool and the Gang into Nas; ultimately a soulful vinyl into a Hip-Hop one, by manually blending the rhythms together, every once in a while “scratching” the vinyl, oh so skillfully, to make a remix of a song that glides.

“That’s what’s different about our school and our approach is that we want to lift the level of DJIng, and the perception of what real DJing is,” Babu says, adding,

“At the most core of it, I want DJ’s hand skills [perfected]. I get really hurt when I see someone DJing publicly and the fundamentals are wrong, the mechanics are wrong. Like, ‘the record rotates this way guys, why are you scratching over here?’”

The city of Glendale was primarily chosen because of sound regulations other prospective locations imposed. Babu, however, has developed an admiration for the city’s trendy milieu, stating restaurants like Shake Shack and Eggslut, as well as the Museum of Neon Art and the city’s very-modern Library with its seven conference rooms, big screen projectors and a 3D printing lab, as his favorite parts of the city, adding,

“If I could change my life and live right here on Ivy (the street the school is located in) I’d sell my car and just walk everywhere.”

And, “I want to be part of Glendale, I think we’re a real gem for the city, and I want them to realize what they have, and I want them to get behind us. And include us in the community section of things. I want to be in community centers, I want to work with the YMCA, I want to get into the private schools and junior colleges, let them know what we’re doing.”

The ultimate goal for him and his fellow Beat Junkies, however, is to be able to provide DJ lessons free of charge for all. He is currently working on a scholarship program along with restaurant owner and chef Roy Choi that would allow twelve children from the city of Watts to take free lessons that at the end of the semester would provide them with their very own equipment.

“I dream of...I am open to the idea of becoming a non-profit. If we didn't have that burden of knowing we needed to make X-amount a month, if we could be non-profit, that would be the ultimate.”

#DJBabu #DilatedPeoples #MeloD #DJRhettmatic #JRocc #DStyles #DJSunil #BJIOS #Glendale #MrChoc #HipHop #DJing #DJlife #KanyeWest #TheRoots #CypressHill #LosAngeles

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