#the design on the left is based on his game show host outfit and is equivalent to mettaton ex | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cosleia · 4 years

Text

Prompt from @sam7sparks7:

Poisoned a drink to kill someone else (Hux probably), got carried away in monologue and accidentally drank it himself.. Works best in full public view..

(kylux, a little nsfw at the end. this one totally got away from me. content notes: very mild, very brief suicide ideation; mildly graphic death by poison description)

The Deaths of Allegiant General Pryde, Part 5: At Long Last

It’s been over two hours. General Armitage Hux knows because he’s been surreptitiously checking the chrono approximately every 30 seconds.

He doesn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be here in the first place. But far be it from him to disobey the not-an-order-but-it-may-as-well-be of Allegiant General Enric Pryde, who outranks Armitage due to the technicality of Armitage no longer having a flagship, even though Armitage once controlled the entire First Order fleet and served as a respected member of High Command.

None of that means anything anymore, he thinks sourly as he stands in what passes for a corner in one the Steadfast’s secondary TIE hangars and watches officers in dress uniforms mill about with glasses and small plates. The Finalizer is gone, the Supremacy is gone, Snoke is gone, and now High Command is gone too, replaced by Kylo Ren’s ‘Supreme Council’. That Ren put Armitage on that council is hardly cause for satisfaction or relief, given that Ren antagonizes Armitage at every possible moment, either by implying Armitage is thinking disloyal thoughts or refusing to entertain any of Armitage’s ideas. It’s like he’s keeping Armitage close just to rub in the fact that he won their years-long rivalry.

(Armitage can accept that Ren won, but he doesn’t have to like it.

(Unless, of course, Ren orders him to.)

This little party of Pryde’s is just like what Ren’s doing. It’s Pryde’s way of flaunting the fact that he now commands the First Order fleet, which now includes Emperor Palpatine’s Sith Fleet, hundreds of ships kept hidden until the perfect moment to upstage Armitage. Where was Pryde all those years the First Order was salvaging and improving the best parts of the Empire after the Galactic Civil War? Where was Pryde when Armitage ramped up the stormtrooper program, designed Starkiller Base, invented hyperspace tracking, and led the First Order to victory in dozens of secret missions before open war was finally declared? Where was Pryde during the Battle of Crait? If anything, Pryde is a coward sweeping in at the last minute to take all the credit for the work Armitage did while Pryde was off hiding somewhere.

Unfortunately, Pryde is actually getting that credit. Whether everyone truly believes the allegiant general is the savior of the First Order or they’re just trying to avoid Ren’s ire, Pryde is the one getting his way now. Pryde is the one Ren doesn’t countermand. Pryde has everything Armitage once had. Perhaps more.

Two hours is far too long to obsess over this—it would be better to bury it, try not to think about it at all—but it’s hard to think about anything else at a party for Pryde, hosted by Pryde, at which Pryde is circulating through the officers, sneering haughtily and noisily reminding everyone of his existence. This party is a farce.

The First Order itself has become a farce: following the whims of an unstable mystic, throwing in with another mystic who’s supposed to be dead, and not concerning itself with practicalities such as actually maintaining control of and running a galaxy. If Ren were gone, it might be salvageable. Of course, Armitage can’t even think such a thing in Ren’s presence, and as Ren is almost always present, Armitage hasn’t had much of a chance to plan. The best idea he’s come up with is to leak information to the Resistance and cause the First Order to lose faith in Ren, but that’s a terrible idea that would put not only the First Order but Armitage himself in danger.

The longer this blasted party drags on, though, the more treason is starting to appeal to him. This is the sort of flamboyant, meaningless affair Brendol favored: a chance to rub elbows with ‘important’ people and try to make himself seem important as well. It occurs to Armitage that Pryde was one of those people; he was in attendance at no small number of the events Brendol attended back when Armitage was a subadult.

Armitage sighs at the unpleasant memories this thought unearths, forcing his fingers straight. The last thing he needs is to be seen tearing up another pair of gloves. Of course, this restraint just means his frustration has nowhere to go. He considers breaking his rule of not eating or drinking anything he didn’t prepare himself and indulging in some party food and drink. It would give his enemies a chance to poison him, but honestly, why bother avoiding an assassination attempt? What is the point of existing like this, powerless, blocked at every turn by incompetence?

Armitage sighs again. He’s never given up in his life, and he won’t start now. He’s survived all this time despite his father, despite the former Imperials, despite Snoke, despite Ren. He’ll survive Pryde too. He will watch, and he will wait, and he will take any opportunity that is afforded him...and in the end, he will come out on top.

“General Hux,” Ren says at his ear.

Armitage freezes, forcing his ruminations down where hopefully Ren won’t find them. “Supreme Leader,” he replies, voice level. For whatever reason, Ren has always loved appearing out of nowhere directly behind him. Perhaps it’s to startle him, to make him feel like prey. But Armitage won’t be provoked.

“Not enjoying the party?” Ren asks. He’s close enough that Armitage feels Ren’s breath on the back of his earlobe.

He manages not to shiver. He doesn’t miss the mask, not at all, but it did serve as a barrier between them that isn’t there anymore, and sometimes that adds a different sort of edge to their interactions. “It’s not that, sir,” Armitage lies. “I just got caught up thinking about tomorrow’s duty roster.”

“Always working,” Ren says.

Armitage can’t tell if Ren’s being disparaging or just making an observation. He bites back a comment along the lines of at least someone is and turns to face the Supreme Leader. Ren is standing there in his usual outfit, all black, tunic and slacks and boots and gloves and cape; he hasn’t dressed for the occasion at all. Armitage hopes Pryde will take offense. “I enjoy working,” he tells Ren, which is true.

“It’s your life,” Ren replies.

Armitage isn’t sure if Ren has a point. He doesn’t reply.

“Is that your dress uniform?” Ren asks after a moment.

“Yes,” Armitage says, resisting the urge to glance down at himself, brush at the crisp white fabric, or needlessly straighten the gold piping and epaulets. He hasn’t eaten, drank, or even sat down since he left his chambers; his uniform should still be impeccable. Ren can play mind games all he likes, but Armitage won’t rise to the bait. He keeps his eyes locked on Ren’s, chin raised.

Ren’s eyes, as always, are too big, too deep, and a little watery. One of his lower eyelids twitches and he scowls a little, showing just a hint of white teeth between blood-red lips. Then, abruptly, he sweeps away without another word.

Armitage would be mystified if he wasn’t accustomed to Ren’s odd behavior. He’s still curious, even after years of this, but mostly he’s tired. Let Ren do as he pleases, so long as he isn’t choking Armitage or hurling him into a wall with the damnable Force.

(He hasn’t done that in some time. There have been moments. Threats. But the physical violence hasn’t happened again.

(Armitage isn’t fool enough to hope the change might be permanent.)

Armitage watches as Ren moves further into the hangar. Pryde, sycophant that he is, strides over to greet him. Ren doesn’t even stop walking; he waves a dismissive hand at Pryde and makes for one of the cargo lifts on the far wall. He’s apparently done with the party. Armitage wonders why he even bothered to come at all.

Pryde turns his pale blue eyes in Armitage’s direction and gives him a long look. As usual, Armitage can discern nothing from the man’s face, which seems permanently locked in a sneer. His gaze is unsettling, but Armitage returns it until Pryde finally turns away and resumes socializing.

Three hours in, Armitage is once again contemplating the bar. He’s not sure when it would be polite to leave, which makes staying at this party all the more torturous. After Ren left, the ghoulish Knights of Ren made an appearance, hovering around Armitage like a swarm of parvinoths before loping and looming their way around the hangar, intimidating everyone. Now that they’re gone, things are back to being intolerable, which means, ridiculously, that their visit actually offered Armitage some measure of relief. He supposes they did break up the monotony.

As Armitage gazes thoughtfully at the bar, Pryde comes his way for the first time that night. “We’re ending on a speech,” he says by way of greeting.

“We, sir?” Armitage asks. He doesn’t have anything prepared, but he won’t turn down an opportunity to speak to his people. There’s plenty he can generalize about, plenty he can play up. Perhaps he can even sneak in one or two of the code phrases that have been programmed into the stormtroopers, remind those here on guard duty who they serve.

He’s almost feeling cheerful when Pryde clarifies, “I’ll share the Order’s latest victories and hope for the future. The Supreme Council will flank me for the toast. United front and all. With me, General.”

Armitage keeps the disappointment from his voice as he offers a “Yes, sir.” Pryde stalks off, waving his swagger stick like a baton, and Armitage follows, wishing not for the first time that he’d been the one to bring swagger sticks to the modern First Order uniform code. Pryde is a mediocre irritant, but the swagger stick lends him a certain gravitas that might be part of why Ren was fooled into trusting him.

Pryde leads Armitage to the end of the hangar looking out at the stars. The rest of the Council has assembled there, and when Pryde arrives they form a single line between him and space. Armitage joins the line and faces the crowd as the lights in the hangar dim and a spotlight comes up on Pryde.

A server arrives with a tray of drinks; Pryde selects a glass, and then the server offers the tray to the line of officers. Armitage is the last to be served. He declines the drink and the server inexplicably takes it to Pryde, who tucks his swagger stick under his arm and accepts the second glass with his free hand.

“Fellow officers of the proud First Order,” Pryde says, his voice boastful as it echoes from the speakers. “I’m sure you’re grateful for this opportunity to celebrate our many successes. We’ve come so far since Starkiller and Crait and Batuu...”

Armitage has spent the past few months learning how not to scowl, but it takes all his strength not to react to Pryde calling him out in front of everyone. Pryde blames Armitage entirely for everything that has gone wrong for the First Order, and Armitage is worried that people are starting to believe him. The more Pryde reinforces his version of events, the more damage control Armitage must do later. He scans the room, trying to pick out individual officers and gauge their reactions, but it’s hard to get a good read on anyone in the dim light. And so he stands at parade rest and listens to Pryde’s speech and hates him.

Pryde is not accustomed to public speaking. He certainly doesn’t have nearly a decade of experience recording training and inspirational holos. He tends to meander, to switch abruptly to new topics, and to ineffectively support his statements. He also takes far too long to communicate a simple message. Armitage can’t check his chrono while everyone’s eyes are pointed in his direction, but he’s sure Pryde’s speech has gone on for 20 minutes now, with no end in sight. When Pryde suddenly cries, “To the Order!” and raises his glass, it’s so unexpected that Armitage startles as though waking from a fitful sleep.

“To the Order,” the assembled officers say in unison, and all those with drinks raise them to their lips.

Pryde drains the glass in his primary hand with gusto, shouts “To the Emperor!” and tips the second glass down his gullet too.

“To the Emperor,” the crowd says, but it sounds less fervent this time. Armitage’s breath catches. Could it be that there are others who are suspicious of all that’s happened since Pryde joined the fleet and the Emperor’s Sith Fleet was revealed? Is there hope for the Order after all?

Pryde turns toward the Supreme Council, face flushed and an actual smile on his lips. But when his gaze falls on Armitage, he seems to freeze in place, eyes widening. He stares at Armitage, slowly looks down to the empty glasses in his hands, then looks back at Armitage again. He opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again, and starts to say something. It sounds like ‘tree’, but he chokes on the word and drops both glasses to shatter on the floor.

Then he’s convulsing, gurgling, clutching his throat and falling to join the broken glasses on the durasteel tarmac.

“Call a medic!” Armitage snaps, even as his mind whirls in disbelief. His whole body feels light. He recognizes what’s happening. He even recognizes the poison. It’s very fast acting, and even if the medic were here right now there’s no way the allegiant general could be saved. His throat has already completely disintegrated, and his heart and lungs will follow in a matter of moments.

Armitage watches Pryde flop like a fish on the floor, froth and blood pouring from his mouth, eyes wide and already empty. It’s one of the most beautiful sights he’s ever seen.

The investigation concludes that the poison was in the second cup—the one meant for Armitage. Armitage never touched it, as attested by the waitstaff, kitchen staff, and everyone in attendance at the party. Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka testifies that Allegiant General Pryde always seemed to have it out for General Hux. The server testifies that General Pryde instructed them on how to serve the drinks so that a certain glass would make it to General Hux. The ship’s quartermaster testifies that Pryde himself ordered the components for the poison.

In all, it was a very, very sloppy assassination attempt...and yet it might have worked, had Armitage given in to his moodiness and accepted that drink.

“General Hux,” Ren says, stepping up close behind him on the bridge of the Steadfast.

“Supreme Leader,” Armitage acknowledges.

Ren says nothing more. Minutes pass. It’s become routine for Ren to loom like this; Armitage has found he doesn’t really mind, as it gives him a chance to demonstrate his superior level of competence to Ren. Armitage continues his work with Ren at his shoulder. For this mission to go smoothly, he must ensure the proper disposition of the fleet in near-Exegol space.

It’s not until Captain Peavey has confirmed he’s taken command of a single Xyston-class Star Destroyer and that Star Destroyer is navigating through the treacherous cloud of gas and stardust surrounding the planet that Ren speaks again. “Victory is within our grasp.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader,” Armitage agrees. With Pryde out of the way, getting the First Order back on track was far swifter and simpler than he expected. Ren changed his tune almost immediately. The fleet has been reorganized; the Finalizer and Supremacy and other ships damaged at Crait are in the process of being refurbished; and very shortly, the Order will have hundreds of planet-killers at its disposal.

“General Pryde would have had me subservient to the Emperor,” Ren says in a low voice. “To the creature who targeted me before I was even born, who tortured me, as he targeted and manipulated my grandfather, decades ago.”

Armitage looks at Ren in surprise. Everyone knows Darth Vader was the Emperor’s enforcer, but it hadn’t occurred to Armitage that it might not have been his choice. And while Armitage is aware of many personal details about Ren’s past, he has never heard Ren himself speak so frankly about it before.

“Darth Sidious doesn’t deserve the First Order,” Ren says fiercely. “We do.”

At that, Armitage turns fully to face him. “I do,” he dares to say. “I built the First Order.”

Ren huffs out a laugh. “You have a very high opinion of yourself,” he says, a comment along the lines of the jabs Ren has thrown his way throughout their entire working relationship. His next words, however, are new. “But it’s not unfounded.” Did Ren just—

“Sir,” Chief Petty Officer Unamo calls, breaking into Armitage’s thoughts. “The Revan is clear of the debris.”

Armitage spins to face front again. “Tell Captain Peavey to activate the navigational beacon. As soon as it’s transmitting, call our new ships to us,” he says.

“Aye.”

The same hyperspace-field enhanced processing power that made hyperspace tracking possible is now allowing Armitage to control the Sith Fleet. Compared to charting and comparing all possible routes of a ship that has just jumped to lightspeed, controlling the basic operation of a few hundred identical ships is child’s play. Armitage watches with rising anticipation as the first of the ships emerges from the red dust, and then more and more of them are rising up to join their true fleet.

Ren staggers suddenly, hands flying to his temples. “Now,” he grits out. “He’s in my head.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader,” Armitage says crisply. It occurred to him that this might happen, that the Emperor might directly attack Ren. It also occurred to him that he might simply let it happen, let circumstances sweep another obstacle out of his way. But Ren has been very useful these past several weeks. If not for, well, everything, they might have worked quite well together all these years, rather than clashing at every turn.

Besides, Ren has just given Armitage a compliment.

“Captain Peavey,” Armitage says, “fire on Exegol.”

Through the viewport, Armitage watches the Revan’s axial superlaser glow red. It takes far less time for these Sith Fleet cannons to charge than a Dreadnought’s autocannon, but Peavey had orders to charge it as soon as he was clear of the debris field just in case. It’s fully primed now, firing almost as soon as the order was given. Its pulsing red blast sears through the gas and dust and pounds into the planet below, shattering it.

In seconds, Exegol is completely obliterated.

Ren straightens, drops his hands to his sides. “It’s done,” he says. Then, incredibly, he adds, “Thank you.”

Armitage turns his head toward Ren. The man is flushed, eyes downcast, hands in fists. He looks strangely appealing like this; before he can help himself, Armitage imagines pushing him to his knees and burying fingers in his hair.

Ren looks up as though he has heard this thought, and maybe he has; Armitage suffers through a split second of terror before Ren smiles again and says, “I see.”

Armitage clears his throat. “Send the boarding parties,” he calls. Stormtroopers will infiltrate the Sith Fleet and eliminate any crew who refuse to swear loyalty to the First Order. At that point, the ‘Sith Fleet’ will be no more, and the newly bolstered First Order fleet will secure the Order’s hold over the galaxy.

Ren leans close to Armitage’s ear. “Come to my chambers when you’re finished,” he says softly. Without waiting for a response, he spins on his heel, cape swirling around him, and marches off the bridge. It’s overly dramatic, but Armitage can’t help but watch him go.

Armitage directs his forces for as long as is necessary, and then a bit longer after that. Then he gives the conn to Lieutenant Mitaka and makes his way to the officers’ quarters. It doesn’t occur to him until he has reached Ren’s door that he is not nervous about what might happen here. He does not expect to be taunted or physically assaulted or summarily executed. He’s looking forward to...whatever this is.

The hatch cycles open before his fingers reach the call box. Ren stands there, hands and feet bare, wearing just his trousers and a soft-looking long-sleeved shirt. It’s a good look for him, Armitage thinks. Ren smiles and ushers him in.

Armitage is barely through the hatch when Ren moves close, eyes darting over Armitage’s face, lips slightly parted. He’s close enough to touch. Armitage puts a hand on Ren’s chest, but not to push him away. He wants to touch Ren. He can feel Ren’s heartbeat.

“General,” Ren says, and he’s breathless. Armitage’s own breath catches. “Armitage. I want to kiss you.”

The idea is so shocking and yet so obvious Armitage is flummoxed for a beat. How this has never occurred to him before is astonishing. “Yes,” he stutters out finally.

“It’s not an order,” Ren says, and now there’s heat in his voice.

“No?” Armitage asks, and if Ren doesn’t kiss him soon he’s going to shatter to pieces like Exegol. “Well, this is an order.” He takes Ren’s face in his hands, leans in until their noses touch. “Kiss me.”

Ren does, surging forward with such force that he backs Armitage into the wall. Armitage’s fingers slide back and curl into Ren’s hair as his mouth is utterly devoured by the Supreme Leader of the First Order.

“Kylo,” Ren pulls back just briefly to pant out. “Call me Kylo,” and then he’s biting Armitage’s lower lip, sucking it into his mouth, exploring it with his tongue, and all Armitage can do is groan.

They’ve stumbled to the bedroom and Armitage is slipping his hands up under Kylo’s shirt when a wild thought occurs to him and he lets out a laugh of surprise.

Kylo detaches his lips from Armitage’s neck. Slowly, warily, without showing his face, he says “What?” He’s big and powerful and the ruler of the galaxy, and yet somehow, right now, he sounds vulnerable.

Armitage’s chest is strangely tight. “I always thought Pryde’s existence was pointless,” he explains, stroking fingers through Kylo’s hair. “But if it hadn’t been for Pryde, I wouldn’t—we wouldn’t—” Armitage somehow can’t bear giving voice to the thought. An hour ago, he wouldn’t have believed this possible. He doesn’t want to make it impossible again.

Kylo finally pulls back to look at him. They’re sitting next to each other on the edge of the bed, but Kylo slides off onto the floor, nudges himself between Armitage’s knees, and wraps his arms tightly around Armitage’s waist. “He wanted to kill you,” Kylo says quietly.

“He wasn’t successful,” Armitage reminds him.

"It was too close.” Kylo buries his face against Armitage’s stomach.

Kylo was...worried? Despite the fact that Kylo asked him here, asked to kiss him, has been kissing and touching him, Armitage can’t quite believe what he’s hearing. Wanting is one thing. This... “Kylo,” he says.

“No one will ever hurt you again,” Kylo says, the words muffled by Armitage’s undershirt.

“Kylo,” Armitage says again, feeling dizzy. He doesn’t want to ruin it, but he’s seemingly incapable of leaving this alone. “What changed? When did you stop hating me?”

Kylo looks up at him, eyes glossy with tears beneath dark lashes. He sucks at his lips, cutting his eyes away briefly before refocusing on Armitage. “I never hated you,” he says. “I tried, but...I couldn’t. Snoke said—he told me—he said it was wrong. To—to want you.”

Armitage sucks in a breath. Through that lens, their past interactions make a hell of a lot more sense. “It’s not wrong,” he says. The words come easily. They feel right. “Come here.” He scoots backward on the bed and Kylo crawls after him and Armitage lies back and pulls him close, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and letting the other trail down his hip.

As Armitage’s touch reaches Kylo’s thigh Kylo shudders, bucks suddenly against Armitage’s leg. Armitage can feel the hard line of his cock through their clothes.

“Do you want...?” Armitage asks, sliding his hand down between Kylo’s legs. Kylo nods fervently, biting his lip, and undoes his trousers. Armitage wraps his hand around the head of Kylo’s cock and Kylo lets out a long moan. “That’s it,” Armitage says as he squeezes up the shaft and slides the column of his fist back down. “That’s it. Good—”

“Ah—!” Kylo cries out, tensing and shaking, and hot come spills over Armitage’s hand. Kylo is beautiful like this, eyes squeezed shut, mouth wide open, cheeks flushed. Kylo is always beautiful, Armitage thinks. “You think about me a lot,” Kylo says hazily, pushing his face into Armitage’s shoulder as he pants for breath. “That made it harder.”

The fact that Kylo has been denying himself for years, the fact that it has been a struggle, should be gratifying...but right now, Armitage mostly feels a sudden, indescribable rage. “I’m glad they’re dead,” he says, meaning Snoke and Pryde and Palpatine. “I wish I could kill them again.”

Kylo hums in agreement and throws an arm around Armitage’s waist. He looks like he might fall asleep at any moment.

Armitage buries his clean hand in Kylo’s hair and wipes the come off the other as best he can on Kylo’s bedsheets. His cock is half-hard, but he doesn’t feel the need to do anything about it. For the moment, all he’s thinking about is the exhausted giant sprawled against his side. “Get some rest,” he whispers, and Kylo shifts and snuggles closer.

When morning comes, Kylo is still curled against him, and he’s still holding Kylo, and it wasn’t a dream.

Armitage does think about Kylo a lot, he has to admit. He’s always thought about Kylo. He just thought it meant Kylo was his biggest obstacle, requiring the most attention and planning. Not—

“Hi,” Kylo says sleepily, raising himself up just enough that he can see Armitage’s face.

“Hello,” Armitage replies, smiling without even thinking about it.

“I want to suck your dick,” Kylo says.

Armitage lets out a snicker, even as his cock twitches in his trousers. “Needy thing, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Kylo says cheekily. “No one’s here to tell me what I should want anymore. Can I?”

“Of course, darling,” Armitage says, with more fondness than he thinks he’s ever heard in his own voice. (Has his voice ever been fond?)

Kylo shivers and grins and lets out a little giggle, and Armitage had no idea the Supreme Leader could be adorable, but he apparently can.

He also, Armitage shortly discovers, has an extremely talented mouth.

Something is happening here. Armitage has never felt this way before, never even considered that he might feel this way, and yet relating to Kylo now feels so natural, as though they’ve been like this forever. It’s hard to put a finger on what’s changed, when so much is different, but one thing is obvious: Kylo is happy, and Armitage likes it.

He’s not sure he’s ever seen Kylo happy before.

Kylo pulls off Armitage’s cock with a delightfully obscene slurping noise. He licks his lips and says seriously, “I’m not sure I ever have been. Have you?” Before Armitage can even begin to process that staggeringly matter-of-fact pronouncement, Kylo descends again, and it’s not long before Armitage is crying out, hips twitching up as he comes down Kylo’s throat.

“Come here,” Armitage says as his mind slowly surfaces from the fog of orgasm, because not holding Kylo right now is intolerable. Kylo obeys, crawling back up the bed, and Armitage wraps both arms and one leg tightly around him. “You’re mine, aren’t you?” he says thoughtlessly, because that’s how he feels right now, and only after the words are out does it occur to him that they might have been the wrong thing to say. So many people have tried to own Kylo, his whole life: his parents, the Jedi, Snoke, Palpatine, the galaxy as a whole. But this is different. Surely Kylo knows that. Never mind that Armitage barely understands what’s going on at this point. Kylo has to know— “And I’m yours,” he attempts to clarify. “Aren’t I?”

Kylo is quiet for a moment, and then he lets out a loud sniffle. Turning his face into Armitage’s neck, he says wetly, “Yes.”

Last night, Kylo vowed that no one would ever hurt Armitage again. Now, Armitage makes Kylo that same promise. “It’s the two of us against the galaxy,” he says. “And the galaxy’s going to lose.” Kylo laughs a little, raising his eyes to Armitage’s face again, and Armitage leans forward and kisses him.

“You’re sure about that,” Kylo says against Armitage’s lips, and it isn’t a question.

“Nothing can stop us,” Armitage says. “Not now.”

He doesn’t have the Force. He doesn’t have the power of foresight. But he knows it’s true, knows it just as he has always known he was destined for greatness. He knows that now that he and Kylo have found each other, found the real each other, any who try to stand against them will fall.

And, as it turns out, he’s right.

The Deaths of Allegiant General Pryde series on AO3

#star wars #kylux #fanfic #my writing #lemon #the deaths of allegiant general pryde #suicide ideation #(brief)#minor character death #poison #despite all the warnings this story is actually very soft lol #sam7sparks7

55 notes · View notes

ceeyuin666 · 5 years

Text

Disney Villains Recruiting: An Introduction

Better late than never, I hope? There’s a few out there already, and I’m way too late considering the shows are over, but here’s my take on a introduction to the world of Tokyo Disney’s Villains Recruiting program.

This introduction includes a run down of the show and its amazing characters that took social media by storm.

If you’ve the courage to seek true beauty of elegance than proceed… into the Villains World.

All photos in this post were taken by myself, please do not repost on other blogs, websites or social media networks such as Twitter or Instagram!

The Concept

During the years 2015-2018, Tokyo Disneysea’s Halloween celebrated the wonderful world of Disney’s famous Villains. While the main Villains like Maleficent and Ursula dominated parades such as The Villains World and the night fireworks of Fantasmic!, their team of underlings were sent to work in the smaller parts of the park.

So every Halloween, the area of American Waterfront rolled out a red carpet and welcomed ten unique characters, each based off a famous Disney Villain, who’s sole purpose was to recruit humans into the Villains World. The program was known as Disney Villains Recruiting.

The Show

The original show, with a game known as the Six Poses Dance itself was a 15-20 minute skit that took place every hour or so at American Waterfront. Six of the ten ‘Recruiters’ would come out, along with two hosts, meaning in order to catch all ten characters, you would have to make multiple visits to the park.

Each Recruiter quickly introduced themselves and showed off a unique pose that represented them. Then the show becomes a game of Simon Says where the hosts will call out a Recruiters name and guests must respond with the correct pose. The game usually became chaotic when the hosts starting yelling out random things and guests could watch the Recruiters scramble to match whatever was being asked for them.

Finally, a guest would be picked out of the audience to participate in the game alongside the Recruiters. At the end of the game, the guest would be asked if they have now been convinced to come join the Villains World. If they say no, there would be a loud cry of disappointment and the disgruntled Recruiters would drag the guest back to their seat. If yes, after the yelps of joy, the guest would be asked to return to the Tower of Terror in 666 years where the Recruiters would be eagerly waiting for them.

In 2016-2017, a second show, called Villains One Point Course was introduced to rotate with the now Special Pose Dance show. Each show only consisted of two Recruiters, six would appear throughout the day. Similar to before, the two present Recruiters would introduce themselves and their pose before going into a game similar to Rock Paper Scissors, except you had to match the pose the Recruiter was doing- which was almost always their own pose so it wasn’t hard to get it right. Two guests would then be selected and have their outfits judged by two new hosts who would then offer one point that would make them Villain Worthy.

In 2018, the show returned to its original format of the Six Pose Dance and the One Point Course, along with its hosts, did not return.

The Hosts

Mr. V

Known as the grandmaster of the program, Mr. V is the lead host of the original Six Pose Dance show. He appears to be in charge of the Recruiters and they all speak to him with respect, sometimes calling him Mister or V-san for short.

He is a rather relaxed character much like a father watching all his chaotic children make a mess he doesn’t have to clean up. More often than not he keeps to himself in the background while the others perform, only ever speaking up to scold them or laugh at them when they make a mistake.

Mr. V is however rather possessive of his assistant, Ms Scatter, who, despite her years of hard work, he refuses to acknowledge her as a real Villain.

Despite the similarities in their designs, this character has no relation with Dr. Facilier from the Princess and the Frog.

Ms. Scatter

Scatter is the human representative of the show and represents in the audience in that she is constantly fawning over how beautiful and enticing the Villains World looks from the outside and her own goal is to one day join them. In the early years she runs around interrupting the Recruiters, calling out to guests to not be deceived by their wickedness despite how gorgeous and tempting it may be.

She is the one character that goes through considerable character growth over the course of the four years and her costume also changes slightly each year. In the beginning, she is reckless and clumsy, the Recruiters picked on her, bullied her and Mr. V very much controlled her. By the end she laughed with them as though they were equal and spoke back to Mr. V whenever she disagreed with him.

In the 2018 show, the Villains offered recruited guests a flag with the mark of a true Villain which they would be granted when they return in 666 years. At the end of the show, as the Recruiters left, Scatter would stay behind and reveal to the audience the mark of a true Villain which was on the inside of her jacket. When Mr. V comes to chase her about what’s taking her so long, she hides the mark and turns to the audience, signalling them to keep her secret. This suggests that even without Mr. V and the others knowing, she has graduated into a real Villain.

Ms. Villa

Host of the One Point Course, Ms Villa is the self proclaimed fashion diva of the Villains World. She is stylish and mature, strutting around offering advice to guests on how to better their outfits.

She is very much in her own world as she parades around the show, completely ignoring the panicked cries of her assistant whenever she rambles off about an idea that is clearly unrealistic. To the Recruiters however she is rather motherly, giving them pet names and teasing them like children.

While she holds a very welcoming aura, she always catches the audience by surprise at the end of the show where she demands payment for her services.

Mr. Polite

Known as MP or Polite for short, he is Ms Villa’s assistant during the One Point Course show. He is more put together than Scatter but also spends a lot of the show yelling after Ms Villa.

When left to his own accord, MP is sneaky and playful, even over confident in himself but his job is mostly to keep Ms Villa from going over the top with the guests so that is his main focus. He seems more well informed of the human world, unlike the other Villains and has to reign them in when they’re being unreasonable such as asking him to buy them snacks from the park.

He gets along well with the rest of the Recruiters who all treat him as their own personal assistant, something he does not seem to mind. He gets along particularly well with Daru who he usually promises to take on a walk after the show.

The Recruiters

Apple Poison

Themed off the poison apple used to put Snow White into an eternal sleep, Apple works for the Evil Queen from the film Snow White.

Tall, dark and handsome, Apple has the most mature look of the men’s Recruiters, and coming from the oldest Disney animated him, he is teased by his workmates and guests alike for being the family ‘uncle’ or ‘old man’. There are many times where he also has trouble keeping up with the right poses or falls from pranks by the others, showing he’s also quite naive.

Apple is the most charming of the men’s Recruiters, his quotes usually laced with cheesy offers of escorting guests or sweeping them away. He normally keeps to himself while the others are running around, though his ongoing rivalry with Jack brings out a more immature side to him.

He is also the best English speaker of the cast as his main quotes are also half in English and he often lectures guests in English as well. He is constantly blowing kisses to guests or his prop posing apple, drawing out squeals of excitement from guests.

Quotes 🍎Ladies and Gentlemen, one bite of this sweet apple with make you the most beautiful in the world. 🍎Like how the poison intoxicates this apple, allow me to intoxicate you all.

Jack Heart

Hailing from Wonderland, Jack works for the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. He makes jokes of turning back into a playing card so it can be assumed he is the personification of the jack of hearts card.

Jack is known as the entertainer of the Villains World and he is indeed very entertaining to watch. While the others strut along the red carpet, Jack is always seen skipping around, cutting corners and getting right into the faces of guests. Even when standing in one spot he is usually stretching strangely or contorting for the enjoyment of the guests.

As a super playful character, Jack gets along best with Dalmetia who he calls his best friend. The two get along very well and walk around linking arms and high-fiving each other all the time. On the flip side, Jack seems to down right hate Apple who he will taunt and make faces at. While it’s not clearly stated why their relationship is so bad, it seems to purely because Jack hates Apple for being so much taller than him.

He is also one of the only Recruiters that does not react happily at the mention of their Master; instead, when the Queen of Hearts is brought up, Jack usually hides in fear, clutches his neck in case he’ll be beheaded or runs away.

Quotes ❤️My world it the world of entertainment! And that’ll make your heart go- Aow! ❤️Like how Alice found Wonderland, so long as you all hold darkness in your hearts, I’ll appear before you again just like the Cheshire Cat.

Mr. Dalmetia

A puppy given a human body by his Master Cruella De Vil from the film 101 Dalmatians.

Mr. Dalmetia, Daru for short, is an excitable and selfish character who is usually chasing after his best friend Jack or running away from Scar. He teases everyone, friends and guests alike in a crude manner, sticking his tongue out at people or pushing over their toys. Some of the others tease him with games of fetch and he will go sprinting across the performance area, then return extremely grumpy when he realises he’s been duped.

While Daru and Jack are best friends, Daru generally gets along well enough with the rest of the men’s Recruiters. Scar, from the ladies team, is obviously madly in love with him- a feeling he does not reciprocate. For four years, he runs from her, turns her down her advances and down right rejects her any chance he gets. However, at the end of 2018, while hesitant, he agrees to wait alongside her until the guests come see them again in 666 years.

He is the very embodiment of a puppy and even Mr. V comments during his introduction that he’s yet to shake all his canine habits; he is sometimes caught sitting like a dog, scratching his neck as though there’s a collar there and bugging the others after the show to take him for a walk.

Quotes 🐶This is my WAN-derful pose! 🐶Everyone, you have to look after your cute little pets. After all... it is common enough to wear fur here, right?

Malfie

Holding his Master in the highest regard is Malfie who works for Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. His name has also been romanised by fans as Malfi, Malfy or Malefy- while Malfi is likely most directly accurate, I personally am too use to writing it as Malfie, though none of the above would be considered incorrect.

The most narcissistic of the Recruiters, even dubbed Nar-fie, Malfie carries a hand mirror around with him at all times so that he can always admire his own beauty. On the off chance one of the other members manages to sneak away with the mirror, he becomes uncharacteristically frantic until he can find it again.

While Malfie does not love anyone like he loves himself, he gets along with a majority of the other characters fairly well, particularly Joe and Farja. He is also the most popular victim when the ladies decide to start bullying the men’s team- Farja, despite the fact that she and Malfie get along, is most likely to lead the charge in picking on him.

Malfie is in canon the personification of a crow, whether or not he is Maleficent’s crow that appears in the movie is unclear. He does however, consider Diaval from the live action movie Maleficent his rival in beauty.

Quotes 😈It is I! 😈Beauty like mine could grant you whatever you wished for; money, love... even the wish to become a Villain!

Eight-foot Joe

A dedicated worker for the sea-witch Ursula from the Little Mermaid is Eight-foot Joe. His introduction suggests that he is in fact hiding his extra legs which leads fans to conclude he is an actual octopus.

Joe is the tired office worker of the group, the only one that treats the program as the job that it is. Based off Ursula’s business as the sea-witch, Joe’s introduction includes him launching into what likes a rehearsed speech advertising Ursula’s services. When not at the microphone, Joe is usually hiding behind guests or sitting down somewhere away from the red carpet.

Of all the Recruiters, Joe is the most crass. He speaks rudely to guests, usually telling them off about one thing or another. He teases the other Recruiters but can rarely be caught sharing a laugh with them. Like Jack, his reactions to mentions of his Master are usually of fear, likely because he is overworked and insulting Ursula will only result in more work for himself.

In the early years he was very vocal about how tired he was and how he did not need friends, but the end of 2018’s season saw him the most emotional and commenting on how he wishes he had more time with them.

Quotes 🐙What is it that burdens you? Some human trouble? Or perhaps... a burden of love? 🐙I hope you all have an oct-ful... I mean, wonderful day.

Lady Pirate Hock

Working for the infamous Captain Hook from the world of Peter Pan is Lady Pirate Hock. She is, without a doubt, most popular amongst her fellow ladies Recruiters.

Hock is the most suave and flirtatious of the ladies Recruiters, though her wiles are only ever directed at either the ladies or female guests. Scatter, Veil, Farja and Hades can all be caught swooning over her and fighting for her attention when she offers to escort any of them after the show. Even amongst the men’s team she is known to be handsome and popular.

While her overall character is extremely charming and almost prince like, she has an endearing childish side that usually shows when she’s picking on the men’s team or running off with their props. Having said that, she is extremely protective of the ladies team, particularly Veil, when the men retaliate.

For the longest time I mistook her name for Hook, but after some fact checking, it can be confirmed that her English romanisation would be Hock.

Quotes ⚓️The sun shines brightly again today... oh sun, your light is not what I need today. What I need is the beautiful light of the moon. ⚓️The sun’s light is dazzling, but what dazzles me most right now ... are all your beautiful smiles.

Veil

The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s Villain, Frollo, has Veil has his underling. Though not specially stated, there have been instances where she alludes to the fact that she may be the bell a top the Notre Dame.

If Veil were present on any particular day, you would hear her coming long before they reach the performance area. She also carries a small hand bell with her that she rings loudly as she walks around, much to the dismay of some of her fellow cast members. Though if the men complain she tends to ring it more loudly in their ear.

She is the most refined of and of the cast, speaking formally to everyone else and walking with a grace not seen in the others. She is closest with Hock whom she appears to have a crush on, blushing whenever they hold hands. However every time Jack approaches her, she quickly and harshly brushes him off. When asked why, she claims it is because Jack makes fun of her pose.

Veil has the voice of an angel, she often breaks into the song halfway through her introduction, needing Scatter to stop her and remind her to please teach the audience her pose.

Quotes 🔔This bell that was bestowed upon me by Master Frollo will surely shake your heart 🔔God help the outcasts, children of God.

Pretty Scar

Taking on the same name as her Master is Pretty Scar, working for the Lion King’s Scar. She is what one could call the black sheep of the family because despite being a Villain, she values all things that are considered cute and pretty. She runs around pouting dramatically looking for compliments which all the other Recruiters find unfitting of a Villain.

When introduced by the hosts, it’s said Scar is disliked by all the other Recruiters and during her own speech she the others are always looking for places to hide or pushing each other closer so that they do not have to listen to her. When interacting with the others she is mostly the one pushing herself onto them, Jack being one of the few that won’t completely turn her away.

She is also madly in love Mr. Dalmetia, despite him always turning her down she does not let up. She is always chasing after him and attempting to cling to him, calling him her ‘Darling’. While the other ladies Recruiters don’t seem to pay much attention to her love for Daru, when Daru finally agrees to stay with her, Farja and Hock who were present congratulated her.

Based on the fact that Jack calls her ‘Hyena-Girl’ it can be assumed she is the personification of a hyena, similar to the group of hyenas that work for her Master.

Quotes 🐱Hmph, hmph! I’m grumpy today because no one’s called me cute! Ah! That feels good! 🐱Darling!

Farja

Flying in from Agrabah is Farja who works for Jafar from the film Aladdin. Her most prominent features are her flowing black and red hair and flowing dress that she shows off on the red carpet.

Farja is easily the most bratty of the ladies Recruiters, if the audience does not give her an impressed enough reaction to her magic tricks she will complain really loudly and gesture for more applause. When watching the others, if they mess up or do anything silly she is first to laugh really loudly. On the other hand, if something does not please her she tends to scream in a person’s face until whatever is upsetting her stops.

She gets along quite well with the other ladies Recruiters, excluding Scar, and is one of the members that swoons of Hock all the time. She often fights for Hock’s attention and laughs excitedly when Hock escorts her to and from the show.

While she screams out angrily whenever Iago is mentioned, it does seem she is based off the parrot which explains why she gets along with Malfie who is a crow.

Quotes 🌹Isn’t my magic simply amazing? In happy times and sad times, remember it and your heart will bloom too! 🌹Villains Sassoon!

Ms. Hades

Once again taking the name of her Master Hades from Hercules, is Ms Hades. Unlike her hotheaded Master, she is the most indifferent of the ladies Recruiters.

She believes in just letting people do as they please because she too wants to just let people do as they please and not carry any of the responsibility. She acts like a tired mother watching her chaotic children as the other Recruiters run around messing with each other.

While she is possibly the quietest member of the entire team and the most professional. While she may not be as vocal as the others though, she is often with them admiring each other’s props or fighting for Hock’s attention. At any mention of her Master though she becomes extremely excited and waves enthusiastically to decorations in his image.

Even though she does not seem to notice it, whenever she high fives or gets too close to the other members, they tend to back away as though they have been burned, after which she follows them curiously causing them to run away faster.

Quotes 🔥Entering this world without permission… do as you please. I turn a blind eye… as I please. 🔥In human terms you could call it liberation, call it freedom!

#disney villains recruiters #villains recruiters #手下 #tokyo disneysea #tds #villains world #halloween #disney #tdr

670 notes · View notes

crazyrandomfucker · 4 years

Text

Marichat May day 5: Dare

Summary:

What happens when a group of teenager superheroes visit regularely two civilians and become close friends to them with their superheroes' identities? The answer is heroic sleepovers with a chance of truth or dare.

Notes:

Here all of the characters are a bit aged-up to the point of being on their 20's. The identity reveal still hasn't happened but it's become a type of tradition to hang out with the Dupain-Cheng twins after patrolling. The fox miraculi and the turtle miraculi have already been established as permanent aditions to the heroe's team with the four superheroes: Salihafa (Nina), Carapace, Rena Rouge and Zorro Rojo (Alen). And there are also two new villains called Papilioniadae and Le Paon, who are Gabriel's sister-in-law Amy and his secretary Nathan, the former being Le Paon and the Later Papilionidae. The heroes believe that Papilionidae is the boss of Le Paon, but it's the opposite way.

-------------------------

After a disastrous series of events, the superheroes knew that they would loose sooner or later if they continued to do everything simply by themselves. Hawk Moth had gained the knowledge to repair one of the broken miraculous of the Peacock, assuring Mayura as a definitive addition to his forces. That would have forced the heroes to choose temporary superhero to help them on the fights and return the miraculi afterwards, but something worse happened. The other pair of lost Miraculi became activated and two new villiains decided to attack Paris under the names of Papilionidae and Le Paon. To make things even worse, the normal akuma andamok attacks turned into a new direction as the villains also fought against each other. Three sides were stablished: the heroes, who tried to manage fighting against crime and supervillains on a daily basis; the original villains, Hawk Moth and Mayura; and the newcomers villains, Le Paon and Papilionidae, who mainly focused on disrupting any attempts of Hawk Moth just to the go against the heroes to claim the miraculi.

Since the newer criminals were addad to the frame, the heroes battles became so intense that they were overwhelmed and could not slither away to recruit new heroes. After some serious discussion, they decided to add four more miraculi into the frame: the Fox miraculi, whose illusions could help to escape and recruit new heroes, having learnt from their past mistakes; and the Turtle miraculi, who could protect them for a while in case that things came to worst. Both heroes duo, the cats and the bugs, had quite the hard time to choose who would wield the miraculi, given that Hawk Moth and most likely Papilionidae knew the identities of the previous wielders. After long discussions, they decided to give the miraculi to their previous wielders and teach them to change their outfit in order to fool the villains.

It was decided that Chat Noir and Kitty Noire would give the miraculi of the Turtle to Nino and Nina Lahiffe while Ladybug and Lordbug would be giving the Fox miraculi to Alya and Alen Cesaire, explaining the current situation and then used their spare moments after patrol to completely train them. Just like that, the battles against Hawk Moth and Papilionidaee became easier to handle and the big amount of stress that the heroes had previously accumulated with the simultanious attacks of their enemies. And even if the villains had gained allies lika Lila Rossi or the Bourgeoise twins, the group of eight superheroes had much less difficulties dealing with them.

Once the newbie heroes were definitely stablished and use to their patrolling routines, Ladybug and Lordbug decided to show them their secret meeting place, the Kwami Cave, a teashop under the name of Xia and Ming Quiet Tea Shop that also hosted a mini bar of sorts for superheroes at the second floor, having a secret entrance for superheroes on the rooftop. It was fine for them to hang out there since the owners of the place were no other than the siblings of master Fu, so they knew everything about the kwamis and the miraculi and also supported from the shadows the heroes. After all, it was them who initially suggested taking the risk of incrementing the number of miraculous holders to turn the tides against Hawk Moth and Papilionidae.

On the other side, whenever the bugs weren't patroling, the meetings post-patrol at the Kwami Cave were a bit bland, but the cats had an idea. Why couldn't the newbies meet the other two people who secretly supported them too. They discussed the idea with Lordbug and Ladybug for a long time, but the bugs eventually gave in and explained the situation to the new superheroes, specially emphasizing to Rena Rouge and Zorro Rojo that they were not to interrogate either Marinette or Marin about Ladybug's and Lordbug's secret identity, also asking them to forgive the designers for keeping such a secret from them, but apparently the foxes could understand it.

And so, on a fated day, the cats, foxes and turtles went to the Dupain-Cheng rooftop. Chat and Kitty knocked on Marin's and Marinette's trapdoor and the twins came out, surprised to see all of them there. They spent the afternoon in Marin's bedroom talking and eating cookies, but there definitely was some major teasing towards the cats for apparently hanging out so much with civilians, specially to Chat Noir who mainly visited Marinette and not Marin. They left a couple of hours later, everyone happy after having so much fun, which led them to agree that it would be something that they wanted to repeat from time to time.

And so they did. In just a matter of months, the regular nightly visits to the Dupain-Cheng teenagers from the cats turned into visits from everyone. They loved to spend time like that, using her superheroes identities to interact with their own civilian friends, befriending them once more and generally enjoying spending time with them since they had been quite busy lately. Then the normal visits would sometimes turn into sleepovers at either Marin's or Marinette's room, playing games and watching films until the designers fell asleep. It was quite usual to make videogames competitions, but not even the faster reflexes given by the miraculous could help the heroes win against Marinette, who almost always won their competitions.

But then it came, the night where they really made a decent sleepover, asking for permission to Tom and Sabine to stay and everything. The cats were obviously ecstasic about the whole ordeal, since it wasn't a normal ocurrence that they had an sleepover. The turtles were quite hyped, because hanging with their superheroes friends was so rad, particulary when they got to hang out with Marinette and Marin too, even if it was a pity that Ladybug and Lordbug couldn't go as well in order to avoid that Marin or Marinette accidentally slipped their secret identities. And of course, the foxes were soooo smug about the sleepover, having already planned beforehand lots of tricks and games to play all night long, like seven minutes in heaven or never have I ever (thought they weren't drinking alcohol to avoid any... Possible incidents).

It all started pretty much as usual, they came after patrol and knocked on the trapdoors. Marin and Marinette let them in, but instead of staying on their rooms like usual, they went to greet Tom and Sabine and have dinner with them, helping to set the table and bringing the food to the table. After finishing their meal and sing their praises to Tom for his eggscelent foccacia and quiche, they had upstairs again to Marin's bedroom to begin their sleepovers. Marinette brings two trays filled with treats for the night while Marin prepares the sleeping bags for everyone. The heroes put on their pyjamas (over the suits of course) and lay on the floor in a somehow circle-like shape around the tray of baked goodies. And finally, the fun begins.

"So, has any of you planned something for tonight?" asks Marinette.

"We haven't, we'll go along with whatever you think it's fine" says Kitty Noire.

"I'm thinking of playing the usual sleepover games" says Salihafa. "Unless someone in here is too much of a chicken to go through a bit of embarrassement~".

"Is that so? We also planned on playing those" says Zorro Rojo with a very suspicious smug smile.

"After all, what's better than playing those kind of game in a sleepover?" ask Rena Rouge equally smugly.

"I don't like where this is going" says Marinette, perfectly knowing what Alya can do after six years of being best friends.

"Don't be such a party-pooper Princess, I'm sure this will be funnt" says Chat.

"Chat Noir, I'm sorry but I don't think anything can get funnier than seeing you in that Ladybug pyjama" says Salihafa snorting.

"Hey!" protests Chat Noir.

"Don't worry dude, I think it's awesome" says Carapace.

"I would personaly say that is awkward to see a guy with a pyjama based on the girl he was after for so much time" says Marin chuckling. "But hey, it's still respectable".

Rena and Zorro burst into laughs while Marinette giggles and Salihafa chokes on the macaron she was eating. "Damn Marin, are you flamethrower? Because you just roasted Chat like a boss" says Zorro.

"I think I can understand now why Chat Noir doesn't visits you that much" says Marinette rolling her eyes, while Chat is trying to articulate words to reply to Marin.

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure that it's because he prefers to see a pretty lady" says Rena with the face™.

"Well, I think Ladybug makes sure to avoid being here whenever anyone of you comes" says Marinette. "So I don't think there's any other pretty lady for him to visit".

"Says the young aspiring designers who left behind a club of fans on Lyceé and as my sources reveals, is being worshipped as a goddess on college" says Zorro Rojo as he gestures like he's checking something on a notebook.

"Wait what?"asks Marinette very surprised turning her head to the foxy-boy.

"Well, according to a contact of ours you do have some sort of followers and probably are the main focus of a new-founded religion about stunning designers" says Rena. "And by the way, Marin is considered the 'Top 1 boy I would want to date' by the ninety-eight percent of your college's girls and a fair bit of the boys".

"Such a pity that he already has a model as his girlfriend" says Kitty, I would have loved to snatch him and Marinette all for me" says Kitty Noire winking at the designer twins.

"How many times I've told you Kitty Noire, I'm not into polyamorous relations, specially if my brother is on the equation" says Marinette.

"Also, I'm claiming her for myself" says Rena squeezing Marinette. "So you can't have her you mangy cat".

"Excuse me? I think you are all forgetting something" says Marinette slightly amused.

"Yeah, you're all forgetting that she's my gaming rival!" says Chat Noir, finally recovering his sanity.

"Dude, they are fighting for a woman to marry her, you can still play videogames with her after their wedding" says Carapace.

"Oh, but I thought that Carapace and Rena Rouge were already a thing, same for Salihafa and Zorro Rojo" says Marin smirking. "That's what Lordbug told me at least".

"Traitor! How could he!" roars Zorro. "That was not very bro of him".

"While I do agree with you brother, I think were forgetting about something" says Rena. "We were going to play games, weren't we?"

"That we were Rena" says Salihafa smiling knowingly. "Should we beggin then?"

"But of course" says Kitty Noire. "Should we begin with a classic like truth or dare?"

"Oh girl, I like the way you think" says Rena Rouge.

"I'm sensing disaster" says Marin.

"Don't be so sour Marin, it's just going to be a fun game" says Chat.

"Yup, definitely, catastrophe is ensured" says Marin.

"Come on man, the pussycat should be Chat, not you" says Zorro and Marin rolls his eyes. "Come on you can even go first".

"As if that would make it better" says Marin. "Alright, I go first then".

"Don't be shy Sewwy-Boy" teases Salihafa.

"Then Salihafa, truth or dare?" asks Marin with a smile on his face.

"Dare, do your worst" says smugly Salihafa.

"Gladly" says Marin with a full-blown grin. "I dare you to sit on Zorro's lap while hugging him for five turns".

Salihafa and Zorro Rojo both turn Ladybug red and laughs burst among the teenagers. "Just remember that this is not your house guys, so don't get too touchy feely" teases Marinette.

"I'll get you two for this" says Salihafa mortified as she sits on top of Zorro and hugs him. "Rena, truth or dare".

"For now let's do a truth" says Rena.

"Then tell us, is it true that my brother is the one leading your kisses" asks Salihafa.

"That was a low blow sis" says Carapace.

"He sometimes does, but normally I'm the one kissing him senseless" says Rena Rouge.

"To the point of being distracted before patrol" adds Kitty Noire smirking.

"Kitty, sweety, truth or dare" says Rena Rouge glaring her.

"I'm going to say truth. Who knows what would you make me do" says Kitty.

"I think Rena is the type of person who makes worse truths than dares" comments Marinette.

"Relax, I'll start softly" says Rena smirking. "Tell us Kitty, is there some boy or some girls that you're in love with?"

"Totally, I'm dating with someone you know" says Kitty Noire smirking. "Such a pity I can reveal who I'm dating because of the secret identity".

"Very clever" says Rena squinting. "Very. Clever".

"Thank you ReRo" says Kitty. "Now, Marinette, truth or dare?"

"I get the feeling that I'm goig to be embarrassed either way, so dare" sighs Marinette.

"I'll be kind to you Princess. I dare you to give a butt slap the most beautiful of the room" says Kitty Noire.

"Beautiful? Not hadsome but beautiful, huh?" says Marinette pondering. She stands up and slaps Rena's and Kitty's butts very loudly. "This are the most beautifully slappable of the room".

"Damn girl, you do now how to butt slap" says Rena caressing her rear.

"It's not my fault you two have two slappy butts, is it" asks Marinette. "Actually I think Salihafa is the most beautiful, but I didn't quite want to interrupt her quality time with Zorro".

"Understandeable, the council declares this as valid" says Chat Noir.

"Silly cat" says Marinette rolling her eyes at the buffoon. "Anyways, Carapace, choose".

"Normally I would be glad you're the one daring or asking me a question, but I'm honestly quite afraid right now" says Carapace.

"Just choose already so we can turn the tides on her" complains Rena Rouge.

"Then I choose dare" says Carapace.

"Don't worry Shelly, I'm not going hard on you. For now" says Marinette winking. "I dare you to tickle Rena Rouge on... let's say her feet, something tells me she's the type of person to be ticklish there".

"Carapace, don't" says Rena. "I'm warning you. I'll punch you in the face".

"But babe, it's a dare" says Carapace sheepishly. "I have to do it".

"Carapace no. CARAPACE N-" tries to say Alya as she tries to back away, but Chat holds her while Carapace tickles her feet, making Rena burst into laughs until she begs for mercy breathless.

"Okay, I've done it now" declares Carapace. "Chat, truth or dare dude?"

"I'm all in for a dare from my bro" says Chat looking at Carapace on his eyes with his full model power.

"Bro" says Carapace looking at him.

"Just kiss already!" says Kitty chuckling.

"Bro, by the power of bromance, I dare yo to yeet a macaron to the fairiest of them all" says Carapace ignoring Kitty.

"You know that's how the war of Troya begun, right?" says Marin. "Especially since there are already taken girls".

"Oh my, thank you for worrying Marin, but I won't sway away from my Shelly for a leathery catboy" says Rena.

"Well, while I do admit that you are gorgeous Rena, you're not my type" says Chat as he picks up a macaron. "But I think the closest one to my type here should be our little Princess" says throwing her a macaron gently.

She grabs it mid air. "You flatter me Kit-Cat, but you won't get more treats because of this" says Marinette smiling at him.

"I was rather thinking on a certain mouse instead of pastries" says Chat winking at her.

"Say one word more and you're not getting any more croissants Chat" says Marinette.

"That sounds interesting" says Rena smirking.

"Want another tickle attack?" replies Marinette.

"Ah, yes. That's the Sassinette I love" says Kitty Noire.

"Anyway" says Chat holding his hands up to gather attention. "Zorro Rojo, care to chooseth thy fate of thee?"

"But of course Chat" answers Zorro getting a chievalry-like feeling of inspiration. "I choose truth, for I have no secrets to hide".

"What do Salihafa's lips taste like?" asks Rena.

"Dear Rena, I believe it was my turn" says Chat feigning offence. "I ask thee, Zorro, whom I will respect as a chevalier, what is your take on anime?"

"OP I love some of the animes my man has recommended to me, but I know nothing outside of those" says Zorro.

"I see your man is a man of culture then" says Chat Noir.

"That he is" affirms Zorro Rojo. "Then, tis mine turn, isn't it? Marin, truth or dare?"

"Truth, I ain't getting your revenge simply like that" says Marin.

"Then please illuminate us, is it true that you were onto someone before going out with mademoiselle Agreste? If yes, whom?" asks Zorro grinning.

"That's not something you could easily guess, and something only a bunch of people know, are you perhaps hinting that I know your civilian side?" asks Marin smirking.

"I have my ways to get information. After all, a good illusion can't be done without information" replies smugly Zorro.

"Fine. Yes, I did have a crush on someone" says Marin. "But since it's just a truth, and not two, I won't say the name".

"Sneaky, but fair, I'll accept it" says Zorro.

"Then it's my turn. Salihafa, you've been awfully quiet, so tell me, truth or dare?" asks Marin.

"Truth" says Salihafa glaring at Marin.

"Is it nice to be able to be so lovey dovey with your boyfriend?" asks Marin.

"It is very much thank you" says Salihafa with her face burried on Zorro's chest.

"It's good to be young" says Marinette smiling.

"Rena, avenge me" says Salihafa. "Truth or dare".

"Dare, to make it spicy before our revenge" says Rena.

"I dare you to pick two person for seven minutes in heaven and shove them in a closet" says Salihafa.

"With pleasure" says Rena as she stands up and picks up Marinette, carrying her bridestyle just to dump her onto Chat arms and then shove them inside Marin's bathroom.

"I didn't expect that, but I approve" says Kitty Noire.

"Oh don't worry, it's your turn sweety" says Rena Rouge. "You said you were dating someone right? What do you like about... Him? Her? Them?"

"Well, there are an awful lot of thinks I like about him. Like, for example, the adorable face he puts when he's concentrated, the way he can picture us both being a happy family in the future, his kindness" says Kitty staring at the universe. "And let's face it, that killer body he has is definitely a huge bonus. Like he seems fit at first, but whenever I grab his arm I can feel that he's ripped".

"Damn girl, I never knew you were like that" says Alya.

"Say whatever you want sweetie, but I'm just saying that he could crack nuts with his arm" says Kitty Noire smugly.

"I know someone else who can crack nuts with his arm" says Carapace looking at Marin.

"I'm not that fit Carapace" says Marin eye rolling.

"I'm not sure about it, should we check that?" asks Rena smirking.

"Oh for sure" says Salihafa. "We need to check that. Care to help us discern Kitty Noire?"

"My pleasure" says Kitty Noire as she jumps onto Marin, shoving him to the ground as she picks her arms.

"I think we need to get off his pyjama shirt for that" says Zorro Rojo as he somehow gets some markers out from thin air.

"I'll help with that" says Kitty grinning as he picks one of the markers. "Don't resist Prince Charming".

"I'm just gonna say that wouldn't do that" says Carapace.

"Don't worry Shelly, this is just for scientific purpouses" says Rena as Salihafa get's Marin's shirt up.

"Damn Marin, I didn't know you were this fit. You could grate cheese in here" says Salihafa.

"Oh, let me show you just how is the shape of his muscles" says Zorro drawing on Marin's torso, outlining his abs.

"And look at this strong arms, I'm sure you could even win against us in a wrestle match" says Rena Rouge inspecting his arms.

"He can" says Carapace. "That's why I said that I wouldn't do that".

"Wait, what?" asks Kitty just as Marin switfly gets out of her hold, quickly jumping to Zorro Rojo and locking him.

"Now it's my turn, isn't it?" asks Marin as he picks the marker and begins to draw on Zorro's face.

"What the funk just happened?!" asks Salihafa flipping.

"There's a reason why you don't mess with a designer son of a baker Salihafa" says Marin picking a rope from underneath his bed and quickly ties Salihafa and Zorro Rojo with it.

"Since when can you do that?!" asks Rena surprised.

"I carry a lot of heavy ingredients sacks and thanks to designing, I know a thing or two about laces, ropes and knots" says Marin cracking his knuckles. "Prepare for tickles Miss Pickles".

"It's scary how threatening souned that despite being so lame" says Kitty Noire.

"Marin Dupain-Cheg, do not dare to tickle me" says Rena seriously. "Babe! Do something!"

"I legitelly warned you all" points Carapace. "I know how damn strong he is, I saw him beating Chat in a wrestling competition. I also saw Marinette knocking Chat out of a roof throwing him a pillow from her balcony, so I ain't messing with them".

"Babe!" exclaims Rena Rouge indignant.

"Alright, alright. But I'm not getting on his bad side" says Carapace getting up. He pushes Kitty Noire towards Marin. "Shellter!"

The virtually impenetrable sphere surrounds Marin and Kitty Noire, preventing Marin to get Rena. "Carapace!" complains Kitty Noire.

"You were the one who wanted to have a feel of his muscles" says the hero shrugging. "Now, Marin, I'm taking you both to Marinette's bedroom. You do wahtever you have to do".

"You know I'm not going to do anything like hitting them or so, right?" says Marin. "I was simply going to tickle Al-Rena and then remove the treats for Kitty".

"You wouldn't?!" says astonished Kitty Noire.

"You bet I'm doing it as soon as we get out and I get something for Carapace's kwami to eat" says Marin.

"Thank you, I'll need lettuce. I'll be inside my sleeping bag" says Carapace and leaves them on Marinette's room.

"Now this is awkward" says Kitty Noire.

"Just this? Stripping me and holding me down wasn't awkward for you?" says Marin.

"That's that and this is this" replies Kitty Noire. "That was just a little prank".

"This is just a little prank from Carapace" points Marin.

"I'm not sure that this could be considered as a prank" says Kitty.

"Again, and stripping me was?" says Marin.

"Of course it was!" says Kitty Noire.

"Sometimes you remember me so much to my girlfriend Adrienne" says MArin. "You both are stubborn and have quite the wrong definition of prank".

"I'm sure that your girlfriend is as sorry as me for not having the same definition as you" says pettily Adrienne.

"Don't think so, because even if they aren't quite exactly pranks, I still love her effort" says Marin. "I love your effort too by the way, just try not to get me naked next time, alright?".

"Hey, Marin" says Kitty suddenly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, shoot".

"Who were you in love with before your girlfriend Adrienne? I don't remember ever hearing about that from you" says Kitty Noire.

"That's... That's because I never told you" says Marin blushing a bit.

"Why?"

"Because... It was an impossible love from the beginning. Someone who was out of my reach, just like Adrienne. But Adriennedid her best to reach to me and managed to make me fall for her".

"Someone as out of reach as a supermodel? Who is that girl?" asks Kitty.

"You. It was always you. I couldn't get you out of my head and my heart raced each time you came to have a chat after patrol" says Marin, turning around so Kitty couldn't see his face.

"M-Me?" asks cautiously Kitty Noire.

"Yeah, the girl who bravely fought against the first akumas without even flinching or wavering" says Marin.

"I'm so stupid" says Kitty laughing and sitting. "I loved you too Marin. I truly did. That's why I would always come. But I thought you wouldn't be interested on me and moved on".

"We're both pretty stupids, aren't we?" asks Marin smiling.

"Yeah, we are" agrees Kitty Noire.

-----------------------------

"How many minutes do you thik that have passed?" asks Chat Noir.

"I don't know, my phone is outside" answers Marinette.

"It's getting pretty boring just to wait" complains Chat.

"Are you hitting on me Chat?" asks Marinette with a brow raised. "Or do you not know how this game works?"

"I'll be honest, I've never played" confesses Chat. "The 20 years old catboy has never been able to play such a thing, so I don't know the rules".

"The rules are that a couple enter a small space for seven minutes, so they can make out and stuff without anyone messing around" says bluntly Marinette and Chat goes red.

"Say what now, Princess?" asks Chat blushing.

"Yeah, they are playing match-maker. They most likely want us to make out and date or something" says calmly Marinette.

"How comes you're not phased by it then?!" asks Chat.

"You didn't made a move from the beginning, so I think I'm fairly safe" points Marinette. "Besides, it's not like you love me or something. You have a girlfirend if I'm not wrong".

"I had a grilfriend, we break up some time ag- Wait a minute, how comes you know I was dating someone?" asks Chat confused.

"Ladybug told me" answers Marinette quickly. Too quickly perhaps.

"I sometimes forget that you're her best friend and confident" says Chat.

"You're also her best and confident Chat, she trusts you more than you can imagine" says Marinette smiling.

"Thank you Princess" says Chat Noir also smiling. "It's refreshing to hear something like that".

"Chat..." begins Marinette, worried about Chat's and Kitty's momentarily comments from time to time. "Do you want me to pet you?"

"I'd never refuse an offer like that Princess" says Chat Noir as he rests his head on her lap.

"I'm here for you, you know?" says Marinette as she softly slithers her fingers thorugh his golden hair, caressing his head and scratching his favourite spots. "Everybody in her is here if you or Kitty have any problem".

"Don't mind it Princess, it's okay. I'm a tough cat" says Chat Noir winking at her as he boops her nose.

"That you are" says Marinette smiling.

----------

Epilogue:

Carapace couldn't believe his eyes when he found Kitty asleep on top of Marin, who was sleeping like a log and hadn't even got anything for Wayzz to eat. Luckily the kwami had opted for a matcha macaron instead. But the one who was mostly surprised was Rena when she opened the door of Marin's bathroom and found Chat being pet by Marinette. To make it worse, it made her crave for some petting too and had to share Marinette with Chat Noir for petting duty. But man, Marinette did know how to pet. On a side nte, Salihafa and Zorro slept stied to each other until Marin woke up and untied them the next morning (but only after carrying Kitty to her bed)

#marichatmay2020 #miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #miraculous fanfic #Twins!Au

3 notes · View notes

krumbine · 4 years

Text

Explorers of the Unknown vs the Last Gift Shop on the Left

A mysterious gift shop appears overnight in a city known for weird, paranormal, and sometimes apocalyptic activities.

But it's probably no big deal.

It's just a gift shop.

Probably.

###

By all accounts, Greenville was a weird place.

For starters, the weather was always perfect. Mid-70s, optimistically sunny, and always a gentle breeze no matter how isolated you might have thought you were from the breeze. On its face, this might not seem very weird, but if you found yourself alone in a dark alley, a ray of that weirdly optimistic sun illuminating a sickly green hyper-intelligent blob of undulating goop the relative size of a commercial refrigerator, and all of your clothes suddenly decided to leap two feet to your left through a process of molecular destabilization and general telekinetic absurdity courtesy of the sickly green hyper-intelligent blob of undulating goop … trust me when I say that a gentle breeze across your exposed rear in the middle of an otherwise walled-off alley would be inarguably weird.

In the annals of Greenville weirdness, a Tyrannosaurus Rex rampaged through the suburbs, a morose zombie who couldn’t stand being undead was the key to undoing an apocalypse, a local library was infested with vampires, irrationally malevolent mole men from Mars chose a local office building basement as the teleportation entry point for an ill-advised invasion, and the local burger joint featured a talking trash can that got a binary gender greeting correct at least fifty-percent of the time.

By all accounts, Greenville was a very weird place.

One of the weirdest spots in this idyllic American city was a short strip—no more than a mile in length—of one of the main roads that cut straight through the city. The strip was densely packed with all flavors of tourist traps from the infamous never-escape-game room (really, you won’t), extreme putt-putt (you have to sign a waiver but you don’t have to pay extra for the hazard insurance), a Triassic Encounter (located adjacent the putt-putt course and you get a 10-percent discount if you buy tickets to both attractions at once; also, keep your fingers away from the cages), and everything along the strip was anchored by the Greenville Visitor Center, a small shanty manned by a crazy old man with a long white beard who did his best to convince visitors that the Never Escape Game was actually, absolutely escapable. It might have taken six years, but the crazy old man had escaped.

Or did he? Was the shanty and the strip just some kind of existential, cosmic extension of the escape game?

If you ever visit Greenville, try not to get into a philosophical discussion about reality, escapism, and ten-percent discounts with the crazy old man at the at the visitor center.

Aside from the world’s only Weirdatorium (“Uncle Al’s Weirdatorium Emporium: half-priced Tuesdays and complimentary wheat grass sno-cones for groups of eight or more!”) the really weird thing about the Greenville tourism district were the gift shops.

While most people are familiar with the exit-through-the-gift-shop trope, wherein the gift shop naturally grew from the local attraction and existed to support said attraction (example: Uncle Al’s Weirdatorium Harmonium, a Greenville exclusive) the weirdness of Greenville caused a new strain of gift shop to evolve. These new gift shops no longer required a host attraction and in some places, you could even find gift shops that were located at the exit of other gift shops.

There were only three total scientific experts who had spent any time studying the gift shop epidemic and two of three traced its roots to the Greenville tourism district. (The third scientific expert traced the epidemic to Orlando, but his research was later dismissed as thinly-veiled propaganda for a certain rodent-based entertainment empire.)

In short order, the Greenville gift shop epidemic escalated to the absolutely terrifying point where one of these weird, monstrous, free-standing garish gift shops mysteriously appeared on a lot that had been completely empty just the day before.

Greenville was a very weird place, indeed.

Doors slid open and a series of melodic notes played underneath a generic, cheery song that almost sounded poppy, but every third and seventh note seemed to be off. Three figures stood inside the entrance of the gift shop. The one in the middle wore brown slacks with a matching buttoned dress vest. He pushed a pair of black-framed glasses up his nose as he surveyed the first floor of the gift shop.

An overly cheery gift shop employee: “Hello, welcome!”

The employee drifted away leaving the three people to themselves.

“Let’s try and keep this clean, boys,” Jordan said. “Recon only. Assess the situation, establish any paranormal parameters, keep a low profile, and get out. It’s probably just a gift shop, but I see no reason we can’t collect our minimum fee on this.”

On Jordan’s right was his brother, Jason. Jeans, t-shirt, leather jacket. Strong features and a stronger chin. He wore his hair long and in a ponytail because manly men have pony tails.

“First of all, you literally just repeated everything you said in the parking lot, like, thirty seconds ago,” Jason said, eyeballing a display of Greenville, USA! shot glasses with custom names. “Secondly, it’s called standard operating procedure for a reason. You don’t have to treat us like children.”

Jordan was temporarily impressed with Jason’s grasp of ‘standard operating procedures’ not because his brother was particularly stupid (although it was well-established that Jordan was the brains and Jason was the brawn of this operation) but because Jason usually lacked the patience to grasp anything of substance.

“I think it’s safe to say we know what we’re doing,” Jason said with a smirk. His eyes darted to one of the shot glasses. “Ooh! This one has my name but they spelled it wrong!”

Jason grabbed the glass that had ‘Jayson’ printed on it. The glass came from the lower end of the display and dozens of shot glasses promptly collapsed and shattered on the floor. Jason shifted awkwardly, looking up from his misspelled shot glass.

Jordan sighed.

To Jordan’s right: “My money’s on a government conspiracy,” Chris said while rubbing his chin, eyebrow arched. He was tall, lanky, and had short-cropped platinum blonde hair. Chris wore athletic shorts and a form-fitting t-shirt, an outfit designed to allow for a maximum range of flexibility. “My guess is that the government probably setup the shop overnight as an economic stimulus.”

Jordan was confused. “An economic—”

Chris shrugged. “Hey, it’s not like everything we do has to involve the end of the world,” referring to the countless times the world had ended during one of their paranormal investigations. It was a trope.

Jason squinted, not unlike Clint Eastwood. “Sometime’s a gift shop is just that …” Jason paused dramatically.

The three paranormal investigators silently looked at each other as Jason squinted and wiggled his eyebrows in a fashion he no doubt assumed was suspenseful.

It wasn’t.

Another long moment passed and Jordan decided Jason was finished.

“Let’s spread out—”

“—a gift shop,” Jason finally said through gritted teeth. In his normal voice, and quickly: “Sometime’s a gift shop is just that, a gift shop.”

“You done now?”

“Yeah, that’ll do.” Jason tossed the misspelled shot glass in the air and caught it, placing it daintily on the shattered display. “So we’re clear, though, my money is on this being a waste of time.”

“Waste of time or not, Milton Cranstead is still paying our minimum fee.”

“I’m not sure I’d trust the crazy old man at the visitor center to pay for a free lunch, much less our fee,” Chris said.

“Also, serious question,” Jason said gravely before his tone shifted completely, face scrunched like he just sucked a lemon wedge. “Can’t we do something a little more fun?” he whined.

“Your idea of fun is punching things,” Jordan replied.

“Your point is?”

Jordan sighed and mentally reset. “Chris, see if you can’t poke around the second floor. Jason, you’re on perimeter. I’ll run the spectroscopic analysis for trace ectoplasmic particles and we’ll meet back here in ten. Easy money, fellas.”

“Can I say one thing?” Chris asked.

“No.” Jordan pulled a smartphone-sized gadget with a large antenna from his back pocket.

“Government conspiracy.”

“Guys?” Jason asked flatly. His attention had been pulled to the interior of the gift shop.

A new voice from behind the boys. It was deep and mesmerizing, not unlike Patrick Warburton. “I can categorically deny that this is not a government operation. Not even a secret one. Yeah. I would know.”

“Guys—”

Jordan and Chris spun on their heels (Jason still transfixed on something else). A tall man, broad shoulders, dressed in a black suit stood behind them at the entrance of the gift shop. The man’s appearance was not unlike Patrick Warburton.

“Agent Bob!” Chris exclaimed and promptly enveloped the man in a hug that was all arms and a little leg. “Holy popsicles, dude, the last time we saw you—”

Agent Bob attempted to extricate himself from Chris’ embrace. “Mongolian army. Viscous ooze. Some really bad female character development.”

Jordan shrugged. “We learn, we grow.”

Agent Bob eyeballed the three very male paranormal investigators. “Mmh.”

Chris unwound himself and grabbed Agent Bob’s shoulders. “Wait a sec––you’re saying this whole gift shop thing isn’t one of yours?”

“Nope. I’m here same as you,” Agent Bob said. “My guys need to know how this place just showed up overnight.”

Chris’ eyes went wide. “Well, this just got interesting!”

Jordan’s handheld ectoplasmic spectrometer pinged a worrisome note.

“Guys!” Jason yelled.

Two paranormal investigators and one secret government agent turned to look at what Jason was fixated on.

What appeared to be the entire staff of the gift shop had gathered at the front of the store. They looked normal enough, wearing a standard uniform of green slacks, white polo, and a green vest with a shiny white badge pinned to the breast that simple read ‘Hello!’.

“Hello.”

“Welcome.”

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

The greetings echoed eerily across the gathered staff and that was when Jordan noticed the first really weird thing about the people who worked at the gift shop.

Both their eyes and their grins were a little too wide.

Agent Bob squinted. Less Clint Eastwood and more distressed Patrick Warburton. “… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Chris nodded. “Yeah. Maybe the crazy old guy at the visitor center isn’t so crazy after all.”

Jordan gulped. He had noticed the second really weird thing about the gift shop employees.

The didn’t have feet. It was hard to notice at first, as if something inside him was refusing to acknowledge the abnormality, blurring it out in the periphery of his vision. But when he focused, Jordan could look down and see that none of the employees had feet. Their legs tapered down into a single, sinuous, green and yellow-veined protrusion that rolled backwards to an unseen location.

“Welcome, hello.”

“Hi, welcome.”

“Hello.”

The gift shop staff shifted—nope, strike that, they straight up undulated—and Jordan noticed the final really weird thing: there was no individual gift shop employee—they were all tentacles of a much, much larger creature.

The handheld ectoplasmic spectrometer buzzed and then began issuing a series of alarm bells.

Chris pulled at his arm to stretch his shoulder. “So much for it not being the end of the world.”

“Hey now, we don’t know—”

“Jordan!”

“Okay, fine.”

Agent Bob reached into his inside coat pocket. “Definitely not government.”

“Hello, welcome, hi.”

Jason grinned. He was going to get to punch something after all.

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jordan Krumbine is a professional video editor, digital artist, and creative wizard currently quarantined in Kissimmee, Florida. When not producing content for the likes of Visit Orlando, Orlando Sentinel, or AAA National, Jordan is probably yelling at a stubbornly defective Macbook keyboard, tracking creative projects in Trello, and animating quirky videos with LEGO and other various toys.

Leave a dollar in the Tip Jar: https://ko-fi.com/krumbine

Short stories: https://bit.ly/2XY5D7I Books on Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/3bsqK5Y YouTube: https://bit.ly/2W41nSG Twitter: https://bit.ly/2VH0Vbu Facebook: https://bit.ly/2VpnylZ LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2xnmk1e

http://www.krumbco.com

#writeblr #short story #paranormal #amwriting #writing #weird stuff #giftshop #krumbine #jordan krumbine #gift shop #tourism #tourist #weird #exit through the gift shop

2 notes · View notes

aspiestvmusings · 5 years

Text

TMS S3: GROUP A

THE MASKED SINGER SEASON 3 GROUP A/ GROUP 1: (contestants 1 - 6)

EP 3x01: CLUES & MORE: RECAP for remaining 5:

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

KANGAROO

CLUES:

Location: Outdoors: “Australia”

Location: Next to a /in a yard of a “peach coloured” building with arch/vault-style architecture

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign: OUTBACK (with the U being in the shape of horseshoe)

Sign: Yellow “road sign” with an arrow pointing down (”spiraling down”)

MIB as papparazzi/press following her - taking pics, media attention (for “the wrong reasons”)

Gramophone on a tree branch

Boxing bag - the kangaroo boxing/hitting the boxing bag

Jump rope - the kangaroo jumping over a jump rope (made of a vine...held by MIB)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

”Like most of you watching, I’m a survivor.”

“I recently lost a person, who held my familys heart together. Then, by my own admission, I found myself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.”

“But I’m here to do what kangaroos do best - bounce back.”

“I have to fight for my family. And show them that bullies never win.”

“I am beyond terrified - I’ve never done anything like this before. But I’m not about to lose the chance to realize the dream I’ve always had.”

“To all the survivors out there -- This one’s for you.”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn

Look/Costume: The kangaroo has a pouch (indicates female), but also has a red/silver boxing outfit & gloves (indicates male). Outfit colours: red & silver. Important: there is a crown on the back of her robe.

Stage: hexagon-shaped mirrors (5 of them) surrounding her/behind her [if my other guess is correct, then that stage design is a “clue”]

Height: Tall-ish...almost the same height as host Nick. A bit shorter, around 175cm, probably.

Mic hand: Right

Talking: “One of my greatest fears is being vulnerable. And this year I’ve had no other option than to be vulnerable. But...with this kangaroo costume I feel like I can get my superpowers back.” + [breathes in/sighs heavily before the song starts]

GUESSES:

I HAVE NO NAMES OF MY OWN. -- I thought she was this certain female artist, because the voice kinda seemed familair (sounded like hers to me), but none of the clues and other things seemed to fit. And after checking the clues it seems to confirm it cannot be her, cause nothing matches. Also... to me she doesn’t sound like any of the singers I thoughts she could be based on the clues, so... I havent actually figured her out...

I think people online are correct, and it’s a certain “reality star” (gramophone = reference to her dad being a sound engineer on a well-known past TV show) Though I am considering a few more options - mostly other reality stars/youtubers/family members of celebs... particularily one name. If my guess here is correct, then just like Llama, she would have a connection to a previous TMS contestant...but since I am not that familiar with her singing voice, I cannot be sure. But she has lost family members in the past few years, she has been in a media scandal, and you can even explain the australia thing kinda... so...until I hear more of her, I’ve got one name mainly in mind. But I wont name it until I’ve heard her sing at least once more.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

Survivor = the title of a “Destiny’s Child” hit song

Lost a family member recently = either her family member (parent, grandparent?) died or they parted ways (were cut ouf of each others lives)

Gramophone = possibly a reference to a Grammy nomination/win. Or just music/sound/audio

Outback = possible connection to Australia

“spiraling down” road sign + papparazzi following her = she’s been in a media scandal “recently”

Crown = King/Queen

LLAMA

CLUES:

Location: Radio station/Mixing studio - mixing console (close up)

Location: Pottery making “class”

VISUAL CLUES:

Mixing console - close up of a studio/radio station mixing console

23.3 The Wool (name of the radio station/show)

Red lightbulb in the studio

Photo of a bull (the animal)

Playing cards: Ace of Spaces & Jack of Spades). Two black suit cards showing (Jack Black)

Sounds of Seattle - title of a vinyl album

Romancing a llama: pottery

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"Mi-Mi-Mi-Mi-Mix it up!”

“Good morning, Nerd herd! You’re listening to The Wool. Where we’re all cool. No Bull.”

“I’m here for one reason only - to have a laugh. And what’s funnier than a Llama? (laughs at his own joke)”

“You may call me a joker. But I’d like to get serious for a minute. The song I’m singing tonight is my favourite track for celebrating love with that... special someone. There’s nothing like being swept up by it’s deep, profound lyrics. It’s a tune that really gets me in the mood for romance. I can’t wait to sing it for you tonight.”

“Llama out!”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin

Look/Costume: Dressed as a tourist - “hawaiian” style shirt,, photo camera around his neck. Llamas tongue out of his mounth, on the side.

Height: he is around 180cm - about the same height as host Nick (their shoulders are on about the same height)

Mic hand: Left

Talking: “umm.. This whole costume just spoke to me... My vibe... I wear digs like this in real life.” (answering the question about his costume & it’s looks)

GUESSES:

Drew Carey (TV host/comedian/actor...)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

23.3 Wool = His show (The Drew Carey Show) had, during it’s 9-season long run, a total of 233 episodes.

Photo canera prop = His hobby is photography. Actually, it’s more than just a hobby - he has been accredited press photographer during many (sports) events.

Radio = He was a radio operator during the time he served in the Marine Corps. Also..he’s hosted a radio show (radio DJ) during his later career

Red light in the room = photography reference. In the DarkRoom red light is used when developing photo film/photographs.

Buddha figurine (Dalai Lama/Llama joke) = He is a buddhist.

Joker = he is a joker aka comedian

Seattle = He is the co-owner of a Seattle Football Club.

Playing cards = He took part in the celebrity poker game in 2003, where he did better than Jack Black did (played against Jack Black)

Nerd herd = He did take part in Zack levis (Chuck) “Nerd herd” lightsaber race one time at a Comic-Con convention.

Nerd herd = his show (DCS) & character were/was about nerds/was a nerd

Llama’s side tongue = early in his stand-up comedy days he had a joke with a side-tie (it looked visually very similar to what the llama’s tongue looks like - he just added some wires & tape to do “the trick” of swinging the tie to the side)

BONUS: He knows last years winner, “The Fox Mask” - they did “Whose Line is it Anyway” together, so... connection...

SPOILER ALERT: Llama is the mask who will be voted off next - in ep 2 (on Wed, Feb 5th). But while his voice might not be as trained as some other contestants, I loved his stage energy, and the comedy/fun he brought! One more song coming from him! And no, I am not sharing some secret info - they “accidentally” revealed the first two contestants, who get unmasked, so it’s been revealed by the network...for those, who notice small details...

MISS MONSTER

CLUES:

Location: Lady’s restroom/bathroom. The moster getting ready (coming hair, applying hairspray...)

Location: school hallway - lockers

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign: (image) ladies restroom

Itmes on the counter in bathroom/dressing room: Furspray (hairsray) can, pink bottle of some beauty product, three crystals (stones), a piece of sequin fabric

Key/Keychain: a single (old style) key with a keychain that says “FUN” #FUN #KEY = FUNKY = “QUEEN OF FUNK”

Purple furry diary/good luck charm/cosmetics bag/pencil box (with a face + kitty ears & unicorn horn) + a glittery pen

Lockers: Lockers numbered 10 (the ones she opens) & 11 (the one next to it)...with no other lockers having numbers on them

Miss Monster Locker: filled with images of S1 Monster, scrapbook flowers..etc...

Piece of paper on the locker door: Monster Hits.

Photograph of a cityscape (skyline with many skyscrapers) on the locker door [if I could only see the image better to know which city it is on it, that’d be one more clue]

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

“When you become famous, people want you to look or act in a certain way. They forget that you started off as just a shy little monster.”

“It didn’t take long for me to be misunderstood. So I’m here to set the record straight. Just like my favourite creature in Season 1 did. The Monster. He made me feel. He re-wrote his story. It was fire!"

“And now this performer in pink wants to follow in his furry footsteps, But darlings... I’m nervous. Will you still love me without knowing my name?”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Something to Talk about” by Bonnie Raitt

Look/Costume: pink & purple/violet furry costume with a bowtie

Height: she is short-ish (shorter than host Nick). She looks very short (barely 5 feet - more Dolly P. height 152cm than Chaka K height 162cm)

Mic hand: Right

Talking: NO ON-STAGE TALKING!

GUESSES:

Chaka Khan

Dolly Parton (since the total number of Grammy noms that the 18 contestants have in combined in 69 & Robot as the first revealed one has had 24-25 of them, that leaves only 44-45 for everyone else, that rules out this person, because she alone has had 46 nominations...compared to C. Khan’s 22 noms)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

Number 10 = She has 10 Grammy Awards/wins. (interestinly: both D. Parton & C. Khan have 10 Grammy wins!)

Monster Hits = she has had (many) hit songs during her career

He made me feel = She has a song by the title “I Feel You” (1984 hit)

It was fire = She has a song by the title “Through the Fire” (1985)

Will you love me - that is (word for word) the title of of her her hit songs, “Will You Love Me?” (2007)

It was fire = She wrote the hit song “Fule to the Flame” (1967 hit) for Skeeter Davis.

Will you still love me? = She has/wrote a song titled “I will always love you”

Furspray/Hairsray = he was/is known for her big hair/haircut (managing that probably takes lots of hairspray)

FUN = FUN(K) #FUN KEY [FUN:KI] - she’s kinda the “queen of funk” (one of her albums is titled “FUNk This” (btw: Pun intended by her!)

TURTLE

CLUES

Location: school’s track & field event (Balzano Track Field) - contestants getting ready to run. The slow turtle surrounded by fast bunnies, all preparing for the event. [Slow & steady (turtle) wins the race]

Location: Schools track & field event - BANG! The race begings. The three other contestants (MIB as bunnies - wearing pink bunny ears - starting the race with a head start, all jumping on their blue bouncy balls)

VISUAL CLUES:

Turtle vs bunnies

BANG! in comic style - to mark the start of the race

The others (three bunnies) bouncing on blue balls whe n the race begins

Surf board - the turtle poliching/cleaning his poink & blue surf board

Pins on the track...popping the blue jumpy balls

Grilling burgers on an (outside) grill...on the track field.

Turtle crossing the finish line first (bunnies just going in circles, being stopped by pins on the way, or other reasons), as he has time to do other things & take it slowly, and then still get there first...with a burger in hand & winning the golden medal.

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"At the starting-line of my career I was surrounded by other hungry new-comers. It felt like everyone around me was fighting tooth-and-nail for the dream. And I watched as many of those stars burned too brightly, too quickly, and then fizzled down”

“I’m a turtle, because I’m always taking it step-by-step.”

“Slow and steady wins the race. But now I feel like I’m ready to break out of my shell. After years of preparation I would love to make a big splash. So I don’t want anyone to cross that finish line before me.”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal

Look/Costume: Punk/Rock-style, dressed in leather (pants, jacket), has a spike (hair)

Height: Short-ish (shorter than host Nick) - seems around 175cm. Small in size.

Mic hand: Right

Talking: “It’s hot. It’s really hot. And it’s heavy!” (when answering how doesn it feel to be in that costume and perform in it)

GUESSES

Jesse McCartney

Joey McIntyre PS. I tried connecting the voice to any boy-bands (of 1990s & 2000s), but I coukdnt. Even after some “research” - listening to each possible candidate...and IMO it’s none of them. The voices dont match, the heights doesn’t match---But it did sound like someone, who for me was a one-hit-wonder. Yeah, I only know that one song (and one more) from him... but voice seemed familiar.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES:

Surf board = that he is a surfer; that he is from Cali/Australia/somewhere which is known as being popular among surfers; that he has won Teen Choice Award(s) (this award in in the shape of a surfboard)

being surrounded by other new-comers at the start of his career = either he got his start through a (singing) competition and was one of many contestants fighting for the win AND/OR he got his start in a “boy-band” and was one of the youngsters looking for fame...

Surf board = Teen Choice Awards - winning several TCAs for his first/biggest hit song/album in 2005, and more. And he’s played a surfer character on a TV show

BSB references/connection - he was the opening act in 2005 for BSB during the European part of the tour.

Dream = he started in a boy-band with the name “Dream Street”

on stage presence/body language (movements) = very similar to J.M.

WHITE TIGER

CLUES:

Location: Football field. Tiger striking a power/winners pose.

Location: School hallway, lockers. Tiger walking in, shoving everyone out of his way.

Locatrion: School library (sitting behind a table, with his legs on the table)

Location: School hallway, lockers. MIB trying to get him to audition for TMS. MIB (fans) taking selfies with him.

VISUAL CLUES:

Golden plate/sign with text: Ultimate champion for clam shucking: 51 clams” (next to a golden clam shell)

Sign/ad on the wall: “Masked Singer tryouts 5/3.” + images of three past masks included: Eagle, Lion & Raven. Plus the text: “Hurry. Not for long" also written on it.

Sign on the all with images of past US presidents, including Abe Lincolns & the text/quote “Four Score and Seven Years Ago...”

The TMS golden mask throphee shown next to the lockers (as Tiger says “let’s party!”)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICEOVER:

“Ready to meet your next champion? My entire life I’ve sought out perfection, so choosing a mask with unlimited power like the White Tiger was a no-brainer.”

“I’ve had a giant career full of accomplishments. But when I imagine being on stage (and) singing, I’m a big old scared cat.*

“It’s been a while since I did something that scared me, so I’m here to concour yet anither challenge.”

“What’s my motivation? My fans! I don’t wanna let them down."

“So now I’m ready to get in that ring and smash the competition.”

“Let’s party!”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice

Look/Costume: Dressed in “Egyptian style"

Height: very tall & big (much taller than host Nick) - over 190cm, looks about 2m tall

Mic hand: R & L (alternates)

Talking: “It’s the most powerful I’ve ever felt. Like I can concour anything. I never wanna take it off” (when answering what did it feel like when he first put on the costume/mask)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES:

He played during the 51st (51 clams) & 53rd (5/3) Super Bowl games.

The three past TMS masks shown are all animals that are parts of names of existing football teams: Ravens, Eagles, Lions. Meaning he is an athlete & specifically plays american football (NFL)

The Lincoln quote translates to “87 years ago...”, so number 87 is the clue here. This could be a reference to player No. 87.

He has had a very succesful career in his own field (sports). Singing is not his main job.

IF the voice-overs were done later, not during initial filming, then it’s possible that “smash” relates to the person smashing a lego-statue of a TV host during 2019/2020 New Years. Which in itself was supposed to be about his famous “Gronk Spike” during football games.

A tiger (albeit “regular”, not white) was one of the characters & costumes + name of the sports team in the Katy Perry video “Swish Swich”, where this athlete also appeared.

The Golden (Golden Mask) trophe - most likely a reference to his many wins (the trophees he/his team has won)

GUESSES:

Rob Gronkowski (Gronk, athlete, 198cm) = 99% certain it’s him

Because of the height alone (seems to be around/almost 2m = 6 feet 5) there are not that many possibilities at all. Even if we don’t listen to that voice or consider the clues. Based on height alone it can basiclaly be only one of these names: Dave Bautista (198cm); The Rock (196cm); Hulk Hogan (201cm); Tyler Perry (196cm); Brad Garrett (204cm); Joe Manganiello (196cm); Jeff Goldblum (194cm); Jason Mamoa (193cm); Tom Brady (193cm)..or the likes...

Even other possible names, like the ones listed by the panel, are not valid guesses, because of their height: John Cena for example is actually only 185cm tall. Also... several of these tall men are bigger/more muscular, so that makes it even easier to determine the name based on only the physical appeance...without even listening to the clues.

ROBOT

First mask to be voted out in ep 1

Havent listed his clues, cause there’s no use for them anymore, as he was voted off.

With his 86 tattoos he makes up for about half of all the 160 tattoos the 18 contestants have combined. With his 24-25 Grammy nominations he makes up about 1/3 of all the 69 noms the 18 contestants have combined. And quite many of the 88 gold records the 18 contestants have combined, belong to him (I don’t know the exact number, but most/all of his 10+ albums have gone gold, I think) - exact number depends on how they count it for this list.

<<<<< THIS IS WHAT GOES ON IN MY HEAD AFTER EVERY TMS SHOW/EPISODE. THIS IS HOW I CATEGORIZE THE INFO I HAVE INTO FOLDERS IN MY MIND. THIS IS HOW SPECIFIC I AM, AND HOW INTO DETAILS I GO. THIS IS HOW MUCH I PAY ATTENTION (while, most likely, missing a ton of more hints that I’ll only notice during re-watch) I JUST DECIDED TO WRITE IT DOWN...FOR ONCE.

BUT... unless I decide to cut some sleep time to do this again, I am probabky not gonna do this after every episode. Possibly for the first episode of every Group (so beside ep 1, also ep 4 & ep 7)

#THE MASKED SINGER #TMS #SPOILER #TMS SPOILER #TMS US #THE MASKED SINGER USA #THE MASKED SINGER SEASON 3 #TMS S3 #TMS SEASON 3 #THE MASKED SINGER S3 #MASKED SINGER

3 notes · View notes

cactupus101 · 4 years

Text

Mending Wounds - CH01

‘Donde hay Amor, hay dolor’ That’s what my mum used to tell me when I was younger. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time; I’d just reply to her with the same six words every time ‘But love is greater than pain”. She’d smile and tell that I was too young to understand; that when I’m old enough and fall in love, I will know what that means.

At that age I didn’t know much about love, but what I didn’t know I mainly learned from watching shows like friends and charmed, from what I see my mum and dad do, and from old Blue and N Sync cassette that my mum used to play in her minivan when she drives us to my grandma’s every weekend. Even with the minimum amount of contact back then, all of those shaped my idea and expectations of relationship back then and still have because without them and a little help from someone else, I wouldn’t have learnt what love is and felt it. I wouldn’t have understood what my mum meant with the proverb back then.

I woke up at 7 a.m. that day, after half an hour for falling asleep and getting woken up by the alarm every five minutes. When I finally did, lazily rolled out of bed and carried myself to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face and let my hair down. I went back into my room and got dressed into a white button up shirt, grey cardigan, black dress pants, with a pair of white back flats. I left my hair fall into its natural curl to just under my shoulder blade like usually, then quickly applied a bit of eyebrow gel to hide my eyebrows gaps and unevenness.

A habit of mine has always been to dress up when I’m nervous for a presentation or big day, which today was; I had a business pitch idea for my English class. It wasn’t really marked based on the business and the idea, it was more on the spoken grammar, pronunciation, body language and presentation skills. Something that we are constantly being pushed into improving in all of my classes.

When I walked into the kitchen downstairs, no one was home, everyone was either already at work or in school. So, I fixed myself a cheese sandwich and headed to my class. I reached class half an hour early, so I took a seat outside and messaged Derek that I’m on campus and have time to kill. After I received a message that he’s on his way, I took out the current book that was reading ‘Someday by Colleen Hoover’ and tried to burry myself into the love Sydney and Ridge. When I have an important day, exam or a presentation, I usually bury myself into some young adult or romantic novel to ease off the nerves and relax. It’s my way of dealing with pressure and nervousness.

Around 10 minutes later, I felt Derek take a seat next to. I turned to the short brown haired, hazel eyed boy that was dressed into a black hoodie, dark jeans and white sneakers. He gave me his usual boyish heart-warming smile when our eyes met. I smiled back and slightly nudged his shoulder with mine.

“Looking good, Sophy” he winked.

“And you look as bad as usual” I teased “Isn’t this the fourth time you wear a hoody to class this week?”

He rolled his eyes “Yes, but it a different hoody everyday” he pointed out “What do you have against my hoodies anyways?”

I chuckled “I’m just teasing” I said “You know damn well that if I’m not in formals and lazy, that would be my go-to outfit”

“Speaking of outfits” he said “My dad is hosting one of the company’s parties in our house next week. All his co workers and boss will be there with their children, it would be a fancy dress-up kind of part. Come”

“Is it one the weekend?” I asked.

He gave me a nod.

“Sure” I said “I’ll be there anyways. I’ll just borrow a dress from Alex or something”

We almost fell into conformable silence before he spoke up again, almost as a light bulb in his head lit up “Oh and I saw this post for a contest next month, I thought that we can enter it” he said as he handed me a folded poster out of his pocket.

I unfolded the flyer after I took it from his hand. It was a contest hosted on campus, CPS, it was a contest for finding a creative parking solution for the parking issue that we been facing since the university opened back then. It had a prize of 500 dollars for the winner and a half-paid scholarship for the remaining years on campus.

“It would be fun” he said “Plus, you can take the prize money and I’ll take the half-paid scholarship. With your business brain and my technical skills and IT knowledge, plus Cole’s artistic skills if we need them, I’m sure we can win”

I rolled my eyes “I have visual design friends that can help up instead”

A flash of apology appeared on Derek’s face before he smiled again “C’mon, what do you think?”

“If you promise that you won’t ditch and that will put as much effort that I will put in too, then sure” I told him.

A wide smile appeared on his face “Promise”

We spent the reaming time before class discussing ideas, but all seemed to come to a dead end. Derek’s ideas were great and would indeed solve the issue, the only problem is that his ideas required a budget that the university did not have and would take ages to build. We ended up agreeing that when we get back to the house, we’d sit and brainstorm some more with Alex.

Surprisingly, my presentation didn’t go as bad as I thought it would be. I went through it like I practiced and managed not to panic and fuck everything up. After the presentation and the next class ended, I messaged Alex about how successful the presentation was since I made her sit through my practices for three days straight last weekend. I then messaged Ben as well, my boyfriend of two months about the presentation and my plans for today.

Ben and I met through Alex two and a half months ago and started dating around two weeks after we met. Ben is a year older, from Texas and worked in the U.S. military. When we first met, I was a third wheel in a date with Alex, and Ben happened to be there during the movie, so we just started talking and following Alex and Jeremy around. On that day, we just hit it off, then we exchanged numbers; and the next thing we know, we went out on a date a week later and started dating.

Our relationship was sort of a long-distance relationship, even though he only lived 45 minutes from where I live. He has to work most of the time, and the rules and regulation of his job prevents him from going out of the base, so when we do meet, I usually spend time with him there. We usually message most of the time, Skype and meet once or twice every three weeks. I didn’t mind it really, I mean I had to focus on my studies too, so it worked.

As usual, I headed to the food court after my second class, spotting my friends in the back. When the saw me approaching, I smiled and waved.

“You’re dressed up today” Kamila said.

I gave her smile “Thank you, you do too as usual”

“Had a presentation?” Lina asked.

I gave her a nod as I take off my blazer, then take a seat between Kamila and Adam. He pushed his plate to me, offering me a slice of his pizza. I give him a smile as a thank you, then take a piece of his pepperoni pizza.

“I never knew that you ate Pizza, you’re usually picky with your food” Lani said.

I rolled my eyes, slightly annoyed because her undying interest in my interest in food, a sensitive topic that I don’t like her talking about because her consistent annoying and un-required opinions in the way I eat.

“I do” I said annoyed.

Adam kicked me from under the table, signing for me to take it down a notch and control my annoyance. I turned to him and give him an annoyed look before everyone falls into their usual pattern, Nadia and Lina talking about weekend parties, while Adam and I talk about movies.

“How about we go for a movie tonight, all four of us?” Adam asked.

“Not my thing” Lina said “Maybe we could go bowling or something. It would be fun”

I shook my head “Can’t, I already have plans with Derek tonight”

Kamila smiled “Derek, the cute brown-Derek?”

“Derek, my friend” I said.

“He’s cute” Lina said “I have a feeling he has a crush on you”

I rolled my eyes ‘Here we go again’ I said to myself.

“No, he doesn’t” I said “We’ve been friends since we were 6 and 4; plus, he’s younger than I am. We’re practically family”

“Well friendship turn into relationship all the time” Kamila said “You should go for it”

“I have a boyfriend, remember? Ben” I reminded them.

Adam snorted “Yeah, Ben” he said.

I turned to him surprised “What do YOU have against Ben?”

“Nothing” he said “I just know stuff, Sophy, and I know that you deserve better than him”

“You should just dump him” Lina said “You can do so much better. He’s not even that cute”

“She’s right” Kamila said “I don’t like the guy. I don’t even know what you see in him”

“Girls” Adam said, knowing that those two were taking it a bit too far for me to control my nerves.

“What? We have a point. Ben is just not a suitable fit for you, but Derek on the other hand is perfect. You two would make a better couple than you and that loser your dating” Lina said.

“Lina, what the fuck” I heard Derek snap at Lina from behind me.

“I’m just being honest” she defended.

I bit down my lips in attempt to not calm my nerves, but failed “You know what, fuck it” I said getting up “Last time I checked, no one asked your opinion. Who I date and who I don’t is none of your fucking business, so stop making fucking judgements and telling me to break up with MY boyfriend that you haven’t met or even had a five seconds conversation with. My life isn’t a goddamn multiple-choice game that you can live through; if you want to control a relationship or give love advice, who about you get your own”

I threw my bag over my shoulder and picked up my blazer “My love life and friendship are a line that you can’t cross. And I’d like to remind you that this is MY life, not your over lunch conversation to fill a void in your boring lives and to gossip about” With that I stormed out of the food court with Derek and Adam hot on my heals.

“Sophia” Adam called chasing me.

I kept walking out of campus with the two boys following me causing everyone’s head to turn at us. I didn’t stop until I reached my car, where is knelled down between my car and someone else’s as I tried to catch my breath.

I felt my chest tightening, throat burning for all the screams that I wanted to let out, the placed getting tighter and hotter by the seconds, my hands shaking and stomach hurting. I knew that I was in the verge of a panic attack. It wasn’t something that I was a stranger to, I’ve had panic attacks all the times until I learned how to control it; that didn’t stop them from hitting me like a truck though, they still happened but less than usual.

“Hey, Hey. Sophia” Derek said as he started rubbing my back “Calm down, there’s nothing to panic over. I’m right here with you. You need to slow down your breathing, the faster we can do that, the sooner this will end”

Adam took a seat in front of me rubbing my shoulder “Bro, why the fuck is you panicking? What you did back there was badass” he chuckled in attempt to calm me down by distracting me “I never seen you stand up for yourself like that. I mean, damn, at some point I almost thought you would bite Lina’s head off for being such a bitch. And Kamila, I don’t think that one was terrified that you were going after her next” he chuckled again, earning a small one from me as I came down from my panic attack.

“And by the way” Derek said, still rubbing his hand over my back in circles “Eww, gross. As I would ever think of dating you, you’re like my little sister. That would be so weird”

Adam laughed “Bitch, as if SHE would go for YOU. She has higher standers when it comes to boyfriends”

I smiled at the two boys as my breath became steadier.

Adam gave me a hearted smile “I didn’t mean to open the topic; I didn’t know that they would take it that far. Hell, I didn’t even know that they didn’t like him to be honest”

“It’s fine” I said out of breath “I know you didn’t”

Derek grabbed my key from my hand, then helped me up on my two feet “Let’s get you home” he said “You just gave me a reason to skip”

“You’re more than welcomed to join, Adam” Derek offered.

Adam shook his head “I need to get my ass to class, I’ll message you later though”

I gave him a nod.

He gave me a smile before he left “And again, that was really bad ass” he called as he walked away.

Derek opened the door, then helped me into my seat “Are you okay now?” he asked again.

I nodded “Yes, Yeah, I’m find”

“Good, that’s great. Let’s get you home then” he said.

If you’d like the read the remaining of the story, checkout the book using the links below for free

https://www.wattpad.com/721352400-mending-wounds-chapter-1

https://www.starywriting.com/novel/D%2BZkhQ0KmJ6uVdHPqtZXrA%3D%3D.html

#wattpad #book #romance #teen fiction #dreame #booklr

0 notes

weareigloo2 · 4 years

Text

The Top 15 Influencer Marketers Must Know in Dubai

Marketing is seen as a core part of every business, with each requiring a marketing strategy in order to best their competitors. Nonetheless, the strategies are as wide and varied as the number of businesses employing such methods. The wiser the business is in coming up with its marketing mix and implementing it, all are important factors that’ll determine how well the business performs in present business conditions. Social Media in Dubai has created a cheap and easy way to reach marketing platform for most businesses. Nevertheless, when all is said and done, nothing beats a marketing strategy and delivers results on investments like using people, well-known people – to increase your awareness and presence in the industry.

These have over the years been given a term – influencers! Influencers in Dubai are making a living the easy way – all they have to do is stay relevant in their market niche and say a thing or two on their social handles about your product and puff! You are good to go. Nevertheless, you still need the right influencers for your particular brand who will not fail to impress. In that bid, we set out to compile a list of the most ‘must-know-of’ influencers in Dubai that you should have known of yesterday.

Huda Kattan

Her success story began even before 2013; but after her strategy of uploading beauty tutorials on YouTube and consecutively launching Huda Beauty with her sisters Alya and Mona, her story would only begin to climb the ladders which many celebrities only dream of. The 34-year old American is now boasting of a massive follow up of 27 million followers on Instagram and is quite the spitting image to attach your product with.

Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed popularly known as Fazza has hit both the business world as the Crown Prince of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and also as a popular poet. The guy has been involved in massive business deals and even been elected in bodies and councils governing the people of Dubai. With such popularity and love from the populace, it is no wonder the guy can walk shoulder high with a following of more than 2 million on Facebook and an even larger fan base of 6.5 million on Instagram. When thinking of social media influencers in Dubai, such figures are not to be left out of the equation.

Hanadi Diab

The Lebanese blogger living in Germany can claim to have a follow up of 471,000 fans on Instagram. With her popularity, she was able to open her beauty line with a range of liquid lipsticks and lashes that have successfully sold in more than 300 drug stores in Germany. Get a taste of her sassy vibe on her blog as you make your product known.

Nilo Haq

Nilo’s story started out after launching the popular Saudi Beauty Blog in the year 2012. Some of her most-recognized works include a salon in Toronto, Canada, & partnering works with huge brands such as Toni & Guy and MAC Cosmetics. These have all played a major role in forming the hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and provide a valid source of marketing for other brands. Join the Nilo train today.

Joelle Mardinian

Some people think beauty is totally objective until they find themselves bewitched and entranced with a face, a voice and a body which will have you following every laid out command. When it comes to beauty, glamour and glance, Joelle knows all about it and hasn’t been afraid to use that woman power in driving sales for various businesses. With millions of followers on Instagram, the icon is not only making it in the Arab world but has amassed popularity worldwide. The 40-year old Lebanese went on to found Maison De Joelle in 2008; the leading beauty salon in the Middle East promises to give you a lavish experience like no other.Digital marketing agencies in dubai

Hayla Al Ghazal

At only 21, Hayla has come out to breach the social media based in Dubai with a subscriber base of 3.8 million YouTubers on her YouTube lifestyle channel. She also founded Hayla Couture, a successful bridal and evening gown boutique store. She is most famous among the youth populace and idolized as the ideal youth entrepreneur with beauty to accompany that.

Elias El-indari

When it comes to blogging, no one does it better than Elias El-indari. The stylish blogger has influenced the Arab men on both sides; from the cheap and really outgoing looks to the very stylish and posh ones, to make a man appear like two! He has gained hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and is seen as a rising voice on Twitter.

Saudi Gamer

Chill out once in a while and let off some steam with the best games from Saudi Gamer. The big titles to be found here include Assassins Creed Odyssey, God of War, Call of Duty Black Ops, Kassandra and Spider-Man among many more. Stay informed on their Instagram page which is almost hitting the 2 million mark.

Samer Khouzami

Beauty has a way of appealing to more than people’s sense of sight – it goes much deeper than that. Samer Khouzami, termed as the “master of contouring” has exploited this market niche to form a makeup range that has gained approval with the Dubai market. He has been seen holding workshops and masterclasses all around the world sharing his tips on storming the beauty and fashion industry. This has not only gained him a big audience on Instagram, but it has also secured a large fan following on Facebook and loyal YouTube subscribers. When it comes to coming up with eye-catching images and complete facial makeovers, you need the hands of a master – you need Samer Khouzami, and so does your brand.

Lojain Omran

When thinking of influencers in Dubai, you cannot fail to mention the ‘darling of the nation’ and the host of the TV show, Sabah El Kheir Ya Arab. The Social Media personality and the brand ambassador has been at it on all Social Media platforms with the biggest following reaching 6.5 million fans on Instagram. She is known to carry the voice of the people and has sparked massive debates and controversies about different topics over the years. When thinking of a brand promoter, you definitely want a voice that is heard and valued by the people – who better to do that than the top Social Media Dubai influencer with looks and guts?

Other Personalities

The above are some of the biggest names that both startups and well-established businesses can make use of to influence their outreach in the Middle East market. However, they are not the only personalities and were I to mention all of them; the list would be quite long. Some of the not-so-spoken names which also make contributions in different market forces might also be a good tool for your business. They include bloggers, journalists and upcoming artists who seek to make a difference.

Azadeh Akbari

A champion for women’s rights and also a musician, this fashion and beauty artist is found to have an engagement rate of 16.9% on Instagram – not bad huh! Her easy to use and readable blogs have impressed most Arab readers who follow her.

Goalkeeper Station

You have all come by sites offering the best sports outfit and attire. What you haven’t come across is a site dedicated to the goalkeeper only. The site offers a store for all goalkeepers’ accessories and is slowly finding loyal fans, especially on Instagram, amongst the football lovers.

Sonia & Fyza Ali

Meet the Kardashian’s of UAE! The two makeup artists have partnered together over the years in a ‘sisterhood’ manner to form a stronger bond hence a much stronger brand. It is no wonder their fan base is almost reaching 1 million on Instagram.

David Warren

Influencer marketeering is all about making it in your particular niche with an additional quality. It is that added touch that has seen David Warren make a name for himself for only dealing with jewelry, yet, his name is one of the most outspoken ones. Join him on Instagram for the latest posts and trends as concerning the jewelry world.

Dubai Design District

Influencers in Dubai can also be a community of people with common goals and needs. The Dubai Design District is a one-stop place for people to get fashion tips you might never get anywhere else, immerse in architecture and design, shop and eat the best from the Arab worlds. It is fast growing on different Social Media especially Instagram where posts are updated on a daily basis keeping the fans informed.

Whatever or whoever you decide to use as a Social Media influencer in Dubai, you have to factor in not only the attributes of the individual or community but also the costs with each. Many agencies have come up to specialize in hooking up businesses with the ideal influencers. You, therefore, need not worry about the hassle of going about it and attaching your brand with the biggest names in the Middle East. Whatever you do, be sure to have at least one of these Social Media influencers – it is good for business.

youtube

#digital marketing companies

0 notes

soccernetghana · 5 years

Text

All hail Yahaya Mohammed, the enigmatic journeyman turning lemons into lemonade

[caption id="attachment_754873" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Hat-trick hero Yahaya Mohammed.[/caption] At age 31, most footballers will be considering life after retirement; but that is not the case for Yahaya Mohammed. He’s still going strong. Not much has changed, perhaps just his hairdo, from the boy who burst onto the scenes and could do everything, literally. He could strike a ball so well from any distance as though his feet were made of steel, could finish off chances with the finesse and arrogance a striker can only admire and could tackle so hard with little or no respect to aesthetics, like an old-school defender and a no-nonsense defensive midfielder. It’s not by design, it’s credit to his mercurial character to see his career evolve from a limited centre-back to a defensive midfielder and now a target-man upfront leading the charge. Like a warrior, brazen, intimidating and imposing, Yahaya has had a career soaked in controversies and niggling injuries, that have punctuated his development. For what is worth, Yahaya’s disciplinary record has been a blight on his career and notably his off-the-field antics and shenanigans have derailed what could have been a fascinating career for the all-round colossus. “I don’t think anyone can question his potential and abilities on the field. But Yahaya has disciplinary issues which must be worked on,” Wilfred Osei Parma (Director of Tema Youth), explaining why his outfit decided against re-signing the exuberant and cocky Yahaya Mohammed who had scored 9 goals in 11 matches while on loan at Amidaus Professional in 2012. ''Why do you think Kotoko will send him out on loan when they know he’s a good player? There are certain things about the player that many people do not know. He needs to work on some of his deficiencies and I believe the sky will be the limit for him,'' he added. [caption id="attachment_774175" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Yahaya Mohammed talking to GPL Express host Juliet Bawuah[/caption] Courted at an early age in Tema, while playing for colt’s club – Great Ambassadors, Yahaya Mohammed’s stature and versatility set him apart from the rest. Built to last and lasting to endure all adversities, the Terminator as he’s affectionately known, looked raw but showed enough grit and graft for his talents and abilities to woo Wilfred Osei Kwaku Parma, an ace football administrator and owner of Tema Youth (a lower division side). He saw a bright prospect through chaos – one which could not be overlooked. The Terminator joined Tema Youth as a prospect at 17 years in 2006. Yahaya impressed national team handlers and was part of the U20 team that participated in the prestigious Toulon tournament in 2007. Then, a tough-tackling defender, he earned himself a renewable loan move to French side OGC Nice after the tournament, but things took an unexpected turn. Yahaya started well with the reserve team but suffered a broken foot that kept him out for majority of the time. The deal was mutually terminated and young Yahaya had to return. He returned to the Tema-based club and later joined Berekum Chelsea before joining Real Tamale United (and a brief loan to Wa All Stars). While at Chelsea he had an unsuccessful trial at SuperSport United in South Africa. A career breakthrough beckoned when he joined the biggest team in the land and former African champions, Kumasi Asante Kotoko. Yahaya Mohammed who had now evolved from a center-back to a midfield bulwark helped the Porcupines win their 21st league title in 2011/12. [caption id="attachment_754758" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Yahaya Mohammed got a hat-trick on the first day[/caption] The following season, in a rather bizarre twist, Yahaya Mohammed was deemed surplus to requirements and was loaned out to Amidaus Professionals. It was posited that, some management members of the club at the time were fed up with Yahaya’s constant bickering, demanding an improved contract and quoting exorbitant fees. This was perceived as destructive to the Porcupines. Rivals, Hearts of Oak and AshantiGold expressed their interest in signing him, but the Porcupines decided against such move knowing his untapped quality. Amazingly, Yahaya’s loan to league debutants Amidaus, soared his stock more than anything. He was made captain and became the club’s talisman. He was fully transitioned from a midfielder to a striker and Yahaya seized the opportunity with both hands, scoring 11 goals in 15 matches. After the successful loan, the terminator couldn’t hide his joy as he returned to Kotoko. ''I left Kotoko last season with pains because I felt I still had enough to offer the club,” Yahaya told the club's official website. ''Thankfully the opportunity has come again and I am going to utilize it judiciously and do more than what I did with Amidaus Professionals this season.'' [caption id="attachment_289341" align="aligncenter" width="530"] Yahaya Mohammed[/caption] His return to Kotoko was shrouded in controversies as the player agreed a pre-contract with Libyan side Al-Ittihad while still contracted to Kotoko. The club was appalled and disappointed, slapping him with an indefinite ban, but he was finally allowed to move on loan when a consensus was reached. It was the latest episode of a career riddled with multiple controversies. The deal didn’t go as expected. Yahaya Mohammed left the Libyan club after they failed to pay his salary for about five months and returned to Kotoko. The Porcupines, who had had enough and could not agree new terms, later released him. Like a chess player, he made his next move. He joined Aduana Stars, scoring 11 goals after the first half of the season and ending with 15 goals in 27 matches, losing out on the top-scorer gong to Liberty Professionals’ Latif Blessing by just 2 goals. He tried another switch to second-tier Mexican side Murciélagos FC but that didn’t work out well. He joined Tanzanian side Azzam FC, but again the move hit a snag when his contract was mutually terminated soon afterward -- for failing to live up to his price tag. Yahaya returned to Aduana where he has seen some level of consistency in his game, perhaps what he needed most when his burgeoning career kicked off few years ago. Just maybe, a case of too little, too late for the Terminator. With just two weeks to his 32nd birthday, the Terminator looks sharper and evergreen than ever before. Yahaya, who had scored 8 goals in his last 15 topflight matches before the start of the season, has found a new lease and look much settled than ever before. He feels at home in Aduana. [caption id="attachment_349130" align="aligncenter" width="530"] Aduana Stars forward Yahaya Mohammed[/caption] The fans revere him, and he continues to repay their faith in him. Over the weekend, in a keenly contested potential title decider with Medeama, it took a late free-kick goal from the Terminator to win it for Aduana Stars, while he got the consolation goal in his side’s 3-1 defeat to Ebusua Dwarfs in midweek. He is defying age and the constraints it comes with. He has only gotten better, like an old wine. He is leading the topscorers’ chart with 8 goals in 8 matches, while providing one assist. Yahaya is bent on leading his charges to another league trophy – the team revolves around his charisma. When Yahaya is happy, everyone is and importantly, the team wins. Many have wondered what kind of player he could have blossomed to become if some of the decisions he took early in his career could be reversed. Well, we’ll never get to see that player, but one thing we’re sure is that, Yahaya has set out to rewrite his own history in his thirties and there’s no stopping – all we can do, like the Aduana fans, is to enjoy his form while it lasts. By Owusu Ansah Doe [email protected] source: https://ghanasoccernet.com/

0 notes

biofunmy · 5 years

Text

Where to Stay, and Where to Eat Noodle Soup, in Ho Chi Minh City

For a place with so much history — decades of wartime and occupation have left their scars — Ho Chi Minh City (still often referred to as Saigon) feels surprisingly new. The metropolis is constantly reinventing itself, and when you consider that the U.S. trade embargo was lifted only 25 years ago, and that the majority of the city’s population is under 35 years old, you begin to understand why.

A short period of overwhelming foreign investment, plus rapid urbanization and a booming labor force, has established Vietnam as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with vibrant, stylish, youthful Ho Chi Minh City at its forefront. And while increasingly taller buildings continue to reshape the skyline, the city remains firmly in touch with tradition. After all, you can still find the best street-side bowl of pork vermicelli in the city (at the intersection of Nguyen Trung Truc and Le Loi) mere blocks away from a sprawling Louis Vuitton store.

It’s that dichotomy — between a 50-cent scooter ride and a $150 omakase, for example — that has turned visitors into residents and residents into the new business owners who diversify the city’s ever-evolving cultural landscape. In particular, Viet Kieu, the children and grandchildren of refugees who fled the country during the war — the same generation that has led much of the Vietnamese renaissance happening stateside (for instance, the poet and novelist Ocean Vuong and chef Dennis Ngo of the restaurant Di An Di in New York) — are returning to their roots and inspiring contemporary perspectives on Saigonese fashion, food and art. Here, a guide to Ho Chi Minh City’s many attractions.

The Myst Dong Khoi

Located just steps from the 68-floor Bitexco Financial Tower, the soaring beacon of downtown, and Ho Chi Minh City’s main commercial drag, Dong Khoi, the 108-room Myst feels like a much-needed oasis in the otherwise chaotic, noisy metropolis. Tropical plants grow wildly from the balconies inset around the building’s white exterior, while inside, the generously sized, minimally appointed rooms — with touches of Vietnamese craftsmanship seen in hand-carved rosewood benches and ceramic drums — are shielded from the onslaught of honks and horns outside. themystdongkhoihotel.com

Hotel des Arts

Ho Chi Minh City has accommodation options for visitors of every budget, but until the Hotel des Arts opened in 2015, it wasn’t easy to find a boutique hotel with both modern amenities and charm. Built in the style of the grand French Indochine-era institutions described in Graham Greene’s 1955 novel, “The Quiet American,” the hotel sits in the heart of District 1 but feels a world away from the tourists and bustle of the city center. From the hotel’s buzzing Social Club Rooftop Bar, which has some of the best panoramic views of the city, you can get a firsthand look at just how much the neighboring blocks are changing day by day. hoteldesartssaigon.com

Eat

Anan and Nhau Nhau

Nowhere is the convergence of old and new Ho Chi Minh City more apparent than on Ton That Dam Street. Here, vendors of the street market Cho Cu (literally Old Market) proffer fried rice-cakes and produce to the sound of portable karaoke machines, while tucked away at the center of the block is chef Peter Cuong Franklin’s pioneering experimental new-Vietnamese restaurant Anan. On the second floor is the more casual, more boozy Nhau Nhau (which translates to “drink, drink”), a retro-style bar outfitted with old Khanh Ly and Mai Le Huyen records, and ceramic tiles that recall the city’s prewar glory. But that allegiance to the past stops just short of the menu, which features innovative mash-ups like banh xeo tacos and foie gras imperial rolls. anansaigon.com

Traditional Street Food

Anyone with even cursory knowledge of Vietnamese cuisine is aware of pho (and of how readily it can be found in Vietnamese-American enclaves like San Jose, Calif., and Houston), but in Ho Chi Minh City, you’d be remiss not to explore some of the funkier, more complex noodle soups of the region: a crab-and-tomato broth cradling fresh snails and fried fish cake at Bun Rieu Cua Oc (66 Nguyen Thai Binh); the pork rib and Vietnamese charcuterie in clear broth punctuated with fermented shrimp paste at Bun Moc Thanh Mai (14 Truong Dinh); or the dry noodles with wontons and lardons at Hu Tieu Mi Co Giang (176 Bis Phuong Co Giang).

Little Japan Town

Of the many expat groups in Ho Chi Minh City, the Japanese community is the most visible — particularly within the block of alleys known as Little Japan Town (bordered by Le Thanh Ton and Thai Van Lung). A favorite of businessmen and young Vietnamese partygoers alike, the area is the city’s answer to Golden Gai, Tokyo’s famous district of hole-in-the-wall bars, and it’s similarly jam-packed with izakayas, noodle shops and massage parlors. Look out for Tori Soba Mutahiro (8A/A1bis Thai Van Lung), a tiny restaurant that makes a bowl of ramen — the rich, chicken fat-slick broth sharpened with shreds of fresh ginger — that rivals the best in Japan; Mangetsu shochu bar (at the base of the Azumaya Hotel), where you can polish off your yakitori with a pickled plum sour; and Powers (8A/2B1 Thai Van Lung), a rooftop taqueria where you’ll find Japanese skaters and surfers queuing up ’90s hip-hop on YouTube while downing ice-cold pints of Sapporo.

Shop

Hey Camel

At the end of one of Ho Chi Minh City’s most picturesque residential alleys in District 3 lies the ceramics studio and shop Hey Camel. Using traditional Vietnamese stoneware and glazes, the ceramist Leandro Marcelino brings together local materials and techniques with inspiration from his upbringing in the Canary Islands. His collection of vases and mugs adorned with a singular colorful eye, for example, reference both the Moroccan influences of his birthplace and the Cao Dai religion of south Vietnam. heycamel.com

The New Playground

Streetwear defines the fashion in Ho Chi Minh City, and the scene’s epicenter is the underground mall the New Playground, a maze of stores catering to shoppers with a penchant for cross-body bags and neon green. The brainchild of Ryan Son Hoang, one of a collective of young creative people in Ho Chi Minh City who’ve branded themselves 42 the Hood, the complex is worth a visit (even if you don’t need a new harness) just to observe the style-obsessed youth culture. instagram.com/thenewplayground

Moi Dien

For those with a more polished sensibility, the unisex line Moi Dien, which recently opened its first store, offers sculptural silhouettes and playful pieces in drapey, languid fabrics. The line’s founder, Tom Trandt Minh Dao, a Parsons graduate who returned to Vietnam after his studies and working abroad, is one of a handful of up-and-coming designers and brands (Nguyen Hoang Tu and Aeie Studios among them) who are bridging the gap between the country’s rich history of textile production and contemporary experimental fashion. moidien.com

Doan Lo to Sai Gon Tan Thoi at Rubik Zoo

Ho Chi Minh City might not have a defined gay district, but it makes up for it with a host of new L.G.B.T.Q. venues and parties throughout the city. Within its emerging drag show circuit, the Doan Lo to Sai Gon Tan Thoi (or The Modern Saigon) is perhaps the most authentic and uniquely Vietnamese production. Based in the Southern countryside tradition of “lo to,” a form of cabaret starring drag queens, the show centers on a musical bingo game, accompanied by interactive performances — done to by both traditional folk music and modern pop songs — that carefully reveal the winning numbers. Rubik Zoo, 1 Bis Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street

289e

Independent venues for contemporary art are few and far between in Ho Chi Minh City but one of the most exciting new spaces is the self-described “art bar” 289e. The multidisciplinary venue and cocktail lounge is housed within an old tenement apartment on the second floor of a Modernist cement housing block, and hosts weekly film screenings, musical performances and rotating exhibitions. instagram.com/289e.nct

Suoi Tien Theme Park

There is no shortage of beautiful temples and shrines in Ho Chi Minh City, but travel just 20 minutes northeast of the center and you’ll encounter a very different kind of religious monument: the fascinating, at times eerie, Buddha-themed Suoi Tien amusement park. Here, gaudy, oversize sculptures of dragons and neon-haloed Buddhas lead the way to a water park where slides emerge from sages’ beards. The highlight (if you can call it that) is an underground house-of-horrors designed to evoke a descent through a Buddhist hell. suoitien.com

Southern Women’s Museum

Many of Ho Chi Minh City’s streets are named after notable women, and in 1995 the state took a further step in honoring its female citizens and established the Southern Women’s Museum. The institution comprises four floors of relics and photographs relating to the history of Vietnamese women and their impact on the development and liberation of the country. The ground floor is entirely devoted to the ao dai, the Vietnamese national dress consisting of a side-split tunic and trousers, which has been a unifier throughout the country’s rich, and often difficult, history. baotangphunu.com

Sahred From Source link Travel

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2NmIlkH via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

gyrlversion · 5 years

Text

Prince Harry beams as he makes surprise appearance at royal wedding

Prince Harry made a surprise appearance at the royal wedding today ahead of his own wedding anniversary tomorrow.

Harry, 34, beamed as he arrived at the wedding of Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.

He appeared to have left new mother Meghan Markle, 37, at home with their 12 day old son Archie.

It’s likely to be sentimental event for Prince Harry, who wed Meghan at St George’s Chapel in Windsor last year.

Prince Harry looked dashing as he made a surprise appearance at the royal wedding, alongside Peep Show actress Sophie Winkleman and Princess Anne

Prince Harry looked dashing as he arrived alongside Peep Show actress Sophie Winkleman, who is married to the bride’s brother, Frederick Windsor.

Sophie donned an extravagant pale blue dress by Catherine Walker, finishing her outfit with a matching hat and bright white shoes.

The pair appeared to share a joke as they walked into the church, and were seen chuckling together.

Prince Harry has made several public appearances since his son Archie was born 12 days ago.

Prince Harry beamed as he walked into the church where he married Meghan Markle last year. The couple will celebrate their first wedding anniversary tomorrow

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have had a busy first year of marriage, embarking on a major overseas tour, moving house and welcoming their first child.

Meghan threw herself into royal life and was at work with Harry just days after their wedding last May as they joined the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at a garden party celebrating the prince’s charity work.

It was a year of firsts for newbie royal Meghan, and the party marked the newlyweds’ first official engagement as a married couple.

The duchess undertook her first joint engagement with the Queen on a day trip to Cheshire, and body language experts said the pair got on famously.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcomed their first child Archie Harrison less than two weeks ago

In July, Harry and Meghan headed to Dublin – their first official overseas trip as a married couple – and visited Croke Park stadium, the scene of the Bloody Sunday atrocity committed by British troops against civilians in 1920.

Personal celebrations included Meghan’s 37th birthday in August which was spent at the wedding of Harry’s society friends Charlie van Straubenzee and Daisy Jenks, Harry’s 34th birthday in September, and a holiday with George and Amal Clooney in Italy.

In the autumn, Meghan brought her mother Doria Ragland to the launch of the Grenfell community cookbook she championed – and helped prepare lunch for the guests at the Hubb Community Kitchen in London.

Ms Ragland’s last memorable appearance was on the steps of St George’s Chapel following the royal wedding in May, watching her daughter begin her new life as a member of the monarchy.

Meghan was the driving force behind the book, suggesting the idea to a group of women who came together to cook at a Muslim cultural centre in North Kensington in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy.

Ms Ragland introduced herself to guests as “Meg’s mom” when she arrived at the marquee with the duke and duchess, and said she was “head over heels” with pride.

The Sussexes were back in St George’s Chapel in October where they were guests at Princess Eugenie’s wedding.

Prince Harry arrived alongside Prince Edward and Princess Anne, alongside Peep Show actress Sophie Winkleman

It’s likely to be a sentimental day for Prince Harry, who will celebrate his own wedding anniversary to wife Meghan Markle tomorrow

It was on this day they shared the news with their family that they were expecting a baby.

The pregnancy was announced publicly just three days later when Harry and Meghan were starting their official tour to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.

A delighted Harry called the baby “our little bump” and Meghan repeatedly cradled her stomach as the pair continued with their marathon 16-day trip, which featured more than 70 engagements.

Highlights included a trip to Bondi beach in Sydney, the 2018 Invictus Games, and a Maori welcome in Rotorua, New Zealand.

Prince Harry will likely be feeling sentimental, as he is celebrating his first anniversary with Meghan Markle. They married at St George’s Chapel last year

Back in the UK, the duchess joined the royals for the first time at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, which this year fell on the centenary of Armistice Day.

And the family came together again for Charles’ 70th birthday for official photographs, and then a party hosted by the Queen.

The Royal Variety Performance is a staple of the royal calendar and Meghan had her first introduction to the annual event, joining Harry in meeting Take That at the charity show.

As it emerged that the couple had chosen Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Estate as the home where they will raise their family, rumours abounded as to the reason for their move away from Kensington Palace, amid speculation over Meghan and Kate’s relationship.

New parents Prince Harry and Meghan married at St George’s chapel last year, and are celebrating their first wedding anniversary tomorrow

There were also reports of tension between William and Harry, with Harry reportedly accusing his older brother of trying to wreck his relationship with Meghan when he initially voiced concerns.

But the two couples appeared the best of friends when they led the royal family to church on Christmas Day at Sandringham.

Meghan and Kate were all smiles as they walked side by side, just as they had done the previous Christmas with Harry and William, past hundreds of royal fans.

In February, Meghan enjoyed a baby shower get together with friends in New York.

Amal Clooney and Jessica Mulroney were among the guests who made an appearance at the lavish five-star Mark Hotel.

In March it was announced that Harry and Meghan were to have their own household based at Buckingham Palace, separate to William and Kate, to take forward their growing roles as senior members of the royal family.

Harry and Meghan then moved out of Kensington Palace and into Frogmore Cottage, having carried out extensive renovations to the house at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of £3 million.

Work on the listed property in Berkshire – including changing it from staff apartments into one mansion – overran and it was reported that the Sussexes made constant design changes, meaning the builders fell behind schedule.

The duke and duchess, who were footing the bill for furnishings, are said to have hired former Soho House interior designer Vicky Charles to transform their new pad.

They had lived at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace since their engagement.

With a new home, all that was left was for Meghan to give birth to the couple’s first child.

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born on Monday May 6 at the private Portland Hospital in London.

He was born in a maternity unit renowned for its quality of service, akin to a five-star hotel where parents can spend tens of thousands to ensure a safe and happy arrival for their baby.

Archie, who is the seventh in line to the throne and an eighth great-grandchild for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, is believed to be the first mixed-race child born to a senior member of the royal family in centuries, and is a reflection of modern Britain with its culturally diverse population.

When Harry announced to the world his wife had given birth to a boy he could not hide his happiness at becoming a father for the first time, to a baby he said was “absolutely to-die-for”.

The post Prince Harry beams as he makes surprise appearance at royal wedding appeared first on Gyrlversion.

from WordPress http://www.gyrlversion.net/prince-harry-beams-as-he-makes-surprise-appearance-at-royal-wedding/

#Uncategorized

0 notes

arnoldbhuck · 6 years

Text

Bachelorette Party Strippers in Fresno

Bachelorette Party Ideas!

Arranging a bachelorette gathering can be both fun and distressing. Our thoughts recorded here will enable you to have some good times than pressure. Obviously what’s a bachelorette party without some expert gathering strippers from Hunks and Babes Entertainment to perform for the visitor of respect! No thong will be left fixed as we plunge profound into the potential outcomes of setting up a definitive bachelorette party in Fresno.

To start with, request that your companions’ suppositions get a few thoughts for the gathering. You might be astonished to discover the bachelorette just needs to have a calm supper with companions. If so, you might need to play a diversion where she’s attached to a seat and blindfolded. You would then be able to have a couple of Fresno male strippers for contract wear an attractive cop outfit and ‘decry’ the gathering visitors for being excessively rambunctious. The visitor of respect will be shocked to see a hot manly hunk with his etched muscles getting a handle on her grasped thighs. Her strains will be discharged. You can peruse your companion’s passionate responses to the arranged striptease and choose to what extent she ought to stay in the last place anyone would want to be. In the event that the bachelorette looks bothered or like she’s not having a ton of fun, simply have a visitor exchange places with her.

While enlisting private strippers in Fresno, make sure to explain your time prerequisites to the stripping organization particularly on the off chance that you eat plans or a limo pickup time for your visitors. At that point raced to the bank and ensure you have enough singles for your young ladies to tip the dancer(s). An unpleasant gauge is to supply 10 singles for every visitor at your private gathering. Bachelorette party strippers charge additional expenses for taking pictures and going completely bare, else they perform down to a G string. It’s incredible to take pictures amid the strip demonstrate on the grounds that you get the chance to see the countenances your companions make while being humiliated by the private lap moves.

Get ready early by obtaining all take home gifts and supplies a long time before your epic bachelorette party. Lamentably, there are not very many physical bachelorette party supply stores. The uplifting news is you have boundless accessibility with a plenty of penis-mixed stuff available on the web. This incorporates: penis straws, penis molds for cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops, penis confetti, chicken formed fallen angel horns for the exceptional visitor, you get the image. These extraordinary request things generally deliver from China and can take up to three weeks to contact you. Don’t over request for the quantity of visitors you expect at the gathering in light of the fact that a hundred percent participation never occurs.

Another superb bachelorette party thought is to design diversions that join the lady’s last night as a solitary woman. You can have your visitors make and shading their very own penis out of paper and afterward blindfold them. Turn them around and point them towards a notice of a man on the divider. The visitor who sticks their innovatively enlivened masculinity to anatomically total the image of the man wins. It very well may be humorous to see which of your companions come up short.

Shouldn’t something be said about Bachelorette Party Stripper Games

Progressively physical bachelorette party diversions can include cooperation and abilities. Before we get to the collaboration amusements, a straightforward diversion people can play includes a pack of bananas. Have your visitors race each other to see who can put a condom on the banana fastest utilizing just their mouth and tongue. The second sprinter up can be controlled by estimating how far the condom was put down her banana.

The best thought for a group orientated diversion includes different rings and a stick or bat. Visitors are part up into groups of two individuals where one individual places a stick between her legs while alternate needs to put rings on the stick utilizing only her legs. Another well known Fresno bachelorette party thought that takes up a ton of time includes a deck of cards with printed directions for the lady of the hour to-be to perform. This resembles a bachelorette scrounger chase and can be amusing to play particularly in the city of Fresno.

To customize your bachelorette party, make a subject based around the particularity of the lady of the hour and prepare. For instance if the prep loves a certain hero, you can host a Batman-themed bachelorette get-together. Or then again if the lady is into dominatrix style sex, bridesmaids and visitors can wear calfskin and buy servitude hardware for the special first night. You can even venture to enlist some veteran Fresnofemale strippers to instruct post moving exercises. It’s not for everybody, so ensure everyone is physically ready to perform so you can evaluate their execution. Most expert female outlandish artists can oblige a group and show you and your young ladies how to strip for your man in the room.

Facilitating your hen get-together at a neighborhood Fresno bar is additionally mainstream. On the off chance that your companions are wild and need a testing of the city’s nightlife, your most solid option is to lease a trolley, limo, or gathering transport. Team up with the driver to make a definitive schedule and incorporate stops important to the bachelorette, for example, her first kiss or most loved gathering place with her prepare.

The last advance is to organize all your gathering thoughts and consolidate an all-inclusive strategy. Do whatever it takes not to disparage the time it takes to play out every bachelorette party diversion or timetable occasions excessively near one another. Some of the time opening endowments may take two hours and the private strip-tease for the bachelorette might be just a couple of minutes. Being readied will help use your time all the more viably and augment the fun you and your companions will have on the lady of the hour’s extraordinary night. One final brisk tip:Don’t be reluctant to make the gathering interesting despite the fact that it might appear to be strange.

Bachelorette Party Strippers in Fresno was originally seen on https://hbstrippers.net HB Strippers Adult Entertainment

0 notes

ryantsumrall · 6 years

Text

Bachelorette Party Strippers in Fresno

Bachelorette Party Ideas!

Arranging a bachelorette gathering can be both fun and distressing. Our thoughts recorded here will enable you to have some good times than pressure. Obviously what's a bachelorette party without some expert gathering strippers from Hunks and Babes Entertainment to perform for the visitor of respect! No thong will be left fixed as we plunge profound into the potential outcomes of setting up a definitive bachelorette party in Fresno.

To start with, request that your companions' suppositions get a few thoughts for the gathering. You might be astonished to discover the bachelorette just needs to have a calm supper with companions. If so, you might need to play a diversion where she's attached to a seat and blindfolded. You would then be able to have a couple of Fresno male strippers for contract wear an attractive cop outfit and 'decry' the gathering visitors for being excessively rambunctious. The visitor of respect will be shocked to see a hot manly hunk with his etched muscles getting a handle on her grasped thighs. Her strains will be discharged. You can peruse your companion's passionate responses to the arranged striptease and choose to what extent she ought to stay in the last place anyone would want to be. In the event that the bachelorette looks bothered or like she's not having a ton of fun, simply have a visitor exchange places with her.

While enlisting private strippers in Fresno, make sure to explain your time prerequisites to the stripping organization particularly on the off chance that you eat plans or a limo pickup time for your visitors. At that point raced to the bank and ensure you have enough singles for your young ladies to tip the dancer(s). An unpleasant gauge is to supply 10 singles for every visitor at your private gathering. Bachelorette party strippers charge additional expenses for taking pictures and going completely bare, else they perform down to a G string. It's incredible to take pictures amid the strip demonstrate on the grounds that you get the chance to see the countenances your companions make while being humiliated by the private lap moves.

Get ready early by obtaining all take home gifts and supplies a long time before your epic bachelorette party. Lamentably, there are not very many physical bachelorette party supply stores. The uplifting news is you have boundless accessibility with a plenty of penis-mixed stuff available on the web. This incorporates: penis straws, penis molds for cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops, penis confetti, chicken formed fallen angel horns for the exceptional visitor, you get the image. These extraordinary request things generally deliver from China and can take up to three weeks to contact you. Don't over request for the quantity of visitors you expect at the gathering in light of the fact that a hundred percent participation never occurs.

Another superb bachelorette party thought is to design diversions that join the lady's last night as a solitary woman. You can have your visitors make and shading their very own penis out of paper and afterward blindfold them. Turn them around and point them towards a notice of a man on the divider. The visitor who sticks their innovatively enlivened masculinity to anatomically total the image of the man wins. It very well may be humorous to see which of your companions come up short.

Shouldn't something be said about Bachelorette Party Stripper Games

To customize your bachelorette party, make a subject based around the particularity of the lady of the hour and prepare. For instance if the prep loves a certain hero, you can host a Batman-themed bachelorette get-together. Or then again if the lady is into dominatrix style sex, bridesmaids and visitors can wear calfskin and buy servitude hardware for the special first night. You can even venture to enlist some veteran Fresnofemale strippers to instruct post moving exercises. It's not for everybody, so ensure everyone is physically ready to perform so you can evaluate their execution. Most expert female outlandish artists can oblige a group and show you and your young ladies how to strip for your man in the room.

Facilitating your hen get-together at a neighborhood Fresno bar is additionally mainstream. On the off chance that your companions are wild and need a testing of the city's nightlife, your most solid option is to lease a trolley, limo, or gathering transport. Team up with the driver to make a definitive schedule and incorporate stops important to the bachelorette, for example, her first kiss or most loved gathering place with her prepare.

The last advance is to organize all your gathering thoughts and consolidate an all-inclusive strategy. Do whatever it takes not to disparage the time it takes to play out every bachelorette party diversion or timetable occasions excessively near one another. Some of the time opening endowments may take two hours and the private strip-tease for the bachelorette might be just a couple of minutes. Being readied will help use your time all the more viably and augment the fun you and your companions will have on the lady of the hour's extraordinary night. One final brisk tip:Don't be reluctant to make the gathering interesting despite the fact that it might appear to be strange.

Bachelorette Party Strippers in Fresno was originally seen on https://hbstrippers.net HB Strippers Adult Entertainment

0 notes