#ew ew carry on remix

[tyudearyous]

blurred lines - s.mg

pairings : song mingi x reader (f)

genre : fluff, angst, suggestive

themes : friends with benefits au where reader carries her heart on her sleeves while mingi's just mingi.

wc : 5.4k

author's note : had several discussions on mingi with my mutuals in twitter and it made me want to write this so badly LMAO. light suggestive themes like kissing. please enjoy 🤍🤍

🎵 do me right - gemini, drunken texts - jey, honey (medasin remix) - kucka, close to me - laica, mimi - youra, dirty - jey, omega - saay

masterlist

...

fervent knockings could be heard blasting through the thin wood of your front door. who the hell is knocking at your door at motherf- it's 2 in the morning. gosh, you thought. you tried waking up yourself to greet the unwanted guest in front of your door. you had suspicions, it wasn't an unusual thing anyway that you had this late night guests.

"come onnn, open the door!" more knockings could be heard with slurred whines from a male. you immediately knew who it was from the voice. "what is it, mingi?" you opened the door to the (very) drunk 6ft male in front of you. he smelled like alcohol and you're sure he's drank more than 10 shots, considering how he looks.

the man immediately slumped to you to hug and lean on to you. you brought him in and gosh, he was very heavy. well, mingi was twice your size and yet you had to carry him in because he's a drunken mess right now.

"you d-didn't answer hic my hic callss" mingi whined while pouting. "it's 2 AM mingi, two in the morning, what did you expect?" you sat him up on your couch and you scurried to get him a glass of water so he'll sober up just a bit.

"are you mad at me? hic" mingi asked. "what made you think i was angry?" you halted on your tracks, staring at him confusedly. "i didn't get close hic to any girls hic. i was at hic the party because it was hic san's birthday hic. sorry" he tried explaining himself. well, truthfully you hated it when he goes to those types of parties but who are you to dictate over his life. you were only his friend, only a friend.

you didn't answer him. you stayed quiet and gave him the glass of water he needed. he was eyeing you the whole time, waiting for your response. then you just sat next to him, still quiet. mingi didn't spoke any further, he only drank the water you gave him and simply stared at you, with the eyes of a puppy whose owner just scolded.

"i'm not mad, why should i?" you answered him when you noticed that he really wanted an answer from you. "i'm sorry" was all he muttered before leaning in for a kiss. you didn't kiss back and tried to pull back but mingi was strong. he was stronger than you. so, it was useless.

you sighed to yourself before giving in. it was always like this. always like that. mingi'd get busted drunk and then he'll go to your place and boom you'd do it and then he'd leave before you even woke up. it was always like that. almost like a cycle even. you genuinely don't know when did it start. when did your friendship turn into one with such benefits. when did your innocent friendship turn into this?

...

"i genuinely don't get how you both are friends" san states as he downs an entire cake on one singular bite. "ew! you eat like a kid sannie" wooyoung scolds san. "but honestly yeah, how did you two became friends" sujung asked you both. you and mingi simply stared at each other before raising each others' shoulders together. san, wooyoung and sujung only sighed at your responses. you could only awkwardly laugh before saying you didn't know.

it was random honestly. you saved mingi from getting scolded from the first day of school when you found him sneaking in through the back gates of your school. he was late and tried to sneak in, avoiding the guarding teacher. you were on your way to go back to the assembly hall when you saw him stare at you, eyes begging you to help him. well, the situation was his pants got stuck on the wire of the back gate. it was laughable but you helped him before sneaking him in the assembly hall. from there on, he was stuck to your hips.

"yo" mingi nudged your arms while slightly leaning to you. you moved away slightly. "what?" you asked him back. "no plans today?" he asked you while taking your right hands to play with it. this particular tendency of his just never fails to bring butterflies to your heart but well, he was your friend. just a friend who's particularly clingy, nothing more, nothing less so you shrugged off the feeling before shaking your head to answer his questions. "good, go home with me m'kay?" he leaned to your shoulders while asking the question. you shoved him away before clicking your tongue. he laughed it off and focused back to the lesson.

you glanced to look at him. he was smiling whilst trying to focus on the class. you genuinely don't know how you make me feel don't you?, you thought, well thought you thought but you vocalized your thoughts, making mingi turn his head to you and look at you confusedly. you realized what you just muttered. "nothing! go focus again" you pushed mingi's head to not look at you.

"y/n and mingi!" mr. kim shouted after seeing the two of you constantly interacting. "focus on the lesson!" he said, making the entire class laugh under their breath. the two of you muttered apologies before actually focusing on the lesson.

...

"mingi..." you stared at him dissapprovingly. "what?" he gave you the spare helmet he prepared specially for you. "do you... even have a license?" you asked him. "missy, don't worry you're in safe hands. we're not going on the main street anyways. hop on, come on" mingi ushered you to hop on the back seat of his brand new (?) harley.

"when did you even get this?" you asked him, still not wanting to hop on. "my dad bought it for me last year, but he only just allowed me now. oh come on, y/n. trust me, i'm good at this" he begged you with puppy eyes. after several attempts of begging in typical song mingi style, you agreed and hopped on the back seat of his bike.

"this is a high one huh?" you muttered when you were already on the bike. "get used to it, i'm gonna bring you around with this a lot" he muttered before putting on his helmet and starting the bike. "hold on to me, okay?" he pulled your hands to the sides of his waist. you held on to him while your heart was going on a whole marathon.

the whole ride you could feel your body heating up. not because it was hot or anything, it was because of the man you're currently hugging and leaning on to. a part of you wanted to lean on his back fully but a part of you don't really want to. however, as if this man was a devil's incarnate, he pulled your hands forward, making you fully lean on his back. "don't fall" was all he muttered before continuing to drive. was this the heavens testing you and your sanity? well, all you know is that you're going insane and also red. you're just thankful that he can't see you right now.

"we're here" mingi parked the bike beside a park. he took off his helmet and blazer. "why aren't you hopping off?" mingi chuckled, knowing damn well that you are struggling. it was your first time riding such high bike and you genuinely don't want to embarrass yourself by falling down a harley. "help me bitchass" you scoffed at him. he laughed for a good minute before actually helping you get off the bike. when you're on the ground, you immediately grabbed his shoulders to headlock him.

"ah! ah! sorry! hahaha sorry come on" mingi pleads guilty but you were way too annoyed, so you took a handful of his hair before pulling on it slightly to joke around with him. "aAaAAahhHhhh! please i don't want to be bald y/n!" he laughs while screaming. you let him go after that before laughing at his pouty face.

"okay sorry, stop pouting okay?" you stood on your tip toes to pinch his cheeks. his pouty face became a smiley one now and you both stared at each other for a while before going on a fit of laughter because of each other's face.

"okay, be real. why did you brought me here?" you asked mingi. he just shrugged his shoulders before walking to the park, which you followed suit. "i just wanted to destress you know?" he mutters before taking a seat on the stairs. from there, you can see the serene waters of a river nearby.

"why didn't you ask yunho? i'm sure he'd make time for you, after that whole moral loyalty thing" you chuckled, taking a seat next to him on the stairs. "nah, wanted you to be my first passenger" mingi replied. you tilted your head. first passenger? oh. so he planned this all for you.

"is that also your moral loyalty to me?" you nudged his arms, teasing him. he nodded with a smug grin that was asking to be praised. you scoffed and laughed so hard seeing this. "song mingi, you hopeless one" you slapped his arms jokingly.

"i'm serious though, i'd always give my firsts to you, besides yunho" you immediately stared at him. "dude" you replied, mingi only raised his eyebrows to you. "do you realize what you're implying dumbo" you scoffed at him before punching his arms lightly. "yea, i fully realize it." he scooted closer to you.

"did you plan this too?" he was getting closer to you. when he got really close to your face, your breath hitched and he smiled. HE SMILED, he had the audacity to. "no but i welcome surprises you know?" his eyes diverted from your eyes to your lips and back to your eyes while your eyes were fully on his. your body tensed and you couldn't even think clearly.

"i won't do it if you don't want to" mingi spoke but definitely getting closer to you. you pulled back slightly to look at mingi. "will this be your first kiss?" you ask him, he nodded. you diverted your gaze from his eyes to his lips. well, let's be honest. this is song mingi we're speaking of. he's very VERY attractive and yes, you do want to kiss him. without thinking too much, you allowed him to and there, in the park near the river around 5 blocks from your school, you shared your first kiss with song mingi.

...

however, it wasn't only your first kiss that was taken by song mingi. your first time was also his and vice versa. it was perhaps a month after you shared your first kiss? yeah, around those time. during that period, your relationship slightly got more and more physical. you'd sneak out at break session to make out with him at the old unused building of your school or he'll drive you to somewhere quiet and serene to just envelope you in a kiss (kisses).

so when mingi decided it'd be good to invite you to his place when his parents and brother went to vacation, it was all bound to happen. you gave him your first and you were also his first. it was awkward, truthfully. two youths not knowing what to do, just knowing small details here and there from explicit videos or books. you two even spent about half an hour just giggling because of how dumb the two of you looked, trying to figure out what to do. however, when he truly figured out what to do with you, it was bliss. pure bliss. he was gentle and he ultimately prioritized you. it was all wonderful for your first and you're more than glad that he was your first.

"hey" mingi uttered, laying down next to you after coming down from his own high. you just shuffled to your side to look at him. "that was good" he chuckled.

"thanks" you muttered, still looking at him. "my pleasure" then he brought you in for a hug and kissed your forehead before lulling you to rest. it was great, everything felt great, being in his embrace felt great. however, will all of this be an ephemeral moment? you thought to yourself. you quickly shrugged it off though after hearing his soft snores. he's tired now and you too, so you closed your eyes and went off to dream land in mingi's arms.

that was the start where all the lines in your relationship with mingi became blurred.

...

back to the present day, you actually succeeded in making his stop his moves on you. "you're drunk min" you pushed him away, resulting in him stopping. "hic come on" he tried getting closer again and you slapped his arms.

"go wash up, i'm not dealing with you tonight" you left the living room to go to your room and sleep. that was the first time you succeeded in getting away from mingi's drunken advances. not long after you went to your room, the crickling sounds of water can be heard through the bathroom. he's washing up probably, you thought. since he was sober enough to shower, you rested yourself up, not worried since he's sober enough. but if he was sober enough, why did he still insisted on doing it? countless what ifs and scenarios went through your head but you shrugged it all. after all you were just his friend, just a friend. actually scratch that, you've crossed the lines of just friends with him since a long time ago but none of you were brave enough to remove that line between you.

either way, you went to sleep. you don't want to get over into your head tonight, not when mingi is still present in your place.

not long after you tried to fall asleep, mingi entered your room and sat on the edge of your bed. "i know you're not asleep" he mutters before playing with your hair. you weren't facing him, your back was. you feigned ignorance to his pleas of your attention. it wasn't long until he decided to just lay down next to you.

"listen, sorry." he stated into the quiet room. "for what?" you replied to him. "face me" he said before pulling your body, making you face him now. he was looking at you. his eyes just felt somber? it wasn't one you're used to for sure.

"sorry for being a dick" he says while tracing your features with his left hand. you only stared at him, not giving him any answers. "i went to san's party today and got kinda drunk. sobered up though and thought of you immediately. that's why i went here. sorry for pushing myself onto you, should've not done that" he explains himself. you just nodded.

"can i be honest?" you asked him, in which he nodded to. "i'm tired of this all. you always come over when you're drunk. we'll do it until dawn then you'll leave immediately then the next day when we meet, we have to act as if nothing happened. then the cycle repeats, over and over again. genuinely, what are we mingi?" you asked him.

he stayed silent for a while. "i don't expect anything from you, so don't worry but just, you know? i feel tired. i tried, i tried mingi. i tried to do this all without strings attached but, i guess it's just your personality. you'd say things that made me hopeful. you'd do things that made me hope. hope that someday, the blurred line in our relationship would be clear. we're not just friends, min. you know that. friends don't do this. friends don't kiss. friends don't do each other. friends don't act like this" you explained your feelings to him. you were ready to accept rejection, you were ready to let everything go honestly. you didn't care, you were tired of being the one having to keep everything to herself. you were ready to let him go.

"i don't have much to explain honestly. it just feels comfortable with you. everything feels right with you, that's why i'm being like this with you. i'm sorry for hurting you. i'm sorry, y/n. if this all just hurts you, i'm willing to let you go. we can act like normal friends again. i'm sorry for having commitment issues. i'm sorry baby" he grazed your cheeks with his hands before muttering countless apologies to you.

"can i at least know why?" you ask him. "i'm not good enough for you. i'm genuinely not. you deserve someone better, y/n. if i had a heart i would've given it all to you but i wouldn't want you to have my ugly heart." mingi explained himself, slightly tearing up. "who said that" you laughed while pinching his cheeks.

"myself. i've never told you this honestly" you tilted your head, hands still on his cheeks. poking it repeatedly to lighten up the mood. "when that joohyuk guy tried to get close to you, i was the one who made him walk away" he revealed the truth. ever since you became friends with him, he developed a slight sense of protection. he wanted you to himself and he loathed it when anyone tried to get close to you.

"you have severe commitment issues, man" you laughed at him. "aight, i'm guilty of that" he raised his hands to the air jokingly. "this would be the last we'll be like this, hmm?" you asked, gazing at the ceiling. "yeah" was all mingi could mutter before he pulls you in for a cuddle. you didn't reject it. you were letting go of him, it was for your best. it hurts but you couldn't continue putting yourself in that situation. it would only hurt more if you stayed.

"i love you, please know that" mingi mutters before kissing your forehead. why? why did he have to be like this? but perhaps this was the universe's way of telling you that not everything can go in the way you want. it hurts so much, gosh, you felt like crying in his embrace but you held it in. you held everything in.

"i love you, it's bad for me song mingi" was all you could say to him. that day, the blurred lines between your relationship was removed and made clear once again. that you were just his friend, nothing more, nothing less.

...

it's a friday night after work when you decided to tag along with your coworkers to a nearby fancy bar that had just opened. work has been brutal lately. clients have been coming continuously and amidst all the chaos, you're grateful things are going well at your work. you're also thankful that the team you're taking charge of are also very cooperative and professional. making the brutal workload sort of easier for you to handle. it has also been 5 years since you graduated university. you haven't had the chance to meet any of your friends post graduation, mainly because a lot of them got work opportunities abroad. that's why you genuinely didn't expect to see song mingi in front of the bar you and your coworkers went to. he's changed a lot from the last time you saw him. his hair no longer black like the last time you saw him but was now brown. his figure also got bigger but one thing stayed the same. he was still the song mingi, your first love.

"hey, i'm gonna catch up for a bit, chat me where you guys are sitting later okay?" you separated yourself from your coworkers, walking up to strike a conversation with mingi. the man you've let go but still definitely missed.

"mingi?" his eyes that was focused on his phone shot up to you. he seemed surprised to see you, to the point he dropped the single cigar his left hand was holding. "y/n?" he asked, surprised.

"i thought you'd go to the states with yunho?" you walked closer, now standing in front of him. "n-no, wait, do i look okay?" he scurried to open the camera app to look at himself. he looked like a loser getting worried over nothing.

"you've grown a lot huh?" you tilted your head to tease him. "now what does that supposed to mean, little missy?" he teased you back. you two laughed together and catch up on what you've missed. turns out he did went to the states with yunho post graduation. however, he went back as his father decided it'd be good for him to take charge of the family business, thus why he's here again.

"did you change your number?" mingi asked you. "oh, yeah. my old phone broke so i had to change it" you explained yourself. he then offered his phone and you immediately typed in your new number for him.

"you with your friends?" he asked. you nodded before clarifying that they were your coworkers. "i see" he mumbled before opening his arms. you immediately went into his embrace. the two of you shared a hug in front of a bar. it was silly to explain but it was great.

"missed you so much" mingi pulled you closer to his embrace. you patted his back and returned the same sentiment. "okay, enough. your coworkers are probably looking for you" he pulled back and patted your head. you nodded before bidding goodbyes. you had many questions for him but you had no time.

"mingi" you called out to him. "yeah?" he replied. "a meal next time?" you asked him and he agreed. so you bid goodbyes and you entered the bar.

...

two weeks passed and today was the day you and mingi were going out to catch up with each other. he insisted on picking you up after work, so you allowed him to. when the clock hits 6 PM straight, you left for work to see the same white harley davidson you first rode on a random friday after school at 18.

"you still have this?" you laughed at mingi before taking the helmet he gave you. "why would i get rid of it?" he scoffed before starting the machine. "come on, hop on" you hopped on the bike. you didn't struggle this time though because the years of being friends with mingi definitely trained you to hop on and off tall bikes. you then put your hands to envelope mingi's waist, so you don't fall off the bike. butterflies were flying off your stomach at this point, but again. you didn't expect anything. there wasn't much to expect from since the beginning anyway.

the two of you then arrived in a cozy little restaurant that you used to go to with him a lot. "i haven't been here in a while" you commented as you got off the bike. "mhm, it's far from your place" he held your hands to make sure you weren't falling off the bike. these little gestures were why you fell for him in the first place.

you both went into the restaurant and sat at the corner seat where you used to seat a lot. when you ordered, the owner actually remembered you and mingi so it was a pleasant experience to have some sort of nostalgia. it has been 5 years and many have changed but at the same time, it just feels like nothing has changed.

you both ordered your own foods just like you'd always do. the dinner went on a comfortable silence. just like the old days, but you're no longer youths now. you've both grown into full fledged adults now.

"so, you're like a CEO now?" you asked mingi while still munching on the fried rice you ordered. "sort of? i mean my father is still the head, i'm just like managing things here and there" he explained his job. mingi actually came from golden spoon but he isn't the type to show it off at all. he preferred to be quiet about it since he valued honesty in friendships, not wanting to have friends just because of his money.

"how about you?" he asked, eyes fully on you now. "i'm just a team leader at a food company" you then explained your job and also ranted about your job perhaps but you digress. "that's good. i'm glad you're doing well" he stated, smiling. "i'm also glad you're doing well too" you replied to him.

"but, i don't remember you like smoking? didn't you hate it?" you asked him. "i only smoke sometimes, not all the time. just when i feel like it you know?" he explains. you remember when hongjoong made him try cigarettes for the first time and how mingi absolutely loathed it, coughing endlessly before pledging he'd never touch it again, but here we are ironically. "you don't cough now because of it?" you scoffed to tease him about it. "oh come on, i've grown" he laughed.

the entire meal went by like a flash. it was a great nostalgia. the food tasted the same as you remembered and when you finished, he paid for your meals. you tried asking him to split the bill but he refused to. well, he's always been that type so you just let him.

"you wanna go elsewhere?" he asked you. "where?" you asked him back. "my place, i just moved into a new place and well, i have a dog now. i wanted to introduce you to her" you tilted your head and laughed at his invitation. "mingi-ya, you're not slick you know?" you laughed so hard, you threw your entire body back. he only laughed slightly at your reaction. "come on, do you want to or not?" you held back your laughters before nodding. thus, the two of you were off to mingi's place.

...

when you arrived, turns out he now lived in a sky penthouse in the elite area. well, you weren't shocked. he was a golden spoon after all, but yeah it was still shocking to experience it. he lived in the 18th floor and when he opened the door, you were immediately greeted by a small pekingese dog.

"awww!!! what's its' namee?" you kneeled down to play with the dog in the foyer. "bbyongie" mingi utters while taking your coat and his to place it in the coat hanger. "aww, is it a he or she?" you asked again. "he" mingi walks off to sit at the couch. "come on, bbyong-ah come over" and with that the dog immediately went to mingi and played with him. you took the chance to take off your shoes and put your bags on the hanger.

"a penthouse huh?" you finally got the time to look at his new place. "you like it?" mingi asked you while playing with bbyongie. "mhm, if i had the money i'd get a place like this" you laughed while walking to look at the kitchen area. "this huge kitchen, do you even cook?" you teased him. "y/n. my mom owns a restaurant. of course i can cook you dimwit" he stood up to follow you on your little tour of his place.

"what's this room?" you pointed at the room next to the kitchen, not realizing he was standing behind you. when you realized that he was though, you moved away in shock. "that's not a room, that's the pantry" mingi explained while opening the pantry for you to see. "ohh okay" you moved on to look at the other rooms. he actually gave you a whole house tour. it was funny but like, this house was big and it was interesting to see how your friend has been living up.

"upstairs?" you asked. "just my room" he answered. you nodded and didn't go up the stairs, wanting to value his privacy. "don't wanna see?" he asked you. you tilted your head, confusedly. what was he trying to imply? is he oblivious or is he being sly?. "why would i see your bedroom dummy" you shrugged it off and went to play with bbyongie once again.

"i haven't dated anyone after we broke it off" he states simply. your hands that was playing with bbyongie stopped and you leaned back on the couch. "so? what is that supposed to mean for me, mingi?" you asked him. you weren't oblivious and you were certainly more than able to put two and two together but you kind of refused to. were you ready to have that type of relationship again with mingi? even if he commits to you now, were you ready? you genuinely don't know thus why you were acting nonchalant.

"don't pretend like you don't know what i mean" he was standing next to you now. "was this your plan?" you asked him. he nodded. "it was now or never you know?" he laughed slightly.

"you know, i don't know. even if you are willing to commit now mingi, i don't know." you bite your lips before looking down. he walked to your front and leaned on to you. "give me a second chance, would you? i'll prove it to you" his face was only a few centimetres away from you. if you moved your head forward slightly, your lips would've touched but you did the opposite. you pulled back slightly.

"convince me?" you pouted slightly before looking up at him. giving him a signal, that he can do what he wants. understanding this he carried you upstairs immediately, leaving bbyongie confused downstairs.

when you reached his bedroom, he immediately pushed you down his bed and locked lips with yours. "min- ah, wait" you tugged on his shirt. he was getting aggressive and it wasn't a pace you're used to, so you were out of breath. he pulled back, noticing you were struggling to breathe.

"did the 5 years of not getting laid made you rusty, huh?" he teased you. you slapped his arms immediately. he wasn't wrong but that was uncalled for. "sorry" he chuckled before enveloping you in another kiss. this time softer and gentler. your hands moved from his arms to grab on his hair. this earned a groan from him and ultimately deepened the whole interaction. you could feel your lips getting puffy by the time you were both out of breath.

"missed this so much" he moved to nuzzle on your shoulders now. pressing soft kisses to it before nipping on it, leaving red marks that you definitely need to cover with concealers tomorrow. "you don't have work tomorrow right?" you shook your head. "good" then he continued to do what he was doing, this time rougher.

"hey, just because i don't have work doesn't mean you can go ham on marking you dimwit" you pulled his hair to pull his face from your shoulders. "sorry, just this once please" he was begging with puppy eyes. you pinched his nose before sighing. you were weak to his puppy eyes, so you just let him be.

"minmin" you called out. he stopped to look at you. "before i let you do more, what are we?" you cupped his cheeks. unlike last time where he hesitated on his answers, he was smiling now. "lovers? if you want to" he answered your question with a big grin on his face. "learned your lesson now huh?" you joked while pinching his cheeks. "yes, i'm sorry so let me love you, okay?" he begged. you nodded before encircling your arms on his back to bring him to another kiss.

hesitancy out of the window, just pure love present in the room. if you thought everything was ephemeral, you were proven wrong. perhaps everything happened because you both weren't ready. but now that you are, the universe has decided to bring you together.

toujours et pour toujours.

(always and forever)

the end.

[notesonartistry]

Taylor Swift's road to fame

Behind the scenes of the teen sensation's career, from guitar lessons to sold-out shows

By Chris Willman

Updated February 05, 2008 at 05:00 AM EST

”I love turning on pop radio and hearing my song,” allows Taylor Swift, the 18-year-old country music sensation. ”But,” she adds, mindful of her base, ”I don’t look at it as crossover as much as spillover.”

Her cup definitely runneth over. In 2007, Swift’s debut album was one of the top 10 all-genre SoundScan sellers. And all those sales came in while a lot of non-country-lovers had yet to hear of her…or, if they had, were still asking, ”Taylor Swift? Who’s he?” She’s harder to escape now: Besides several smash hits at country radio, she’s moved into the upper levels of the Top 40 format with a remix of her heartbreak ballad ”Teardrops on My Guitar.” (In recent years, only Carrie Underwood, with ”Before He Cheats,” has successfully managed that leap.) MTV is even playing it. And since the album has such legs, it’s a good bet to cross the triple-platinum mark, almost unheard of in this era of plunging record sales. She’s got to be the most popular high school senior in America right now. So: teardrops, schmeardrops… Did being 18 ever suck any less?

But she wasn’t always the belle of the ball, personally or professionally; those rejection anthems she’s so adept at writing weren’t penned purely as fiction. We profiled the rising siren in this week’s issue of EW. But for this exclusive EW.com bonus feature, we also talked with some of the people who were with her on the way up, including her mother, manager, and label president, to find out some of the strategizing that went into achieving one of the last year’s few true musical success stories.

NEXT PAGE: From karaoke to Nashville

The chipmunk years. ”When I was 10, or younger than that, even, I would watch these biographies on Faith Hill or the Dixie Chicks or Shania Twain or LeAnn Rimes, and the thing I kept hearing was that they had to go to Nashville,” Swift remembers. She talked her parents into letting her fly out for a visit. ”I took my demo CDs of karaoke songs, where I sound like a chipmunk — it’s pretty awesome — and my mom waited in the car with my little brother while I knocked on doors up and down Music Row. I would say, ‘Hi, I’m Taylor. I’m 11; I want a record deal. Call me.”’ They didn’t. (But you have to wonder how many of the folks who answered those doors suddenly flashed back to that moment when they saw a grown-up Swift screaming over her Best New Artist nod at the Grammy nominations press conference.)

Rather than discouraging her, that rejection was like rocket fuel. It dawned on her that karaoke-style singing wasn’t going to cut it at any age; she needed to become a full-fledged guitar-picking singer/songwriter. ”She came back from that trip to Nashville and realized she needed to be different, and part of that would be to learn the guitar,” says her mother, Andrea Swift. Earlier, she had tried picking up an acoustic guitar and had no interest in it, but things had changed. ”Now, at 12, she saw a 12-string guitar and thought it was the coolest thing. And of course we immediately said, ‘Oh no, absolutely not, your fingers are too small — not till you’re much older will you be able to play the 12-string guitar.’ Well, that was all it took. Don’t ever say never or can’t do to Taylor. She started playing it four hours a day — six on the weekends. She would get calluses on her fingers and they would crack and bleed, and we would tape them up and she’d just keep on playing. That’s all she played, till a couple of years later, which was the first time she ever picked up a six-string guitar. And when she did, it was like, wow, this is really easy!”

She started writing, too. Two of the songs she’d recorded (”The Outside,” on her debut album, and ”Christmas Must Mean Something More,” from a Target-exclusive Christmas EP she released) were written when she was 12. When she went back to Nashville with her own songs in tow, people took notice: At 13, she signed a development deal with RCA Records, working with that label’s Joe Galante and Renee Bell, a couple of legendary figures in town. But when the deal came up for renewal after a year, she opted out, because she felt she’d have to record outside material if she got to the point of cutting her debut — and at 14, she was already married to the idea of only recording material she had a hand in writing. Not coincidentally, at 14, she became the youngest person ever signed to the major songwriting company in Nashville, Sony/ATV Publishing.

NEXT PAGE: Taking chances

Nashville acceptance, hometown alienation. Swift started to feel cut off from some of her friends, since she was writing songs while they were either playing soccer or partying. ”A lot of people ask me, how did you have the courage to walk up to record labels when you were 12 or 13 and jump right into the music industry? It’s because I knew I could never feel the kind of rejection that I felt in middle school. Because in the music industry, if they’re gonna say no to you, at least they’re gonna be polite about it.” (Being unusually tall for her age, or any age — she’s now 5’11”, without her cowboy boot heels — may have made her more of a junior high outcast.)

Now that she had publishing and recording deals in hand, she convinced her parents, when she was in the eighth grade, that it was time to move where the action is. ”I was from a small town, and nobody really expects you to leave, especially before you graduate. That doesn’t happen. I actually went back a couple months ago and played a sold-out show in my hometown, and it was amazing; ever since all this stuff started happening, the people in Pennsylvania have been the most supportive people I’ve ever known. But I wouldn’t change a thing about growing up and not exactly fitting in. If I had been popular, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to leave.”

The Swifts never pushed their daughter toward a music career, and the family uprooted itself from the Christmas-tree farm where they lived only after it was clear that her stockbroker dad could do his job just as effectively down South. ”I never wanted to make that move about her ‘making it,”’ says her mom, Andrea. ”Because what a horrible thing if it hadn’t happened, for her to carry that kind of guilt or pressure around. And we moved far enough outside Nashville [to nearby Hendersonville] to where she didn’t have to be going to school with producers’ kids and label presidents’ kids and be reminded constantly that she was struggling to make it. We’ve always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true. There would always be an escape hatch into normal life if she decided this wasn’t something she had to pursue. And of course that’s like saying to her, ‘If you want to stop breathing, that’s cool.”’

After getting out of her RCA deal, Swift found a believer in Scott Borchetta, who was then a big cheese at the Universal label group. ”I thought, ‘Oh, awesome, I’m gonna get to deal with Universal!’ I get this call a couple of weeks later, after I do this showcase and Scott’s on board and everything’s rocking. He goes, ‘I have good news and bad news. The good news is I want to sign you, and the bad news is I’m not gonna be with Universal Records anymore.’ Because he was leaving to start up this whole new record label.” She took a chance and went with what would become a new powerhouse indie label, Big Machine, figuring that at least she’d get more individual attention there. ”They only had 10 employees at the record label to start out with, so when they were releasing my first single, my mom and I came in to help stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio. We sat out on the floor and did it because there wasn’t furniture at the label yet.”

NEXT PAGE: The viral marketing plan

The MySpace triumph. Swift’s album wasn’t Big Machine’s first release, or even its first relative success. Another early signing, Texas rocker Jack Ingram, had a song go to No. 1 on the country chart — but he still didn’t sell boatloads of albums. That would be up to Swift, and her success would help little Big Machine go on to become Garth Brooks’ new label, not to mention giving Borchetta the heft to sign Jewel (one of Swift’s childhood influences) to a country deal.

”The story that everyone is gonna tell with Taylor is her use of technology and viral marketing techniques — MySpace and texting — that are non-traditional for the country format,” says RJ Curtis, country editor for the weekly trade magazine Radio & Records. ”This kind of flies in the face of how to market a new artist from Nashville. It’s partly her being in that life group and using the things teens use to communicate and spread music around, but her label had a lot of savvy in that area too.”

But Swift’s manager, Rick Barker, gives the singer and her family most of the credit for working the Web. ”The parents already had her MySpace and her website up and running,” he says. ”The mom and dad both have great marketing minds. I don’t want to say fake it until you make it, but when you looked at her stuff, it was very professional even before she got her deal. And we put her music up there on MySpace before it was out, to help decide what was gonna be on the record. ‘Our Song’ made it to the record because of MySpace.” That song has been her biggest radio hit to date — written about her first real romance, premiered at her ninth-grade talent show, and nearly lost to the cutting room floor. ”If you notice the running order on the record, ‘Our Song’ is No. 11,” the manager points out. ”It was the last song added to the album, and a lot of that had to do with buzz that was being created on MySpace.”

Once the album was actually finished and ready for promotion, MySpace came in even handier. ”People laughed at me,” says Big Machine founder-president Borchetta. ”They said, ‘You’re starting a new record label and you signed a 15-year-old female country singer — good for you! You have a teenager — there’s a lot of those on country radio. You have a new female artist — there’s a lot of those on country radio.’ They were looking at me like I had two strikes. But I knew we didn’t want to count on country radio out of the box. So we went heavy on TV, putting the video out before the single, and doing a special with [cable channel] GAC, and we went heavy on her MySpace and online stuff. By the time we got to country radio, we said: We have you surrounded and you don’t even know it.”

It still wasn’t an easy sell. ”Her records are not records that researched fantastically,” says R&R‘s Curtis — and he ought to know, because when Swift’s single ”Tim McGraw” was first coming out in late 2006, he was then the program director of L.A.’s KZLA, and one of the guys balking at putting her on the air. ”But the radio guys hung in there because anybody who’s programming a station wants to get some younger listeners. Country does a good job of naturally getting 35-plus listeners, so getting someone who fits the image of the 18-to-34-year-old, that’s an asset. There’s a need for [youthfulness] in the format. When Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich and the whole Muzik Mafia thing came along a few years ago, I said that, for the first time since the Garth phenomenon in the early ’90s, there seems to be a real movement happening here. It didn’t last long, because it was more of a fad than a trend; Gretchen really only had that one huge hit, and while Big & Rich have continued to have big songs, it’s been with their more traditional-sounding ballads. But there is definitely a need for a younger artist, younger feel.” Curtis thinks Swift’s adolescent-themed songs have a dual appeal to older and more youthful listeners: ”A lot of the theme of the album is first love, and those are things everybody can get sentimental about, no matter the demo. With things like ‘Our Song,’ a lot of people can relate because it takes them back to their innocent years — and in her case, she just happens to be living her innocent years right now.”

Barker, her manager, offers up some specifics about how they used MySpace to make the Taylor Case to radio. ”Radio does research, and we have no idea who they’re researching, but it was saying people weren’t digging ‘Tim McGraw.’ So we had to go out and create our own research — and that’s what we did with MySpace. What she did was put up a blog on her MySpace that said, ‘Guys, I would like to thank whatever station you’re hearing my song on.’ And people started telling us” — even with stations that were only tentatively programming the song in the middle of the night. ”We were able to take those comments back to radio in individual markets and say, ‘You’re saying researching is telling you it’s not doing that great, but here are 85 people who are telling us they love your station because you played ‘Tim McGraw.’ What MySpace and online told radio stations was: She’s already familiar to your audience. And radio loves familiarity.

”MySpace allowed us to tell the story about Taylor. And it really is her space,” adds Barker. ”She wrote her bio, writes her blogs, and if someone gets commented back to, it’s from Taylor. A lot of times, you can tell it’s somebody else hired to sit there at a computer. Taylor’s space is her space — that’s our secret.”

NEXT PAGE: Embracing the fame

Taylormania. On a brisk night in late January of 2008, the nexus for all this popularity is the Rabobank Theatre, a sold-out 3,000-seater in inland California where Swift is doing a headlining show. About a third of the way back, one delusionally hopeful suitor holds up a sign with his plea: ”PROM? 343-7547.” In the front row, a college-aged dude in a cowboy hat patiently waits for a break in the shrieking before finally blurting out, with half-shy boisterousness, ”Taylor, you’re hot!” But it’s hard for a male fan to get a word in edgewise when the young women in the house spend the entire show standing and screaming, much as their little sisters would for Hannah Montana. There are enough kids and parents on hand that it’s clear she has some appeal to the Disney Channel demographic, as well as to the 17- to 25-year-olds who make up most of the audience, though she writes about adolescent romance not as an aspirant but a fellow survivor. Swift represents the countrified missing link between Miley Cyrus and Alanis Morissette.

She is introducing her soon-to-be-released fourth single, the gleefully vengeful ”Picture to Burn,” which, like many of her songs, was inspired by an old school flame she refers to as ”Bad Cheater Guy.” Swift’s so impressed by the screaming, while going into her nightly spiel about getting back at the boys who spurned her, she adds a nod to tonight’s host city. ”Please know that I try to be a really nice person, in general,” she says as her band vamps through the intro. ”But, if you break my heart, or if you hurt my feelings — or ANY OF MY FRIENDS FROM BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA — well, I will have to write a song about you!” Total eruption, as she marches across the stage in her spangly sun dress and cowboy boots, strumming on her six-string and singing: ”I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive/ You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying…”

Before the show, we watched her pose for photos for an hour at a meet-and-greet full of fan-club and radio-contest winners. (That’s nothing, for her; at most of the hundreds of shows she’s played so far, she stayed afterward to sign autographs till the last fan was gone, which might last anywhere from two-and-a-half to four hours. But as the crowds grow, those late-night signings are becoming increasingly more difficult to work in.) It’s clear that Swift doesn’t have the steeliness of a lot of starlets her age who were groomed for that by their parents almost from birth. Maybe because this whole massive career thing was her idea, she’s still digging it. When a little kid approaches, she gets down on her nyloned knees and cranes her neck in so that it is pressed against the tot’s. In pretty much every picture, she will look like that person’s conjoined twin. Every so often, with someone closer to her own age, she’ll say, ”Let’s do a funny one,” and urge the fan to screw up his or her face with her.

”She can’t go now to a store without having people come up to her — which she loves,” says her mom, Andrea. ”It makes her day when she’s gone somewhere and people have come up to her and said, ‘I love your music — can I take a picture?’ She’s always grabbing the camera and going, ‘Come here’ and getting the MySpace shot, holding the camera and posing together. She likes that attention. I think where she differs from some people who get to that spot and realize that they don’t really like their privacy sort of being restricted — well, for her that’s not an issue.

”But she never in her life ever said, ‘I want to be famous’ or ‘I want to be rich’ or ‘I want to be a star.’ Those words absolutely never came out of her mouth. If they had, I would have said, ‘Honey, maybe you’re doing it kind of for the wrong reasons.’ For her, the happiest I ever see her is just after she’s written a killer song. As a parent, I felt really good about that. If that’s where she draws happiness from, she’ll have that the rest of her life. She’s not always gonna have the awards, or the attention, or the celebrity, but she will always have the ability to write a song.”

”She has the combination of that 30-year-old business mentality with a real innocence,” says R&R‘s Curtis. But can country fans and programmers — who tend to be a little bit territorial — expect to keep Swift to themselves? Will the pop crossover success get to her? ”We’re talking about an 18-year-old, so it’s hard to know for sure what she’ll be doing five years from now,” Curtis says. ”But just from talking with her, I would say that her value system is a really good fit for country.” And though MTV recently did its first airing of her ”Teardrops on My Guitar” video on TRL, it did look a little bit uncharacteristically wholesome, programmed between Britney and Pitbull, so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out.

In the meantime, there’s still high school to finish up — home-schooled version, while her mom accompanies her on some dates this spring, when she’ll be opening an arena tour for Rascal Flatts. Says Swift, ”I already finished most of my course work, so I just have two electives left.” Which are? ”Public speaking and vocal performance. I guess I’m kind of coasting.”

[baldmultiverse]

Finally watching (currently 21 min in) the last episode of supernatural after procrastinating it for … uh two years and anyways I was n o t missing out lmao this ending is trash

[mitchiegonewild]

bitchie mitchies aot cinematic universe part 3

armin used to both read and write omegaverse fanfics

jean was planning to ask mikasa out at a ruby tuesdays and he hired a small band to play “when a man loves a woman” to play bc he was so sure she’d say yes. she rejected his ass and they both stared at each other awkwardly the entire song

connie listens to edm music and headbangs 

mikasa had a plastic halloween rat named templeton that she carried around EVERYWHERE until she was like 12

reiner twerks on instagram live and annie roasts the living shit out of him

hitch had a singing insta account in 7th grade and it’s so bad

connie, sasha, and armin all went to furcon and got wasted. had the time of their fuckin lives

eren made a fan account for himself and told people that it was a secret admirer 

annie broke up with armin in the middle of the minions movie

armin has an UNHEALTHY sonic obsession 

sasha makes cupcakke remixes 

armin had a walten files phase

at night eren pisses in a glass jar he keeps by his bed and pours it out in the morning

eren doesn’t own a hairbrush 

hange forced moblit to go through a haunted house with them and he cried

when armin and annie dated and kissed for the first time, annie immediately said “oh ew”

levi fell through an attic floor once

erwin used to regularly get high off of flonase so he could finish late night assignments in high school

sasha threw up from nerves on shadis while getting drug tested by him. her test came back negative 

reiner will randomly shoot straight up and gasp for air and then lay back down like nothing happened while sleeping

reiner has a psychology book that he carries around everywhere and pretends to read it when he’s alone to look cool

erwin gave connie a pair of his chanel heels left over from his drag years for christmas 

marco got hit with a firework while playing guitar at their fourth of july party

armin got stung by a wasp and was crying so hard that everyone thought he was having another allergic reaction

ymir and connie have INTENSE just dance competitions 

in one of those competitions, sasha tried to join and broke her ankle

reiner is a BARB!!!!!!

bertholdt had a cavetown phase and then had to destroy all the evidence after the anti semitic/racist tweets resurfaced

jeans dog unalived itself on accident and connie laughed

eren used to pretend to sleep talk at sleepovers 

mikasa literally cannot share with anybody unless it’s sasha 

one year for halloween they did a group costume as the peanuts and made connie go as charlie brown

armin’s BeReal notification went off at his parents funeral and he took the photo

connie has gotten permanently banned from roblox for telling kids to stuff themselves in an oven 

ymir also bullies children but she’s entirely more creative about her insults so she doesn’t get banned

jean was an ASSHOLE in middle school like he was the kid you wanted to bodyslam into the water fountain

hitch does the “who?” “no who asked” thing

gabi plays rocket league with reiner and cusses out full grown adults so badly that reiner has to mute her when she loses

all of the non-adult dudes have seen each other’s penises because they wanted to rate them. reiner won 1st place

hange eats their own fingernails 

armin has a list of who he would and wouldn’t save in the event of a zombie apocalypse based on usefulness. he won’t tell anybody where they stand, but just tells eren “i love you so much” whenever he asks

armin had literal headgear braces from 5th-9th grade

sasha did the cinnamon challenge and almost choked to death and had to go to the hospital 

[comehereduck]

I read this manwha called Carrier Falcon Princess, so I thought "hey, this would be a good AU for NHS."

- NHS goes comatose after Xuanwu cave and the Wen keep him hostage to keep NMJ in check. Did this happen because saber spirits? Qi deviation? Magic birds that NHS saved? Who knows 🤷‍♀️

- NHS wakes up in a cage and realizes that he is a birb now but where is he?

-Some dude takes him out of his cage and he takes the chance to escape only to run beak-first into NMJ... only NMJ snatches birb!NHS from the air and tells the falconer to take better care of the messenger falcons because the Wen keep killing them.

- Somehow NHS manages to sneak into Da-ge's tent to find out wtf happened to him and this happens enough for NMJ to get suspicious about this shady bird. Is it a Wen bird? Is it trained to carry top secret missives to Nightless City?

- NMJ keeps a close eye on the bird and tries feeding it, but "Ew! Da-ge, I don't want to eat worms!" Nie Zhonghui suggests that maybe it doesn't eat worms and brings NHS dead mice instead. The bird throws a tantrum until they bring in NMJ's food and they notice that the bird wants to eat that. They feed him cooked meat and breadcrumbs.

- “Where’s NHS when you need him?”

-”SQUAK!!!”

- NHS proves to be a very smart bird, but NMJ is still suspicious, so he sends the bird to a camp near a Wen camp. If the Wen attack the bird then it's not an enemy bird; if it dies, then the missive isn't that important anyway.

- NHS completes his first erand but his wing gets injured. NMJ's suspicions are cleared, and he starts treating the bird better, like a pet.

- NMJ starts talking to the bird but thinks it's ridiculous and maybe it's because he's worried about NHS being comatose, alone, and a Wen hostage, and here is this bird who reminds him of his didi.

- On one occasion, bird!Huaisang flies over a Wen camp and when he returns, he tries to tell NMJ the layout of the camp, and this becomes part of his job.

- NMJ still gets captured but not before he frees the bird. Or maybe NHS was on an errand when NMJ was captured. Anyway, NHS flies to Nightless City, somehow finds his comatose body.

- Maybe NHS returns to his body when the falcon makes contact.

- ... or maybe not.

- Somehow, bird!Huaisang manages to convince NMJ that he turned into a bird, but idk how that happens.

- the banquets happens as in canon but...

- Maybe they need WWX to help them turn NHS back? Which leads to agreements between NMJ, WWX, and WQ.

- and maybe WWX also does somethi ng about the saber spirits.

- wangxian happens because someone needs to play cleansing for NMJ while WWX does his experiments, and while JGY volunteers, LWJ also volunteers because Wei Ying is staying in Qinghe. LXC cannot deny his baby brother his chance at romance, so sorry A-Yao, you can't flex your fresh cleansing remix on NMJ.

- the falcon dies in the manhwa, but maybe it lives in this AU, and NHS keeps it as a pet.

- or better yet, NMJ keeps it as a pet and birds become the Nie bros bonding activity from now on.

- Bonus: JGS dies. Idk how, but he dies; I don't make the rules.

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: G

Summary: XY tries to steal Luka's non-existent gym badges.  Instead, they both end up making a new friend.  (For @luxyweek day 3: Pokemon)

Word Count: 2071

XXX

Luka woke up to a stranger rummaging in his bag.

He should’ve known better than to fall asleep in the Pokémon Center, especially in a city as big as Lumiose.  Exhaustion after a late concert was no excuse to be careless.  Even if crime was rarer after the takedown of Team Flare, there were still unorganized thieves around.

Like this idiot who thought Luka was an easy target.

“C’mon, he’s gotta have at least one…” The idiot was mumbling.

Without opening his eyes, Luka slowly moved his hand to his pocket.  He pulled out the one pokéball he had on him.

“Who the heck carries so many metronome items…?” 

While the thief was distracted, Luka pressed the button on his pokéball.  One click, and his Loudred burst free.

“GWAHHHH!!!”  She boomed, and the thief jumped back with a shriek.

“Wh-h-hey!” he stammered.  Luka finally got a good look at him.  Tall blonde hair, tacky outfit—was this some remixed Team Flare grunt after all?  He was wearing purple rather than red, though.

“That’s an, uh, nice dude you got there.”  He eyed Luka’s Loudred dubiously.

“Symphony is a girl.”  He scratched her behind the ear, and she made a low rumble.

“Uh.  Nice babe then.”

Luka snorted.  Why had this thief bothered to stick around?  He thought he’d have run off by now.  Luka really hoped he wasn’t going to have to battle.  Symphony had worked hard enough tonight.

“Why were you looking through my bag?”

“Pshaw, I wasn’t doing that.  Besides, you don’t have anything useful.”

Wow.  This guy really was an idiot.  The Team Flare grunts were never too smart, either.  Just a bunch of kids who got mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Well, Luka was no trainer like the ones who’d busted them up last year.  But maybe he could keep one kid from following down that road.

“What do you count as useful?”  Luka asked.  “Money?  Items?  Pokémon?”

“Maybe Pokémon would be useful, if they’d stop being haters and listen to me.”  The guy crossed his arms and pouted.

“...So you’re not a trainer?”  Luka glanced around the Pokémon Center.  Everyone else was very determined to mind their own business.  Not that Luka needed their help to deal with a guy who couldn’t even use his own Pokémon, but still.  Someone could’ve tried.

“I’m going to be a trainer.  Just as soon as I steal a badge and get this Zorro dude to listen to me.”

Luka raised an eyebrow.  “Zorro dude?”

“Yeah.  Dark type?  Sick red ponytail?  Likes to copy me and make me look stupid?”

He sat up straighter.  “You have a Zoroark?”

That Pokémon was rare enough to border on legendary.  They didn’t even live in the Kalos region.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”  The guy looked at Luka like he was stupid.

“How did you catch a Zoroark if it won’t even listen to you?”

“Dad gave ‘im to me.  He wants me to get famous here, but it’s harder to fake battles than I thought.”  He sighed dramatically and sunk to the seat next to Luka.

Clearly the ‘get famous’ plan wasn’t working.  Luka had no idea who he was.  At least he was pretty sure he wasn’t a Team Flare grunt, though.

“And you’re telling me this… after trying to rob me… why…?”

“Cause you asked.”

Luka blinked.  “Touché.”

He gave Symphony one last pat, then returned her to her pokéball.

“Traded Pokémon won’t listen to you without badges,” he told the would-be thief.  “And I don’t have any of those, if that’s what you were looking for.”

“Really?  But you look—”  The guy gestured to all of him.  “Y’know.  Cool.  Tough.”

“Thanks? I guess?  I’m just a musician, though.”  He patted his guitar next to him.  It was pretty telling that this guy hadn’t tried to steal that.  “I only battle if I have to.”

“Huh.  Well that’s pretty cool too, I guess.”  The guy shrugged.  “I did Pokémon Contests in Hoenn for a while.  Before I got banned for using holograms.”

Luka raised an eyebrow.  “Any other international crimes you want to confess to?”

“Crashed my boat into a herd of Luvdisc in Alola.  But that was an accident.  How was I supposed to know they were endangered?”

“I was being sarcastic, man.”  Luka shook his head.  “Nevermind.  Come on.”

He stood and hoisted his guitar over his shoulder.

“Huh?  Where are we going?”  The guy trotted after him.

“To catch you a Pokémon.  Before you get yourself kicked out of another country.”

XXX

The stranger’s name was XY.  It stood for Xavier-Yves.  It didn’t sound like an Unovan name, but that was still the least weird thing about the guy.  Maybe that was just a pseudonym.  He probably needed one after all of his criminal acts, accidental or not.

“Alright, XY.”  Luka stood knee-deep in the grass of Route 4.  “You’re going to be borrowing Symphony for this.  Borrowing.  If you run off with her, she’ll suplex you into the ground.”

XY eyed the Loudred next to him.  Sweat beaded on his forehead.

“Got it, Mr. Couffaine.”

“Just Luka is fine.”  He sighed.  This was such a weird way to be spending the night after a concert, but it was still better than going home.

“Got it, Mr. Luka.”

Close enough.

“Alright, now follow me into the grass.”

“I can’t do that!  That’s where the Pokémon are!”

Luka rolled his eyes.  “That’s the point.  You’re going to catch one.”

“I thought you were going to catch me one.  Because you’re cool and sexy like that.”

“Flattery’s not getting you out of this.”  Luka grabbed his wrist and tugged him into the grass, Symphony following behind them.

XY squealed again.  “But what if they eat me!”

“We’re on Route 4, dude.  The biggest Pokémon out here is a Skitty.”

“...Those things eat meat, right?”

“No.”  Even if they did, they would probably know better than to eat XY.  They didn’t know where he’d been.

“If I die, you’re paying for my funeral,” XY grumbled, even though he’d already gone off on four tangents about how rich his dad was.  Luka didn’t even bother responding.

Suddenly XY screamed again.  A few Fletching flew out of the red flower patch.  At this rate, they’d never catch anything.

“What is it this ti—oh.”  Luka blinked down at the tiny Pokémon clinging to XY’s ankle.  “It’s just a Flabébé.”

The little girl seemed to have mistaken XY’s socks for a flower.  She was shuddering, cowering against the fabric even as XY tried to shake her off.

“Dude, cut it out.”  Luka gripped him by the shoulders.  “This is perfect.  She already likes you.”

“Y-you think so?”  XY set his foot back on the ground.  The Flabébé tentatively looked up.

“You might not even need Symphony to weaken her.  Here.”  Luka took out a pokéball, but hesitated to hand it over.  “Are you going to take good care of her if I give you this?”

“What gives, man?”  XY snatched the ball.  “You were gonna teach me about catching Pokémon, not about, like, parenting stuff.”

Luka hadn’t thought this through enough before seeing the little Flabébé.  He couldn’t in good conscience condemn her to a life with XY without knowing that he would treat her right.

“Are you staying in Lumiose?  I live at the edge of the city.  I could come check on her.  Just to make sure she’s not giving you too much trouble.”

“I didn’t know you were gonna want joint custody.”  XY smirked.  “But sure, whatever.  Can’t complain if you want to do half my work for me.”

He knelt down and tapped the Flabébé on her head.

“You are just a little thing, aren’t you?”  He let out a nasal laugh.  “How do you feel about me being your new dad?”

“Please don’t say it like that.”  Luka groaned.

The Flabébé fluttered into XY’s palm and nudged the pokéball.  Wow.  She must really have no standards.

“Sorry.  Me and Lu are gonna be your new dads.”  XY grinned.

“Aaaand that’s even worse.”

The Flabébé looked at Luka.  He looked at her.  She looked at him.  He looked at her.

“...I’m not being your other dad.”

Symphony blasted out a honk of laughter.  He glared at her.

“Don’t make me put you back in the pokéball.”

She just smiled innocently.

“Okay, okay.  Shut up.  We’re doing this.”  XY took a deep breath and pressed the button on the pokéball with his thumb.  It split open, sucking the Flabébé into its light.

The ball glowed red while rocking back and forth.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.

Then it went still.

“I—I did it?”  XY stared at the ball in his palm.  Luka swore there was wonder in his eyes.

Hopefully this hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.

“You did it.”  Luka clapped him on the shoulder.  “Why don’t you let her out now?  She should get used to you before you take her home.”

After fumbling for a moment, XY popped the ball open.  The Flabébé flashed back out and hovered in the air.  She quickly zipped down and plucked a red flower, hugging it close.

“Aww, our first date and she’s already giving me flowers.”  XY laughed.

“It’s not for you.  Flabébé has to keep one close for protection.”

“Ah. Like a comfort blanket.”  XY nodded sagely.  “That’s okay!  I’ll pick my own flower.  Then we can match!”

He snatched up another red bloom, then tucked it behind his ear.

Luka was surprised to find himself smiling.  Who would’ve thought XY could actually be cute?  When he wasn’t trying to steal Luka’s non-existent gym badges, anyway.

“Are you going to name her?”  He asked to keep his thoughts away from that tangent.

“Huh?  Oh.  Uh… hmm.”  XY’s brow furrowed.  He stared at the Flabébé, who had fluttered back into his palm.  “You can’t tell me your name, can you?”

She let out a tiny squeak.  

“Hmm.  Yeah.  I feel that.”  He nodded.  “How about Cheeto?”

“Cheeto?”  Luka burst before he could think better of it.  Who named their Pokémon Cheeto?  

“Yeah, ‘cause she’s got that yellow dust all over her.”  XY rubbed a tiny bit of it off with his fingertip.  Flabébé almost seemed to purr.

“You mean… pollen?”

XY raised an eyebrow.  “Ew, gross.  What kind of name is Pollen?  Sounds like Pole-men.  And she’s a girl.”

Luka wanted to smack his forehead.  Symphony gave him a sympathetic pat.

“Well.  Have fun with Cheeto, I guess.”  He sighed.  “I’m going to go get some sleep.  You’ve got my Holo Caster number.”

“Wait!”  XY jogged after him, cradling Cheeto close to his chest.  “I didn’t get to say—thanks, man.”

Luka looked back over his shoulder, surprised.  “No problem.  This is better than stealing gym badges, right?”

“A lot better.”  He looked down at his new Pokémon fondly.  “Uh, sorry about that, by the way.  I—I’m gonna make it up to you.”

“Yeah?”  He raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah!  I’m gonna—take you to the hotel I’m staying at!  So you don’t look homeless!”  XY grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him back towards the city.

“I literally told you I live in town…?”

“Then why were you sleeping in the Pokémon Center like a hobo?”  XY smirked.  Symphony laughed where she was lumbering after them.

You’ve turned my own Pokémon against me.  Luka scowled.

“Didn’t feel like dealing with my mom,” he said under his breath.  

It was stupid, running away just because he’d finally found out about his dad.  His whole band was here. Including his sister.  Lumiose was a big city, but he couldn’t play guitar for Kitty Section and dodge his parents at the same time.

“Perfect!  There’s no moms allowed in my hotel room!”  XY beamed.

If staying out was stupid, then even considering XY’s offer was downright moronic.  XY had tried to rob him just hours ago.

But the dude was rich.  Luka didn’t have anything else he could want.  And whatever hotel room they ended up in was bound to have a more comfortable couch than the Pokémon Center’s.

“...Alright,” he finally agreed.

XY’s holler of joy could probably be heard in the next route over.

“Sweet!  Bro co-parenting slumber party, here we come!”

Luka let Symphony laugh at him.  He deserved it for ending up in such a ridiculous situation.

But somehow, he felt better anyway.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Descendants songs that i liked immediately vs ones that took 10 times to listen too till i liked it vs still Dont really like

loved on first listen:

Whats my name

Ways to be wicked

Queen of Mean 

If only

Good to be Bad (its a bop but its still propaganda)

Set it off

You and Me

Break this down (if harry wasn't singing in this it would be in the 10 listens)

evil like me

vk remix (this is was fire from when it dropped dont @ me 

Descendants 2 - Mashup Mix (honestly, love it)

took 10 times:

night falls

chilling like a villain (could only watch to the lyric vid or soundtrack, the music video made me cringe for a long while) 

rotten to the core

its going down

space between (not because gay, gay is why i ended up liking it, just didnt vibe with me at first)

One kiss (this song is DANGEROUSLY close to being in the still dont like, fuuuck because its Evie and i love Evie but its a song about true loves kiss and it undermines Evie to just being a hopeless girl who wants a prince instead of the chemist, fashion genius she is) 

Once upon a time (also dangerously close to being still dont like, because its just a pity party song for mal, only like it because 1) zero to no autotune, just pure voice which is nice, and it does have a nice tune)

Do what you gotta do (Hades carried that song and yall know it)

keep your head on halloween (....why just mal? why not Evie or Uma? easily could have split the verses between the girls, hell include audrey!) 

still dont like:

did i mention (im sorry i really dont like this song i dont care)

be our guest remix from d1 (so unnecessary and just....ew, could have kept the original just give it a faster pace and some underlying remix stuff, it did NOT need to be rapped)

[detectivesplotslies]

Passengers on the Road to Nowhere

Saioumota Week 2019 - Day 2: Road Trip & Long Distances

Description: Kaito, Shuichi and Kokichi pile into an old car and drive away from their troubles. Word Count: 2189

Read on AO3 here

The sun beat down on the bill of Shuichi’s cap as he leaned against the window, watching the signs flash by. The map was loosely grasped in his hands until they got closer to their next exit. He crumpled it a bit, tightening his hand, then letting it go again, staring at the tiny creases, like new markings on the face of the region. Maybe making somewhere new, just like they were hoping to find. His half lidded eyes drift to the driver’s seat, where Kaito sits at the wheel. His overly large sunglasses and gel free hair made almost look like a stranger, but the big grin on his face despite everything and his hand tapping along to the song playing through the crusty speakers gave him away.

Shuichi shifted his shoulders with a wince, and turned to glance into the backseat. Sprawled across the entirety of it was Kokichi, seemingly asleep. The hoodie he had been wearing was pulled off and thrown over his face to blot out the sun. He hadn’t said much since the argument about seatbelts, and the middle one was still awkwardly clipped around his waist, even sideways. A bump in the road bounced him up, and Shuichi heard a groan under the fabric.

He turned back to the map, and then out the window. A rest stop was coming up. His tired eyes widened a little.

Coffee.

Carefully, Shuichi folded the map and quietly spoke, low enough so maybe not to alert Kokichi as he got back to his nap.

“Kaito, can we stop?”

He must have been too soft to be heard under the buzz of the radio as Kaito kept tapping along with his eyes on the road. Should he poke him? What if he startles him and they swerve. Shuichi cleared his throat a bit, and tried a touch louder this time.

“Kaito?”

“Hm? Everything alright, Shuichi?” This time he turned ever so slightly towards him, and Shuichi could feel the inspection he was getting behind the shades even if he couldn’t quite make out his eyes. Shuichi smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but could we stop? There’s a rest stop coming up-”

“Hey we weren’t gonna stop until it was dark, you know that, it was your suggestion.”

“I know that but… I don’t think a quick little stop to get some snacks or something to drink would be-”

“Shuichi, is this another coffee stop?! We are gonna get spotted for sure one of these times!”

“No we won’t! It’ll just be real quick stop, I’ll be in and out before you even know I’m gone and-”

“We’re stopping?”

Kokichi sat up like a zombie rising from the grave in an old horror film, hoodie still wrapped around his face. He clawed it off quickly and poked his head up between the front seats, grinning ear to ear.

“We are NOT, and even if we were you are not getting out of the car again,” Kaito grunted.

“Come onnnnnnnn, puuuhleeease. My legs are gonna wither away to stubs before we get anywhere, and then you’ll have to carry me. Do you want that on your conscience?”

“Oh so you don’t like to be carried? Good to know.”

“HOLD ON, that was NOT the point! I’ll be good, I just wanna get some air!”

“I’ll crack a window.”

“I need some exercise!”

“You can probably do sit-ups from how you’re lying back there if you want to that badly, Kokichi.”

“Ew.”

Shuichi couldn’t help but laugh at the exchange. He knew that last time was a mess, but for once he was on Kokichi’s side. The quieter boy gently placed his hand on Kaito’s where it held the steering wheel, and the other boy’s grimace smoothed over. He glanced back at his navigator.

“Please Kaito, you could probably use a stretch too, you’ve been behind the wheel for hours. It’s not safe, you know.”

“Yeah! Just cause you can pilot a spaceship doesn’t mean you’re allowed to coop us up in here and crash!”

“That’s not what I said,” Shuichi hurriedly added. He could hear Kaito exhale a long held breath and sigh.

“Fine, but we’re sticking together, okay? That means you too, stub legs!”

“Yes sir!”

Kokichi snickered as he pulled his hoodie over his head, dark locks reemerging moments later under the hood. Shuichi adjusted his hat and checked his wallet. Kaito pulled them over into the off-ramp and toward the sign proclaiming Gas, Restrooms, & Food. The old car’s engine made some ominous clicking sounds as they dropped in speed, but steadily came to a halt in the parking lot. There were only a few spots taken, a good sign really. The trio piled out of the car. Despite his claims Kokichi was the least shaky on his legs as he bounced from foot to foot, and tugged the drawstrings on his hood tight, so only his nose and eyes showed, with a stray bit of purplish hair sticking out like a whisker. The three of them shared a quick look, checking each other over for anything obvious they may have forgotten. Then as one they started towards the little rest stop shop.

The ease they’d had in the car dissipated instantly. The tight knit trio bunched together. Shuichi’s shoulder brushed against Kaito’s arm. Kokichi’s finger hooked on Shuichi’s belt loop like a tether. Kaito kept pace with the both of them while watching the lot over their heads. This was how they were together in public. How they managed crowds, comments, and stares.

The troupe broke apart at the door to go in single file, Shuichi first. The bell at the top of the door chimed, announcing new customers. He made a beeline for the counter while Kaito held the door for Kokichi. It didn’t take long to spot the coffee machine, nothing fancy just the regular and decaf options behind the cashier. There was a line that Shuichi stepped into it while fidgeting with his hands. He turned to watch the other two while he waited.

Kokichi walked down one of the aisles plucking colourful snack packages up with excitement and handing them to Kaito who trailed behind him. Once his arms were full, Kaito started putting one back every time he was given another to avoid a juggling situation. He was nowhere near as good at it as Kokichi was. At least not yet. Both of them had promised Kokichi they’d practice their juggling when they got time to. As they stepped out before turning to the next row Kokichi skipped over to the line and handed him a package of Oreos and winked. Shuichi couldn’t help but smile as he hopped away with an exasperated Kaito in tow.

Shuichi turned his attention back to the line as the person at the front finished their purchase and left. One more person and then he was up. His eyes drifted to the tv behind the cash, it was playing some ads on mute while music played over the actual speakers. He swallowed. The same ad that had been haunting him for weeks popped onto the screen. He reached up and adjusted his hat self-consciously. Despite that his eyes were glued to the screen as the Team DanganRonpa logo spun on it.

Even though it was muted, he knew a remix of the theme music was playing while the convention date and location popped up in big letters. Then the words were shot to pieces. Clips of each fan favourite participant that was announced as a special guest played, one after another in a reel. He hoped Kokichi was still looking for snacks and not watching this like he was. He’d seen it plenty of times. The mute remained a blessing. Shuichi knew that each ‘character’ was introduced with their own voices. And on cue, there was the latest favourite, in his iconic checkered scarf. He remembered the day Kokichi had been called to the recording studio for that one. He had come back entirely drained. Closed off. It’d been a long taxing one.

That’d been the day they decided they were getting out of there. Contracts be damned, they weren’t here to be paraded around for show.

Finally, Monokuma popped up at the end to wave goodbye. The ad was over. Something innocuous about a fruit juice with a cute girl in orange dancing took its place. Shuichi finally was able to look away. He glanced over his shoulder with concern, trying to be sure the other two boys were okay, but he didn’t see them anywhere nearby. He turned quickly, trying to find them but that was just as the woman in front of him was leaving. They collided, her purchase and his hat falling to the floor.

“Oh I’m sorry, I-”

Shuichi froze mid-sentence. On her shirt was show’s logo, big in black, red and white. She hadn’t looked up, having bent to pick up her bag and mutter. His hat sat on the floor beside it. Shuichi’s hands shot up to his face automatically, dropping the Oreos as well in the process.

“Watch it this could have broken,” she was saying. “Seriously…” Shuichi nodded from behind his hands, trying to think. She hadn’t moved. Was she staring at him? He didn’t want to dare look. What if she recogni-

Shuichi felt the hat slide down on his head.

“Hey you dropped this right?” He heard Kaito say, playing up a gruffer voice to his side as he removed his hands. He got a pat on his back. “No harm done, right?” Behind the shades and the grin he could just be a concerned stranger, but if she noticed the goatee she might-

“C’mon, c’mon, you were gonna buy these for me, right?” Kokichi swooped in on his other side, linking their arms and tugging Shuichi towards the cash, past the woman who’s attention was now on Kaito. The fallen Oreos were already in his hand. He slid them onto the counter and through the still-pulled-tight opening in the hood he asked the cashier for a black coffee as well. As his thoughts finally caught up with the transaction Shuichi fumbled with his wallet.

Behind him he heard the woman huff and head out the door with her gathered things. The bell chimed. Kaito slid a couple of the snacks he was still holding onto the counter as well, putting it all together.

They paid cash and left. Kaito carried the bag, Shuichi held his coffee, and Kokichi clinged to Shuichi’s arm the whole walk through the parking lot. They didn’t say another word until they reach Kaito’s old car, and pile back in.

The doors clicked shut. They collectively let out their held breaths.

“‘It’ll just be real quick’ you said, ‘in and out before you even know’,” Kaito sighed, kneading his forehead behind the shades. The heavy moment hung in the air. Shuichi looked down at his coffee.

“I’m sorry, I-”

“Talk about a deer-in-headlights, jeez Shumai. You’re so lucky you brought us huh? And what was all that about definitely not needing wanting me out there, hmmmm?” Kokichi leaned into the front seat and sprawled himself across Kaito’s shoulder. He poked Kaito’s cheek. “You should have seen this idiot’s face until I went to get the cookies. You two matched! Frozen like statues!”

Shuichi’s eyebrows shot up and he glanced up at Kaito’s reddening face. “H-hey this is serious, Kokichi, we could have-”

“But we’re fine. We stuck together like you said and we’re fiiiiine.”

Shuichi chuckled and reached out to loosen Kokichi’s hood, and swiping away bits of hair from his face. They really did look like whiskers stuck like that. “You’re right, we’re fine.”

In return he got a brief soft look that broke into mischievous smirk. Kokichi gave Kaito’s face a light pap with his hand and rolled off of him to the backseat again. They heard the fizz and pop sound of the unscrewed cap of a soft drink.

It took the other two boys a moment to realize the snack bag was unopened in the front seat.

“Kokichi! We talked about this!”

“We have more than enough just to buy it-”

“No one noticed, don’t worry about it~”

“We don’t need more risks! You-”

“Can’t hear you over the bubbles!”

The squabble continued as the car pulled back out onto the highway. Shuichi fell out of it after a bit to sip his coffee, enjoying the light mood’s return. This cramped vehicle may not be the best living situation, but for the time being it was their safest place. Where they were themselves. Where there was no audience. Shuichi wasn’t sure how long it would last, but he had a new shred of hope. The ad had still listed Kokichi as appearing at the convention. The company wasn’t telling anyone they’d gone. Any search they were doing was internal and hushed. They were trying to save face, and the public didn’t know to watch for them.

That they could play to their advantage. This might just work. Their getaway might have a destination after all.

[ggukcangetit]

Long Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @ezralia-writes

tagging : anyone else

tell me the first song that made you stan your current fave group and why did your faves attract you so much?

first song by bts that i heard was probably IDOL but what made me stan them was probably Boy In Luv lmao. the aggression that all the liddol bangtan babies had in the Boy In Luv performance + Tae in orange hair growling.  yup that was it.

—

T W O

rule: answer the ten questions and write your own!

1) what’s your unrealistic goal for life?

idk if goals can be unrealistic lol. dreams may be unrealistic. but whatever. unrealistic goal 🤔 that i can change my sleeping and eating schedule in one fell swoop lmao idk

2) if you had known that we would be in a global pandemic, what’s one thing that you would’ve done before things shut down (if they have for you)?

that’s morbid lol. but i would’ve cleared my desk at my workplace. idk if i’ll ever go back and it has a lot of pictures of my friends and family there.

3) what’s an unconventional thing that you carry around with you when you go out?

okay full disclosure but im basically always prepared for a zombie apocalypse. so i carry a lot of things with me when i go out.

4) favourite type of plushies and why?

anything soft and not creepy looking idk???

5) favourite song right now?

Black Swan has been looping in my brain the last few days

6) something that you’ve always wanted to learn?

archery

7) tell a funny story about yourself (or just something that you’ve witnessed)

i was once asked to take my aunt and cousin around the city and we got tragically lost and this story basically never leaves me now lmao

8) headphones or speakers? why?

in public its obv headphones (what kind of question is that) but if im at home id always prefer speakers.

9) craving any food right now? what are you craving?

everything? lmao. but specifically food from home which i haven’t had in more than 6 months.

10) which music streaming platform do you prefer? why?

i use itunes because its there. but maybe changing to spotify soon?

My Q’s:

what was the weirdest dream that you’ve woken up from?

if you were an ice-cream flavor, what would you be?

if you could meet a fictional character, who would it be?

what dish/food/meal do you hate to prepare?

would you rather live in the mountains or at the beach? why?

what’s the first thing you see in a potential friend?

which is your favorite Sherlock Holmes adaptation and why?

if you could play one sport with a celebrity of choice what would it be? and with whom?

what makes you the most angry?

if 2019 was a color, what would it be?

—

T H R E E

rule: bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations, then tag nine people.

AIR ༉⋆͙̈

i have small hands / i love the night sky / i watch animals and birds when i pass them by / i drink herbal tea / i wake to see the dawn / the smell of dust is comforting / i’m valued for being wise / i prefer books to music / i meditate / i find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE ༉⋆͙̈

i don’t have straight hair / i like to wear ripped jeans and overalls / i play an organized sport / i love dogs / i am not afraid of adventure / i love to talk to strangers / i always try new foods / i enjoy road trips / summer is my favorite season / my radio is always playing

WATER ༉⋆͙̈

i wear bracelets on my wrists / i love the bustle of the city / i have more than one set of piercings / i read poetry / i love the sound of a thunderstorm / i want to travel the world / i sleep past midday most days / i love simply lit dinners and fluorescent signs / i rewatch kids shows out of nostalgia / i see emotions in colors not words

EARTH ༉⋆͙̈

i wear glasses or contacts / i enjoy doing the laundry / i am a vegetarian or vegan / i have an excellent sense of time / my humor is very cheerful / i am a valued advisor to my friends / i believe in true love / i love this chill of mountain air / i’m always listening to music / i am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER ༉⋆͙̈

i go without makeup in my daily life / i make my own artwork / i keep on track of my tasks and time / i always know true north / i see beauty in everything / i can always smell flowers / i smile at everyone i pass by / i always fear history repeating itself / i have recovered from a mental disorder / i can love unconditionally

—

F O U R

the ultimate tag: answer whichever ones you want to because there are a lot and then tag a few blogs you’d like to get to know better!

PERSONAL

name: cha

nickname: over here it is cha and cha only lmao

birthday: september

zodiac: virgo

nationality: Asian

languages: 3+

gender: Female

sexuality: Straight

height: 5′9

BLOG STUFF

inspiration for muse: movies/series sometimes make me super philosophical lol. plus i’d say people around me also inspire my creativity.

meaning behind my url: it is so hard to come up with a catchy bts related blog name D: but i wanted something with gguk because its super endearing.

blog established: 2 months.

followers: 84 i think 🤔 

FAVORITES

favourite animals: turtles

favourite books: a thousand splendid suns by khalid hosseini is still one of my favs

favourite colour: shades of blue

favourite fictional characters: i love sirius black lmao. also death from sandman

favourite flower: i don’t like flowers ew

favourite scent: coffee + freshly baked bread/desserts

favourite season: summer

RANDOM

average hours of sleep: 6

cats or dogs: both?

coffee, tea or hot chocolate: coffee (iced tho)

current time: 5.31 pm

dream trip: i really want to go to Seoul and Tokyo

dream job: i had a random dream of becoming a patissier. maybe i can do that later in life who knows.

hobbies: i’m bad at this. anything that i feel like doing at the moment i guess

hogwarts house: ravenclaw

last movie watched: the last thing he wanted (that anne hathaway movie on netflix which deserves to be thrown into the trash imo)

last song listened to: Yeah! by Usher

no. of blankets you sleep with: one

random fact(s): hmmmmmmmm i like to have something savoury after dessert. always wanted to be good at some sport. 

F I V E

10 things i can’t stop listening to

Black Swan - BTS

Yeah! - Usher

In Silence - Janet Suhh (It’s Okay to Not be Okay soundtrack)

December, 1963 - Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons

Friends - BTS

Filter - BTS

Shove It - Santigold

Boy With Luv - BTS

Mic Drop (Steve Aoki remix) - BTS

Airplane pt. 2 - BTS

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing (May 19-25, 2019)

Blog link:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thisweekingundamwing

Hello! I hope the week finds you well. Thank you for all your contributions!

Mod Duointherain

May 20 - 26, 2019

Fanfiction: 

Doctormegalomania, Eldritch Holiday Ch 20   https://doctormegalomania.tumblr.com/post/185041737678/eldritch-holiday-creature-of-the-night

There’s something wrong with Happiness. Duo doesn’t know what...

Duointherain, Beneath

Ch 7 https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/185059008499/fic-beneath-7

Heero saves Duo after he falls back into the lake

Ch 8 https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/185138585664/beneath-8

Well, that didn’t go as expected... Relena calls her mom.

Fanart: 

@ana-karenina-blog https://ana-karenina-blog.tumblr.com/post/140551670066/gundam-wing-pilots-i-was-recently-re-watching

Lovely pretty boys! :)

@Blancaxlobo https://blancaxlobo.tumblr.com/post/185103760741/one-of-the-most-unfortunate-hairstyle-designs-in

Duo and Trowa - unfortunate hair designs

@Chronicwhimsy https://chronicwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/157288516047/fapuary-day-14-gundam-high-school-host-club-i

The Gundam Boys host club!

@Gundayum  https://gundayum.tumblr.com/post/184983150346/okay-at-least-drool-outside-and-water-the

Hilde and Duo (dad bod Duo) taking a comfy nap!

@Gundayo https://gundayo.tumblr.com/post/185027035406/quatre-raberba-winner-52019-done-with-ugee

Beautiful Quatre

@lookitsmorefandomtrash https://lookitsmorefandomtrash.tumblr.com/post/184031207265/this-occurred-to-me-once-in-a-dream

Duo vs Duolingo - There will be blood!

@SapphireGamgee https://www.deviantart.com/sapphiregamgee/art/Seekers-795155096

Seekers - Trowa, Duo, WuFei, Quatre, Heero, Ryoga

@Snuffie https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/snufffie/134314772065

Heero and Trowa Baking

@bluesquishylemon https://bluesquishylemon.tumblr.com/post/185076915502/title-wufei-sketch-source-gundam-wing-character

Classic sketch of Wufei

@yaboycoach  https://yaboycoach.tumblr.com/post/185104301367/gundam-leg-sleeve-start-51819

Super cool Heero tattoo

Cosplay: (in Alphabetical order by blogger’s url)

@exasperatedagent https://exasperatedagent.tumblr.com/post/184969923943

Une and Noin, in a very cool cosplay

Photosets/Screenshots: (in Alphabetical order by blogger’s url)

@Bluesquishlemon https://bluesquishylemon.tumblr.com/post/184929642507/title-i-used-to-be-sweet-inspired-by

A lovely pic of Quatre - I used to be sweet, until life hit me in the face.

@Wingslanding  https://wingslanding.tumblr.com/post/184951390986/im-a-little-obsessed-i-mean-passionate

photo of manga and art, Heero/Relena

Chats/Dialogs/Discussions: 

@Cinderellaincombatboots https://cinderellaincombatboots.tumblr.com/post/84701884994/a-soldier-of-peace-lucrezia-noin-episode-04-the

An interesting discussion about Noin

@Cinderellaincombatboots https://cinderellaincombatboots.tumblr.com/post/83201371025/episode-03-five-gundams-confirmed-trowa-barton

Trowa and Quatre meet for the first time

@Helmsmistress https://helmistress.tumblr.com/post/184951251024/how-fanon-becomes-canon

It was bad chili... how to make Frozen Teardrop canon.

@Lemontrash https://lemontrash.tumblr.com/post/185103417709/game-night

Only Duo could roll a 20 for getting done by the devil...

Quotes: 

@gundaaamn  https://gundaaamn.tumblr.com/post/185136231062/quatre-i-heard-you-like-bad-boys-trowa

Maybe not that kind of bad, Q...

@Incorrectgundamwing quotes

Heero and Trowa - some dancing at a bar: https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/184957186214/heero-being-carried-out-of-bar-by-bouncers

Duo and Trowa discuss sandwiches and Quatre https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/184995991408/duo-you-ever-ate-something-so-good-that-like

Dorothy thinks we’re all extras https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185029699177/dorothy-out-of-my-way-extras-zechs-stop

Heero promises to kill Relena ... this time. Going to be hard to do with a teddy bear. https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185025017284/doctor-j-and-you-will-definitely-kill-relena-this

Duo and Relena discuss Heero’s mental health, or lack thereof https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185020068827/relena-you-dont-want-heero-to-die-relena-and

Heero does not know the bright side... https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185000573538/heero-look-on-the-bright-side-quatre-heero

Heero and Trowa - Did you miss me? https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185008999206/trowa-undercover-did-you-miss-me-heero-i-have

Zechs who? https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/184980645248/at-preventers-hq-sally-duo-you-need-to-stop

Hilde’s in labor, married to Duo, she’s got a lot to do. https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185044179958/911-operator-whats-your-emergency-duo-my

Alpha!Heero during the wars... https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185053522384/i-understand-that-ft-is-a-dumpster-fire-and-that

Bubble wrap safety for everyone! https://noirangetrois.tumblr.com/post/185042675656/terrablaze514-incorrectgundamwingquotes

Life’s a freak show https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185118145541/quatre-whats-a-freak-show-trowa-its-like-our

Dorothy’s notifications https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185148104337/dorothy-is-she-crying-is-she-crying-sylvia

Zechs may have a head injury https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185122051486/zechs-pointing-at-noin-thats-my-girlfriend

Insufferable People https://gundayum.tumblr.com/post/185067883091/incorrectgundamwingquotes-heero-about-the

Illegal contacts https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/185068368388/incorrectgundamwingquotes-quatre-you-have

Cold Hearts https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185033256206/at-the-antarctica-base-heero-im-cold

MoodBoards/Aesthetics: (in Alphabetical order by blogger’s url)

@janaverse https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/185137327258/this-is-my-actual-license-plate-with-the-location

Heero and Duo

Heero and Duo again: https://janaverse.tumblr.com/image/185107799718

Stickies from Heero: https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/185134611013

No Idea What To Put This Under: 

@christianmswanson  GW opening Remix: https://christianmswanson.tumblr.com/post/184938390981/extended-version-of-the-previous-post-i-know

Revisit the opening, with the EW gundams.

@bobo-is-tha-bomb https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/185090557001/the-building-drive-is-big-lol-after-completing

Lovely new Sandrock model

Calendar Events: 

This Week In Gundam Wing Events: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/185146959405/mini-bang-rules

Mini Bang Rules! Theme for this Bang: Unorthodox Undercover Work

This Week in Gundam Wing Events: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/185146909570/mini-bang-results

Voting results are in!

Event name, host, and link

dates

News: 

News: AnimeNewsNetwork, Anime Limited Acquires Gundam Wing, Char's Counterattack https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-05-24/anime-limited-acquires-gundam-wing-char-counterattack/.147089

[ilikemypancakesfresh]

AU where the bakuboys are the try guys

GUYS. HEAR ME OUT. THE BAKUSQUAD (- MINA AND JIROU) ARE THE FUCKING TRY GUYS. ( All of these are based on real life shit the try guys have said and done )

KEITH IS KAMINARI, NED IS KIRISHIMA, ZACH IS SERO, AND BAKUGOU IS EUGENE.

Kirishima: "So my wife and I, *camera points at Mina* just recently had a child." Bakugou: "Dogs are easier than babies because I can drop my dogs."

____

Sero: "My goal for today is to take the most classic, basic pranks and pull them off."

*puts whoopee cushion on Bakugou's chair*

Bakugou: *sits*

Bakugou:

Sero:

Sero: "Ew did you just fart?"

_______

Kirishima: "Kaminari's probably just running around screaming 'what's up' at plants!'"

*Camera cuts to Kaminari shouting at trees*

Kaminari: "OOoOOOoOOOOHHHH WhAt yOU WANT WOODS!!!!!!????????"

Kirishima: "Bakugou, at this point has to strip down and try to become nature."

*camera cuts to Bakugou ripping his shirt off*

Bakugou: "Let's play a game of: Can I eat you?"

Bakugou talking to a plant: "Can I eat you?"

Kirishima: "And God, I just hope Sero's not dead."

*Camera cuts to Sero struggling to carry logs*

______

Kaminari: "Let's do a game where I put on like, 6 diapers," Bakugou: "Uh huh......" Kaminari: "and then it's like, guess how many diapers I have." Bakugou: Kaminari: "And then I kinda do like a strip show," Sero, driving: Kaminari: "And if they guess seven it's like, uhh ohh."

_________

*Kaminari's wedding w/ Jirou*

Bakugou: "So I talked to Jirou and I asked her, 'who's gonna cry first?' and everyone went 'Kaminariiii'."

*Wedding speech*

Kaminari: "I've always known I loved you but I didn't know that I couldn't live without you until I moved away from you..... for a year."

Kaminari: *crying noises*

Kaminari: "And I just desperately need you to take care of me because I'm a mess, all the time."

Jirou, s o b b i ng:

________

Bakugou: "Hey Kaminari,"

Kaminari: "what,"

Bakugou: *pulls out a knife*

Kaminari, shocked. : "OH-

Bakugou: "Need me to cut anything?"

Kaminari: "PUT THAT KNIFE AWAY!"

Kaminari, looking at Kirishima: "MAKE HIM PUT THE KNIFE AWAY!"

Kirishima, busy, looking at a map:

Sero: "Remember when you sliced your thumb cutting an avocado?"

Bakugou: "Yeah that was a butter knife though," *starts walking away*

Sero, shouting: "then what do you think's gonna happen wITH THIS- BAKUGOUUUU!!!"

Kaminari, also shouting: "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT WE MEAN BY THAT!!!"

____

Bakuboys LIVE in vidcon: The evolution of viral video

Kirishima: "WE'LL DO IT LIVE!! FUCK IT!!"

*Cooking by the book remix ft. Lil Jon starts playing* *crowd cheering*

"ITS A PIECE OF CAKE TO BAKE A PRETTY CAKE" * BAKUGOU ENTERS THE STAGE SKIPPING WITH A PINK WIG*

"IF THE WAY IS H A Z Y" *BAKUGOU DOES A MOTHERFUCKING SOMERSAULT*

Kirishima: "IF THE WAY IS WHAT!!!???"

"YOU GOTTA DO THE COOKIN BY THE BOOK" *KAMINARI JOINS THE DANCE*

"THEN YOU'LL HAVE A- YEAH BREAK IT DOWN BITCH!" *SERO STARTS RISING FROM THE DJ BOOTH*

"LEMME SEE YOU BACK IT UP" *BAKUGOU FUCKING DROPS SOME MOVES*

"DROP THAT ASS DOWN LOW AND PICK THAT MOTHERFUCKER UP" *BAKUGOU AND KAMINARI STARTS TWERKING* *KIRISHIMA.EXE HAS STOPPED WORKING* *SERO CAN'T DANCE*

"You gotta do the cooking by the book! Tee-hee!" *BAKUGOU DOES A SPLIT.*

_______

Kirishima: "The sun,,,, is really heating down-

Sero: "Will you stop with the dialogues, Kirishima!"

Kirishima: "will yOU SHUT UP, OR IM GONNA PUKE ON YOU!"

_____

* Kirishima's baby gender reveal with Mina *

Kaminari: "I don't think Kirishima's gonna have a girl, because............ he's just- so aggresive.."

Kaminari: "I think all of his sperm have Y chromosomes"

_____

Bakuboys try the weirdest beauty trends

Sero, complaining: "bEinG wOMaN- being A woman is hard enough aLRiGHt- I doN't-

Kaminari: " B e i n g w o m an H A R D "

Sero, laughing:

Kaminari: " B E I N G W O M A N ( ( H A R D ) )

Sero, crying:

*camera cuts to Kirishima and Bakugou*

Kirishima: "Alright you shut the FuCk up Ba-"

Bakugou: "You shut the fUCk up-"

Kirishima: "you shut the fUcK up imma-

Bakugou: "bITCH-"

Kirishima: "Imma dig a real knife to your eye-

Bakugou: "imma fUcKing stAB you with-

Kirishima pointing eyeliner at Bakugou's eye: "wOw!1!1"

Kirishima, looking impressed: "Wow!"

Bakugou:

Kirishima: "You- Your're- Your eye looks really Niceeee!!"

Bakugou: "Awe thank you!"

_____

Bakuboys try get kidnapped

Kaminari to Kirishima: "Don't touch me-"

Sero with his hand TAPED behind his back: "I think I can maybe just slip out of this, I'm sweating so much."

Kaminari: "No way,"

Sero with his hands free: "Yeah-"

Kaminari: "Wow........ WOW!

Sero: "Look how wet I am."

Kaminari: "Sero's panic is the best secret weapon"

[countdion]

detached?

Apple Music

Spotify

Youtube

· Dark Red (Steve Lacy)

· Forever Rain (RM)

· Love (Daughter)

· It’s Ok I Wouldn’t Remember Me Either (Crywank)

· Choking on Flowers (Fox Academy)

· Carry on (Fun.)

· Daiichimaku Kaien (Interlude) (KikuoHana)

· Lili. (Ewe)

· Never Say Never (The Fray)

· Two Slow Dancers (Mitski)

· Sic Transit Gloria … Glory Fades (Brand New)

· Black Dahlia (Hollywood Undead)

· Shelter (Porter Robinson & Madeon)

· Owari Kigan (KikuoHana)

· Ventilator (feat. Mvko) (Jasxn)

· Dirge (Yoshihisa Hirano)

· I Just Loved You (In Love With a Ghost)

· That One Time -S (Feat. iDakota [Ur Remix] (Limbo & Sour)

· Ankyo (Kikuo)

· Introversion 2.0 ($uicideboy$)

· Hibidarake No Me (KikuoHana)

[jandjsalmon]

Alphabet Taggy Game

I’m trying to catch up on all the things I missed this weekend. One of those things were posts I was tagged in - so here we are. Thank you,  @fulloflittlewhitelies and @southsideserpentine for tagging me!!

A-age: 36 (until August) B-birthplace: Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada C-current time: 9:10am D-drink you had last: Water after I brushed my teeth this morning E-easiest person to talk to: Jay (my hot Mountie) F-favourite song: ever? Bizarre Love Triangle by Stabbing Westward currently? Despacito (Justin Bieber's remix) G-grossest memory: catching one of my newborn infant’s bright yellow mustard poop IN MY HAND so it wouldn’t stain the quilt my grandmother made for him while I was changing him at a friend’s house. That yellow stuff stains the WORST and I had nothing else to catch it in - the little bugger decided to keep pooping even though I was in the middle of changing him. Ew. H-horror yes or no?: Slasher horror - yes. Demonic horror - no. I-in love?: Yes J-jealous of people: Nope. My coveting others went out with puberty. K-killed someone?: Day's not over yet. L-love at first sight or should I walk past again?: *snort* I'm easily swayed by a pretty face - but I am old enough to know that lust is not love. Love takes time to build. M-middle name: Erin N-number of siblings: One brother and three sisters. O-one wish: To be paid for reading fanfiction? Is this a job? I honestly feel like I'd be really good at it. Win employee of the month every month. P-person I last called: My house from the store asking my son if we had hot dog buns. Q-question you’re always asked: "How old are you?" (followed up with - you can’t have a son that old! You must have been married when you were a baby!) R-reason to smile: I'm married to my very best friend. S-song you last sang: Carry You Home by James Blunt on my drive in to work (which would be an amazing inspiration for a Bughead fic btw - though truthfully I could probably say that about EVERY song lol) U-underwear colour: white (though I'm wearing a black bra today) V-vacation: I'd like to see Auschwitz before I die. W-worst habit: Biting my nails Y-your favourite food: Potatoes (baked, mashed, fried, soup - any which way) Z-zodiac: Leo (but I'm on the cusp with Virgo and have therefore inherited some of those traits too)

I’m tagging: @raptorlily, @juggydunes, @itstenafterfour, and @gellbellshead

[kingsmakers]

To make up for it, I will do 20 for Remix.

20. …on a scar.

Cute Remix feels ahead

It was their first Christmas with little Orion. The baby was crawling, inquisitive about the presents wrapped and stacked neatly under the tree. Fortunately, whenever he would get too close and too curious, two-year-old Cass was there to offer a firm reprimand. She often attempted to pick her brother up and carry him, despite being far too small to do so.

When Christmas Day arrived, Phoenix found herself and Remus woke early by an extremely excitable toddler, and within minutes they were downstairs with the children as Cass debated which gift she wished to open first.

“This one?” Cass offered up a rectangular book for her mother to read the tag. The writing was in Phoenix’s neat cursive and she recognised it instantly.

“That one’s for Daddy.”

Cass handed the present to Remus, who kissed the top of her blonde head.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

Remus unwrapped the present with care, and Cass bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited impatiently to see what it was. Orion squirmed around in Phoenix’s lap, utterly unconcerned. A glossy book slipped out into Remus’s hands, and he glanced at his wife who smiled and shrugged.

“I know you’d been wanting it for a while.”

“Thank you.” Remus kissed her cheek, and Phoenix leaned in and kissed one of the scars on his nose.

“Ew!” Cass pulled a face, hiding behind her hands, embarrassed as always by her parents’ affection.

“I think it’s your turn for a present now.” Phoenix pretended to peer under the tree. “What about that sparkly pink one, Cass?”

The little girl gasped and immediately lunged under the tree for the mentioned present, leading Phoenix to throw Remus and knowing look and then extricate her dark hair from Orion’s small fist.

“She likes pink,” Remus mused, “Certainly didn’t inherit that from you.”

Phoenix scoffed. “Ah, yes, it must have been Evan’s obsession with sparkly pink things.”

[thesinglesjukebox]

KHALID FT. A BOOGIE WIT DA HOODIE - RIGHT BACK

[5.71]

Supremely unobjectionable... but one of us objects!

Joshua Minsoo Kim: More than any other Khalid single, "Right Back" makes its innocuousness a virtue. There's a lightness with which it proceeds--check out the slick hand-off from A Boogie to Khalid--and its gentle, warm tone is so enticing that it rubs off on you even when it's played as agreeable background music. It's not quite the song of the summer; it's more like the song of the technically-still-summer-but-feels-like-fall. It's for those first days of uni when the weight of all the work you need to do hasn't seeped into your brain yet, for when you're trying to extend the bliss of summer for as long as possible. "I just let the time roll past," sings Khalid, unhurried and unworried. He convinces you to take things slow, even if for four minutes. [8]

Ian Mathers: Goes down so smooth I'm not even sure, after repeated listens, how much I actually like it. There's something to be said for being supremely unobjectionable, though. [6]

Alfred Soto: He knows what to do with melancholy synth presets; they complement his affected hurt. R&B has often bloomed when performers like Khalid inflect their performances with a sprinkle of irony. [6]

Michael Hong: "Right Back" lurches backwards and forwards, never in one place like it's suspended across time, but then the snap kicks everything back into focus every time. However, Khalid's soulful voice fits right at home on that instrumental and the whole thing feels timeless. While no moment is quite as wholehearted as that first "can we just talk" from his collaboration with Disclosure, "Right Back" finds itself in a suitable middle ground between the upbeat "Talk" and the drowsy wallpaper of the rest of Free Spirit. Expectedly though, the remix is completely inessential, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie lending a verse that never quite manages to meet Khalid's soulfulness. [6]

Katherine St Asaph: The pleasantest artist in pop-R&B releases another single that skims just above the line of sleaze or playerishness. It's like how teenpop artists' second albums only allow themselves one or two sorta-suggestive lines per song -- which makes A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie the guest artist brought in to provide those lines, which unfortunately in this case involve the Illuminati, Now & Laters, and being "on your body like a tissue" (ew). [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I loved Khalid's debut album-- partially because I was a teenager came out, and partially because of the earnest joy for music-making he broadcast with every note. But his work since 2017 has been a test case in rapid onset Sam Smith syndrome -- an emotive voice carrying uninspired writing and production just past mediocrity. "Right Back" breaks from that trend. It's not worlds away from the stuff that Khalid has been doing recently, but the songwriting is crisper, the production more charismatic. Even A Boogie, who I suspect I am too Californian to really get, gets his shots in -- his more aggressive style is a counterpoint to Khalid's calm, and who doesn't love a verse trade-off as smooth as the one they pull off here? [7]

Jibril Yassin: Including A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie offsets some of Khalid's flaws as a performer and songwriter, injecting just enough energy to save this from wilting like the OG version of "Right Back" did but they didn't remove the obnoxious vocal callbacks to "Still Not A Player" so clearly we couldn't have it all! [1]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[connorrenwick]

Friday Five with David Schwarz of HUSH

David Schwarz is a creative leader and founding partner of HUSH, a Brooklyn based design agency he co-founded back in 2006 (remember this installation of theirs?). After earning an MFA from Art Center College of Design, he landed work at noted interactive design studios before meeting his partner and launching his own firm. Since then, he’s spent his time creating brand experiences for top companies, like Nike, Google, Sonos, Uber, and more, by integrating content, interactivity, architecture, and technology. The award-winning Schwarz can be found in a number of publications, including Fast Company, Creativity, Inc. Magazine, and Cool Hunting, or speaking at conferences for AIGA, The One Show, SEGD, SXSW, AdWeek, Cannes Lions, and FITC. In recent years, he’s also become a mentor for the New Museum’s incubator program, New Inc., for art, technology, and design. In this week’s Friday Five, the busy creative shares a place he loves, two places he finds inspirational, a thing he loves, and a thing he can’t live without. Take a look.

Photo by Hello Talalay

1. A place I love: Storm King I proposed to my wife here, in the shade of a Richard Serra sculpture. I’ve taken our kids here when they were toddlers, learning to walk beneath the grandeur of a Calder. Our company has held team offsites here for many years. On all occasions, as we wander the grounds hour after hour, the sheer scale of the place puts any challenge in perspective and teaches the power of emptiness, intervention, light and shadow, sky and landscape.

Photo by James Ewing

2. A place I find inspirational: Donald Judd’s 101 Spring Street It’s one thing to view an artist’s work, but when his work, studio and home environment collapse into one, it represents a grand testament to a view on life, scale, relationships and order. A visit to Judd’s 101 Spring Street represents a moment frozen in time. It quickly becomes clear that calling him an artist is an over simplification. He had a view on the world that comes, optically, through his creation and division of space and the way he moved through those spaces to perceive and organize the world.

Photo by Victor J. Blue \\\ BLOOMBERG NEWS FILE PHOTO

3. A thing I love: Citibikes Urban scale government interventions – transportation, technical infrastructure, tree plantings, etc. – are often a lesson in how not to engage city and citizen in a successful relationship. In New York, the private/public Citibike transportation system has changed my life. I embraced the Citibike program after just a few rides, immediately giving up my allegiance to my dangerous, uncomfortable, and geared-too-high steel fixie. Now, I carry my helmet everywhere, and use Citibike to connect meeting to meeting, appointment to appointment and gain back hours of time once wasted on mass transit. There is simply nothing cool about it – no style, no nuance, no flair. But efficiency can be cool too.

4. Things I can’t live without: Notebooks Despite every aspect of our lives trending towards a digital record, I’ve found that my brain simply cannot process information without writing it down by hand. I have a stack of notebooks on my shelf of different sizes and scales, weights and thicknesses, all dated start to finish and aligned in succession. They are a sacred record of experiences and ideas, good and bad. I rarely ever return to them because their job was done the minute I scrawled on the page and committed an idea to memory. Inside of each, I’ve implemented a mix of writing and indexing, annotation and illustration. I work from front-to-back on sequential notes and recordings, and from back-to-front on my to-do lists.

Photo source

5. A place I find inspirational: Wilderness Most of my creativity is not innate; I get it from exterior sources, mixed and remixed, filtered and bent, passed through an array of emotional, visual and psychological lenses. Part of living in New York is capitalizing on those stimuli and juggling the infinite inputs at our disposal. However, I frequently covet a place that can wipe everything away and get back to basics… to emptiness. I’ve explored wilderness areas from Colorado to Costa Rica, and even reasonably nearby in Upstate New York. The act of reducing exterior stimuli to wind, light and the earth under your feet reengages my appreciation for everything else operating at volume ten.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/14/friday-five-with-david-schwarz-of-hush/