#my art (technically on the fake album cover)

[simonsquest]

THE REQUIEM FOR SIMON BELMONT - A Castlevania 2 Playlist

I created a 60 (ish)-track playlist inspired by Simon's curse as it ravages him, guided by my interpretation that Simon is weakened in those terrible years in preparation to become (and eventually is, in the bad end) possessed by Dracula, thus becoming more ghoul or vampire-like as the years go by. I've highlighted lyrics that I feel are most pertinent to that specific idea I have. I hope these tracks inspire you like they do me. If you have any similar ones to recommend please send them my way. I'm always eager to listen to more. :) Genres: Metalcore, Nu-metal, Melodic hardcore, Power metal, Alternative rock, Pop punk, Ambient, Emo, a few Pop songs The post is very long under the cut, but it features lyric highlights and a direct link to each song on YouTube. Please be advised that the lyrics can be very graphic and illustrate disturbing imagery and ideas. Please proceed with caution!

Departed Way - SoTN soundtrack No lyrics, it's ambient. :)

Bloody Tears - The Megas The land is wrought with terror He roams the countryside They call him “Vampire Killer” Wipe the blood from your eyes Seeking the ancient weapon A journey far from done Racing the setting sun This battle must be won These bloody tears fall Blinded for ten thousand years This nightmare just keeps getting worse What a horrible night to have a curse This bloodline's sole devotion Is ending evil’s reign Standing upon the shoulders Ancestors rise again He’s found another token To bring about the end The dark will rise again Given flesh by sin And so, the shiver of the night arrives The rite that will save their lives This family damned to fight The demon’s gift of eternal night And now, the quest consumes his heart A marked man, slowly torn apart In these eight accursed years He’s been drowning in his tears Bloody tears

Heart of Fire - The Megas The reaper takes what's his That is what they say He wants to take your life It won't be this day You can feel it burn Somewhere deep within You can hear them scream What is it they say? Who's imprisoned here? Is it you, or they? Death comes for all men Now you come for him You will not be denied Death takes no bribe He can't stop you tonight Your heart of fire burns inside This heart of fire burns tonight (x2) You cannot leave this place That is what they say The keeper has the key But you found a way You can feel it burn Feel the flames surround From the darkness you You can hear him say He has the power here You will take it away They cannot cage what's in your heart Tonight, tonight, tonight And now you see what sets apart Tonight, tonight, tonight They cannot stop you now, no Nothing can stop you now Let the flames consume you Let the fire burn

Out of Time - The Megas A lifetime of training, a legacy of pain Bringing honor to those who remain Portraits of heroes, from his recall Faces torn from their place on the wall Nexus of evil, a castle of ash The existence of man slipping into the past He carries the burden, now nearing the peak Perhaps he will find the redemption he seeks There's something here A staircase to darkness appears Out of time Saving this dying land The hourglass, it runs out of sand Shedding his human lies Tonight, the lord of darkness shall rise The bone dust, it settles Between the gears Machinery powered by mortal fear Blood is the fabric that covers the stair The words of his master, becoming his prayer Behold the omen, eclipse of the moon Convergence of evil awaits in this room A demon resides in this living corpse Cut off the head, and another springs forth This can't be real Into this nightmare revealed Out of time Evil, it stands at midnight Weapons, they flash in the moonlight Now it's time to strike this demon down once and for all The moment of truth If it's lost, our legacy shatters The strength of his ancestors gather, to say: "Simon, fight, for the good of all mankind"

DAYWALKER! (feat. CORPSE) - Machine Gun Kelly, CORPSE I'll never be the same I wanna know if I tell you a secret, will you keep it? I need someone to blame (take it) When I find this motherfucker then I'll lay him in his grave I won't ever be the same I bit the fucking apple, I'm surrounded by some snakes I prayed to God, and then I went to sleep with bloody hands I came back Nah, not getting better, can't change it, I left blood all on the pavement I'm on borrowed time, can't shake it, blackout when I'm raging There's an invisible voice that's talkin' to me, and it's always tellin' me to kill I got a problem with separating what my head is creating from things that are real I'm in a room, hyperventilating, and debating to pop off the cap of these pills

Werewolf - Motionless in White I can feel you, I can hear you, howling in my bones There's an evil lurking in the dark Ever-shifting, skin is ripping as you take control I can't tell where you end and where I start I could be up all the night, but I'm paralyzed when the creature comes alive 'Cause it's fight or fright in the full moonlight You can run but you can't hide Smile for the camera, but don't flash your teeth I feel like somebody's watching me (feels like everybody's watching me) Can't fight these cravings in the night A beast who's burdened by his bite And in the pale moonlight, a debt to be paid For one must suffer for all eternity

Porcelain - Motionless in White God knows I tried, but broken, I bow to the beast inside An altered state, sometimes I even scare myself Is it too late to question fate? And hope is fleeting, still tethered to this grim divergence of my being I can't stop the bleeding I can barely stand myself I saw your face, but it couldn't save me I fell from grace, and I cracked your smile Don't rescue me, I can't escape it Ravenously, feed my feral mind

The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance He said, "son, when you grow up Would you be the savior of the broken the beaten and the damned?" He said, "will you defeat them? Your demons, and all the non-believers The plans that they have made?" Your memory will carry on We'll carry on And though you're broken and defeated Your weary widow marches On and on, we carry through the fears Disappointed faces of your peers

Change (In the House of Flies) - Deftones And I watched a change in you It's like you never had wings I took you home I pulled off your wings Then I laughed I look at the cross Then I look away

Blood on My Hands - The Used You felt the coldness in my eyes And something I'm not revealing Though you got used to my disguise You can't shake this awful feeling Feel the pain that I never show And I hope you know it's never healing Straight from your eyes, it's barely me Beautifully so disfigured (there's blood) The other side that you can't see Just praying you won't remember There's blood x2 There's blood, blood, blood Is it really that hard for you to believe?

Closer - Nine Inch Nails You let me violate you You let me desecrate you You let me penetrate you You let me complicate you (Help me) I broke apart my insides (Help me) I've got no soul to sell (Help me) the only thing that works for me Help me get away from myself I wanna feel you from the inside My whole existence is flawed You get me closer to God You can have my isolation You can have the hate that it brings You can have my absence of faith You can have my everything (Help me) tear down my reason I drink the honey Inside your hive You are the reason I stay alive

Devil in a Midnight Mass - Billy Talent I was alive, but now I'm singing (Silent night) for the rest of my life x2 (Violent knight) at the edge of your knife ("Forgive me father") won't make it right A devil in a midnight mass Killed the boy inside the man The holy water in his hands Can never wash away his sins Put my trust in God that day Not the man that taught his way Whisper, whisper, don't make a sound Your bed is made, it's in the ground

Cirice - Ghost I feel your presence amongst us You cannot hide in the darkness A candle casting a faint glow You and I see eye to eye Now there is nothing between us From now our merge is eternal Can't you see that you're lost? Can't you see that you're lost without me?

Ritual - Ghost Tonight, we're summoned for a divine cause Remembrance, no, but for their future loss This chapel of ritual smells of dead human sacrifices for the altar On this night of ritual, invoking our master To procreate the unholy bastard "Our Father who art in Hell Unhallowed be Thy name Cursed be the sons and daughters Of Thine nemesis whom are to blame"

This is How I Disappear - My Chemical Romance To explain the unforgivable Drain all the blood and give the kids a show Who walks among the famous living dead Drowns all the boys and girls inside your bed Well, heaven knows That without you is how I disappear And live my life alone, forever now Can you hear me cry out to you? Words I thought I'd choke on, figure out And now You wanna see how far down I can sink Let me go, fuck

Pet - A Perfect Circle Head down, go to sleep Pay no mind what other voices say They don't care about you, like I do (like I do) Safe from pain, and truth, and choice And other poison devils See, they don't give a fuck about you Like I do I'll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and all your demons I'll be the one to protect you from A will to survive and a voice of reason I'll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and your choices, son They're one in the same, I must isolate you Isolate and save you from yourself Swaying to the rhythm of the new world order and Counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums The boogeymen are coming x2

Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums - A Perfect Circle (This song has the same lyrics as the previous track, just more ambient/discordant.) Go back to sleep Go to sleep

Lullaby - A Perfect Circle (This song is also related to the tracks above. It's ambient and discordant.)

Spiders - Slipknot Well, you can go in alone, or keep it in between The pages of the books you burn so no one gets to read The fingers pull your stitches tight, but knowing someone's secret is not enough Everyone's a little bit a lot of the time Who is food and who is thrown away? When now is not the time, tomorrow disagrees But your real world isn't ready to face the face behind the real me Go in alone, suffer for your feelings, I'm not enough But everyone's a little bitter all of the time

(sic) - Slipknot Here comes the pain Enemy, show me what you wanna be I can handle anything, even if I can't handle you Readily, either way it better be Don't you fuckin' pity me, get up, get off What the hell am I sayin'? I don't know about malevolent Sure as hell decadent, I want somebody to step up, step off Get a grip, don't let me slip 'til I drop the ball Fuck this shit, I'm sick of it You're goin' down, this is a war Fuck it Who the fuck am I to criticize your twisted state of mind? You're leaving me suspect, I'm leaving you grotesque Feels like a burn from which you never learn Cause and effect, you jealous ass Press your face against the glass, suffer You can't kill me 'cause I'm already inside you x4

Rotting in Vain - Korn Repulsion evades me, I say goodbye Digging deep inside of me, getting past this agony I can't seem to get away Another day rotting in vain I can't take this

Duality - Slipknot I push my fingers into my eyes It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache But it's made of all the things I have to take Jesus, it never ends, it works its way inside If the pain goes on I have screamed until my veins collapsed I've waited as my time's elapsed Now, all I do is live with so much hate My future seems like one big past You're left with me 'cause you left me no choice If the pain goes on, I'm not gonna make it Put me back together or separate the skin from bone Leave me all the pieces, then you can leave me alone All I've got, all I've got is insane

Solway Firth - Slipknot They mutter as the body loses warmth They pick your bones like locks inside a tomb And take great care to not take care of you I guess you got what you wanted So I will settle for a slaughterhouse soaked in blood and betrayal It's always somebody else Somebody else was me You want the real smile? Or the one I used to practice Not to feel like a failure? I just want to feel like any other man I won't show you the whole story I won't show you the aftermath Don't look away If I'm alive tomorrow I will alleviate the pressure By cutting you out of me I found my bottom line Dead on the front lines I know I'll never go home While I was learning to live You taught me how to die I guess I got what I wanted Another needle in the back through purified scarification It wasn't somebody else You fucking did it to me You want a real smile? I haven't smiled in years

Eyeless - Slipknot I am my father's son 'cause he's a phantom, a mystery, and that leaves me nothing How many times have you wanted to die? It's too late for me, all you have to do is get rid of me It's all in your head It's all in my head It's all in your head Do you wanna take my life? Better get away from me, stay the fuck away from me Look me in my brand new eye

I'm Not A Vampire (Revamped) - Falling in Reverse Well, I'm not a vampire, but I feel like one Sometimes I sleep all day because I hate the sun My hands are always shaking, body's always aching And whisky seems to be my holy water 'Cause I'm insane, I can feel it in my bones Coursing through my veins, when did I become so cold? For goodness sakes, where is my self-control? If home is where my heart is, then my heart has lost all hope I swear to God, I'm not a So God bless all of you now 'Cause I'm going straight to hell And I'm taking you down with me Because you know damn well So I sharpen my teeth, 'cause I love the way it feels When I sink into your skin and draw the only thing that's real You don't believe me? Should I write it in blood? You better drive that fucking stake right through my heart and try to run I'm a vampire

Disasterpiece - Slipknot You'll never get out of this 'cause you were never alive How does it feel to be locked inside a another dream That never had the chance of being realized? Once again, it's me and no one else I can't remember if there was a someone else It's not mine, it's not fair, it's outta my hands And it's shaking - you'll never take me No one is safe Hate ain't enough to describe me Somewhere between screaming and crying When do I get to know why? I'm gone, goodbye, it's so depressing Withering away Take a look inside, my soul is missing All I have is dead, so I'll take you with me Can't see through the sties in my eyes I'm not supposed to be here I'm not supposed to be Scratching and clawing all the way Is there another way to live? 'Cause it's the only way to die

Mx. Sinister - I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME Oh you never seem to notice When I follow you home In the dark of your apartment When you think you're alone Oh you never seem to notice That my heart beats for you So I'll open you up And make yours beat for me, too

Self-Destruction - I Prevail And everything is fucked, and I cannot be saved Maybe that's because I'm on the way Took everything I had and threw it in the flames Watch it burn while they're steady taking aim I guess it came with repercussions I've been in it for a minute, this is not up for discussion All the preconceived premonitions from people who never listen Creating all the division, how can you live with yourself? I'm the definition of coming to a collision The old and the new edition, the hero becomes a villain Now let me tell you a little bit about the Devil, first I am the one Alpha, omega, I won't be undone My power's limitless, you are like Icarus You have been flying too close to the sun I see what's mine, and I'm gonna take it I do what I say, call it dedication I built an army into a nation Now karma is coming, you can't escape it If you don't know the Devil, then you don't know me

Frankenstein - Rina Sawayama Put me together, thread and needle I'm trying to be normal, but trauma is immortal Oh, my God, this is so unbearable Make it stop, this is more than medical I was doing fine 'Til I hit rock bottom Opened up my problems Watch the poison blossom I could be your Frankenstein, Frankenstein I don't wanna be a monster anymore

Dead Until Dark - Powerwolf Prone to the grave, the dark side you walk In the light of morning we fall Confront the brave, the rebel we stalk In the still of the night we awake Don't dare cry, when fever up high No escape, no break, your life we will take Gone with the night When the unholy demons of dawn Pray When the sunlight is dead we're reborn Cursed by our fate, the undead crusade For the sanctum deep under your skin Raise up the blade, by night we invade For the last of times the fight may begin For in blood, in God, in heaven we trust In the night we are Dead until dark

Nighttime Rebel - Powerwolf In the night of surrender In the full moonlight and the midnight came Be the ghostly defender And of glory be thy name In the curse of a nightmare Be the lightning and thunder And ignite the final flame Seven heads, seven demons, seven murders in the sky Take your fate in your hand now, and so we rise up high Nighttime rebel, stand alone against the wind Nighttime rebel, break the holy sin Nighttime rebel, wake up in the night and let begin Nighttime rebel, holy light against the dark Nighttime rebel, bear a holy heart Nighttime rebel, summon in the dawn and let begin In the ongoing darkness Where the sky is torn and belief has failed Be the guide, the pretender And invoke the dreaded rain Like a wolf, like a phantom To the cross bound nail by nail In the curse after midnight When inferno born and the mask unveiled Be the last man unbroken, and in light the one to fade

My Will Be Done - Powerwolf In times of war we strike with sancted power When from the sacristy I rise To bring the final sacrifice Sing words of praise to glorify my name and Stand still Sacrificed to my will Sainted be what I say Preaching My will be done Here and all my life in heaven My will be done Christ our savior bring the sacrament for My will be done

Fire & Forgive - Powerwolf Sons of God and sacrament The night we're dying for Rest in flame by testament At midnight we return Fundamental armament The price we all ignore Bring to fall the last of savior To son of God we swore

Kimdracula - Deftones The earth will see our eyes go blank tonight The earth will rot away Go blank tonight I, I really wish these snakes were your arms

Good God - Korn You came into my life Without a single thing I gave into your ways Which left me with nothing I scream without a sound How could you take away Everything that I was Made me a fucking slave Your face that I despise Your heart inside that's gray I came today to say You're fucked in every way Won't you get the fuck out of my face now? You stole my life Without a sign You sucked me dry

Bloodbath & Beyond - Ice Nine Kills It's been six days since I've had my fix and now I'm fixed on you Despite your trembling body, I can tell you want it too I'm every man you've ever dreamed of, all your fantasies combined You can tell I'm the best by the blood on your dress, there's no bite as good as mine Through the darkest of ages and blackest of plagues I have fed on the blood of the land Every girl that's in sight knows she's mine for the night They're all trapped in the palm of my hand I've crossed oceans of time, caused unspeakable crime But I wouldn't change a bloody thing Hunted by all mankind but they're one step behind "Prince of Darkness"? Fuck that, I'm the king And I'm slipping through the cracks again They'll never take me alive because I'm already dead And forever in your head So won't you come with me and taste immortality You're dripping from the ecstasy of one last crimson kiss When your blood pours out like rain Take pleasure in the pain You're not the only girl to scream my name, but the first I can't resist So here's one last crimson kiss Don't think of this as damnation 'Cause we don't need their salvation Your neck is up next

The Greatest Story Ever Told - Ice Nine Kills How could this happen? Am I dreaming again? Her body's not moving, I'm assuming she's dead She's covered in bruises but the truth is that I never committed the crime Time to burn and dig the whites of my eyes But, what went on that night? "Listen closely as I tell you I'm not who I seem I'm gonna touch you 'cause I like it when you scream I wanna watch you when you're sleeping and thinking of me" And that's what he told her as he killed her Don't believe what he says, he's not real It's murder and he did it My God (hear me) You better fear me 'cause I'm gonna find you Last night I dreamed we had a future and you were alive It was springtime on our wedding day, there were birds in the sky The sun was glowing, it was beautiful and everyone was there I still can't believe that you're gone, I'm so lost I'm sorry (I'm sorry) Don't go Oh please, God no 'Cause you'll be lying awake From this nightmare and feel betrayed I gave my life And you took it away "Am I dead? Or am I still breathing?"

The Coffin Is Moving - Ice Nine Kills I'm holding my life in my hands And you're holding your views of the world Around never knowing Just make me whole again 'Cause I'm a soldier for misfortune But I believe we can turn it around This memory, the final enemy now We are, we are the walking dead A generation of negligence brought down upon our heads

The Fastest Way To A Girl's Heart Is Through Her Ribcage - Ice Nine Kills There's blood here in the water as I'm slowly losing grip 'Cause your insanity, it's killing me What's inside you is inherently sick Now that the blood is getting darker You drown in your true colors and just the truth remains All you are is a masquerade You always had a way of creeping in my life You're always so inclined to tear apart my mind Is it difficult to breathe with your fate wrapped around your throat?

The Product of Hate - Ice Nine Kills This world is spiralling down The segregation of everything Is the source of the blood on the walls It's passed down by generation This hatred could swallow us all A story told so full of holes Just allows the lies to breathe And to leach into the heart Of the disillusioned and the weak And I'll pray to God we make it out alive I see through this illusion But what's the solution if all that they see is what's different in me? There's a hole in my heart nobody can see It feels like the sun is gone and hope is locked away There's a hole in my heart, why can't they see? God unstitch their eyes please I hope tomorrow's not too late 'Cause today's time is running out Don't turn your back you know it's real So wake up, 'cause something's wrong There's something wrong

Connect the Cuts - Ice Nine Kills Well I've been looking for redemption What was gold, now is lost to the wolves As the choler inside swells like locusts swarm With little faith in a God or humanity, I'm lost Sometimes I think to myself "you should burn, motherfucker, burn" There's no truth in resting on laurels Or the blindfold of crooked ideals and morals On and on 'til the end, the serpents in my head Will show themselves through the whites of my eyes If all is lost again, will I repeat or repent? Or will I realize the Devil's in disguise? I'll fucking self-destruct Well, I've been bitten by temptation Body of rust and a cynical soul I can't seem to fend off all the vermin I hear the Devil, he's calling Fuck Doubt has dragged me down to rock bottom this time Despite the weight on my shoulders, I continue to climb In my final hours, towards a higher power to find I'm damaged by design I can't believe it was so difficult to see That all along my only enemy was me

Jonathan - Ice Nine Kills God has taken my eyes If I see no reflection How the hell do I know I'm alive? As the darkness bleeds into my mind The force that screams to give up Is grave enough to crave my name into stone Inspired by hope or defined by disease? If you knew what it meant to be me Could you close your eyes and never say "never"? Or would you call this the end of the road? I'm running out of memories, a shell of what I used to be As this curse drains the life out of me

Communion Of The Cursed - Ice Nine Kills So where's your savior tonight? As angels fall from the sky His idle hands let me inside Where I cannot be crucified Forgive me father, have I sinned? Who gives a fuck how long it's been? Just let his holy war begin I am the darkness deep within The devil in her daughter's skin And I'll be there 'til the bitter end In the name of God I command you to flee Relentlessly, 'cause we believe By the power of Christ we will set her free You spent your life in his light Still faith can't save you tonight Yet evil stands the test of time I cannot be crucified Pass the cup and drink from me instead Savor the taste and quench your thirst With the communion of the cursed Get on your knees and prove your worth I will cast him out (his grip is weakening) Cast him out (this is his day of reckoning) Through the father, the son, and the holy ghost I will lure this parasite from its wholesome host Eternally, my last decree If a soul must be taken, I demand you take me "Now I lay her down to sleep Her soul is mine, and mine to keep If she dies before she wakes I'll find another soul to take"

Me, Myself & Hyde - Ice Nine Kills I tear apart the pages of the story of my life In black and white, the wrong and right will struggle to survive And I've been falling apart in the pouring rain I'm waging war on myself, a captive casualty Traded a merciful heart for a murderer's brain But now I curse what's in my head Because I can't stop seeing red Did you really think I would falter, my friend? I've destroyed you before, I'll destroy you again I'm the hell that is your future, I'll incinerate your past I'm the devil on your shoulder, but I'll always be your better half We might share one body But this spine is fucking mine By now you should know You're just a spectator, I'm the show Is this the end of me? I bid thee farewell Fuck my fate Just save a seat for me in hell

Cheers To Goodbye (feat. Spencer Charnas) - Escape the Fate, Ice Nine Kills, Spencer Charnas Losing myself, put you through hell I've been fuckin' actin' up too much Tell me that you've had enough I fall apart, you don't look surprised Think I need some fuckin' therapy Figure out what's wrong with me So come gather 'round, you can watch my demise Been living too long in this fuckin' disguise Consuming every substance I can find You can laugh at my life, it's a joke, it's a lie It's time for the moment you've all been waiting for Step the fuck up because the final act of the evening is here A vanishing act, the likes of which you have never seen Count down with me Three, two, one So kiss me goodbye, say goodnight Hold back your tears, don't you cry Which would be worse? To live as a monster or die as a hero tonight

DAMAGED (feat. Spencer Charnas) - In This Moment, Ice Nine Kills, Spencer Charnas I wish there was a way for me to put this into words All these feelings that I have as I start to lose control I feel panic rushin' over me and grippin' at my chest And no matter what I say or do, I know that it won't rest I feel my vision fade, sweat drippin' down my back I can hear my heart pound, I can feel my mind crack And I know that you love me and you wanna save me now In the end of it all, you can't save me from myself The more I try to fight it, he grows stronger every time Post-traumatic stress, yeah, that's what my doctor said So when I think of dying, I just gotta take a breath

Funeral Derangements - Ice Nine Kills Slave to the plot Let 'em rot Or bring 'em back forever They say "Behind those gates, eternal life awaits" But those beyond the grave, come back beyond depraved With church bells ringing, I'll start digging We pray to thee our God (it's all my fault) For the blessing you've provided I'll see you on the other side But I'd kill to bring you back tonight Don't give up, don't let go I'll make this right I'll dig through sorrow and disgust Ashes to ashes, dust to dust They say that time heals all But I won't heed the call Buried in misery Spare me the eulogy Still, I can't escape this struggle Driven when push comes to shovel Whether God's hand or my own Nothing here is set in stone The flesh is living but the souls have spoiled The wrath of God lays beneath this soil

Enjoy Your Slay - Ice Nine Kills Plagued by the past And down a badly beaten path A mess of a man, his fate unknown He can't give up but can't go on like this Oh, I'm not gonna hurt you I'm just gonna bash your fucking brains in Now the fun has just begun And one by one your wife and son Hang in the web you've spun as family ties come undone Come drain or shine, I'll hit your whole bloodline A chopping spree around the family tree Where you can hang once all work is done

Love Bites - Ice Nine Kills, Chelsea Talmadge It's tearing me apart, but it's us or them So howl at the moon, oh, how can it be? The softer the skin, the sharper the teeth I've fallen prey to a curse I can't disown Is it all in my head? Blood on the hands of a man so filled with doubt I'm counting on beauty to kill off the beast So just put me down

The World In My Hands - Ice Nine Kills, Tony Lovato How'd I end up here? So uncomfortable I'm a stranger in this body The world's an ugly place And that's a fact that fate has brought me So tell the town below As death took hold You watched helplessly But to hell with letting go 'Cause when it snows It falls to you from me

Hypnosis - Sleep Token Lift, oh, lift me out Of my own skin Of all my doubt Take from me Leave nothing left Take everything Sink, sink your teeth Split my skin, no Just make me bleed Oh, and give me Give me all All that I want You know you hypnotize me always (x6) And I am almost under

Stabbing In The Dark - Ice Nine Kills When the hands of fate Fall on the midnight hour Behind this mask of hate I don the Devil's power These are the Devil's eyes I'll haunt you day after day Knife after knife Taking life after life You can't kill the boogeyman I am the shadow where there once was light Strangling all signs of life

Headache - Motionless in White Some days I try to speak with pins and needles in my brain Some days I feel sadistic, a portrait of my pain Some days I live in fear that I am every fucking thing I hate I know that I'm gonna be fine Oh God, am I gonna be fine? Bright lights, am I dead or alive? So insane I'm losing my mind I made a deal with the devil inside Decay and follow me down, under skin, I am doubt Feeding the flies in your mouth through my eyes I swear that I'm gonna be fine

Mephisto - Crystal Lake You've got nothing left, you're as good as dead Pay the price to be welcomed to hell Now it's time to pay the price, this is a death sentence Your soul is mine Love and hate, you got everything you wanted Price to pay, your fate is already sealed Be prepared, the gates of hell lie waiting In despair, I wanna hear you scream It's too late to repent, you got what you deserve When the clock strikes, you'll be torn apart, damned in hell I've waited for this moment for four and twenty years He won't come to save you, no one will hear you scream Oh, you are mine

Curse - Crystal Lake Our time is up, we're dehumanized You took our hearts out, lobotomized Are we so weak? You set the bridge on fire Too late, you've gone too far, dead end Checkmate, congrats, you won this game But will it be the end of our nightmare? I'm all alone Burning my soul as I'm losing myself All alone, on my own Life, is it a gift or curse? Saw him taking another soul above the sky They left a thousand stories untold Broken dreams make memories shine in gold The harder we try, the deeper we fall We'll burn away when the sun rises up This road is paved with bricks of broken dreams Stand all, walk through this hell with me

Trigger - In Flames I am running from something I don't know I am searching for something, which way to go? I am trying to separate what's real I'm running in a wheel Please tell me my name I haven't checked it today

The Quiet Place - In Flames Spinning further deeper I know you're out to try me I'm not in this to be a slave I push the dirt Make me feel Drown the monster Make all bad dreams go away Whatever it takes to keep your hands free Open scars The quiet place All the bridges fall to the ground And you say you sacrificed And then I close my eyes (x2)

Do Or Die - Magnolia Park, Ethan Ross (warning: flashing images in the video) I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die young It's a fight to survive, we're suicidal I walk in the building to burn it, setting a fire they all getting murdered I'm feeling my demons returning, fuck up again and I guess I'm not learning Got the opposition nervous, y'all are really only tough on the surface I'm living through all of these curses, bringing the pain and they know that I'm hurting Not affectionate, my face is still expressionless Take his head off clean, sleepy hollow I'm collecting it Messing with a king, hit the dirt, you gon' rest in it I'm meant for this, you try to take it from me blow your head to bits It's do or die We live to fight so Don't let me drown, don't let me drown It's flooding in my mind I think I got a problem why I'm always in my head Really going back to my old ways, running so low on the tolerance, all of the stress I'm going back and forth, slamming my fists, I'm losing it again All of the hate makes it feel like love and I can't even trust any of my friends, damn No remedy for all this pain We live to fight so come try me

Kool-Aid - Bring Me The Horizon (warning: flashing images in the video) Is this what you wanted? (no) So suffer your fate, oh, come here and give me a hug Nobody loves you like I love you, oh, my dear But you should've known that it was gonna end in tears Such a sucker for an execution The void is a vampire, fat on our blood While they try their hand at playing God Afraid there's no cure I got my (hands around your throat, I love the way you choke) 'Cause I am yours and you are mine, I'll never let you go I'll never let you go Get the fuck up That this was gonna end in tears

Running In Circles - Dead Poet Society Feel like I'm never enough Slowly coming undone, yeah I run in circles Get back, get back, get away Watch me try hard anyway It's all fake, the self-hate's killing me I know that I'm not that And I'm sick of pretending So sick of pretending I need to run away Soon I'll be just like the others Hide my face No one knows it's pulling me under Feels like I'm running in circles Feels like I'm running, running, oh I'm fucked up and I can't see straight I'm so sick of pretending, oh That I'm someone and something I'm not So I'm back where I started Falling apart

Watch The World Burn - Falling In Reverse Yeah, I got voices in my head again, tread carefully I got problems, I got issues, yeah, apparently Trauma that I'm burying, I think I need some therapy I'm past the point of no return, fuck being passive-aggressive I'll brandish a weapon, teach all of you motherfuckers a lesson They swim in the deep, and they creep in the shallows, I'm lost They're licking their chops, they're fixing to rip me apart, I'm swimming with sharks You started a battle, bitch, I'ma finish it 'Cause I got enemies trying to get rid of me Evil tendencies are fucking with me mentally I can't control the monster any longer that's inside The pain and sorrow left us hollow No tomorrows hard to swallow Death is calling so appalling Tightrope walking, now I'm falling down The pain inside is the fuel that drives The flesh and bones through blood-red skies The death defying, hypnotizing One day you're gonna figure out that Everything they taught you was a lie Watch the world burn The fear is what keeps you alive Break the fucking chains, take back your life The fear is what keeps you insane Break the fucking chains, take away the pain

[clockworkslick]

i made these for the demos, and then poweramp decided to auto change them all to one image, which is frustrating but not really the biggest deal. sorta deserved for trying to give multiple songs on one album different artworks.

[viccharine]

do you guys ever listen to a band so much that you end up making fake merch for it?

(reblogs greatly appreciated!!!!)

close ups and commentary under the cut!

about the poster itself: do you guys know how hard it is to make art for a band that hasn’t been active in 13 years? the answer is HARD (yes, i probably could done research and looked for old interviews for inspiration but who has time for that)

—> the icons related to “take a vacation!” are inspired by lyrics from the song “take a vacation!” (haha, did you see what I did there?) specifically, the lines “we’ll leave the waves at the ocean” and “we’ll leave the sand in a suitcase”

—> the Jon Walker and Ryan Ross icons are taken directly from the album cover (it took ten years off my life trying to figure out how to get them on here w/ the color palette—graphic design may be my passion but I never said i was GOOD at it)

—> the heart imagery comes from the fact that the band’s called “the young VEINS”—although it annoys me IMMENSELY that i technically drew more arteries than veins in the icons (my anatomy teacher would be so disappointed, but alas, anatomical accuracy had to be sacrificed to make it. yknow. look nice)

—> i did hand-lettering for all the text except for everything that’s in Helvetica (i did THAT in canva). the art program i use has a basically unusable text tool so I was forced to draw all of it, so I choose to believe that the reason why it doesn’t look. the best. is because of the caffeine shakes

some extra commentary: am I the only one who’s genuinely REALLY bad at listening to music? i don’t really get into bands as much as i just find songs that sound nice—to illustrate the extent of this issue: i did NOT know that Brendon Urie was a part of Panic! At the Disco. I’m not even kidding, I thought the artist who made Death of a Bachelor and the artist who made A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out were completely different and just. didn’t bother to check if I was right.

also, I’m not the type of person to be interested in band lore???? I rarely know the names of band members if even I’ve listened to the band for years (I really couldn’t care less in most situations)

case in point, i did not know who the FUCK Ryan Ross was!!! i knew he was in p!atd but that’s literally about it—before a couple of days ago if you asked to me pick out either Ryan Ross or Jon Walker from a line up I would not be able to get even CLOSE

anyway, my friend/manager is really into band lore, so I basically got a crash-course in all things “early to late 2000s emo band” and subsequently found out about the Young Veins (i was also extremely disappointed when I found out they only had one album and hadn’t been active in over a decade) THEN I realized that decade old, inactive bands don’t usually have merch, so I made my own! “merch” used lightly—i don’t think this is actually fit to sell lol

anyway that’s all k thanks byeee :D!! (and go stream the young veins!!)

[the-tzarina-alexandra-paracosm]

Some of my favourite art - a timeline

Part 14: 2024

The first half or so, at least

January. The fake album covers series. This is only a concept sketch but I really like how it looks even so, and I like the logo too.

February. This is actually a panel from my comics. This is one of the more detailed drawings in my black white and red rough sketch style. I like the pose, especially since it was so difficult for me to draw something like this in the past.

April. This is hands down my favourite panel from all the FIF comics I've done so far. The concept and the composition are very good.

May. Self portrait. Technically traced over a photo, but, as I've come to realise, even tracing in an aesthetically pleasing and artistic way is its own skill. (And the colouring and shading as well as the composition is done without tracing anyway). The first full colour picture of the year.

June. Quick sketch for my hacker story.

June. I like how I drew the babies here. Drawing the poses was a struggle, but I'm glad I didn't give up on it. I also liked drawing that transparent ball.

Early July. My first artfight this year (@ user is_noah). This is definitely the best drawing I've made this year, and the highest effort one. I spent about 3-4 full days drawing this, so a cumulative total of 20 hours or more. I like pretty much everything about this drawing, the shading, lighting, colour, mood, perspective, anatomy, poses, composition, clothing, character expressions etc etc. I feel like it looks just as I envisioned it in my mind if not better. And most importantly the emotion, the angst grief etc is there. What I struggled with the most was definitely the composition.

Late July. My second and last artfight this year, and a very high effort drawing for my friend @sea-angle. I like the lighting, colours and poses here. The composition was definitely the biggest struggle, but it was very much worth it. Although I spent a full week on this, I think the net time was about half of the other drawing.

______

The way I would characterise this year so far is that I'm still in an experimental phase especially in terms of subject matter, and am constantly going out of my comfort zone. At the same time, this is the period of time in which my artstyle is the most "my own" it's ever been, and the skills I've acquired over the years stacked up, thus enabling me to draw things that would've been extremely challenging even just last year. And to be fair, they were very challenging this year too, but I was determined to see them through to the end. My biggest improvements have been in terms of anatomy (+ poses), lighting and especially composition, which I've also put a much higher level of intentionality in.

But all of this did not occur overnight. If this 15+ year retrospective showed me anything it's that even those years that I felt like I was stagnating or regressing in my art, were actually crucial steps in building skills that would define my art in the future. I am extremely grateful for the journey I've had so far. I hope that any artist who reads through this series feels encouraged, because every new drawing means progress, even when, or especially when we feel it the least

[theloniousbach]

Once Again Working on The Enigma off Ornette Coleman

February 28, 2024

By Kim Kleinman, Contributing Writer

When he invited me to this birthday party for Ornette Coleman, Fritz wrote, “…I’ve loved his music since I got the ears to hear it correctly, and now I’m convinced I’ve underestimated his brilliance and the sheer beauty of his music.”

“The ears to hear it correctly” captures my efforts too. I dutifully read Martin Williams as a new jazz fan in the late 1960s or early 1970s and saw that Ornette Coleman was not only NEW, but IMPORTANT. I think I snatched up the Atlantic Best of collection from the Columbia Record Club. It was new, important, but not really much fun. Still, it would come out for at least one side from time to time in those days of vinyl LPs as the soundtrack to underaged beer and the deep but tedious thoughts of young people trying to figure out the world. Like the world itself, this music was mysterious, challenging, and a little scary.

I kept returning to Coleman, though far more often than other avant-gardists, even late-era John Coltrane. There was brilliance and sheer beauty, plus a vulnerability that kept drawing me back. A.B. Spellman’s Four Jazz Lives showed Coleman to be shy and brave, thoughtful and enigmatic. Later I saw Shirley Clarke’s documentary “Ornette: Made In America,” which conveyed an overwhelming sense of loneliness. It was with that impression in mind that I walked into the green room after a 1981 concert with Prime Time when I began to get the ears to hear him correctly. Shy myself, I shook Coleman’s hand to say thanks, for that night and all the years before. It was easier to talk to bassist Jamaaldeen Tacuma, who asked what I played. We both heard me blurt, “Er, stereo.”

In 1981, over the two drums, two basses, and two guitars with the leader, I heard just how Ornette sang, not just on alto but on trumpet and violin. Somehow the lack of technical prowess on the latter instruments expressed that vocal element of his art. That’s what he’d been doing all along; I finally had the correct ears to hear him singing brilliantly and beautifully.

With that insight, I could go back to those early Atlantic albums and really hear them for the first time—the coherence and poignancy of the melodies, the rich interplay of the voices, the harmonies that are there even without a chordal instrument to frame them. The previously daunting “Free Jazz” had a logic and opportunities to triangulate Coleman’s music with the more familiar voices of Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, and Scott LaFaro, a chance to hear how they played this music.

Coleman composed some wonderful tunes—my favorites are among the obvious ones: “Ramblin’,” “Una Muy Bonita,” “Peace,” “Lonely Woman.” Other musicians have covered these and a few other gems, but they aren’t really part of the canon. Still, the lead sheets of his that I’ve seen in fake books are straightforward, but his highly personal concept of “harmolodics” was not widely developed by others. He certainly contributed to the shape of jazz that came along in the 1960s with terse snarling lines and swoops of sound, but to parse out the Coleman from the Shepp, the Ayler, the Dolphy, the Coltrane, in an adventurous young saxophonist of today is difficult.

Yet his sound is distinctive and I do revisit it often enough. Usually it’s the Atlantic albums from the early 1960s, though I have a selection from the late-sixties Blue Note sides and I paid attention to his work with pianist Geri Allen in the mid 1990s.

As part of the Jazz Spectrum birthday bash for Ornette, I once again have listened to those favorite early albums this time around, including the one standard that Coleman covered, which is included in this week’s Song of the Week segment, “Embraceable You.” It’s a chance to test his approach with a recognizable point of reference. In the same vein, I also returned to his contribution to “Sonnymoon for Two” from Sonny Rollins’s September 2010, 80th birthday concert at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, which is collected on Road Shows, Vol. 2. It is, in the end, not all that good. For one, it is way too long, though to be fair Coleman doesn’t start playing until the nine-minute mark. They solo only serially in two- or three-minute segments over the remaining 12 minutes with little direct interplay. They certainly listen to one another but the interaction is passive. Coleman does invoke the theme at least tangentially in one solo, but more revealing is the way his improvisatory approach rooted in melody and theme has an affinity to Rollins’s and yet is so different. They each hear those intersections and lean into them.

It doesn’t quite work, but I am glad I listened. Coleman’s music does work, brilliantly and with sheer beauty. I am glad I have listened to it again and again and again.

[aroace-poly-show]

art thingy i did for my multimedia class thingy!!! (its for an album cover project :D, its like neon/techno themed, technically this isn't gonna be the actual fake album cover since we're supposed to edit it and stuff but i wanted to share)

[sanstropfremir]

I’d love your thoughts on BTS and their current image and music if you have them and aren’t afraid of the mindless internet hoards.

Personally, I liked a lot of their older stuff, but haven’t liked anything since I think the Fake Love promotions 3+ years ago. They’d started losing their personality and soul before that album cycle, but it feels like the sanitization of their image and artistry really kicked into hyperdrive after that. Now most of what they do seems like a sterile money grab driven by the Hybe hive mind which is a shame.

ok alrighty (cracks knuckles) let's get into it.

now that i've fully given myself a headache watching the majority of the bts videography, here are three points i'm going to cover:

performative character and the lack thereof

interesting aesthetics and the lack thereof, and

the inevitable cracking of perfection

ready, set, let's begin.

1.

idol music is very clearly definited by spectacle based aesthetics. and it's had that structure for its entire existence. so i gotta hand it to hybe for this one, because they managed to revolutionize being utterly fucking average. the triumph of bts is that they're just some guys and they look like just some guys. hybe found a niche in the system and then gamed that system to the tune of one of the largest musical acts in the world. they're not marketing bts as a romantic parasocial relationship, they're marketing them as your friends. and that is just as insidious to lonely kids as a run of the mill romantic fantasy. but that's not what i'm here to talk about today.

there's a pattern i find very interesting with bts mvs and that is that i don't remember anything about them. specifically, i don't remember the stuff that's happening IN the video; not the styling, not the setpieces, if i didn't know the members i doubt i would remember them either. what i DO remember, is how expensive the production is, and specific shots. i couldn't tell you what a single member was wearing, but i sure as hell remember that first upward angle shot of jungkook and the rusted park ride in spring day. or every single time they do that birdseye shot of jin in like every video. honestly as far as i'm aware jin has only ever worn a loose fitting beige longsleeve shirt.

it took bts a long time to establish any kind of consistent visual character. and the character they did establish.... i don't know if you can call a family-friendly-style clean aesthetic 'character'. they debuted as a hip hop group to little (comparative) success, and then made a switch to doing an early version of where they're currently at right now. if you've seen any of the mvs, you know that this is a pretty significant visual change. i don't think it is inherently a bad change, since the visual branding for hiphop based groups always tips over into iffy terrritory, but it is dramatic enough and early enough that it doesn't strike me as a natural evolution. concept switch ups are common, but they usually work because the members have established a bit of character for themselves, used their performance abilities and presence to fit into a niche in the group. the idol mould is perfect for showcasing the performers; that's its function. the groups that are the most fun to watch are the ones with stage presence, the ones who know how to perform, who can act all the parts they need to play. and bts? 4/7 actual performers on a good day. in my personal opinion it's 2/7.

i'm gonna expand on what i said about jimin here (this is technically the first part of this series), because it does apply to the rest of the group on the whole:

and i think here is where we see the main crux of the difference between taemin and jimin as performers: taemin has both an artistic and an idol persona. we know and understand him to do solo work that has a separate artistic meaning to just him being an idol. even though this performance was pre-move, i would still say this applies, because he's hot off press your number, where he's acting in a story based mv. jimin on the other hand just has his idol persona. he's not known for creating the same kind of storytelling that taemin is.

bts has been very insistent on the image of the group as a single unit. despite having the size of fanbase and the revenue that would make any official solo debut a massive success, none of them have done any substantial solo work. this isn't artistically a problem, and i think it's very admirable of them to be so dedicated to the image and the legacy of the group, when that can be an uncommon trait in the industry. i do however, think it starts to become an issue when we want to discuss what the artistic visions and images of groups are. shinee taemin and solo taemin have two distinct artistic representations, and taemin himself will attest to that. it's the same with all the shinee members that have solo careers, and the same with other groups. jackson, bambam, yugyeom, and jaebeom's solo work is all very different from got7. yixing's solo work is very different from exo's. even the subunits within exo all have their own character (cbx and sc). kpop groups all ostensibly are trained under the same system, so why the disparity with bts? mostly, it's their brand of "authenticity." it's impossible to perform authentically, by the nature of performance as a medium it is unnatural, and tragically, not everyone is naturally interesting, or suited to performing: that's why the performing arts even exist in the first place. it required painstaking training to be good at performing; it is a complex set of skills and those skills are not learnt by "being authentic." being an idol is not just the singing, dancing, rapping; that's only half the work. you need to be able to act to be a compelling performer. pulling your true self and emotions out on stage every night is a fast track to burnout and psychological issues, there's plenty of evidence. the only member of bts of whom i can say for some certainty has a persona and a stage presence is jhope/hoseok, a) because he's kept up a very specific brand in the solo work that he has done, and b) he has actual dance training, not just kpop dance training. the rest of them may have the kpop dance and the kpop vocal training, but what they do not have is the ability to market themselves as compelling performers on stage. taehyung is the only other member i would hesitantly give a semblance of persona and ability to, but i think he stumbled onto that mostly by accident. and if all the pieces don't each have a distinctive colour, how can the whole machine be visually interesting?

2.

bts may never have been able to establish an aesthetic brand, but what they did establish is an intellectual one. if you talk to a fan, the schtick they give is that "it's about the lyrics." as noble as having an intellectual or cerebral message is, what does that look like? how do you portray intellectual on stage, on film? what about intellectual is interesting to watch? cerebral, by it's literal nature as a descriptor, is very difficult to communicate in visual language because it is internal. to successfully communicate cerebrality and intellect in a short form medium like music videos requires a deft hand with metaphor that can elude even an experienced designer. and honestly? i don't know whether to applaud hybe's visual team for being the most successful subtle contemporary designers i've every seen, or to decry them as worst kpop designers i've ever seen. maybe both. regardless, i don't think they're able to cross the gap.

there are exactly four mvs where i actually remember the content of the mv and not the frame it sits in, and those are dna, idol, the singularity comeback trailer with taehyung, and war of hormone. and of an eight year career......that's not very many. these four mvs have at least an inkling of interesting spectacle and character, but even then, it's still a stretch. there is absolutely nothing to write home about in the styling for dna, other than it's well colour matched. I don't even know if I should include singularity because it involves none of the other members. idol is probably their most interesting mv because it actually has alternative styling and varies (at least a little bit) from the standard hybe boom crane shot-that-shows-off-how-we-can-afford-big-studio-spaces-and-locations. the company and the group would be loathe to admit it, but war of hormone is a well designed and interesting mv for the time it was made, with a well crafted gimmick and some actual showing of character from the members. it was the start of a potential that they squashed quite quickly because it wasn't picking up in the hiphop-group-saturated market of 2014. but the rest of their mvs? remarkably uninspired styling. like it's truly impressive how boring the styling is. and like i've said, that is the triumph in their aesthetics: they all look like normal dudes (if you had professional skin + makeup techs looking after them for the last 8 years).

all of this is a carefully crafted image that's tailored to hooking an audience, especially an international one. the mvs are boring in the relative scale of kpop, but they're just different enough from a western pop mv to catch attention. and once you do sink a hook, there's a direct clickfunnel of content that bills itself on these men being "authentic" and "self-producing," which is a huge draw to international fans, because people are racist and believe that the kpop industry is a factory that produces idols like clones, where none of them know how to do anything other than sing and dance and all the music is just handed to them by companies. and they have SO much content that there's no way a new fan can get to it all in a timely manner, so they'll never have to engage with any other kpop artists' work if they don't actively seek it out. but that's another essay for another time.

3.

that brings us to current day, in which at least the last five bts releases have been in the same aesthetic vein of positive, sanitized, and pristine. i said it in one of my txt responses and i will say it again here: money scrubs the humanity from the aesthetic of living. minimalism is for rich white people. hybe and bts may have pivoted their style and brand directly into the lane of mass appeal, but when you pair that with the amount of money funding them, there's a cognitive dissonance between the message and the aesthetics in which it's portrayed. some people do like the clean cut looks, and i won't say that they don't work, but as you've likely gleaned from this response, it isn't my style and if you've been around and reading my writing for longer you'll know that my tastes runs much closer to the messy and the weird, so very little about any of bts' visuals have appeal to me. i do find the contradiction of applying the appeal of radical relatability with the aesthetics of expansive (and expensive) minimalism interesting; it's an extremely fine line that hybe is walking and eventually they are going to tip over, the porcelain mask will not hold forever. maintaining the all ages aesthetic is going to be difficult now that all of them are grown ass men. with other groups of this member age and generation there's very obviously been a shift to a more adult tone, and not necessarily explicitly. got7, mx, nu'est, btob, shinee, 2pm, and groups that have older members like a.c.e and sf9 have all made slow shifts in tone that are undeniably aimed at a maturing audience: they know their core fanbases are aging with them and they (the fans) are not as interested in the 'boy' in boy group. and most of them have telltale visual styles, enough so that i can distinguish a specific group's mv. the last year and change of mx mvs have a very distinctive character; got7 too, since easily as far back as if you do. i can always tell an a.c.e mv by its impeccable fashion and formic styling, and although shinee has always had a more experimental aesthetic edge, their sound and voices are unmistakable.

honestly, i can't predict what bts is going to do in the future, but i personally don't believe they can keep up their clean aesthetic indefinitely without some fallout. part of the fun of following bands is watching them grow musically, and the last couple of years of bts haven't felt like growth. there are fans that have already started realizing it, and there's likely to be more soon.

---

the third part is here, which is a short followup about some of bts' industry influence.

[stephissalty]

skz fic rec

this is mostly self-indulgent and for my own benefit and reference, but i’ve read enough skz fics to make a rec list. mostly hyunsung

fics marked with * have not been updated to exclude kwj

hyunsung

supernova - 41k

friends to lovers

str8 boy jisung has a gf

chaotic gay hyunjin has a habit of falling in love with unattainable guys

one of my all-time favorite fics (all fandoms)

“so what’s your type, then?” // [...] ”someone kind of like you, honestly” -jisung // hyunjin

*hold my hand - 20k

enemies to lovers, fake dating

jisung tried to confess to minho and made him think jisung liked hyunjin

"minho‐hyung now thinks I like hwang–fucking–hyunjin." -jisung

a cupid in the making - 11k

idolverse/canon compliant

felix turns into a toddler

told from seungmin’s pov!!!

“jisung, did you really not see how felix transformed into a toddler in your own bed?” -seungmin

a match made in heaven - 21k

cupid au, strangers to friends to lovers

ace!hyunjin, bluesung, cupid!jisung

jisung is assigned to matchmake hyunjin

“my will to live deconstructs on a molecular level whenever you open your mouth.” -hyunjin

under the surface - 22k

friends to lovers

writer!jisung, photographer!hyunjin

jisung dodges all of hyunjin’s date attempts

jisung is bad at feelings, like really bad at feelings

“dude, you’re going to fucking die” -seungmin

*hoodie season - 7k

idolverse/canon compliant

jisung keeps stealing hyunjin’s clothes

"it's okay, i don't mind if you wear my clothes." -hyunjin

star in my orbit - 31k

strangers to friends to lovers

suicide/depression/domestic violence tw!!!

skaterboy!hyunjin takes in loner!jisung after witnessing his suicide attempt

"he doesn't know it, but he's the only star in my orbit.” -jisung

even a fool knows this - 15k

friends to lovers

jisung makes an 8-step plan to help hyunjin get over his breakup

“my dearest jisung ah, you look at hyunjin like he hung all the stars in the goddamned night sky.” -seungmin

thistle - 53k

jisung works at a coffee shop, art student!hyunjin

past abusive relationship tw

jisung also does music

hyunjin looks at jisung’s lyric book and finds his muse

“you were the one who put the chilli pepper next to number 27 in the customer codebook.” -felix

*your past is not a threat (it’s what brought you to me) - 26k

idolverse/canon compliant

on vacation, hyunjin realizes everything’s always different with jisung

“just you wait. one of these days, we’ll wake up kings, and it’ll be all because of bang chan.” -changbin

“any last words, han jisung?” // “changbin can’t have my signed exo albums. [...] give them to yongbok or something.” -hyunjin // jisung

you can’t cover up my heart - 49k

strangers to friends to lovers, mutual pining

model!hyunjin, makeup artist!jisung

starts as hyunjin getting new tattoos so jisung takes longer to do his makeup

‘jisung is doing dangerous work with a steady hand all while testing hyunjin's willpower as a gay man.‘

“he's in the bathroom, probably in full blown gay panic.” -minho

open your eyes and see - 84k

fake dating

friends keep walking in on them physically fighting and assume they’re dating

they just go with it to appease them

technically they’re enemies but they’re childhood friends

“god, the thought of two hags flirting makes me sick.” -jeongin

“you seemed suspiciously happy for someone whose pringles were supposedly being stolen.” -felix

other ships

*broken compass, young wings - changlix - 61k

soulmates au, college au

changbin never had a soulmate

side seungjin, 3racha roommates

artist!changbin, violinist!felix

“music is great, but so is chicken.“ -felix

“if i like you enough, you’re automatically hot” // “that’s how i feel about you” -changbin // felix

game over (kiss me to continue) - minsung - 12k

enemies to acquaintances to lovers, gamer nerds minsunglix

one-sided jilix and minlix

felix hooks up minho and jisung to play games online

“my actions are in no way an endorsement of your dick size, be it impressive or otherwise” // “it’s impressive, trust me” -minho // jisung

darkfics

i wouldn’t put these under a ship tag even though there are definitely ships within these. the main characters are morally grey, and the fics can potentially be hard to read. mind the tags, but i do recommend these to anyone who’s willing to read them

*tamed - 128k

abo, but it’s not a massive part of the storyline

est. changlix, endgame hyunsung

hyunjin catfishes alphas that are preying on omegas

changbin and jisung are hitmen hired to kidnap hyunjin

jisung and changbin (and minho) aren’t nice people

tw: dub/noncon, graphic violence

side effects - 20k

enemies to lovers(?), hyunsung

jisung’s family kidnaps hyunjin for political gain

jisung uses a love potion on him

there are side effects of the potion

tw: graphic violence, nongraphic dubcon, emotional manipulation

levanter (side effects #2)

[passionate-reply]

This time on Great Albums, I talk about an album that actually isn’t older than I am for a change! Enter the spooky, haunted forest of The Knife with me, and find out why it was Pitchfork’s Album of the Year in 2006! Full transcript after the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’ll be tackling an album that’s more recent than anything I’ve done on Great Albums before, but it’s still old enough to start being considered a classic: The Knife’s Silent Shout, released in 2006, and hence seeing its fifteenth birthday in 2021. Silent Shout is a bit special to me, insofar as it was an album I loved as a teenager, back when it was still pretty new, and it was probably the first album I really fell in love with that wasn’t significantly older than I was. I was quite surprised when I eventually learned just how beloved Silent Shout is among music aficionados. This album has been lauded in critical circles, recommended as a “patrician” essential, and even considered one of the greatest electronic albums of all time! So, what’s the fuss about?

Before Silent Shout, The Knife were significantly closer to a conventional electronic pop duo. Their biggest claim to fame was the track “Heartbeats,” which scored some exposure after a cover of it was featured in a TV ad.

Music: “Heartbeats”

I like to think that “Heartbeats” contains the seeds of what’s great about Silent Shout, with its grinding synth backing and vocalist Karin Dreijer’s affecting wail. But its indie-pop brightness is something distinctively absent from their follow-up. Contrary to what might’ve been expected from an up-and-coming pop act, the sibling duo hunkered down in the studio and set about making something stranger and more exotic. On the technical front, they stripped the production down to its bare essentials, using just digital rhythms and two synthesisers to achieve everything we hear on the album. Stylistically, they took their sound into moody, atmospheric territory, imbuing it with this eerie, claustrophobic ambiance. It’s the musical equivalent of Frankenstein emerging from Mary Shelley’s mind, while the dreary “Year Without a Summer” had poisoned the world around her.

Music: “Silent Shout”

The title track here is also the opener, and introduces us to the frightful world of Silent Shout without mercy. This track is dominated by a powerful contrast of sound: low, thrumming bass, and these quick, but delicate and meandering synth arpeggios, carrying a distinctively Scandinavian flair. This bewitching synthesis of musical ideas makes sense in light of the diverse influences of the two siblings who made up The Knife: Instrumentalist Olaf Dreijer was strongly influenced by dance styles like house, trance, and progressive techno, as well as ambient electronic music, whereas vocalist Karin Dreijer was interested in guitar-based popular music, as well as the distinctive folk traditions of their native Sweden. Not unlike the Pet Shop Boys, they’ve got a wide gap between their influences, but that only serves to intensify the uniqueness of their work, which strikes listeners in a way the constituent musical parts of its heritage never could. Perhaps the most significant sonic feature of the album, though, is the extreme electronic distortions of Karin Dreijer’s voice.

Music: “One Hit”

If raw and everymannish vocals make music feel more in line with our everyday reality, the shocking and monstrous ones on *Silent Shout* render it a truly otherworldly work of art. While many people are quick to decry the “fakeness” of electronically mediated vocals--despite the fact that all art is, of course, artificial--I think Silent Shout proves, more boldly than anything else, just how uniquely powerful this musical tool can be in the right hands. Once you get past the sheer sonic force of the vocals, and their peculiar, skin-crawling timbres, you’ll find that most of the lyrical subject matter is actually painfully quotidian. “One Hit,” for instance, is told from the perspective of an all-too-normal “monster”: a domestic abuser, extracting and enforcing femininity and domestic servitude through the force of violence, dealing in “one hit, one kiss.” Sex, gender, and exploitation based upon them are among the album’s most central themes, and expressed harrowingly on tracks like “Na Na Na”:

Music: “Na Na Na”

Perhaps moreso than any other track on the album, “Na Na Na” is rendered borderline incomprehensible by vocal treatment--a trait magnified by its obviously meaningless title and chorus. But “Na Na Na” does have real lyrics, which tell the story of a life mediated by reproductive anatomy, defined by the rhythm of menstruation, coming from within, and the constant fear of sexual violence from without. It’s a tale of hidden anxiety, and experiences that go unseen and unspoken despite how common they are, making the haze of inscrutability laid over them all the more poignant. It’s clear that these issues are of high importance to Karin Dreijer, who has publicly described themself as “genderqueer,” despite both members of the band being remarkably sparing with all personal details. In another of the most striking vocal performances on the album, “We Share Our Mother’s Health,” Dreijer even gets to sing a duet with themself, and embody two distinct characters at once.

Music: “We Share Our Mother’s Health”

“We Share Our Mother’s Health” can be read in the light of gender and sex dynamics, as well, particularly if you’re willing to read its twin narrators as representations of masculinity and femininity. Personally, though, I think that’s a bit too easy, and really, a bit too cisnormative. I think the album is more interesting if we embrace the fundamental uncertainty of identity, and the transgressive queerness of it all. That said, I prefer to think of “We Share Our Mother’s Health” as a piece about capitalism--the endless toiling and scrounging for more material comfort and security, and the emptiness left behind when that proves to be no pathway towards true happiness. Besides, it’s not like sexism and the class struggle don’t feed off of each other in the end. This track’s sense of cacophony, with voices nearly battling to drown each other out, shows its more strident, aggressive, and downright angry side, which it delivers as powerfully as it does those moody atmospheres.

Silent Shout is the perfect title for this album, given its emphasis on voicing internal and private laments that go unheard--and voicing them with this terrifying sense of primal scream catharsis. While I initially wasn’t overly fond of the album art, it’s grown on me a bit now that I’ve seen it blown up to a larger size. This central disc shape is certainly evocative of a record or a CD, and its industrial-looking lattice structure, with a mottled, grimey-looking texture, helps conjure the impression of machine-age ennui.

I think a lot of the enduring appeal of Silent Shout is its sense of mystery. A lot of that mystery is deliberately crafted iconoclasm, and part of the art--while promoting the album, The Knife were photographed wearing sinister, elaborate beaked “plague doctor” masks, and their live performances from this period shrouded the band in darkness to obfuscate their appearances. They’ve refused to accept awards for their music or attend award ceremonies, including one memorable incident in which they sent costumed representatives of feminist organisation Guerrilla Girls in their stead. After Silent Shout, the duo created an opera based on Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species in 2009, and released one more studio album in 2013: Shaking the Habitual.

Music: “A Tooth For an Eye”

Shaking the Habitual received mixed reviews, and so far, has proven to be the siblings’ final work together, though they remain active as musicians independently, with Karin Dreijer recording under the moniker “Fever Ray.” Part of the great myth of Silent Shout is the fact that nothing else in their discography really quite approaches its specific sound, and sharp precision of conceptual focus. It’s like the album is tailor made to stand perfectly alone, outside of context, perhaps even outside of genre.

For many of us, this great legend of lightning-in-a-bottle genius is infinitely alluring. But I’ve never really bought into it too thoroughly myself. I obviously adore Silent Shout, and I think it’s a Great Album. But, unlike many people who have showered it with praise, often claiming that they don’t enjoy “electronic music” overall, I’ve always been interested in a lot of heavy, angry, creepy synthesiser-based music, and so I never thought too much of listening to this and liking it. People praise Silent Shout for being unlike anything else, but I think it sounds like a lot of post-industrial dark wave, like Attrition or Chris & Cosey, and its themes of feminist rage feel like a strong parallel to that of more recent stars of noise music such as Pharmakon and Lingua Ignota. But that’s not to devalue what Silent Shout does achieve! I think it *is* a unique album...in the way that a bat is a unique animal. Much as bats are not the only creatures who fly, but stand out for having developed that ability despite their mammalian heritage, Silent Shout doesn’t actually take direct inspiration from the earlier music it sounds the most like. It ended up there through the aforementioned eldritch alchemy, combining trance and folk and Kate Bush to get something new. That’s still something worth celebrating! Silent Shout needn’t be a perfect enigma to be a stirring masterpiece of an album.

My overall top track on Silent Shout, which I bet will be a popular choice, is “Forest Families.” It’s equal parts bleak and strangely anthemic, defined by both the unease of adapting to a plainer and harsher existence, outside the bounds of society, as well as the release that music itself provides to so many of us as we seek comfort. Since music is so important to me, I’m a real sucker for music about the importance of music, and it feels particularly well-placed on an album that’s a cathartic listen in so many ways. That about wraps this one up; thank you for watching!

Music: “Forest Families”

[andhumanslovedstories]

Recent country songs that have made me literally gay gasp as a gay woman, in order of how much they make me want to write an essay on gender and queerness

HONORARY MENTION BUT JUST BECAUSE I THINK THIS IS TECHNICALLY AMERICANA NOT COUNTRY (but genre is fake) AND THIS SONG ISN’T RECENT (2014 and I’ve been listening to it faithfully since then) BUT I ONLY RECENTLY LEARNED IT’S A COVER AND THAT’S MADE ME RECONTEXTUALIZE IT: “Murder in the City” by Brandi Carlile, a cover of The Avett Brothers where she changed the words “make sure my sister knows I loved her/make sure my mother knows the same” to “make sure my wife knows that I love her/make sure my daughter knows the same” which fucking. fucking gets me. Especially since the first time that I heard this song, I assumed it was from a man’s point of view because of that line, and then I learned that Brandi Carlile is a lesbian and I was caught up in my foolish heteronormitivity, and then I learned it was a cover and thought oh okay I guess the song is originally from a man’s pov and it’s cool she covered, and then I learned she changed those lines to make a song that already feels deeply personal to her to explicitly include her love for a woman and the family they’ve made together. And that’s just. It’s all just a lot. 

3) “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” by Miranda Lambert featuring Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes and Caylee Hammack, because the first time it came up on my spotify, I saw the title and was like “hey dope I like this song” and then I heard the first line was still “I must have been through about a million girls” and I realized none of the words or pronouns were getting changed and I was getting the song I’ve always wanted and deserved: a high production value, high energy, big girl group tribute to being a lesbian fuckboy who Fooled Around And, oops can you believe it, Fell in Love. 

2) “If She Ever Leaves Me” by The Highwomen, sung by Brandi Carlile who is, as mentioned, lesbian, but since I’m apparently still chugging my comp het juice, I was still trying to figure out if this song--a classic “hey buddy keep walking, she’s my girl and she’s not interested” song with an interesting element of the singer being aware the relationship might not last anyway--was gonna be explicitly queer. And then there’s the line, “That's too much cologne, she likes perfume,” and I was like OH HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!! 

This is immediately followed by the lines “I’ve loved her in secret/I’ve loved her out loud” which is also deliciously queer in this context, with this singer and that juxtaposition, but the line that really fucking got me is my favorite of the song: “If she ever leaves, it's gonna be for a woman with more time.” This is two women in a complicated relationship. This isn’t just a “keep walking, cowboy” song, it’s a song that uses that framework to suggest a whole ass “Finishing the Hat”** relationship, and that’s so interesting to me. Like a song that isn’t just explicitly about two women in love but one that conveys very quickly a rich history between the two of them. And in a genre where the line “Kiss lots of boys, kiss lots of girls if that’s something you’re into” was revolutionary representation.

(Fun fact, “Follow Your Arrow” was partially written by Brandy Clarke, another country lesbian! Another fun fact, so is basically every other good country song. Brandy Clark, please write a big lesbian country anthem, I know it will immediately kill me on impact.) 

To quote one youtube comment, “”lesbians how we feeling??” and to answer by quoting some others, “As a closeted baby gay in the 90s, who was into country, this song would have changed my life”, “I just teared up.  So many happy tears, as a gay woman raised on country music,  this is something that's definitely been needed.  Thank you Brandi. Thank you highwomen”, “This song means more than I can say in a youtube comment”, and “Lesbians needed this song :)”

It’s me. I’m lesbians. 

**ANOTHER HONORARY MENTION EXCEPT IT ISN’T RECENT AND IT ISN’T COUNTRY SO I GUESS THIS IS JUST A MENTION, BUT I AM INTERESTED IN THIS SONG--“Finishing the Hat” by Kelli O’Hara. A very good Sondheim joint, that’s about making art, the costs of its obsessive and exclusive nature and the incomparable pleasure of putting something into the world that wasn’t there before. It’s such a traditionally male narrative that I’m thrilled to find a wonderful female cover of it. I’m not even fussed about her changing the gender from the lover who won’t wait for the artist (except that the shift from “woman” to “one man” sounds so clunky) because there’s value turning this song into a lament of the men who won’t love artistic women. But I do also wish she’d also recorded a version that kept the original gender so it would be gay. OKAY BROADWAY TANGENT OVER, BACK TO COUNTRY. 

1) “Highwomen” by The Highwomen, ft. Yola and Sheryl Crow. I can’t even express the full body chills the first time I heard this. Like repeated, multiple chills renewed at every verse of the song. This really closely parallels my experience with “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” up there, because when I started it I was like “oh dope I know what this cover will be” and then the lyrics started and I was like “OH MY GOD I DIDN’T.” In the case of “Fooled Around” it’s because I was amazed that they kept the original words. In the case of “Highwomen” I fucking transcended because they changed them. 

So I grew up on Johnny Cash, obsessed with a couple of his albums but largely with a CD I had of his greatest hits. (Ask me how many times I listened to the shoeshine boy song. Hundreds. Johnny Cash told me to get rhythm and I got it.) And my FAVORITE was “Highwayman” from the country supergroup he was in, The Highwaymen. The concept of the song is that each of the four men sing a verse about a man from the past and how he died. It’s very good. The line “They buried me in that grey tomb that knows no sound” used to scare the shit out of me. I didn’t expect to have a song that targets so specifically my fear of being buried alive in wet concrete. 

(If you haven’t heard the song, by the way, listen to this version to properly appreciate it as a piece of music. If you have, watch the fucking music video holy shit this is a work of art oh my GOD.) 

So I was predisposed to love this cover before I even heard it. But then I heard it. And they rewrote the song to be about historical women. And it’s like. There’s layers here okay. 

Neither the Highwaymen nor the Highwomen are signing about famous people. This isn’t a Great Man tour of history, it’s about dam builders and sailors and preachers and mothers and Freedom Riders and also Johnny Cash who flies a starship across the universe, as you do. 

In the 1986 version, it’s a song about the continuity of life--the repeated idea is “I am still alive, I’m still here, I come back again and again in different forms.” The highwayman is all the men in the song. He reincarnates. The song is past, present, future. The title is singular, masculine. The same soul, expressed through multiple voices, multiple lives. 

In the 2019 version, the title is plural, feminine. Highwomen. This song is about women. Each verse asserts the same motif as the 1986 version--“I may not have survived but I am still alive”--but there is no implication of reincarnation. Each woman is her own woman. This version has a final verse that the previous versions lacks. The singers harmonize. It’s not a song where one voice replaces  another, the story of this One Man progressing through time. It ends in a chorus of women saying “We are still alive.” 

We are The Highwomen Singing stories still untold We carry the sons you can only hold We are the daughters of the silent generations You sent our hearts to die alone in foreign nations They may return to us as tiny drops of rain But we will still remain

And we'll come back again and again and again And again and again We'll come back again and again and again And again and again 

Another fun fact! The first time I heard them sing “We are the daughters of the silent generations” I died! But luckily I came back again and again and again.  

This is a song about the continuity of history. It asserts that women’s historical lives matter and that they continue to matter, long after they died. This is a song about legacy as well, the legacy of nameless women who worked to protect the ones they loved and make the world better. They don’t die by chance. They are all hunted down by political violence, by racism, by misogyny, for stepping outside their prescribed roles. But, as Yola (who btw fucking CRUSHES THE VOCALS ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? HOLY SHIT MA’AM) sings as a murdered Freedom Rider, she’d take that ride again. And at the end of the song, she joins the chorus but does not disappear into it. Her voice rises up out of crowd. And the crowd calls itself “we”. These women are united but not subsumed into being One Woman. This is about Women. 

And then, outside the song itself, there’s the history of this song about history. It’s originally by Jimmy Webb and was covered by Glenn Campbell. This cover inspired the name of the supergroup that covered it, the group with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and my man Johnny Cash. And it’s like holy shit! What an amazing group to collaborate! Hot damn! 

Then, it’s 2019 and here’s The Highwomen with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires. The name is obviously riffing on The Highwaymen. Shires set out to form the group in direct response to the lack of female country artists on the radio and at festivals. And they name themselves after a country supergroup, and they put out this song, a song connected to massive names in country music, and they center all of this on women and womanhood and the right of women to be counted in history and to make history and to talk about the ways we have mistreated and marginalized women, in a group that started because one woman was like hey! we’re mistreating and marginalizing women! 

I just think this is neat! I think there’s a lot here we could unpack! But this post is 100 times longer than I was planning and work starts in a bit so uh I’m gonna go get dressed and listen to The Highwomen on repeat for the next hour, “Heaven is a Honky Tonk” is another fucking bop that improves on the original, it would be dope if they’d collab with Rhiannon Giddens, okay byyyyyyyye 

[just-another-nerds-little-world]

Questions for the 🎶 The Ultimate Music Ask Game! 🎶: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 25, 29, 30, 32, 37, 40, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 57 ->💚, 58 -> Pentagon - Do or Not + OOO - Libido (I know you love this song :D), 61 -> ViXX vs. Ateez + OOO vs. Oh my Girl, 63, 65 pretty please🥰

Thank you very much! 🥰

4. Is there a song you love but don't like its music video?

Pentagon - Do or Not

5. Is there a song you don't like but like its music video?

Chungha - Stay Tonight, Bicycle

Dreamcatcher - Piri

6. Who's an artist you really like but it's embarrassed to admit it?

I don’t think there is one. I am just embarrassed to admit that I used to like BTS (until Fake Love). xDD

8. Is there an artist or song that you like, despite being of a genre you don't usually like?

Yes, I usually don't like Hip-Hop, Rap and everything around it, but I actually like some songs by pH-1 and Sik-K.

9. Do you have a favorite band?

Not anymore. I still love The GazettE, but I don't consider them to be my favorite band. Aside I also like Bursters, Purple Rain, N.Flying, Red Hot Chili Peppers and older disbanded bands like ScReW, アンド AND -Eccentric Agent- and MEJIBRAY.

10. Favorite solo artist?

Jeong Eunji is technically not a solo artist, but I still love her solo work.

Robin Gibb is also an artist of who I love the solo work, even though he was technically also not a solo artist.

12. Who’s the most obscure artist you listen to?

Dir En Grey

13. Who’s the most popular/mainstream artist you listen to?

ATEEZ or TXT, don't know who is more popular

25. Is there a song you used to like but can’t listen to anymore because you associate it with someone you don’t like?

No, not anymore. I couldn't listen to DuelJewel for a while because the friendship with the person who introduced them to me ended bad. But not anymore. I usually don't try to associate songs with people, especially not songs I love because sooner or late someone will try to ruin it for you.

29. Songs you love to dance to:

U-KISS - Neverland

BTOB - 신바람

Oh My Girl - Dun Dun Dance

Twice - Alcohol-Free

30. Songs you love to sing along to:

Bee Gees - Closer Than Close, Alone, For Whom The Bell Tolls, You Win Again, Rings Around The Moon

Robin Gibb - Another Lonely Night In New York, Juliet (I don't hit one single note), Boys Do Fall In Love

Sandra - Little Girl, Hiroshima, Heaven Can Wait, In The Heat Of The Night, Secret Land, Midnight Man

Heart - These Dreams, Alone

a-ha - The Sun Always Shines On T.V., Take On Me

Alphaville - Sounds Like A Melody, Big In Japan, Dance With Me

ATEEZ - Say My Name, Answer, Inception, Fireworks

B.I - illa illa

BTOB - 신바람

DKB - Still

MAMAMOO - gogobebe

NATURE - Girls

OnlyOneOf - Libido

Pentagon - Do or Not

TWICE - Alcohol-Free, Cry For Me, Hell in Heaven

TXT - 0X1 = Lovesong (I Know I Love You)

I think that's enough. xDD

32. When was the last time you cried when listening to a song, if ever?

I shed some tears while listening to B.I - illa illa, but the last time I really cried was when I listened to Jeong Eunji's 'AWay'.

37. If you could travel in time and go to a concert of an artist who’s no longer alive or a band that’s no longer together, who would you choose?

My biggest priority would be to go back to see the Bee Gees live once. Best would be their concert in Las Vegas 1997, the played so many great songs there. ♥

I also would like to see disbanded groups like アンド AND -Eccentric Agent-, ScReW and MEJIBRAY.

40. Which was the best concert you’ve ever been to?

I have to take out the organization of nearly every concert because it was so awful that it damaged my mood before the concert even started. But I am still not sure if I enjoyed Pentagon, GOT7 or SF9 more, but yeah one of them.

47. Is there an artist you used to dislike but learned to like because of a friend’s influence?

Not particulary dislike, but I wasn't and still ain't much of a fan when it comes to hip-hop, but thanks to you I at least like some songs of artists like pH-1 or Sik-K.

48. Who’s an artist you think it’s criminally underrated and deserves more recognition?

To name a few: LABOUM, OnlyOneOf, Purple Rain, Shaun, Cross Gene, DKB, NATURE, NOIR

49. Is there a cover you like more than the original version?

Heart - Alone (Orginial song by i-Ten)

51. Is there an artist you used to love as a child/teenager and still likes, even if you don’t listen to them as much?

Owl City

53. Is there a song you hated the first time you listened to but then loved after listening to it more times?

There a plenty of songs I used to hate but I don’t love any of them. I either tolerate them, consider them alright or just like them.

57. [Send me a color and I'll tell you the first song it reminded me of.]

->💚 YooA - Bon Voyage (I don’t know why, maybe because there is so much nature in the MV); Pentagon - Naughty Boy

58. [Send me a song and I'll tell you the colors it made me think of, without looking at cover arts or music videos.] *Bonus: if you like making palettes, make one based on the song! -> Pentagon - Do or Not + OOO - Libido (I know you love this song :D)

Pentagon - Do or Not -> makes me think of rose, pink and red colors

OnlyOneOf - Libido -> makes me think of black, white and blue (you are lucky I know who you mean with OOO xDD)

61. [Make me choose between two artists/songs/albums.] -> VIXX vs. Ateez + OOO vs. Oh my Girl

VIXX vs. ATEEZ -> If you would have asked me 2 years ago I definitely would have said VIXX and even though I love VIXX and they’ll always have a special place in my heart, there is no VIXX without Hongbin for me, so I say ATEEZ.

OnlyOneOf vs. Oh My Girl -> That’s mean. Basically super cool vs. super cute, but I take OnlyOneOf.

63. Do you prefer live recordings or studio recordings?

Live recordings sure have their own charm. To see how the artists performs live and if they sound like on the CDs, but I prefer studio recordings due to clean sound of the music.

65. Are there any songs you know the entire lyrics by heart?

Bee Gees - Closer Than Close, You Win Again, Alone, For Whom The Bell Tolls

Sandra - In The Heat Of The Night, Little Girl

a-ha - The Sun Always Shines On T.V.

Alphaville - Big In Japan

Robin Gibb - Another Lonely Night In New York, Boys Do Fall In Love

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

Nature - Girls

Heart - Alone

[deanky]

Here are some little like ‘reviews’ of all the Oingo Boingo albums... Under cut LOL... I just like to talk about Oingo Boingo I am so obsessed right now they have become tied for Mr. Bungle as favorite band... But anyways... Hope you enjoy ^_^

Only a Lad: Very fun sound as a whole. I enjoy how like poppy and synthy it is and stuff and that one weird electronic voice Mr. Elf man does in like every song. I remember like actually not liking most of the songs first time I heard it and I’m not sure why because I enjoy 9/10 out of them a lot now... But then again I like almost never really like an album the first time I hear it LOL I have a mean soul. A lot of the songs have pretty evil words in them but I have like slight respect for how much hatred Danny Elfman seems to have had for everyone on the entire planet at the time of writing. And for the majority of songs I cannot really complain about because I think it fits theme of like very happy sounding song but nasty words in it duality of man and such. Only one I really do not like is Capitalism because it has the whiniest lyrics of all and also it just does not sound good like as a song I think I am sorry. I must say it. Forgive me. I was so thrilled hearing Nasty Habits for the first time because I really like songs that sound like a homosexual cartoon villain would sing them to you. Well that’s all. Only a Lad itself was one of the first songs of theirs I heard except sped up and it had a picture of anime Bart Simpson on it. I like it. Good song. Recently I cannot stop getting it and Little Girls stuck in my head. That’s all

Nothing to Fear: Everything about this album is sooooo sooo good it is like so incredibly catered specifically to my tastes. One of the few albums I have loved immediately as soon as I heard I finished listening for the first time and was immediately like oh this is going in my favorites. I add some points also for absolutely incredible beautiful cover art it’s got weird colors weird animals logo made of worm things it’s so beautiful it makes me want to cry.  I think it gets SLIGHTLY weaker in its second half but that is hard not to do with albums. That said though a lot of songs that I felt were slightly worse at first have risen to being my favorites of the album like Why’d We Come and Reptiles and Samurai. Didn’t know what to think about Running on a Treadmill at first but I think it works very well in its simplicity and it is very catchy I can imagine people like singing it on actual treadmill and like jumping around abd being in zero gravity for some reason it is like that music video where they are in the plane but it is treadmills. Well, hi. The only ones that feel like slightly slightly worse to me are Whole Day Off and Islands but I think I am growing to like both of those a lot more too. My favorites though are Grey Matter and Insects and Wild Sex and also Nothing to Fear the titular song and Why’d We Come and Reptiles and Samurai which is over half of the songs so I think that’s good.  I remember listening to Private Life like 5 times before listening to the rest of the album but I always forgot how it went immediately after not sure why because I’d say it is a reasonably catchy song. Anyways INCREDIBLE album. Rude lyrics? Still a thing but tend to be much more agreeable like it is obvious who is being made fun of in like Grey Matter and Nothing to Fear and I say the fun making is well deserved! Even though I may be the target of Grey Matter I understand and I am sorry. The general sound is also amazing I LOVE all the weird noises and metal stuff and clanks and clonks and all the xylophone. Dude the xylophone is so good. Synth and xylophone and guitar they are all best friends and they sound so cool together and I think xylophones should be more widely used in like “pop” music as a whole whatever that defines. I keep wanting to start a band and just play xylophone. Like what’s anybody gonna do to stop me? I love xylophone. That’s all

Good for Your Soul: I wasn’t so impressed by this one the first time I heard it but it quickly wormed its way up to a very close #2 and possibly even tied with Nothing to Fear as my favorite album of theirs. The album art on this one is also really good I will say! I felt like slightly let down at first by it just because it’s so hard to live up to how beautiful of a cover Nothing to Fear has in my mind. But its art is so cool too. Muscle man in wobbly world. What’s more to love (Side note I enjoy the song Wobbly World it is not an Oingo Boingo song it is by Devo I should listen to more Devo.) The first time I listened the only songs that REALLY jumped out at me super hard were No Spill Blood and Fill the Void, and I think those 2 are still tied as my favorites. I LOVE the whole like rhythm No Spill Blood has going on and the weird animal noises and also the lyrics they are not about Animal Farm they are about The Island of Dr. Moreau he did those surgeries don’t you know he made the animals have to be men and they were like are we not men but they didn’t say they were Devo sorry I keep talking about Devo in this Oingo Boingo album review. And BTW Fill the Void also is really great and has possibly my favorite set of lyrics in any song ever to exist which is the part like “Every little thing is a piece of a larger thing / Every little fish is a tyrant of the sea / Every little atom is a master of his family / Every single piece calls my name / What do they want from me?” It is so good it makes me go so insane I love it. Another song that works really well in just being a simple thing.  It is so nice and cool it feels like being in space and you are in one of the levels of one of those Kirby spinoff games where he’s like a ball and you’re rolling him around NOT Canvas Curse the other ones like Dream Course I think. Anyways though while I wasn’t super big on all the other songs they ended up like slowly coming back into my head one by one until I was obsessed with all of them. First it was Pictures of You. Then it was Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me (would put that in my top 3 as well) and then Dead or Alive and then Little Guns and then Cry of the Vatos and then Wake Up It’s 1984 and then Sweat and then the titular song AND Who Do You Want to Be it was like. Wow. What a world.  WDYWTB + Good for Your Soul + Sweat were the 3 that didn’t really do it for me as much for a while but now I’ve been really enjoying them too so I think I can say I love every single song on this album. It is becoming my best friend. It’s sooo good. It feels like living in one of those fake Utopian cities and there’s actually something sinister going on behind the scenes. Like I will start seeing colors and freaking about it any time soon. Random memory that unlocked in me is that I used to be incredibly obsessed with The Book Thief and its concept of death when I was in like 6th or 7th grade like uncannily so but I never talked about the book ever I just hid it away in my mind. My sad story. Sorry everyone. That’s all

So-Lo: This one is technically just Danny Elfman but you know it is an Oingo Boingo album man they got the whole band there they were just having licensing issues because new label and stuff is my understanding. And they were like. Well let’s take advantage of this and do some less standard Oingo Boingo songs. That is how I grasp this situation I don’t know how correct I am her I actually don’t know that much about O.B. outside of the songs at this point I still cannot name any non-Danny Elfman member and I am really sorry for this and must learn to atone for my ways. This is a good album though. Once again has really good cover art I will say.  It’s like well hello there Mr. Elf man you’ve got some eyes sliding off your face and some funny colors and are controlling some little puppet things maybe it’s like you do you man LOL am I right or am I right! I like this album. This was yet another one where I listened the first time and was like. Man I’m not really feeling it with any of these songs. However I do enjoy that they all sound kind of like they were recorded on a Sega Genesis. I mean it does have very Genesis-y noises I know this was the 80s and it would be more accurate to say the Sega Genesis soudns like this album but you know what I mean. Anyways nothing grabbed me at first but upon my second listen I became extremely obsessed with the song “Go Away” and then listened to it on repeat for 2 hours straight and it still hasn’t got old for me I still like it very good song. Definitely my favorite. Tied with Everybody Needs which is also a very fun song I became similarly enamored with like a day later but didn’t listen to quite as much LOL. But anyways I went through that oh-so-familiar process which I must warn you is also the process I go through for every single album after this! - Where all the other songs started worming their way into my head and I was like oh brother I am beginnign to like them all now! Good for Your Soul, I think, marked like more obvious change from songs tending to be like “This is what Danny Elfman thinks of the world phrased in a humorous way” to more like actual stories and stuff, although the former wasn’t rid of entirely and the latter hadn’t just popped up or anything. But I think this album continued that in a really nice way and while it can be vague, listening to it I always feel that there is like one solid story all the song narratives go throughout. Someone pointed out in like Youtube Comments that Go Away feels like the sadder side of Cool City and to me it feels like the whole album is kind of in that vein. Seems to me like all the songs are in the Cool City itself and you’re seeing like the various different horrible things that go on in that town and horrible people that live in it. Yknow? Like Tough as Nails and Everybody Needs make me think of like various awful weird a$$ holbs living there and then stuff like Sucker for Mystery and Lightning and It Only Makes Me Laugh. Well they are clearly from the perspectives of some guy. The same guy? Maybe maybe not I don’t feel like they are the same guy. But it feels like they are like experiencing weird horrible sh*t in this horrible town that is filled with racists but also gay people. I like this album I enjoy it

Dead Man’s Party: OK I am sorry to say. This is a good album but it hasn’t COMPLETELY grown on me yet. But I DO like it a lot. I enjoy it it’s good. I really really love Just Another Day and the titular song and Heard Somebody Cry and Nobody Lives Forever and Weird Science which is over half of them so not bad all things considered. And I do not DISLIKE any songs. But the other ones haven’t quite grown on me yet. This album does kind of shift into like the more commercial stuff it’s not like generic pop or nothing. But it is like slightly strange to get used to. That said. The songs I like I REALLY like thye are so good. No One Lives Forever is an incredible incredible song just like Nasty Habits it fulfills my love of songs that sound like they are being sung by evil guys in cartoons but are not they’re actually being sung by Danny Elfman who is an evil guy in real life. Sorry I didn’t mean it he probably is not that evil I’m sure he’s perfectly nice Mr. Elf man if you are reading this I apologize. Anyways though. I like the general sound of this album I will say! I think though it has thing going on where like, in my mind, some of the songs feel like way too happy and overly peppy almost like mocking. I have a weird mind and a weird way of processing things and I am also incredibly afraid of everything on this planet so keep that in mind BTW I am sorry. But like Stay and Fool’s Paradise and Help Me and Same Man I was Before all have that kind of feeling to me, it’s like these are so cheerful and cheesy sounding to me it kind of scares me a little bit. However... I am starting to feel this less with Help me and Stay, and also I felt this a little bit with Heard Somebody Cry at first as well and I no longer do. So maybe I’m still going through the motions of song-liking as I do.  As I said though the favorites on here are incredible. Weird Science may have been written for strange movie deal and they may be really saddened by its memory or maybe just the music video’s memory but it’s a very fun song nevertheless. Dead Man’s Party itself it really fun true classic. Very orange song to me. It’s orange and purple like I hear it and I am like ah yes I am experiencing orange and purple. Very nice shades of orange and purple though, and they are mixing together in pleasing ways and throwing a big party and everyone’s invited you might even say it’s a dead man’s party heh heh heh (grins devilishly). I think this like takes the kind of narratives in Good for Your Soul and So-Lo and like takes it to best form! In that it has a very clear yet not super specific narrative going on throughout the whole album, I really like whenever an album has songs set up so pleasingly and nice like that it makes me sad when they’re just like in random order. But of course this album is all about death and accepting it and stuff and like all the different feelings of sadness and happiness and stuff that all go into it! And I like its message a lot, like obviously you shouldn’t want to die but don’t fear it. It has a very nice depiction of the afterlife. I like all the stuff in Beetlejuice and Corpse Bride with their similar interpretations too although Beetlejuice isn’t quite as positive about it LOL. I want to watch Corpse Bride again. I want to see another singing Danny Elfman skeleton. I want to see the Peter Lorre worm. My one complaint with the album narrative is that Weird Science goes at the end it kinda ruins the whole story a little bit but I can’t fault them because like where COULD they put it?  I think it might work kind of well as the first song because like trying to make frankenstein guy before all the accepting death stuff makes sense. But also. It would be a weird opener. Also the album art is so incredible I love it I want to join their party it’s beautiful. I did not mean for this review to get as long as it did. They just keep getting longer each album I’m sorry the length does not show my opinion but I just keep getting more excited each album

Boi-Ngo: Will admit this one is my least favorite. And once again my bias shows because it has cover art I don’t like very much. It’s just real guys looking at you. Where’s the funny Oingo Boingo touch where’s the charm people!??!? it makes me sad. And also, as a whole, while I DO like most of the songs I feel like I don’t like them as much as I like any of the ones on other albums, and it also has my least favorite song I’ve heard other than Capitalism which is We Close Our Eyes sorry I’ve seen a lot of people who really like that one but it just scares me. It feels so insincere to me it makes me feel that thing once more where it’s like this song is waaayyy to happy and peppy to not feel like it’s kind of sinister deep down. I apologize. It is a fun album however! I think it kind of goes back more to “Danny Elfman’s humorous observations about life”, which is not always a bad thing, but it seems to revert a little bit too much back to like him just being kind of whiny and not making much of a point in like, say, New Generation. Although it is a nice song I think! It scares me when he goes like now he’s got you by the balls. I understand the point of that lyric. But it frightens me.  I think my favorites are Home Again, Elevator Man, Not My Slave (although lyrics feel like slightly concerning), Outrageous, and Pain. Which once again is more than half the album so shows what I know complaining about it this whole time. 

Dark at the End of the Tunnel: I feel bad for this album because before listening to it I always forgot it existed, like I listened to Boi-Ngo and was like aw man I only have one album left! Oh wait nevermind I have 2. And now I keep fearing there’s another one I forgot not including like the live albums and singles stuff. Maybe there is.... haunting me But anyways... I already did like incomprehensible post talking about this one earlier LOL which inspired me to do more equally incomprehensible things on all the other albums hence this post. So I’ve already said a lot of what I have to say about this and hope not to repeat it too much... but... LOL I was so afraid wondering if I would actually like this one or not... I wanted to just because of how awesome the cover art is. And I was afraid because I wasn’t really a big fan of most of the songs at first. But I think with this album and the whole Boingo era they were moving towards like more orchestral stuff and changing their sound and all... So it was a bit strange to get used to at first but the more I listened the more I enjoyed everything I guess like taking in all the instruments and textures and what not. A lot of the songs in this one also feel like kind of creepily cheery but I think it works best for this album specifically, because as I’ve said before it feels very intentional - there is like whole dual thing of more dark mysterious sections and light-hearted happy sections in most of the songs. Although my top 3 are all songs that mostly just have the former going on... Right to Know, Long Breakdown, and Run Away.  I also really enjoy When the Lights Go Out, Skin, Out of Control (though it still feels like vaguely scary to me LOL), and Glory Be... But I keep finding myself getting all the others stuck in my head as well. So still growing on me LOL! I am beginning to appreciate all the other songs more for those cheerier parts as well yknow... I think this whole album has a very fantastical vibe to it LOL but definitely like, a very old fantasy. Like they discovered this album in a giant wizard’s tower like ten thousand years ago and now it’s been unearthed again. But it was created by a child wizard who was like 5 years old. But still had a wizard beard. That’s the guy on the cover I’ve decided. Little wizard from long ago.  However... It does feel like it’s kind of setting up something. Like all the songs do... whole album is good but feels like it’s kind of a preparation for the next one. Which doesn’t make it bad! Just like I feel like it’s kind of part of a set... Incomplete on its own yknow? I would probably rank it in my lower 4 of all the albums but I’ll still say I enjoyed it quite a bit, that is no insult. And I like wizards

Boingo: This album is SO good dude. I’m glad this is what they left off on. Really great finishing album... I have a weird timeline involving this one because it was actually the first album I listened to, my dad showed it to me, but I only ever listened up to Lost Like This before very recently and by recently I mean today and I am still listening to Changes for the first time as I write this which is probably a bad idea but I am doing it anyways. Anyways though... The first O.B. songs my dad showed to me ever were Insanity from this album and Dead Man’s Party the song, and despite how different their two sources are they both have extremely similar structure I think. And so I kind of painted this picture of like all Oingo Boingo songs being similarly structured around 6-7 minutes and mostly repeating the same different sections in slightly different ways. And I am pleased that this album kind of fulfills that - a lot of the songs are like 2-3x longer than they really need to be but I enjoy that because I love long songs.  As I mentioned earlier, DatEotT feels like it’s just the beginning of something, and this provides a very satisfying ‘second half’. I think it works well by itself too, though! Boingo marks such a big change musically from everything else before even DatEoT but it somehow stays very true to their old spirit anyways.. But everything feels so much grander and I really like it. Almost every song has a pretty wistful melancholy feel but at the same time ALSO almost every song but like a different set of almost every song is very big and bombastic. So it definitely has that “well this is our last album goodbye” feel to it. But it’s OK. It’s like a big grand finale. If there was a like an Oingo Boingo musical that had every single song for some reason and lasted like 10 hours I feel like the other albums could be switched around the whole thing regardless of their actual releases, but this one would HAVE to be last. Adding to that, I feel like it really like takes a lot of the earlier concepts I’ve liked a lot in previous albums and had them return. Like So-Lo, many of the songs have pretty different narratives, but all feel like they can be one loose intertwined thing. Pedestrian Wolves and Lost Like This definitely feel connected for one... and like Insanity and Changes provide like nice bookends where the first is like analyzing the world around us and then the second is analyzing the self. Side note. Danny Elfman is always referring to himself as stupid in Oingo Boingo songs. And sometimes it’s just like PoV character or something. But it ticks me off a little bit because he is like clearly not stupid he is like a crazy evil genius.  But ALSO I’m not really sure what exactly the whole story of Boingo is, but it just feels connected in some sort of mysterious way yknow? Maybe it will appear to me later... If Dark at the End of the Tunnel was created by a little five year old wizard ten thousand years ago, this was created by the same wizard when he was reaching the end of his life and was in the wizard’s nursing home in like the 1920s. It still feels like mildly aged, there is SOMETHING about it that feels like it’s meant to be played on like an extremely old awful record player, but it has a much more modern feeling. It almost feels like another interpretation of the afterlife... Maybe that more Beetlejuice kind where it’s just like real life at first but if you peek around the corner you’ll find all the weird sandworms and colorful ghosts and stuff. Anyways though. This album is so good. Not my favorite right now, but definitely in top 3, like at the moment of writing this I would say. #1 is Nothing to Fear. #2 is Good for Your Soul. #3 is Boingo. But I am loving it soooo much on my first actual full listen even though I’ve had time to like absorb half the songs already admittedly. So it might end up being my favorite after all! I think my 3 favorite tracks also on this are Insanity, Lost Like This, and Hey!. Random completely unrelated parallel to my other favorite band. I like that they have a song called Hey! and Mr. Bungle has a song called Hi! It all fits together. And they both have the exclamation point. But anyways ALSO since I’ve only finished listening for the first time Changes finished while I was writing this BTW. I am still figuring out my opinions on the rest of the songs. Don’t think the I am the Walrus cover QUITE does it for me, I like Spider and War Again but not sure if they’re favorites. I hated Can’t See/Useless the first time I listened but now I like it how about that! ONE MORE thing I like about this. Is its songs feel like continuations of stuff in other albums. Although that may just be because of similar themes! Like, War Again feels like a continuation of both Nothing to Fear and Little Guns but it’s about similar subjects to both. And Tender Lumplings, Little Girls, no real explanation needed there. Insanity and Nasty Habits match up pretty well, with both just being like about hating the world although Nasty Habits is more specific than that LOL. Mary is a girl who is unfairly ostracized, Johnny of Only a Lad is a boy who is unfairly praised, you know.  And also one more thing ONE more I know this one ALSO kinda has the classic Danny Elfman yells about things stuff going on but I feel like this is the album where it works best. But maybe I am just a hypocrite. OK that’s all. Hi

[welllpthisishappening]

All the Subliminal Things (2/3)

Emma Swan does not believe in soulmates.

Or so she says. Because if her soulmate did, actually, exist, he should have shown up by now. So, she must be a fluke, a broken cog in a system that really doesn’t make much sense anyway. It is, she figures, why she agrees to meet David’s friend before Regina and Robin’s wedding. This guy doesn’t believe in soulmates either.

She’s intrigued.

Until she hears him talk. And everything flips after that.

------

Rating: Teen Word Count: Still around 5K’ish AN: This is really just five-thousand words of flirting and emotional backstories. And then more flirting. Kevin Jonas got married at the same castle Regina and Robin are going to have their wedding. So, I’m really sticking with the theme here. As always, I am floored and a little stunned by any response to anything I write, but this has just been delightful and you are all very nice. Thank for clicking and reading and sending very nice comments. I hope you guys enjoy this part too. And make sure to tell @resident-of-storybrooke​ how fantastic her cover art is. It’s fantastic. 

Also on Ao3 if that’s your jam. 

------

“Ok, favorite movie?” “No one is going to ask you that.” Killian shrugs. They’re in a different coffee shop, some unspoken agreement that they’ll only meet in public places, and his legs are stretched out impossibly far, arms crossed lightly over his chest with a shirt on that is making it very difficult for Emma to concentrate.

Honestly, it may be that stupid piece of hair behind his ear.

“You don’t know that,” he argues. “And, strictly speaking, my interest in being fake soulmates with you has no bearing on my interest in knowing what your favorite movie is.” Emma’s pretty proud of her distinct lack of reaction. She doesn’t gasp. She doesn’t groan. She makes no noise whatsoever at fake soulmates despite the certainty that the words actually cut their way through her.

“Was that supposed to be a compliment?” He shrugs again. It makes his shirt shift slightly, a patch of skin just above another pair of ridiculously tight pants and maybe he’s actively trying to drive her insane. Maybe the world just hates her. That seems more likely.

“It’s certainly how it was intended,” Killian says, taking a drink of another fancy coffee order. He got a latte this time. “And you’re avoiding the question, love.”

Emma reacts at that. That’s disappointing.

She can feel her eyes bug, tongue darting between her lips because, at some point, she’d started breathing through her mouth and the flush that creeps up Killian’s cheeks is as nice as it is unexpected.

“Swan,” he mutters, like he’s correcting himself or reminding himself. Of something. Emma has no idea of what. “The movie. Favorites only.” “Ok, but that makes it seem like I have more than one favorite movie. That doesn’t make any sense. By definition.” “Do you think you were an English teacher in another life?”

“Was that a Bye Bye Birdie reference?” “Absolutely not. And Dick Van Dyke was supposed to be the English teacher. Are you Dick Van Dyke in this scenario?” “He did have an overbearing mother.” “Are you suggesting Mary Margaret is is your overbearing mother?” Killian asks, a smile tugging at the end of his lips. Emma needs to stop staring at his lips.

“Nah, it’s definitely David. The whole thing is gender swapped you see.” “Ah, of course, of course. Ok, so no more Bye Bye Birdie references.” “Why were you aware that was something I could have been making?” “Swan, this is still not answering the question.” She widens her eyes on purpose that time and they’ve been doing this for nearly two weeks now – coffee...meetings that very clearly aren’t dates because they very clearly aren’t soulmates, but it’s nice and good and comfortable and a few more adjectives that are several thousand times more emotional than that.

Emma’s fairly sure she’s at, like, twenty-six on the scale of how absolutely not fine this is.

“Killian,” she prompts when he doesn’t answer immediately, and his head snaps up like it’s on a timer. She can see the muscles in his throat move when he swallows. “Are you secretly a Broadway aficionado from the 60s?” “Only because it was forced upon me.” “Sounds violent.” “Nah, the opposite. A comforting force.” “You’re beating around something,” Emma accuses, and it’s only been a few weeks. Not even a full two. Technically, speaking. That’s barely any time. Her mind doesn’t care. It’s picked up on cues and ticks and little things, every tiny twitch and multiple moments and she’s got some secret stash of thoughts and feelings and how much she wants to know everything single thing about it him.

It terrifies her.

Because she’s absolutely setting herself up for disappointment.

“Only because it’s incredibly depressing,” Killian says. “And you’ve done a very good job of avoiding my question. But, uh…”

Another shrug, a little self deprecating and as depressing as advertised and Emma reaches forward on instinct and, maybe, magic she can’t control, resting her hand on the prosthetic at the end of his arm. They’re going to get kicked out of this coffee shop when their eyes both fall out of their respective heads.

It will probably make the news.

“My mom,” Killian whispers, eyes glancing down towards Emma’s hand and she doesn’t pull away. “Was very big on all that. Had ancient cast albums and a record player that only kind of worked and she used to play them when she cleaned the apartment.” Emma knows that tone. She’s felt it and experienced it, lived it more times than one person ever should, and it’s not something she’d ever wish on anyone.

Especially Killian.

“When?” she whispered.

He smiles. That feels like something important. An understanding. “I was ten. Very quick, very sudden, an even quicker ship off to the system.” “What?” Emma doesn’t quite bark out the word, but it’s very close and their eyes will not be able to cope with much more of this. “What do you mean, what?” Killian asks, clicking his tongue in frustration when he realizes he’s out of coffee. “That’s---I mean, my dad was an absolute dick and never around and Liam wasn’t--” “How long were you in the system?” She’s honestly impressed by how quickly he understands. It’s barely more than three seconds, a flash of his eyes that makes Emma wonder a whole slew of things she shouldn’t even be considering. They’re friends. She thinks.

She hopes.

She’s not great at that either.

Cowardly and a great, big giant liar, kind of petulant, just sort of a jerk and, now, a pessimist.

“Until I was eighteen,” Killian answers. “Liam wanted to get me out before then, but that’s expensive and there have to be lawyers and have you ever heard of soulmates that aren’t romantic?” Emma nods. “Elsa and her sister.”

"Well, Liam tried to do that, but it didn't work and who is Elsa, exactly?" “She’s a public defender. We’re friends.” “You’re a cop and friends with a public defender? Isn’t that against the rules?” “Nah,” Emma objects, but that’s kind of true too and it’s not fair how easily he can read her. “David was a little scandalized at first, but he gets along with Elsa’s sister anyway and Ruby said it was ok, so…” “And Ruby is?” “Is this an interrogation? I thought that was supposed to be my schtick.”

Killian grins. It’s distracting. She’s going to bring scissors to the next coffee shop they go to. “Genuine curiosity, love.” He does it on purpose. She’s positive. That’s...something.

“Ruby is the reason I’m here,” Emma says. “She grew up in this tiny little town in Maine. Grandmother owns a diner there. And I ended up there--maybe ten years ago? They let me stay there for awhile, then Ruby left for the great, big city and somehow met Mary Margaret.” “David’s Mary Margaret?” “You know a lot of other ones?” Killian shakes his head, eyes darting every few seconds to the hand Emma’s never moved. “Anyway, Ruby heard about an opening at the police department, the need for a few of us interested in preserving justice and told me I didn’t have any choice. There was no reason not to.” “No?” “No,” Emma echoes, a finality to her voice that grates on the inside of her throat. But they’re treading close to suddenly emotional territory and admissions she doesn’t want to get into in a coffee shop, apparently, a few blocks away from Killian’s apartment. “No reason to stay in Boston when there’s so much opportunity here. That’s, like, the New York slogan, right?”

He nods so slowly it’s barely a movement, lips parted slightly like he’s trying to come up with the right word and--”When did you get out, then?” Emma isn’t going to answer. She’s not. It’s too much and not enough and trying to be friends with your soulmate is much harder than she anticipated.

“Seventeen,” she says softly. “I ran away.” “To Maine?”

“Yup.” “And Boston right after Maine?”

“You’re very curious,” she says, and it comes out like an accusation. Killian purses his lips.

“Yes, I am. Piqued, even.” “I didn’t get to Boston for a couple of years. And I wasn’t really there very long. It’s expensive there, you know?” “I do,” Killian says, and maybe she’ll be better prepared for the never-ending string of surprises eventually. “Best cannoli?” “Mike’s, don’t even joke about that.” Killian chuckles, running a hand through his hair. “Anything else is blasphemy. I’m sorry you ran, Swan. It shouldn’t have been like that.” “Ah, a lot of things shouldn’t be the way they were.” “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” He takes a deep breath, licking his lips and there are definitely strangers staring at them. They’re far too close to each other. “Rear Window.”

“Is that code?” “That’s my favorite movie.” “Oh my god, why?” “It’s good.” Emma blinks, scoffing slightly and laughing a bit and her smile has become something like second nature in the last few weeks. Not even two weeks. “Raiders of the Lost Ark. ” “Are you kidding me? Last Crusade is so much better.” “I didn’t critique your choice,” Emma argues, more curious stares cast her way. One of them comes from Killian. She’s poking her finger into his chest now. He is impossibly solid. “I mean, kind of, at least.” “At least,” he echoes. “Why that one, then?” “I like the rolling ball thing. I always wanted to see that show at Disney World.” It’s not the most emotional thing they’ve said all day, but it somehow feels like even more and then some and Emma is not even remotely prepared for the force of Killian’s answering smile. “Disney World, huh?”

“People go there.” “They do,” he agrees, and she’s not sure why it sounds like some kind of promise.

“You have a favorite Disney movie?” “Nope.” Emma shakes her head. “Nah, c’mon, everyone does. You just don’t want to admit it.” “That is not true at all,” Killian counters. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a Disney movie.” “Oh my God.” “When have I had time, love?” She supposes that’s fair. Everything else is absolutely not, but Emma’s only barely keeping her grip on her sanity at this point, so she doesn’t want to rock the metaphorical boat as it were. It’s started to feel...feelings.

Real feelings. Not just because she’s memorized every shift in his voice in the last two weeks. It’s been two full weeks now, of coffee on their lunch breaks and smiles when he texts her to make sure she gets home alright and the flutter of butterflies in the pit of her stomach whenever Emma sends him the same gif every morning. It’s LMFAO. From the Shots video.

She’s honestly such a catch.

“That’s fair, I guess,” she admits. “Just like...never in your life?” “Nope.” “You’re trying to be annoying.” “Nope,” he says again, but that one comes with a smirk and a quick twist of his eyebrows and the butterflies threaten to fly out of Emma’s mouth and take over the world. She likes him. Even without the soulmate thing.

It’s problematic.

And not. 

Mostly because of the soulmate thing. 

But he's kind of funny, in a stupidly thinks he's charming sort of way, and she's noticed that he scratches the back of his ear when he's nervous, and seems to have an assortment of button-up shirts with increasingly ridiculous patterns. There haven't been fireworks. It's more a...soft simmer, like falling back into something calm and easy and Emma supposes that's why it has to be wrong. 

God, she's so bitter she's surprised her tongue doesn't rot. 

“I’m being honest with you. That’s a good thing, right?” The butterflies turn to ash.

“Sure,” Emma mumbles. “What if...what if we watched a Disney movie?” “When?” “I’m actually off this weekend.”

His whole body changes, eyes brightening and spine possibly stretching and Emma’s gasp is ridiculous as soon as his lips press against her cheek. They both freeze, looking anywhere except each other. “All weekend?” Killian whispers, and Emma hopes whatever nod she makes in response is actually audible. “You or me?” “You speak in these codes and I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Do you want to come to my apartment or should I come to yours?” Oh. Oh. Oh.

“Yours,” Emma says before she can regret it, but letting him into her apartment seems like a line she can’t come back from and this is fake. They’re just friends. She’s the only one with a soulmate. “That’s---I’ve got no food anyway.” “Neither do I,” Killian laughs. “But I can get something. Or we can order things. Multiple things, even. Good stuff.” His voice picks up, excitement obvious in every letter and the weight of his smile. Emma’s pulse doesn’t know what to do with that. “I’m going to expect good stuff, then.” “That’s fair.” She shows up on Saturday afternoon with a bottle of whiskey and he must have ordered from every place in a ten-mile radius. The counter is covered with food and more alcohol than one person could ever possibly be expected to drink, his gaze more than slightly cautious when Emma freezes in the doorway.

“Too much?” “No,” she says, pleasantly surprised to find she means it. “You want to start at Snow White and work our way through?” “Deal.”

Emma falls asleep somewhere in the forgotten period of 1970s Disney animation, a skip-ahead in the timeline because she’s always hated One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone used to freak her out after that one time she saw it when she was six. She wakes up to hear Killian mumbling under his breath about how historically inaccurate Robin Hood is. He only stops when Emma points out that the protagonist in question is also a fox.

They only get off the couch to get more to drink and more egg rolls because Killian must have ordered a dozen egg rolls and Emma has no idea how he knew she’d want a dozen egg rolls. Good guess, or something.

And it’s way too late by the time she’s realizes it’s late, curled against Killian’s side with his fingers tracing absent-minded patterns on her back in a familiar sort of way that should be absolutely impossible. Emma doesn’t want to move. She has to move.

This is the worst.

Cowardly and a great, big giant liar, kind of petulant, just sort of a jerk and so goddamn depressed she’s positive she reeks with it.

“You don't have to go,” Killian mutters, fingers stilling.

“I should.” “Whatever you want, love. But--” She can feel him take a deep breath, chest shifting under her cheek. “You’re comfortable.” Words should not be...this. They should just be words and be finished and there should be far less angst in fake dating your soulmate. Only this whole thing has kind of felt a hell of a lot like a date and Emma’s starting to wonder if she’s just drowning.

At all times.

In the middle of Queens.

��Ok.” Killian’s fingers start moving again. “Ok.”

“So,” Mary Margaret says pointedly, a few weeks out of the wedding and Emma’s finally buying a dress. It’s because she’s been dreading this conversation. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Killian recently.”

Emma doesn’t groan. It’s the most mature thing she’s done since she first started hanging out with Killian. She still hates that string of words.

“Yup.” “And?” “And what?” Mary Margaret makes a noise in the back of her throat. “Nothing. I'm just observing.” “Are you just?” Emma laughs, glancing in the mirror and this dress looks pretty good. Everything's felt pretty good in the last three weeks. Like the world has settled on a new axis that’s more efficient with a better rotation angle.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Mary Margaret promises. “Just..a thought. About how happy you are. You should get that dress.” “Yeah?” Emma doesn’t mean her question to be two-fold. That’s how it comes out anyway. Mary Margaret totally knows that. She can’t keep a secret, but she might be omniscient. “Yes,” she says with a smile. “It’s just...it’s good that he has someone to talk to who isn’t David or Locksley or the bar.” “The bar is talking to him?” “Emma.” “I’m serious. Where are you going with this?” Mary Margaret sighs softly, like she’s at war with herself over what to say next. “I’m just saying it’s good. After everything that happened in Boston and--” “--When was he in Boston?” “That’s where he was before he got here,” Mary Margaret says slowly, clearly surprised Emma doesn’t know that. That’s fair. It’s probably the first thing a friend should ask. “He’d been there for a few years.” “With Milah?” “He told you about Milah?” Emma nods, the unspoken lie heavy on her tongue. “Yup.” “Well, it’s not my story. But, like I said, I’m just glad you’re happy. Both of you.”

You can’t keep sending me the same text message every morning, Swan. Eventually you’re going to have to get more creative.

I’m not creative. This is as good as it’s going to get, buddy.

It’s good.

Yeah? Yeah. Be safe later, ok?

I’m not doing anything. Just following up on that lead with David.

Safe, Swan. Please.

Ok. I’ll call you when my shift’s over.

Good.  

 “You need to go further up on the right.” Killian groans, but does as Emma instructs, moving the sign and glancing over his shoulder expectantly. Emma grins. “That’s good,” she nods.

“Good because I think I dislocated both my shoulders doing that.” She rolls her eyes. “You’re the most dramatic man in the world.”

“Not even the Tri-State area.” He flashes her a smile, shaking the hair away from his eyes and he asked her to come see the bar that afternoon. His shirt is sticking to his arms.

Emma really wants to kiss him. She texts Ruby that later.

The audio file Ruby sends back is fourteen straight seconds of her very loud laughter.

“Why don’t you believe in soulmates?” Emma startles at the question, curled into the corner of Killian’s couch with her head propped up on the arm and another Disney movie playing in the background. It’s a thing. Apparently.

“Well, that’s a question,” Emma mumbles, Killian’s expression turning almost regretful. “Why do you ask?” He shrugs. It looks like a lie. It feels like a lie. “Just wondering.” “Yuh huh. Well...Mary Margaret can’t actually keep a secret so...do you know about Neal?” “Should I?” “I’m surprised you don’t,” Emma says, nerves churning until she’s certain they’re burning the back of her throat. Emotional acid reflux. “Neal was...a guy. A guy I met in Boston. And it was good for awhile. Comfortable and normal and I thought--well, a lot of things I shouldn’t have.” “No?” “No.” “And what happened?” “I’m here, aren’t I?” Killian hums. “If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to Swan.” Emma considers that – rehashing past pains and almost theres and she’d really thought Neal had been it. She’s not sure if it’s worse now that he isn’t. Mostly because it is sitting across from her with wide eyes that are obviously interested and too blue to be fair and she takes a deep breath before she actually decides.

“I thought Neal was a good guy,” Emma explains. “He was nice and charming and not always on the up and up, but I was doing bail bonds, not actual police work and I didn’t really care as long as I got the paycheck. Anyway, I knew he was into some shady stuff, but I liked him. He liked me. We were good. Until we were very not good.” Killian’s expression darkens slightly, concern almost palpable. “How not good is not good?” “Almost jail not good.” “What?” he balks, and that’s an emotion Emma is not entirely prepared for. The muscles in his throat shift when he swallows, eyes narrowing until they’re not much more than slits and his chest heaves when she rests her hand there.

“Take, like, eight-hundred steps back. I obviously didn’t go to jail. But it was--well, it was close. He was fencing this stuff, watches or something and I showed up before I was supposed to. There was a raid and lots of stun guns and have you ever been tased?” “Someone tased you?” “It’s not something I’d suggest experiencing.” “Fucking hell, Swan,” Killian breathes, fingers wrapping around her wrist. “That’s insane.” “Yeah, turned out he was not that great of a dude. He got off from any major time. Community service and a fine, because he’s dad’s super rich and the justice system is a joke, so…” “His dad is super rich and he was still fencing shit?” Emma nods. “He said it was kind of a thrill. You know, sticking it to the man or whatever.” “What an ass.” “Yeah, in retrospect. But, uh...I was kind of mad about everything still. The whole childhood thing leaves just this gaping hole of bitterness and one family in Ohio said I was, wait for it, too testy to be adopted.” “Testy?” “That’s what they said. On the official report.” Killian clicks his tongue, anger turning to disbelief almost visibly. “That’s not true, Swan.” “No?” “No,” he says, and it sounds like a promise. Her heart grows, the feel of it pressing between each one of  her ribs and several different internal organs until she’s almost concerned for the state of her spleen.

She probably doesn’t need her spleen.

She’d probably give up her spleen if he kept looking at her like that.

“You are…” Killian adds, “the opposite of that. Determined and a little stubborn, with some very strong opinions on Chinese food--” “--Those egg rolls we got the other day were garbage and you know it!” “So you mentioned, Swan. The point I’m making is that even if you hoped this asshole might have been something more than what he was, he still would have been the world’s biggest dick for ever thinking you deserved to get lied to.”

Her spleen hurts. It’s ridiculous.

“Thanks,” she whispers, not nearly enough. She can’t come up with another word. Killian smiles. “That’s not something you have to thank me for, love. Ever.”

She can feel the heat in her cheeks, heart hammering against her chest. And she hasn't, actually, come out and answered his question. "So, um," Emma mumbles, "that's it, I guess. I just--I thought, Neal was something or could have been someone and I really did love him and--" She shrugs. It's depressing. Killian's eyes are still impossibly narrow. "Well, it wasn't the moment, I guess."

"Have you?"

"Have I what?"

"Had a moment?"

"God, I hate that. It's such a dumb name."

"Yeah, it is," Killian agrees, clearly noticing the bitterness in her voice and Emma can almost see him staging his retreat. "I'm sorry. That's, I shouldn't have--"

"--I thought it was Neal," Emma cuts in. The words are sharper than she intends them to be, but they also feel like they're doing permanent damage to her lips and Killian worries enough while she's at work. She can't imagine what he'll do if she starts bleeding from metaphorical knives on his couch. 

"He wasn't."

She freezes. 

Every single one of her muscles tenses. 

It is equally the single worst and best thing she's ever experienced in her life. 

And Killian's mouth is hanging open, eyes staring straight at her with an intensity that does something else to Emma's muscles and several different biological systems and it's entirely possible her spleen has just fallen on the floor at this point. She kind of feels like she's crumbling apart anyway. 

"He wasn't," Killian repeats, softer, but just as determined, a certainty in every single letter than Emma can't wrap her mind around. Yet. She assume she'll think about it on loop for, at least, the next forty-eight hours, though. "He...he couldn't have been. The whole soulmate thing is a mess, Swan. It's--" Another shrug. She's counting now. It's absurd. "Everyone's got a different way of knowing and they all want it, but it's...it should be more than that, don't you think?"

"Sure?"

"Swan."

"I'm just not sure where you're going with this."

"It's not forced love, but it's--well, it's supposed to be easier, right? And there's nothing wrong with people who don't have soulmates."

"You're genuinely not making any sense."

Killian scowls, leaning forward and Emma isn't sure if he means to do that. "I know, I know, I just..."

“Why do you order such ridiculous coffee every time we go out?” He chuckles, a quick press of what may actually be his lips to the bridge of her nose. “That same bitterness as you, I suppose. And a distinct lack of money or anything except, sometimes, the clothes on my back. I can do it now, so I’m going to get extra foam. Why don’t you get better coffee?” “That’s just a very pointed judgment regarding my coffee order.” “And not an answer.”

Emma sighs. He’s right. And very good at understanding. “I don’t want to overstep,” she mumbles. “Get more than I deserve.” “That’s not how it works, Swan.” “Tell that to my brain.” He leans forward slowly and for one crazy second she thinks he’s actually going to kiss her. She wants him to, desperately if she’s being honest, but that’s him and not her and the lying is getting harder. “That’s not how it works, Swan,” Killian repeats, pressing the words to the crown of her head.

She feels her smile spread across her face slowly, settling there. For posterity or something. “That was ridiculous.” “You believe me?” “A work in progress.” He definitely kisses her hair. “Good.”

The bar opens. A week before the wedding, which Emma thinks is absolutely insane, but Killian just flashes her a smile and it makes a little more sense after that.

He’s standing behind the counter, a towel draped over his shoulder and there are several pieces of hair she’d like to do something about. Brush away. Slowly. Possibly romantically.

She feels a little drunk already.

“What’s your poison, love?” Emma’s laugh is far too loud. It soars out of her, makes her body shake and forces the edge of the counter into her stomach. She’s leaning over the counter. “You can’t use that when you have actual customers, you know,” she says. “They’ll walk out.” “That’s a legitimate question.” “No, it’s not. That’s a bad pun used in, like, movies from the 70s.” “Ah, we haven’t really focused on movies from the 70s, yet, have we?” Emma stops laughing. Her lips feel very dry. “No,” she mutters. “Not yet.”

“And, strictly speaking, it was really more of a rhetorical question, than anything.” Killian grins again, crouching to grab a glass and his eyebrows do something absurd when he flips it. And catches it. “Also, are you suggesting you’re not an actual customer, Swan?”

She hopes her lips don’t actually crack right there.

That would be gross.

Super gross.

Not appropriate for a bar opening with all their friends around gross.

Emma shakes her head slowly, tongue flashing between her lips and he’s still smiling at her. She’s having a difficult time breathing. Which is also impressive since her mouth is hanging open. “I’m just, you know--” “Right,” Killian says, nudging a glass of whiskey towards her hands. It’s filled to the brim. “You are my favorite customer. Bar none.” “Was that also a joke?” “Not intentionally.” “Impressive, then.” He hums, another twist of eyebrows. “Right? You want to watch me throw glassware again?” “Do not throw glasses,” Robin calls from the other side of the bar. Emma laughs again. And Killian’s smile softens, eyes falling back to Emma when his hand tugs on the hair behind his ear.

“I’m going to throw more glasses.” “Oh, I know you are,” Emma says, and it sounds like a promise.

He only breaks one, a fact he’s quick to point out, hours later, tucked into the corner with his arm around Emma and her head on his shoulder.

She doesn’t notice anyone else staring at them.

 “You kiss him yet?” Ruby asks, perched on the edge of Emma’s desk the day before they’re supposed to leave for the rehearsal dinner. “Get off there.” “Yes or no?” “No.” “You want to?” “Obviously.” Ruby chuckles, but it’s almost sympathetic. “Yeah, I figured. He’s probably going to die when he sees your dress.”

“How many shoes are you bringing?” Killian calls from the other side of the apartment and Emma’s not sure when she just started coming there consistently, but it must have been after the Disney thing and he really liked Tangled. She can’t even make fun of that.

She really likes Tangled.

“Uh…three?” “Three?” “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

He leans around the bedroom door, skepticism painted on every single inch of his face. “Three? Should I be bringing three pairs of shoes?”

Emma waves her hands through the air, and she’s going to have to leave soon. She’s got to get up to drive out to some castle on Long Island and of course Regina is getting married on a castle on Long Island. There’s going to be so much weekender traffic heading East.

And she’s not entirely sure why she’s being asked these kinds of questions, but everything has been so easy and hanging out isn’t that, so much as it’s just existing in each other’s spaces.

Like they’re supposed to.

Cowardly and a great, big giant liar, kind of petulant, just sort of a jerk, so goddamn depressed she’s positive she reeks with it and an incredible over-packer.

Three pairs of shoes is entirely unnecessary.

“Your heels, sneakers and flats?” Killian lists, still twisted and the door frame must be pressing into his liver.

“Nah, two pairs of flats.” “That was my second guess.” “Sure it was. What time are you going to leave tomorrow?” Emma asks. She jumps off the couch, swinging open the refrigerator door in a familiar way and he’s started buy vanilla coke zero. He never drinks it.

Emma averages two cans a day.

“Killian?” she continues, flinching when she feels a hand curling around her shoulder. “God, don’t sneak up on me like that. I definitely could have punched you in the face.”

He laughs, the feel of it brushing against the side of her neck and that one very specific spot behind her ear and Emma knows there are goosebumps on her skin. She bites her lower lip. “I really doubt that, love. Think of all the damage you could inflict.” “Far too confident in your own good looks.” “Undoubtedly.”

She doesn't giggle. She will tell herself that for several hours later that night, she’s sure. She does, at least smile, head falling back without her explicit permission. Killian doesn’t flinch. “What time?’ she asks again. “There’s going to be so much traffic on the Expressway.” “We’ll take the Northern State.” “Oh, that’s even--wait, did you say we?” He spins her, quick enough that her socks squeak on the linoleum floor. The tips of his ears have gone red. “A thought,” Killian murmurs. “More efficient. Something about our carbon footprints. And I just--I thought maybe we could talk.” “You don’t want to talk now?” “How much whiskey have you had?” “Not a ton,” Emma sputters, but Killian is impossibly good at reading her and she’s honestly the world’s worst liar. “How much rum have you had?” “Enough.”

She narrows her eyes, suspicion fluttering at the base of her skull. "What are you thinking?"

"How do you know I'm thinking anything?"

"You're doing that thing with your face." And for how narrow her eyes were, or, maybe, still are, Killian's widen to a near-comical size, taking up half his face and Emma grits her teeth. Hard. It makes her jaw ache. "I just..." she stammers, waving her hands in the air. That is not making it less awkward. "Well, you have a face."

"I think you may be drunk."

"You wan to talk about secret things!"

Killian sighs out a sound that isn't quite a laugh, but may just be the audible version of very real nerves and Emma continues to ignore the fluttering. It's not quite suspicion anymore, so much as it's...fear. That's absurd. She's got nothing to be scared of. This is fine. It's fine. They're going to drive to a castle and fake everything and lie to several people if they ask and she assumes Cora only stocks her open bars with top shelf liquor. 

So, that's, like, a very real positive. 

And yet. 

She's scared and nervous and scared, again, just for good measure. That this very real, very good thing, that is also the most positive anything she can remember having in forever is about to blow up. Right in her face. 

Emma wishes he weren't actually her soulmate. 

It'd be easier that way.

"Not secret, love," Killian mutters, and she hasn't been breathing. "Important. That's--" His teeth find his lip, fingers tugging on the back of his hair. "--I think we should both be pretty sober for it." “Ok...so you want to drive out to the castle--” “--Oheka,” Killian interrupts. “That was on the invitation, love.” “Please, like you’ve done anything with the invitation except glare at it for costing too much.” “It’s Oheka. It’s very fancy. Very famous. I can pick you up tomorrow. I don’t mind driving.” Emma nods. “Or, um...well, my stuff is already in my car. I threw it in there today so I didn’t have to worry about it tomorrow. I figured I’d leave early so I’d beat the traffic.” “You brought all your stuff here?” Killian asks, and the hint of hope in his voice feels cruel and unusual. Emma’s a cop. She knows how that works. She’s torturing herself though, so that’s probably different. “Stay here then.” It’s not a question. It’s a hope and a want and she finds herself nodding again, the whiskey in her veins thrumming with the magic of everything and she needs to tell him. This is such a bad idea.

“Ok.” “Ok.” They spend no more than five minutes arguing sleeping arrangements, Emma rolling her eyes dramatically and Killian huffing and it’s pointless because she’s pretty positive they both want to sleep in the bed and, well...they do. It’s the best she’s slept in years, an easy rest that feels deeper than REM and like the start of something and everything and she moves her car into Killian’s spot after he grabs her bag out of the backseat.

[axther]

Hi Etsi! Could I have a matchup please?🥺 my names alexia and I’m a pansexual intp! While I have a rather serious exterior I’m soft spoken and really passionate about things like literature art and music/the world tl;dr I’m the ‘encyclopedia’ friend🤘🏽😪 I dance ballet and my toes can show the hard work I put into it💀 I also love cats to the point of owning a few, and working with my community to make sure all of the feral or abandoned cats are in good hands/environments

Ok so before we get this thing on the road there are several things I would like to point out-

1), that you’re my first matchup 🥺 tysm 💖💖💖, 2) my best friend does point toe ballet and holy crap you have my respect, and 3) i would absolutely let you propose w a candy ring 👀 we’re married now

1 is...Kirishima! 

You had him at hello, probably

You read a lot and are an intellectual 😤 so if he needed help studying for English or Literature chances are high he’d go to you first. After all, the reward of kisses seems much better than the punishment of getting smacked by a newspaper. 

Definitely thinks that seeing and hearing you talk about your favourite books and music is cute as hell and absolutely supports you and even eggs you on. Text him at two AM because of your favourite artist that dropped a new album? He is up, he is ready, and he is hyped. 

Would look into your favourite music, 200%. You into French pop? Stromae’s playing the car on the way to a coffee date. Kpop is more your thing? Oddly enough, ATEEZ and BTS are in his music library…

Oh

But oh my god

He wouldn’t really know what to expect when he goes to see you dance for the first time. 

But…

Would die and think he went to heaven. All he sees is an angel. 

Always gets front seat, be it inside of the dance studio and you’re practising in front of the mirror, or inside of an opera house and he’s got the best seats in the house. No matter what, he’s always close enough that you can make eye contact with him. 

And speaking of eye contact, his face is just a mix of 😳, 🥰, and 🥴. He’s just. So in love. I’m sorry i don't make the rules 

When people say ‘not every man’ they’re talking about Kirishima and Tom from the Carnegie Mellon Natural History Museum in particular 

Kisses?? Are a must 

This boy would just appear out of nowhere and just give smooches!! Maybe you’re just vibing on the couch reading and he just swoops down!! And he smothers your face with kisses. 

They’re the loud ones too. The absolute best. In the distance, Sero and Bakugou fake gag. 

Every time you do anything his heart just swells, like a balloon. 

#2 is...Kakyoin!

So hear me out 

But you guys met because he wanted to draw you. 

Maybe it was in the dance studio, or you were reading in the park or something, but he saw you and was just like ‘!!!’

When he asks you he acts all cool and smooth, say how beautiful you look in the sunlight, and if he could just sketch you real quick, but on the inside, he’s just a mess of ‘cutecutecutecutecutecutecutecutecut’

He does his best on the sketch, and on a technical standing, he’s done a great job, he feels like he hasn’t captured the real ‘you’, so to make it up (and to definitely not motivate his own benefit and get your number) if you would want to go to coffee sometime. 

Of course, you guys go get coffee. 

After about, hmm, too many not quite dates, he just turns (while you two are going off in Dance Dance Revolution) and says ‘are we dating?’ 

(god he hopes so) 

And you just turn back to him like ‘??? you asked me out the first time we met. Yes?? We’ve been dating for three months?’ 

He’s elated, of course, and loses the match due to him just freezing with a happy lil blush but a massive smile 

‘Does that mean I’m your boyfriend?’ leads to ‘Yes??! I’ve introduced you to my parents?? As my boyfriend??” 

Book dates are going to be a fucking staple, let me tell you now 

Going to bookstores (used ones, probably), sitting on the floor and reading for half an hour before buying the books, heading to one of the houses, crashing on the couch, and cuddle reading for about three hours more. 

Hypothetical debates about different literature passages just result in butterfly kisses and naps and oh lord now im soft 

#3 is...Momo!! 

Our own queen would love you, down to your very bones. 

Chances are pretty high that you’d meet from you warding someone off from harassing her (that’s she’s too polite to kick in the nuts) so that serious exterior comes in handy!! 

She thanks you, ofc, but then she sees you and oh jeez is that a blush? 

Probably doesn’t know how to deal with her crush for the first bit. 

Her mind, though less vulgar, probably runs with ‘oh god oh fuck am I catching feelings?? Oh shit oh jesus’ 

She’s got responsibilities!! She’s got parents with expectations!! It’s her first crush!! She’s panicking!! Someone help her!!!!

But then you go up one day and ask if she’s okay because she’s been zoning out a lot, which is super weird for her, and if she needs to talk to someone who won’t spill her guts for the school then you’re there. And she shortcircuits. 

She’s got this new mindset that she’s got to get this off of her chest, she’s got to get this figured out and nicely filed away either in ‘first relationship’ or ‘another heartbreaking incident that’ll just be buried and then one day I’ll die’. 

She asks people what to do, but then Mina speaks up. 

“I think Alexia volunteers helps out with the local cats?” 

Ping. 

Momo gets to work, trying to figure out exactly where you help and how she herself can help and suddenly she finds herself knee-deep in volunteer work and then she realises that she actually likes it. For maybe a couple of days, she actually forgets why she got into the whole thing in the first place-she just enjoys helping cats, and more than once has made cat toys and tools on the spot using her quirk. 

But then you walk in over the weekend, and she turns and sees you. She’s covered in cat hair, there’s a tabby that’s snoozing in her arms, and she’s flushed bright red. 

She thinks she looks like a mess, and oh no!! She’s made a fool of herself!! Ugh!! 

But then you smile, wave, and tell her that she looks cute with a cat in her arms. 

Slowly, she gets closer and closer, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d say that the cats were acting like a hive mind of a wingman. 

You need a certain pair of clippers or maybe you have glasses? Or a bracelet?

Whoops, Misty the Prussian Blue has them and she runs over to Momo and hands them over. Now you’ve gotta ask for them back and what’s this?? Momo was wondering if maybe you’d want to hang out sometime outside of the cat shelter? 

Yeah, you say. Yeah, that sounds great. 

(Thanks, Misty.) 

[mayfuji]

Oneus Twilight full comeback review

When I say full comeback review it’s because it’s a FULL comeback review. From the concept films to the Japanese verison, were gonna cover a lot so get a cup of something to drink cause this will be hella long aka Bible (I’m a nice person I’m telling you this beforehand).(You should do a Youtube video review then… nya… BORING)

So let’s begin. This is not the first time I follow a group comeback in real time… You know… Checking everyday the performances, so I kinda know how it works. We have gone through a lot of stuff… KARD You in Me, GFriend Fingertip, Red Velvet Peak a Boo, Dreamcacther as whole, BTS Fake Love, F(x) Dracula, BTS Wings album as a whole and last but far from least BTS Blood Sweat and Tears. I wouldn’t call some of them dark concept, I also wouldn’t call some of the sexy concept. By these examples you can see I have my standards pretty high. I’m that annoying perfectionist old uncle and declare myself guilty. For years Blood Sweat and Tears was the top song for me. (I’m a sane person ok… That doesn’t mean I listen to it 24/7). The MV had very beautiful aesthetics and I liked the lyrics and the song. Clothes were cool and the coreography too. F(x) Dracula would come in second and I never thought something could also join these two. Until… It happened. I knew RBW was releasing a new group but I just waited. Turns out I found out the group some months later then the actual debut. Oneus debuted with Valkyrie. The way they changed the coreography every stage, the amazing fashion sense, song was good quality. They had vocal thecnique, they had dancing it caught my attention and Valkyrie was straight to my playlist. Then… it happened. The group’s first comeback. I don’t know how, when or even who am I but I found out about the comeback EXACTLY AT THE RIGHT TIME (Technically not because I was 16 hours late). I know you know we know, we are not going retro like 80’s or 90’s. We are not going retro like acient Corea like BTS Idol. We are going retro 1500/1700 not Japan, not China, not Corea, EUROPE. Welcome to the renaissance. The MV was shot in Italy, the amazing fashion sense strikes again (I swear to God stylist min is communicating with me), the song, the lyrics, the coreography, the cool colored camera filters, I need to mention the vocal technique again, the rest of the album being consistently good (BingBing), I dare say nothing is perfect… But man… This gets 99,99% of what I call perfection. It’s a shame they didn’t win any music show… Because they are a newer group and still don’t have a large fandom? WHO CARES. Let me tell you something BTS sucess should have been in 2017 Wings… The high point of their artistity…  Ateez was also a newer group AND THEY DID WIN. I give congratulations to them but Oneus needed to win and it had to be with Twilight nothing changes my mind. (Don’t come to me saying we can give them their win next comeback, it won’t do it) This type of thing only happens once in a lifetime, why? Repeat and it gets boring, they can do the same concept again but it won’t be the same, same for BTS wings. It’s not about quantity is quality. Veiws never mattered to me and now I can say with all my mighty that wins do not make art. (I was never a fan of streaming but you count my ass off this mess cause YES I did some small streaming of the MV, I did my homework) (Take in account they did this comeback with BLOOD IN THEIR EYES) (Please give Dreamcather and KARD their first win too. Did you know that with You and I Dreamcatcher also had comeback with blood in their eyes??). Let’s start with the song name… Twilight. Remember 2009 movie sensation Twilight? Yup that’s it… I know you know we know, we are going deep in the vampire/ werewolf style in here and why I said I know you know we know? Xion posted about it on Twitter… 

THEY ARE AWARE therefore I know you know we know. JUST IMAGINE THEIR LIGHTSTICK AND FANDOM COLOR AND END OF YEAR PERFORMANCES. CHECK OUT ONEWE TOO.(I took the liberty of making a playlist with extra post promotion content (with English sub) - cause I know you all love content - linked below, you don’t need to thank me, not I’m not putting english girl, focus on Twilight)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTiTzw8HrCfxRiB1DyD77ktE9UQm6sBeQ

Just in case you haven’t watched this beautiful MV here it is.

Song, yes. Lyrics, yes, coreo yes, key point of coreo YES, Keonhee vocals YES (I trust this legend vocal thecnique more then I trust myself). Aesthetics? YES. Italy? I need to sneakly and illegally go there RIGHT NOW. This is a whole YES. ( Sir... If you think I haven't noticed the moon changed from previous album you are wrong cause I noticed. Sir are your albums going to complete the moon please say yes... Also... Have you noticed Woongie used the wet hair effect? + his brown eyeshadow is stunning.

Also line and center distribution is on the playlist for in deepth study... Twilight is basically Seoho eating up all the line AND center distribution and detail... the only thing he does is SING THE CHORUS. Also thanks Keone Madrid for making this coreo for Oneus (he also did BTS Blood Sweat and Tears -  DO YOU SEE THE PATTERN). Also rumors that Oneus actually created about 40-50% of the coreo so also thank you Oneus hehe.

Bitch it's me we are taking about do you really think I would miss a possible plotline?? Xion is with a red diamond and later he breaks it into dust (I'm scared). Keonhee is with a ring. Ravn is looking at his own reflection in the water and Seoho is looking at his own reflection through a broken mirror. Woongie is with a necklace. I guess the high point in Leedo's individual shots is the wolf (question mark)... Woongie and Keonhee are the only members that change the eye color. Seoho and Woongie are the only members that simulate super powers (question mark). Summary they all lost someone.... Silence is also a way of communication... I'm not a huge fan of theories or the fanfics I know ya'll write later in wattpad but fell yourself served, you're welcome, no need to thank me.

Now some highlights.

Ok this goes straight up to the hall of iconic earnings… (Man... But his walk was so POWERFUL)

How ASIA did not notice two SKULLS in here and how they are not SHOCK??? The ring is small… BUT POWERFUL.

Question time, if they had money to do the CGI then why didn’t they erase this little hairs in Leedo’s eyebrow?????? We’ll never know...

MV behind (english sub cause I love you all ~~ plays english girl in reverse in the background ~~)

Humanity mystery here. They recorded a version of the coreography when the sun was actually falling down in real life and we see those scenes in the MV. But if the whole staff was SHOCK about the key part of the coreography being extremely perfect and beautiful then why not use it on the MV? Sure the version they used outdoors was pretty too but this was ALSO awesome and I think I need as many version of the MV as I can.

Album review

Of course I would listen to the whole album.

Intro - What can I say... it fells so chill out, kinda minimalistic I just loved it. Twilight - Just amazing... I liked the dumbstep, the music is confusing witch I find extreamly cool. English Girl - Let em tell you not my type of song... but the lyrics are extreamly funny and relatable... so I forgive (I’m waiting crazy ho now Oneus, do not disappoint me) BingBing- YOU DON'T FREAKING START A SONG IN FRENCH IF NOT AIMING FOR TITTLE TRACK LEVEL. Ok and can we talk about the coreography???? BEAUTIFUL and I want to know the mastermind behind it. I just don't know why this was not above English Girl on the tracklist... White Night - Ok a more slow song but as always Oneus always delivers. (low key Red Thread sequel??) Now - This gives me Calvin Harris vibes. More dance eletronic standard pop but it's good...

PACKING-

Look... the CD case is very unique but think about it... if you take your album from above there is a risk everything wil fall... (1theK unboxing on the playlist, cause they were the cover for 1theK youtube chanel so 1thek is Oneus bitch)

1theK Suit dance and Dance cover contest

Please give Seoho something that WILL NOT FALL FROM HIS SHOULDERS cause clothes are made to be comfortable. What is the point to take off the jackets when the night is COLDER??? (Wait.. let me answer that one… cause you can’t see black in black… I get it… BUT REGARDLESS) one of the mysteries we’ll never know. (Poor ties must have suffered a lot in the middle of the harnesses)

Now before we jump into the important stuff let me tell you a secret… Keonhee is the most difficult member to dress… why? He’s 1,81 cm tall… anything you give him to wear can make him look even taller and his face is more projected (did you know he uses braces?) so you really need to pay attention to his hair. We’ll use this information latter.

So the first performance ever was… Guess what… Before the MV was released and where? JAPAN (My half japanese ass is shaking). So people there kinda received a spoiler (clothes too) and Mnet uploaded it in the same day of the MV release so other people that weren’t at the kcon wouldn’t receive a spoiler. No complains here except Ravn chocker being TOO BIG and Keonhee clothes making him look taller. (Nice expensive microphones you got in here)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaxWHKRm9xo

Now the actual comeback in Corea begins. (Images cause tumblr won’t let me upload the videos) (I’ll upload the links below the image) (No… before you ask I’m not uploading english girl, too much work… focus on twilight) ( As I spoiled above English girl was the chosen B side. Look... I know it's us international fans unofficial anthem but c'mon... BING BING) (I know I'll miss camerawork in here but I'll eventually get the hang of it) (Don't ask me about make up cause unfortunately I don't have 4k 360° to get THAT close up. But from other close up photos I trust their make up artist) 

WEEK 1

31/05/19

https://youtu.be/qe2p_nKZ7uo

First choice was the ACDC Black in Black 1.0 clothing set from the MV, Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… Pretty clothes but… YELLOW LIGHTS??? with red?? is this ketchup and mustard? The lighting did not appeal to me and shout out to the physics mystery.

2:03 (Time stamp cause I love you all) HOW ON EARTH DID HIS EARPIECE END UP THERE? I guess we’ll never know.

01/06/19

https://youtu.be/adhuo5pMVbw

Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… but oh his hair was NICE… Fight me I’m the last person in the world to advocate in favor of coconut hair but it looks nice on him. No yellow lights so it’s a win situation, I like to call this the GLOVES set of the MV.

02/06/19

https://youtu.be/j7DhdicaV9I

Kudos for the physical scenario and Woongie earings (same as the MV). Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… no yellow lights… and this comeplete all the clothes they wore in the MV. Please… save Leedo from his chocker… too large.

04/06/19

https://youtu.be/Rl1f0vSxP14

THE SUITS a whole YES. Keonhee clothes were good but we got yellow in here and this is a NO, Woongie coconut hair was also a no but Seoho red highlights? YES. Also… Woongie… the harnesses should go UNDER the jacket not ABOVE it…

05/06/19

https://youtu.be/xmLNWuAyc9Q

Repeating clothes… but this doesn’t bother me. Ketchup and mustard lights is a no. Woongie earing yes and in case you haven’t noticed Seoho gold huge ass rings… blame the yellow lights. Keonhee hair was actually nice.

06/06/19

https://youtu.be/LcRe_SUL7Ok

Physical scenario yes, yellow lights no, clothing NO, Seoho huge ass rings YES. That’s the summary.

07/06/19 v1

https://youtu.be/hlrKa9b_P60

Uniforms? Approved, Leedo earing approved, Physical scenario approved. Orange? NO. Keonhee harmonizing with himself 1.0? YES

07/06/19 v2

https://youtu.be/3bI3GY4nALE

So… they blessed Japan with that set of clothes now it’s Corea time. Ketchup and mustard lights is a no. No earings or rings today… but  Keonhee harmonizing with himself 2.0? YES

08/06/19

https://youtu.be/0K1bhbuvYYU

You know what this SMELLS like? PERFECTION. Purple, black and red the holly trinity of colors. Keonhee clothes finally making justice to him, his hair was also nice. A LOT of light in the scenario to get THAT CLEAR LOOK cause I want to SEE things. Not a single yellow light… Woongie earings? YES. Please save Ravn from his chocker. Seoho dear… what is the point of wearing a black waistcoat… WITH A BLACK SHIRT? (But it’s approved regardless).

09/06/19

https://youtu.be/kf_C_GaCeGA

I present you Michael Jackson Black or White 1.0 clothing set. Woongie earing? YES. The light was a bit tricky. Chorus was beautifully black and white. We also had blue/green. In the red one we had yellow lights but it didn’t bother me at all. Overall it’s approved to me.

WEEK 2

11/06/19

https://youtu.be/eQcu7UH3354

They repeated clothes, but it didn’t bother me. Seoho rings? YES. No yellow lights. This is also super good and I can’t choose between the two times they wore this clothes.

12/06/19

https://youtu.be/DdI37HMWAJk

They repeated Michael Jackson Black or White 1.0 set. Ketchup and mustard? Purple? Lighting was a no. Seoho ring was a yes.

13/06/19

https://youtu.be/hBGhwPXRVec

New clothes yay. Keonhee hair and clothes were nice, I don’t know what to think about this set of clothes because I was never a fan of prints or this variations of cream and brown. The way the lights were positioned was tricky but the small amout of yellow lights didn’t bother me at all. No rings or earings today unfortunately.

14/06/19 v1

https://youtu.be/8jyzbTMMUgw

Clothes were repeated witch is a no. Do not think that instead of wearing silver or gold wearing black jewelry will make me forgive the clothes. No rings or earings today unfortunately. Ketchup and mustard lights is also a no. Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… This whole performance was a whole no.

14/06/19 v2

https://youtu.be/7fIFwRPK9tk

I present you Michael Jackson Black or White 2.0 set. IT’S HIGH END JEWELRY YOU WANT? IT’S HIGH END JEWELRY YOU’LL GET. Seoho rings (in both hands), Woongie earings, Keonhee double necklace, Leedo earings and TRIPLE necklace, do you know how powerful you have to be to use a triple necklace? The only things that killed it were the hand microphones and the yellow lights…

14/06/2019… I will never forget this day… How do they DARE to arrive at the recording… like THIS?

and when it’s performance time they step down the clothing? Well the clothes they were using ARE pretty but the ones they arrived? STUNNING ( aka ACDC Black in Black 2.0). Stylist min there are occasions you need to save the outfit to use… just arriving at the recording with those clothes is a waste of fashion. It could easily replace one of the times you repeated clothes. (I may say make up and contact lenses were on point too)

15/06/19

https://youtu.be/4LticXTZC8U

(Thank you music core for the low definition)

Yay new clothes, the hairs and clothes look SO FLUFFY. Seoho rings yes, Woongie earings yes, Leedo rings YES, lighting was good, no complains here.

16/06/19

https://youtu.be/z1A7pgFJMVE

First of all I’m really mad because they cutted the song. Second I’m really mad because they didn’t upload on YouTube. It’s seems like this is was pre calculated beucase it was EXACTLY WHEN THEY CHANGED THE COREOGRAPHY. I don’t know if they changed because they knew the song would be cut or if it was really a coincidence… humanity mistery again. Lighting was so beautiful until they came with the yellow… Woongie hair was so fluffy and earings was a yes. Clothes were Michael Jackson Black or White 3.0 and that’s it… That day I learned my lesson… you either are team rings or team gloves… there is no in between.

WEEK 3

18/06/19

https://youtu.be/xGnQRWIejOc

They repeated Michael Jackson Black or White 2.0 set. Yellow lights? This is a no.

19/06/19

SKIPPED CAUSE WEEKLY IDOL

20/06/19

https://youtu.be/uDQhH1X6SCk

I present you the new year eve set… Happy new year everyone, white and gold. From the same writers of black waistcoat with black shirt we have white waistcoat with white shirt. Ketchup and mustard lights? No. Seoho rings, YES. Woongie earing? YES. Shout out Ravn looks super good and Leedo chocker was middle term. Xion was not present and they had to do small changes (I SEE YOU SEOHO THANK YOU SIR)

21/06/19 V1

https://youtu.be/OOdS62gRMOg

Suits YES. Seoho rings, YES, we didn’t have earings… I’m sad. Ketchup and mustard lights? No.

21/06/19 V2

https://youtu.be/gU8cdpbEK0k

I’m sorry… WHAT????? Clothes are a no… Grey? With black purple and red? No. Noodle hair Woongie? NO. Woongie earing? Yes. Hand microphones? No. Yellow lights? Like…

SERIOUSLY??? NO.

22/06/19

SKIPPED

23/06/19

https://youtu.be/dBDRVdC9ntQ

(I’m so sorry for the low definition here)

Same old story. I’m mad they cutted the song, didn’t upload on youtube and exactly when they changed the coreography. On the other side we have new clothes yay. It’s not only black and gold powerful match. It’s black and gold with snake print cause I’m a bad bitch. It’s the only place where they NEEDED to use the yellow lights and I’m actually mad they used black and white. Someone save Seoho from his chocker. Color scheme was great but it’s not like the clothes desing are bad. I just feel it could have been better. We didn’t have earings or rings today BUT HEY, FANSING, BING BING HAS A COREO AND ITS AWSOME. 23/06/19 will be in my heart (even though it was just a sneak peak).

4 WEEKS BICTHES

Ya’ll misbelievers will hear this song untill your ears BLEED

25/06/19

https://youtu.be/rg_x8oKwibs

Woongie you really fooled me here I was scared. He only did the fingerheart cause it was their last performace at that specific program. Repeating clothes… Lighting was good, no earings or rings… Well really tricky. I don’t see roots so you all did a touch up on the hairs and Woongie got a little bit blonder… I don’t like it, it don’t think the color suits him. Keonhee hair got a little darker but no problems… That’s it.

26/06/19 

https://youtu.be/dMUSRroP1K0

Repeated the new year eve set. Seoho had to repeat the clothes for me to understand the clothes. Seoho ring yes, Woongie earing yes. Lighting was huge no, all crazy combinations like blue and yellow and purple and etc. But in the ending even though it was yellow the lighting was pretty.

27/06/19 ~~FINALE~~

https://youtu.be/TfEpkKwGQuA

We going Marilyn Monroe Woongie? His earings as always YES, Lithing... well… very tricky since we almost couldn’t see it but it didn’t look promissing. White and cream with black look more promissing then grey with black and red and purple… but not my favorite clothes, they have better weapons… Well… that’s it.

I wish they would go the whole week but they didn’t…

SUPRISE BITCH, YOU THINK 27/06/19 WAS OVER? THINK AGAIN

Oneus first photobook in Milano was announced. I won’t go into detail cause this is not the goal here... but we get it... YOU WEREN’T JOKING AROUND IN ITALY. Usually it takes a lot of time for a group to come up with a photobook so I’m proud and that was pretty smartass way to finish promotions if I may say...

Now… you have seen me against the yellow light for the whole post and you must be asking yourself WHY? Well… when you have the work to color correct the entire MV to cool colors YOU MUST AS WELL DO IT ON THE PERFORMANCES… that’s it… it’s called color pallet and you should respect it. Or in other cases like when they used black and gold respect the color palette of the specific performance.

Now let’s go to 05/07/19 Oneus is a newer group so I wasn’t even dreaming about this cause again... It takes a while for this to happened. My spider senses told me something was off when they announced they would be attending breakout in Japan and SURPRISE. Twilight japanese version was announced. Versions A/B/C and CD+DVD. Some questions were raised. There will be another version of the MV and new clothes? If yes I WANT SOMETHING ON THE SAME LEVEL. Will there be a instrumental version? Will they put Valkyrie japanese version too? They would all be answered later... AND MORE. They had the audacity to show BingBing complete coreo for the first time. They must really love Japan. Legends also say that they already performed the japanese version in this festival.

I was getting uneasy with the release date coming closer and no photos of the covers of the CD’s... then 25/07 they released a schedule... I wasn’t really expecting a schedule but I was happy cause next day we would have a teaser of the MV and surprise, it was basiclly the same thing. Good because is quality stuff but bad cause I was waiting somehing new... 29/07/19 We got tracklist and GUESS WHO WAS THERE?? EXACTLY, VALKYRIE JAPANESE VERSION +++++ TWO new songs.... We are blessed.. until 30/07/19 where we got what actually was happening...

IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL LIMITED CD+DVD? It follows Raise US desing but I wanted something more... It fells like it’s missing something...

Version A (Clearly Valkyrie) IT’S INSTRUMENTAL YOU WANT? IT’S INTRUMENTAL YOU’LL GET. But I’m sad... where are the other two new songs you may ask?

Verson B OOONNEEEE of the new songs (ok we also have it’s instrumental too and cover is ok)

Version C THE OTHER SONG (we have it’s instrumental too and I didn’t know people had silver skin...)

Do you see the strategy? Each version has one of the songs so you have to buy all the versions... And I didn’t like this...

07/08 The MV was released. They don’t have official youtube chanel so they uploaded in the company that represents them in japan.

The major changes were the individual shots as they had to sing in japanese. Nothing to complain in here, their pronunciation was good but the lyrics timing didn’t seem to match the song. Valkyrie had a better japanese version then Twilight... I loved the two new songs we got too.

(Bless the person who putted Korean and Japenese side to side, I saved the video on that huge playlist)

Also, can we appreciate how well Oneus and Twilight was received in Japan? They went to national television, topped Oricon AND Billboard Japan. Tower Records was EMPTY on the first day and they promoted for almost a whole month with shows. Japan basically adoped Oneus.

But nothing is flowers. It’s was extreamly difficult to buy this single online outside japan.LET ME TELL YOU. CD japan? Nothing, Amazon japan? Nothing, Yahoo Japan? Nothing. Rakuten? Nothing, YesAsia? NOTHING. THE ONLY PLACE I COULD FIND TO BUY THIS ONLINE IS TOWER RECORDS OFFICIAL WEBSITE WITCH GUESS WHAT IT IS IN JAPANESE. AND TO BUY OUTSIDE JAPAN YOU DON’T BUY FROM THEIR WEBSITE. IT’S FROM ANOTHER WEBSITE WITCH TOWER RECORDS THEMSELFS PUTED THE LINK IN THOSE HUGE ASS BANNERS IN THEIR WEBSITE. Summary it was  literally giving birth to buy this online.

I tought I could rest BUT NOT. They would attend Soribada Music Awards... THEIR FIRST AWARD SHOW. Look I love Valkyrie... but I want Twilight to be performed and I WANT FASHION OK. I’m full of expetations, do not disappoint me Oneus. The day of the award show came and well... I was actually disappointed. Simple suits and the performance clothes? They repeated one of the worst weapons in their closets. C’mon... if you are going to repeat you have better choices IT’S NO EXCUSE... that’s the summary...

Well, from now I have covered everything... Don’t sleep in Keonhee vocals, Oneus has TWO MAIN VOCALS, appreciate Woongie vocals, that’s it.

If y’all want in my research I have build a really small database of Woongie earings in this comeback, maybe in the future I can do a compilation.

And that’s the end… if you got here congratulations you are a warrior and me too for the hours of links, print screens and editions… Byeee

[mifhortunach]

like, WAY MORE THAN 100000yrs ago @good-goddamn tagged me to talk about like ‘creative project’-y things i was/am working on ? so YEah - maybe this’ll even get me to actually work on the things, lmao. 

- a fair amount of irons in the fire wrt digital stuff ? mostly fan-art-y stuff, but i kinda wanna try my hand at more digital painting & 3d modelling ? idk

- technically now I'm working on a bofa?? so Yeah Thats A Thing 

- fair amount of semi-started/planned animatics ? like, storyboarded + audio cut, but nothing further done than that (theres another tfh one which is like 2/3 fin? but hhhhh)

- i wanna go painting outside again ngl

- fake band t-shirts/album covers :T

- i gotta learn how to write/code? uhm, but thats not /Started/ per-say, oof

-> id love if anyone wanted to tell me about what there working on rn ! but, idk, for tagging purposes, if youse want to ofc, @smegandtheheads @morellaar @kone-eel @south-of-oz