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xseaxwitchxkpop · 3 years

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NSFW Alphabet: Sub!Yeosangie Edition

A/N: I couldn't wait I had to do this now lol what is patience??? Also forgive any mistakes I wrote this at like 2am lmfao

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A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Doesn't matter what kind of sex it was, he will always be a content and giggling baby boy afterwards. He absolutely needs nose kisses and boops as rewards, like a cat, and needs to bury his face in your neck so he can smell your scent as a way to calm him and bring him back down to earth. He will also love it when you gently thumb his cheekbones!

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

His favorite body part on him is probably his hands just because he uses them so often to hide his face when he's flustered. His favorite body part on his partner would probably be the neck because he is another one of the members that values intimacy and there's something very sensual and intimate yet very possessive about his face and head buried in your neck.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

He doesn't really have a strong preference for cumplay of any type and he doesn't have a strong opposition to any cumplay either. So long as you're having your way with and he's living his best sex life, he doesn't care if you spit his load in his mouth and make him swallow it or if you cum in ass with your dick or fake cum

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He'd only have kinky sex as a submissive with a partner he loves and trusts dearly so he's pretty open about want he wants and doesn't really have much of a dirty secret to keep. However, if you pull at his teeth hard enough, you will find out that the one fantasy he has been keeping from you is that he wants you to have him use a hollow dildo on you during his caging period for that extra layer of humiliation and degradation...plus you don't have to be punished when he is also being punished during this fantasy

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

He's had hook ups in the past, not a high count or anything, maybe like 5 or 6, but those were always relatively vanilla and/or had him in a more dominant position which he wasn't a big fan of. He knows what he's doing when pleasuring you, that's for sure, but in a solid relationship, he learned to let himself go and found that he absolutely CANNOT go back to even a shadow of a dominant position in bed.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

His favorite position is definitely cowgirl, with you on top. He loves that with this position he has easy access to your thighs and ass, the ease with which you can choke him lightly or more intensely, and the sheer amount of control you have in this position while allowing him to touch you because that's how he grounds himself, always has to be touching some part of you or you touching some part of him.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Sex with Yeosang is light-hearted most of time, very warm, very giggly, very cute, and very humorous. He likes cracking jokes or delivering some dry wit and sarcasm in the bedroom because that's just who he is and he doesn't see why that can't translate to the bedroom. Because of this, I feel he would prefer gentle domination and a partner who should know how to banter well both outside and inside the bedroom. He does like it slow and sensual sometimes, but if he's in a very soft mood, he'll prefer sensual touches rather than sex itself. On occasion he does like it rough and fast, but it's gotta be a VERY specific mood for him.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

Like the others, definitely trims but just calls it a day at that. He doesn't really bother with shaving all the way and doesn't care if you don't either.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Another member that values intimacy to the highest degree! Humor is part of how he connects with people and navigates the world, so the same is to be said in the bedroom. He loves when you make him a giggly mess with humor in the bedroom with and feels more connected each time. Surprisingly, he doesn't shy away from eye contact and he actually really likes it because it adds another layer of intimacy to the experience! Also forehead kisses...you might be the dominant one, but there's something so sweet and reassuring and very intimate yet possessive about subs giving their doms/dommes forehead kisses and that's exactly what he does to you! Every single y'all have sex, without fail, no matter how kinky or light.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

The only times he really jacks off is either guided masturbation from you or if he is intensely horny to the point it is literally interfering with what he has to do that day in which he'll just get it done and over with in the shower or a quick one in the bathroom. This has nothing to do with rules put in place, he just doesn't have a high sex drive despite his incredibly dirty humor.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

He's open to trying most things, but not as many things as San. Some of Yeosang's kinks would include choking, biting, hair pulling, light restraints, sensory deprivation, voice kink, temperature play, edging, pegging/anal play, caging, light nipple play, marking, and nail scratching.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

Literally any place he can comfortably lay flat because his fave position is cowgirl. One of his top favorites, however, is a rather large ottoman that he has to prop himself up on by the elbows when he leans back in a sitting position so you have to kind of sit on his lap and this forces him to use his lower body strength because he also has to fuck into you if you're fucking him in this position. Also don't forget, when the mood hits him, to rail him on a table or counter or coffee table or on a balcony window with him wearing a skirt and oversized sweater!

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

You commanding him to do something with a gentle and sweet voice gets him going like nothing else. The best part is that you can do this in public very blatantly and none would be the wiser save for you and him. What also really turns him on is when you're very attentive and can read him easily without having to ask or say anything; you do that, he will pounce on you and be the best service top you could ask for.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Touch deprivation. I know I said he is into sensory deprivation and he is -- just more so in the sight, hearing, and scent departments, those he can handle. If he can't feel you somewhere on his body, whether you touching him or vice versa, he will freak out and immediately get pulled out of sub space, even if he's very deep in it (and being pulled abruptly from sub space or dom/domme space is very harsh on the psyche and can take minutes to DAYS to rectify and heal so is a very big no-no in the BDSM community). He also does not like to share at all; you are his and he is yours, no negotiation. He's a very possessive submissive because he trusts you with a side of him that maybe one or two other people know about and that is his safe space -- he cannot have others enter that space because he would no longer feel safe.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

If asked what heaven was, he would respond with you sitting on his face and tugging at his hair. That's his favorite position to give you oral! He also really likes when you go down on him because one wrong move and you could easily bite his dick...it's the power you yield with nothing but your mouth on his most intimate parts and a hand on his thigh and another on his abdomen.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

As I've pointed out earlier, light-hearted sex is what he likes best, so the pace is...moderate? There's nothing pushing y'all to be fast and rough and there's not an air of heavy emotion and lustful passion for each other so y'all just go at a pace that's matches whatever happy and joyful mood and banter is happening. On the rare occasion he does want it rough and fast, he wants to be brutally fucked until he can't think, can't make a sound, tears staining his cheeks, asshole gaping, and drool running down the sides of his mouth, panting to try to catch his breath.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

He really doesn't like them. He prefers taking his time and having what could be called "care-free sex."

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He likes experimenting with new things every once in a while, but for the most part, he likes to stick with what works and if something new works well, he adds it to his rotation.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

Can go two or three rounds, depending on his mood and level of exhaustion. With rough and fast sex, he can only take one round unless you decide to overstimulate him (which is every time) in which you can draw out two orgasms, one after the other. But then he is spent and it's aftercare time!

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He's got a set of dildos and anal plugs, mainly to prep himself for you, but you'll sometimes use them on him to fuck him with unless you're using a strap on. He also has a couple of cock cages because he's into chastity and a couple of cock rings for fun, but other than that, he prefers good old touching and teasing with what you and he were born with.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

His teasing comes in the form of banter and benign insults, hoping you'll engage and respond with a hand on his throat or a quick dick grab. Other than that, he isn't much of a tease -- if anything, his partner is the tease to him because it's so easy to make him flustered.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

He's certainly not the loudest in the bunch, but if you hit his spot just right, he'll be moaning so fucking loudly that it could be heard on the planet Mars. For the most part, though, he just pants and lets out whimpers here and there, most of his enjoyment is shown through his body language and facial expressions.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

He absolutely lives for wearing lacy lingerie beneath his clothing just for you. He doesn't so this as often as he'd like to because of his job as an idol, but when he can, he takes full advantage and wears a lacy bralette AND lacy underwear that does nothing to support his dick btw.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

His length is average but he is on the girthier side which caused you to have to work yourself open and up to his size. The first time he dove into you wasn't terribly painful, but there was a bit of a sharp pain that quickly disappeared into pleasure.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

I'd say he probably has an above average sex drive, but not necessarily a high one. He is a healthy male who is in damn good shape, so it goes to say that his sez drive might increase a bit because of that. Anyway, sex itself isn't frequent but there are loads of sensual touches all the time -- he can't get enough of you in that sense.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

The atmosphere created with the typical light-hearted sex y'all engage in added with the sleepiness of post-orgasm bliss makes for a perfect concoction of sleeping medication. You're warm and content, he's warm and content, so y'all fall asleep in each other's arms. For the rough and fast sex, though, you have to make sure he doesn't fall asleep immediately so he doesn't go into sub drop, so you do your best to lightly tap him on the cheek and keep him talking, hydrated, and fed.

#ateez #sub!ateez #yeosang #sub!ateez alphabet #sub!yeosang #sub!idol #sub!kpop #my works #lemon hours #ateez headcannons #ateez imagine

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reinerispretty · 3 years

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reminiscence. (? x f!reader) pt10

hello!!!!!! we r back with another edition of this fic hehe. thank u all for ur support, i appreciate u so much! it’s also five am and i am not even tired so rip.

also!! who do u think reader should end up with? i have it decided but i’m willing to hear reasoning and perhaps be persuaded ;)

pt1

pt9

pt11

“So, where do we find this Iroh guy?” Mako asked.

“You think he has any relation to General Iroh?” Bolin questioned. “I mean, how many Iroh’s can there really be, y’know?”

“He’s Iroh as in, Zuko and Iroh,” Korra informed them, and Bolin let out a shocked gasp. While she was nervous about getting her memories back, (Y/N) would definitely be grateful not to be absolutely lost when things were discussed.

A Republic City winter was nothing compared to a South Pole winter. (Y/N) was cold while she slept, cold while she moved, cold while she stood still! Korra’s mom had her wrapped up in so many different coats, furs, and blankets that she waddled while she walked. “How are you okay right now?” She asked Korra as they walked to breakfast together. “I feel like my nose is going to fall off.”

Korra looked back and flashed her a smile. “It’s all I’ve ever known! You just kind of get used to it.” (Y/N) frowned. She couldn’t imagine ever getting used to weather like this.

As they sat and ate their breakfast--(Y/N) tried to eat, but the layers made it hard to bend her elbows--they discussed their plan for the day. Led by Tonraq, they would travel by snowmobile to the Spirit World Portal. It was a long trip, so they would have to camp for the night, but the next day they would be trekking through the Spirit World looking for answers. “It’s warm there,” Korra said, nudging (Y/N) with her elbow. She smiled gratefully.

She decided to ride on the back of Korra’s snowmobile. Bolin would be on the back of Asami’s and while Mako also had his own, (Y/N) wasn’t sure if she wanted to have her arms wrapped around him for the entire trip, especially when they hadn’t discussed the things that happened between them. Her and Mako hadn’t discussed things at all, really. She knew they were on better terms since the first time they met, but he was so guarded and she was so scared that anything Mako had to say to her, she might not want to hear.

So, she waddled over to Korra’s snowmobile. “Mind if I ride with you?” She asked as Korra secured their supplies.

“Not at all!” Korra said, her face lighting up. Then she cleared her throat and turned her eyes back to tying knots. “Just be sure you hold on tight, okay?” (Y/N) nodded, managing a joking salute.

She wrapped her arms around Korra’s middle as tightly as she could, but it must not have been enough because as soon as Korra hit the gas, (Y/N) was flung off, landing on her back in the snow. She let out a shout of surprise, followed by a groan as she opened her eyes and saw Korra staring down at her. She wore a humored smile on her face. “I told you to hold on tight!”

“I was!” (Y/N) insisted as Korra helped her get back to her feet. She pulled some rope from their side pouch and wrapped it around (Y/N’s) waist, then tied it to her own.

“We do this for little kids sometimes, so they don’t get lost in the snow.” (Y/N) narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her. Korra laughed at the childishness and helped her get back on the snowmobile. Then they were off, (Y/N) much more secured this time around.

As they rode through the snowy hills, (Y/N) leaned her head on Korra’s back, taking in the sights of the Southern Water Tribe. Far out where the sea was, icy glaciers poked through the inky waters, shimmering against the sunlight. Everything was rather sparkly; if (Y/N) looked at the snow for too long her eyes felt sore. She turned her head and waved a gloved hand at Bolin, who gave her a thumbs up from his position behind Asami.

Sometimes, when she looked at Bolin, it physically hurt her heart. She knew it was some sort of physical reaction, something her body remembered that her head didn’t. The feeling increased when he had referred to them as being friends. There was nothing wrong with being friends, in fact she supposed that was better than any other alternative, but even now she had always thought there was something more between them. Perhaps she had interpreted everything wrong. There was a giant piece of her memory missing, after all, and all she knew was that she had really messed up Bolin when she had left. It was probably better if they were just friends. Bolin was great and she didn’t want to lose him a second time.

Their ride was so long that (Y/N) had eventually fallen asleep against Korra’s back, only to be awoken by the snowmobile coming to a jolted stop. She awoke and squeaked in fear, gripping on tighter to Korra.

“Sorry!” She said. “I’ve never been really good at breaking.”

“You’re going to tell me that after I spent hours on a giant metal deathtrap with you?” (Y/N) huffed.

“It wasn’t that bad considering you were snoring into my back,” Korra quipped, quickly turning herself around so she could untie them. “You sounded like a lion turtle.”

“I don’t even know what that is, but I’m sure you’re wrong.” (Y/N) slid off the snowmobile and began untying the packs.

“Lion turtles used to carry cities on their backs and bestow the gift of bending to humans occasionally.”

“Think we’ll find one in the Spirit World to grant me some powers?” (Y/N) asked. “What element do you think I’d bend? I think fire’s pretty cool but-”

“Oh, you’d be an airbender for sure,” Korra said as she hoisted two packs onto her back. (Y/N’s) face lit up.

“Really! Why do you think that? Is it because of my calm and collected nature?”

“It’s because you talk so much,” Korra explained. “You’re constantly bending air with your mouth.” She booped (Y/N) on the nose before making her way to the rest of the group.

“You’re hilarious! (Y/N) called after her, gathering her own packs onto her back. “Why don’t you stop being the Avatar and become a comedian instead!”

They set up their tents and made fire, which was easy work considering two out of the six people in the party were firebenders. As soon as (Y/N) finished her tasks she sat in front of the fire. She was probably too close, but she didn’t care. It’s warmth, albeit small, made her feel just a smidge less cold than she had been, and she’d take it. The rest of their group soon joined her, Asami sitting on one side and Korra sitting on the other. She appreciated the girls protecting her from any awkwardness that could potentially ensue from being near the boys.

“I’m thinking when we get to the Spirit World, we’ll try our luck at finding Iroh,” Korra explained. “He’s always got spirits around him, maybe one of them will know who took (Y/N’s) memories.”

“And if they don’t?” Mako questioned. “We can’t just wander around the Spirit World hoping for some clue.”

“Maybe I’ll start remembering again,” (Y/N) suggested. “Like when Bolin took me to the spot where we met. I got that memory back.”

“You also threw up and passed out from that,” Asami reminded her. (Y/N) pursed her lips.

“I can handle it,” (Y/N) reassured them. “At this point, I’ll do whatever it takes to get my memories back.”

“The Spirit World is magnificent, but it’s also dangerous,” Tonraq said. Night had fallen, and his face was illuminated only by the fire. “They might not be happy to see humans there, especially after what happened last time.”

“I’m the Avatar,” Korra said. “They have to at least listen to me.”

“I just want you all to be careful. Whatever took (Y/N’s) memories has to be powerful. Maybe dangerous.”

“We’ll be careful, Dad,” Korra reassured her father. Tonraq trusted his daughter’s abilities, that was obvious, but the worry he held for her was still evident on his features. (Y/N) swallowed, her mouth feeling dry. She hadn’t really considered that this could be a dangerous mission. If she was being honest, she had never really thought this far ahead. She had spent every day maneuvering around the different dynamics of the four friends, making sure that she didn’t overstep her boundaries or create unnecessary problems. She hadn’t considered what would be waiting for them on the other side of the Spirit Portal, or that the people she had grown to cherish would be put in danger for her sake.

Asami passed around their food and (Y/N) ate silently, considering this information. Her friends talked around her, but she was so distracted that their comments went in one ear and out the other. Once she finally zoned back in, it was just her, Korra, and Mako sitting around the fire.

Korra let out a big yawn, stretching her arms. “I’m absolutely beat,” She said. “I think I’m gonna turn in. You coming?” (Y/N) shook her head.

“I think I’ll stay near the warmth just a little longer.” Korra nodded and gave them a sloppy salute as she waded through the snow and to the tent she shared with Asami and (Y/N). It was just her and Mako now.

She stared at the flames of the fire and how they danced in the cold night air. Should she say something to Mako? This was the first time they had been alone together and neither of them had immediately made up somewhere else they needed to be. They’d be heading to the Spirit World tomorrow, so if there was any time for them to communicate, it should be now.

(Y/N) adjusted her coat, huddling further inside it. “Want me to make it bigger?” Mako asked, and (Y/N) nearly jumped, surprised to hear him talking to her. She looked at him, eyes wide and not quite understanding what he was talking about. “The fire, you want me to make it bigger?”

“Oh, no, that’s okay,” She said. Mako stared at her for a moment before making the fire larger and while she had said she hadn’t wanted that, (Y/N) was grateful. It was so hard to be straightforward with Mako sometimes, because of the way he jumbled her brain. It was like she didn’t even recognize herself when she was around him anymore. Before, only one emotion accompanied being around Mako, and that was anger. Now, (Y/N) felt a whole range of emotions when she looked at his amber eyes. “I think we should talk,” She said finally, wincing at how small her voice sounded.

“I think so too,” And he gave her a half smile. (Y/N) nodded, but both of them remained silent. How should she start? How did people even communicate properly? Perhaps the thing (Y/N) was most excited about getting her memories back was how to talk to people normally. She felt so awkward!

“Why’d you kiss me?” She asked suddenly, her face heating from embarrassment. Mako’s eyebrows shot to the top of his forehead.

“Oh,” He coughed. “I mean, well, it’s a little--it’s like--” (Y/N) couldn’t help giggling. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing!” She insisted, biting down her smile. “You just...you seem so tough and confident and aloof sometimes that it’s funny to see you act so...”

“Embarrassing?” He guessed. (Y/N) shook her head.

“Normal?” She tilted her head and shrugged. “You don’t always have to wear this tough guy act, you know.”

“It’s not an act,” Mako insisted, but he and (Y/N) exchanged a look that had them both stifling back their laughter. “Maybe sometimes. People believe you’re tough if you act like it. Keeps you from getting your stuff stolen when you’re sleeping in a gutter.”

“You grew up on the streets?” (Y/N) guessed. Mako nodded.

“Sometimes I forget what you know and what you don’t.”

“Me too, if we’re being honest.” They paused into a silence that wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable, just full of anticipation. “They teach you how to dodge questions on the streets, too?”

Mako sighed, running a hand through his black hair. “It’s not easy for me to explain stuff like this. Bolin’s the one that can talk about emotions and feelings.”

(Y/N) smiled. “Bolin can talk about anything.”

“When we were arguing on that balcony, I wasn’t just angry at you for being here. You hurt Bolin a long time ago, but watching you be with my brother and knowing that I could never be with you...that hurt, too. You were so close to me that night and something inside of me said I should kiss you and once the idea popped into my head, I couldn’t get it out. I think I hoped that once I did it, it’d be some sort of release. Like a way to get it all out so I’d stop feeling like that.”

“Was it?”

Mako looked directly into her eyes. Normally, his gaze would make (Y/N) feel weird and she would have to look away. She couldn’t bring herself to do that tonight.

“Not at all,” He admitted. “I thought I had gotten over you once you disappeared, but once you came back it all hit me full force.”

(Y/N) thought for a moment about what she wanted to say. Then, she took a deep breath. “I don’t have any memories to base my feelings off of. But there are certain things, feelings, that I remember that I can’t place. They’re just there.” She placed a hand over her heart. “It happens when I look at Bolin. I remember feelings, like sadness and regret, but I don’t know why. It’s overwhelming sometimes, discerning emotions. The things that I feel for Bolin, they’re like past feelings that I’m remembering. Kind of.” She squinted her eyes shut. She wasn’t sure if she was explaining this right, but she was trying her best. “But when I look at you, now that the anger has subsided, I feel things now. Being around you feels nice and when you talk to me, I feel very...light and relieved. I can barely hold your gaze without blushing, and--and I think about you. A lot more than a friend should, I think.”

“But,” She continued. “I don’t have all of my memories back. I don’t know how or why I left and I don’t know if things will change once I do.”

“I get it,” Mako said. “As much as someone with memories can.” (Y/N) gave him a small smile. “And I don’t want to confuse you even more, because I’m sure being around Bolin is confusing enough as it is.”

“You have no idea,” (Y/N) breathed.

“I’m glad I told you. Almost two years and I finally admitted to my brother’s ex-girlfriend that I had a crush on her the whole time. This is a big day for me.”

“The whole time?” (Y/N) questioned. “When did you realize that you liked me?”

“I think Kya told us that we couldn’t share too much about the past with you, or else you might lose your memories forever?” (Y/N) pouted. “Fine, but if you can’t get your memories back, don’t blame me.” The wind picked up over them and he scooted closer to her so that he wouldn’t have to shout over it.

“Aye-aye, Captain,” (Y/N) said, giving a small salute. She rested her chin in the palm of her glove in order to pay attention.

“There was this one time when you got to our place. Bolin wasn’t there yet, I think he was out performing tricks with Pabu. It was cold outside, one of the coldest days Republic City had had in a while. You came in and you were like an icicle. You were shaking and had forgotten your coat and decided to walk halfway across the city to our place. I gave you a blanket and one of Bolin’s coats, but your hands were still like ice, so I used a little firebending to warm them up.” Mako remembered the feeling of your hands completely encased in his. “I held your hands for a while, until they were warm enough. I got up to leave for work and you grabbed my hand and pulled me back down onto the couch. You said, ‘Stay, Mako! I love having you around.’ So, I stayed. We talked all day until Bolin got home, and I ended up losing that job, but spending that time with you made it all worth it.”

(Y/N) sat silently for a long while before saying, “I’m sorry for making you lose your job.”

Mako laughed. “It’s cool,” He said. “I wasn’t a very good delivery boy anyway.”

(Y/N) pulled off her gloves, exposing her hands to the cold winter air. “Do you think you could...?” She offered her hands to Mako. He gave her a small smile and nodded, removing his own gloves and taking her hands in his. (Y/N) let out a happy sigh of relief at the feeling of warmth that emanated from his skin.

“I’m sorry for being so mean to you at first,” Mako said. “I just didn’t want Bolin to get hurt again.”

“I understand,” She said quietly. “I’d probably do the same if I were you.” Cautiously, she leaned her head on Mako’s shoulder. They sat like that for a long while, staring at the fire as Mako held her hands in his. While she was probably even more confused about her emotions than before, part of her hoped that whatever happened in the Spirit World wouldn’t change how she was feeling right now. She wanted to see where this could go.

---

Once the cold became too much for either of them to bear, Mako and (Y/N) parted ways. Korra and Asami were fast asleep when she entered their tent and slid into her sleeping bag. She fell asleep quickly, her hands still warm, but it felt like she was asleep for only moments when Korra shook her awake in the morning.

“One more hour,” (Y/N) grumbled, rolling over to avoid Korra’s gaze. The Avatar scoffed.

“I already let you sleep in as late as possible!” She gently kicked (Y/N’s) butt. “Up! Spirit World today, woohoo!” A very groggy (Y/N) reluctantly left the warmth of her sleeping bag. The early morning sun was absolutely blinding as she walked out of the tent. (Y/N) let out an unhappy grumble.

“Tea?” Asami offered, handing (Y/N) a thermos. (Y/N) smiled gratefully at her and took a long sip of the beverage, feeling it warm her from the inside out.

“Thank you so much!” (Y/N) said. “I needed that.”

“You were up pretty late,” Asami said, giving her a knowing smile. “Any particular reason?” (Y/N) shrugged playfully as she loaded her sleeping bag onto Korra’s snowmobile.

“Mako and I finally talked.”

“And? How’d that go?” Asami glanced over at Mako’s who sleepily nodded at whatever Bolin was excitedly saying to him. (Y/N) lightly slapped her friend’s arm.

“Don’t stare!” She laughed. “It went fine. We talked about our feelings, actually.” Asami’s eyes widened in excitement and she opened her mouth to say something, but (Y/N) cut her off. “And while there are some feelings there, I told him how until I got my memories back, nothing could be certain.”

Asami hummed in approval. “Seems like a good resolution.”

“What’s a good resolution?” Korra came over to tie her own belongings to the snowmobile.

“Mako and (Y/N) finally talked about their kiss.”

“Woah!” Korra exclaimed. “Are you guys dating now?”

“I’m missing like seventy-five percent of my memories and you think we’d be dating?” (Y/N) snipped. Korra shrugged.

“I don’t know what goes on in your head!”

“Like I told Asami, it was a good conversation. We talked about our feelings but I said that until I got my memories back, nothing could be done. I mean, what if I get them back and there was actually a non-Spirit World reason for why I was so awful to Bolin?” (Y/N) shook her head. “I was honest about how I felt and I think that’s good progress.”

“You know Korra,” Asami started. “Weren’t you telling me yesterday how much your bag hurt from having (Y/N) hold onto you?”

“What? No?” Korra said, furrowing her dark brows. Asami elbowed her sharply in the side.

“Remember? You said she held on too tight? Don’t you think that today you should ride on the snowmobile by yourself, since you’ll need to be at your best Avatar abilities in the Spirit World?”

“I know what you guys are doing and I’m having absolutely none of it!” (Y/N) insisted. “I’m riding with Korra, end of story.”

“Oh, I see what’s happening here,” Korra said. She placed her hands on her lower back. “Oh, yep, there’s definitely a tough knot there and it’s all (Y/N’s) fault. I don’t think I can ride on a snowmobile with you anymore.”

“I thought the Avatar was supposed to bring peace, but all you’re causing is chaos,” (Y/N) hissed.

“Hey, Mako!” Asami called out. Mako looked over to them, raising a questioning eyebrow as (Y/N) banged her head against the snowmobile. “Do you think (Y/N) can ride with you for today? Korra’s back is absolutely killing her.”

“Ow~!” Korra drawled dramatically.

“Uh, sure?” Mako questioned. He walked over to Korra’s vehicle and untied (Y/N’s) pack from it. “I think Tonraq said we were leaving in a few minutes, so I’ll be over there.”

“Sounds great, she’ll be right there,” Asami said.

“I’m not going,” (Y/N) said with a shake of her head.

“I thought you said it was a good conversation?” Korra questioned.

“You guys are so lucky I’m not a bender and I’m not very good at hand-to-hand combat because--” She shook her fist at both of them. “You’d be getting it!” She stomped over to Mako, a frown etched on her face.

“Everything alright?” He asked. She let the frown fade from her face.

“Everything’s fine,” She said with a sigh. “Korra and Asami are just being big pains.”

“Don’t I know it.” Mako strapped his helmet and placed (Y/N’s) on top of her head, buckling it underneath her chin. He then tied a rope that connected the two of them, as Korra had done yesterday. “Safety first,” He said with a smile. (Y/N) felt her face flush as he helped her onto the snowmobile. Shyly, she wrapped her arms around his middle, and then they were off toward the Spirit World Portal.

This trip was much shorter than the previous day’s. The portal was only an hour or two away from where they had camped. While (Y/N) was surprised that they had arrived so soon, there was no doubt that they were there, as the portal was a beam of warm yellow light that shot into the sky. It lay in the middle of the woods, only accessible by foot.

They parked their snowmobiles on the outskirts of the woods. Tonraq began setting up his tent; they had agreed that someone should stay behind with a radio just in case anything went wrong and they needed backup. But to (Y/N’s) surprise, Asami was setting up her own tent as well.

“You’re not coming with us?” She asked. Asami raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

“We agreed before you woke up this morning that someone else should stay behind with Korra’s dad to help keep watch. You obviously need to go, as does Korra, and I knew Bolin and Mako would be absolutely horrible if they had no idea what was going on inside. So, I decided to stay.”

(Y/N) frowned. While the reasoning was sound, it still made her sad that Asami wouldn’t be accompanying them on their journey. She and (Y/N) had developed a real friendship over the last few weeks. They had spent nearly all of their time together. It would be strange, not having her around.

“Be safe, okay?” (Y/N) asked, throwing her arms around Asami and squeezing her into a hug.

“You’re going into a completely new dimension and you’re telling me to be safe?” Asami laughed, but she wrapped her arms around (Y/N’s) frame and hugged tightly. “I can’t wait to hear all about your memories.” The two friends parted and (Y/N) lifted her pack onto her back.

“Ready?” Korra asked, and she, Bolin, and Mako nodded. Their group said their goodbyes to Tonraq and Asami before Korra led them into the woods.

“The last time I was here, I was frozen into a block of ice by an ex-girlfriend,” Bolin said. (Y/N) raised an eyebrow at him. “It wasn’t you! It was Korra’s cousin from the Northern Water Tribe.”

“The one with the evil dad?” (Y/N) asked.

“That’s the one!” Bolin nodded.

“This is it,” Korra said as they stopped in front of the Spirit World Portal. (Y/N) could feel its energy radiating from outside the forest, but now it was even more prominent. “Next stop, Spirit World.” She turned around to look at (Y/N), whose face looked as if she had seen a ghost. “Everything alright?”

(Y/N) nodded, gulping. “I’m okay,” She nodded again, trying to convince herself that she was speaking the truth. What if getting her memories back wasn’t necessarily a good thing? Something had blocked them out. Perhaps they had done it for her own benefit. But they had come this far, so she remained silent as she stepped through the threshold and into the Spirit World.

It was an odd feeling, transitioning between two planes. It felt like each particle of (Y/N’s) body was buzzing, until suddenly she was on the other side and staring at so many colors, some that she was sure she had never seen before. She released the breath she had been holding as she stepped through.

Indescribable beings flew overhead, cawing and cooing at them. Korra had been right: the Spirit World was significantly warmer than the South Pole. The group removed their jackets as (Y/N) took in her surroundings. Currently, they stood in the middle of a rocky wasteland, but patches of flowers and grass popped up here and there. In the middle stood a gnarled tree with a hollowed out middle.

“That’s the Tree of Time,” Korra explained. “That’s where the first Avatar had imprisoned Vaatu, the dark spirit that I defeated a month ago. His energy made this part of the Spirit World a wasteland, but it’s healing.”

“It’s beautiful,” (Y/N) breathed, and Korra smiled. Their group walked across the barren land to the greener parts of the Spirit World. Butterfly-like animals flittered around them as they walked and Korra explained her many trips to this place. Mako and Bolin had been here as well, although they had never been further than the Tree of Time. That helped (Y/N) feel less out of place.

“So, where do we find this Iroh guy?” Mako asked.

“You think he has any relation to General Iroh?” Bolin questioned. “I mean, how many Iroh’s can there really be, y’know?”

“There it is!” Korra exclaimed, and then she started running. The others dashed behind her, not quite sure of where she was going, until a small house appeared seemingly out of nowhere and they were right in front of it. A small tea party of spirits and one human sat at a table in the garden.

“Korra!” The old man exclaimed. “Welcome back! We were just about to start afternoon tea.” He peaked behind her at her friends. “And you brought company! The more the better, I think I have some extra teacups in the house.”

“Hi, Iroh,” Korra said. “We really appreciate it, but we don’t really have time--” But the old man was already headed inside his house. When he returned, he held four additional teacups and a bright smile on his face.

“Sit, sit,” He insisted. Korra looked to (Y/N), who shrugged, and dropped her backpack to the ground and took a seat. If having tea was what she needed to do in order to get her memories back, then she would do it. “You!” Iroh said as he placed (Y/N’s) teacup in front of her. “I’ve heard many things about you. Welcome back.”

“Back?” (Y/N) questioned, looking at her friends. “I’ve been here before?”

“You are (Y/N), yes?” She nodded. “When Korra first visited me to ask about you, I did not know much.” He placed a hand to the side of his mouth. “Spirits are horrible gossips sometimes, and I did not want to lead the Avatar on a path different from the one you must take. But I have asked many a visitor about you and they have all said the same thing: you were here, not too long ago, but you were here for a while.”

“Why was she here?” Mako questioned before (Y/N) could. Iroh sighed as he poured their tea.

“Whatever the reason, it was not good. Many of my friends say they saw her enter the dark part of our realm and she did not leave for a long time.”

“It’s true!” One of the spirits interjected, an oddly blue wolf. “I saw you months ago with my own four eyes. You looked nothing like you do now. You came through the portals, yeah? Last time, someone brought you here the other way.”

“You mean through meditation?” Korra asked. The spirit nodded.

“Whatever it was, something powerful had to do it. I couldn’t do nothing like that.”

“So, powerful spirit in the dark parts of the Spirit World. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t sound like something a good spirit would do.” (Y/N) looked to Iroh to confirm her suspicions.

“Spirits are neither good nor bad, unless we are discussing Vaatu and Raava. But there are some spirits whose motives become skewed.”

(Y/N) deflated in her seat. The spirit who had taken her memories was powerful and most likely dangerous. And if they found it, she would be leading her friends right to them.

They finished their tea with Iroh before continuing on their journey. Bolin had talked excitedly with him about his adventures with Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko, whoever those people were, and Iroh gave him a Jasmine Dragon teacup to take back to the mortal realm. The entire time that they talked, (Y/N) was incredibly distracted by what Iroh had told them.

“We should go back,” (Y/N) said suddenly. All three of her friends stopped and looked at her as if she were insane.

“But, you need to get your memories back,” Bolin said.

“I’ll just start over,” She insisted. “I can start fresh. Whatever this spirit is, it isn’t good, and I don’t want to hand you guys to it on a silver platter. We’ll go back and I’ll just learn to live without my memories.”

“There are pieces of you you’ll never get back. Important memories that might have meant a lot to you. You deserve answers, (Y/N), for everything that’s happened to you.” Bolin grabbed her hands and she felt that same shock of electricity run through her body every time he touched her.

“It’s not worth it if it means you guys will get hurt.”

“Stop trying to play hero,” Mako said suddenly, his voice much harsher than it had been the night before. “If we didn’t want to be here to help you, we wouldn’t be.”

“You shouldn’t be helping me. You guys fight every day for the greater good, for the people of the world. I’m one person. You can’t get yourselves hurt over one person. This,” She gestured to the entirety of the Spirit World, but referred to their mission. “Isn’t as important than whatever is going on back in the mortal world.”

“But you’re important,” Korra said suddenly. “You’re important to Bolin and Mako and you’ve become important to Asami and I. The Avatar fights for the greater good, but as your friend, I’ll do whatever it takes so that you can feel like yourself again.”

(Y/N) felt her eyes watering. Why weren’t they getting it? “If anything happened to you guys while we’re here, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

“And if we gave up on you, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself,” Bolin said. She looked up at him through watery eyes. “No matter what we’ve been through, we care about you. I care about you. And we’re going to get that dumb spirit to give your memories back.”

(Y/N) looked from him to Korra to Mako, whose head immediately turned as soon as her eyes landed on him. “Okay,” she said. “But I think this is a horrible idea.”

“I find that horrible ideas make the best stories,” Bolin said with a smile.

---

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#lok #legend of korra #korra x reader #asami x reader #mako x reader #bolin x reader #avatar #the last airbender #writing #fanfiction #korra #mako #bolin #asami

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velvetcoves · 4 years

Text

little things in your relationship with the v3 boys + Byakuya <3

- mod velv

K1-B0 (KIIBO)

★ him tapping on your shoulder when he has a question, something to show you, etc.

★ Kiibo was a bit scared to cuddle you at first, due to his bulky frame, so he always has some sort of sweater or sweatshirt with him at all times in case you need cuddles

★ him refusing to let you consume anything unless he’s checked it over at LEAST twice

★ him always asking you how you’re feeling throughout the day

★ Kiibo making you little bracelets out of thread, and sneakily slipping them on you. by the end of the day you’ve got like 5 on your arm that you have NO idea when or where they got on you

★ ^ because of this, he likes to play with them on your wrist while you sit together and you’re just “wait what-“

KOREKIYO SHINGUJI

★ him running his hand up and down your back just enough to give you shivers every time

★ Kiyo gently pulling you to his side if you wander too far

★ him leaning down next to you just enough to whisper teasing words and sweet nothings into your ear throughout the day, before nuzzling his masked face into your neck and pulling away

★ Kiyo just being so nurturing with you

★ braiding his hair while he just relaxes into you. like you just playing with the gorgeous locks he sports, while his back is flush against your chest as you hum. he can’t get enough of it.

★ Kiyo kind of.. latching onto you in your sleep. good luck on getting out of bed on time hehe

RANTARO AMAMI

★ like i said in my relationship HCs, Rantaro is a bit of a doodler. so be prepared for that

★ him acting a bit like a crow and giving you the objects he finds. they mostly consist of rather small but breathtaking things. like a dried flower, a really pretty rock, etc. and his reasoning is that “it just reminds me of you. it’s because you’re so gorgeous.” the gODAMN FLIRT-

★ him sending you little smiles and smirks throughout the day, along with winks

★ Rantaro humming to you when you both are together, no matter if you’re alone or not.

★ ^ those little humming moments usually turn into him saying the stupidest things in a sing-songy voice. while you’re a giggling mess, he’s biting your ear-lobe gently while just seductively whispering something about cows and you just lose it

★ him booping your nose a LOT

SHUICHI SAIHARA

★ you straight up SNATCHING his hat and parading around in it

★ trying to figure out what tf he just wrote on the piece of paper he gave you like 5 minutes ago because his handwriting is so messy and you’re just “ 👁👄👁”

★ Shuichi constantly linking your pinkies together

★ you two having a couple of inside jokes that are the FUNNIEST things

★ him helping you edit any workload or essays that you need to submit soon

★ ^ along with that, Shuichi helping you write your essay that’s due at 11:59 and it’s currently 11:50. you two POWER through it lemme tell ya

GONTA GOKUHARA

★ Gonta teaching you how to handle certain bugs, as they’re delicate

★ you getting carried by ✨Gonta✨

★ straight up BABYING him if he ever gets a cut. like he’ll be working with some ladybugs and he hasn’t even noticed the decently sized cut on his arm, and you’re just “gONTA YOUR A R M-“ and he’s just “oh! Gonta not notice. oops :)”

★ ^ smh and then you’ll lightly scold him because you want your boyfriend to be careful and his heart is so full of love for you during these moments

★ you needing something from a height only he can reach, and Gonta just hoisting you’re up onto his shoulders so you can grab it

★ Gonta is w a r m. he’s like a full on human heater. so y’all’s cuddle session is otherworldly

RYOMA HOSHI

★ Ryoma silently laughing when you screw things up or start to stutter. he thinks it’s hilarious

★ also like Shuichi, snATCHING HIS HAT

★ ^ good luck keeping it for long though. he knows. he’ll find you

★ him actually opening up about his older tennis stories. your breath catches in your throat when you can hear the passion in his voice, dancing with a tinge of sadness and guilt as he tells you stories you’d never get to experience yourself

★ him being the big spoon. he needs his p r i d e.

★ ^ h o w e v e r. catch him on a bad day and this man is your little spoon through and through.

KOKICHI OUMA

★ Kokichi full on LAUNCHING himself at you if you ever come into his eyesight

★ him squeezing his way into you. like, if your arms are crossed, he scoots his way under your arms so that you’re holding him against your frame. another example is that if you’re sitting down, Kokichi will absolutely plant himself in your lap

★ Kokichi wiggling his way onto your back and falling asleep. you’ll most likely have to carry him in a piggyback ride on these rare days

★ him annoying you to no end just so you could kiss him to shut him up

★ chase scenes. that’s all i’m gonna say

★ him taking things that you’d need in a moment and having you look for them

KAITO MOMOTA

★ Kaito going off about constellations or somethin like that smh we love him here

★ him straight up YOINKING you back into his chest if you ever stand in front of him

★ you playing with his goatee randomly. he finds it adorable, but a bit embarrassing when you do it in front of Maki, he’ll tell you to stop. lmao don’t listen to him keep doing it

★ ^ Maki finds it hilarious

★ doing this thing when you two are reading and you have the book. you’ll straight up slam the book shut right under his chin to screw up the goatee and it’s FUNNY

★ Kaito just bein’ a simp for ya

BYAKUYA TOGAMI

★ him stealing very subtle glances at you from across the room. he likes to observe you, basically. the way you talk and move your hands with so much life, he LOVES it

★ you laughing whenever he scrunches up his face in distaste.

★ you resting your chin on his shoulder when it’s just the two of you. he’ll be searching for a book and you just plop your head right next to him on his shoulder, and he’ll say something like “too dependent on me now, hm?”

★ ^ stupid little rich boy smh i love him

★ while Byakuya isn’t a very cuddly person, but you two find alternatives. like you holding onto the sleeve of his suit thingy and such

★ that changes at night tho lmao like Korekiyo he LATCHES onto you

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13uswntimagines · 3 years

Text

I’m in Love With You Dumbass (Christen x reader)

Request: R are in love with Chris and she’s close with Chris and Tobin so she really think that she wont stand a chance. R is USWNTs videographer/content creator.

Authors Note: Special thanks to @literaryhedgehog cause without her this would probably still be trapped in my drafts. Also this turned into something a little silly and a little fluffy, and i really hope you enjoy it!

You blinked at your laptop, squinting as you processed the ten thousand pictures that you had taken during national team practice trying to decide which ones you wanted to put out for the fans.

It was always a balancing act, giving them little glimpses at training and not giving your major secrets away, but you had mastered it over the years.

You bit your lip as you swiped past several pictures of your best friend (who you totally didn’t have a crush on). The shot was perfect, well almost. Her green eyes were shining, and her dimples were showing. The only problem you had was that the smile was directed at one Tobin Heath instead of you.

You were so focused on picking out a picture of Christen that you didn’t notice you were no longer alone in the dining hall. Hell, you didn’t notice anything until two hands landed on your shoulders.

“Hey,” Emily yelled directly in your ear, you jolted in your seat, nearly falling as Emily and Lindsey cackled.

You held your hand over your chest, fighting a smile of your own. You might not like being scared, but at least they were having a good time.

“What are you two up to down here?”

“Trying to fight the boredom of a lazy day. What are you up to?” Lindsey laughed, settling down into the seat beside you, and leaning over to look at the photos displayed on your laptop.

“Just editing stuff for tomorrow’s release,” You shrugged, clicking so the photos advanced forward.

“that last video has the fans going crazy,” Emily mumbled, leaning over the back of the chair to get a better view of the screen, and smirking when she saw a string of pictures focused on a certain forward.

“Hmm, I’m glad, but it’s you guys who did all the work, I just shot the camera,” You hummed shaking your head. The women were so charismatic and funny that most of it took almost no artistry on your part. You just had to aim and capture. They were the ones giving you golden content.

“Don’t sell yourself short, you edited like 15 hours of footage into 8 minutes,” Lindsey snorted, and you blushed just a little. Most people didn’t realize how much time a single clip took to put together, so it was kinda nice to have the acknowledgment.

“But I have a question,” Emily said, her head popping over your shoulder as you began to edit one of the clips from today. It wasn’t anything spectacular, just Tobin threading a ball through for Christen.

“Yeah Sonnett?” You asked, tilting your head, your tongue trapped between your teeth as you decided where to cut the clip into the one before it.

“Why does Christen always get more screen time when she’s in those leggings?”

You froze, the flush moving up your cheeks all the way to your ears. You weren’t that obvious, were you? She just looked so good in those pants, you really couldn’t help yourself. It was for the fans after all…

“She doesn’t. I just pick the cool shots and stuff,” You grumbled, crossing your arms and slumping in your seat.

Lindsey’s eyes softened. “If you ever wanna talk about it, you know where to find us,”.

“There’s nothing to talk about. She’s my best friend and probably dating someone else anyway. I don’t stand a chance,” You mumbled, staring adamantly down at your twiddling fingers in your lap.

You had known Christen since college, and you had had a crush on her for almost as long. Years ago you had been poised to make your move when one Tobin Heath entered the picture. She had all but swept Christen off her feet, and you knew you didn’t have a chance with the girl. Why would she want the shy camera girl when she could have one of the best players in the league.

“Yeah, cause she totally doesn’t stare at you as much as you stare at her,” Emily snorted, patting your back.

“I don’t stare…” You grumbled, pouting.

“Whatever you say,” Lindsey cackled, a plan beginning to form.

*****

Christen was not brooding. So she happened to be sitting in a corner, sipping on her beer watching you laugh with someone near the counter across the room from under her eyelashes. But that was not glowering, or even remotely stalkerish. Okay, but who WAS that that you were talking to, and why were they making you laugh so hard you almost choked on your drink?

“Hey Chris, nice view?” Tobin said, sliding into the seat next to Christen.

“Peachy,” Christen said sarcastically, not looking away from where you were standing. Apparently, that girl you were talking to was interested in cameras, as you were currently showing her yours. Bitch.

“Hm, then why are you glaring at the nice rookie who is buying Y/n drinks?”

“She’s a lightweight. If Sophia Smith buys her another one of those Long Island Iceteas then Y/n won’t be able to drive home,” Christen grumbled, sipping her beer. If Kelley could get you drunk with three margaritas, they were definitely in for it with the 3 long islands you had consumed. If only the rookie knew what a stupid move it was.

“So she’ll order an uber.” Tobin shrugged with a smirk. Christen balked at the notion. You were a handful when drunk, and she wasn’t going to leave you alone in the hands of some poor college students.

“Uber has unethical business practices.” She dismissed Tobin’s suggestion easily.

“Maybe one of the Riveters will offer to take her then. Are you really going to sit here and pretend this has nothing to do with the fact that you’re head over heels for our favorite photographer?”

Christen rolled her eyes. There was no way in hell she was going to let you get in the car with one of your fans. No matter how supportive they were.

“Maybe.” She pouted, crossing her arms.

Tobin rolled her eyes at the reaction. God the two of you moved slower than Sloths. If you kept going at this rate you would be 70 by the time you finally got together. “So are you going to sit here and pout, or are you going to go get your girl?”

“What if she doesn’t want me?”

“Trust me, she does,” Tobin snorted. Your crush was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes, as was Christen’s on you. The team had bets about how long it would take the two of you to grow the balls to ask each other out (and who would do the asking).

Christen held Tobin’s eyes for a second. Then she set her drink down on the table and walked over to where you were standing with Smith. You turned to look at her, your eyes taking a second to refocus before you recognized her.

“PRESSIE!” You screeched, then ducked down and whispered “sorry, too loud.”

“How many of these have you had?” Christen said, casually taking the glass from your hand.

“Just two- you know that two-drink Y/n has problems with volume control!” You said, laughing at your Brooklyn 99 reference as you stole your drink back and took a big swig. “Don’t worry, I’ll switch to water next.”

“Right. So are you having fun talking to Sophie?” Christen said, not sure how to start the conversation.

“Oh, sophies nice! Like she’s so funny. She pretended to be interested in photography so I could talk about it since I didn’t know any of the television shows she was talking about. Apparently, I need to watch she-ra or something, but I just don’t have time. And I already promised to watch that thing with you. You know that period drama thing. And you’re nicer. And really pretty. And you give really good cuddles. Even if you always like the villain characters in movies best, like a weirdo.”

“Just because I said Tom Hiddleston was hot one time-”

“It’s Okay, Pressie. I acknowledge that you have a terrible taste in men, you bi disaster you, and that’s okay. I love you anyway. Boop” and with that, you tapped her on the nose.

Christen rolled her eyes, “Okay, let’s get you home before you profess the rest of your love for the team,”

“Hmm, don’t love the rest of the team. Just love you, even if you love Tobin more,” You sighed, leaning your head on her shoulder.

Christen tensed. “What?” She asked. Her and Tobin were strictly friends, and anyone with eyes knew she was hung up on you.

“I wanna date you, but you’re dating tobito. That makes me sad. She scooped you up before i could profess my undying love, ” You pouted, scrunching your eyebrows together. You meant to tell her after Standford beat North Carolina so many years ago, but they had lost and she had gone to congratulate Tobin.

Christen shook her head. “I’m in love with you dumbass, not Tobin,”

You sat up and blinked owlishly at her, suddenly more sober than you had been 20 seconds ago. “You are?”

She rolled her eyes at you, kissing your nose lightly. She wasn’t about to argue with you about who she was in love with while you were drunk off your ass. She would investigate more later, profess her love when you were both sober, and make up for all your lost time “Alright, i think you’ve had enough. Let’s get you home hot stuff,”

#uswnt imagine #uswnt x reader #uswnt imagines #literalhedgehog #christen press imagine #christen press x reader

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stereostevie · 3 years

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"The United States vs. Billie Holiday" is so misguided that it's hard to know where to start griping about it. It wallows in cruelty, misery, and degradation without providing insight into the historical personages who are so thoughtfully depicted by its cast. In the title role, singer Andra Day inhabits Holiday with such intensity that she partially redeems the movie. But there's a major caveat: you'll likely spend the whole running time wishing Day had been given a vehicle with more to say about Holiday than this one, the gist of which can be summed up as, "That poor junkie sure could sing."

Directed by Lee Daniels and written by Suzan Lori-Parks, "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" is a film about a brilliant artist and drug addict that seems less interested in the art than in the pornographically exact details of the addiction (and the self-damage that often comes with it, such as alcoholism, self-destructive/abusive relationships, and sexually compulsive behavior). If you called the movie up on Hulu, its debut streaming platform, hoping to watch facsimiles of Holiday and her bandmates, lovers, and hangers-on tying off and shooting up, often with closeups of needles going into arms (and in one case, blood spurting from an injection hole), you won't be disappointed. This is also your movie if you want to watch men beating each other up over women, men beating women up over men, Black people selling out and exploiting other Black people for clout or money, and an array of cardboard cutout white authority figures tormenting the Black characters.

The poker-faced Caucasoid sadists in the film (led by Garrett Hedlund's Harry J. Anslinger, the first chief of the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Narcotics, an outspoken racist who believed jazz was jungle music and a corrupting influence on whites) don't so much incarnate the ugliness of white supremacy in mid-20th century America as give viewers heels that they can boo. Anslinger even makes a point of showing up in person at key points in the narrative of torment that he has authored for Holiday, as punishment for daring to continue singing her anti-lynching ballad "Strange Fruit" after being warned not to. Holiday lost her cabaret license in a drug bust, and was targeted again in a subsequent bust that biographers agree was based on planted narcotics.

This film's version of Anslinger might as well be Elmer Fudd chasing a wascally wabbit. The cartoonish depiction of Anslinger (drawn from the film's source material, Johann Hari's Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs) is reminiscent of the otherwise excellent historical drama "The Hurricane," which made it seem as if Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a champion boxer railroaded on a phony murder charge, was victimized not by appendages of an American government that had been around for centuries, but by a lone, bad white cop who hated him for being Black.

This is, of course, a familiar and regrettable tendency in Hollywood biopics dealing with race and inequity—a dramatic shortcut. It's easy to make viewers despise the sort of melodramatic movie villain who would twirl a mustache if he had one, and hard to make them care about systemic and institutionalized racism, or the unequal enforcement of drug laws that disproportionately hurt entertainers of color, and still do. (The drug habits of white stars like Judy Garland were treated more sympathetically by law enforcement.)

Even more unfortunate is the decision to divide screen time between Holiday and a Black junior FBI agent named Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), who is based on a real man who regretted his role in Holiday's persecution but didn't have the kind of longstanding love affair with Holiday depicted in this movie. A condensed excerpt from Hari's book says Fletcher set up one of Holiday's busts (though apparently not one that sent her to prison, as depicted in Daniels' movie). He was seen dancing with her at a club a while later, and many years after that was sent a signed copy of Holiday's autobiography with a note from the singer that read, in part, "Most federal agents are nice people. They’ve got a dirty job to do and they have to do it. Some of the nicer ones have feelings enough to hate themselves sometime for what they have to do." But Daniels and Parks go several extra miles beyond that, showing Fletcher not just falling in love with the singer but tanking testimony to make amends for that early bust, then becoming a constant, nurturing presence in her life, up to and including her dying days in a hospital following her final overdose (along the way, Fletcher also becomes a junkie, like nearly everyone else in Holiday's orbit).

What's questionable here isn't the lack of veracity (if infidelity to history were a deal-breaker for audiences, Shakespeare wouldn't have lasted five minutes) but the message it conveys. What we come away with here is the story of a race traitor who expresses his guilt about setting up one of the century's greatest singers by entering into a redemptive affair with her, and becoming so adored and trusted that he learns her bleakest secrets. Two of these—witnessing acts of racist violence and getting turned out by her own mother in the brothel where she was raised—are dramatized in a tour-de-force, single-take, Grand Guignol tracking shot that turns Holiday's trauma into a theme park ride. It's as if the Haunted Mansion at Disney World had been replaced with a tour of Richard Pryor's childhood.

And what, the reader may rightly ask, does any of this have to do with "Strange Fruit"? It's hard to say. The film is so poorly structured and ineptly edited that I often wasn't sure what I was looking at, when it was taking place, or what the filmmakers wanted me to take away, other than that Holiday had a wretched early life; that her adulthood was an equally miserable slog, filled with self-medicating that made things worse; and that despite it all, she was a crackerjack song interpreter who left some classic recordings behind. Natasha Lyonne shows up as Tallulah Bankhead, Holiday's maybe-lover, and disappears instantly. Years bleed into other years. Much dope is shot.

Holiday's indefatigable spirit gets buried under misery porn that's a bit much even by Daniels' standards. At least "Precious" was audacious. You could tell Daniels was going for a semi-satirical, Todd Solondz-like vibe, where you were supposed to ask, "Is this meant to be funny, and am I a bad person for laughing?" There's no such tonal cheekiness here. The film is solemn as can be, hammering nails into Billie Holiday's ankles and wrists and raising her up on the cross at the end. Daniels frames Holiday in a tight closeup and watches her sing as she stares into the middle distance through glazed eyes. He crosscuts between Holiday singing onstage and getting shtupped backstage by a smooth criminal. He stares at her defeated, puffy face as she lies in a hospital bed with a catheter snaking from her hospital gown, talking to her pals about how her liver has failed. There seems to be no dramatic objective to scenes like these other than to remind us yet again, "Billie Holiday was a junkie, drugs are bad."

Over the course of two hours that feel like three, "All of Me" loops in and out of the soundtrack in varied arrangements, including a rumbling funereal version that may very well show up in a trailer advertising an R-rated, dark-and-gritty reboot of, hell, who knows which early 20th century cartoon property. Maybe Betty Boop. The film itself seems strung out, and not in an interesting way. It needed an intervention.

#addiction #andra day #billie holiday #biopic #black men #black people #black women #drugs #film #heroin #jazz #lee daniels #lynching #music #racism #roger ebert #strange fruit #trevante rhodes #usa

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years

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alright well i work best under pressure so given that i now have an hour and 20 minutes before i start a voice call with someone i think it’s the perfect time to do that one video analysis so i can actually start finishing up that maya post... man i really should’ve pumped that shit out earlier, but i kept procrastinating until we got new info. then more new info. and i mean we DO have lots of new updated info, bc i have a whole thing in there about Punk girl i gotta edit out now lmao

anyway

Zane Flynt? this trailer killed me, it’s the only thing i’ve watched all day. like. on repeat.

ive said it before and ill say it again, 3 months ago i call zane attractive on reddit and get ridiculed but then we find out he’s an irish bastard and everyone jumps on the fuck train

anyway

elpis is looking good and not explody/teleporty, so that’s always a good sign

so the locale plus the twang immediately had me thinking of lynchwood but that’s not right

the bar itself looks a lot like that mine area we see, so i’d be willing to guess it’s nearby, you know, if it’s an area in the game at all lmao

like the windows are similar plus the wood

the bar itself is giving me some mixed signals here, but im gonna bet it was taken over by the CoV from the crimson raiders (recruitment banner, but then the CoV logo is on the wall/screen over there)

That, plus the rose on the counter next to Zane seems sus

another mine looking building in the back

also lmao

it’s time to enter the BONEEEE ZONNEEE

no more DAHL dumpsters? F

okay this area looks super familiar

that plus the varkids, this is 100% the same place as this

which is interesting

looks like Zane’s been hanging out on Pandora for a while... kinda upset we didn’t hear about his brothers at all in this trailer, but it was still fuckin hilarious and well worth the wait

those canisters? vats? look like the ones near the burger launcher vid hang on

also some in the back here

so yeah more than likely the same area

also

`lines up the perfect shot`

`completely missed both shots`

lovey, bravo, champagne, sloooow clap

anyway i’d wager this is an old dahl mining camp? probably mining for iridium

you can see the

conveyor belt thingie here

and also all the minecarts and rails are very reminiscent of the caustic caverns

which probably would have dropped iridium into the vat below it, if said vat wasn’t tipped over onto its side

more shots of the building he’s in

closeup of the rails. which, weird as it sounds, is really great to see because sometimes in bl2 and even tps when you got super close up to a texture, it wouldn’t look too hot, even on the best settings. the textures in 3 are so CRISP i love them

varkid 🤮 i hate bugs. model looks fantastic tho! i just... hate bugs

see the camera is flipped upside down, so miles this cultist is not falling, he’s rising- he’s being lifted up

how nice

im getting percy jackson flashbacks here. this is 100% how clarisse shoved percy into the toilet, right?

with the way the cultist isn’t even trying to get out im afraid zane just shoved a corpse into the dook hut. i mean all the power to ya, man

he’s stuck

also

this building in the back is new

i won’t say it

you know what im thinking

i won’t say it

i promise

~smile~

there’s also what i think is a smiley face sticker on the wall to his right

water physics lookin fine 👌

also the way zane jumps back. bonelesspotter i know you read these, are you picking up what i’m putting down?

MAGIC CUP MAGIC CUP ALL HAIL

see the lack of drink is supposed to parallel hi s lack of companio- im sorry hahahaaha i can’t do this

rose. it’s a SIGN

there’s so much going on in the background here lemme just

im sitting here like >:( because i know i’ve seen that type of wall before and for the life of me can’t remember where

my brain is screaming sanctuary

the actual middle piece looks super familiar

is that what they attach the out of bounds turrets to? possibly.

this bit

also it looks like there’s a dam or something in the back back?

tbh im a lot more interested in the skyway all the way at the top, it reminds me a lot of bloodshot ramparts

cuz it also used to be a skyway

also zane is doing his pose for the main menu screen of the game

and i would say it’s possible this could’ve been the main menu, but the cliff is different, and there’s supposed to be a boxcar/shipping crate on the right (as when u go to options it moves over to it)

more vats! what is the deal with this mine? why is it featured so heavily in this video gearbox tell me your s e c r e t s

you’d think, with zane being the one who’s been around the proverbial block over his years, he’d be on multiple planets throughout his entire trailer. but like 80% of it is pandora. maybe the other VHs are getting featured on other planets? at least he has a reason to be on pandora outside of the main story (maybe looking for his brothers, maybe trying to piss on their graves, who knows)

i don’t know what he’s reaching for but uh

perhapeth the blades are activated by swinging his arm out? could be a hold over from when they were like... actual metal blades and needed to be knocked out into position

i love that he returns the wave after shoving this guy off the cliff

it’s not like he can see you man

go off i guess though

some bar on eden-6 (finally! a new planet!) also i like that the theme here is zane getting into fights in bars. good shit boys

get wrecked kid

i really like the design of this building. i love the windows. maybe part of jakobs manor? looks like maybe it’s a greenhouse or smth given it’s in this garden/courtyard area

which should look somewhat familiar

looks very similar to this area, but it doesn’t look like there’s a building on the left in this shot. maybe they added it in for the trailer 🤷‍♂️

the trees behind the big one (and next to the iron wrought fence) match up perfectly tho

i just really like this shot ngl

i love these fuckign expressions i cant

Friend

okay im sorry here’s a smiley boy

the facial animations are so fucking good this time around

that is all i am doing.

just appreciating the new animations.

SOMEONE HELP THIS TINY MAN HE’S TRAPPED IN A SQUARE

fuck dude we didn’t deserve this man

MAGIC CUP MAGIC CUP ALL HAIL

seriously tho, the glass is gone. idk where it went. im just gonna pretend he was practicing that one iconic Kingsman scene while talking to himself and providing us with flashbacks

manners.

maketh.

man.

also this is my new favorite reaction image

it’s ‘perfect in every way’

you want more booze?

what are your thoughts on the new guns?

where’d you hide the body?

(it’s in the dumpster)

also unlike the magic cup

the rose is still here

Cultist coming to see why the windows of their bar are glowing neon yellow and blue im sure

>shit

it’s cool to know the clone can actually emote

given in the So Happy Together it was basically an expressionless blue demon

still no cup. all hail

some more CoV graffiti!

boops

i am sad we didn’t get to see zoomer in this video at all

zoomer is cute

i like zoomer

anyway

that’s all for the trailer folks

i love the implication that he’s just sitting in this empty CoV bar, talking to himself, waiting for someone to notice and come confront him so he can kick their asses.

anyway this post 100% wasn’t an excuse to rewatch the entire trailer frame by frame or anything

maya post coming soon! wahoo

also i have 10 minutes left lmao nice

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #bl3 #zane flynt

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directoravasharpe · 6 years

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lucy’s spoilery thoughts on 4.01 (FINALLY)

under the cut is a literal scene by scene breakdown of the episode. i’m trying to pre-empt questions i might get but i’m sure i miss things but. eh

the first scene cracked me up, with zari not being able to tell the beatles apart (very lesbian of you) and ray knwoing them all (very bi of you)

i loved the sequence in the waverider. i got sad wally is gone. i love nate’s kissy faces when ava calls, i love how sara goes soft when ava calls, i love how her face changes when her kids start making fun of her. the call between ava and sara is SO SOFT like wow i love them

i think it’s so funny that sara always uses that gary is scared of mick as the way to motivate him. gary’s ‘i wish’ about john getting him to squeal was fucking HILARIOUS #get gary laid

the surprise party is adorable. ava’s face when the confetti cannon fails is amazing, as is her face when gary doesn’t get out of the way. THE WAY SHE LOOKS AT SARA AND THE WAY SARA LOOKS AT HER just like. fuck me up

when they snuck of to have a ‘tour’ aka fuck in ava’s office was the first time i died these two women are not subtle AT ALL like come ON i know you’re both hot and horny and riding a high of fixing time but give me a BREAK. also idk why they shot sara so close up but i LOVE IT

the little dahrkatom bit was so cute, and i loveeee ray and zari’s friendship.

AND THEN THE BED SCENE. I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO /SAY/ IT’S SO SOFT THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH. how in love they are is SO OBVIOUS. sara is such a soft top. ava is such a soft bottom. she’s so NERVOUS about asking sara, and does all those cute hand gestures and sara is just. so reassuring and loving and THREE FUCKING BED KISSES EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU CW FOR LETTING US HAVE THAt.

ava’s look at the end literally KILLED ME she is SO SOFT AND IN LOVE I’M SO FUCKING. I LOVE HER SO MUCH MY LITERAL SOFT BABY CHILD

anyway they definitely had sex at the office and then at their house

the scene with john is so funny. he just fucking. turns up. to be like. stop having sex with ava and fix the damn timeline. and sara’s like. no i will not stop having sex with ava we have a House and a Throw now so you can suck it

i’m really incredibly glad that they didn’t make a bigger thing out of ava finidning them together - like it’s iNCREDIBLY sketchy but she is mostly joking when she’s like ‘should i be worried’ which is just. very nice. it shows they’re comfortable and that she doesn’t actually think there’d be a thing with john.

the nose boop was SO CUTE. and the neck kiss was EVEN CUTER BUT ALSO INCREDIBLY HOT LIKE WOW. and that smile that sara does at the neck kiss. they’re. so in love. also they have sex again before sara leaves i don’t make the rules they just do

the mick/nate stuff was very entertaining, and i’m interested to see what the hank/ava relationship looks like

i love love LOVE with a passion the scene where they all get to woodstock. it’s so funny and campy and i love the editing and it’s just. generally a joy. i love the hugs and high fives when they join up. i love my children.

i also love how low cut sara’s top is like everyone say thank you legends costume department

ray and nate are bronies which is. so cursed. murder unicorn is murdery, sara hides behind her teammates - classic sara. like obvs it’s just a plot device to make sure she doesn’t get high but still. very funny. poor zari and the blue goo.

john and his threesome cracked me up, as did nate and micks hallucination with the rat and nate’s dad, and the dahrkatom bit absolutely KILLED ME ray has such a crush wow

and then john trying to be all dramatic and telling sara she should ditch ava and like. it’s so refreshing to see sara pushing against that, and ACCEPTING being in a relationship and that it’s a good thing and not letting john be all doom and gloom

and then them seeing the high legends just. tops it all off it was SO FUNNY just like yes your kids are great sara but also right now they’re high

the bit where ray offers to cut off a finger like. baby boy. please. and like. why does sara know who john is talking about when he suggests a virgin. the answer is that gary tells ava about all of his escapades and so sara knows that he’s a virgin and it is. terrible for both sara and ava

ALSO GOD SARA’S ARMS IN THAT SCENE. SHE LEGIT WORE TWO SLEEVELESS SHIRTS IN THAT EP IT’S WHAT I DESERVE

the whole scene where they’re convincing gary is. gold. so many good facial expressions from all of them

and then ‘are you sure im a virgin because that *hand gestures* thing we did’ like oh my god the writers are just like. going for it, huh. AND SARA’S EXPRESSION AFTER THAT JUST LIKE LOOKING AT JOHN LIKE ‘OKAY I SEE’

murder unicorn is murdery. not sure how gary’s hand didn’t get bitten off. sara throwing the knife was very hot.

‘maybe the bureau will up our ratings. people really do love the supernatural’ VERY META

RIP gary’s nipple

zari’s scene with ray was just. wow. astounding. i’m so glad theyre still going into her past, but, god. that scene was rough and important and SO EMOTIONAL my heart ACHES for her and it is. so horribly relevant rn. and it’s just like. god. she’s from the future but she was. alive in 2018 and it’s. so hard.

and then. god. GODDDD

THIS END SCENE. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE WATCHED THIS END SCENE

sara coming home to ava. ava having COOKED FOR THEM. ava hanging up the medals because she’s endlessly proud of sara. ava going in for another neck kiss. that face sara makes before she confesses everything. the face ava is making when sara is confessing

i am never going to be over how you can SEE sara relax as ava says she knows. i’m also not over gary calling ava about his nipple. more proof he tells ava everything sexual. also the way ava says nipple rt your kink

AVA SAYS I LOVE YOU LIKE FUCK ME THE HELL UP LIKE /SERIOUSLY/ THEY’RE IN LOVE AND YES I’M SAD WE MISSED THEM GETTING TOGETHER AND THE FIRST I LOVE YOU FROM HER BUT G O D SEEING THEM JUST BE IN A COMFY PLACE IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP??? I WANT TO DIE

and when sara is like ‘even after constantine’ and ava is like ʸᵉᵃʰ ᵒᵏᵃʸ ᶦ ᵈᶦᵈⁿ'ᵗ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵖᵃʳᵗ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵗᵃˡᵏ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᶜᵒⁿˢᵗᵃⁿᵗᶦⁿᵉ and it’s just like baby i love you but i’m so glad you love sara more than caring about that like wow development and she’s so reassuring and lovely and wow when can i get an ava.

and then we get another i lve you from sara and at this point i have died about a million times and ava’s smile when sara has her hands on her face is. so soft and lovely and THEY KISS AGAIN

and then sara ditches the living together thing but it’s OKAY because their relationship is going to GROW and they’re going to FIGURE IT OUT

AND THEN ANOTHER KISS AND AVA MOVES HER HAIR FOR NO APPARENT REASON WHICH MEANS THERE WAS SOMEONE TELLING JES TO MOVE HER HAIR SO THE STANS COULD SEE OR SE JUST DID IT HERSELF LIKE WOW JES IS THE ONLY TRUE GAY ALLY

AND THAT KISS FUCKED ME UP SO MUCH AND I THOUGHT IT COULDN’T FUCK ME UP ANYMORE AND THEN IT ZOOMED OUT AND SARA’S LEGS ARE ON TOP OF AVA’S WHICH MEANS SHE’S BASICALLY I N H E R L A P AND I GENUINELY. ASCENDED.

and then there’s the scene with poor miserable john and i’m so hot for how sara says misrable and then some stuff with demons happens

ANYWAY THAT’S MY RECAP I HOPE I PRE-EMPTED MOST OF PEOPLE’S QUESTIONS BUT ALSO I’VE HAD A MONTH TO THINK ABOUT THIS SO I’M SURE I MISSED SOME STUFF OUT. ANYWAY. LUCY OUT.

#avalance #legends of tomorrow

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caveatauditor · 5 years

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Best albums of 2018

A marvelous year! Just because Drake albums are long and boring doesn’t mean the album is dead, you know.

1. Bali Baby, Baylor Swift

This 8-song EP, a fusion of SoundCloud rap, emo confessional, and glitzy synthpop, rocks harder and weirder than anything I heard all year. The spiky synthesizers, bent guitars, drum crunches, scratchy screeches, Bali’s garbled wails, and plastic bubblegum surface combine several modes of abrasion, as the Atlanta rapper hides a harrowing breakup saga beneath bucketloads of noise and the crackling electricity sets her bleeding heart ablaze. “Candy” and “Electrical” are neon new wave ballads distorted into fragility through harshness. Whenever she gets a handle on something, the beat goes squelch and sends her reeling. Oh, to be loud, obnoxious, and heartbroken. She’s been putting out fire with gasoline.

2. Ariana Grande, Sweetener

“Snuggle jams,” tweeted Austin Brown. We all needed snuggles this year! Although “Thank U, Next” and Thank U, Next have somewhat eclipsed the confectionary sugarbomb Instagram’s newly crowned Most Followed Woman released six months earlier, said sugarbomb continues to sparkle. Tired of flaunting her multioctave voice, Ariana leans into her breathy lower register and discovers her capacity for play. Tired of secondhand funk pastiche, Pharrell invents a sunny electrobouncy sound that abounds with pattering percussion, thwocks, squiggles, splashes of electronic color. Contextualized by the devastating, mournful grace of “Breathin” and “No Tears Left to Cry”, her joy feels urgent, beautiful, earned. Behold an album of exquisitely honeyed lightness. I love Sweetener because it’s the musical equivalent of booping someone on the nose.

3. BTS, Love Yourself: Tear

Because they both flatter and subvert even the most boring aspects of contemporary American pop, they broke through in America where countless Korean stars couldn’t, although that didn’t stop BoA and Girls Generation from trying. (I hope we haven’t forgotten BoA’s excellent self-titled English-language album, which includes the funniest Britney impersonations ever recorded.) Slow, moody, blank--these adjectives don’t quite describe BTS, thankfully, but they have reclaimed a rather empty pop style as a site for cognitively dissonant structural innovations, and thus offer hope that said pop style needn’t be so empty. Dense and streamlined simultaneously, stuffing all sorts of wacky noises into what Anglophone hitmakers have defined as a spare, echoey sonic template, these tracks are hard to wrap your ear around at first, but what noises! I could listen to the plinky little drumclicks in “Anpanman” forever.

4. Jonghyun, Poet Artist

“Take the Dive” and “Only One You Need” should play like standard romantic invitations and instead break a cold sweat in sheer terror. On “Hashtag” he’s content to whisper as long as the electric piano matches the beat in his head. “I’m So Curious” coaxes him into a sublimely cozy erotic space. The lightest and most delicate of pop-R&B exercises, shivering beneath an immaculately chilly surface, Jonghyun’s second and final album is beautiful and makes me sad. Rest in peace.

5. J Balvin, Vibras

The year’s solidest and bounciest Latin trap album is more sweetly melodic than the genre’s norm, but also harsher, which is disorienting. These beats, assembling lumbering, mechanical tanks out of looped vocal samples, clinky xylophones, keyboard scramble, and Balvin’s dreamy drone, are impossible to play in the background; I’ve tried. Maybe those blessed souls who can multitask with music on would feel differently, but every time I play this album I get sucked in, paralyzed by the chopped-up airhorns in “Ambiente”, the guitar strummed through a wind tunnel in “Brillo” (a duet with Rosalia!), the drums beeping in “Ahora”, the angel of death moaning inarticulately throughout “Cuando Tu Quieras”. If I also don’t understand how the hell clubgoers can dance to this music, please understand my bewilderment as admiration.

6. Playboi Carti, Die Lit

The debut was sufficiently spare to retain a semblance of pop functionality; this one’s a shoegaze record, the sound of rap abstracted into a gorgeous blur. The average Carti song is a single giant, repeated, woozy keyboard hook, glitching and jittering around the edges, a transmission from the hazy corner of the subconscious where bliss keels over into numbness and the senses conflate. The rapping is minimal; he chooses his sounds phonetically, not semantically, and gladly disappears beneath the relentless aqueous whoosh. Lyrics, guest features, tempo changes, coherent thoughts--if these things exist, they get swept up too. After years of hearing people moan on the radio about washing pain away with stimulants and such, here’s what it means to be insensate. Although the album wanders a little toward the end, who cares when it’s all one hypnotic song?

7. US Girls, In a Poem Unlimited

The music on this remarkable art-pop document assembles a creepy rubberoid disco groove from shards of glass, sleek rhythm guitar, controlled blasts of distortion, sordid saxophone; Meghan Remy treats white funk as industrial noise. The lyrics compile situation after situation in which women are abused, including a song where St. Peter rapes the narrator before letting her into heaven. Is this what “dialectic” means?

8. Haru Nemuri, Harutosyura

So raucous in the way it arranges sugary keyboard splashes, so catchy in the way it explodes with carefully timed bursts of electric noise, Haru Nemuri’s debut confounds categories. The Japanese noise-pop eccentric crams all the sounds she loves--raw guitars, bubbly synthesizers, anguished screams, conspicuous digital edits--into a glitchy hall of mirrors. For fans of certain video game soundtracks and experimental classical compositions, this is the music you’ve been imagining your whole life; for ordinary pop fans it’s merely the wackiest of syntheses. Either way, Harutosyura is gloriously loud, burning with a fierce rock grandiosity that’s unexpected, hence awesome. When “Harutosyura” gets artificially sped up into a chipmunked vacuum, pauses a moment, and comes back rocking harder than ever, she spirals ever closer to infinite refraction.

9. Erin Lee, Love Song

This strange album comprises ten instrumental pieces for unaccompanied acoustic guitar, plucking out pastoral melodies with a vaguely Mediterranean flavor, like music that might appear in a historical romantic drama featuring sailors, grapes, wine, and such. One could reasonably dismiss this music, but I can’t stop playing it--as with film scores and Snail’s House albums, there are certain qualities that make an instrumental melody intrinsically sentimental, and I’d love to know what they are. In the calmly strummed “My Hometown Harbor”, the sun sets over the water, the boats dock, shouts ring out from the pub several blocks down, and there’s danger in the air.

10. Ashley Monroe, Sparrow

“I’m good at leaving,” Ashley Monroe once sang, and these restless songs about departure and existential longing translate the impulse behind Joni Mitchell’s Hejira into country music, where it belongs. Country is the ideal genre for confessions of solitude and rootlessness because it’s supposed to imply rootedness, tradition, community; the juxtaposition conveys a sense of profound rupture. Monroe’s velvet moan and Dave Cobb’s theatrical string arrangements are exemplary bedmates. Hidden beneath a soft, warm glow lies the year’s loneliest album.

11. Gazelle Twin, Pastoral

When I first heard this crunchy slab of avant-dance music, the shrieks and chalkboard scratches and keyboards used as percussive elements jarred; it took several listens to notice that some of the scratches are digitally altered harpsichords, that flutes and sleigh bells adorn the otherwise turbulent tracks, and that Elizabeth Bernholz’s artificially growled lyrics repurpose quotes from Blake and English folk songs into angry social commentary. The segue between “Dance of the Peddlers” and “Hobby Horse” still terrifies me. If the idea of an ironic, politically-minded fusion of electronic dissonance, English folk, and classical music sounds mannered and absurd, you’re not wrong, but that idea’s musical realization is a whirlwind of rage and menace.

12. Amnesia Scanner, Another Life

This Finnish, Berlin-based pair of electronica producers have scored gallery openings and reportedly have many thoughts about technology and modern life, so I don’t doubt they have their avant-credentials in order. What I’m certain of is that these are the funniest EDM squelches I’ve heard in ages--distorted drops, vocoded shrieks, percussive jackhammers, digitally mediated farts and belches, not to mention outrageously catchy hooks. If the hyperactive musical splatter is intended to convey the sensory overload of our modern dystopian age, it also satisfies my own longing for music that bristles with noises, kitsch, stimulus.

13. Ski Mask the Slump God, Stokeley

In 2009, the Albuquerque emo-rap group Brokencyde combined maximalist crunk with bloodcurdling screamo choruses, and were widely panned as a record low point in pop music history. “Even if I caught Prince Harry and Gary Glitter adorned in Nazi regalia defecating through my grandmother’s letterbox I would still consider making them listen to this album too severe a punishment,” claimed one NME review. A decade later, the same exact music is now considered the surreal, groundbreaking, SoundCloud-warped future. Be careful who you mock, lest their ghost come back to haunt you.

14. Rosalia, El Mal Querer

Rosalia’s flamenco-R&B uses cool, exact technological control, sparse electrobeats and syncopated handclaps, to modulate a ferocious natural force, i.e. her singing. A modern adaptation of the anonymous 13th-century novel Flamenca, El Mal Querer is a wild exercise in vocal melodrama, especially because she’s always messing with her voice electronically. Layering her sighs over each other in the endless echo chamber that is “Pienso En Tu Mira”, looping a single note into an isolated stutter in “De Aqui No Sales”, showing off her melisma in “Reniego”, she understands how expression must be filtered through media and is inevitably distorted.

15. Noname, Room 25

The Chicago rapper’s fluttery jazz beats, wispy strings, woodwinds, and hushed rhymes are so calm and thoughtful the music sounds more like slam poetry with accompaniment than any conventional style of rap. By describing love, sadness, police violence, and the banality of daily life in the same cautiously awestruck tone, she depicts an internal resilience that comes into being through the act of aspiration. I love how slight this album is--her modest quietude is a splash of cold water in the face.

16. Sunmi, Warning

The former Wonder Girl refashions herself as a defiant siren-heroine, insisting “Get away out of my face” over electrobeats that crest and surge with military efficiency. Although the singles from this 7-song EP got the attention, her most exquisitely sheathed stiletto is “Curve”, whose bent jazz piano complements a chorus of staccato whispers that should sound inviting and instead exude menace.

17. Hailu Mergia, Lala Belu

After several reissues of his ‘80s music by Awesome Tapes From Africa, here’s the Ethiopian jazz keyboardist’s first album in forever, looking back on a genre of retro-futurist cocktail music whose benevolent visions of a utopian clubland didn’t come to pass, for how could they, but are ready to be reclaimed. Over relaxed drum shuffles, friendly plinky piano, billowing organ, Mergia coaxes weird noises from skewed, accordionesque synthesizers and dreams about parties where such music could play.

18. Haruru Inu Love Dog Tenshi, Lost Lost Dust Dream

The next time you hear someone complain about SoundCloud rap, please direct them to this eerie, plaintive, whispered exercise in polished incongruence. “I’m Dreaming” captures the moment when you’re still asleep but trying to wake up, straining to clear the clouds from your brain.

19. Camp Cope, How to Socialise and Make Friends

With hundreds of lo-fi Bandcamp mixtapes bouncing around out there, I can’t explain why one guitar band moves me rather than another, but there’s an emotional rawness to this album that rivets. Partially it’s the rhythm guitar sound, which skips along with syncopated flatness and resilience. Partially it’s the sharpness of Georgia Maq’s voice, and the way she uses drawn-out vowels to focus and redirect her sustained roars. Partially it’s the songwriting, which finds an antidote to the world’s grossness in friendship, community, quiet moments of kindness. If you’re exhausted and fed up after a lifetime of taking shit, venting your feelings to the simple clunk of loud guitar music is a pleasure precisely because it’s simple and clunky. “Get it all out/put it in a song,” she insists, endorsing and providing a cathartic fury.

20. Bhad Bhabie, 15

Danielle Bregoli’s ebullient chirps are joyfully defiant only insofar as defiance is a front for insecurity. Aggressive trap beats turned covertly melancholy long ago, but in this context the sadness is unmistakable. Everyone is a public figure in the age of social media, so her anxiety over existing in the public sphere is at once quotidian and heightened. This album is scarier than anyone expected.

#favorite albums #best of 2018 #bali baby #ariana grande #bts

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kennyrobots · 3 years

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my OKC profile Q&A (circa 2020).

looking through my old OKC profile edits (because i went down a rabbit hole) (i’m also unsure of how i got there, but such is the nature of rabbit holes), and i came across an old Q&A that i actually put onto my actual factual profile at one point. i thought it’d be a kinda-cute and somewhat-funny way to express my personality on the thing, instead of the boring ol’ “lists of shit i like, i hope you find something in there that we have in common so that we can both get off of this hellsite”. (as you would expect, i was quite alone in that opinion.) (enjoy. or don’t.) "I don't know what I think - I haven't written it down yet." I've loved this phrase ever since I first heard it - I will swear up and down that I stole this from Ambrose Bierce, but Google insists that I made it up. Didn't know that was possible in this day and age, but here we are. Here we ALL are. //////////////////////////////////// Self-summaries are passé. Let's do a Q&A instead.

Q: Where are you from? A: Philippines, originally. U.S. Naval Hospital Subic Bay, to be exact. Virginia, from 1999, up until 2016.

Q: So what are you, then? A: My daddy Mississippi, my momma Mabayuan - you mix that Negro with that Pinoy, got this Flushing bama.

Q: What do you do for a living? A: *looks at sidebar where job is listed* Hmm. ...You know the guy that goes "Ow!" on the Black Box song "Everybody, Everybody"? That's me. Please stream that song - I need my 37¢ check by the end of the month.

Q: Any siblings? A: I have a younger sister in the Army. Almost had a twin brother, but I defeated him in a high-stakes game of craps while we were both in the womb, and he had to stay behind. (He was quite salty about that, but them's the breaks, Kevin.)

Q: Are you actually 6'2"? A: You got me - I'm actually 5'9", but I really believe in myself for those last five inches. Those low-hanging tree branches randomly smacking me in the head must be figments of my imagination.

Q: Why'd you move to New York? A: Three reasons. 1) Go! Go! Curry. Worth the visit. 2) I read MFA vs. NYC once, and made the wrong choice in retrospect. 3) Chasing a woman. Also the wrong choice in retrospect, but I wouldn't be here otherwise, so that might've turned out to be a blessing in disguise, if I find someone special out here on these (digital) streets.

Q: How was your 2019? A: Good and bad. Got out of my comfort zone (especially during the back half of the year, when I started taking dating more seriously), met some people I liked, learned a lot about myself. All that was good. On the other hand, 2019 was also the same year that I learned that "Deutschlandfunk" has nothing to do with German funk music. Still kinda devastated about that.

Q: What are your biggest goals in life? A: Meet a sweet and funny woman. Get married to her, have exactly 2.94 kids. Publish a book at some point. Figure out where to settle down, buy a house there, start filling it with late-stage capitalist garbage. Mow the lawn on a regular basis, in order to keep the Homeowner's Association off my ass. Buy more records. Wear a honeybee outfit for a whole day, while singing Unknown Mortal Orchestra's "Hunnybee" to myself. Finally clean out the garage, after the third time that my wife asks. Travel to Buenos Aires, to see if Smithsonian Magazine was correct. Convince my wife that no, honey - I didn't fall asleep during our daughter's ballet recital. I only put my head back and closed my eyes in deep appreciation for the sublime art I saw onstage. Y'know - the usual.

Q: Karaoke song of choice? A: I grew up on 90s/00s R&B, so virtually all songs from those eras are in play. Gun to my head, I'd probably choose Zhané's "Request Line" for 2020, mostly because I want to figure out how to harmonize with myself. Unless I'm drunk - then I'm just going to slur and stammer and yell my way through "Hard In Da Paint" until I pass out, or am stopped by force.

Q: Why do you have cornrows? A: A part of the bet that I made with my almost-twin Kevin, actually - the loser had to remain in the womb, while the winner had to get cornrows at the age of 35, no matter how much (or little) hair he had on his head. And since I am an honorable man, here we are. In a very real sense, both of us lost.

Q: Are you for real? A: At the risk of putting Descartes before the horse, I think so. A few years ago, I did struggle with the concept of reality, but trying - and failing - to walk through a wall "because it's not really there" quickly changes your opinion on that.

Q: ... A: I mean, I'm actually a bot. *beep* *boop* Feed me your memes.

Q: Your profile sucks. A: Not a question, but I'll allow it. *clears throat* Dear Sir or Madam: You may be correct.

Q: Why consider you, then? A: In a moment of...let's go with "curiosity", I changed my search settings and looked at my competition. If nothing else, I appear to have a level of self-awareness that a majority of other fellas here on OKC lack, so there's that. (Seriously - I read through some of these profiles, and I wanted to melt onto the floor and die, because I know that they're being completely serious. You ladies are absolute SAINTS for slogging through alla that.)

Q: Aren't you concerned that you'll have nothing to talk about during a date, if you put a lot of it on here? A: So I've been in the process of what I call "exploring the contents of my mind", and I've found that I have A LOT to say, even if the majority of it is essentially nonsensical. The day that I run out of stuff to comment on is the day that you should walk out on me during a date. I would fully support that, even as my heart breaks in real-time, Ralph Wiggum-style.

Q: Fine. Aren't you concerned that you're giving away too much up front? A: All joking aside, I actually really do believe in honesty, transparency and authenticity, especially with my partner. One of the things that I want to do is always be able to tell you the truth, or at least, my version of the truth. That's how we develop trust. I don't want anything I think to be off-limits to you, because if I start keeping small stuff from you, it's only a matter of time before I start keeping LARGER stuff from you, y'know? Besides - if we're going to be together, I want you to know all about me, because I want to know all about you. And yes - that means knowing what you think. It's important to me. So, I reciprocate, and apparently I'm doing it first, completely unprompted. It's only right.

Q: You write a lot. A: I do that sometimes, yes.

Q: What's the deal with the whole Ambrose Bierce thing? A: I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I'm not an Instagram comedy account, after all.

Q: But what if he didn't write it, and you actually DID come up with that quote? A: ...Possible, but unlikely. I'm honestly not smart enough to come up with something that clever.

Q: It's actually not as clever as you think. A: Yeah, that happens sometimes.

Q: Any parting comment? A: I wish everyone would've told me how hot I would run all the time as an adult. Seriously - all this extraneous body heat is nonsense. Balls are sweaty at the worst possible times.

Q: Good god. A: ...I mean, in the words of one of the great philosophers of our time, "I don't care what the people say - I'm gonna love you anyway." Timeless. (y’all - i am SO happy that i’m finally able to format this thing in the way i’d always intended.)

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almaasi · 7 years

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reaction post typed while watching SPN 12x11 “Regarding Dean”

<3 <3 <3 smol cursed Dean is my jam, Meredith Glynn is my peanut butter, and thus I raise a toast to this episode

06:06pm

all i know about this is from the promos i saw on instagram. kind pumped, kinda wary. cursed-by-a-witch!dean was one of my favourite fanfic tropes though, back when i still read other people’s fanfic. i think i’ve written the trope myself once. maybe twice or three times? definitely In Which Dean Frogs Up is a cursed!dean fic and i love that fic dearly

this episode’s written by meredith glynn, who last wrote the dean-kills-hitler episode (the memory of which makes me smile. FUCK WHITE SUPREMACY)

(but actually though, it was weird how it was more of a “fuck your symbols” rather than a “fuck the bad thing you actually do” narrative?? if half the people who watch this show are republican, i assume many of them voted trump, and are therefore associated with nazism. and yet??? i’m sure many of them would also be like “hell yeah destroy hitler” without realising that the racist pumpkin and his motley crew of swamp-dwellers, who they just happily elected, has gotten nazism point two up and running, post-millenium)

06:18

ANYWAY

let’s watch this thing

dean caring about rabbits!! yes good

i’ve forgotten so much about the early seasons, i only watched season 2 & 3 once

06:22

EYY RABBIT

i hope this rabbit makes it out alive

(also dean is still a disney princess fight me)

06:23

I’M

HAPPY

BECAUSE DEAN AND RABBITS

AAAAH

“HEY BUDDY”

BUT LIKE?? WILD RABBITS ARE THE SCAREDIEST THINGS ON EARTH. I KNOW IT’S A TRAINED RABBIT BUT. IF DEAN CAN PICK UP A WILD RABBIT

HE’S A FUCKING DISNEY PRINCESS

THIS IS MY FAVOURITE THING

06:25

the fluFFY WHITE DOG

IS THAT A SAMOYED

IS THAT THE SAME SAMOYED I SAW IN AN EPISODE LAST YEAR AND COMMENTED ON HOW DEAN WASN’T SCARED OF IT

I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT I’M LIVING FOR THIS RIGHT NOW

06:27

it’s so nice that sam can say “right. well i’ll text mom”

mary was what this show needed

06:29

i’m really enjoying dean

just... existing

he’s good

06:31

THIS AUTOPSY LADY BETTER A) HAVE A NAME, AND B) LIVE THROUGH THIS EPISODE

06:31

c) fucking SPEAK WHAT THE HELL SHE DIDN’T SPEAK AND NOW SHE’S GONE

HER HAIR WAS SO COOL

but hey she didn’t die, that’s a plus

06:33

sam’s hair looks really good

also i like that sam judges dean really hard when he’s being an asshole

06:34

dean is actually starting to look more like season 1 dean

it’s the mussed hair and the stubble i think

and the pouty half-open lips

06:36

dean: “who’s dean?”

this is too relatable

i don’t think it’s meant to be relatable

but whenever this show does “something is wrong, they can’t see straight and they need blankets” i relate so hard

06:38

EEEEEY DEAN LOVES DORY

WE ALL LOVE DORY

DORY IS ME

(flashback to a few weeks ago, me standing in a hardware store, bawling my eyes out because i couldn’t remember why i needed to go the hardware store)

(turns out i went there to buy paint, but they didn’t have the paint i needed, and my brain freaked out and shut down)

(there was a nice sales guy in the garden centre though, and i bought a fern, which made me happy, and still makes me happy. nice people and plants are the best)

sidenote: DORY IS VOICED BY ELLEN DEGENERES THEREFORE COUNTS AS DEAN LIKING QUEER STUFF PROBABLY

06:43

sam put a note on the lamp

this is legit just reminding me of my own fics, i feel as if i would get along with meredith glynn if we ever met

06:44

rowena playing cards with a dude of colour

if she flips and murders them all i’m so done

also i had to google “crowley’s mother spn” because i forgot rowena’s name. i knew it began with r

and she’s one of my favourite characters

how the heck am i still alive