#evie cub library

[cubbienamu]

“hoseok finding out yoongi regresses on accident but offers to help him out? if not, something like they get the dorm to themselves for a day and get to color and play is perfectly fine!!”

Gona do a mixture of both for ya >:) Sorry for it taking so long btw!! Its taking me a while to get back in the groove after not writing 4 ages hehe

(⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☁

Yoongi eyes were wide and bright as he played with his blocks. Each one was made from soft material in pastel colours, perfect for a little boy like Yoongi! He picked up a yellow block that jingled softly when Yoongi picked it up; the soft noise made him gasp before light giggles filled the room around him, what a pretty sound! He shook it over and over again and smiled gently. Warm sunlight trickled in through his curtains and sprinkled over the carpet where Yoongi was playing. The soft heat made the little one scrunch his toes happily and tap his white sock clad feet on the ground. The early morning was a peaceful bliss, nothing could interrupt it right?

Hmph. Wrong.

A loud knock startled yoongi out of his peaceful haze, making him whimper before he stood on shaky legs and padded towards his front door. He stood on the tips of his toes and peered through the peephole ‘oh!’ he thought ‘it’s Seokie!’ excitement washed over Yoongi as he remembered that his boyfriend was coming over ! This was short lived; he couldn’t be small anymore…

Yoongi quickly shook himself out of his mini pity party (albeit feeling unstable) and unlocked his door.

“hi Yoongigi!” Hoseok yelled before picking Yoongi up and hugging him like he hadn’t seen him in months, “I missed you~”

“Hehe, hi Seok…” Yoongi kicked his legs until he was put down and dragged Hoseok over to the couch where they could cuddle: if he couldn’t be completely little he was at least going to be held.

“Yoon, can we watch this new film I saw on Netflix? Its apparently super scary and I wanna get scared!” Hoseok was like a puppy, all giddy and excited, how could Yoongi say no? He didn’t want to make Seokie mad! It might be too scary for him in this unstable mind set, but Seokie looks so happy…

“s-sure, put it on” Yoongi spoke quietly, gripping his pyjama sleeve in anticipation of what was to come. The first ten minutes were bearable, pretty cliché but still entertaining. Everything was going swimmingly for Yoongi, he’d be fine.

The tv screen went blank before suddenly flashing a very gory image. Yoongi gasped, too scared to do much else, he just stared at the intense scene that was much too graphic for him. He didn’t notice that he was sobbing, he was focusing on his internal search for the safe headspace that made my him feel light and fluffy. ‘Not safe, not safe, not safe!’ his mind was frantic. He felt small. He felt scared. He wanted to be warm and safe.

“Yoongi? Baby what’s wrong? You usually don’t mind horror, baby I’m sorry”

Yoongi felt strong arms pulling him for a hug. Warm. He snuggles into to the warmth while sniffling (and getting tears on Hoseok’s shirt but we’ll ignore that)

“Seokie its scary…Yoonie don’ like that Seokie” he mumbled against Hoseok’s chest “wan’ do somethin’ else Seokie…I wanna play Seokie…”

 Woah. ‘well this is new’ Hoseok thought. His boyfriend was talking and acting like a three year old, for the first time since he had met him. What does he do in this situation? Yes, this is strange, but does he confront him or treat him like a child? He doesn’t want to upset him more than the movie seemingly had but he did want a little insight.

“um…Yoongi? Before we, um, play could you tell me what’s going on” he received a little mumble of “m jus’ small Seokie” before Yoongi went back to sniffling into the crook of his neck and saying he wanted to play. With a shrug Hoseok gently lifted Yoongi off of his lap and walked with him to his room ; he made the safe assumption that he would be more comfortable there. ‘I guess we’ll have to elaborate later’

Yoongi clapped and knelt onto his carpet, he could play now! He picked up his pretty yellow block and shook it. Softly, he giggled once again, this was complete bliss. Hoseok watched him with hesitant eyes. Was he supposed to play with him? Up until two minutes ago hoseok wasn’t aware of this headspace Yoongi seemed to have so he hadn’t an idea of how he was supposed to interact with him. Luckily for him, Yoongi waved him over with the block in his hand and patted the space next to him before passing Hoseok a crinkly blue block. “Seokie that make a scrunchy sound! But my yellow one i-is better!” Yoongi waved his block again, this time tapping his feet lightly in excitement.

Hoseok was completely baffled at this sight. He had never seen Hoongi so happy and it honestly was warming his heart. He didn’t fully understand what was going on but seeing his boyfriend so happy and carefree was enough for Hoseok to dismiss the sceptical part of his mind.

“Your block is very nice isn’t it angel? Do you want to show me other ones too?”

Yoongi’s eyes lit up, seokie wanted to see his toys! Eager as ever, he plopped himself between Hoseok’s legs and showed him each block one by one, babbling as he went. Hoseok smiled gently; if his boyfriend was happy, he was happy.

 first of all thank u to @princessrudolf requesting this!! it was rly fun to write :’]

i wanted to say that i really didn’t want to make this into something where hoseok is confrontational and generally not very considerate. I know that being so abruptly introduced to someones regression can be jarring and many people are quick to be serious about it but i wanted to portray a scenario in which someone is very open minded and careful (?) about their reaction. I also want to say that i kinda based yoongi on my own regression! he isn’t afraid once he is regressed around hoseok because he already trusts him and in his regressed headspace he isn’t thinking about the fact that hoseok doesn’t know what his regression is yet. sorry for the lengthy authors note hehe <3

[sixba]

“Evy! Evy!” Simba called out as he raced out of the library of her home having knocked down a few books off the shelf out of curiosity. “You gotta come check this out!” The cub headed back into the room in question gazing down at a page with perked ears and a large smile on his maw. “Look! There’s some kind of cat thing here with a tail and ears like me! Who is it?” A paw was placed on the Goddesses name which was Bast. “Is it an Egypt Cat? Why’s it in here in a book?” 

@disasterlibrarian​

[disasterlibrarian]

He's just going to climb up into Evy's lap while she's continuing to work wanting a bit of attention as he did so, plus she was the closest thing to a mother figure that he had all the way out here. "Night!"

Evy just smiled as the cub made himself comfortable in her lap. "Goodnight, Simba." The librarian hummed softly, sifting her fingers through his golden fur as she continued to write up index cards for the latest shipment of books with her dominant hand. She knew she shouldn't get attached, since she wasn't going to be able to keep him, but she couldn't help herself; he was such a precious little thing.

When her work for the day was finished, Evy gently bundled the sleeping cub into her handbag and looped the bag over her shoulder. If anyone discovered him in the library, it would be her job, so he would have to come home with her for now. As she stepped outside, she racked her brain for a way to explain the cub's presence to her brother.

[cela-astral-projection]

Family is family, in church or in prison You get what you get, and you don't get to pick 'em

Origin story. Incredibly loosely based on my actual great grandparents, Paul and Margarita Sweet. 

When Verner Karlsson approached his cousin, Morga, to gain her blessing to depart their tribe, it was one of the most difficult and greatest days of his life. She, of course, berated him, calling him a coward, but there was no malice in it. It was simply her way. Motherhood had softened her, a bit. A few years prior, he might not have gotten away unscathed.

He had always been forthright with Morga, hunting alongside her since they were small. He should have gone to her husband, but he found him utterly useless, and in this instance bucking protocol seemed appropriate.

He often was an ambassador, going on fact-finding missions. He loved the travel. Not so much the bloodshed. He never had the warrior spirit. He loved knowledge and people. He was saddened to leave his family but saw the writing on the wall. There would be much pain to come, and he couldn't take part in it.

Morga embraced him as a brother as he went. He knelt before her son. He didn't particularly like the boy, but he was of Morga, so he had a love for him. "Be good to your mother, boy. You will have no better friend in this life," he warned. Montag stuck his tongue out at him, arms folded across his chest. Verner sighed. That about summed the child up.

"Best of luck, Morga." He said, straightening. "You're going to need it."

He traveled for months, from the Steppe to Vesuvia, and back again. Taking shelter with friendly folk that would have him, or sleeping out in the elements when they could not. He loved freedom. But he was lonely. All his life, he had someone to spar with, to talk to, to rely on.

One day, making his way through the forest that lined the cliffside overlooking the ocean, he was set upon by a mother bear after stumbling upon her cubs. He had been wounded, not mortally, and had the good sense to cower. The bear had buried him in the sandy soil beneath a tree, and he did not emerge until he knew he was safe.  

He stumbled on a fishing village. Exhausted, and bleeding still quite badly.  A clan of people who had once been cliff dwellers, and quite remote. Time, and man, had eroded their solitude. They were quite wary of travelers but still hospitable.

A young woman came to his aide. She had lovely dark hair and terracotta skin, with arresting green eyes. She was quite young, and short, but brawny. She rallied a group, and they brought him into one of their huts to nurse him.

They called her Luhui. It was not her name, she had not yet taken a name, because she had not taken a husband. The word simply meant "Woman."

Some spoke his tongue, though not many, and through patient translation, they found ways to communicate, picking up on each other's language as days melded into weeks, then into months.  

When he told his story, of surviving the Bear, they clapped his shoulders, cheering him. A brave warrior, indeed, to survive a mother bear. His legend grew amongst the people, though he was humble enough to keep the story plain. He had been lucky. Very lucky. But, still, it grew and spread like wildfire. The man who had come back from the grave and bested the bear.

Luhui was with him constantly as he convalesced. She was young. Much younger than he. But she was revered. An accomplished healer, midwife, and mystic. She would have none of this legend nonsense. She would laugh when she heard the story. This man? Back from the dead? Please, that was all her. Sure, he dug himself out, but he'd be moldering if she hadn't got to him.

Her father came to him late one night, when he was nearly recovered, and offered her to him. He refused. Of course, she was lovely, but he wasn't prepared to wed. But, her father was persistent. Together, they would be a force. He came every night for weeks. Eventually, his veneer cracked.

He looked to Luhui, and she shrugged. She didn't see why not. Vern was attractive enough, with his creamy pale skin, light grey eyes and brilliant hair. She liked to hear the stories of his travels, of the things he'd done and seen. It seemed like a practical enough arrangement. He made her laugh. And he was sweet.

They had a simple binding ceremony, and he gave her her name. It was the name of a girl from home he had once fancied. She didn't particularly care for it, sounding so foreign to her ears, but it wasn't hers to question. Hillevi. Between the two of them, it was shortened to Evi. Vern and Evi.

From their union, they were delivered twins. A daughter and son. They forged new traditions, naming the girl at birth. Linnea. Their son, Aric.

Linnea was dark, like her mother, but tawnier, lighter, with freckles dotting her cheeks.  The same green eyes. She had a shock of blonde hair at the front of her head, but the rest of it was dark. She was a pretty child, and sweet. As she grew, she began to attend patients with her mother, training in medicine and midwifery. She kept her head down, consumed with practice and family life.

Aric was every bit his father. Brilliant silver eyes, white-blonde hair. But, he was brawnier. Broad chested, and a good head taller than Verner by the time he was a man. He loved to hunt, and fish. He had no magic, like his mother or sister. But, his smile was enough to set every young woman in town on edge. His laugh was loud, boisterous.

When they were grown, the village was visited by a tall woman, draped in furs. Verner startled when a villager came to them in the early morning, throwing open the door of the hut, begging him to come.

Morga.

They sat together, and she told him the story. Montag. Lucio. Illness. Slaughter. He was horrified.

She implored him to come home. He refused. This is why he had left. He couldn't abide by this. 

Then, she asked him for something else, knowing he could not refuse her twice.

To send his children to watch over Montag.

Evi would never truly forgive him, sending her children away. Years they had spent, learning to love one another, gone in an instant.

As to not set Lucio to suspicion, they had their names changed. Their birth names too close to their father's homeland. Aric took the name Aedan, and Linnea, Celeste.

They had been able to manipulate their way into the palace. Aedan, in Lucio's guard, and Celeste under Valdemar's tutelage, working alongside a young, redheaded doctor.

As far as Lucio was aware, he and Aedan got along like a house on fire. 

Of course, he didn't agree with Lucio. The man was repugnant, but Aedan was smart enough to keep his tongue. He was always a step behind, enforcing his demand with as much kindness as he was able to get away with. There was much unpleasantness in his task. But, he felt a brotherhood with this man.

He saw that Montag...Lucio...was not all bad. Just untethered. He needed a friend. He was just difficult to love. He wondered if Lucio recognized their shared blood, but knew he was too absorbed in himself to care that they shared the same eyes. His ignorance was a blessing, in a way. He would laugh at his jokes. Do his bidding. Be his friend. 

Celeste was mostly out of view, absorbed in her studies. She spent a lot of time with the young Doctor, Julian. Avoiding the courtier, who scared her, but lead her teachings. Julian and she would sneak away to the library, hiding in the stacks, huddled together, laughing, dancing. He was smart. And handsome.

Every once in awhile, she would journey into town, browsing the shops.

She tended to spend a lot of time in the Magician's shop, browsing his herbs. He would read her tarot. They would steal away together, walking in the palace gardens, talking long into the night. He would teach her magic, and she was rather good at it. They started a romance that lasted for years. Sweet, young love. 

They would occasionally sneak to the colosseum to see the Magician's companion, when Aedan was on duty, waving them in. Celeste didn't tell Asra that Aedan was her brother, not wanting to give their secret away. Asra found it confusing that this guard, so close to Lucio, was so compassionate.

The big man's name was Muriel. They would bring him food, and sometimes they would just sit with him in the dark catacombs. He was painfully shy and so very angry. Asra told her that he had always been scared and shy. They knew each other for many years. Under Lucio's control, he was made to do horrific things. Muriel was gorgeous. Even with hot, fresh scars marring his body. They didn't talk about what he was forced to do. Asra loved him so, and so she did too.

She would sit with him alone, some nights, her back against the bars of his cage. She would reach out to him, and sometimes he would allow her to hold his hand. Once, he let her kiss him. It was short and sweet. When she emerged from the catacombs, flushed, Aedan laughed. "Minx."

For Aedan's part, he was not entirely lonely. Lucio was nothing, if not generous. He was presented with women constantly. Gifts. Something Aedan was uncomfortable with. The women were kind, and he would be preformative with them, pulling them into his chambers and plying them with coin for their acting skills. He didn't need Lucio's presents. He had a few servant girls that were his constant companions. He didn't like to get bogged down in the details of relationships, but he would send flowers to the kitchen regularly and took no small pleasure in listening to the keening and cooing.

He would often drink with Lucio, letting him regale him with tales. They were gory, hideous tales. Most of it utter fantasy. Lucio was good but not nearly as good as he proclaimed to be. 

Sometimes, he would sneak a wink at the Countess, letting her know that he wasn't quite buying it. She was a hard woman like his mother had been. Practical to a fault. Elegant. But, she would smile when they shared a mocking glance, or a laugh when they retreated from his chambers.

When word came that illness had struck their village, it was Celeste that had to tell Aedan that their parents were gone. And that it wasn't safe to return home to bury them. It wasn't even safe for them to grieve together.

As the plague descended upon Vesuvia, an even closer eye was required on Lucio. When Lucio became ill, Aedan refused to leave his side. But, Lucio lingered. 

Aedan, strong as he was, succumbed to the illness quickly. Two days. The palace mourned his loss. Such a big, kind man, just gone. 

Celeste ran from the castle to Asra. There were dead in the streets. She pounded on the shop door, and when it opened, she fell into his arms, screaming, sobs tearing out of her chest like razor blades. Her brother was dead. She couldn't even tell him. He assumed it was the plague that troubled her so. 

He led her to the bedroom. He had already packed for them. Muriel had been released into the forest when there was no more to attend the battles in the coliseum, Lucio too weak to come into the city. They would collect Muriel and run. He had a plan. They could be safe. 

She tore away from him, panicked. She couldn't abandon her work. There had to be a cure. She had already lost her entire family. She couldn't fail anyone else. Her Aric had been working to keep Montag safe for so many years. She couldn't let him die. She hated him, but it was what she had been forced from her home to do. She couldn't abandon it, not now. Montag was all the family she had left in the world, tenuous as their relationship was. 

She and Asra fought viciously. When the fight was gone out of him, he pleaded. When that didn't work, they simply wept until they couldn't cry anymore, clinging each other until morning came.

Her eyes were so raw and bloodshot, that she hardly noticed that the red of plague had started to creep in.

Days later, Celeste was dead.

[anythingspossible-foraposs-blog1]

For any or all of them: Are you proud of where your child currently is?

Ahem, wow, now I gotta write all of them. 

Disclaimer: Some were taking this question more literally than others. I wrote it as sort of an interview question. If the parents are still together then they’re kind of in dialogue with one another.

*** marks deceased if ya’ll didn’t know the backstory

Kim (Dr. James Possible & Dr. Anne Possible)

James: Well of course we’re proud of our Kimmy Cub.

Anne: Why wouldn’t we be? She’s matured into a lovely young woman. Even though her need to help people worried us at first with all that jet setting off on school nights, Kimmy’s just always had such a large heart. Makes me think she’d join the family practice as a heart surgeon along with my brain surgeon expertise, a neurosurgeon can dream.

James: We’re proud of all of our children, even when they make mistakes. 

Anne: Like blowing up the oven right before Christmas dinner because--

Jim/Tim (from outside the frame): We said we were sorry!

Anne: And Kimmy doesn’t have to save the world to have us be proud of her

James: We’re just proud she’s following that path she really wants. I mean, would it be nice to have another Dr. Possible in the family? Yes. But titles don’t matter. Our Kimmy cub is enough to make any parent proud just being herself 

Amelia (Admiral James Smollet & Evelyn Smollet)

James: Captain’s always been her harshest critic, despite excelling in just about everything she’s put her mind to. I’ll always be proud of her, even when she thinks she’s embarassed me. No one could’ve predicted the tragedy that happened that day. It wasn’t her fault and it’s nothing for her to be ashamed of. Perhaps I’m even more proud of her for pulling herself away from her work here and working on healing elsewhere--

Evelyn: Well, it wouldn’t kill her to give us a ring now and again would it? How long can she hide out at Margaret’s, I mean, if she’s not working--

James: She started that coaching job with the University, Evie. 

Evelyn: Well, yes, but still, everyone’s always asking about her and I tire of constantly having to explain when she should be here herself. It’s just not right for her to lock herself away.

James: Well, the question was are we proud of her, Evie. Are you proud of her?

Evelyn: Well of course I am, she’s my daughter. Who else can tell everyone that you have a Naval Captain who fought pirates and lived? I mean, at first I was disappointed that she went into such a masculine field of work, felt I was losing a daughter and gaining a son.... but everyone else seemed to think it was noble and well, I turned around.

Stan (Charlie “Crush” Schell & Stephanie “Shred” Schell***)

Crush: Squirt? Little dude? He’s the craziest little thing, you know? Like one day you’re pickin’ this kid up off the sand and telling him not to eat it and the next day he’s off out in thee great big blue like following his dreams and exploring the world. Man, I’m just glad I didn’t screw him up, ya know? There were rough times after Steph passed. Late nights. More homework for me when he’d surpassed all the smarts I thought I had in my brain. He was teaching me stuff ya know? He’s the smartest kid. He’d run home from school, throw his little backpack across the room and pull out a book he got from the library on turtles just so he could show me what kind of turtle he saw that day on a trip to the aquarium. Little dude’s got it. He just does. He just keeps riding that current and shooting all the curls life’s been givin’ him and sometimes he wipes out. But yanno, he just accepts it, learns the move not to do and goes right back charging out into the waves. Kid’s got his mom’s passion and fearlessness. I see a lot of her in the little guy, shows me steered him right but she was the current all along. Crazy. He’s living his life and he knows it, ya know? And when he knows, I know that he knows and I know that him knowing is just, ya know? He’s Stan the man. Stanley, my real family. He’s everything I could’ve ever hoped to get. 

~~~

Steph: You know, the name Stanley was my choice. It was my father’s name before he passed. It’s why Charlie doesn’t use it too often, I think it hurts him more to say it than to say Squirt. My father didn’t exactly like Charlie for me, he wanted me to go out beyond Australia. See the world. Charlie was Australia. It was in his blood. We were two locals who fell in love with the ocean at the right time together. And thank whatever ocean god we did, because it gave us Stanley Rufus Schell. But I named him Stanley because like my father, I hoped he’d grow to see more for people. See more for himself. I saw just enough. Charlie was enough. My life on earth was enough to get them going, but my life could have been more than enough. So I’m proud that Stanley’s gone where he’s going, though I think he’s settled into an ‘enough’ spot in Swynlake for now. But he’s going to do great things, see great things, learn so much and follow his passion. And that’s all I can ever ask. I can’t take all the credit for him. Charlie did an amazing job despite everything. I’m proud of the both of them and I know that the three years I got with that now very tall baby of mine, was just enough

Tito (Julio de Tito & Gloria de Tito)

Julio: Man, I bet Ignacio’s the shit now, he ain’t messin’ up like I did. You know, I always wanted to own my own car business or whatever. Go straight, get outta here one day. But there ain’t that type of capital out there, not by legal means for somebody like me. My record ain’t gonna get me shit out there after this. But that kid knew how to do just about anything. Proud of him the day he was born, minute he zapped my finger and I just thought it was static. Learned fast, drove fast for an eleven year old. Sure, Rico was smart as hell, he’s gonna be a fuckin’ doctor or somethin’, but Ignacio? That kid’s gonna get himself some place, wherever he is.

~~~~~

Gloria: My son? You mean Rico?--Oh Ignacio. Well, I haven’t seen Ignacio in a long time. Looking back at things though, I do regret what I said that day. I regret a lot of things, but he made it clear he didn’t want to be found after the first year. He talks to his sisters once or twice a year, updates them. I hear he’s doing well, it’s all I can really take without bustin’ out into tears, ya know? But I’m proud he’s stuck it out on his own for this long. Whatever he’s doing for himself.

Hermes (Henry Petros Sr. & Gia Rossi)

Gia: Proud? Proud my son, after how hard I worked to put him through the best education California could offer, turned into a postal worker/drag queen entertainer who hasn’t picked up a phone to call his poor mother who’s bored herself to death rotting in a correctional facility for the last decade? No can’t say I am. I can only say I’m glad his good for nothing manwhore of a father that I divorced hasn’t been a prevailing influence on his life

~~~~~~

Henry: Well, I always knew my son was a little different and what I saw in him, I saw in myself. Our little Henry inspired me to not be so afraid of what people thought and still does. He hasn’t talked to me since I moved to San Fransisco with Joseph after the fall out with his mother being sent to prison. Which if you ask me, isn’t actually a prison with her Martha Steward knock-off cell. In any case, I am proud of him for who he is. No matter what he’s done in life or what name he takes on, I just couldn’t take care of a kid while I was still finding myself.

Megara (Lukas Creon & Maria Creon)

Maria: Well, you know she was engaged to that nice professor fellow and then one day that’s over and she’s leaving town. We haven’t heard from her in well, how long was it--?

Lukas: 3 years, give or take

Maria: --Right three long years at the least, we don’t know where she is right now, haven’t a damn clue. So we couldn’t tell you anything about pride ‘cause she won’t pick up the phone and call us. 

Arista (Ya’ll knoow JEFF and Athena and pft they’re probs proud despite her dropping out to follow her passion more w/e)

Bobby (Robert “Bert” Zimmeruski Sr. & Roberta “Bobbi” Zimmeruski)

Bert: Which kid are we talking about? Robby or Bobby? I get them mixed up all the time

Bobbi: Yeah, hard to tell. Maybe we shouldn’t have named them the same name...

Bert: Nah, it’s still funny

Bobbi: Yeah, yeah it is. Haha, anyways uh Robby is the one in... Spain? Lesbian? 

Bert: Whoa, wait, he lives in Lesbian, Spain?

Bobbi: No wait, is that Bobby? 

Bert (still laughing at Lesbian because they’re totally stoned)

Bobbi: One second, I have it on my phone notes.... Lisbon, Portugal. Eh, same difference...

Bert: Yeah but is that the right kid?

Bobbi: Who knows, who cares. At least they both send money. We’re proud of them both with whatever they’re doing. Two mellow fellows we raised, earning money and helping out their parents

Bert: You right, you right. You gonna light that or should I?

Rosie (N/A my dudes, orphaned in Bulgaria)

[joneswilliam72]

The 405 meets Cub Sport

The road to Cub Sport’s self-titled record has been anything but smooth. The band went through a moniker change, split from their label, and weathered personal revelations as they penned and released two EPs and two full-lengths too. Now LP3 is upon us, and represents a fuller, more introspective group of individuals than fans have really seen before. Their last album, BATS, celebrated the public aspects of self-acceptance, specifically in coming to terms with a queer identity. The new album channels that love inward.

I had the enormous privilege to talk with the band’s leader, Tim Nelson, about everything Cub Sport ahead of their forthcoming European tour, supporting the release of their new self-titled record. We discussed the differences in the band between their first release and their latest magnum opus, as well as the emotional impact on the main songwriter, Nelson himself. Read our conversation and check out their tour dates below.

Follow Cub Sport on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

UK TOUR February 12 – Omeara, London February 14 – Whelans, Dublin February 15 – Yes, Manchester February 16 – Bodega, Nottingham February 18 – The Hope, Brighton February 20 – Headrow House, Leeds February 21 – Alloa Library (Speirs Centre) Alloa, Scotland February 22 – Kendal Library, Kendal, Cumbria

Thinking back to the first EP with ‘Evie’, how do you feel the band has grown since then?

I don’t really identify with a lot of the early music we put out anymore, but I can still appreciate it, and I feel like it’s a really important part of our journey. We knew [the band] was something that we wanted to do for the rest of our lives, but I don’t know if we felt like we had a purpose. It feels like now is the true arrival of Cub Sport and I guess that’s why we feel like now is the right time to be releasing our self-titled record.

Even though it was everyone’s dream, it seems that your story and songwriting have propelled the band. Not that it’s a bad thing—it’s beautiful to get to tell your story, unabridged.

I started writing songs when I was still in school and I wanted to start playing shows and so I got in touch with Zo [Zoe Davis] and Sam [Netterfield] and people around me that I knew could play instruments. That was all under the name “Tim Nelson.” And I guess that was how this band started. Then when we recorded ‘Evie’ and the rest of the songs on that EP, we felt like we had really stepped it up and it felt like a good time to give it a real go and send it to publicists and radio and that sort of thing. I feel like the whole journey wouldn’t have been possible without the constant support and belief from Dan, Zo, and Bolan.

It sounds like you guys have grown from just having live chemistry to really knowing and understanding each other and Cub Sport.

Yeah, for sure.

I know some of the band is vegan—how difficult is it to travel with dietary restrictions?

Sam and I are vegan and Zo and Dan are pescatarian and vegetarian. We actually only started eating vegan while we were on tour in the US in April this year. Sam’s also got celiac so it can be kind of tricky finding vegan and gluten-free options everywhere we go, but we’ve gotten pretty good at it. We come prepared.

Nice, so it doesn’t sound like this would ever stop you from travelling in the future.

Around a lot of the US, there are great vegan places and there are Whole Foods scattered all over the country which makes things a lot easier. We haven’t toured Europe since being vegan so I guess we’ll find out what that’s like in February. But we’ll be prepared for that too.

When you were rolling out BATS, and all the interviews started rehashing your coming out story, did the narrative in the media follow the message you wanted to get across? Were you hoping, for example, that the record be left more open to interpretation?

The openness around the whole record helped a lot of people on their own journeys. So I’m really happy with how that happened because when I was writing it, I never thought I’d share it with anyone. And then I surprised myself with how open I was able to be. It’s given a whole new level of importance and purpose outside of the songs themselves. It’s a huge privilege to have had [this experience], to have been able to present it in [a way that people can relate to] and for it to have been received like that. I learned so much about myself in the process—[the album] kept revealing layers to me, the more I spoke about it. I think it happened exactly how it was meant to, and that really inspired a bunch of the next record too, so it was all meant to be. [laughs]

Do you always write new songs for new records or do you have a lot of old songs that you continue to work on?

I am always writing and the albums and the timelines do overlap a little bit. So for BATS, I had written just over half of them before I came out and then I wrote a bunch of songs just after coming out. Those are the ones that felt like they completed the BATS narrative. Then it felt like the right time to pull another record together with songs that spanned before This Is Our Vice until early 2017 I think. I wrote ‘Video’ just before BATS came out and I think this week I wrote a song that is definitely gonna be on album four.

If you’re always writing songs, and reflecting on what you said earlier about the songs on BATS, would you say that you are constantly learning new things about yourself?

Yeah I think I do! I think I learn more when I’m looking back on the songs as well. Even once I was listening to album three in its concluded state, seeing all the songs together, it kind of took on a different meaning. I’d be surprised if a similar thing doesn’t happen on this next album too. Especially because it’s so fresh.

What are your first impressions on Cub Sport by Cub Sport?

I feel like this new record has a lighter energy around it. I didn’t write it during a particularly light time—there was a lot of pressure and I had a bunch of health issues and was going through so many enormous changes and with a larger audience it felt like the stakes were higher. I don’t know quite how to describe it but I feel like through being so open about my sexuality and my identity it opened me up throughout my whole life, like outside of my sexuality. Through all of that growing, I gained a lot of perspective and I feel like I’ve kind of learned a lot about recurring cycles in my life, like acting out of fear and shame and that sort of thing.

I can definitely hear that. I’d love to go through some of the songs specifically too, starting with the opener, ‘Unwinding Myself’. An a cappella song on a pop record is bold and making it the first track is downright brave.

That song literally just came out of me. I pressed record and started singing. Later I thought I’d put synths behind that but I realized that I had been singing in between keys—like the notes that I’m singing in certain parts of it aren’t actually notes. [laughs] So I was like, ‘OK, I guess this was meant to be a cappella.’ I also thought of trimming it down, but then thought that I might be doing that out of fear and so I decided against it. I’ve come to believe that all creativity comes from a higher place or somewhere else and so I’ve learned to respect my own work and believe in it.

Also recently, I’ve done a bunch of reading and learned a lot about the power of our subconscious. I grew up in like a very homophobic environment so although I was shown a lot of love, I had an internal battle going on. Before I started writing BATS especially, I was riddled with self-doubt and self-loathing and so much shame about who I was. I feel like there’s a lot of that in my subconscious that I’m still working through. And I feel like I’m really starting to get somewhere with it. So the song is about unwinding this inner tension that’s been there, and kind of relaxing my being so that I can express myself to my fullest potential and be the best version of myself. I wrote that before I really understood a lot about it and now it’s tying itself together for me now.

What a story. It’s beautiful to see how all the elements truly come together from your perspective, even when it comes to details like cutting the length of a song. Moving to ‘Sometimes’, when was that one written?

I wrote this when the same-sex marriage debate was happening here in Australia. I was doing a bunch of interviews and writing open letters and writing pieces for publications and it was like I was being forced to acknowledge the way I felt head-on. I wanted to do it because I knew that it was having a positive impact but in the midst of new pressures and things it was really hard. At the time, I was learning how much gender norms and people talk about like toxic masculinity and I always had thought, ‘that’s not me,’ but once I actually started to acknowledge the reasons I feel the way that I do, I was learning where a lot of these fears were stemming from. Those were like the kind of revelations I thought I was having at the time. And it kind of feels like it hasn’t stopped.

I see, I think I had conflated the same-sex vote press you were doing with the BATS album cycle; I definitely understand how that could have been tough to work through. On a lighter note, I think of ‘Limousine’ as Cub Sport’s ‘Partition’. When you sing, “My emotions are tattooed there on the internet,” did you mean in terms of social media exposure or explicitly through the music?

I think just how the whole thing is tied together. The songs are there if people want to listen and read. And then it’s really slowed into our social media and interviews and even like the visual aspects.

Do you think of it as a good thing?

Yeah I do. I feel like I wouldn’t be quite so driven to delve into my own emotions and writing songs draws something out of me that I then have to acknowledge and learn about. It’s helping me grow. Our last records helped people on their journey, and I feel like this one can continue to do that as well.

Do you think this will ever become so exhausting that you’ll want to stop?

Not that I can see happening. I feel like I’ve been working toward this thing that I’ve wanted to do since I can remember. I’ve had moments where I’ve definitely felt burnt out along the way but I feel like my love for it trumps all of the challenges.

That’s good to hear. ‘Lift Me Up’, another track from the new album, surprises me because it is mostly instrumental. Can you talk about how that came about?

When we were in the tour van in the US, I was so sick and my voice was just holding on, so I was on complete vocal rest for a week. But the time when I’d normally just go running my mouth in the van, I just had to sit there in silence and so I ended up reading a lot that week and also working on songs a bunch on my laptop. I went through my whole hard drive and went through pretty much every old idea, including ‘Lift Me Up’. I had written the Juno synth line—the din-din-din throughout the whole song—on Boxing Day last year [author’s note: 2017.] I put a beat to it and then just started to add French horns and stuff, then when my voice was back I recorded vocals over the whole thing, but I didn’t like it as much. So I took everything out except the title line. I feel like it’s a really uplifting, nourishing thing to listen to and I felt like with the vocals on there it was almost distracting from the way that this song made me feel.

Does this mean that you’ll be putting out more instrumental, vibey songs?

Yeah, I mean if that’s what comes to me. When I’m writing and recording, I’ve never felt like I need to take it in a certain direction for it to fit into Cub Sport. I like to think that Cub Sport is something that can expand and go anywhere, so if that’s what comes to me when I’m writing and recording then sure.

What was your intention with ‘Come Out’?

I felt like when I first came out and was open about being queer, I felt really free, like ‘wow I can be myself, I don’t have to hide anymore.’ Then, after a few months, I started to realize that I was still hiding, and there are still moments when I feel scared of what people would think of me if I was like open about it. [The song is] just about being honest and embracing who you are and not worrying too much what other people think.

I initially thought of the track, why wasn’t this on BATS? But I can see how you mean it in a deeper way—to be comfortable with yourself knowing that this one detail isn’t going to solve all your problems.

I feel like there are pressures put on everyone by society to be a certain way. Whether you’re queer or not. It’s getting better but there’s still a stigma around mental health. Everyone has something that they can ‘come out’ with, so I want it to be an anthem for not just coming out as gay but for being your whole self, even if it doesn’t necessarily fall within society’s comfort zone.

I also wanted to bring up ‘Summer Lover’, which, like many of the other tracks we’ve been discussing, has a lot of subtle self-reflection.

That was one that I recorded and then I was like, ‘I need to like do something to it to make it ready for the album.’ I tried a bunch of different things and it just, it didn’t feel right. I thought we’d make it a bonus track, and then at the last minute I was listening to it and I was like, ‘no this needs to be an official track. I want this to be the album closer.’ And again, I think I was scared about having like a 15-song album that ends on a sort of downbeat vibe, but then I said to myself, ‘no, this is the type of music that I love and that makes me feel emotional.’

Could not agree more. And there’s also the track featuring your pal, Mallrat! This was your first time collaborating, right?

Well we started writing a song together back in like 2016 I think, we worked on it for like 15 minutes and then Bolan gave Grace a tattoo and we just never went back to it. [laughs] But yeah this is our collab that has been finished and that is being heard by people. This song for me was about embracing, well first recognizing, my power and creativity. One of the first inspirations I had for the song was about a video I’d made, and just feeling like I’d made something good. It feels like a breakaway from the previous mindset—it’s still gentle but out of any song on the album, it feels the most aggressive to me. And I think that it’s about moving past a place where I take on negativity from external things that don’t serve me and kinda just focusing on the good things.

I also wanted to talk about your fandom. Since working with the Dolan brothers, your reach has expanded considerably, and we already talked about how the BATS narrative touched many people, but I was curious if there was another moment that made you realize that this was going to make an impact on people’s lives?

The first time that I really realized that was when we put the ‘O Lord’ video out. It was the first video we’d made about being openly queer. And I feel like, visually, we had never captured the Cub Sport vision like we had wanted to up until that point. It felt like a rebirth. The response to that was probably one of the first points that I realized the impact that we could have by sharing our journey. But yeah, the video with the Dolan twins was really amazing. They came to our show in LA in April and before we played ‘Crush,’ I told the story of how Bolan and I had kind of struggled to work past our shame and fear of what people would say if we came out and how we finally got together, and that really resonated with them. So they hit me up after the show and said that they had this music video idea. We FaceTime’d again a few months later and it all worked out. I knew that it was gonna go viral I guess, cuz every single video that they make goes viral, but I don’t think I quite understood the enormous impact it would have on young, queer people who had never felt proud of who they are or felt like they could talk about it before. That was definitely a highlight of this year.

Is there a song on the record that we haven’t talked about that you are particularly proud to put out?

‘Party Pill’, which tells the part of the story of Sam and I that I’ve like never felt like I could tell before, which is about us falling in love when we were 17 and then ending it because I was just so full of shame and fear. So I feel like that song is going to, it has the potential to touch a lot of people. And I’m excited to put it out.

Before I let you go, you started a record label—Cub Sport Records. Do you plan on signing more artists?

We actually released BATS on that label too. We’d been signed to a label previously but with BATS being such a personal and important record for us, it was really important that we had full freedom to follow our intuition at any point in the campaign without having people telling us, ‘this won’t work.’ And we managed to pull together an entire global team for PR and radio and it’s the most amazing group of people who believe in what we’re doing and understand us. If we get to a point where we want to have a break from touring and releasing music, then we would love to sign other artists. I feel like we’ve learned a lot about the industry from being on both the artist side and management side, and label side now and it’s nice to be able to empower artists who don’t necessarily feel like the classic model or the music industry standards really work for them.

from The 405 http://bit.ly/2CBRpgm

[cubbienamu]

I wrote ths a couple months ago n I love it a lot! I hope u do too (✿´ ꒳ ` )

TW: inference of a panic attack

                                      (⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☁

Namjoon bounced his knee, staring directly at his desk, trying to stay calm. There he sat in the middle of a seminar almost crying. Why you ask? Well, you see, Namjoon has one thought running around in his mind.

That Jimin will leave him.

The poor thing is terrified, terrified that his secret will ruin their relationship if Jimin finds out. His hands began to sweat.

Ten minutes

Then he could go home and wait two hours for Jimin to get home. His chest began to tighten up as he thought about his best friend's face ; the loving face he was used to contorted into something that caused the anxious boy to choke up. He couldn't breathe . The look of disgust on Jimins face in his mind was tearing him apart.

Tick tock tick tock

His heart felt as if it was going at a million miles a minute. Sweat began to bead on his forehead as he desperately tried to stay in control.

Before he knew it his seminar had ended. Namjoon abruptly stood from his seat, throwing his belongings into his bag.

He ran.

He ran out of the room that seemed to be closing in on him. He ran down the corridors and out of the nearest door. He ran through the streets to his front door, swinging it open and launching his bag onto the floor. The tears he had been holding back began to pool at his waterline before falling onto his flushed cheeks. He hung his head,shaking a little.

Namjoon rushed himself into his bedroom, one of the few places where he felt safe, and sat down on the fluffy grey blanket on his bed. Beneath his pillow was an elephant stuffed animal that smelt ever so slightly of lavender. With shaking hands he brought the soft toy to his nose and inhaled. His cloudy troubled mind began to slow down, the scent helping him regain control.

After a few minutes of inhaling the floral scent Namjoon felt almost calm again. After all the tears, he needed an escape. He let go of his problems in his adolescent life and found himself in a safe haven of innocence.

The boy reached underneath his bed to pull out a box full of crayons, colouring books, bottles and many other things a baby or toddler would need. This was how he coped ; he regressed. Namjoon reached inside and pulled out a bottle with a little blue koala on it, a smile instantly spread across his face at the sight of his favourite cartoon character. He stood up from his bed and went mto make himself a bottle of warm milk, a gentle smile plastered on his face.

The warm bottle of milk was placed on Namjoon's bed side table and opened his wardrobe. On one side were his every day clothing and on the other were softer, more child like clothing. He pulled out a set of blue flannel pyjamas with ice bear printed all over them. The soft material made him feel even tinier. Namjoon crawled under his blankets, elephant in his arms and took a long sip from his bottle. He placed on his bed side table and snuggled into his blankets, falling into a deep sleep.

Jimin unlocked the front door and was met with Namjoon's bag strewn across the floor. 'That's strange' he thought 'Joon always takes his bag into to his room to put it away' Jimin walked up the stairs towards his room to put his belongings away. He exited his room soon after and went to go downstairs. He noticed that Namjoon's door was open just a crack. He was already kind of concerned about the little things he does being different so it wouldn't hurt to check on him.

Right?

He poked his head around the door to find his best friend burried under his blankets in his (absolutely adorable) pyjamas with a baby bottle, almost full with milk, set on his bedside table.

Jimin made a noise of confusion, a little too loudly. Namjoon's sleepy eyes opened slowly, looking around in a sleepy daze. He glanced over at his bottle and then over at his door. At Jimin. Jimin

Uh oh

For the second time that day, Namjoon's eyes filled with tears. He kept blubbering out broken sentences of 'I'm sorry' and 'please don't leave me' his cheeks were damp and warm. He rubbed his tired eyes with his fists as tears cascaded from his eyes. In this time Jimin had walked over to his friend despite his confusion ; he rubbed the crying boy's back, hoping to help calm him.

When his tears ceased, Namjoon looked up at his best friends kind yet intrigued face.

"Joon, please can you tell me what's going on?" He spoke in a soft voice, no trace of malice. "I-I'm an age regressor" Namjoon choked out before continuing "I regress to cope with stress and um my other problems" he looked down st his fingers and fiddled with them, avoiding any eye contact. Jimin perched on the side of the bed and took Namjoon's hand in his own.

"Why did you hide it Joon? You know you can tell me anything." Namjoon took a deep breath, "I was afraid,afraid that you'd think I was gross and you would hate me. I don't want to lose you" Jimins heart broke. " I will never leave you Joonie. If you need to regress, that's okay, you never have to hide it from me. I'm okay with you regressing around me, whatever, as long as you're comfortable." He squeezed the older's shaky hand before picking up the baby bottle. He looked at the koala on the front, recognising it from the popular children's show BT21.

"Hey Joonbug, who's this?"

Namjoon's face lit up. He was gonna teach Jiminie about every BT21 character, especially Koya!

"Koya!"

"Tell me more about Koya bub"

<3

[cubbienamu]

“2seok where Jin has a bad day at practice and Hobi just want to calm him down and help him relax and then it just ends up with lots of kisses and cuddles? Please and thank you!”

                                                                                              (⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☁

Jin’s head felt calm and hazy, as if he was floating, just floating. he was meant to be practicing for the upcoming comeback but right now he sat staring into space while the other members got up from their break to go and dance again.

“Jin hyung! Come let’s go again!!” Hoseok called over to him, startling the boy. In this delicate head space, Jin was a little shaken up by the sudden interruption, hesitantly standing up and taking nervous steps towards his position.

Throughout each and every song, Jin stumbled in the choreography. He was confused and sensitive and he just wanted to go home and cuddle his plushies and be small. On top of this,Hoseok kept scolding him for each little mistake ; “You can do better than that hyung!”. By the end of the practice session, Jin’s eyes shone with tears waiting to spill. The subtle pout on his lips wobbled as he tried his best not to cry, he was a big boy! big boys don’t cry!

This however was, was definitely not true. As soon as the group reached the dorms, Jin made a beeline for his bed , curling up onto of his fluffy sheets and sniffling softly into them.

‘Maybe i was to harsh’ Hoseok wondered as he watched his eldest hyung dash to his room.Guilt tugged at his heart as he fidgeted in his seat. Before long, he gave into the overwhelming guilt ‘ I’ll go check on him’

Hoseok opened the door a crack, revealing a figure curled up on the bed ; it whimpered quietly at the disturbance. A pouty face with reddened cheeks glanced at Hoseok before curling back in on itself. “Oh hyungie, i’m sorry” Hoseok sat beside the boy and held him tightly “I wasn’t trying to be mean”. Jin whimpered before letting out , in a small voice, “m’ s-sorry seokie...jinnie don’ mean t-to be bad”

‘Oh~ that makes sense’

“Darling are you small right now?” Hoseok spoke gently, pulling Jin closer to his chest and rubbing his back. Jin nodded into the crook of Hoseok’s neck. The younger cooed and planted tiny kissed in Jin’s hair “I’m sorry angel I didn’t know, Seokie’s sorry” he rocked them both slowly “you’re just my tiny boy, my good little baby”

They stayed like that for a while, Hoseok kissing all over Jin’s face and holding him close, until the little’s whimpers stopped completely .

“Now doll, how does cuddles and Totoro sound, hm?

[sixba]

"He's taking forever though." the cub complained. It seemed that her brother wasn't as quickly to warm up as Evy was. Rolling over onto his back, Simba began to think out loud. "Maybe if I brought him a present he'd like that but what though?" Would a mouse cut it or would he want something Egyptian like Evy enjoyed? "What about a Mummy or...or a book from the library? You got a billion of those! Uh, books I mean unless he wants a mummy thing? Can we go find one just in case Jonathan doesn't like the book?"

@disasterlibrarian

[sixba]

Simba could feel his form being shifted from the shelf and into the human's arms as she spoke. Didn't they understand the importance of finding the perfect napping spot or was it just the librarian that seemed to misunderstand the concept? Eyes were now partially open slits as he was carried down the ladder and placed down. Fine. If Evy didn't want him sleeping in that particular spot Simba would find somewhere else to sleep. Wandering around the hallways, the cub decided to head to the very top shelf so her precious books wouldn't be disturbed. But how to get up? It took him but a brief moment to get an idea. Unsheathing his short ebony claws, they dug into the wood of the side of the shelves after taking a running leap. The lion cub was making great time until he stopped having jumped as high as he could suddenly realizing that there were no footholds which hadn't been calculated due to his groggy state. "Evy!" Simba whined while his backpaws scratched furiously against the wood for some sense of stability. "I can't get down! My claws are stuck!" The same thing happened back home at times when he went tree climbing but that was an easier situation to get out of. Library shelves? Not so much.

@disasterlibrarian

[sixba]

💬

Send 💬  for me to make you a starter with a random line of dialogue from this generator.

"I'm telling you - the guy was a complete stranger, just walked up and gave me the bag." Just plopped it down right in front of the cub while Simba carried it back to Evy’s library in his mouth. “Well I mean he didn’t give it to me, he just sorta dropped it and ran.” Even if they headed back out into the crowd to identify who it was, the lion cub might be able to pick up one or two minor details or follow him via scent trail which would be difficult given the number of people in the marketplace. Scents would overlap which wouldn’t do anyone any good at all.

Pawing the bag over to its side, Simba stared at it curiously, giving it a small sniff. His ears perked at the very thought of finding a new treasure of some kind. “Can we open it? I wanna see what’s inside. What if it’s something awesome like...like...I don’t even know!” He hadn’t been in Egypt long so there was no telling what it could be. “What if it’s an ‘artfact’ thing or something else like lunch?”  

@disasterlibrarian

[disasterlibrarian]

He didn't feel like sleeping on the floor, so the cub had made himself comfortable sleeping up on top of one of the shelves with a few books laying strewn about on the floor below that had been left behind from climbing.

Thank goodness there was no one else in the library at the moment. As adorable as Simba was, he certainly wasn’t making Evy’s job any easier. With a sigh, she picked up the books the cub had knocked to the floor, grateful that he at least hadn’t chewed on them, and returned them to their places on the shelf before fetching a ladder. When she reached the top rung, she hesitated for a moment — the sleeping cub looked absolutely precious, and part of her didn’t want to disturb him. But she had to.

Lifting Simba into her arms, Evy chastised gently, “Simba, darling, you can’t sleep up there. Those shelves are for the books.”