#and to everyone who complimented the quality of this poster: thank you <3 it's my first time making one so I'm glad it turned out good

[thebookreader12345]

750 Followers Celebration - Q&A

Thank you so much for supporting me through this journey! You guys don't know how much this means to me. Every single one of you is amazing.

Below the cut are my answers to the questions that you all submitted.

Q: Do you think Jay is going to become Sergeant this season? A: There has been a lot of debate over this question because of the past few seasons and all of the "Easter eggs", like the sergeant exam poster hanging in the background of the show. In my opinion, I do not believe Jay will become Sergeant. Yet. I think it won't be until the beginning of next season because, if this is a possible storyline, I would expect that the producers and writers would make the finale of season 9 about Voight stepping down/getting promoted, etc.

Q: Did Chicago Justice deserve more episodes? A: I'm sort of split with this question. I loved the fact that there was a big episode involving Kevin, and they always included people from Med, Fire, and PD in some of the episodes. However, the whole plot of the episodes was kind of slow because it wasn't like they were police officers and could go out and chase suspects and arrest people and what not. Their job was just to gather the evidence and then present it in court. I think for many, the show fell flat because there wasn't much action, and part of me does agree with that, but the whole idea of the show itself was kind of cool.

Q: What would make you stop watching each Chicago show? A: This is a tough question because I've only ever dropped one show that I can think of, and it was only because the plotline got really dumb. Maybe if some major characters died in each show I'd stop watching it? But then again, I love the One Chicago universe so much that I don't think even that would stop me from watching. So yeah. I really don't know.

Q: Do you believe in magic? A: As much as I would love for magic to be real, I don't believe it is. But I feel like everyone thinks that way. Cause lets be honest, Harry Potter and Disney make magic look so cool. However, we all know deep down somewhere that it's almost impossible for certain things to be real, and magic just so happens to be one of them.

Q: Are you superstitious? A: I'm not the most superstitious person out there, but I do somewhat follow a few superstitions. Whenever I find a penny on the ground with heads facing up, I pick it up because I believe I'll get good luck. Doing the whole "fingers crossed" thing is something I do a lot. I believe you shouldn't open an umbrella in the house or else you'll receive bad luck. Broken mirrors are bad omens. Those are the top 4 I believe in, but other than that, I'm not really too superstitious.

Q: Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you? A: I mean, I would hope so. I appreciate my level of smarts, and whenever my friends acknowledge them or compliment me on them it makes my day. However, with that, people think that I'm always only doing things to boost my intelligence. For example, I love to read. So whenever I say that I didn't do much over the weekend, people always assume that I read a bunch, when I really didn't. Or that I always study for tests or do homework like a week before it's do. That is not the case. But for the most part, I believe my perception of myself is the same as how other people perceive me.

Q: Who is your favorite couple on each One Chicago show? A: Okay, so for Med, there aren't really any couples at the moment besides Maggie and Ben, whom I love but they aren't my favorite, so I'm gonna pick a past couple. When I first started Med, Manstead was my prime ship, so I'll choose them. Will had been pining after Natalie for so long so I was glad when they finally got together. For Fire, it's gotta be Kelly and Stella. They were literally made for each other, and they support each other with everything. Also, they are so cute together and all of Firehouse 51 ships them as well! And for PD, while I do love Burzek, Upstead is my favorite ship at the moment. I've seen the connection between Hailey and Jay since season 5. You don't understand how angry I was in season 7 when Hailey was so close to confessing her feelings. So season 8 made me very happy when Jay and Hailey finally got together.

Q: Jay and Lindsey or Jay and Hailey? A: I respect everyone's opinions on this matter, so hopefully you all respect mine. I thought that Erin was almost toxic in a way for Jay. She continuously broke his heart when all he wanted to do was help him. But what really does it for me is that she left Chicago without telling him goodbye. Hailey, on the other hand, has pushed Jay to seek out help when he needed it, like when she recommended he take seeing a therapist seriously to help with his PTSD, and she is always there for him, no matter what. That's why I believe Hailey and Jay are the better pairing.

Q: Which character death got to you the most? A: There have been too many sad deaths in the One Chicago world. But if I had to pick one, I've gotta go with Otis on Chicago Fire. Otis was always one of my favorite characters, even way back when I watched Fire with my dad when it was first coming out. He was witty and funny, and his friendship with Cruz was everything. So, when I watched the episode where he died, I was full on balling. I had to pause the episode for 10 minutes because I couldn't stop.

Q: Who is your favorite character on each show and why? A: I'm gonna do favorite male and female character because I've got too many favorites from each show. On Med, my favorites are Will and Natalie. Will has been my favorite since day one, and I like that he will go out of his way to help patients, even if it means he could get in serious trouble. Natalie, even though she's not in the show, always pushes for the best of care for her patients, and whenever she dealt with kids it was always the sweetest thing. On Fire, I like Kelly and Sylvie. Kelly is so headstrong and driven, and he will do anything to protect the other members of Squad 3. Sylvie is such a hard worker and you can tell she is passionate about her job. I feel so bad that she's had to go through so many partners. On PD I love Jay and Hailey. Jay has not always been my favorite male character. Back when I watched the show for the first time, I adored Adam. However, I love that Jay has such good morals and is always pushing to do the right thing even when Voight disagreed. Now, it took a few episodes for me to warm up to Hailey, but after seeing her be so badass, it was hard not to like her.

Q: Where do you get inspiration for your stories?/How do you get inspiration when there's not a request? A: This question is always hard to answer because I really don't know. Most of the time I'm fulfilling requests sent in by you guys and I just write what comes to the top of my mind. If there are requests that are not requested and I come up with them on my own, chances are I saw the plot somewhere else, like in a book or show or movie, and I just tweaked it a bit to fit the One Chicago universe. Either that happens, or while I'm trying to fall asleep, I make up random scenarios in my head, and if I find one that I really like, I'll make a note of it on my phone so I don't forget it, and then I'll write about it.

Q: Do you think Brett and Casey are endgame? Why or why not? A: I'm gonna go with yes on this one. Now, Brettsey is not one of my top ships in the universe. However, they are cute together, and I've been expecting them to get together for a while. The two of them, even when Gabby was around, had a great relationship and always cared for each other. Plus, Matt jumped out of a firetruck to go help Sylvie when the ambulance flipped. He was willing to risk an injury just to make sure she was okay. And now that they are officially together in Chicago Fire, you can see that they really love and care for each other.

Q: What inspired you to start writing? A: I always seem to get this question whenever I do a q&a, but that's okay because I don't mind talking about it. I first got into stuff like this as a reader. Basically, I went on to Wattpad and Tumblr to read other people's stories. I had no intention of creating my own. And then, one day, I started imagining myself in some of the fandoms I was apart of, and I thought, "If I'm imagining myself in these fandoms, chances are others are too," and I began creating stories that followed the plots of movies and shows exactly, just adding Y/n in it. However, that got tiring after a while because I wasn't able to have much freedom because I was following a set script, and that's when I remembered I had a Tumblr account I never used. So, I revamped my account just a little bit and started posting story ideas I had that I couldn't post on Wattpad because either they didn't fit with the stories or they were for someone I didn't write for on Wattpad. And now, here we are. For anyone interested, I've posted this before but I'll post it again, my Wattpad handle is @Writer_Reader05.

Q: Jay or Will Halstead? A: I'm sorry, but I really can't choose between the two of them. I love them both so much. Will and Jay are two of my favorite characters in the whole One Chicago universe. While they do have some qualities that I'm not the fondest of, at the end of the day, I adore the both of them, and I could never choose between them.

Q: Who would you rather date: Jay or Will Halstead? A: Why do you guys do this to me? I love them both so much! But, if I have to choose, I'm gonna pick Jay. The only reason is because I like the characters in PD more than Med, so if I'm dating Jay, chances are I'm friends with Hailey and Adam and all of Intelligence. Will is just as awesome as Jay though and I feel like sometimes people sleep on that.

Q: Which of the requested fics you’ve written is your favorite? A: I think I'm gonna have to go with a Jay Halstead x reader I wrote titled Two Becomes Three. Something about the plot just makes me smile. And to think of Jay being a father......So yeah, while I have so many amazing requested fics thanks to you all, that one has to be one of my favorites.

Q: What’s your favorite series you’ve written so far? A: I love all of the series I have written. Something about creating a whole story that's more than just one part is always fun. If I have to pick one series, I'm gonna pick On the Loose. It was the first series I wrote on Tumblr and the plot of it is something I'm really proud of. However, From the Big Apple to the Windy City, Identity Loss, and Difference of Opinion are all amazing! The first two are finished series and the last one still has a few chapters left to go. Go check them out if you haven't already.

Q: What's your favorite imagine you've come up with and why? A: I don't have a lot of fics that are solely my ideas. Most of my stories have plots that were sent in by you all. However, if I had to pick a favorite out of my stories, it'd be Back Home for Christmas, a Halstead Sister fic I released when I was somewhat new to the platform. Something about writing sibling fics always makes me happy because I get to express the familial side to the characters.

Q: If you had to be roommates with 5 of your mutuals/fellow writers, who would you pick and why? A: I love all of my fellow writers/mutuals so much! I know how much work we put into whatever we post, and most of us are very active on this site. As for who I would pick to be my roommates, I'd choose @hereforhalstead @fighterkimburgess @halsteadlover @resanoona @sylviebrettsey because I feel like we'd all have great conversations, mainly over One Chicago. And every Wednesday night we'd all watch the episodes live together and experience them as a group and then freak out over what happened..........Now watch me fantasize about this all day.

Q: Do you listen to music when you write? A: It depends. On some days when I plan that I'm gonna write, then yes, I do put on some music. When there are days that I have a few minutes to spare, I don't put on music just because I'm only writing for a few minutes and I don't want to waste time. But mostly when I'm writing I do play music in the background.

Q: Do you know how your fics/stories end before you finish writing it? A: This is a really interesting question. The answer is no, I do not know how I'm gonna end a fic before I finish writing it. The only story I had a set ending for was my series On the Loose, but that one wasn't even fully planned out until I got a chapter or two in. Obviously, if I get a request that includes a set ending, like two characters get together or something like that, then I know what the ending will be. Otherwise, I have no clue.

Q: Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along? A: You know, I can't say that I have. Everyone is different in their own way, and that's what makes us all unique. I would imagine if I did meet someone with a similar personality we'd get along because we'd basically be a carbon copy of each other, but who knows. Maybe our similar personalities would cause us to clash.

Q: Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others? A: Not really. I know myself more than anyone else so I know what my limits are and when I've reached them. With people, on the other hand, I always feel like they can be doing more with themselves and their lives. So I do not hold myself to higher standards than others.

Thank you to all of you who sent in questions! I never thought I'd reach 750 followers on this platform. The only reason I have is all thanks to you wonderful people out there!

@winterberryfox @maximeevansblog @scarletsoldierrr @i-like-sparkly-things @dreamingmanip @soph0864 @ryliegh8 @lorenakaspersen @wanniiieeee @nevertoofarfromivar @securityfriendly-jay @pinkbay-love @stephie123

[doorbloggr]

Friday 30/4/21 - A D&D Group's Designated Note-taker and Fan-artist

2020 was a year that took a lot away, but it was also a year that gave a lot of new opportunities. Thanks to the dissolving of a gaming club me and my three closest friends used to attend, we now consistently had Friday's free. One friend suggested we do weekly Dungeons and Dragons sessions as an excuse to hang out, and thus began a new chapter of my life.

Credit: me; Group shot of every D&D character I played as during 2020.

As someone new to D&D, I was happy to be a player while some of other friends DM'd (played the role of Dungeon Master, the story teller during D&D games who dictates how our world plays).

If you've followed my blog so far, you can probably tell by now I am very meticulous with documenting everything in precise detail. So even if I was only a player during our D&D games, I brought an exercise book and pens, and chronicled everything that happened.

I was later shocked to find that a player who writes down all that happens is a rarer type of player. My session notes were greatly appreciated by the DM and the players as a secondary take on events that complimented the DM's own notes.

A Volume or Two of Session Notes

One of my friends introduced me to a small crafts company called The Rook and the Raven who make materials specifically for Note Taking in D&D, and I have invest in many a booster pack to better chronicle our adventures.

My two binder notebooks of Session Notes. The bigger left book is most of the 45 sessions of our Tomb of Annihilation campaign. The note book on the right is full of all ongoing series yet to finish.

A typical Friday Night D&D session will go for 3 or 4 hours plus breaks, but a lot of that is chat and banter too. Depending on whether the session is combat or role-play heavy, my notes will range mostly between 5-8 pages per session.

In my notes I detail character interactions, puzzles, building layouts, quest requests, and combat. Combat is probably the most detailed parts of my notes, since I detail Initiative Order, what every character does per turn, how much damage they give and take, and what attacks they are using.

An excerpt from my Session Notes, a battle encounter between the Everift Party and some Kobolds

Often, if the game is moving slow enough, I will accompany my notes with little doodles of our characters interacting, attacking or just goofing off. And this led to my other main interaction with D&D and this group.

Fan-Artist for your own group

As someone who draws a lot, visualising everyone's characters and representing them in art was important to me. And after the first couple of sessions, I made Session Arts a regular thing.

Session Art for Chapter 5 of Everift, a setting and story that our DM created themselves

For most of 2020, we alternated between two campaigns, the DM of one campaign subbing in as a player in the other's and vice versa. Each series' sessions were documented by chapter numbers and titles for each chapter.

For each session, I made an art piece attempting to sum up the session as a whole, or at least one of its more memorable moments. And for our main two series, I did not miss one session art that year. When players had to make new characters, I would ask them to pitch a design to me so that I could visualise their character and depict them in my notes and in the next session art.

Mock up sketches for the party's new characters after literally everyone died the previous session

My friends did not ask me to do this; becoming the dedicated fan artist for our group was my own personal endeavour, and to be honest, it helped me grow as an artist. Drawing people in general was a weakpoint of mine, so dedicating myself to drawing essentially a poster once a week was quite the creative exercise.

Session Art for Tomb of Annihilation Chapter 7 (left) compared with Chapter 45, the series' finale (right). Yes I used Star Wars posters for inspiration in both of these.

I started Digital Art in October 2020, and I was quite proud to say the access to colours and editing greatly increased the quality of my art in general. But specifically, my D&D Art became much more refined.

Some of my more recent session arts that I am particularly proud of. All three are from different campaigns that are still ongoing.

Sometimes I feel that my own interest in our group's D&D activities is a bit too obsessive and I will often flood our groupchats with fanarts in progress and my personal spitballing on lore and character backstory stuff, but they put up with me and I'm glad. Because if I didn't develop a new obsession in 2020, i would've been a much sadder person.

[fredfilmsblog]

Vahalla Studios crew (clockwise starting on the top left): Kris, Dan, Dustin, Jess, Perry

The Vahalla Studios Team!

Dan Padavic’s and his entire Vahalla Studios crew in North Kansas City, Missouri, have been my companions on limited edition New Year’s posters for 10 years now. And this year’s poster by Ron Haywood Jones, my first at FredFilms, is the just the latest. Vahalla specializes in beautiful, high quality screenprinting and letterpress, two handmade crafts that are increasingly rare, and paradoxically, seeing a bit of resurgence in the past decade.

Our entire relationship has been through email (maybe we had a quick call at the very beginning) and I realized I didn’t know much about the studio. That drive me crazy! One of the great things about working with creative people is getting to know them, so I decided it was time for Dan to come clean.

.....

Fred Seibert: Hi Dan. I started printing New Year's posters with you in 2011 and we've done a fantastic total of eight together. But I realize I know nothing about how, when and why Vahalla Studios started? Dan Padavic: I started the company in 2006 on a whim that I had one big client who wanted to make a ton of posters and they needed a printer who would be on call. Our beginnings were meager and it was tough, we worked out of the back of an auto mechanics shop, probably the worst environment I can think of to do printing :) But things rapidly progressed and we gradually got better and better at what we do!

I can’t believe its going to be 15 years in September. I was 26 years old when I started making posters for a living. It has been a wild ride.

FS: Who's most inspired your work? DP: This is a tough one because there have been so many people along the way. But I have always admired the poster dudes from Methane Studios and Aesthetic Apparatus, top notch!

FS: How big is the Vahalla crew? What does everyone do? DP: There are 5 of us. All in the picture.

Dustin is my right hand man and has been my studio manager for the past 8 years!!!! Dustin plays a HUGE role in why our company is so successful, he manages the team, separates the art, hops on press and is an amazing designer / illustrator as well.

Kristopher is my head pressman and floor manager, he is a talented illustrator and has a super keen eye for printmaking. He is one of the best pressman I have had the pleasure working with.

Jess is a press operator and press assistant who has been with me since graduating from the Art Institute 3 years ago, more of a fine art illustrator than a commercial one.

Perry is also a press operator and assistant who has been with me for the 3 years. He is an illustrator and designer as well, who’s love for 80’s synth pop and star wars always puts a smile on your face.

FS: You prove your leadership by focusing on your co-workers. What about you Dan, what’s your story?

DP: So yea, I got my degree in Graphic Design from the University of Kansas in 2004. I have been designing gig posters and screen printed goods since then. You can find my work at danpadavic.com Over the past few years I have not been quite so focused on my own design work. My focus has been geared toward the print shop as it has really been growing and it takes up a lot of my time, oh yea, I have two beautiful children, Tucker 7 and Scout 4 and my lovely wife runs a jewelry business called tuckerandscout.com She is super talented.

I have plans in 2021 to get back to designing and making prints that will be sold in the vahallastudios.com store. Its all about balance and every year my staff becomes more experienced and capable. As that happens it frees up more of my time to be creative.

FS: I found you by internet research. Is that how you get most of your clients? DP: I think we get most of our clients through word of mouth or instagram. I always wondered how you got my name, that’s crazy! And to think we have done 8 projects together now!!!

FS: Do you have a genre concentration that drives most of the work through the studio? DP: We work in multiple industries, professional sports, movies, music, fine art just to name a few. It keeps things fresh and the projects are always changing.

FS: I've been in awe of the quality of Vahalla's work. Can you describe exactly what your printing processes are and why you're so dedicated to these approaches?  DP: Well, first off, thank you for the compliment. We strive ever day to push the quality of the product we produce.

So much of what we produce is done before anything goes to press. There are talents and skills that go very unseen. Most people just see the end product, but there is a whole world of prep and separations and digital setup that happens before anything gets printed.

I used to think it was all about production and what we did on press. But I have learned over the years that screen printing is 75% setup and 25% production. If the work is put in on the front end, printing should be much easier to execute and setup for success.

FS: How has the pandemic affected Vahalla? Not too badly, I hope!

DP: We are getting by alright. It was scary at first because... Were we considered an essential business? We also saw a lot of the sports projects get put on hold, concert and gig poster work dropped off as well. But we had some very amazing clients really dig deep and worked hard to keep things going. I think they knew that if the print shops they used didn’t hang around, their businesses would suffer as well.

Thank God for the internet!!! Internet sales and Web based companies have seen an uptick in my opinion and that is where we have been putting our efforts this year. So yea its just different. But I have been able to keep my entire staff employed and paid with a good job and that is something to be proud of.

Thank you for everything over the years Fred!

Thank *you* Dan! And your entire crew. Happy New Year, indeed!

[deobis]

Road to Kingdom ep 6-7 Thoughts

D-1 Until the final performances! And I’m back again with a very much procrastinated review of last week’s stages. Let’s jump right into it ✈

Enjoyment Ranking:

The Boyz

Verivery

ONF

Oneus

Pentagon

TOO

Objective Ranking:

ONF

The Boyz

Verivery

Oneus

Pentagon

TOO

There isn’t much of a difference between the two rankings this week, but it did take much longer for me to decide how I would rank them. This set of performances were probably by far my favorite set of performances (though my overall favorite performance is not within the set). 

Once again, let’s begin with TBZ’s performance: Quasi Una Fantasia. I will probably make another post analyzing their stage decisions and story line so I’ll try not to make this part too long. The biggest reason why TBZ’s performance is first in enjoyment is because, well, 1. I’m biased and 2. I’m a whore for classical music. The way that they incorporated not just the most famous movement of Moonlight Sonata (the third movement), but also the first two movements, was just so satisfying to someone who used to play the piano. Beethoven was one of my favorite composers (Bach being my least favorite to play oops) and I love how the arrangement of Shangri La was executed. The fact that they put the dance break in the beginning of the performance was a breath of fresh air. In terms of the dance, I thought the choreography was good, especially the beginning half. As someone who has taken contemporary lessons, I have to say they didn’t really go full contemporary. It was more hip-hop that was contemporary inspired. I would have really liked it if they had done full contemporary but that requires training and would be easiest with a strong ballet foundation. Also I don’t think it would have fully fit the rest of the song. Another thing that impressed me was their use of camera angles. You don’t know how shocked I was when they did the relay thing at the end, it was so effortless and beautiful. Also Chanhee vocals 👏 I love. Thank you king.

The reason why ONF comes in first objectively is because they were just so Clean. That performance was just CLEAN. everything just felt perfect. Though there wasn’t a very long story line, what they had was sufficient enough to keep me interested. Hyojin (I think that’s his name; the red haired member) and J-US really caught my attention for this stage. From what I understand, ONF is about to perform and Hyojin puts the headphones in his ears and it seems like the performance starts, but halfway through hes called to go up on stage. This was a very interesting choice because it shows that he was picturing the perfect stage in his head backstage. Then the end him and his teammates truly go up on stage and have the time of their lives. The use of curtains was simple but well executed. It wasn’t overdone and it wasn’t cheesy. Also it might seem like a small detail but the lighting choices in this performance were also perfect. They also all looked like they were having the time of their lives and I love that for them. The touch of bgm rain and thunder at the end was the icing on the cake. My favorite part of this performance has to be the dance. It complimented the arrangement wonderfully and there didn’t seem to be a single mistake. Oh also the breathing that they recorded for this... 😳... Anyways 🙃

Verivery gets pushed lower on the overall rankings mostly because of the mistake at the end. Verivery really went full creative this time. I think out of the 6 stages theirs was the most well thought out. The whole Aladdin story line was *chefs kiss* They kept it mysterious at first but as soon as the lamp showed up I knew exactly what the whole performance was based off of. Kangmin is Aladdin, you can see the wanted poster at the beginning, and at the end he gets dressed up by the other members/has the lamp etc. They really took small details of the original movie/story and incorporated it perfectly into their performance. The beginning is when Aladdin and Jasmine meet at the market. It builds up and when it gets to the chorus you see everyone dancing along with the stage spark thingies (I totally forgot what they were called LMAO sorry). This kind of reflects the part where Aladdin becomes a ‘prince’ and you know the whole parade/festival. Obviously next is the magic carpet and then Jafar’s (Hoyoung’s) big entrance. The black outfit and the cane made it very clear to the audience that his purpose was to be the villain. Then it’s the whole part where they go to take the lamp back from Jafar. The mistake obviously came when Hoyoung dropped the cane. This was unfortunate but overall it didn’t lower the quality of the performance. There’s a lot more to comment on, such as the fact that the entire performance was only shot with one camera, but that would make this part too long :^) The reason it ranks so high on my enjoyment ranking is because I can watch it over and over while still noticing new things each time. It gets lowered objectively because I don’t think the choreography was strong (me trying to nicely say I just didn’t like the choreography changes ksdjfhkdjhf) and the mistake is very obvious and kind of puts a break in the performance. Overall they did a great job and I am proud 👍

Oneus took a well known story and tied it nicely with Be Mine. I think the plot was a good choice and fell in line with the original theme of the song. My favorite thing was the little moon light stands. Those were such a nice touch to the stage. They captured the end and emotions of R&J very well and the choreo and arrangement were very much to my liking. The vocals really shined with this one. What I really liked were the small armor pieces to their outfits. The medieval feel was shown through their stage outfits and I commend the stylist for this. To be honest, when I first saw this performance live I thought it would be in my top 3, but then the other groups really outdid themselves. first 4 places were very hard for me to rank. It was small details and choices that made me end up with such a placement. Oneus has grown so much throughout the show and even if they don’t make it to Kingdom I hope they know that they had some legendary stages and Come Back Home is such a good song.

I know that last week I said that I was shocked that PTG placed so low, but after rewatching the performances, I kind of agree. It’s not that they did badly, but rather the other groups just did so well. PTG’s stage presence was phenomenal for Follow. The arrangement was good for their theme (though not my favorite but I definitely liked it more than the KTL arrangement). This stage also really let every individual member shine and have their own eye-catching part. And the most impressive part: their vocals. Out of all the stages, I can only confidently say that PTG were singing live (it feels like its been this way for the entire show). But I’m almost 100% sure that Follow’s vocals were live. Hui’s voice just shot through my eardrums and skjdfhdkjfhkj. I think that’s Why I was originally so shocked that they placed so low. But yeah, basically the stage was good but it wasn’t groundbreaking. 

With TOO... I don’t know where to start. I originally liked the arrangement but then it started to fall off towards the end. The rap at the beginning was also very good. My favorite part was the choreography changes (I honestly like it more than the original), but then again Hard Carry was never really my cup of tea. I guess the biggest issue I had was with the theme of the performance and stylistic choices. I also didn’t like the use of autotune but that could just be me. I still enjoyed the stage but there were certainly some questionable decisions. 

RTK has increased the expectation bar every single week. To be honest I’m kind of worried for the actual Kingdom show haha. The bar is going to be so high walking into Kingdom and everyone is going to have to step their game up. There isn’t really much to say about ep 6-7′s performances. I already ranted about the lack of appreciation for emotional stages last week so I’ll spare you on that this week. Anyways keep streaming and we’ll see what happens tomorrow!

[dreamca7cher]

Dreamcatcher Dream of US in LA Fanmeet write-up

Hello friends! I have enjoyed reading fanmeet write-ups from others in the past, so I figured that those who weren’t able to go might like to give this a read. *Disclaimer* this is ridiculously long, It was actually about twice as long before I condensed and edited. I’ve had a week now to supplement my memory with the fancams and photos that have been trickling out, but I do apologize if I’ve misremembered or left anything out.

I basically jumped at the chance to attend kcon as soon as I read that Dreamcatcher would be there. I was lucky to get some good P1 seats with 2 other kpop-loving friends. At first I was a little bummed that DC was billed as a special guest, which meant they would not be doing any official kcon “artist engagement” activities like hi-touch. But then news of their solo LA fan meeting was announced and I was absolutely ecstatic. It just so happened that my flight was scheduled to arrive early enough Friday to make it to the fanmeet venue just in time.  On the day tickets were to go on sale, I barely got anything done at work and watched my computer clock like a hawk, refreshing the site every millisecond, ten seconds before ticket sales opened. Fortunately, I was lucky to secure one of the 125 seated spots. This would be my first in-person experience of any kind concerning kpop, so I was insanely excited and simultaneously nervous af.

I arrived at the venue about 15 minutes before it was scheduled to start and saw a decent line around this real hole-in-the-wall looking place. The people in line said it was for the seated spots, which surprised me. I thought there would be more standing than seated positions, but it turns out there were only maybe 10-15 people standing. It was hot as balls out there, and we were standing directly in the sun so we were all quickly drenched in sweat. I learned later that the girls had actually arrived earlier in a black van in front of the venue. I was probably still in transit at that time, but it must have been nice for the fans already standing in line to get that first glimpse of them! When we finally made it inside, the staff checked our names off a list and we were able to sign a giant American flag that the girls would hold later for a group picture. The fans who did not bring their own album to be signed were given a small poster. It was basically free for all seating, I was on the far right side on the last row but no matter – the venue was small enough to see everything clearly. As soon as I sat down I realized either the A/C wasn’t on.. or there was none at all. There were a few floor fans pointed at the stage, but I felt bad for the girls once they entered and I saw they were wearing sorta heavy looking tops L There was a slightly raised wooden stage in the front and a long table for them to sit at. Two tall speakers flanked the stage, but the music later wasn’t too loud. The crowd was ethnically diverse and probably around a 50%-50% gender split, proving Dreamcatcher’s wide appeal to all sorts of fans. It was however a much older crowd than the average makeup of the kcon attendees, as this was not a boy group.

The girls soon entered, which was such a surreal moment. It was almost like I couldn’t believe they were real people ya know? Having only watched them on video, it’s more like you’re watching a fictional movie sometimes. I know it’s cliché, but they really are sooo much prettier in person. I think they did look a little tired and/or nervous, but their smiles were illuminating and they did little fan service gestures whenever possible. They did their standard introduction with JiU speaking the most as leader, with small remarks like how hot it was and that it was nice to meet all of us. I thought Yoohyeon would speak the most, but she was probably nervous to use her English with us. The event went straight into the fan-signing with rows lining up one by one while the crowd was free to take pictures/videos. There are much better quality videos out there from the front, but I’ll post my crappy phone videos in case anyone wants to see from the right-hand perspective. I apologize for any shaking, as tripods were not allowed. The signing was fairly quick, everyone had just about enough time for each of the girls to sign their album or poster and maybe exchange a sentence or two.

I was one of like the last 4 people to go since I was at the back, and by this point my adrenaline was going crazy. I’ve never fainted before, but if there would be a time to, then that would be it. I didn’t know if this was strictly allowed, but I did see a few fans high five the members. I refrained however because then that would mean I could never wash that hand (j/k I didn’t want any chance of getting kicked out). So I decided to stick to a compliment or two which I had gone over in my head again and again for a few days prior. I wrote down a longer version of what I was going to say on some notes, since that’s all we were allowed to gift the girls. I had also decided to write my notes on origami paper of their favorite colors and fold my notes into paper cranes to stand out, because I am a crazy person. The research (I got their favorite colors from an interview which I’ll post later), the writing, and the folding all took much long than I anticipated which resulted in me only getting 1 hour of sleep Thursday night before my early flight. So this all culminated in a peak state of nervousness. All too soon it was my turn! I won’t go into what exactly I said or what was in my notes, it was just basically a compliment or encouragement. SuA was first, she waved and said hi as I approached. She was consistently the most hyper and playful that day, possibly because it was her birthday. She seemed really genuine too, and seemed the most relaxed I think. Handong was second, she was predictably shy, but was very appreciative of the crane and said it was cute. Her signature is the most unique too. I wrote some really crappy Chinese in my note that I hope she could read haha.. Next was Siyeon, she looked a bit tired, but she was hella pulling off the dark concept look with her black hair and colored contacts. She also spoke a lot of English that day, even if it wasn’t complete sentences like Yoohyeon. I think previous reports are accurate too, she was very quirky with her mannerisms. JiU was in the middle, and was positively glowing  :O she was smiling pretty much the whole time and I think even picked up the crane and flapped it around a little adorably. It was hard not to grin widely as well the whole time. Idk JiU just has this like unlimited energy that shines no matter how hot or tired she was. I pictured her as like a Super Saiyan or something with her positive aura. Yoohyeon was next and also looked a little tired. But she said a few things in English to me, and had an absolutely gorgeous smile. I haven’t 100% settled on a bias yet, but girl makes it hard to not choose her. Gahyeon was 6th and actually was saying a lot of things in English. She also seemed to like the crane a lot and has a really cute smile. Dami was last, and was so cool and reserved. She’s really good at the appreciative head nod, no wonder she seemed to be the most popular that day. I forgot to tell all of them that the cranes were actually notes they could unfold and read, I may have told 2-3 of them but I’m not sure if they understood. Ah well. The whole signing probably only lasted a couple minutes, but seeing them up close and actually chatting with them is something I will never forget. After the staff also got their signatures, they moved the big table so the girls could perform.

First up was You and I, and boy was it a sight to behold in person. Their movements were so sharp and energetic, and it’s probably my favorite choreography of any kpop song. They just lip-synced which is ok, since it let me focus on the dance. Dami’s baton reveal probably got the loudest cheer, it was really awesome to see up close, and she does it so nonchalantly. Siyeon’s scarf throw also got a loud cheer. SuA definitely had the most powerful dancing, as expected.  I didn’t know all the fanchants, but the other InSomnias obliged well. The girls sprinkled in little hearts and waves to the audience throughout the performance. Right after, they performed Full Moon, which was a very nice gift to the American InSomnias  :] The chest pumping part probably had the loudest cheers, as it was the fiercest part of the choreo. During Dami’s solo rap part, she came up real close and waved to everyone, which also brought lots of cheers. The part where SuA and Handong get dragged across the floor was also popular for some reason. I haven’t watched as many fancams of Full Moon, but I really like the choreo, especially Siyeon’s parts. She rules that performance with her movements and expressions.

After the performance, the girls played a question and answer game from a board made up of stick notes that the crowd had written earlier (via translator). The first question I think was for SuA to do a solo funny dance. She asked “no music?” and Siyeon tried to do beatboxing and failed hard hahaha. So Yoohyeon sang to and SuA did a short hilarious dance to Dame Tu Cosita before collapsing in embarrassment. It was so adorable XD the 2nd question was what was the girls favorite Dreamcatcher song. SuA said Mayday, and sang her part a bit. The next question was “what’s it like performing for fans who don’t speak Korean and understand the lyrics?” Handong said that there was nonetheless a connection and that she was surprised and thankful that fans still sing along to the songs. SuA also said we felt like family, sister, brother, mother, father.. lol. The next question was what is your favorite choreography/point move? JiU said she likes the “baby you and I” part of You and I, and Yoohyeon likes the Chase Me part where they grab their hair lol. SuA likes the kiss blowing parts, and Siyeon likes when the members are dragged in Full Moon (probably because it’s not her being dragged haha). Then there was a question about superpowers, and Gahyeon said teleportation and JiU said she never wanted to get tired so she could always meet her fans, like the perfect leader she is. Siyeon said “you already do that” lol. Then Dami was asked how the baton worked, which I’m sure we all have always wondered. It’s basically like a spring-loaded telescoping thing held by a cap. Super cool, and got a resounding applause. Next was one of the more anticipated questions “which member would you marry?” and SuA immediately stood up lol. Siyeon took the mic and said JiU, because she makes really cute noises when she sleeps, revealing her creeper status lolol. Siyeon asked “will you marry me” and JiU said “oooh, yes” lmao. The next question was who has the best legs, to which Yoohyeon crossed her legs expectantly. But then she said she thought Handong has the best legs and asked her to stand up, which she did! Doing some model poses for us, very uncharacteristically ^^ JiU also said Handong has the straightest legs. Then Dami was asked to do some aegyo! Haha poor Dami, she chose to say “hi, nice to meet you, thank you” very adorably. The girls were then asked what songs they listen to in their personal time. SuA is currently obsessed with This is America and did the iconic gun pose lol. Siyeon likes Ariana Grande, and sang some No Tears Left to Cry. They were then asked what artists they want to collaborate with, and Yoohyeon said Day6 which got a big cheer. I also love Day6, and that would be such a match made in heaven! She also beautifully sang a little bit of Letting Go. Siyeon said she wanted to cover Sean Mendes Treat You Better and SuA wanted to do a Taylor Swift song. They were asked about actors they want to meet in LA, and they said the Avengers lol. I think they visited Hollywood Boulevard and said they kinda felt like they met them because there were people dressed up in costumes. Gahyeon also wanted to meet Daniel Henney because he lives in LA. Then JiU said I want to meet my fans with this huge dorky smile lol. The next question was about any future America tour plans, and JiU said of course, and asked us to visit them again next time. They were then asked who their other favorite kpop group was, and JiU said Red Velvet. Yoohyeon asked if she could dance a little bit, so JiU cutely danced to Bad Boy briefly. Siyeon also said KARD. They were asked what their favorite part of LA was, and SuA said she really liked In-N-Out burger and that it was yummy, specifically combo #3 lol. She also wanted to ride rides at Santa Monica and swim, to which Siyeon reminded her that she can’t swim lmao. The last question was about their favorite quotes. Dami’s motto is “in life there are no answers, so do what makes you happy”. JiU said “let’s live happy”, which she definitely exudes all the time ^^. Also that we were all beautiful and smart enough, so to live a happy life. Yoohyeon said that her mom always said to her “if you have a dream, imagine it will happen, and it will be”. Lastly, the girls took a group photo with all three of the sections, holding the American flag we signed earlier. JiU closed out with thanks and a promise they would see us again. SuA said thank you for celebrating my birthday, and Handong said thank you for your passion. Then the staff brought out a birthday cake and we surprised SuA by singing happy birthday. She looked so happy the entire time, and  even did a little moonwalk haha. Dami did one last tour around the crowd waving to everyone, and that was it.

And the rest of the weekend was downhill! J/k the kcon stages were amazing, and I saw them again multiple times at the convention, but the fanmeet was of course the highlight of the trip. As my first in-person kpop experience, this will definitely be hard to top. I vaguely wondered before the fanmeet if finally meeting them in person would diminish my perfect image of them in my head, but actually the opposite is true. Now they feel like real people I know, which just makes me like them even more. I was also very proud of the American InSomnias, everyone was respectful, there were no crazy incidents, no one had to be thrown out by security, it just went as smooth as can be. I also want to thank 7-dreamers for organizing this whole thing, and for the smooth operation. I could talk forever about my experiences, but I will end it here. Maybe I’ll do a write-up of the convention and concert if anyone’s interested? Thanks for reading!

[sadisim]

Things i don’t like about the sims (3) community

keep in mind this is a general opinion formed by what i’ve seen happen in this community over the 5 years i’ve been here. this is not addressed to anyone specifically,but if you fit in the list you should second guess your actions to make this place just a tad friendlier :)

welcoming all simblrs post

literally:

people don’t give two shits about your stories. there’s usually the same 2 or 3 people who read your in-depth stories and comment nice things. the others don’t even bother liking if it’s more than 3 lines of text???

nobody gives a damn about sims stories that dont include images: people apparently need images to enjoy a story. have you ever read an actual book? don’t judge a story just because it lacks visual stimulation. the writing will be worth your time.

people don’t understand metaphors and deep posts. sometimes it’s really hard to express actual things through your posts,because people will either find it too complicated,too “over edited” or too sensitive

about sensitive content, sometimes people fail to tag stuff perfectly and people jump straight into anon hate instead of NICELY letting them know they should add a trigger tag or w/e makes them happy. like why can’t you be nice about it instead of sending anons?

people assume that if you don’t have good quality posts you’re shit and you don’t deserve anything: you.are.a.hypocrite.YOU were once new and YOU were the same.

the “popular”simblrs idea still flows through the community after years and years, even if many big simblrs decided to be nice and open up to people

those who don’t bother responding but complain nobody talks to them: if you didn’t take a hiatus every 5 seconds because nobody liked your post, and responded to messages, you’d receive attention from people. engage to engage.

people who complain about not having enough likes/comments/reblogs etc: you HAVE TO talk to people to have them be nice to you ! you can’t just expect people to flock to your blog and shower you with adoration. don’t expect people to just comment on your stuff and you can ignore them and that’s it. you make friends. you talk to people, you thank them, you comment on their posts. THIS is how you actually get involved in the community

according to simblr, if you’re new you’re automatically stupid? why do we not give chances to new people?why do we only follow 3 people and only message 2 and then complain nobody talks to us? help others join in, involve them in the community,COLLAB with people, chat with them. ENGAGE TO ENGAGE

“SEND ME ASKS!!! ASK ME THINGS!!!” but you never bother to send the person you reblogged it from an ask yourself. if you do that you’ll 100% sure get an ask from the previous poster. don’t be an ass

people who come to your blog,reblog your entire cc tag and never engage again: WHY? do you just come for cc?? you could take 3 seconds of your life to scroll through the first 5-10 posts of that person’s blog and send them some nice words of encouragement or leave them some notes instead of just running away?

every time a new project happens 700+people reblog,comment,like etc but nobody actually ends up joining??? and if they DO join, they go inactive. like??can you NOT???or if you go inactive could you at least just tell the owner of the project? you know, someone just like you is out there managing a project on their own(or with a team!) but you can’t be bothered to do that?rude

we all have personal lives and it is normal to take breaks, hiatus-es and so on,but it would be great if you leave to simply make a post about it. so many people go completely inactive or disappear and it worries others, maybe something happened to them?maybe they have issues? some people DO care and they would talk to you if you left/took a break

responding to anon hate,reblogging drama, publicly calling out people, posting about “not caring about simsecret”. ALL THESE THINGS add up to the HATE in this community. if y’all stopped , deleted those anons, avoided reblogging drama, ignored callouts and sorted it privately then this community WOULD be a better,cleaner place. trust me, i know!

catfishing,spamming the tags, begging for attention,asking for reblogs/promos: we are not 5 y/os anymore. stop being a fucking ignorant ass. it’s 2017 and y’all still do this. calm down.

ignoring people reaching out to you: LISTEN if you do this you’re a fucking asshole. people who kindly,politely,nicely reach out to you for something you did wrong or w/e are people who DO care and who want to sort things out in a civil way. if you ignore them and even respond negatively nothing will come out of it. don’t be a fucking twat

do you not like someone? FUCKING BLOCK THEM. this is all you have to do. nothing more or less.stop spreading ddrama,hate, saving message screenshots. be fucking mature.

people who post stuff just to fish compliments and dont ever bother responding or giving back love: you suck

“my askbox is full”nah, you’re either lazy or just really busy(which is understandable!) but being lazy about responding to people is just rude to me, maybe it’s just me. maybe.

the hateful anons: go suck an egg and chill out: this is a game and everyone does whatever they want with it.

people who care 0 for your ocs but they believe they are entitled to receive worshiping over theirs: can you calm down and realize what you’re doing?

“My dash is empty!!! everyone is dead!!!” there’s over 10 thousand people in this community who post every day. Do yourself a favor and follow more people if you want a full dash at all times. Click me Click me 2

To those tho can’t be bothered to leave a heart on simfileshare: you don’t deserve the cc you’re getting for FREE form people who put hours into their work. 

“BIG simblrs dont talk to me!!” they do. you’re just not messaging the right people ;) not all ‘big’ simblrs are rude ;)

people only care about cc. post a picture and it gets no notes, but post cc and it spreads like wildfire. what is wrong with you all??

Don’t be too shy to message people.Get involved with chats, talk with others, join projects, ENGAGE with the community to get feedback and notes. You’ll be getting nowhere if you don’t bother being kind and friendly with others :)

[underabr0kensky]

BIGGEST GODDAMN SURVEY EVER HOLY SHIT

1- How are you? Content I suppose.

2- Post a picture of yourself. I did yesterday you fuck, go look.

3- Do you ever wish you were someone else? Nah, I’d probably still be messed up as anyone else.

4- What is your entire name? Conner Wade Garcia.

5- How old are you? 24.

6- Age you get mistaken for: I’ve been mistaken for like 19.

7- Your zodiac/horoscope and if you think it fits your personality: Libra, and yeah, the stuff I see is usually fairly accurate.

8- What did you do on your last birthday? Worked, and then slept.

9- What is one thing you would like to accomplish before your next birthday? Uhh...maybe quit drinking?

10- What is your hair color? Dark brown.

11- Have you ever dyed your hair? I had a rat tail when I was like 12 that I dyed blonde.

12- What is your eye color? Hazel, sometimes gray.

13- If you could change your eye color, would you? I’d make them perma-gray.

14- Do you wear contacts/glasses? Yep, I’m fucking blind without my contacts.

15- Your opinion about your body and how confortable you are with it: Meh. It needs work. Fucking pudgy belly.

16- Have you ever considered plastic surgery? What would you alter about your body? Nope.

17- Say 8 facts about your body: That’s a lot, so I’ll say one: I have two scars on my right hand in almost the same place.

18- Do you have any tattoos? Not yet.

19- Do you have any piercings? Nope.

20- Left or right handed? I am a righty, not a subhuman Morlock freak witch person.

21- What’s your sexual orientation? Straight.

22- Do you drink? Yeah, more than I should.

23- Do you smoke? No.

24- Do you have any pets? I wish. I want a kitteh.

25- Where do you work? I don’t right now. I worked at Walmart til like a month ago.

26- Something you are working on right now: Cutting back on my drinking.

27- Do you have any “rules” about food? Nah, but there are some foods I just can’t stand.

28- Where are you from? Tennessee. Ew.

29- What would you say is your best quality? Uhh. I’m good at listening.

30- What do you think you’re really good at? Guitar.

31- What do you think you’re really bad at? Staying sober.

32- What talent do you wish you’d been born with? I’d be happy with not having been born with depression.

33- Are you a bad person? Well I mean I think I kind of suck, but everyone says I’m awesome.

34- Are you nice to everyone? I try to be.

35- Say 3 facts about your personality: I have a temper, I like to listen, and I doubt myself a lot.

36- Has someone ever spread a nasty rumor about you? Yeah lol.

37- What is your ideal bed? Why? A king bed with a curtain around it, because fuck anyone staring at me sleeping. Unless it’s my girlfriend.

38- Did you wake up cranky? Depends on how early I get up.

39- Do you sleep with a stuffed toy? Sometimes.

40- What do you think about the most? My mind is too all over the place for that.

41- Share 2 habits: Drinking and nail-biting.

42- What you want to be when you “get older”? Financially stable bruh.

43- What are your career goals? To not live paycheck to paycheck. And maybe to not hate my job.

44- What is your ideal career? Musician.

45- Is your life anything like it was two years ago? Fucking fuck no.

46- Do you replay things that have happened in your head? Oh yeah, that’s like 98% of my day.

47- Have you ever had an imaginary friend? Yeah, I have.

48- Say 10 facts about your room: I’m not gonna listen ten, but I have a bunch of band/music posters, there’s an electric drum kit in the corner, there are lots of dragon statues, there’s an Arcueid figure (Tsukihime for anyone who gets that), uhh...Borderlands 2 is paused on my TV right now. And there are many guitars.

49- Do you have any phobias? Spiders, needles, and fucking tornadoes.

50- Have you ever been to a psychiatrist/therapist? Yeah, both of them. The therapist stopped practicing which sucked and the psychiatrist was a Godfagging quack.

51- Are you allergic to anything? If so, what? Pollen, rabbits, pork, artificial green apple, cat dandruff, and goldenrod. And amoxicillin.

52- Ever broken any bones? Nope, and I have no idea how.

53- Ever come close to death? Yeah, a couple of times.

54- Things you like and dislike about yourself: Uhh. I like my looks for the most part and my musical talent. Hate pretty much everything else lol.

55- A random fact about yourself: I can curl my tongue. Helps me play the harmonica.

56- What are three things most people don’t know about you? I’ve kissed a guy before, I cry a lot for a guy (or for a person, probably), and I like anime a lot. Specifically stupid slice of life shit and shonen.

57- An unknown fact about your life: Uhh. My stupid fucking taskbar can’t be right clicked. I hate Windows 10.

58- Share something about yourself others might think is weird: I like being choked and slapped in bed.

59- Five weird things that you like: Fried calimari, pineapple on pizza, Wendy’s fries dipped in their chocolate shake (thanks Jess), classical music, and getting drunk outside.

60- Do you have a facebook? If so, would you add the person who sent you this? Yes. And nobody sent me this, I just fill these out as surveys because nobody fucking responds if I just reblog it.

61- Do you have any pictures on your Facebook? Yeah, but they’re not recent. I’m not really active on there anymore.

62- Describe yourself in one word/sentence: Fucked up.

63- A quote you try to live by: “I choose to live rather than just exist” comes the closest, but I’m doing a terrible job of that lol.

64- Leave me a compliment: Uhh. Anyone who reads this, you’re pretty.

Favorites

65- What is your favorite thing to do? Play guitar or listen to music. Or, lately, play Borderlands 2. The DLC is poppin’, yo.

66- What’s your favorite color? Black.

67- What’s your favorite band/singer? Favorite band is Children of Bodom. Favorite singers are James Hetfield, Marc Hudson, Howard Jones, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Anders Fridén, Matt Heafy, Warrel Dane, Amy Lee, probably others I’ve forgotten.

68- What’s your favorite movie? That’s hard. Goodfellas, the Godfather Part I and II, 300, both Avengers movies, Captain America: Civil War, Titanic, Hesher, and Good Will Hunting are some of my favorites.

69- What are your favorite books? The Wheel of Time series, Bag of Bones, the Harry Potter series, The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Penpal, Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation, A Painted House, Jurassic Park, Black Lightning, shit I have a lot more.

70- What is your favorite quote and why? The above quote, because it represents what I wish I could actually do. But ya know. Money.

71- What is your favorite word? Fuck.

72- What is your least favorite word? Money.

73- What is your favorite type of food? Italian food motherfucker. Specifically lasagna.

74- Your favorite ice cream? Heath bar.

75- What’s your favorite animal? KITTEH.

76- Dogs or cats? KITTEHS.

77- Describe your favourite texture: Uhh. Those really soft silky-feeling blankets.

78- What is your favorite flower? A BLACK ROSE EHHHH SO EDGY. Probably daffodils.

79- What’s your favourite scent? And on the opposite sex? The smell right before or after it rains. And on the opposite sex, whatever perfume they like.

80- What is your favorite season? Spring.

81- What are the top five places you wish you could go before you die? Venice, Berlin, Scotland, Norway, and that weird island with the dragon fruit and flat freaky trees that I’ve forgotten the name of and am too lazy to Google.

82- What are four things you can’t live without and why? Internet, phone, music, and cute animals. Because they keep me from fucking murdering myself.

83- Which mythological creature are you most like? Why? I have no idea but I’m gonna take a quiz right now, brb. Apparently I’m a goddamn unicorn, fuck.

84- What’s your favorite television show? House M.D.

85- Favorite place to shop at? Walmart. Fuck shopping bruh.

86- Say 2 facts about your favorite things: Uhh. One has strings and one lives in Germany.

Family, childhood and places

87- Say 4 facts about your parents: My dad is Spanish, my mom has depression, they divorced when I was like 11, and my dad is a medical professional.

88- Are you more like your mom or your dad? I think I’m like. Exactly equal to both of them. It’s frustrating.

89- Do you have any siblings? An older half brother, two younger step siblings, and two younger half brothers.

90- Say 9 facts about your family: That’s too many facts, die. My family is really big though and my dad’s side can speak Spanish.

91- What’s your relationship like with your family? Meh. Not great with my dad, my mom and I are fine though.

92- Say 7 facts about your childhood: There was a lot of stress and emotional abuse and shit. But it was also a better childhood than most people I think.

93- The best and the worst childhood memories: one of my favorites was when I got a PS1 for my birthday. Worst, I have no idea. Whenever my parents fought, which was a lot.

94- Say 6 facts about your home town: It’s tiny, it’s full of rednecks with fucking F10000 penis substitutes, it has a pretty chill as county fair. I know that’s only 4, fuck off.

95- Are you going out of town soon? Nah, I doubt it.

96- Where would you like to live? If I had to stay in America, California. If I could leave, I dunno, probably Norway or Sweden. Somewhere in Europe definitely.

97- What would your dream house be like? Victorian style please.

98- Where would you go on your dream vacation? Italy. I’d get banned from the country for eating all their food.

99- Where you want to be right now? With my girlfriend, or at a beach somewhere.

100- Top three places to visit: Venice, Berlin, Spain.

Friends

101- Would you ever smile at a stranger? Yeah, I do sometimes.

102- Do you prefer to be friends with girls or boys? Girls. Most of the guys around here act like douches and only ever talk about sports or fucking girls.

103- Who is someone you never tire of? My girlfriend.

104- Do you have someone you can be your complete self around? There are a couple of people.

105- Who is your most loyal friend? Phil.

106- Is there anyone you can tell EVERYTHING to? Mhmm. Three people.

107- If your best friend died, what would you do? Get horrendously drunk for days on end and snap at everyone.

108- A reason you’ve lied to a friend: No idea. Probably because I didn’t want to leave my house or something, lol.

109- Have you ever felt replaced? Yeah, sometimes.

110- Say 5 facts about your bestfriend(s): Too many facts. But he is a drummer and he likes roleplaying games.

Relationships

111- The last person you hugged? Not a fucking clue. Sasha I think.

112- Who was your first kiss with? Girl named Jessica. It was in the garden section at Walmart lol.

113- Do you like kissing in public? I fucking love it.

114- Have you ever kissed someone older than you? Yeah, plenty of times.

115- You have a preference for boys or girls? Girls pls.

116- Is the male or female body closest to perfection? I don’t think anything or anyone is perfect, but I prefer the female body.

117- Do you believe in love at first sight? Nah.

118- Do you believe in soul mates? Maybe. I didn’t used to but now I kinda do.

119- What is your idea of the perfect date? I don’t really care honestly. Just something cute and romantic.

120- Based on past relationships or crushes, describe your perfect boyfriend/girlfriend: I like someone who I can talk to and not get bored of, someone who can keep up with my weird thought processes, and someone who doesn’t mind me being a kinky fuck.

121- What is the first thing you noticed in someone? Eyes or face in general, usually. Unless they’re wearing a crazy outfit or something.

122- Are looks important in a relationship? Yeah. They’re not the most important thing but I have to be attracted to someone.

123- What’s the most superficial characteristic you look for? There’s not really an external characteristic someone needs to have for me to like them, but I love red hair.

124- What’s your opinion on age differences in relationships? No biggie as long as it’s not like a 26 year old dating a 13 year old or something. My ex and I were five years apart.

125- Would you ever date someone off of the Internet? Hahaha. The only two serious relationships I’ve had were on the Internet.

126- Five guys/girls whom you find attractive: The girlfriend, the ex girlfriend, Emma Watson, Olivia Wilde, Mila Kunis.

127- Do you have a crush on anyone? It’s a bit more than a crush.

128- A description of the girl/boy you like: She’s hot as fuck yo. Hotter than you. :D

129- Say 1 fact about the person your like: She has facial piercings and she always loses :P

130- If the person you like says they like someone else, what would you say? “Can I meet the body I mean person?”

131- When was the last time you told someone you loved them? Whenever I sent the girlfriend the last message lol.

132- Do you think someone has feelings for you? I know she does.

133- Do you think someone is thinking about you right now? Probably. Ew.

134- Have you ever cried over a guy/girl? You could say I make a habit of it.

135- Have you ever wanted someone you couldn’t have? Who hasn’t?

136- Anyone you’re giving up on? Nah. Probably should be, but nah.

137- Have you ever liked someone you didn’t expect to? Yup.

138- Have you ever liked someone who your friends hated? Yeah, the girl I dated throughout high school was kind of a cunt to my friends.

139- Have you ever liked one of your best friends? Yup.

140- Has anyone told you they don’t want to ever lose you? Mhmm. Scary thought haha.

141- Is there a boy/girl who you would do absolutely everything for? Yes.

142- Is there someone you will never forget? Absolutely.

143- Say five ways to win your heart: Babble at me in a foreign language, cook me Italian food, introduce me to your cat, leave big ass scratches down my back, or act like a sappy romantic fuck.

144- What turns you on? Slapping, choking, hair pulling, biting, scratching, moaning, hard tongue on tongue kissing, girl on girl. I’m a guy. Eat me.

145- What turns you off? Bitchy people and close-minded bigoted fucks.

146- What is the sexiest thing someone could ever do for/to you? Jerk me while you whisper about fucking a girl into my ear and don’t let me cum until you say so. It has been done to me and it was fucking awesome.

147- What’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for you? Probably when I found out Jess had started a separate bank account and was funneling parts of her paychecks into it to help me financially when I moved up there. Nice job fucking that one up, Conner.

148- What’s something sweet you’d like someone to do for you? Honestly I don’t care at this point. Just love me lol.

149- Have you ever written a song or poem for someone? Have you had one written for you? Yes, and no actually.

150- What’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever done for someone? Woke Jess up while she was clearly having a nightmare and held her hand until she calmed down.

151- Are you in love? Yes.

152- Are you in a relationship? Yes.

153- If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, what is your favorite thing about him/her? She’s a fucking dork and I love it.

154- Are relationships ever worth it? Yeah, they’re just hard.

155- Is there someone mad because you’re dating/talking to the person you are? I don’t think so.

156- Can you commit to one person? Mhmm.

157- Do you think you can last in a relationship for 6 months and not cheat? Yeah, I’ve done it plenty of times lol.

158- Do you ever want to get married? Yes.

159- Do you think you’ll be married in 5 years? Maybe. Hopefully.

160- Future names of your children: I do not want kids.

161- Do you get jealous easily? Yeah. Not like possessive jealous, but it’s pretty easy to make me jealous.

162- The last time you felt jealous, and why? I have no idea. Probably when my girlfriend hung out with her shit ex lol.

163- What is your definition of cheating? Anything you wouldn’t want your partner finding out about I suppose. I guess anything past hugging/holding hands.

164- Have you ever been cheated on? Yes.

165- Do you forgive betrayal? Eh. I probably would even though I shouldn’t.

166- Have you ever cheated on someone? Not my proudest moment, but yes, I cheated to get back at her for cheating on me. It did not help.

167- Why did your last relationship fail? Because I was an asshole and I fucked it up.

168- Things you want to say to an ex: I am so sorry, it was entirely my fault, you did nothing wrong and I hope you forgive me.

169- A description of the person you dislike the most: Anyone who has dated my girlfriend. :P

170- If your first true love knocked on your door with apology and presents, would you accept? I would have no idea wtf she’s apologizing for, but yeah of course.

171- How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had? Not a clue honestly. A good many, but most of them haven’t been serious.

172- How long was your longest relationship? Almost 5 years.

173- You’ll love me if… You like musicians I guess?

174- Share a relationship story: Lol okay. So when I went to visit Jess, we went out for dinner with her roommate and her roommate’s boyfriend. And they all went to a super Christian private college. We were trying to keep our relationship sort of on the DL because the school was very gossip-y and Jess grew up in a town of like 700 people and her parents were ridiculous about her dating, much less dating a dude five years older that she met online. But anyway. We finished eating and we were all shooting the shit, and when we got up to take the dishes over to the little conveyor belt thing Jess and I kinda play-wrestled and I knocked a plate on her arm. And she was like “Look you made a mess on my hand” and without even thinking I said “Yeah, that’s what I do” without troubling to keep my voice down and winked like a dumbass. And she turned redder than a tomato and her roommate got this “OMFG” look on her face and Jess punched the shit out of my shoulder hahaha. Ahh. Good memories.

Music, movies and books

175- How often do you listen to music? Pretty much whenever I’m not watching a movie or playing a game.

176- What kind of music you like? I am a metalhead but I like everything.

177- Do you like to dance? I like to mosh.

178- What was the first concert/show you attended? Killswitch Engage with Parkway Drive, Escape Plan and Every Time I Die.

179- Have you heard a song that reminds you of someone today? Yeah.

180- Share a song that takes you to a certain memory in the past: “Hello” by Adele. Shit was always on the pop station that my ex and I listened to in SD.

181- A song that’s been stuck in your head: “Hoshi no Furumachi” by The Fallen Moon.

182- Put your music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play: Oh fuck off, fine. 1. Your Love Kills Me--The Veer Union 2. Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby--The Beatles 3. Baptism -strings ver.-: Fate/Stay Night OST 4. Bang Bang--Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj 5. What is Eternal--Trans-Siberian Orchestra 6. Big Girls Don’t Cry--Fergie 7. Space Room--Bruce Faulconer 8. The Gun Show--In This Moment 9. Shit Out of Luck--Foamy the Squirrel 10. Blaze Heatnix--Megaman X6 OST

183- A book you want to read/have recently read: I wanna finish reading Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

184- Describe your dream library: Just fucking packed with horror and fantasy and drama books. And biographies.

185- Last movie you just watched: Uhh...Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings.

186- Do you like watching what type of movies? I love horror.

Situations and crazy things

187- You’re in a tattoo parlor about to get inked. What are you getting done? 7-star Dragon Ball on my shoulder.

189- What’s something you can see yourself going to jail for? Pirating too much shit. :P

190- If you could be any character, from any literary work, who would you choose to be? I wouldn’t. Becoming someone else would be shitty.

191- You’re given $10,000…under one condition:you cannot keep the money for yourself. Who would you give it to? My girlfriend probably. Then she could afford a plane ticket :P

192- If you had to go back in time and change one thing, what would it be? Don’t ask me that, I’ll get sad.

193- If you were an element on the Periodic Table, which would you be and why? Polonium. Because it sounds cool.

194- If you had to delete one year of your life completely, which would it be? 2016. It was shit.

195- You’re an Action Movie Hero. What’s your weapon of choice and the line you scream when defeating your arch enemy? Give me a badass sword. And I dunno, probably “I’ve got balls of steel”

196- If you could design an amusement park ride, what would it be like? Some bullshit crazy roller coaster that has a 1 in 10 chance of killing you.

197- What is the first curse word that comes to mind? FUCK.

198- What the last party you went to was… and when the next will be… Fuck parties.

199- Halloween costume idea? I was gonna be a Kroger bag for Halloween when I worked at Walmart.

200- What are you supposed to be doing right now? Nothing. I am ethereal.

201- Currently wanting to see anyone? Yes, always.

202- Why you follow me? I can’t, you’re a survey.

203- If you met me what would you do? Wonder how a survey was walking around.

204- Leave me a ridiculous question: Why are you so interested in me?

205- Leave me a cute message: Fluffy cats.

Opinions and beliefs

206- Is the cup half full or half empty for you right now? There is no cup. I smashed it.

207- Do you believe in fate/destiny? Nah.

208- What you wish for on 11:11? Happiness.

209- Do you consider yourself lucky? What’s your good luck charm? Fuck no lol.

210- Do you believe in aliens or life on other planets? Yeah, there’s no way we’re alone in this fuck huge universe.

211- What is your religion, if any? I am not religious.

212- Would you go against your moral code for money? Depends on which part of the moral code and the amount of money.

213- What’s more important to you:strength of the body or strength of the mind? Gimme dem moosels.

214- How important you think education is? If it’s a good education, very important, but the shit that passes for education in America is less important than deciding what kind of toilet paper to buy.

215- If you were the president, what would you do? Die of the anxiety and stress during my inauguration.

216- If you could change one thing in the world, what would you change? Money wouldn’t have turned everyone into a greedy cunt.

217- Is it the thought that counts? Or is that phrase circumstantial? Eh. Depends on the situation. Somebody with no medical training trying to save somebody who was injured and instead ends up accidentally killing them should have just kept their thoughts to themselves.

218- If you only had 24 hours to live, what would you do? Buy a plane ticket to Berlin.

219- Which movie character do you most identify with and why? Greg House. Because depression and alcoholism suck.

Feelings and Others

220- Are you a procrastinator or do you get things done early? I procrastinate procrastination.

221- Post a photo/draw a picture/write a poem (pick one) of a moment of personal significance: That is not happening, I am lazy.

222- Say 5 things you love unconditionally: The girlfriend, music, food, the Internet, and kittehs.

223- What motivates you in life? My girlfriend. Seriously if I hadn’t found her I’d be a puddle of vaguely human-shaped sadness on the ground.

224- Something that you’re proud of: I can play guitar.

225- Five words/phrases that make you laugh: “Look at this fucking bird making pasta. Just look at it for fuck’s sake”

226- Share the story of something that makes you smile: Watching all of the “Will it [insert food here]?” videos from GoodMythicalMorning with Jess. Fun nights.

227- Something you always think “what if…” about: You probably know the answer lol.

228- What was something you used to enjoy, but was ruined for you? What’s the story behind that? LotR. Because I watched them with Jess and now they just make me sad, stop making me think about this shit.

229- Describe one of the most awkward experiences of your life: When I tried to dance with my crush in like 3rd grade and had no idea wtf I was doing lmao.

230- Something/someone that you miss: THE GIRLFRIEND. WAKE YO ASS UP.

231- Are you over your past? Not entirely.

232- What is your saddest memory? When she broke up with me, what the fuck did I JUST say.

233- One of the hardest moments in your life: Holy fuck you’re doing this on purpose.

234- Is there something that happened in your past that you hate talking about? YEAH. AS A MATTER OF FUCKING FACT THERE IS.

235- What’s something you want to do that you’d be embarrassed to tell other people about? I wanna go to a vocaloid concert.

236- What was your most embarrassing moment? Fuck if I know. I embarrass myself a lot.

237- Share one of your fears/insecurities: I hate my nasty pudgy belly.

238- Something you’re currently worrying about: Getting a fucking job.

239- Have you done something you regret very much? Yes.

240- If you could take something back that you said or did, what would it be? I would take back what an asshole I was.

241- Does anyone hate you? Probably.

[dracimalfoy1988292]

(ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 25: ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ ʙᴀʀғ)

1

When Valentine woke up, the sound of birds chirping outside was the first thing she acknowledged, along with the bright banisters and posters clothed in scarlet red. She also noticed it was odd to only hear the birds when she'd slept in the Gryffindor dorm, a place where Lily and Alice would often wake up early to have morning discussions.

She slowly sat up, her hair a mess on her head and in her eyes. Blowing a puff of air through her lips and brushing blonde from her eyes, Valentine propped herself up on her elbows, mocha eyes scanning the room, coming to the conclusion that the girls had left.

She yawned loudly, stretching out her legs from a night of sleep as she pushed to her feet, unraveling from the sleeping bag she'd used.

She grabbed a red crew-neck from the windowsill, slipping it over her arms for extra warmth as she trudged towards the door, eyes squinted against the morning light.

She was slightly confused as to where the girls had gone, knowing it wasn't too late in the morning. In fact, she was sure breakfast was still going on.

She opened the dorm door, and faint whispering from the common room ceased, and instead, it went silent except for slight shuffling.

Valentine's eyebrows raised, slowly descending the stairs in caution, glancing around as any previous voices she'd heard had dissipated.

"Hey, is anyone- OH BLOODY HELL!"

All at once, seven figures jump out at the Hufflepuff girl, sending her heart into cardiac arrest as she screamed at the top of her lungs, clutching her chest dangerously as her mouth opened wide in shock.

Bubbling laughter erupted, leaving Valentine breathing heavily as she noticed her friends who had been behind the scare.

"Merlin's Beard! Are you trying to kill me?" Valentine exclaimed, though she was surprised to see Sirius and Remus in the same room, although they put much distance between them.

However, the first thing that caused Valentine to truly laugh was the sight of James Potter wearing a small, bright orange birthday hat, a cheesy grin plastered in his face and hair ruffled messily around the hat. His eyes are tired, a restless night as he planned Valentine's surprise to be perfect, but they screamed happiness.

"James, have you got a party hat on," Valentine snorted, and James' grin grew wider, if possible.

"Ah yes, the things I do for you," he retorted happily, coming close enough for Valentine to reach beneath his chin and yank the strap holding his hat to his head, having it rebound to hit the skin of his neck.

"Ouch!" James rubbed at the area, but didn't seem too affected as he pulled out a hot pink hat from behind his back. Valentine rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, leaning forward for James to slip the hat over her head. His hands lingered on the base of Valentine's neck, warm and gentle, before he quickly pulled them away, clearing his throat as he looked away.29

Valentine was thankful they'd listened and agreed to not have a big thing. Valentine only wanted to spend quality time with her friends, no presents or unknown students showing up for a party.

Once her attention had finally departed from the dark-haired boy, she saw Lily and Macey step forward, holding a poorly decorated cake in their hands.

It was small and misshaped, a jagged circle with chocolate icing, non- proportionate sprinkles, and candles slipping off the side. In the center was bright blue frosting spelling out:

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y

V A L T I N E

19

They went through the classic 'Birthday Song' causing Valentine to squirm beneath all their stares awkwardly, more than grateful to blow out the candles, hoping deeply her wish would come true.6

But next Valentine had to cover her mouth and suppress her loud giggles as she re-red the cake.

"Who made this?" She inquired. James took initiative and stepped forward proudly.

"I baked it. Peter and Sirius decorated it."4

"Clearly. How hard is to spell my name?" Valentine snickered, the other girls and Remus joining in.

"Hey, I was in a rush!" Sirius defended himself. "And don't look at me like that! I'm smart!"

"I've met slices of bread smarter than you," Valentine joked. "But thanks, you really didn't have to do all this, guys."

"Uh- it was mainly me. Not to take the credit or anything," James butted in, earning a scoff from Remus.

"Then thank you, James. It was a very nice gesture, and I really appreciate it. Although I'm a bit scared to taste it," Valentine admitted truthfully, and James suddenly looked scared.

"Me too, honestly," James nodded, and Valentine shook her head playfully, toying with the hat around her neck. Nervously, when the others were arranging the plates and forks, she envelopes James in a short hug.

The boy froze at first, but melted into her arms, smiling against her shoulder as he hugged her back, though James' smile dropped slightly when Valentine pulled away, much too soon for his liking. He quickly recovered, however, pushing up his glasses and moving towards the others.2

Lily was the one given the knife, it being decided she was the best one to handle a weapon. So she cut pieces, making them as even as she could based off the size of the dessert, and then distributed the slices.1

Then they all took seats around the coffee table in the common room, holding paper plates in their hands as they began to eat. James watched Valentine closely, anxious she'd find what he'd made disgusting, being he didn't quite often bake- or do anything in the kitchen for that matter.

So when Valentine took a large bite, chocolate icing coating her lips, her eyes fluttered shut, and James already felt better seeing she hadn't spat it out. Rich flavors crossed her tongue, sweet and tangy.

"Shit," Peter said, slapping James' chest. "This is the best cake I've ever eaten."

James had a triumphant look cross his face.

"Surprisingly," Valentine started, swallowing the spongey treat in her mouth. "It is really good. I'm proud of you, Potter."

James tried not to blush at the compliment. It wasn't as if he hadn't been told someone was proud of him before. But she never had. And to James, it felt like an achievement.11

And even though Valentine never noticed, to entranced by Lily and her stories, James' eyes constantly flickered back to hers, watching her smile grow at funny parts, how a crease formed between her brows and eyes twinkled in the light.

So as everyone finished their cake slices, they sat and talked for what felt like minutes, but was actually quite a while. Because all together, they were a family, full of inside jokes and chocolate cake.

3

_______________________

VALENTINE WATCHED CLOSELY, the majestic animal before her beautiful and full with life and color as it stood before Professor Kettleburn.

The unicorn was white, though had a soft hue that emitted the color of a baby pink and lavender purple. Staying true to its name, a long horn sat atop the horses head, sharp and deadly, but beautiful.

Suddenly her stomach bubbled, feeling disoriented and acidic. She laid a hand on top of her abdomen, eyes widening uncomfortably.

Her throat surged, suddenly feeling cold, despise the sun, which casted down in brilliant rays on the class.

"Oh-," she mumbled, and offering no explanation to the teacher, she ran as fast as she could, up the paths and into the school, flinging open the girls lavatory door and bursting inside.

She bursted into the bathroom stall, dropping to her knees as she emptied her lunch into the toilet. And as if that weren't bad enough, it seemed to keep going.34

How much lunch did I eat?

Finally, after a long row, the puking ended, and Valentine sat on the tiles, resting her back against the stalls, sighing heavily while puckering her lips to subside the putrid flavor coating her mouth.

At some point a headache and cold sweat had come. Valentine had finally mustered the strength to push herself up, groaning at the body aches she experienced.

Slowly, she began her trek to the hospital wing, seeing the door open and Madam Pomfrey already tending to others. Valentine glanced around, and despite her stomach queasiness, she recognized James, Sirius, and Macey all laid out in a cot, making her laugh. Two of the three were sleeping, passed out and colored green.2

"You've got to be joking," Valentine said, and James turned his head up to face her.

"Ah, joined the party, have you?" James welcomed.

Madam Pomfrey notified the girl standing in the middle of the wing, sighing as she left the patient she tended to and approached the Hufflepuff.

"What seems to be the problem, Ms. Lotus?" The women asked sweetly.

Valentine sighed. "Whatever they've got happening to them is most likely what I have."

"Ah, food poisoning?"30

Valentine chortled. "Of course it is."

And Madam Pomfrey nicely sat her in a cot alongside her friends, pumping her with meds and giving her a glass of water.

James, wearing a guilty expression, turned to her. "Sorry I got you sick and ruined your birthday."

"James," Valentine dismissed. "You didn't ruin anything. All I wanted was to spend time with my friends. This wasn't quite what I had in mind, but still. And your cake? At least it was good when we ate it! Besides, it was very sweet of you to put so much effort into my birthday."

"Yeah. What class were you in when you got sick?"

"Care of Magical Creatures. About spewed on a unicorn," Valentine winced, eliciting a laugh from James.

"Yeah? Get this, I did spew. All over the place. Regurgitated chocolate cake was oozing on my books."10

"Careful James, that was a big word," Valentine nagged. "Would hate for you to use your whole vocabulary in a single conversation."

James glared at the blonde, faking a sarcastic, high pitched laugh. "You're so funny!"

Valentine's lips twitched. "I know."

They were pulled from their discussion as Lily and Marlene entered, neither looking well.

James and Valentine exchanged a look. Then they laughed.

"Happy Birthday, Vee," James whispered.

"Thanks. Definitely one to remember."

And it was. Because by late afternoon that day, Peter and Remus had also joined them, eight friends sprawled out on hospital cots as they spent the night barfing remnants of cake while James revised the list of ingredients used in his cake, listening as Valentine told him what was right or wrong.

[ralcemns]

Baku-sitter: Chapter 10

Summary: Because his mother promised a favor, fifteen-year-old Bakugou Katsuki finds himself stuck babysitting a four-year-old Midoriya Izuku.

Ao3

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

☆

The next afternoon, the Saturday of that week, Midoriya-san drove over to Katsuki’s house as previously planned. An excited little Izuku bounced around in a toddler car seat behind her.

"I'm going somewhere with Izuku," Katsuki quickly told his mom as he headed toward the door. He’d neglected to inform her in the day leading up to, and certainly not because he was maybe slightly embarrassed or anything like that.

"What?" his mom questioned, looking up from a TV. "Where are you going?"

Katsuki kept his face out of view as he rested his hand on the doorknob. "Hero merch shopping."

His mom snorted. "Alright, nerd."

"I'm not a damn nerd!" Katsuki spun around and growled before he exited his house. He stalked to the vehicle sitting in his driveway.

"... Everyone thinks heroes are cool," he muttered under his breath in vain excuse.

"Hello, Bakugou!" Midoriya-san greeted through the backseat window that was lowered for her small son. She pressed a button and the car chunked unlocked.

"Kacchan! Sit back here!" Izuku urged with a bounce under the buckles that restrained his bountiful toddler energy as the teen made his way to the vacated side of the vehicle.

Katsuki eyed the enticing authority of the front seat. Then, with a sigh, he gave in to the toddler’s plea, opening the door behind and buckling himself in.

"Yay!" Izuku celebrated as his mom relocked the car and backed out of the driveway.

Katsuki noticed the unworn feel and look of the seats. They felt as though not many people had ever ridden in them, and he faintly wondered if he was one of the first to ever sit in the vehicle besides the two Midoriyas themselves.

Izuku brandished a silver coin out of his pocket proudly. "Look! I have money!"

"Don't lose it," his mother warned with a glance over her shoulder. Her obedient child recognized all the nooks and crannies inside the car that the little coin could fall into and stuffed it safely back into the protective containment of his pocket.

They eventually arrived at the rumored store, which was plastered from top to bottom in different heros’ faces even from the outside. Midoriya-san dropped the two off there at the front.

"You have your phone, right?" she checked with Katsuki, who nodded. "I'll be looking at some other stores nearby," she directed. "Izuku has that five hundred yen coin if he sees something he wants to buy. Contact me when you and he are done with browsing or buying or whatever it is you decide to do, though I know Izuku will want to walk away with an item." She gave her son a knowing look, and he smiled at her for being called out.

"Yeah," Katsuki affirmed.

Midoriya-san waved goodbye at the pair, her son waving back at her. He pulled the coin back out of his pocket as she left.

"Don't lose it," Katsuki reiterated sternly, eyeing the pair of clumsy toddler hands.

"I won't," Izuku promised, turning the coin over in his fingers, mesmerized with its potential.

Katsuki huffed. He could almost see the circular slice of metal rolling onto the ground and out onto the street, forever lost.

He felt the banknote in his own pocket. It was worth a thousand yen; his earnings from a single night of babysitting of the several others he’d earned. Ready to spend it, he led Izuku into the store.

Inside, it seemed like someone had mapped out the thoughts of a hero nerd’s mind. It was busyーwith images of people instead of with actual shoppers exploring the merchandiseーeverywhere to look being a depiction of some sort of new or well-loved hero. The immense amount of blue and yellow streaked with red and white revealed who was most popular.

There was nearly everything available to buy. From posters to figurines, keychains to bags, and shirts to notebooks, Katsuki couldn't believe he’d never seen nor heard of this place before.

"Oops!" Izuku exclaimed. A metallic clatter followed soon after.

"I told you not to lose it!" Katsuki scolded. While he craned his neck to scan the tiles beneath him for a shimmer, Izuku got on all fours and sniffed around for it like a puppy.

"Hey, you dropped this," he heard the smaller boy say. Katsuki looked towards Izuku to see him picking up an All Might themed pen for an immensely much taller man.

"Thank you," the man appreciated. Despite how sunken his eyes were, the blue twinkle in them that complimented his bony smile was still visible. "It must be nice to be short enough to pick things up off the floor, hm?"

Izuku nodded shyly at the stranger. Still, he must have been feeling courageous to have continued to converse. "Do you like All Might, too?"

The man chuckled with a smirk betraying secret irony. "Yes, I'm fairly fond of him, you might say."

Katsuki stepped forward next to them and spoke to Izuku. "Did you find your yen yet?"

"Oh!" Izuku remembered, returning to the floor to resume his search with renewed conviction.

he tall man shifted his thin frame. There was an air of familiarity about him. "Are you an All Might fan as well?" he inquired of Katsuki.

Katsuki wrinkled his nose and shrugged. "Whatever. This kid asked me to come with him."

The man snickered softly. "Alright then. Hope he finds his yen." He walked to the cash register to pay for his dropped pen along with a few other number one hero items he had gathered before he'd bumped into the two.

"Found it!" Izuku announced, crawling out from under a table with his coin held out in victory.

"And now you're all dirty from wiping yourself all over the floor," Katsuki complained, brushing the dust off of him a bit. "Pick something to buy and we can get out of here."

Izuku searched over the merchandise. "This?" He pointed to a high-quality backpack with the number one plastered on it in the top hero’s colors. The tag read a thousand times more yen.

"Too expensive. And too big for you," Katsuki dismissed. He considered it for himself for a moment, but ultimately decided against it with his own typical backpack at home. He observed the prices of smaller items instead. "You should probably get something like a keychain, since you already have a lot of posters."

Izuku took the advice and began assessing an array of the small dangling charms. He picked out a glimmering oval one in the likeness of All Might’s belt buckle and suit beneath. "This?" he wondered.

The price tag over the display read 500¥. "Yeah, just enough for your coin." He took a rectangular one of the same color scheme for himself that boldly declared, "I am here!" on its surface. Then he brought it to the register, letting Izuku place his choice on the counter himself.

"A thousand yen," the cashier added together and informed them. Katsuki pulled the according rectangular paper out of his pocket and handed it over.

Izuku hummed a whine, drawing his babysitter’s attention and stopping the teen mid-transaction. "My coin!" he pointed out, placing it on the counter.

Katsuki sighed. The cashier simply took the banknote and scooted the coin back towards the duo of customers as their change.

"Thank you, have a nice day," the cashier wished.

"Thanks," Katsuki replied. He pocketed the coin as he took out his phone and sent Midoriya-san quick a text. She replied soon after that she was coming right over.

"Do you think that All Might buys toys of himself?" Izuku wondered as she made her way back to the merch store.

Katsuki scoffed. "No, why would he do that?" The little kid’s mother pulled up just after to take them back to their homes.