#the menu the music the mc's voice the first bad end even

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

[CN] Li Zeyan’s Mundane Date (Eng Translation)

“I bet that you will still remember this day, this moment, even decades from now. Just like I will.”

⌚Warning⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for a date, 琐碎约会, that is yet to be released on the global server! ♡

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【Subbed Video】

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【Chapter 1】 

Big Screen: “In order to welcome this festival dedicated to love, our channel is presenting a special program named 《The Vow at Fingertip》.”

Big Screen: “We’ve collected a plethora of stories about the ring, exploring its deeper meaning beyond the ceremonial contexts…”

It’s early morning on Valentine’s Day, and the streets are already bustling with noise and excitement. Li Zeyan and I stand quietly at the entrance of the supermarket, watching the program previews displayed on the shopping mall’s large screen.

LZY: [laughs like a proud s/o ✊] Well, this is quite impressive. The prime spot throughout the whole day is going to be occupied by your show.

MC: Granted, it’s thanks to the sponsorship from the brand, but I’m really satisfied with this show.

LZY: In that case, let’s get through the checklist quickly and head back early to enjoy your masterpiece.

Finishing his words, he then takes my hand and leads me into the supermarket.

Given Li Zeyan’s personality, he had actually prepared the ingredients at Souvenir well in advance. But due to a phone call this morning, we had no choice but to make last-minute changes in our plans…

–

───── [FLASHBACK STARTS] ─────

Mr. Mills: Manager, sorry to trouble you so early in the morning.

Mr. Mills: While I was out for a walk just now, I saw a notice posted on the door of Souvenir stating that there’s a circuit malfunction in this area and the power has been out for the whole night.

Mr. Mills: I checked the refrigerator, and it seems those ingredients of yours may have gone bad.

LZY: [his voice really tends to drop to a different softness when he talks to Mr. Mills 🥺]  Thank you for taking the trouble. I’ll take care of it later.

Mr. Mills: But you prepared these for MC, right? Would you still be able to work out your plans for today?

Li Zeyan glances at me, who’s peering over from beside him, and a small smile tugs at the corners of his lips.

LZY: [while looking at you]  You don’t have to worry. I have a compensation plan in mind.

Watching as Li Zeyan ends the call, his expression composed, I hurriedly lean in and ask him about the situation.

MC: Did something happen at Souvenir? Should we go to the restaurant first and check it out?

LZY: It’s alright, let’s celebrate the festival first.

LZY: The menu won’t change, but we need to grab a few things to make up. I’ll make a quick trip to the supermarket later.

MC: I’ll come along with you!

–

───── [FLASHBACK ENDS] ─────

As each item from the list is placed into the shopping cart, I steal glances at Li Zeyan and study his completely unruffled expression, inwardly sighing to myself.

His plan fell through, and it even resulted in some damage. Yet, he hasn’t uttered a single word of complaint, appearing to have a well-thought-out plan in advance as always.

MC: [muttering] He certainly deserves the title of being the number one in emotional stability.

Li Zeyan seems to have heard my mumbling, prompting him to turn around and meet my gaze.

LZY: What’s the matter? Why are you zoning out?

MC: I was thinking, you are really good at switching your mood. If I were in your shoes and found out [MC’s Company Name] had run into some problem, I’d spend half a day just feeling upset.

LZY: Not like it’s something that can’t be remedied. What’s there to feel upset about?

LZY: It’s a nice holiday, and I don’t wish to see a certain dummy shooting her mouth off to the sky.

He gently lays his hand on top of mine and, together with the shopping cart, leads me forward.

LZY: If you zone out again, we won’t go to the snack section.

MC: I absolutely won’t! Let’s go, let’s go~

—

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【Chapter 2】 

The warm music of the show flows through the room, but it’s soon drowned out by the clinking and clattering sounds from the kitchen.

MC: Is there anything else you need me to do, Boss?

LZY: Help me with the sauce.

In order to increase efficiency, I volunteer to help Li Zeyan and find myself busy following his instructions, frantically running around in circles.

LZY: Pass me the thermometer.

LZY: Set the stopwatch to one minute for me.

MC: Roger!

Ding––

The oven’s timer sounds, and I consciously put on the heat-resistant gloves and pull out the baking tray.

MC: Isn’t it time to turn the sweet potato tart?

LZY: Right. If it’s tricky to turn, try lifting a corner first to test it out.

MC: Uh… it does seem a bit tricky to flip.

With gentleness and cautiousness, I proceed to operate, afraid of ruining the shape Li Zeyan has crafted so meticulously.

As I reach the last three, a reminder sounds from behind me.

LZY: Turn them faster; don’t let the oven temperature drop too much.

LZY: Don’t worry so much about the shape. For a dummy, it’s tasting delicious is what matters more.

His voice, carrying with it a smile, alleviates my nervousness a little. I turn them over and slide the baking tray back into the oven.

With the oven resuming its operation, I breathe a sigh of relief and walk back to Li Zeyan’s side, taking a sip of water.

LZY: [laughs softly]  Tired?

MC: How could I be tired? I can handle this amount of work just fine.

MC: It actually feels like that cooking game we played before. Though, I wish we could have three heads and six arms… [1]

MC: Speaking of which, do things get this chaotic when you cook by yourself?

Li Zeyan puts the lid on the pot and turns down the heat, then rubs my head with his free hand.

LZY: It doesn’t seem as chaotic when I’m on my own without anyone “helping out.”

LZY: But my sous chef here has made quite a lot of progress; at least nothing got messed up.

MC: That’s because my boyfriend doesn’t only cook incredibly well, but he is also a generous mentor!

LZY: [chuckles teasingly] I was here simply trying to better the food I cook for a certain dummy. I did not realize she was secretly taking notes.

LZY: Since you’ve been learning well, tell me, what do we need to add when we take the lid off?

I freeze for a moment, not expecting that he’d really ask questions. Resorting to thinking on my feet, I quickly pounce on him and lock my arms around his neck.

MC: Well, naturally… adding a little extra love would make it even better!

I plant a kiss on his cheek, then swiftly dash away before he can react, turning up the volume of the show.

LZY: [laughs helplessly]  Running away when you can’t answer, huh?

MC: [giggling gleefully]  What did you say? The music is too loud, I can’t hear you clearly~

Shamelessly feigning ignorance, I stand in front of the TV, grinning while casually casting a glance at the progress of the show.

At this moment, the interview with a young couple begins. The girl raises her left hand towards the camera, showing off her wedding ring.

Girl (on the show): On the day my husband proposed, he hid the ring in a dessert, saying that the dessert that day was infused with a unique formula of love.

Girl (on the show): As a result, when I took a bite, I chomped directly into this “formula of love” and ended up breaking my tooth…

Girl (on the show): We had to rush to the emergency room in the middle of the night. The pain was so excruciating that I almost refused the marriage proposal right then and there.

MC: Pfft…

I can’t hold back my laughter and glance over at Li Zeyan, who’s just a short distance away.

MC: Did you hear that, restaurant manager? You should take this as a cautionary tale.

LZY: [chuckles helplessly]  It’s clearly the gluttonous dummy who should take this as a cautionary tale.

Just as I’m about to retaliate, the doorbell suddenly rings. I pull a face at Li Zeyan and hurry off to answer the door.

Delivery Guy: Excuse me, is this Mr. Li’s residence? I’ve got a Flash Delivery package for him.

I accept the rather sizable cardboard box, then curiously glance towards the kitchen.

MC: What did you order?

LZY: Why don’t you open it and find out?

I carefully open the box and find an unexpected item inside––

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[Tidbits]:

[1] It’s a reference to Li Zeyan’s “Home Visit Date!” 

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【Chapter 3】

MC: “Chocolate fountain machine for home use”?

As I look at the name on the instruction manual, I read it out loud in surprise.

The supermarket’s holiday chocolates are already vying for attention with their romantic beauty, but I didn’t expect Li Zeyan to have an even more surprising design up his sleeves.

MC: Wow… isn’t this something you’d usually find only at hotels or fancy gatherings?

LZY: Mm-hmm. Given the unusual circumstances today, I’d have to slack off for now.

MC: “Slack off”?

Li Zeyan meets my puzzled gaze and places the machine on the table, then proceeds to gesticulate the patterns of the fountain.

LZY: Since it’s liquid, it simplifies the project by skipping several steps and can’t be stored. Once prepared, it’s only enough for a single serving.

LZY: If a certain someone has any objections, I’ll make a better one for you another day.

MC: Not only do I have no objections, but I also want to “redress injustices” on behalf of the chocolate fountain.

I wedge myself between him and the bar counter, pretending to be angry as I place my hands on my hips.

MC: How could you ever consider something as amusing and creative as this chocolate fountain as “slacking off”?!

MC: Moreover, regardless of how simple the procedure may be, Restaurant Manager Li’s creations are always one-of-a-kind.

Li Zeyan gives me a look and curls his lips into a smile.

LZY: Seems like this choice has turned out to be exactly something a certain someone would’ve liked. Since you’re so interested, why don’t you join me in making it later?

–

The “home version” of the Valentine’s Day feast still lives up to Li Zeyan’s high standards. After having our fill of eating and drinking, we finally bring the chocolate fountain to the table.

I skewer a strawberry, coat it with chocolate sauce, and take a bite. The rich aroma of chocolate blends harmoniously with the strawberry’s fresh sweetness, causing me to squint my eyes as if  I were in paradise.

MC: So, so yummy!

LZY: Easy there; be careful not to let the chocolate sauce drip onto you.

Li Zeyan fetches a sheet of paper and places it on my lap, then takes a toothpick to help me skewer the strawberries.

A warmth blooms in my heart. I lean in and hug his arm.

MC: Every dish today has been a hit, plus there’s also a certain handsome guy winning over with his attentive service. I think I ought to give it at least a four-star Michelin rating.

LZY: Is that extra star a reward for yourself?

MC: Hehe, didn’t you just say earlier that your little sous chef did a good job today?

LZY: Indeed, and the dining experience was neater than usual, too.

MC: Those who are capable do the most work, and those who work most deserve extra serving at the table! [2]

Li Zeyan smiles as he listens to my nonsense and pushes a plate of chocolate-coated strawberries in front of me.

LZY: [the indulgence hhh]  Alright, “capable one,” today you’re allowed to have a little extra.

MC: Why are you giving them all to me? Aren’t you going to have a taste?

LZY: There’s a certain dummy who’s been looking forward to this for so long, so let’s let her have her fill first.

As I take another bite of a strawberry, I keep pondering which words to persuade him to taste it. When I look up, I find that Li Zeyan has had his eyes fixed on me the whole time.

MC: What’s wrong?

LZY: It’s nothing.

LZY: I was just thinking, with the sudden change of plans today, are you genuinely okay with it?

MC: It wasn’t something within our control. Besides, just the location got changed, that’s all.

LZY: But it did eat into our time, and we missed the beginning of your show.

MC: I didn’t realize CEO Li was looking forward to my show this much, huh?

LZY: [laughs helplessly]  I wonder who kept promoting it non-stop next to my ear every day.

Grinning, I lean sideways onto his shoulder and reach out to poke his cheek.

MC: You somehow pulled off such a complicated feast to make up for it. What could I have to be dissatisfied with?

MC: Besides, the most important thing today is to be glued to the person you like; it doesn’t matter even if the time hasn’t been used efficiently.

Picking up the dessert tray, I skewer a strawberry and feed it to him.

MC: In order to make you truly understand how I feel, I warmly invite you to taste the flavor of bliss for yourself. [3]

LZY: Dummy, you’ve already mentioned the “taste of bliss” at least five times today.

LZY: Why do I get the feeling that you always seem to find “bliss” in everything you eat?

MC: That conclusion seems to be a bit of a sweeping generalization.

MC: There may be an abundance of delicious food in the world, but there are only two kinds that can truly bring me a sense of bliss.

MC: Home-cooked meals made by family members and the food you prepare with love.

Li Zeyan takes the plate and gently holds my now-empty hand.

LZY: Was your father very skilled in the kitchen?

MC: He…

MC: He was too busy with work, so there weren’t many opportunities for him to showcase his skills… but the flavors in my memory are very warm; it was the taste of home.

LZY: No wonder a certain someone has a good palette; apparently, she was nurtured well since childhood.

MC: Hehe, but I believe happiness doesn’t just stem from the flavors; the particulars are crucial, too.

LZY: What do you mean?

MC: For example, when Dad came home late from work and would accidentally add too much salt to the quick dishes he prepared, we’d end up laughing it off together during the meal.

MC: For instance, when a certain someone’s own plans went awry, he still prioritized taking care of my feelings.

MC: Like when that certain person could have simply settled for making regular chocolate, but instead, he went out of his way to design a chocolate fountain.

MC: I’m not someone who eats anything at any place without preference. Restaurant Manager Li, please don’t get the wrong idea.

I wink at Li Zeyan. He stares at me for a while, then suddenly breaks the silence.

LZY: Do you know why Souvenir always gives you special privileges?

MC: Why?

LZY: Because while a certain person isn’t very skilled in cooking, she sure is an excellent eater, and she equally excels at “paying the debt for the free meals with her words.” [4]

MC: Nonsense! That’s called showing gratitude, alright!

Unwilling to back down, I stuff another strawberry into his mouth, blocking any potential retort.

MC: Some people’s sweet words don’t last more than three seconds. As punishment, I’ll make you eat more chocolate to make amends.

LZY: [laughs helplessly]  …Dummy.

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[Tidbits]:

[2] The original sentence said by MC here was “能者多劳, 劳者多吃!” The first part of it is actually an idiom: lit. meaning, “it’s the most capable people who do the most work.”  The idiom is intended as consolation for the overworked, or flattery when making a request etc. The second part is a word-play on the idiom, so I tweaked the translation to fit the play here!

[3] The term MC uses here is “幸福,” and I had to sit on this one for a while to use a term that is not too wordy but still carries a closer meaning to the CN term. While it essentially does refer to “happiness,” the term carries a deeper connotation than 开心 (happy) / 快乐 (joyful), which refer to short bursts of bright emotions. Whereas “幸福” refers to lasting, fulfilling happiness and holistic contentment~

[4] The term Li Zeyan uses here is “吃人嘴短,” which he’s cleverly re-generated from the proverb “吃人嘴软, 拿人手短” to get his message across efficiently. I’m just too tired to explain the inside joke here LOL, so I opted for a wordy translation to try to get the message across nonetheless.

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【Chapter 4】

Host: Auntie, how do you usually store your ring?

Granny: Store it? I’ve never taken it off. I keep it on even when I’m working.

Granny: In our generation, we didn’t fuss over all those things. Besides, life inevitably keeps throwing urgent matters at you, so there’s little to no time to ponder over such matters.

While listening to the conversation on TV, I hand the last plate on the table to Li Zeyan.

After a quick rinse, he loads the plates into the dishwasher. Just as he straightens up, I hug him from behind.

MC: We just finished eating; why not rest for a while?

LZY: [chuckles indulgently] What? Are you saying eating can tire you out, dummy?

MC: …don’t you feel a bit sluggish after eating too much?

LZY: [that indulgent tone intensifies x10]  No wonder I feel like I’m carrying extra weight on my back.

Hearing the obvious laughter in his voice, I let out a couple of “hmphs” and continue to lean against his back without a care in the world.

LZY: A certain someone here has eaten her plate clean so thoroughly, lightening the load quite a lot, so this shouldn’t take too much time.

MC: That’s an essential skill for a Souvenir diner! But every time I see you being so diligent, I feel a tad embarrassed.

MC: It’s one thing not to procrastinate at work, but how can you not be lazy in your everyday life as well?

LZY: Wouldn’t it be more of a hassle if everything piled up at once?

LZY: Taking care of things immediately when they happen also helps avoid any unexpected complications.

Thinking back to how he methodically rearranged everything this morning, I can’t help but sigh with a twinge of envy.

MC: I’m so lucky to have you around; it’s what could make today so delightful.

LZY: Even after having to do so much work, you still consider it delightful?

MC: Yep! Cooking with you is like playing a game, but without the need to worry about failing any levels!

LZY: Dummy has a knack for turning any place into an amusement park.

MC: Then you’re the amusement park manager!

Li Zeyan finishes washing his hands, turns around, and boops the tip of my nose.

LZY: [in the softest of tones]  It seems that with you around, I’ll never have to worry about being unemployed.

LZY: Let’s go. Let’s focus on watching your show.

—

Li Zeyan pulls me to nestle into the couch. The show has now reached the interview segment, and the host is asking the elderly woman about the happiest moment of her life in the decades that have gone by.

Granny: If I had to choose one, it would be one night before going to sleep, when my husband touched the ring on my hand and said, “It’s all scratched up.”

Granny: When we calculated, we realized we’ve been wearing our rings for several decades.

Host: Those rings must be bearing many traces of life, wouldn’t you say?

Granny: Yes, that’s right. At first, I wanted to reprimand him, to show him how much work I’ve done. But then I touched his ring, and it was just the same.

Granny: At that moment, I suddenly felt, this person next to me has been by my side for a very long time.

I snuggle into Li Zeyan’s embrace, intertwining my fingers with his and stroking them.

MC: If it were the two of us, your ring would definitely be the one to wear out first.

LZY: Not necessarily; we also have to take into account a certain someone stirring up trouble and acting silly.

MC: Perhaps in a few decades, I’ll have grown smarter already!

LZY: Then let’s make a bet. We’ll see if you still remember this statement in a few decades.

MC: Alright, you’re on. But we’re both in this, so it wouldn’t be fair to put only me to the test.

LZY: Go on, what plan are you hatching now?

I roll my eyes and wriggle out of his arms.

MC: You watch the show; I’ll be back in a jiffy.

I trot over to the pantry and open one of the low cabinets. Owing to the Valentine’s Day themed program, I have received quite a few chocolates from our collaborators.

I take out the heart-shaped box placed at the top and return to Li Zeyan’s side.

–

MC: Li Zeyan, I have a small gift for you.

LZY: What, haven’t had enough chocolate yet?

Li Zeyan glances at the box in my hand, then raises an eyebrow at me. I smile but don’t say anything, opening the box and putting it into his hand.

MC: Hold on~ Let me do a magic trick for you first.

MC: Close your eyes, and then just pick any chocolate from inside.

LZY: [gentle, helpless chuckle]  What kind of stunt are you pulling this time?

Despite saying this, Li Zeyan still closes his eyes and follows suit. I take the chocolate he hands me and gently tear open the wrapper.

The golden foil paper is extremely delicate and prone to tearing if handled with even the slightest bit of carelessness. But by now, I’ve already become skilled enough to roll it up smoothly.

During the filming of this show, chocolate almost became our only snack. Every time I was on the phone with Li Zeyan, I would chat with him while casually rolling the candy wrappers.

I didn’t expect the “practice makes perfect” proverb to come to fruition like this, but inadvertently, I managed to craft this paper “ring.”

MC: Done! Now, extend your hand again.

He doesn’t seem to quite understand what my intention is, so he reaches into the box for another chocolate and hands it to me.

Seeing him so cooperative, I can’t help but laugh out loud, giving his fingertips a squeeze as I hold up the “ring” I have just created.

MC: You can open your eyes now!

–

LZY: …?

Li Zeyan looks at the small ring in my hand and blinks slowly.

LZY: [YOU CAN LITERALLY HEAR IN HIS TONE THAT HE’S CAUGHT OFF GUARD 🥹]   This is…?

MC: As you can see, an exclusively customized ring from 24-karat pure gold!

MC: Handcrafted from start to finish, Mr. Li Zeyan is the only one in the world who has the opportunity to own it.

Li Zeyan is momentarily taken aback, then glances at the torn-open chocolates on the table, before suddenly breaking into a smile.

LZY: Even such a brief moment as this is ample for your creativity to soar.

MC: I’ve been planning this for a long time. You can’t just whip up such a rare ring on the spot.

MC: Since you’ve made that bet with me, I must also reciprocate.

I straighten up and slowly slide the small ring onto his ring finger.

Li Zeyan’s gaze also remains fixated on my fingertips until the ring moves past his second joint, then he lifts his eyes to stare at me again.

Under the sunlight, those deep, enigmatic eyes of his shine even brighter, an expectation as clear as crystals surging within them.

I gaze fixedly at him, his cheeks now tinged with a gentle blush, and find myself unable to suppress the smile that steals across my lips.

MC: I bet that you will still remember this day, this moment, even decades from now.

MC: Just like I will.

After a few seconds of silence, Li Zeyan tosses the chocolate in his hand aside and tightly clasps my hand with his broad palm.

Seeing that he still hasn’t said anything, I press on and ask once more.

MC: How about it? Do you want to make this bet with me?

LZY: Sure, but…

Even before the words have fully left his mouth, a sudden force on my wrist yanks me towards him. I can’t help but cry out in surprise, only to find myself falling into his arms.

A warm breath immediately envelopes me as he locks me firmly in his arms, and I find myself slowly consumed by an intense yearning.

LZY: [nearly breathless] If you want me to remember, you’ll have to up the ante.

Without waiting for me to respond, he continues kissing me, effortlessly subduing any possible protest I could have.

Even after all this time, he still kisses me with the same uninhibited passion as he did the first time. The distant time and unspoken words all melt away in the gentle caress. [5]

The sound from the television gradually fades away, and the stories of others drift beyond my consciousness.

Even without this bet, I would find it impossible to forget this moment.

After who knows how long has passed, Li Zeyan gently releases me, lowering his head to rest his forehead against mine.

I look into his eyes, so close and within reach, and feel a surge of emotion in my heart.

MC: Li Zeyan.

LZY: Hm?

MC: Will you–– [6]

Before I can say anything further, he promptly raises his hand to cover my mouth.

LZY: [HIS PANICKED TONE HHHH]  Wait.

LZY: I’ve accepted the world’s most creative ring, but please don’t say anything more.

LZY: This is something that I should be the one to take care of.

I pause for a moment, then quickly understand what he meant, unable to suppress a laugh as I hold onto his hand.

LZY: Why are you laughing?

MC: Hahaha, although I really don’t want to spoil the atmosphere, but actually, I wanted to ask––

MC: Li Zeyan, will you wear this ring to work?~ ^^

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[Tidbits]

[5] Unnecessary, really, but still a refresher– it’s the callback to his first kiss aka “Dazzling Date.”

[6] Although obvious from Li Zeyan’s reaction, I still wanna clarify– he cut MC off when she had only gotten to “你愿不愿意—” (will you/ would you be willing to)-- and the rest of that sentence typically is “(will you) marry me” (你愿不愿意嫁给我吗), which is why LZY doesn’t even take any chances and goes, “nope not happening, I wanna do it” 😂❤️

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【Personal Ramblings】

Remainder of One’s Life Date: here!

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[boyfhee]

⌕ TAKE TWO ━━ 13 : unauthorized investigation

PRECIS. while riki constantly assured you that him being an idol under a different label wouldn't be an issue in your relationship, you start getting second thoughts when fans start shipping him with his co-mc at music bank.

w. angst, miya ( bbg deserves her own warning )

wc. 1.23k

“i didn’t expect you to actually come,” miya chuckles, a menacing grin dancing on her lips with unclear intentions masking her eyes. there’s not much you can decipher about her, except that she’s here for nothing more than your boyfriend. “do you not trust your boyfriend? do you think he’s actually hiding something from you?” 

you watch her skim through the menu as if this is supposed to be some friends’ day out, her characteristic smile never leaving her face even for a second. perhaps, it’s the smile that has people wrapped around her, or maybe more. you’re here to fight for what belongs to you in the first place, but one look at miya, and you’re thinking of all the reasons you could lose from her. you aren’t the type to think of the worst possible scenarios before trying, but something about her has you counting your other options. 

what if she actually succeeds in whatever she’s planning? 

what if riki loves her and not you?

what if. . . and what ifs are all that have been plaguing your mind ever since you received her text. her presence isn’t one to stand out but her words weigh down your shoulders. the truth about riki, you might never know. maybe, it’s part of a bigger plan, maybe she’s simply messing with you. you don’t know, you would never. miya, in herself, is sort of a mystery, and you hate how she makes you question everything you’ve been confident about. 

“no, i’m just here to see how pathetic you can get,” but you have a dignity to maintain, a look to deliver that you aren’t half bothered by her silly tricks, even if it’s a white lie. 

“you’ve really painted me as the villain in your eyes, haven’t you?” you wonder if she’s trying to incite you, to make you lose your cool. her words are of less importance, almost none, for she’s asking questions she already knows the answers too. she tried to break up your relationship with riki, took every opportunity to ruin things between the two of you and create doubts. so yes, if you consider these things, a villain is not even close to how you see her. 

“i don’t want someone who doesn’t want me, but if there’s even a little chance that he does, i’m not backing off,” it’s an apology and a challenge in the same sentence. as if, she’s sorry that you’re about to lose your relationship, but riki is worth fighting and so, she’s not going to apologise for being the reason why your relationship is falling apart. “besides, i can’t control who i fall for, now, can i?” 

“of course,” you reach the conclusion that she’s trying to buy time, to annoy you enough that it leaves you with few options, one of them being giving up. it’s smart, you would say, because throwing around the blame and playing the victim card, if done correctly, tends to turn situations in your favour. her eyes still travel back and forth between you and the menu— it doesn’t seem like she’s planning on ordering anything. and in the end, there’s no truth, all lies, and one benefit of doubt.   

“yn, i’m not an enemy,” her voice goes soft, eyes looking at you as if you’re supposed to be on her team. “i’m your friend. i’m just another person in love, just like you. i’m really hoping you’d understand,” and there’s a certain tone in her voice; pride, pity— desire.   

it’s a shame how you failed to recognise it at once. 

“understand what, that it’s okay to ruin someone’s relationship? or that, everything is fair as long as you get what you want, even if it means ruining someone’s career?” there are a thousand reasons why riki could choose her over you, and a million reasons why he wouldn’t. one could be so blindly in love to even forget what’s good and bad, or right and wrong, but god, not riki, not him. you’ve known him for over ten years, dated for three, and there’s only one thing about him that you’re sure of— music. you would find yourself wondering how life would’ve been if you had never chosen this field, but not him. riki has one dream, to make music, and his second, you, or so you believe.  

“now, when did i do that?” and miya goes again, pretending to be the innocent one in his unauthorised interrogation. you know she’s in the wrong, but the look in her eyes and the confidence dancing on the tips of her fingers push you towards fear. she isn’t half as astute as you, but she came prepared. as if she had played this conversation in her head weeks ago before fixing her target and sharpening her moves. 

“oh, i know you paid the media to post pictures of you and riki to provoke us. even his instagram, it was impossible to track it and find the pictures since it’s a private account that has been inactive for years,” you say as a matter of fact, “you think you’re the smart one here but it really doesn’t take a scientist to catch up to your cheap moves,” 

at first, you thought of it as a coincidence— the media finding riki’s account, an article about dating while referring to a picture taken months ago— but the more you think about it, the less it comes off as just a coincidence. in fact, things fell into place better when you imagined miya behind every single thing that has happened lately. it would make more sense to claim that she tipped off journalists to post articles about her and riki everytime the rumours seemed to disappear, just to make sure the fans stayed interested in whatever hypothesis she was trying to prove. she planned it out, has been doing so for months probably, and you would give her the credit of being incredibly clever and impossibly crazy; the more intelligent, the less sane. 

“oh, okay, i did that,” she shrugs nonchalantly, as if her actions don’t concern her anymore. the lack of remorse and the abundance of everything else on her face is making your palms sweat, afraid that the next moment, your boyfriend would be slipping through the cracks of your hands and you wouldn’t be able to hold him. “but yn, do you really think i’m the only one who wants this?” 

“what do you mean?” there’s a stern look in her eyes. her words are firm, she sounds a little too certain for your comfort. maybe, she’s just a really good liar, maybe you’re reading too much into her actions. maybe, it’s something you’ve created inside your head and it will go away when you wake up. just maybe, those are the words you decide to hold onto. 

“you’ve been doubting me since day one, convinced that i’m trying to steal your boyfriend, but what if it’s the other way round?” she leans on the table, you’re hoping her words won’t gesture towards what you’ve been fearing the most. “what if riki made the first move?” and miya knows it’s a blatant lie, but no amount of apologies from riki could bury her words deep enough to never unravel. 

after all, she just had to sow the seeds of doubt and let them do their job. 

PREV | NEXT | MASTERLIST

[mitsua]

My last seven minutes with you

Mini context: After death, human brain lives for 7 minutes to replay its best memories. SOOOO HOW COULD I LET THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR ANGST GO AWAY??!!!

Warnings: mentions of reader dying Series: Obey me! SWD?

Pairing: brothers × MC Words' count: 0.65k

MC'S . . . GN! Genre: angst

The first minute was spent thinking about those nights you'd wake up feeling heavy, after looking down and finally coming to your senses, you'd notice Belphegor's body on top of yours. Resting happily and so comfortably you'd feel bad about waking him, so you'd endure the difficulties of breathing to spend more time with him.

You'd also remember how he'd come up to you, pouting cutely after school has ended as a sign to go nap with him.

The second minute leads to one time you craved something in the middle of the night but couldn't put your finger as to what exactly; only after you've encountered Beelzebub munching some left overs at the refrigerator. He asked you why were you up so late, to what you answered honestly. Not even ten seconds passed before Beelzebub offered you a tray of food.

Those times you'd go to different restaurants to taste the new flavors added on their menu each time also helped to warm a tiny bit, your slowly-going cold, heart.

The third minute comes and your brain goes to shopping days with Asmodeous, days where you could discover new sides of him, he'd open up little by little about some insecurities of his; but never forgot about your main purpose-refill your closet! Sometimes you may have or may have not used Lucifer's card in order to achieve it...

There was also his constant flirting and teasing that never failed to make your knees go weak and butterflies made a party in your stomach.

The fourth minute shows a mixed of times where you'd comfort Satan when you're first trying to get him out of his anger issues towards himself, and times where you were reading together, either in silence or not, both of you had smiles on your faces.

Going out after finishing study sessions or homework in general to feed the stray cats had become a habit, you even got to know each and every cats' name!

The fifth minute conducted your mind in a state of relaxation, bright colors blinded your eyes for a few moments, while you adjusted to it, you heard a familiar voice making happy and loud noises such unlikely of him. Nevertheless, Leviathan couldn't be happier of you two winning the game's end after hours of hard work.

Sometimes you'd have to rescue him from his brothers' bickering as you already knew how he felt about himself, you'd accompany him until the end.

The sixth minute took you to a scene where you felt your face contort into one of concern. Mammon was strung up from the ceiling again. On those occassions, even if he begged you to free him, as you knew his older brother was keeping a sharp eye on him, knowing better than oblige, you'd opt to strike up conversations to spend time with him.

To make him forget all those bad thoughts he'd get from time to time and continue being his loud but courageous and cute self.

The seventh, and for what's to mention; last minute. You had already stopped feeling your physical body at all, only feeling a couple of stungs here and there, but as the memories flowed, there was no pain.

There was no pain as Lucifer came to your mind. How difficult it was to gain his trust being the first impactful memory you thought about. From then on, you'd get flashes of various memories such as the times you'd have quiet and relaxing music sessions in his office or attend to packed with good-looking demons, restaurants only for you to be the only one receiving his compliments, even when he was pride's embodiment.

As you felt a last stung on your heart, your last breath was heard by those who filled your heart with warmth for the time you've met them and your last memories, to leave them resting with a smile on your features.

All writings' rights reserved © 2024 Mitsua. (Credit to the respective owners of the pictures and tagged anime characters.) ⌇ my navigation!

[foxstens]

so let’s talk abt visual novels

i didn’t think i’d be interested in any of them after fsn but i guess the format just works for me? personally i love words and the things you can do with them and the way books do storytelling but i’m also horrible at visually imagining things when reading, and that makes books more forgettable to me i guess.

but the vn format seems to be the perfect middle ground. it’s less limited than anime when it comes to things like narration and internal monologue and even length i guess, but it’s also easier to pay attention to than books thanks to the audio-visual elements. 

then there’s the fact that you can control the pace at which the words show up, which is one of the things that frustrates me about books. when i got into reading as a regular hobby i developed this habit where i’d kind of skim everything i read, as in i’d really only pay 100% attention to the dialogue, bc trying to read and absorb every word was slow and boring and every time i tried to do that my eyes would always jump ahead and i’d find myself having to return to certain sentences to make sure i really understood them. so even though having to hit enter after every sentence isn’t my favourite thing, the autoplay function on vn’s without voice acting is a godsend

another thing i love is how in a lot of them the backgrounds and the characters tend to look completely different. like in some the background might be more realistic while the character sprites are very obviously anime-like, and in others the sprites might be very colourful and detailed while the backgrounds are pretty bare-bones and simplistic. i kind of hated it at first but now it’s just one of those things that make vns different. (not to say that every vn looks amazing but yea)

as for things i don’t really love....... well. i guess the biggest one would be the choice-making aspect. bc as far as i’ve seen the choices can lead to a good end, a normal end, or a bad end. or they might be meaningless choices that just give you different dialogue or smth. and sometimes it might be impossible to guess which choice or which combination of choices does what. which is why i’ve used a walkthrough for every vn i’ve read so far (other than f/fha)

if you happen to want to get every possible ending you might end up having to basically replay every route multiple times while abusing the skip button (if it even has a skip button). and even when you get to choose the route there might be a recommended order for the routes (which you’d have no idea about unless you looked it up) or you might have to read all of them to unlock the entire story

so i guess route-wise fsn’s approach is my favourite, and choices-wise it’s fha’s bc basically all i got to choose was when to interact with which characters, instead of when to die.

i guess kinetic novels might be the answer to this but i haven’t tried any of them yet and having choices makes me pay more attention? and if i happen to really really really love a vn i’d actually be glad to go through every possible choice and ending :’)

there’s a lot more to talk abt but i’ll prob do that later on so in the meantime here’s a list of the ones i’ve tried so far

1. fate/stay night

2. fate/hollow ataraxia

3. amnesia: memories

4. flowers - the volume of spring - (dropped bc i wasn’t in the mood for it)

5. english detective mysteria (same as above)

7. fashioning little miss lonesome (loved it but the first LI is so ugly i had to drop it)

6. cinderella phenomenon (currently reading)

[morbethgames]

A tiny glimpse into the final scene of Chapter 2 + What’s to come

                            I smile back and rub my neck a little. "The only instrument I have is my voice. I practice by myself at home a lot, but I was also in choir at school." I let out an amused chuckle, "Man, they used to make us sing the [i]worst[/i] stuff. We had this song we had to sing for the Holiday concert, and the entire thing was about getting socks as a present."

                           ${eli} lets out a small laugh, "Really? That bad?"

                           "Oh yeah, it definitely was. Although we did get to sing some good ones too, one of which was 'Footloose'. I still sing that song to myself in the shower sometimes." I faintly laugh in return, remembering the days back in elementary school when things were just so much more carefree.

                           "In fact," I continued, "I strictly remember one girl in the front row of the chorus, Rhonda Simmons. On the very last line of the song, on the big finisher, she sung it so loud that it cracked every window in the auditorium."

                           ${eli}'s eyes widened with a smile. "Surely not."

                           I chuckled a little, "It's true, it's true. Her mutation had to do with her voice being amplified." My smile starts to fade a little, "She had a, uh… a great voice."

                           ${eli}'s smile starts to falter as well when ${NPCGender1} sees my expression shift. "Is something the matter?"

                           "Sorry, I just remembered…" I pause for a moment, recalling the events that took place afterward. "When chorus started the next year, I noticed she wasn't there. Turns out her mutation was one that affected her larynx and made it produce sound by amplifying its vibrations. During winter break, on Christmas, her parents got her this cheap karaoke machine." A sad smile forms on my lips for a couple of seconds and I shake my head, but the smile fades just as fast and my features turn mournful. "When she saw what they got her she screamed out in joy… Her vocal chords tore themselves apart."

                           ${eli} gazed at me with a stoic sympathy, simply sitting there and waiting until I was done. When ${NPCGender1} was sure that I was, ${NPCGender1} spoke in a soft, almost monotonous tone. "That's also part of our job, you know."

                           I stare up at ${NPCGender27}, confused.

                           "It's not all just catching killers and bringing justice to them. There's an entire subsection of the Mutation Control Team that focuses on rehabilitation and guidance. If someone is possibly able to control their mutation, we offer to help with that. That's why our job is so important, because sometimes the people we track down don't need justice… they simply need a little help."

                           I look back at ${NPCGender27} with a thankful smile and nod. "Thanks."

                           ${NPCGender2} simply nods back in return.

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

It’s going to be a little while longer until the chapter is finally out, so I figured why not post a little snippet of it to hold people off? To put it in perspective how massive this scene is, you will have an option to choose whether or not your MC plays a musical instrument. There are a total of 9 options (including not playing one at all) and every single one of them have completely unique responses. This is the response if you chose that your voice is your instrument. 

So please, put those save files to good use, and try out different options! You may learn more about the world, get extra little information about the MCT, or unique dialogues that come up later in the game! A current live example of this that is in the demo is that Elizabeth/Arthur have two entirely separate scenes on the train. If you have >= 15 intelligence when playing chess with them, you play a full game. If you have < 15 intelligence when playing chess with them, the game end very quickly and it takes you to a different scene with unique dialogue. 

Something similar also happens with Kris/Kristina on the train. There’s a specific dialogue option where if you noticed Sarah/Samuel’s panic attack in Chapter 1 (which in the current build is only possible if you have >15 Insightful) it makes a unique choice appear with them on the train. I’m hoping that by the end of the game, even regardless of stats, players will have the ability to have a unique experience in many playthroughs and see a new side of their favorite MCT member every time!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to say that soon, Extra Scenes will be added to the Stats Screen. These scenes will unlock as you make choices in the game and act as short scenes you can go back and reread at any time! For instance, if you get a dialogue option where Sarah/Samuel tells you briefly how they met Kate, you might unlock an Extra Scene in the stats menu where you can actually read through the entire scene of them meeting for the first time.

These are meant to not only add to the replayability, but to also give you scenes that expand the characters, world, and understanding of mutations, all without disrupting the flow of the main story. They will not have stats attached to them, even if they are scenes with the MC that allow you to make choices. I really liked the idea of this and I haven’t heard of it being done in a ChoiceScript game before (I could be extremely wrong about that and if I am then I profusely apologize) so I’m going to try to add these in as I go along.

This was a very lengthy update, and I do apologize, but just know that I am working very hard to make this the best IF I possibly can! Thank you all so much for following the game, and for supporting and believing in me. From the bottom of my heart, it genuinely means a lot, and I hope I don’t disappoint you all and that the book can live up to all the positive reception it’s gotten so far. Thank you all again.

[xiaomoxu]

MLQC CN Victor (Li Zeyan) Exhibition Date Part 3 & 4

SPOILER ALERT!!

It's  a date which has released on CN server. I'm doing translation for personal reason, so I'm sorry if there's some mistranslation. Kindly tell me if you found some :) feel free for read it~ ^^

Read previous part here

Part.3

MC: This exhibit is called "It's Sunny Today", it's the work I want to include in the show

MC: These are the diaries of a woman for ten years, and they write the bits and pieces of her life.

MC: As for Mr. A, who is often mentioned in these diaries, he is the one she likes.

Li Zeyan bowed his head silently, flipping through one of the books

Li Zeyan: From the perspective of her narrative language style, it looks very similar to yours.

MC: Do you know what is written on the last page of this diary?.. Happy wedding.

Mr. A, whom she likes, declined her confession several times. Later, Mr. A immigrated abroad and the two broke contact.

MC: What she got again was the news that Mr. A was about to get married, so the diary stopped on this page.

Li Zeyan stopped reading the diary, his expression was a little surprised.

Li Zeyan: So what is the purpose of her diary?

I stared at the yellowed cover of the diary and recalled the description in the guidebook.

MC: There is no purpose.

MC: She later said...this is her real life, and it is a very peaceful life.

MC: In the past ten years, she entered postgraduate studies, went to a listed company as a supervisor, and later became a manager and director...

MC: Never give up on yourself for a moment.

MC: Her major for postgraduate entrance examination is one of the most difficult majors in the country.

MC: But when she thought that this school was very close to the high school Mr. A had attended, she persevered.

MC: She felt that even if she walked around the school, she seemed to be closer to his life.

MC: For a long time, she lived alone and recorded by herself,

MC: There are no grand surprises and pains, only trivial life and emotions.

Although it is a sad story, but judging from the cute and interesting description in her diary, even if she feels regretful, she still lives well.

But I talked a lot about it, but Li Zeyan kept silent, so I walked up to him and gently pulled his cuff.

MC: I finished reading here, shall we go?

Li Zeyan: This is the exhibit you want to enter the show, don't you take some photos and go back?

MC: I have this plan, but I am afraid you may find it boring.

Upon receiving his inquiring eyes, I honestly said frankly.

MC: After all, President Li always has some important things in his head every day...

MC: It is understandable that you have no interest in this kind of little love.

Li Zeyan smiled casually.

Li Zeyan: If I'm not interested in this kind of little love, I will not accompany you here on weekends.

He glanced at the diary on display again, and his expression showed some emotion.

Li Zeyan: In fact, human emotions are interlinked, and I understand her.

I didn't expect Li Zeyan to give such an answer, but I was a little stunned.

MC: Don't you think she was wasted the time she spent writing in the diary?

Li Zeyan: Will not.

Li Zeyan cast his gaze on one of the pages in the diary.

Li Zeyan: She herself wrote: No moment of time is wasted for love.

I rarely hear this type of words from Li Zeyan, it even makes me feel strange.

In my impression, we seem to seldom talk directly about the theme of "love".

Maybe it is because he always loves words and opinions. Maybe it is because I have always had a big mind. We always have no chance to understand the meaning of the word seriously.

Will he feel the same when he sees these exhibits?

I looked down, and after a short hesitation, I looked at him again.

Li Zeyan: what you want to say?

MC: Thinking... about the question you just asked me.

I went forward two more steps, one by one at such a close distance, he didn't retreat for half a step, but leaned toward me slightly.

MC: I think Little love is very interesting.

MC: You met someone and felt some emotions.

MC: From then on, you are no longer what you were before, you have been changed. This is a trace.

MC: Such traces will remain in paintings and texts, in sculptures and photography... I can also feel this trace.

Li Zeyan lowered his head and cast his eyes, and there was light and shadow in the quiet pupils.

Li Zeyan: For example.

I clearly caught the smile raised by his lips, and thought seriously.

MC: For example... The format of my plan has changed.

MC: First line indentation, font size ten to five, and paragraph spacing 1.5 are the most pleasing formats for you!

Li Zeyan raised his eyebrows lightly.

Li Zeyan: Only in this way?

MC: And there is... I became picky eater.

MC: I never thought any food was bad.

MC: But Souvenir's special menu has made my taste worse, and now I almost feel like eating Michelin.

Li Zeyan didn't hold back his smile, shook his head helplessly, and took my hand.

Li Zeyan: follow me.

There is an exhibition board in the innermost part of the second floor exhibition hall, which describes the entire process of how the exhibition was initiated to how to grow.

Picture of the curator on top....

MC: The coffee shop owner just now!

Li Zeyan: Fortunately, you did the strategy in advance, but you didn't recognize him?

MC: I just said how familiar he is!

MC: Say so...

MC: The story about this exhibition is also his story.

The literary youth who secretly fell in love with a girl spent a lot of time because they did not know how to confess. When he finally plucked up the courage, the girl died of cancer.

These words are just a few words written on the whiteboard, and even some clichés.

But when I think that this is someone, the real life that is happening, I can't help feeling regret and sadness in my heart.

Li Zeyan: So the name of this exhibition is "Speak Out".

Li Zeyan: The existence of traces is the way in which feelings are spoken.

MC: Whether it's a mouse hidden in a painting, a miss written in a diary, or a stone sculpture with a face of love...

MC: Are talking about their thoughts.

MC: Together with this exhibition, it is also a voice from the coffee shop owner who wants to make up for his regrets.

All the clips are strung together in front of my eyes, making my heart feel the most real touch.

MC: Li Zeyan, although a bit old fashioned....

MC: But if I want to make the program "New Year's Emotions" the theme of "Speak Out"...

MC: Will you approve (or reject) my plan?

Li Zeyan glanced at me, eyebrows stretched.

Li Zeyan: Depends on the quality of the plan.

Part.4

When we finished viewing the exhibition and walked out of the gate of the exhibition hall, a cold wind mixed with drizzle came.

The sun was still shining when I went out, why did it suddenly rain

Li Zeyan: I asked Wei Qian to come and pick us up.

MC: Huh? There's no need..

I quickly took out the tickets for this exhibition from my bag.

MC: I remember that the souvenirs sent by this exhibition seem to be an umbrella exchange with a ticket to the small window.

Li Zeyan naturally took the tickets from me.

Li Zeyan: You are waiting for me here.

MC: Okay

While waiting, I couldn’t help but look back at the exhibition hall and saw the coffee shop owner is closing the door.

Accompanied by the closing music melody, he flipped the store's "OPEN" sign and hung it up as "CLOSE", then inserted a lock and put the key in his pocket.

This should be his ordinary day again.

But he noticed my gaze and couldn't help but glanced at me, then smiled and waved at me and walked deeper into the exhibition hall.

There are many people in this world who have not even been able to say the most important thing, but I am different.

While in a trance, Li Zeyan had already returned under an umbrella.

In the gloomy night, the street lamps were lit up, and he slowly walked towards me in the interlacing of light and shadow.

I saw the fine raindrops wet his hair, and the dim light mingled in his deep eyes.

The traces that have already existed, it should be said in a more direct way...

MC: Li Zeyan, have you heard the music coming out of the exhibition hall?

Li Zeyan didn't hear my overtones and explained it to me seriously.

Li Zeyan: This music is to remind visitors that the closing time is up.

I was a little helpless, and then whispered to him.

MC: Didn't you think of anything else? Don't you think this music is a bit familiar?

Li Zeyan was silent, frowning slightly, as if thinking seriously.

No longer giving Li Zeyan time to think, I ran to him in small steps and stretched out a hand to him with a smile on my back.

MC: This gentleman, can you dance with me while enjoying your face?

Li Zeyan's eyes dazzled slightly.

MC: When you first taught me to dance, you used this tune.

The world is silent, and I hear my heart beating with pounding expectations.

MC: This is the trace of me being changed by you.

The warm fingertips pressed against my palm. Before I recovered, Li Zeyan pulled me into his arms completely.

In the minor tune played on the violin, I followed Li Zeyan's footsteps, gently stepping on the melody, and jumping around in circles.

The night is sinking, but my eyes are full of light

The joy exploded in my heart, like bright fireworks soaring into the night sky, echoing the sky full of stars.

No words can describe such a feeling of satisfaction.

MC: What about you?

Li Zeyan: Me what?

MC: Do you have nothing to say to me? After watching the exhibition all afternoon, there is always some afterthought.

Li Zeyan stopped and held me tight. Some raindrops were blown by the diagonal wind, and he leaned over the umbrella to completely block the rain.

Li Zeyan: Dummy.

The raindrops pattered on the umbrella surface, accompanied by his low voice falling to my ears, as if all the noise was isolated, and only him in the world existed in front of me.

Li Zeyan: Let a greedy cat clamor for dessert after dinner, I baked pudding before going out.

Li Zeyan: Do you think this is a sign of change?

~END~

Thank you for reading, kindly let me now if there's any mistranslation ><

[apenapaperandadoofus]

SKKSKSKS your new post gave me an idea! hear me out, ok so MC is a STRUGGLING college student. Anyway, the rfa (plus jihyun&saeran) finds out MC is opting to get a sugar daddy 😳 (MC's fellow broke friends says try it out lol!) And so, MC is meeting SD for lunch. Turns out it's a weird disaster. Which of them will be spying & ready to fite, or drag MC away before she even gets her ass to the seat? i feel like jumin will go 👁👄👁 with this whole thing. just curious how they'll react oop-

I love it and I love you lmao this is the best thing everrr, I had so much fun writing it ASKFBDJ

I’m going to save Jumin for last because I just loved writing his head cannon lmao

RFA + V and Saeran reacting to an MC that gets a sugar daddy/mommy:

Zen:

So Zen found out about your little sugar daddy plan

He was LIVID

He will cancel every single thing he has today

And he will go and spy on you

Zen will literally have everything he needs, he’ll have a disguise and he’ll be hiding in the bushes watching your date

If he sees your SD trying to touch you he will tackle him

And then he’ll grab your hand and lead you away, no matter how much you complain

When he brings you home he will sit you down and oh boy, get ready for the biggest lecture of your life

You see him BECOME your mother

He will talk with you for about an hour

“Y/N seriously! Why didn’t you tell any of us, we could have helped you, YOU LITERALLY ARE FRIENDS WITH TWO RICH ASSHOLE WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?!”

But then Zen will calm down and sit next to you, his face a bit red

“I just...I’d like you to depend more on us...on me. I will do anything for you so please, promise me you won’t go dating old guys for money again?”

And how could you say no to those puppy eyes?

Zen will work hard so you don’t struggle so much alone

Yoosung:

He will be an angry boio

He’s like a mad chihuahua

When he figures out your plan he will drag Seven down with him to spy on you

Of course Seven will make fun of him, and he won’t help with shit lmao

But Yoosung will take it seriously

He will be watching you from the shadows, and you know what? He will try to even screw up your date

The next time you see him he will be all pouty and won’t talk to you for a while

He won’t even look at you

So Seven gives up and tells you that Yoosung found out about your sugar daddy adventure

You will come up to Yoosung and talk it out with him

“Sorry Y/N...it’s just...I got...mad! I could’ve helped you, you know? You don’t have to date gross guys like him to get money. The RFA is here for you! Also...I may have also gotten...a bit jealous. Just. Don’t do it again. Please...I’ll help you!”

Aw he’s so adorable so you agree

Now Yoosung won’t have to go and murder that guy

I mean, what, Yoosung and murder? WhaaaaAAAAA- he had everything planned who am I kidding pft

Jaehee:

Honestly, when hears you got a sugar mommy she’s a bit jealous and worried

But who is she to tell you what to do?

I mean don’t get her wrong, she wants to slap that woman for looking at you like that and for abusing your need for money

So she will slowly help you without you noticing

She will bake something so you can go an sell it at school

Or she’ll lend you some money

If she sees you struggling she will do everything she can so you don’t need to get a sugar mommy again!

One night, when you are finally able to have enough money for some other things, you invite her out to dinner to thank her for everything she helped you with

“Y/N...I have to tell you something. When you were, well struggling, I found out you saw a woman...older than you so she could give you money. And I- well...I’m not someone who should tell you who to date or not, but it just made me feel very strange inside. I wanted to be the one holding your hand, to help you go through that rough patch...”

You smile warmly at Jaehee and caress her cheek.

“Thank you Jaehee. Really, you helped me through so much. And now I want to repay you for it! So I bough you front row seats to one of Zen’s latest musicals!”

Jaehee squealed and gave you a hug

Then you spent such a great time during Zen’s performance

Saeyoung:

Ok he may have maybe read one of your text messages

And then maybe a few more

He didn’t mean to you know?!

But he found out you were struggling at college because it had become super expensive

The first thing he did was help you by paying some things secretly

But then he found out when you were meeting with your SD

And guess what? He freaking set up a double date

You were confused when your SD had brought a friend of his to he cafe, but it all clicked when you saw a very beautiful woman with long red hair and very familiar mischievous yellow eyes come in the restaurant.

You quickly stood up and grabbed the woman who had come in saying a quick sorry to the other men and then dragged her to the bathroom

Honestly Seven thought you would yell at him, but then you started laughing maniacally

“Se-SEVEN!! What in the-HOW?! This is the best thing ever-pftt HAHAHAH I CAN’T SEVEN WHAT THE HELL”

He of coursed, laughed along with you but then he cleared his throat and spoke in a high pitched voice

“My name is Samantha, thank you very much! You’re not the only one who can get a sugar daddy you know?” He winked and grabbed your hand, leading you to the table. “Now lets go get us some money! I can’t wait together a new baby! I just found one online and fell in love with it so I have to get it as soon as possible!”

The both of you spent the evening flirting and acting all cutesy the whole time

Although Seven would intervene if he saw your sugar daddy getting way too comfortable with you, or if he saw him trying to touch you somewhere else,

He will fight your SD tried anything on you

Apart from that you two end up buying tons of shit you don’t need lmao

V:

One day he saw you hanging out with a really old dude

He didn’t think anything of it, maybe he was your dad or something

But then he saw he was getting kind of flirty with you

Then he remembered that one night you had complained about how expensive your college tuition had become and how you were going to get a sugar daddy

Well Jihyun thought you were joking Y/N, HoNeY pLeAsE

He watched from the sidelines for a bit but then he felt sort of...jealous

So when the date was over and you waited outside for your taxi with your SD, V got on his car and called out for you

You will blush and get on the car with him, your SD was actually pretty confused since V had a very expensive car

While he’s driving V will give you a huge lecture

“Y/N, I know you are having problems but you can’t go and start dating a guy just because of money. I mean, who knows what he could’ve done to you, he could’ve abused your situation and everything. If you need help please tell me, and we’ll figure something out, but don’t go out with guys like that. They’re bad news.”

You’re heart warmed at the thought of V caring so much for you

He made you promise to be more truthful when you were having problems, and you had to reassure him that he shouldn’t worry, but V insisted

If he can he will get you to model for his pictures and pay you a very large amount of money, which you WILL have to take of Jihyun could become angry for the first time in ages

Saeran:

Oh no

Oh boy

He heard from your friend that you had found a sugar daddy

She wasn’t joking you actually found a goddamn sugar daddy

Saeran will be kinda shocked and sad

So he will hack into your phone (he’ll apologize later) and find out where you’re meeting the guy

As soon as he saw your SD getting kind of handsy, and you being a bit uncomfortable, he will run over and punch him I’m not kidding

He will be ready to fightttt

You’ll have to pull him away and apologize, dragging Saeran to your car and quickly driving out of here

“Saeran! What was that? Why did you punch him?!”

He just stayed quiet the whole time, and when you finally drove him to his home, he turned around and cupped your face in his hands, squishing

“You were clearly uncomfortable. Why didn’t you tell me about the college problems? You know I could’ve been more than happy to help you. That guy...he didn’t give off a good vibe. And he was starting to grab you and you looked like you didn’t want to be there and I just- I got mad. Because I don’t want to see you with another guy, and I don’t want to see you getting used for some money.”

Saeran was blushing, but he wouldn’t take back what he just said.

You were red too, and before you could reply Saeran quickly kissed your forehead and ran into his home

Of course later the RFA found out about your SD plan and they all nagged you lmao

Jumin:

He was eating at this very expensive restaurant, he just had a super important meeting and it had just finished

As he was about to leave he saw a very familiar face come in with this guy. A really old guy, who was smiling in a very creepy way.

Like you said, my dear anon, Jumin is just : 👁👄👁

You had sat in the table beside him, so he will try to hide by covering his face with the menu

Jumin was actually really confused as to why he was doing it, since if were any other person he would’ve awkwardly said hi and left as quickly as possible

But he wanted to stay...to see what you were doing, why you were going out with a guy that could be your dad

“Thank you for the meal Mr. Lee” He heard your sweet voice say.

The man, Mr. Lee laughed, -a really horrible laugh by the way- Jumin thought

. “Y/N, sweetheart, you know you can just call me Ju-won, I won’t mind.” The man’s almost hoarse voice said.

Ju-won Lee...Jumin thought the name was very familiar, but he was too busy looking at you two that he didn’t think much of it.

“Hehe, well alright!” You giggled and looked at the menu

“Y/N. How are those earrings I got you? Did you like them? They were the most expensive ones I could find, and I got them only for you.”

You slowly looked up and gave Mr. Lee a forced smile. “They were great Ju-won, thank you again!”

He got you..earrings?

Jumin figured out what was going on, and he felt as if the wind had been knocked out of his lungs

Later, when the both of you ordered some food, you asked Mr. Lee how his day was

Jumin was still in the same spot, overhearing everything you said

He didn’t know why he was feeling so conflicted, so mad. He hated seeing you with that man, he even felt a bit disappointed.

“Ah, well work was the same old, same old. The boss suddenly decided that he wanted to do yet another cat project. I honestly don’t know how he has that job, you know if it were me, I would make sure the company actually worked better. He does an awful job.”

“Ah. Umm, Ju-won, where is it that you work again?” You asked

“It’s a big company, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s called C&R International, but honestly work is such a pain. If it weren’t for Chariman Han I would’ve gotten the executive director spot, but just because Jumin Han -I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, but the Chariman is his father- and just because of that he got the job! I’m sure they didn’t even have to interview him, that brat. And he thinks he’s so great just because of his father, psh I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.”

Jumin for the first time every, felt really mad. He was finally about to say something but then he heard you slam the menu down.

“Mr. Lee, I’m sorry if I sound kind of rude, but Ju- I mean, Mr. Han actually does an amazing job. C&R has grown so much because of him, and I’m sure that he’s one of the people that works the hardest. He probably got the job because he earned it, not just because of family connections, so please don’t spread false rumors.”

When he heard you say that...

Jumin couldn’t help but blush

Before Mr. Lee could even utter another word he stood up and walked over to your table.

Mr. Lee instantly stood up, his face filled with panic, and you looked up at him with a blush in your face

“Mr. Lee, how are you doing this evening? If you’d excuse me for a moment I have to talk with your date for a bit. I don’t think I’ll bring her back, but don’t worry I’ll pay for the food, that way you will save that bit of money. You will probably need it, since I don’t think you’ll be able to afford these sort of activities any time soon. If you think working at C&R is such a pain, then I suggest you leave the company. I want your things gone by Monday. Have a good night.”

Me. Lee’s mouth was wide open, and he looked ready to get on his knees and beg, but before anything came out of his mouth Jumin grabbed your hand and dragged you to the roof of the restaurant, where no one was around.

“Jumin what-” before you could say anything Jumin pinned you against the wall and kissed you

The kiss was rough, and when he pulled away you were left a panting mess.

“Y/N, why were you eating with him. Please explain to me why he bought you a pair of earrings, and why he was flirting with you the whole time. I don’t want you to lie to me.”

Oh shit he was mad

You looked up at Jumin, your face red and your lips swollen, but then when you saw his cold expression you looked down

“I’m sorry Jumin...it’s just....recently my college tuition went up. And I, I couldn’t pay it. I got as many jobs as I could, but it still wasn’t enough. And then Abby, the girl I met at one of my classes told me that she knew how I could get quick money, and she gave me the number of this guy, who was willing to pay a lot for a woman that went out with him, and I was just so desperate! I, I didn’t want to bother anyone and I didn’t know what to do and I just- I panicked Jumin!”

You bit your lip as tears slowly fell from your eyes, and Jumin’s cold expression slowly faded as he grabbed your chin so you would be looking up at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped you.” He whispered

“I-I didn’t want to. I-I know how you feel about people, especially women asking for money. I know you could’ve helped, but I didn’t want you to think I was friends with you just for that! I mean I like you Jumin, I really, really do, and if you suddenly felt, I don’t know, betrayed or hurt and if you ended up never speakingto me again I don’t know what I would’ve done, I didn’t want that to happen. I’m..I’m sorry. I know how you feel about this type of stuff, and I understand if you don’t want to be around me anymore...” you sniffed.

Both of you stood in complete silence, until Jumin slowly moved a strand of hair away from your face and smiled.

“Y/N. I would never, ever get mad at you because you asked me for help. I’m sorry for snapping at you. Honestly, I hated seeing you with that man. I don’t know how to describe it, but when I saw him there with you, I felt sort of mad, which was surprising since Indint do that often. And I realized hay I got angry because I don’t want you going on dates with other men because I want you to only go out with me. And I didn’t know why I felt that way. But when you defended me, it all started to make sense. The reason why I felt that way it’s because... I love you, Y/N”

Jumin kissed you, and after you both calmed down he got Driver Kim to give you a ride home.

If Mr. Lee had bought you anything Jumin made sure to buy them from you twice the amount, and then he may have gone and thrown away, or something, but you never saw them again.

Even though you insisted that it was alright, Jumin still helped you with your college fees, he was more than happy to!

And then a few days later, when you were both eating at his home, he asked you out.

Of course you said yes! And everyone in the RFA was honestly pretty jealous of your relationship lmao

Also when they found out you got a sugar daddy they teased you AND nagged you (multitasking lmao)

[chaeryybomb]

JUNE COMEBACKS REVIEW

BLACKPINK: HOW YOU LIKE THAT

ngl I’m kinda sad bc a lot of y’all don’t like the song ;-; but I can’t do anything about it since it’s your opinion so

but I hope that people know the difference between hating and giving criticism saying the song sucks and that it’s trash music is straight up music

I can get why people are disappointed with the song since everyone wanted almost the same thing, “jennie getting a rap part”, “jisoo saying blackpink in your area” and a high note from rosé

personally I really like the song, to me it’s not the same as dddd and ktl tbh I think it’s different

plus I kinda expected it to be like that bc their songs usually follow that yg style ya know the only songs I say that don’t follow that stereotypical yg style is “love scenario”, “stay” and AKMU’s songs

i mean if you compare the song with other yg artists song, they all have the same vibe to it because of the “yg style” we always say

the song also gives me nct and skz vibes too, like specifically “punch” and “side effects” bc of the heavy edm and also bc their songs has been called noise before dhshd

but enough of that

I really like how the song starts calmly in the beginning and then it starts to be more aggressive

also I like the fact that each of the girls get a chance to say “how you like that”

lisa’s rap????? y e s

personally I feel like this time it had more of a fairer distribution, including lines and center parts

like jisoo actually gets some center parts in the dance break and chorus

i also really like the outfits this era, especially the modernized hanboks! though I have mix feelings about the pink wig dhshdh

speaking of hair, jennie!! she fucking dyed her hair!!!

and rosé is no longer blonde dhsjdj

the parts I found weird is when rosé says “look up in the sky it’s a bird it’s a plane” i have no idea how that fits in the song so

and the “dumdudurum” part at the end, it sounds out of place, like especially after it the song ends

i also think that this is their best choreography! right next to don’t know what to do

overall, I really like the song, if you don’t it’s fine! hylt has the most aesthetic mv’s I’ve seen and the outfits are so much better and it has been said that BLACKPINK’s old stylist left the company in January no not maeng

lisa’s fur coat outfit reminds me of yeji’s outfit in wannabe

would I say that hylt is their best song? no, I think playing with fire was their best song but it’s not a terrible song either

another I like is jisoo owning this era, say what you want, hylt is Jisoo’s era period.

STRAY KIDS: GOD’S MENU

what even is a concept anymore

we all thought it was going to be some street racer concept

buT NO

it’s a kung fu panda concept dhshdh

felix!!! my baby has lines !!!!

his demonic voice is bACK

hyunjin’s blond hair 😭😭

what the fUCK

the way he tied it up in a ponytail, like sir that is diSRESPECTFUL he really is jaebum’s son huh

okay okay on to the song

it honestly shocked me so much, like the rap parts were so aggressive like and the vocals are kinda angelic???

i really really like the pre-chorus, seungmin’s voice is just so !!!!! i also like seungmin+i.n’s little duet after felix’s part

spEAKING OF FELIX’S PART

“looking like a chef I’m a five star Michelin” bro that part is lowkey demonic looking in the dance

like mans pulled his knees up and put his hands through them while looking directly at you

does that not look demonic to you??? my friend said it reminded her of a spider dhshdhr

also the “dududu” part instantly reminded me of bp’s dddd dhshd like can someone edit a part of bp going “oh wait till I do when I hit you with that” and cuts to skz “DUDUDU”

the fact that no one has done it yet astounishes me

also what the fuck is that chain thing on Chan’s face, who put it there and why dhshd

bless whoever gave changbin dual contacts lens

AND WHO GAVE JEONGIN SLEEVELESS SHIRTS WHO ALLOWED THAT DHSHD

at first I found the choreography a bit funny bc they added like cooking gestures to it dhshd, like stirring the pot in the chorus but my favorite part of the dance is changbin’s part

the entire album was a bop okay, the fact that “god’s menu” wasn’t even the title track and they decided to change it, the fact that jyp has so much TRUST in bang chan also we get to see chan and sana being best friends uwu

“pacemaker” is literally “my pace” 2020 ver dhshd it even has the “nananana” part!

my favorites from the album is “TA”, “blueprint” and “haven”!!

also “easy”,,,, chan what did u do that it can’t be performed in shows

TWICE: MORE & MORE

wow girl groups are really being criticized this month huh

if y’all don’t know what happened with twice, a lot of people are criticizing twice for not singing live during their encore stages

a lot of them are especially going after momo

I’ve watched their encore stages and I don’t know why people are saying they sound bad???? maybe they need a better vocal coach but the fact that people are taking advantages of the situation just to hate on them smh

a n y w a y s

the song definitely gives a whole lot of “dtna” vibes bc of the tropical concept, its like “dtna” but the mature version

if “dance the night away” had an older sister, it would be “more & more”

also I really like the eve & adam concept, “more & more” is also another “creepy”ish song that is hidden behind a catchy tune, like “yes or yes” where ppl think it’s a cute song but the lyrics says otherwise

okay actually writing this out, it’s mv has “dtna” vibe but the song is so much like “yes or yes”

if you read the lyrics, the girls are basically saying that “no matter how hard you try to hide, you’re going to be mine again”

even in dahyun’s rap she says “I’m naturally selfish, I’m sorry if you didn’t know” and “you will fall for me, you can’t say no no”

it’s almost the same as her part in “yes or yes” where she says “there is no letters n and o” dhshdh sorry this becam a whole theory

back the real song review, I’m so glad that momo got a dance break! I think that this is their fairest line distribution yet. jeongyeon got her lines, dubchaeng got their rap parts and momo has a lot of center parts!!

and the girls look so much happier during their promotions especially tzuyu! she was smiling so much, maybe it’s because mina is with them and I’m so happy they get to perform as nine again

i really like their choreography and the part where they do the chest bounce is really satisfying idk why dhsdh

plus jeongyeon got better outfits this era cough feel special era cough

overall, I really like this comeback and it’s nice that nayeon got the high notes this time instead of jihyo

IZ*ONE: SECRET STORY OF THE SWAN

oh boy this is definitely my favorite song of this month

it’s so much different than their other songs!!!

and there’s so much to go on about!

wonyoung, minju, sakura and hyewon literally improved so much. im so proud of them !!!

hyewon, nako and sakua getting to sing the chorus??? y e s

chaeyena rap parts????? y e s

chaeyeon getting a dance break AND a high note???? Y E S

my favorite parts is eunbi+chaewon pre chorus wow I have a thing for pre choruses don’t I dhsh

i will say that this song vies the girls the chance to show how much they’ve improved throughout the eras, especially the j-line and visual line since a lot of people said they didn’t belong in izone

wonyoung and yujin's expressions are really on point as well

and yena's hip move dhshdhs

it's also rlly cute how eunbi throws confetti at her part dhshd

it’s refreshing to see how the girls improved

unfortunately, izone will be disbanding this year ;-; this is why I never liked the produce series

but we do have some ideas what will happen to the members though, we all know yena will be added into everglow, i having a feeling that eunbi and chaeyeon will be debuting as a soloist, they have so much potential plus the radiate chungha energy

nako, hitomi and sakura would most likely return to Japan, although I see sakura staying in korea to pursue an acting career and hitomi as a producer since she wrote some of izone’s songs

yuri might debut as a solo or debut in a new girl group as main vocalists, the same goes for chaewon

i see minju and hyewon going into acting careers and CF contracts, the same as kang mina, especially since minju is now an mc for music core

whereas for wonyoung and yujin, their both still young so I think they’ll finish school before re-debuting in groups plus yujin will be attending sopa

especially wonyoung, we all know that she’s actually really smart and is good at academics, i also think she might do modeling work, she fits the criteria

i also kinda see yujin pursuing an acting career because she will be in the theatre and film department in sopa. unless starship is going to debut a new girl group, I hope that yujin can debut as a soloist instead

WEKI MEKI: OOPSY

*inhales*

LUCY AND LUA FINALLY GETTING THE LINES THEY D E S E R V E D

I’m so happy dhshdhhs

also lua fits the short hairstyle so much, I’ve literally fallen for her help I can’t get up

as much as I love yoojung, it’s nice to see lucy rapping

the song is very catchy, I especially like rina’s part in the second verse of the song

i also love the “wolf & hunter” concept for the album

like the pictures were very beautiful, I also like how they use white for the wolves and black for the hunters, it’s like painting the hunters at the bad guys and the wolves as the good guys

I am in love with Lucy, Lua and Sei’s “nonono” part in the chorus

and the choreography for the chorus too

as much as I love elly’s blue hair, she slays in black hair dhshd I

I really love their outftis this era, i like how it’s all pants for the girls too

my favorite outfits are the black outfits from the gif

overall, this is definitely their fairest line distribution cough tika taka and dazzle dazzle cough

NATURE: GIRLS

this is my second favorite song of the month

I love the whole horror concept and I also like the fact that they released the uncensored version of the mv

it’s give the song much more of the horror vibe

I’m new to Nature and as far as I know, a member is stuck in China and another member sat out due to an injury. please correct me if I’m wrong

the outfits might be simple, but it fits so right with the song, I prefer the white dresses over the black ones

it kinda gives out the feeling that the girls are like asylum patients ya know, whereas the black dresses gives out that the girls are rich daughters that were sent away

I really like LU and Haru’s parts

the dance is also kinda a simple but it looks great!

overall, I hope that Nature will do this concept again, actually I hope to see more groups do this kind of concepts more

WAYV: TURN BACK TIME

did this comeback scare me? yes yes it did

bro the teasers were so scARY

yangyang was literally laughing like a mANIAC

MANS WAS IN AN ASYLUM OKAY

their teasers gave me so much suicide squad vibes

also, why the fuck were 4/7 members not wearing shiRTS

sm do you have a shirt shortage??? I’m sure nctzens are more than happy to donate some shirts to you

okay anyways, I’ve always liked wayv’s sci-fi concept, I don’t know if the mv’s are connected or not but I think they are

“take off” is them basically flying away from earth and they landed in space in “moonwalk” and it seems they have been captured in “turn back time”

very inch resting dhshd

listen, I may be chinese but I can’t understand 70% of the song because of how fast it goES

so with that saying, yANGYANG DID NOT COME TO PLAY

his rap was amazing !!!! he is definitely one of sm’s best rappers along with taeyong and mark

my favorite part is lucas and hendery’s rap parts and then it switches to xiaojun and yangyang + kun, ten and xiaojun getting highnotes

the dance break is so satisfying to watch too

“stop, rewind, turn back time” and “5432” part is so satisfying

also I’m really impressed with how fast LabelV responded when fans pointed out that some of the outfits had offensive phrases in them, they took the time to edit it out of the teasers and the mv, cheers to them

also! i find it funny that wayv released the Korean version of “turn back time” but all of us were much more shocked at the fact that Ten got another cat dhshd

SEVENTEEN: LEFT & RIGHT

first of all, dokyeom looks so gOOD IN THE MV

second of all, vernon and wonwoo’s “hana dul set” will forever be iconic

third, seungcheol is back 😭😭

just like twice, they get to perform as 13 again dhsjdsn

AND THEY LOOK SO HAPPY DURING THIS ERA TOO

LIKE HAVE YOU SEEN WONWOO?? HE’S SUCH A SMILEY BABY with his orange mic dhshd

also if y’all don’t have tiktok, svt has been doing the “left & right” with so many other idols including chungha and apink’s naeun!

haha joshua hong and wen junhui being real disrespectful with those sleeveless shirts

bonus point we got svt x nct china line + mark and joshua interaction at music bank

their choreography looks so fun too dhshd

the entire comeback is so cute and colorful

my favorite parts are vernon and seungcheol’s rap parts

also vernon be rocking that greaser style

their new album is so versatile, like, “fearless”, “left & right”, “kidult” and “my my”?? who’s doing it like seventeen

i love their new songs so much especially “kidult”

overall, I really really love this comeback

WJSN: BUTTERFLY

I couldn’t find a group scene gif pls forgive me

let me say, I am absolutely in love with the concept, the outfit concept for this is so creative, I don’t know if any other groups have done it before but !!

their outfits evovle like a butterfly!!

at first, the outfits were plain pastel colours but they slowly become more detailed and colourful throughout the stages, like a caterpillar to a butterfly!

center yeoreum!!!

and dayoung looks so pretty in short hair 🥺

and again, as far as I know, the Chinese members are in China, two of them are apart of the Chinese group Rocket Girl and I think Chengxiao recently returned to Korea

I really like their ending pose where their hands are in the butterfly gesture and the “wings” are slowly flapping

and how their arms represent their wings during the chorus

by far one of the moor creative comebacks in my opinion

also, it’s nice to hear soobin doing the high note instead of yeonjung, let yeonjung rest her voice once in a while ya know

SUNMI: PPORAPPIPAM

THE QUEEN IS BACKKK

also wonder girls reunion uwu

the teaser gave me so much "barbie: island princess" vibes so the entire mv was not what I expected

at all

the mv literally describes sunmi a lot, she basically does whatever the fuck she wants like when she posted that pic of jyp on instagram dhshdhs

it’s so funny especially the scene where sunmi is wearing the teletubbies head

and at the end when she wakes up and goes back to sleep is just a mood lmao

something about the song really gives me a lot of “siren” vibes but happier???

i really like the way she pronounces “pporappipam” it took me one week to finally pronounced it dhshd

idk why but I really like the instrumental, especially the intro, it’s very melancholic

also she wears converse while performing the song bc she has to step on the dancers at one part !!

speaking of that part, it’s so cool!!! the way she climbs up the dancers like stairs and then she just trust-falls into their arms

[anvils-and-dynamite]

Hey, Felix! - A Review of The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat - Guardian Idiot

Viewing the series as a whole, we could say that Twisted Tales is a mixed bag: not only in the sense of “the ratio of good to bad episodes is like a 50/50″, but, since it suffered from too many cooks in the kitchen during its production, we can see episodes taking entirely different directions.

The current plan is to review the three first episodes of the series: these were the very first ones I’ve watched and the ones that made me fall in love with the series, and we’re going to attempt to pinpoint exactly why. At first, I wanted to approach all three at once, but I think it will be better if I tackle them one by one. Still, I’ll keep this video that has all three because it’s got the best quality I could find.

GUARDIAN IDIOT

- 1:09-2:17 - We start not with Felix himself, but with the villain of this episode! And a pretty memorable one to boot! You just can’t go wrong with the morbidity of the meat industry, especially in a setting where animals are sapient.

Highlights of the Butcher’s presentation are:

(1:09-1:17) introduces us to the main subject and the place the villain operates in: a fast food restaurant where people are chowing down burgers in a rather gross and even brutal manner (pay close attention to the background lady)

One of my personal highlights of the Butcher’s presentation is the dialogue with the lady who asked for salad (1:17-1:31). I’m not an expert on comedic timing, but I like how he politely follows her request with “And what kind would you like?”, to prompt her to say “What kind do you have?”, only to deliver that brief, explosive “NONE!”.

Look at his face. He was trying to lead the conversation to that point all along. Whoever was acting his voice was having a blast.

(1:31-2:02) L I S T E N T O M E N O W

Ok we get to the Butcher’s proper musical number, which give us a taste (HAH) of what to expect from Twisted Tales:

Things appearing where they don’t belong (like the beefed-up steer (HAAH) inside the banana)

Objects coming to life (I know, it’s weird to classify meat as an “object”)

And a tinge of the disturbing (animals being turned into pies/sausages yet still singing, a roast pork being fed to a family of pigs)

- 2:02-2:17 Somehow, the Butcher has run out of supplies. I like how the guy spends 5 good seconds pondering until he reaches the conclusion he has to get more meat. The cricket providing the sounds to signal an “empty” room is a nice touch, and so is the Butcher noticing it, picking it up and just chucking it aside like “naah that won’t do”

- 2:18- 2:28 And here he is, the star of the show! I love Felix as a street artist here, and how everyone runs away when he removes the top of his head as a hat to ask for tips. Yes, it could be interpreted as nobody wanting to pony up some pennies for the poor cat, but I really prefer the “body horror” route better (we’ll see a more extreme case of this in a later episode). This, coupled with Felix’s main issue (”Man, am I hungry”), portrays him as someone who tends to get the shorter stick in life, which makes him especially sympathetic to the audience and especially vulnerable to the villain.

- 2:28-3:04 These next scenes are brief, and the purpose of that is to take us to the kicker of the episode: Felix meets Butcher, Butcher lures Felix inside his restaurant/slaughterhouse with the promise of free food.

Seems that the Butcher is making things up as he continues with his plan, at least as I see it when he says “I’ve... got something for you!”. Observe how he looks up, thinking, and then, when he comes up with the rest of the sentence, his face stretches up in a smile and rolls his eyes, denoting his weirdo mannerism. It’s the small details like these what makes this character so fun to watch. And Felix’s enthusiastic “Oh boy!” while the Butcher prepares a cleaver behind his back!

We get some more old school cartoon weirdness with the Butcher sniffing Felix with his elongated eyes, what I assume is a string of meat-related puns (I’m sorry, my hearing is not that good) and some more subtle silliness, such as the Butcher giving Felix the menu in the shape of a playing card.

I really like the Butcher’s joyous glee he takes in murdering innocent animals. You know, the kind of stuff you could really enjoy in fiction. Or maybe it’s just me and my love for cackling, over-the-top maniacs.

-3:04-3:29 So this is the situation: our MC is about to be slaughtered alive by a sentient meat grinder (which by the way it’s a pretty good reflection of our villain’s cruelty). It’s interesting to put Felix in such a helpless situation right at the start of the series, but it’s pretty much done for the purpose to give way to the real meat (HAAAH) of this episode. Felix’s scream for help takes over the whole screen and reaches heaven... 

- 3:29-3:46 ...and a guardian angel apprentice is tasked to help him. I’d like to point out the queue of taller, more muscular, arguably more handsome angels: they are there to contrast with and underline the goofiness of the one Felix gets assigned to (complete with buttwings and straight up falling from heaven hollering). It’s nice to also get a motivation for him (”If I do good, I can get rid of these... training wings”)

We’re mostly focusing on scenes and how they work in these reviews, but I’d like to point out the background for heaven. I like sunset-like gradients that much.

- 3:47-4:16 The eponymous Guardian Idiot presents himself to Felix (not before getting a reminder of the trouble the cat is facing) and tells him he can take him anywhere he wants. This is where you realize the whole Butcher plot’s purpose is to take Felix to wacky places and have mini-adventures in them. Here is also where we can see better that Felix’s guardian angel might be... somewhat incompetent, with his ”Uh-oh, I’m thinking, but I’m not hearing anything!!” bit and him checking on a tourist guide, taking his sweet time while Felix inches closer to the meat grinder. But he finally does his magic and...

- 4:16-5:21 The reveal of Felix being underwater is done like the following: First, Felix takes some time to chill on a hammock and lazily gaze at a fish swimming above him... then he realizes something’s fishy (HAAAAH) and then it zooms out to reveal that he’s on a sunken ship! And he’s not alone: there’s a crew of skeleton pirates who also want to make mincemeat (HAAAAAH) out of him! Look at that wild take Felix does (4:31), that’s another tinge of the disturbing I like so much.

We also get the first instance of Felix using his tail as a tool or a weapon, in this case a sabre to fend himself off the pirates. We get some more lovely cartoon shenanigans as Felix finishes his confrontation with the skelepirates (like the bone unicycle and the gossipy ship figures), but it abruptly ends when Felix gets trapped inside a clam and asks for help again. This, in turn, makes his guardian angel appear again. Felix is not happy at all with his wish and asks him to put him “on dry land”

- 5:21-6:35 “...It sure is dry”. The water joke falls a bit flat to me, and I don’t quite get what’s going on with the snowing log cabin (is it a reference? or just for the sake of randomness?).

And because you can’t be a Toon and not be in the desert without seeing some mirages, here we have Felix suffering from double vision and dancing cacti. I really like the gag of his pupils multiplying because he’s seeing double, as well as the “deserty” version of the can-can.

(5:58-6:19) Is our boy Felix learning from a certain someone or what

Again, Felix gets in another life threatening situation and happens to stumble across his angel again, who is building a sandcastle in the desert. I really like it when Toons engage into casual activities in life-threatening environments. Felix requests to be put somewhere else (not before getting a shot of the vultures chasing him) and...

- 6:35-6:58 We get a short string of sequences of Felix being put in increasingly ludicrous scenarios (seriously, what’s going on with the cult and the clown chase). Fed up, Felix asks the angel to put him back where he was, even if he’s supposed to save him. Reluctantly, the eponymous Guardian Idiot does so, and comes to watch Felix’s fate

- 6:58-7:35 Back to the slaughter house, the guardian angel mourns Felix beforehand, feeling bad that his incompetence did not help him at all. We get a shot of Felix on the edge of death and then the Butcher enters the scene, eager to get some fresh meat for the restaurant. I really like how he notices the “fairy” weeping and straight up goes like “GRANT ME A WISH”. He’s so unfazed, like screw it, awe is for weenies. And yes, the angel is so heartbroken he’s willing to serve the bad guy, but then...

Well, it goes as well as you expect with a wish such as “make me that fattest, greasiest sausage in the world””. Was it incompetence or that the Angel finally realized this is his chance to save Felix? You decide.

- 7:35-7:55 So we get a happy ending with Felix congratulating his guardian angel (”What do you know? You’ve saved me, after all!”) and we even get to see him getting his new wings (airplane wings because of course we gotta crank up the silliness whenever possible). And just in case the villain being turned into a sausage wasn’t disturbing enough for you, as the iris closes out on Felix, he pulls out a burger that might or might not be made out of the Butcher...

And that’s it for now! I’m glad I started this review because it made me notice things I haven’t noticed about my favourite series before, what makes it what it is, and what makes me love it so much. I think the two next episodes follow the same formula, so we’ll check on them sometime. Stay tooned!

[mimis-mm]

Hi, this is the one who asked for barista MC. OH MY GOD!! HOW DID YOU KNOW I AM CLUMSY😂😂😂😂. Im so in love with this. Now Im gonna let my imagination run wilder. What could happen for their first date😍😍😍😍😂😂😂. Thank you😘😘😘😘

lmao I’m actually watching you all day long who wouldn’t be a clumsy mess when Zen is complimenting them? So here goes your date with him, with of course a little something more to it. 

Valentine’s Day special

A.K.A. Zen with a barista MC too shy to ask him out part 2

part 1 here: x

Word count: 2 741 words

FYI: Valentine’s Day in Korea is celebrated mainly with the girls giving chocolates to boys/men they like platonically and handmade or higher quality bought to those they love. It’s the 14th March, during White Day, that boys do the same.

Warning: It gets slightly NSFW at the end, but nothing too lewd.

“[Y/N], it’s time for your date with Mister Handsome. ~” you hear your supervisor say while they pat on your shoulder.

Your cheeks take a pinkish color and you glance at the clock.  

“Wait, there’s still ten minutes to my shift.”

“I’ll cover you, girl.” They smile at you with a wink. “Besides, I don’t think you want to go to your first date with him, and on Valentine’s Day at that, while looking like that.”

She does a motion toward their hair and face with their hand, and it doesn’t take much IQ to know that they mean you look like shit. Well, considering the fact that you’re about to go out with someone who would put Apollo to shame. But… did they just say…

“It’s Valentine’s Day!?” You jump and almost smudge the pink heart you’re creating for the couple waiting their coffee.

Today is not the 13th? You were sure this morning that it was. Gosh, good thing you have the same shift for both days.  

Your superior laughs.  

“Yes, it is. Now go.” They take the cup and shoo you away.

You thank them and go to the employees’ changing room and open your locker. You’re greeted by a pair of black leggings and a deep red hoodie. Oh crap. You were in a hurry this morning and you just picked what fell in your hands. At least you get a point for being on point with the color scheme, right? You change from your uniform to your civil clothing and take a look at yourself in the mirror. You don’t look that bad, but your hair could use a little brushing and maybe some makeup wouldn’t hurt. So, you take care of that and after a few minutes, you put on your coat, take your bag and you’re ready to go.

You step outside of the employees’ room and your eyes are locked on the man sitting at one of the tables. His large back is facing you and he is hunched over the table, probably fidgeting with his phone. All you can see is his leather jacket, which enhances his imposing frame, and his short white hair. You walk towards him, then lightly tap on his firm shoulder. He looks at you and flashes you a bright smile with white teeth.  

“Are you ready to go?” He asks as he stands up.

You shake your head up and down quickly, too captivated by his beauty to be able to form a single word. He chuckles and reaches his hand out to you with his palm upward. Your reaction is to put your own hand on top, and you almost let out a whimper when Zen kisses the back of it without breaking eye contact with you. You can feel your entire face burning up and turning the same color of his crimson eyes.  

“Then, let’s get going, shall we?” He winks playfully at you.

“Yes,” you finally stutter after a few seconds.

He exits the café with you, holding your hand in his. It does feels funny, but not in a bad way. Maybe it’s because you’ve known each other for almost two months but never did hang out together, or maybe it’s just the blast of holding hands with a handsome man that you barely know anything about. Either way, it just feels right.  

“So, where are we going?” You ask as you look up at him.

“In a restaurant not far from here that I like to go from time to time. You must be hungry, right?“

Heck yeah. You could eat a whole fucking horse.

“Yes, thank you for your consideration,” you reply sweetly. Now is not the time to creep him out.

You two continue walking in a comfortable silence. A few couples are roaming the streets hand in hand, some even have matching scarves to fight against the cold winter wind. At the sight of them, your heart aches to the idea of doing the same with Zen. However, you can’t deny being confused on whether he would be willing to comply with it. After all, his style of clothing is screaming bad boy, but the moment he opens his mouth, he transforms into Prince Charming. So, who knows.

Your date stops, then enters in a fancy restaurant that claims to serve fine cuisine with the possibility to eat outside during the right season. You actually remember your colleagues talking about wanting to go eat there when they’ll have the time for. Hah, you’ll be able to tease them during your next shift.

“Thanks.” You whisper to Zen who is holding the door for you.

The interior is more spacious than you imagined, with even some banquets in the back. The place is obviously decorated with a few Valentine’s themed decorations, such as cardboard hearts hanging from the ceiling, bouquets of roses are scattered around on the different surfaces and a romantic music is playing in the background. A waitress comes to great you and Zen answers that he made a reservation an hour ago to the name of Hyun Ryu. She smiles politely at him and brings you to the back of the room, where she leaves two menus. Both you and Zen sit down and you hesitantly take off your coat, while he casually does it, revealing at the same time a rAT TAIL?

You guess that you must have a strange expression, because he looks at you with worry in his eyes. He finally breaks the awkward silence:

“Is there something wrong?”

“N-no!” Shoot. You may have said it a little too loudly. “It’s just… I didn’t know you had long hair?”

He blinks once, then looks down, only to jump at the sight of his own perfect white hair.

“Oh, I always protect them from the cold. It breaks the point, you see.” He chuckles while playing with a strand of it. He looks back at you. “You don’t seem to like it.”

Ack!  

“that’s not it! I’m just surprised, that’s all.” You make big gestures with your hands at the same time of trying to save the day. “It’s just, you know, damn.”

There’s a moment of silence, then he burst out laughing and tries to hide it by placing a hand on his mouth. He finally gets to articulate something between two laughers:

“I’m so sorry, but you’re just too cute. No one ever complimented my hair with a simple ‘damn’.”

You want to hide so badly. Not only because he thinks you’re cute, but also because you only said the truth partially and don’t want him to know what you actually think about his hair. That you just found out that long hair for a man is quite a turn on for you.  

Or maybe just for him?

Ugh. It doesn’t matter now, you probably won’t end the date in a bed. So no need to get ahead of yourselfor give yourself some weird scenarios.

You both order your dish, wait and then eat while talking about this and that, as a result, gives an answer to one of the biggest mystery of the café. The reason Zen only orders that famous organic honey and lemon tea of his is because it’s supposedly pretty good for the voice and he happens to be a musical actor. He is trying really hard to know more about you, which flatters you greatly. It’s not every day a handsome musical actor is excessively interested in you, a totally normal person.  

The waitress comes back and inquires on if you’re ready to pay, and how the bills are separated. You quickly answer, knowing that your date would want to pay for you.

“I’ll pay for both.”  

Zen looks at you with a semi shocked expression, not knowing how to react. It takes a few seconds for him to come back to his sense.

“Are you sure? I’m the one who invited you.”

“And I’m the one who accepted to come. Also, it’s Valentine’s Day and I didn’t bought any chocolate for you, so let me make up for it, please.”

He sighs, but soon nods with a smile.  

“Alright, if you put it that way.”

The woman takes off, coming back not even two minutes later with the bill. Well two bills. She gives one to Zen and explains that it’s for him to know how much it costs. You find it strange but didn’t think much of it since you’re composing your nip. You then give back the paying device, but notice Zen handing his paper back with a frown on his face.

“I won’t need it, thank you.” He says, his voice slightly dry.

She seems surprised, but still takes it back with a smile that, somehow, doesn’t reach the eyes. You glance at Zen and raise an inquisitive eyebrow, to which he only responds with a quick smile, chasing away the rudeness he had a few seconds ago on his face. You decide to brush it off and put on your coat instead. He quickly follows your lead, then you both go outside.

The temperature has gone up during the time you were inside. The snow has begun to melt a bit and some people even dare to unzip their coat.

“What do you want to do, princess?”

Your heart skips a beat at the nickname, but you’re trying to not let yourself get overwhelmed by your emotions. Is he trying to fluster you, or what? If that’s the case, then you won’t let yourself be without fighting back, so you smirk back and wrap your arms arounds his. You whisper with batting eyes:

“Hmm… We can just walk like this.”

You’re surprised to see his cheeks flaring up. He quickly looks away with a hand on his mouth, as if he wants to hides his embarrassment. Good, now he’s tasting his own medicine.  

“If you want to,” he says.  

His voice, huskier than usual, gives a sudden warm feeling in your lower abdomen.

Oh boi, you know this sensation. Maybe going there isn’t the best idea to keep this date in the romantic mood, and not something entirely different.  

You clear your throat and gently pull him by the hand, to which he complies without any protest. The streets are now more filled, making it a bit difficult to walking around freely. However, people get out of the way when they look up to you. Or, to be precise, they’re looking at Zen behind you.  

You both come across a public park that is almost empty, with the exception of a few small children along with their parents. You decide to continue your way through it, still holding Zen’s hand in yours. The place is filled with trees undressed of their leaves, swinging leisurely at the rhythm of the wind. You breathe deeply, taking the fresh and cold scent of this winter day in to relax. The only sounds you can hear are the laughers of the children, the birds singing and both of your footsteps on the snow. Your fingers entwine with his all on their own, squeezing his hand at the same time, to which he responds by doing the same.  

“You seem to be enjoying yourself,” he whispers with a chuckle. “I wish I was as comfortable as you are.”

“Why are you saying that?” You ask as you look up to him.

His cheeks are still pink, but at this point, you’re not even sure if the cold is behind it or something else. He smiles, trying to brush off the tense feeling he has since the moment you curled up against him.

“Nothing, I just… haven’t had a girlfriend for more than five years. So, I’m quite nervous right now.” He pauses, then looks at you. “Please don’t look at me like that.”

“No, it’s not weird! I’m just surprised that someone so… perfect like you has been single for so long.” You whisper the last part, suddenly feeling all shy to compliment him.

He laughs bashfully before looking at you with a tender gaze. However, you catch a glint of slyness in it.  

“Well, I’m more than happy that I made you mess up your coffee that time.”

He winks playfully at you while you groan in embarrassment. Why must he make you remember that? Gosh, you were doing a great job at forgetting that it ever happened. You shake your head and stick your tongue at him, only to make him laugh.

You both continue your way, talking about some juicy news circulating around your job since you don’t really know what to talk about, but still want to hear his voice. At your surprise, he’s a real sucker for gossips and knowing people’s life. You go back to the busy streets and even enter in a few stores, joking with Zen about all the Valentine’s Day merchandises. He sometimes makes a few remarks about wanting to buy matching tops, which he ends up doing. To pay back the restaurant, he says. But you saw his eyes light up at the sight of the sweaters.  

When you step outside of a store, your belly is making dying whale noises, so you look up at the sky, seeing that the sun is setting down. Zen suggests to walk you home and you accept after thinking about it for a moment. You pull his by the hand, leading the way to your place. You two arrive at destination, then enter the building.  

You stop in front of your apartment door, then turn to face him. He stares at you, his ruby colored eyes staring at you in an intense manner, as if nothing else was present beside the two of you. The air is getting more and more heavy, with a tint of sultry in it. You gulp down, trying to make your throat less dry before you could speak in a coherent manner:

“Thank you for this date, Zen. It really was the best day I had in a while.”

He blushes lightly with his lips twitching as if he’s trying to control something he wants to tell so badly it’s making him lose his composure. He looks away for a second, then return his attention on you.

“Then, can I ask you something selfish?” He finally says in a low voice. “You can refuse if you’re not feeling at ease, though.”

You nod without breaking eye contact with him, but you can feel your inside going crazy, half-knowing what he’s about to request. He continues:

“Can I kiss you? I won’t try anything funny, I swear.”

The same warm, clenching feeling you had earlier takes your stomach by surprise, not to mention your entire face burning up. You’re such a mess that you’re barely able to shake your head up and down. Zen gently cups you face in his hands, then he leans slowly on you, making you shut your eyes in anticipation. Soon enough, you feel his soft lips on yours. An electric sensation runs through your entire body, and you can’t help but to surrender at the urge to pull him closer. He breaks contact, but quickly catches your lower lip in his own lips, sucking and nibbling on it while one of his hands caresses your shoulder. The overwhelming sensations draw a low and sensual moan out of you, making him groans. He rapidly pulls away, fleeing your gaze.  

“Sorry, babe.” Your thighs squeeze at his hoarse voice and the pet name. “I don’t want you to think I only went on this date just to bed you.”

He clears his throat, puts his hands in the pockets of his pants and risks a glance in your direction.

“It’s ok, I understand.”

There’s an awkward silence, so you decide to say the goodbyes first.

“So, I guess we’ll see each other tomorrow then.”

“Yes, have a great evening.”

You wave him goodbye then enters your apartment, closing the door behind you and leaning on it since you’re still a bit dizzy from the kiss. You touch your lips, still feeling his kiss on them, longing Zen’s presence already. There’s something inside of you that wants to call him back and bring his ass over here to finish from where you left off, but your rational side is screaming to take your time.

Is this how it’s like to be sexually frustrated?  

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Soul mate Fri; First time they see color ??? For JD PLEASE

Colour has never actually been a need for them. Their ability with fire somehow translates into being able to feel the warmness of colour in clothing when they touch it so they could do that. What else did they need that for? What good did it do to see colour? What good was a soulmate really? It was all bullshit.

JD was fine without a soulmate. There was no need to want one when they knew it would just end in tragedy. They are the devil after all. The devil doesn’t need a soulmate.

-

When she was little, Mary Conner (MC for short!) had wanted a soulmate. She saw how much her mom and dad loved each other and she wanted that so bad. She wanted to be loved so fully.

And then her parents died and she was living with her grandma who had left her soulmate. She only partly understood why, fully understanding it when she was fifteen and saw the scars her grandma had. Scars put there by her soulmate.

MC learned that not all tales end in happiness then, and she became wary of a soulmate. But she still held out some hope.

-

Her grandma died when she was nineteen and had just gotten into college. Without a second though she refuses the acceptance and went back to her hometown to take care of her baby sister.

But she isn’t stupid and she knows she needs a job. The town don’t like her much given everyone thought her grandma was a fool for leaving her soulmate, even if he hit her. Her mom had been seen as a freak for being born outside of a soulmate match and everyone sniffed at them ever since.

But she ignored it and looked around town, hoping and hoping.

-

Being exiled was a pain. They hated their dad more then ever when he told them that they would be staying in Havenfall- a dinky town with nothing to show. JD didn’t even do anything wrong!

Scowling, JD slumps on the stool at the bowling alley- Razi having agreed to house them.

“This is bullshit,” they grunted at the man who sighed.

“It won’t be that long.”

“Ten fucking years.” Razi shook his head as the door opened.

“Hey! Razi! You uhh called me for an interview?” JD ignored the voice as Razi agreed and led a woman into his office.

Stupid Dad. Stupid bullshit town.

JD glared at the counter for a bit longer before the office opened again.

“JD! Meet your new coworker! MC, this is JD.” JD turns on the stool, still glaring at nothing only to stop when their eyes meet the girl’s.

It’s as if a pebble hit a pond, ripples of colour coming from her eyes, her skin turning a strange colour after being grey, her eyes lightening up ever so lightly.

Her own eyes widen as she stares at them, no doubt watching the same thing.

“… colour.” She whispers and JD feels their heart lighten as Razi coughs.

“Oh! Uhhh… how about you two go to the diner?” They wordlessly agree, still staring.

They walk over, unable to stop looking at each other and take a seat at a booth.

A waitress comes over to give them menus and MC appears to marvel at them.

“What’s this colour?” She asks, staring.

“Kinda looks like my hair,” JD offers. She looks at them. “I uhh… the bottles say red and yellow dye.” It’s a lie. Their hair naturally looks like it does but their dad taught them to say that.

“Oh…” she hesitates. “What’s your pronoun?”

“They.” She nods and its awkward, the two of them looking at each other. JD notices the woman in charge of the diner, Lucy or something, watching them, her eyes suddenly taking on a knowing gleam.

“… You don’t look like someone is kick out of bed for eating in it… and oh god.” MC covers her face and JD bursts out into laughter as their nerves settle at that.

Maybe this soulmate thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.

-

MC peaks up from where she had been hiding her face to see her soulmate- her soulmate!!- laughing. Their face lit up as they laughed, looking so amused she felt her heart lighten just looking at it.

She smiles at them as they laugh, drawing attention but she doesn’t care.

“So, what’s your favourite music?” She asks them and they blink at that, calming down.

“Doing twenty questions?” JD asks. She shrugs.

“Why not? I don’t know you. You don’t know me. The idea of us magically getting along right away is silly, so let’s just… talk.” JD blinks but nods.

“Yeah, I agree.” JD says. “Assuming we’d work out right off the bat is stupid.” MC grins and feels that maybe, just maybe…

This could work out.

[literaryeagle]

Okay, so the Yuri!!! on Ice item that I'll be reviewing today is Yuri!!! on Stage, on Blu-ray. (It’s also available on DVD, but I chose to get the Blu-ray because the image quality would be better.) I'm sure a lot of people have talked about it already, however I will translate the scene titles and discuss an additional feature that you might have missed if you didn't explore the menu screen. I will also show the bonus items packaged with the disc, and show the extra special items that you could only get if you ordered it from Animate! So, hopefully this review will still have something useful. ^_^

Just in case anyone isn't familiar with Yuri!!! on Stage yet, it was a live show that took place on April 29, 2017 at Maihama Amphitheater. The voice actors for most of the male skaters were there, plus the voice actor for Takeshi Nishigori, and series writer Mitsurou Kubo. They did a bunch of fun stuff like discussing their favorite scenes from the anime, playing games, and performing a NEW STORY that takes place after the TV series (the new story was an audio drama that they voiced live, so it wasn't animated). The Yuri!!! on Stage event actually occurred twice on that day... once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. There were a few differences between the two versions of the event, however the audio drama was the same story both times. The Blu-ray and DVD are a video recording of the evening version. As an example of one of the cute things you can see in the video, check out the image below... from left to right, that's Junichi Suwabe (voice of Victor), Toshiyuki Toyonaga (voice of Yuri), and Koki Uchiyama (voice of Yurio):

Sorry for my bad photograph of the screen, but taking high-quality screen captures from BDs is a no-no. Anyway, yes, the above image is a reference to Yuri poking Victor's hair in the anime, except here it's Victor's voice actor doing it to Yuri's voice actor. Hilarious! Also, wow, Suwabe bleached his hair to look more like Victor. Talk about dedication!

Want to know more? Keep reading for the rest of the review, plus a few more pictures!

There are no subtitles, so you'll miss out on a lot if you don't understand Japanese, although for some reason the end credits are in English. The scene selection menu is written in Japanese, but don't worry, I'll translate the scene titles for you! The first one is simply called "Opening", and it's the part of the show that introduced the characters and their voice actors. Unfortunately, the actors who play as JJ, Otabek, and Michele were not able to make it to the event, however they had recorded videos that were played later in the show.

The second segment is named "Jibun o Suki ni Natte... Popovich no Carabosse no Heya", which means "Like Yourself... Popovich's Room of Carabosse". (The "Like Yourself" bit is a reference to the title for episode 4 of Yuri!!! on Ice, "Like Yourself... And Complete the Free Program!"). The MC for this part was Wataru Hatano, the voice of Georgi Popovich and also the artist who sang the anime's ending theme, "You Only Live Once". Basically, the voice actors were divided into groups, and the actors discussed their favorite scenes from the anime involving their characters. For example, Kensho Ono (voice of Phichit) chose the "Congratulations on your marriage!" line from episode 10 as his favorite Phichit scene. He has good taste! Mitsurou Kubo also commented on the fans' enthusiasm for that scene. Here's an image showing Wataru Hatano on the left, and Mitsurou Kubo on the right:

The third part is called "Chou Chou Chou Chou Ganbaranba! Katsudon Pirozhki Soudatsu! World Question!" ("Gotta Super-Super-Super-Supercharge It! Katsudon Pirozhki Contest! World Question!"... Whew, these titles are a mouthful, ha ha!). For this part, a bit of dialogue from the anime had been translated into Russian, and after a Russian-speaking person read the dialogue out loud, the voice actors had to guess what scene from the anime it was. (For the afternoon version of Yuri!!! on Stage, a scene had been translated into Thai instead of Russian.) By the way, it turned out the Russian speaker's name was Emil, much to the amusement of Satoshi Hino, the voice of Emil Nekola.

Even though Mamoru Miyano (voice of JJ) wasn't able to make it to the event, there was a video of him giving the voice actors a hint for this Russian game. Frankly, the scene was pretty simple to guess even without the clue (you can hear Emil say "pirozhki" and "katsudon", which narrows down the possibilities quite a bit), but I'm always up for more JJ Style, so I enjoyed the hint video anyway.

The fourth section is named "Afureko Imagination Show" ("afureko" is short for "after recording", meaning adding sound after a film has been made... so I guess it can be translated as "dubbing" or something like that). For this part, they played various clips from the anime, but instead of using the recorded audio from the show, the voice actors performed their dialogue live! Very cool.

Next, the fifth part is called "Special Video Letter", which had video messages from Yoshimasa Hosoya (voice of Otabek) and Tomoaki Maeno (voice of Michele), since they weren't able to make it to the event. After that, there were a few more clips from the anime, with the voice actors for Victor, Yuri, and Yurio performing their lines live... but with something very special added to the stage! Part of the floor had been replaced with a miniature skating rink (just a small square of ice, really), so figure skater Honoka Kawanishi could perform Yurio's free skate during these scenes. Wow! Since the square of ice she had on the stage was so small, there wasn't enough room for her to do the jumps, but it was still a lovely performance. What a brilliant idea! Check it out:

The sixth segment is named "Roudoku Geki Hasetsu Exhibition Onsen!!! on ICE Victor with Friends" ("Reading Drama Hasetsu Exhibition Hot Springs!!! on ICE Victor with Friends"), which is probably the part of Yuri!!! on Stage that people have talked the most about already. As mentioned earlier in this review, it's a new story that takes place after the TV series. It was written by Kimiko Ueno. This story is not animated, but the voice actors are fun to watch as they read their scripts, and music from the anime is played in the background, which is a nice touch.

I won't get into too much detail about the plot, because so many other people have posted about it already. But to put it simply, the skaters have gathered in Yuri's hometown for an ice show called "Victor with Friends", however a little too much drinking and partying happens the night before the show. If you've ever wondered what would happen if Victor and Yuri both got drunk at the same time, well... it involves a lot of flexibility, and not much clothing! There's also a hilarious misunderstanding involving Yuri's drunken ramblings about a statue of Shachihoko (a legendary creature that is part tiger and part fish), which Victor mistakenly interprets as Yuri reminiscing about a really flexible ex-lover named "Chihoko". Silly Victor, getting jealous over a fish statue! It's pretty funny. (By the way, there was another live event in the summer called Yuri!!! on Festival which included a sequel drama, about Yuri getting possessed by a squid demon. Unfortunately, word has it that Yuri!!! on Festival will not be getting a DVD/Blu-ray release. Hopefully they'll change their minds, or at least release the drama part as a CD.)

Okay, moving on... The seventh part is called "LIVE You Only Live Once Yuri!!! on ICE feat. w.hatano". As you can probably guess by that title, Wataru Hatano did a live performance of the ending theme to the anime. He was accompanied by two backup dancers.

The eighth section is called "Ending", which had everyone wrapping things up and thanking the audience. After that, everything seemingly ends with the credits... If you have the Blu-ray or DVD, did your video player just go to the menu screen after the credits finished? That's what mine did, however there's actually more on the disc! If you look on the menu screen, the last numbered segment is part 8, which is the aforementioned "Ending". But after that, there's one more item, which doesn't have a number. So be sure not to miss it! This last bit is another version of the Special Video Letters from Mamoru Miyano (JJ), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Otabek), and Tomoaki Maeno (Michele). You can tell these must be from the afternoon version of Yuri!!! on Stage, because Mamoru Miyano gives a Thai clue instead of a Russian clue.

That's it for the show, so next I'll talk about the bonus items packaged with the disc, and then I'll talk about the extra special goodies that you could only get if you ordered it from Animate. Yay! First, there's a little booklet that comes with the disc. It has a shiny silver cover, but unfortunately my photo doesn't do it justice:

This is basically a miniature version of a pamphlet at that was sold at the Yuri!!! on Stage event, except the mini version is missing a few pages advertising Yuri!!! on Ice merchandise (although it makes up for it by having extra artwork for the last page). I think the reason why it's miniature is because it had to be the same length and width as a DVD case, to avoid an awkward packaging situation. It includes some really nice photos and profiles of the voice actors. I actually have the full size version of the pamphlet that was sold at the event, so I'll be covering that in a future review. In other words, I will wait until that review before I get into further detail about the contents of this booklet. (EDIT: My review of the pamphlet is now available!)

Okay, the other item packaged with the disc is this Makkachin selfie light, which can be attached to a smartphone:

Isn't that adorable? All right, next I'll talk about the additional goodies that were obtainable by ordering Yuri!!! on Stage from Animate. The first one is a "portrait". On the outside, it looks like a thin gray hardcover book...

...but it's not actually a book, because there's just a picture inside. But it's a very nice picture. What kind of picture, you ask? It's a beautiful textless version of the Yuri!!! on Stage cover art! Check it out:

So nice! And finally, people who pre-ordered from Animate under certain conditions were able to get a cute little Makkachin can badge. I took a close-up of it, so you can get a really good look:

Overall, Yuri!!! on Stage is funny and entertaining, and the bonus items packaged with the disc are cute. The additional special items from Animate are great as well, although I'd imagine those are sold out by now. However, please keep in mind that the Blu-ray and DVD are not subtitled, so you'll miss out on a lot if you don't understand Japanese (although the voice actors' antics are still fun to watch), so it's up to you to decide if that's worth it. The Blu-ray and the DVD are both still available on Amazon.co.jp (NOTE: the DVD is Region 2 only!), however Avex Pictures has placed a restriction on their CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays being shipped outside of Japan. Unfortunately, this means that Amazon.co.jp will no longer ship those items overseas, so if you don’t live in Japan you’ll have to either buy it from a source that’s not affected by the restriction, or get a shopping deputy to help you with the purchase.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I have other official Yuri!!! on Ice merchandise that I’ll be reviewing, so keep checking my blog for new stuff!

[deacktiv8d]

Valentine’s Day (MC x Kaitlyn).

“So why does our room look like it’s just been hit by a hurricane?” Abbie says, arms crossed, as she walks into the room the two of you share, taking in the piles of clothes strewn across the floor.

“It’s Valentine’s Day!” you say, peeking your head out of your closet to beam at her.

She raises her eyebrows at you. “Yes, it is,” she agrees. “So you’ve turned this place into a war zone because…?”

“Kaitlyn’s taking me on a date tonight and she says she has a big surprise planned so my outfit has to be perfect!”

Abbie rolls her eyes. “Come on, you know Kaitlyn will love whatever you wear.”

You hold up a dress to your body, checking your reflection in the mirror. “I know,” you say, “but I’m really excited for tonight. We’ve both been so busy with exams lately that we haven’t had time for just us in a while.”

You shake your head and throw the dress somewhere behind you. “Plus, she’s really hyping up this big surprise.”

Abbie sighs. “OK, OK. I’ll help you. Just so you don’t destroy our room.”

You laugh as she starts sorting through the mess of clothing items on your bed. After a moment, she makes a triumphant noise and holds up a nice top and skirt.

“How about this?”

“It’s actually not bad,” you say after regarding it. “A little plain though.”

Abbie thinks for a moment before heading over to her side of the room and getting something out of her drawer. “Here, try these on.”

She hands you some a pair of ruby earrings that go perfectly with your outfit. “Just put your hair up to show them off and voila, one smitten girlfriend.”

“Are you sure? These look really nice.”

Abbie shrugs. “It’s fine. I only wear them whenever my family goes to my grandparent’s place for Christmas dinner. They like to make you dress up and say prayers before dinner, the whole nine yards.”

“OK, well, thanks.” You smile at her before putting them on. After trying on the outfit, you show it off to Abbie who lets out a low appreciative whistle.

“And that’s why they call me an artist!” she says, smirking.

You’re shaking your head at her when you hear a knock at your door and Kaitlyn’s voice on the other side. “Are you ready?”

You share a look with Abbie before moving towards the door.

“Wait, aren’t you going to clean up all these clothes?”

“I’ll do it when I get back. Sorry!” You close the door on Abbie’s protests and smile at Kaitlyn who is holding a small bouquet of flowers up to her chest.

“Hey,” you say.

“Hi.” She hands you the flowers. “These are for you. You look so cute, by the way.”

You give her a quick kiss on the lips. “So do you. Let me just put these in some water and we can go.”

She follows you into the kitchen as you search for something to use as a vase in the cabinets. “Speaking of which,” you say, taking out a mason jar and filling it with water, “any chance you’re going to let it slip what’s going down tonight?”

She narrows her eyes, pretending to think about it. “Um, no way,” she says finally, grinning at you.

As you place the flowers in the vase, you feel Kaitlyn sneaking up behind you. You ignore her until you feel the warm pressure of her hands on your waist through your skirt. “What are you up to?”

She comes closer until she’s flush against your back. “You really do look beautiful tonight,” she says lowly, placing feather-light kisses against the skin of your exposed neck.

You lean back into her touch for a moment before turning around in her arms and giving her a long deep kiss. You feel her respond eagerly, her hands sliding over your back. You wind your fingers through her hair, pulling it to the side to whisper hotly in her ear. “Kaitlyn?”

She stifles a gasp. “Y-yes?”

You bite the lobe and pull it gently between your teeth before releasing it, making her pull you in closer. “Kaitlyn, what’s the surprise?”

She pulls away from you, shock written all over her face, before she bursts out laughing. “Oh my god, you minx! You tried to seduce information out of me!”

“Did it work?”

“Almost,” she admits. She helps you straighten out your outfit before leading you out of the suite. “Come on, let’s go before you get any more wicked ideas.”

Kaitlyn takes your hand as you walk together, bringing it up to her mouth to kiss your knuckles. “So now can you tell me where we’re going?”

She sighs at your impatience but the corners of her mouth quirk upwards, giving her away. “OK, OK. Jeez, I’ll tell you,” she says. “Do you remember the way to Leona’s Hill?”

“That’s where we’re going?”

“Mm. We didn’t really get to spend that much time there last time and I thought we could have a little picnic on the grass and talk and look at the stars and stuff…” At the look on your face, she hurries to say, “...and it’s totally cliche and you hate it.”

“No, no, no!” You’re quick to correct her. “I think that sounds lovely. Just… who knew you were such a romantic?”

“To be honest,” she says, flushing slightly. “I’ve never really had a girlfriend before you so I’ve never planned a Valentine’s Day date before. I was really nervous. I wanted to get it perfect.”

You smile and stop to kiss her. “That’s silly. Even if we just stayed at home and watched movies like we do all the time, I would love it. Because when we’re together, it’s already perfect.”

She rolls her eyes at you but stoops to kiss you back. “Who’s the romantic now?”

The two of you walk, hand in hand, until you get to the hill which, in some ways, has become your spot. The ground of the trail where you walk is smooth beneath your feet and the evening air is cool enough that you don’t mind the little bit of exercise. Eventually, you see a dim light in the distance. “What is that?”

Kaitlyn smiles mischeviously. “Let’s find out.”

You gasp upon coming closer. There, on the grass, a blanket is spread out with a wicker basket full of food and a bottle of sparkling cider. Fairy lights are strung across the branches of nearby trees, filling the clearing with a faint glow. “Did you do all of this?”

Kaitlyn looks proud of herself. “Well, I had a little help,” she admits. “Come on, let’s sit down and eat.”

As you curl your legs beside you and sit on the blanket, Kaitlyn brandishes two plastic flutes and fills them with sparkling cider. She offers you one of the drinks. When you sip at it, you notice the night chill has prevented it from becoming too warm and the liquid is refreshing on your tongue. You hum at the taste. “Mm, so what’s on the menu tonight, Chef Kaitlyn?”

She grins and starts rummaging through the basket. “I’m glad you asked. Let’s see… tonight, we’re having finger sandwiches, salami and some cheese that I can’t pronounce the name of, cut fruit, and for dessert… chocolate-covered strawberries.”

“Ooh, let’s have those first.”

“Skipping to dessert? I like the way you think.” She opens up the container of strawberries, takes one, and lifts it to your lips. “Open up.”

You oblige and take a bite, closing your eyes against the explosion of flavors in your mouth- the tart strawberry, the rich chocolate, the sweetness of both. “Mm, so good.”

You go to take another bite but Kaitlyn pulls back, popping the rest of the fruit into her own mouth. “Mm, you’re so right,” she says, chewing thoughtfully.

“You tease!”

“Consider it payback for earlier. I mean, pulling a trick like that was just plain evil.”

“Speaking of which,” you say, putting a hand over hers. “This was a really great surprise. I’m glad you brought me here.”

Kaitlyn looks uncomfortable and starts playing with the ends of her scarf, looking down. “This actually isn’t the surprise. I…” She pulls out her phone and messes with it and soon, a soft rock ballad starts to play, the female singer’s crooning voice just loud enough for you to hear. “I might have made you a playlist of songs that remind me of you which is totally cheesy, I know, but I thought we could listen to it while we’re here.”

“Kaitlyn, this is so sweet! I love it!” She nods, still looking down. You bring a few fingers up to her chin, tilting it upwards to look her straight in the eyes. Her eyes which are usually so dark and warm look bright tonight in a way that you can’t really explain… like the light is coming from inside her. You press your lips to hers softly and pull back. “Really, I love it…”

You move yourself so that you’re in between her legs and lean back against her chest. She leans forward into you and wraps her arms around you, rubbing her hands up and down the length of your arms where goosebumps have started to form.

“Are you cold?”

“A little bit.”

“Do you want my jacket?”

You shake your head. “Just keep holding me.”

The two of you sit together, listening to the music and looking up at the stars, occasionally picking at the spread of food on the blanket. You close your eyes, breathing in the scent of Kaitlyn’s perfume and trying to listen closely to the lyrics.

“Secrets I have held in my heart… are harder to hide than I thought... Maybe I just wanna be yours, wanna be yours…”

You crane your neck to look back at her. “The song that’s playing… Is that really how you feel?”

She stares up at the sky but speaks into your hair. “It was when I first realized I had a crush on you. I wasn’t OK with being out about liking girls yet and I was so afraid of what might happen if I told you I liked you so I tried to keep it all in. But the more time I spent with you, the more I realized that I wouldn’t be able to. The way I felt was just too strong. So that’s when I decided that no matter what happened after, I needed to let you know.”

“And that’s when you kissed me on your birthday.”

She smiles at you and kisses the crown of your head. “That’s what happened.”

“How did it feel, kissing me for the first time?”

She swats at your leg. “Trying to fish for compliments?”

You laugh, shaking your head. “I’m talking about emotionally, not physically. Although,” you add, “if you want to tell me what a great kisser I am, I’d be open to that.”

“Of course you would,” she giggles. “In all seriousness, that first kiss made me feel like I was on top of the world. There was so much that was still uncertain about our relationship but I felt like if I could stay in this moment forever, there’d be nothing I couldn’t do.”

You stare at her at a loss for words and she brushes a strand of hair out of your face and moves it behind your ear. “That,” she says, “is how I feel every time we’re together.”

You continue staring for a moment, feeling her the full force of her words. You start getting a little teary-eyed and you turn around to face her fully, pulling her in by the neck for a deep long open-mouthed kiss. You can taste the chocolate on her lips, the salt of the tears that have tracked their way down from your eyes. In that moment, you feel time slow down and stretch to infinity and you understand what Kaitlyn was talking about. Finally, the two of you pull away, panting.

“Do you mean it?” you ask. “Do you really see forever with me?”

“Of course I do,” she tells you intently. “Nobody’s ever made me as happy as you.”

“I want forever with you too,” you say. You take her hand in both of yours and clasp it to your chest, thinking.

“I know we’re young,” you start, “and we have a long time before either of us have to think about this but-”

Kaitlyn’s eyes grow wide. “W-what are you doing?”

“I’m promising you forever,” you say, still holding onto her. “Kaitlyn Liao, will you, at some point in the future, marry me?”

For a moment, she just looks at you and you start to get a little nervous, wondering if you’ve said the wrong thing. Then, she breaks out into a huge smile and starts nodding furiously. “Yes, yes, yes!” She throws her arms around your neck and starts peppering your face with light kisses. “I do, I do!”

You laugh as you fall backward beneath her assault. You grab onto her shoulders as she falls on top of you, still placing random kisses all over your face. “Wait!” you say, your breath coming short from happy laughter. “We need to make it official.”

She pulls back, confused, and you reach over for your purse, taking out your eyeliner. Taking her left hand, you carefully draw a dark circle around the base of her ring finger and finish it off with a shaded in diamond on top. “There,” you say proudly, recapping your eyeliner.

Kaitlyn holds her hand out in front of her and admires your work. “It’s perfect,” she says, leaning in to kiss you.

“Of course it is,” you agree. “We’re together.”

[scummy-writes]

RFA+V+Saeran Watching Spirited Away

I have no excuse I just sob like a baby with this movie and thought it would be cute to write about ₍₍ (ง ˙ω˙)ว ⁾⁾

Yoosung

- He had heard about this movie a few times from his online friends, and just...Random sites. It was one of those movies that were passed around talking about how ‘great’ it was.

-... But, you know, LOLOL came first.

- When you suggested it for date night (The third one!! He was so excited!!!), he quickly agreed, fumbling with how it seemed familiar but he couldn’t really place it.

- When the two of you settled down completely (him shyly slipping an arm around you and having to restrain from fist pumping when you snuggled closer to him), he finally understood why this had been talked about online so much

- It was really pretty! And it reminded him of a few games he knew about

- No face? Scared the fuck out of him though.

- By the end of the movie, the both of you were a blubbering mess. He was trying his best to hide his tears (and failing) while attempting to console you as well

- Later the two of you cuddled on his bed, spewing praises to each other and talking about what parts the two of you enjoyed.

- (But why did you have to like No Face??? He was going to have nightmares!)

Zen

- “Aw, babe, I didn’t know you watched cartoons still. That’s cute~”

- (Fight me, Zen)

- He’d sit down and watch it with you. I mean, any time with you he wasn’t going to push away. Especially when you were going on and on about the movie with such an adorable expression

- (This man was head over heels with you)

- Cuddles during the whole movie? You were practically in his lap. Sneaking kisses on your focused face? Constantly.

- Would he also being talking about how sweet this scene was, or how heartfelt another is? Yes, and you were nearly ready to kill him

- But, as much as he went on, at least it was praises.

- By the end, he was crying more than you were, going on about how sweet cartoons have gotten since he’s grown up

- “Zen, it’s not-”

- “And Haku loved her, MC! Haku loved her!!”

- You were going to have to spend the rest of the night listening to him blubber, huh?

- Turns out that he wanted to cuddle instead, and show how much he loved you as well.

Jaehee

- You just wanted to watch something besides a Zen dvd

- I mean your friend was a great actor by all means, but...God, you just wanted to watch something else

- Before the movie, you and Jaehee looked up a few sweets that were supposed to be based off the movie, or based off of characters from there

- It was fun making all of them, and it was great giggling and trying to sneak in a few taste bites before the movie

- But once you two sat down for the movie, the smiles stopped

- It was a cute movie! But oh my god why did you do this to her

- By the end of it, the both of you were quietly crying and holding each other's hands

- “M-MC, I love you-”

- “I love you too, Jaehee!”

- The next day, you caught her looking up the CD for the movie, and a few other items in the cart

-.... You may have gotten her obsessed with something else

Jumin

- “We could set this up in the personal theatre if you wanted, MC, it’s fairly easy.”

- It took a lot to convince him just to watch it with you like a normal couple, and when he saw the DVD’s ad for The Cat Returns he would Not Stop asking to watch that

- “Afterwards we could possibly squeeze in time. How long is it? Do you know? Here, I’ll look it up.”

- (Gdi Jumin please)

- Though, thankfully, he didn’t ask as many questions as you thought he would. Instead, he watched it intently, trying to pick up on every time you froze up, every time your breath hitched.

- He was determined to find out why you enjoyed this movie, especially with how confusing it was to him

- I mean? Spirits? In a bath house? He supposed they needed to be clean too...

- As soon as you started crying, he wanted to turn it off so quickly, but you stopped him right before he could grab the remote

-Why did you want to cry???

- By the end of the movie, he was so glad to cut it off. It wasn’t bad by any means, but you needed hugs and you were getting them now

- When you fell asleep, you can bet he spent a few hours ordering clothes and toys offline from the movie. He was going to make you happy after watching that sad movie

- (But please, mc, let him watch The Cat Returns)

Seven

- The minute you showed the cover to him, he was whooping and already looking for the popcorn

- He Loved this movie, and the fact you liked it made him even more excited

- Would he try to recite the lines? Yes. Would he stop after you elbowed him in the gut? MMMaaaybeee after a few more times.

- The both of you were suckers for the movie, and after the two of you had a good cry at the end of it (Seven even repeating a few of the romantic-ish lines to you to make you cry even more), he was instantly looking for another one

- “We need to heal, MC!”

- “Saeyoung, nO, it’s so late my heart can’t-”

- “HEAL!!!”

- The two of you ended staying up super late, cuddled and pass out on the couch as another movie was playing

- The next day, you noticed a few blue prints on the jumping lamp from the movie, and let out a groan

V

- So, he didn’t really watch it with you.

- You decided to watch it while he was out discussing future photo shoots/sellings

- So when he walked in, hearing a sweet melody and you unmistakably bawling, he was slightly worried until he heard a few voices from what seemed like the tv

- “Mc, are you alright?”

- “S-She left g-g-grannie!”

- “....Give me a moment and I’ll be there.”

- He found his way to the couch, your hand shakily reaching out and guiding him to sit beside you. As soon as he did, your were curled up against him in an instant. He let out a soft chuckle, wrapping an arm around you

- “Is this towards the end?”

- You nodded into his side, and he felt his shirt already wet

- “I’m here, love. Don’t cry too hard.”

- He ‘watched’ the rest with you, occasionally placing a few kisses against your head. Once the movie ended, he wrapped you up in a full hug, kissing away your tears.

- He wouldn’t dare tease you about it, but he was going to cuddle you all night for sure.

Saeran

- The two of you usually watched horror movies, so he was a bit surprised when a cartoon started up on the screen

- Was it a scary one? It didn’t look like it.

- But you were so giddy, and holding his hand so tight as the movie started up, so he kept any criticisms at bay.

- He really liked it, and did as a few quiet questions if he was very confused. He thought Haku was a bit of an ass, but...

- He was quietly trying his damndest not to cry when she remembered Haku’s real name

- During that scene you gave him a cute kiss, holding his hands, and whispering how much you loved him

- (Yes, you ignored the tears in his eyes)

- At the end of it, he cuddled you tightly on the couch, listening to the menu music play over and over

- “....If you know any other movies like that, lets watch them.”

- “Now?”

- “...No, I want to hug you.”

- You chuckled, but held him just and tight as he was you.

- Maybe movie date nights weren’t exclusively horror movies now

[handsome-photographer]

Quick Reflexes (but I Still Fell in Love With You Anyway)

alternate title: three times Jaehee's black belt in judo actually helped in running a café with her Strictly Business Partner and the one time it didn't. at all. A/N: hi y'all. the last time i wrote a MM fic was ages ago and now i return with a Jaehee x MC fic nobody asked for. consider this a very late valentines fic idk. i hope you enjoy this one-shot anyway and tell me what you think! (as usual, i wrote this in like hours and didn't proofread it, so apologies if there were many mistakes indeed.) -- You had known -- ever since those early days after you joined the RFA and Jaehee had opened up about herself by quite a margin -- of your business partner's skills in judo. A black belt, you thought to yourself, still in disbelief over the idea that the short woman standing in front of you, listing the coffeeshop's empty inventories, actually learned self defense at all. It all made perfect sense; judo required discipline, commitment and of course a certain toughness in spirit in order to endure the training and master the art. Jaehee lacked none of these traits. It came as a surprise, anyway, when you two were having a taste test session of a whole new menu a few weeks before, and you were saved from a trip to the hospital thanks to Jaehee snatching a scorching hot pan before it could fall on your bare feet. "MC!" she had exlaimed, although she seemed to be in pain in the short few seconds it took her to put down the pan somewhere safer -- namely, the counter beside you. "Oh my God, are you okay? Please be more careful next time!" You had been too shocked to even assure her you were fine -- how do you casually tell someone they literally took your breath away? "Thank you," you say instead, and then, "Sorry." Jaehee finally gave you a smile, her tightly knit brows loosening in what you hoped was affection, fondness, or anything else akin to that -- you're not too picky with synonyms. "I'm glad my reflexes are still quick from years of practice." The phonecall from what felt like ages ago came back to you, bringing a smile to your face, as well. "My hero," you teased, but before you can savor the blush on Jaehee's cheeks, your eyes saw a glimpse of her burning red palms. "Your hands!" Needless to say, just for her sake, you practiced extra caution in the kitchen to avoid anymore of those accidents (though you wouldn't mind being saved by Jaehee a few more times, if only it didn't mean she'd get hurt). The second time you witnessed proof of your partner's skills came about when you were called over by a customer you had just served. The loud and intimidating man was shouting at you about his cake having stray hairs and toothpicks and -- at the rate he's complaining, he might as well have said the cake contained cyanide. He rose from his seat so suddenly he upset the chair, and he was all too ready to raise his hand. You closed your eyes, frozen with fear -- "If you don't put down that filthy hand of yours," a familiar, stern voice more or less growled from in front of you. Jaehee's mere presence gave you courage enough to open your eyes. Her shorter limbs still managed to restrain the man's arms, almost without any effort at all, "maybe I would put it down for you." "You wouldn't dare," the man retorted, though with difficulty. "I'm reporting this place!" "Or, I call my lawyers and sue you for attempted assault and a factually incorrect review," she says. That situation left a bad taste in your mouth, even if you got what you wished -- you were saved, Jaehee didn't get hurt, but... you felt guilty that you had to be so defenseless all the time, that Jaehee had to be there for you so you don't royally mess up and get in harm's way every few seconds. You confessed as much to Jaehee on a quiet Saturday afternoon after the lunch craze had ended, and only the sound of the ticking ancient clock by the front door accompanied your conversation. "Defenseless?" she asked, pronouncing each syllable as if it's an alien word to her. "I don't think you're defenseless at all -- in fact, you were the one to inspire me, to be braver and more sure of my dreams, remember?" Her confused frown turns into a small smile, touching your fingers as if to convey her sentiments better. "You defended my love for coffee, that's for sure." "But..." You bite your lip and try to find the right words. "I mean literally. Like the time you defended me from that rude customer. And when you saved me from untimely death by hot pan." You tap your fingers on hers, at the very least receiving comfort from such miniscule touches. "So, I want you to teach me." Jaehee's surprise was evident. "Teach me the basics, at least," you added, since Jaehee raised her brows higher and higher with every second that passed. "I know I won't get a black belt without proper training, but at least give me some of the basic moves just in case." Although Jaehee didn't seem too sure of this idea, even after your logical explanation, she nodded. "I see. It's never a bad thing to make sure you can defend yourself." In an instant, her expression changed as she clapped her hand once, decisively. "Okay then. We have a free Sunday tomorrow. Let's get out of town and practice somewhere." Her response relieved you, of course, but you felt even more nervous at the thought of practicing -- mostly, the thought of Jaehee displaying her skills, which by now you had no doubts about. The next morning, the two of you left to a clearing on the outskirts of town. The view was magnificent, and Jaehee was a huge factor to that as she tied her long brown hair into a bun, facing you with her hands on her hips. "Copy my position," she told you, any hint of softness gone from her voice. "We should warm up first." It took about half an hour to even start learning how to defend yourself -- you stood with your feet a bit too wide and she corrects you, you didn't pay attention to her moves and she repeated herself over and over until you could follow her. By the time the sun was properly up in the sky, you were covering your face as instructed. Jaehee slowly showed you how to guard against frontal attacks, only coming into contact with you through gentle touches of her hands. "Faster," she hissed, the warning almost flying over your head just like her balled fists merely seconds afterwards. "You're too slow. Be more alert." But you couldn't keep up, and your sweat started to drip into your eyes, making further training too difficult than it needed to be. You called for a break. Jaehee stopped her moves on you immediately, her hand coming to rest on your shoulder. An apology for being so slow was on the tip of your tongue when Jaehee frowned. "I was too fast, wasn't I?" she asked. "You were great, considering this is your first time. Your reflexes still need work, but you're strong." "I am?" Your voice came out too high pitched for your liking, but Jaehee only giggled. "That's... good. Great. Absolutely -- " "I'm going to practice a few moves for a while," she said, accidentally cutting off your rambling. "You can catch your breath in the meantime." You resigned yourself to sit on the picnic blanket Jaehee had set a few paces behind you when you arrived this morning. You leaned back and tried not to stare as Jaehee seemed to return to her stance in no time. Your eyes were stubbornly stuck on her, however, unable to look away as in a flash, her foot kicked the air high above her, and then her hand came to punch the air in front of her. She moved like she was in a dance, following a music only she can hear, and you realised you had never seen her more at calm than when she was mercilessly tearing through the air. You had regained your enegy long ago, so when her back was turned to you, you stood just outside the edge of your picnic blanket and hid your grin, copying her moves in a more erratic and clumsy manner. It wasn't that easy to follow her much, much more advanced moves, but you somehow had fun secretly moving along to her fluid dance. You braved yourself to close your eyes, your hand thrusted in front of you like Jaehee's was a milisecond ago, and opened your eyes only to see her face inches from you, grinning. Inevitably, you shriek and back away before stumbling, catching her still outstretched hand, and feel time slow down as her mirth turned to fright and you two ended up crashing down to the dew covered grass. You couldn't say you regret it that much, though, since Jaehee was pressed up against you. Thankfully, Jaehee recovered sooner than you did. She pushed herself up, the absence of her weight against you not making much difference in your difficulty to breathe, at all. "I'm -- I -- oh my God, let me help you up, I -- " "You and your quick reflexes," you said, a warm blush coloring your cheeks, you were sure. "I rather enjoy the view from the ground. The sky's lovely." "S-stop being silly," Jaehee said, though you glanced at her and noted, smugly, that she was blushing, though frowning. "Quick reflexes? Seriously. Quick reflexes, but I still fell in love with you anyway." You didn't know who gasped, who sat up to get as much distance from each other as was possible in your current position, and who let out a laugh as Jaehee's words seemed to echo in those plains, to be heard over and over again by the tall grass, the now brightly shining sun, and your very own ears. "I said nothing," Jaehee said quietly, not at all returning your laugh in the form of a smile or a grin. "Please stop laughing." "Jaehee," you said, coming to a more calm and serene sense of bliss as you looked at your friend, partner, and now self defense trainer, who still refused to see the humor in this situation. "Jaehee, I'm not laughing at you, just so you know." She pouted. It was the cutest thing you have ever seen in your entire life. "Then what was it...?" "I'm merely laughing at the fact that I need self defense training in another area," you began, your smirk growing bigger and bigger. "Because when it comes to you, I'm utterly defenseless." "You're worse than Luciel," she retorted, though at least she smiled bashfully, as hard as she fought it down and failed. "I -- I'm sorry I said what I said, it was an accident, I -- " "I meant it," you said, interrupting her before she could regret her words. "I hope you meant it, too." Jaehee was silent for the longest time, looking down at the blades of grass between her feet as if they held the answer to all of life's questions. Then, she let out a frustrated sound -- reserved only for her Zen fangirling moments -- and tackled you to the ground, your eyes wide as she pressed a kiss on your lips. She tasted of the sweet leftover icing she snacked on while you were getting ready this morning, and there was a hint of her raspberry lipbalm, too. And she was soft; oh so soft, despite the tough exterior she showed during practice earlier -- she was the Jaehee she always said you had brought out over the past year of knowing each other, the Jaehee she had repressed for so long, finally living freely and easily. She pulled away a second too soon and puffed out a breath, looking at you with narrowed eyes. "Your reflexes are still slower than mine. Too slow for proper self defense." You grinned wickedly. "That just means I fell in love with you sooner than you had fallen for me."

[fluffi]

i think it was because god's menu was released around the same bp and svt made their comebacks. same thoughts tho on gm > bd and i was also glad that bd got the wins gm didn't. and same with the streaming mvs while studying : ] ahh, the easily distracted people we are. (reading cut and litol font bc poor ppl who see this on the dash TT)

i've heard chinese ballads (usually osts of films and from a chinese friend) and their songs really tend to tug on my heartstrings. i hope sm gives shotaro more stuff to do soon :[ with some of the units being active and sungchan being an mc on a weekly show, it makes me wonder what he's doing. do you think nct will form a new subunit?

no, i'm not lactose intolerant so it really took me by surprise. it was a one-time thing. hopefully it doesn't happen again. i can't really say i'm a big fan of ice cream but it's good occasionally yk as a treat to yourself. and ahhh, i miss drinking smoothies. my favorite stall has been closed for nearly two years now, idk if they ever re-opened since our city mall burned down :[

i think it's an nct thing? it's why i never get tired of them bc they're always active in a way. you should've seen how things went down last year! march 127 album, april dream mini-album, may 127 repackage, june wayv album and the whole nct 2020 thing. it was a wild year. about the track, i listened to it once and forgot about it. might give it a few more listens but it might not grow on me at all. yes! wasn't a big fan of hot sauce at first too bc i thought the intro was weird (not jaemin's part, like the first thing that plays). and yes, that hook loops in my head 24/7. i even made it my instagram bio.

stray kids world domination indeed! and i agree that their performances were really impressive (specially the deadpool one, best one yet) but sometimes i would fancy ateez' more. i didn't watch kingdom too bc it stressed me out as a multi. always caught between being happy for one group and being sad for the others. and atz and tbz! you're still getting into nct and you're thinking of adding 19 more boys! judging from what i know your taste in music is, i think you'll like tbz's music better since there are a lot more soft songs there than in atz. but do give both discographies a listen in the future!

oh izone! i've only heard of them at music shows and dance choreo compilations bc of them being in sync. they're really satisfying to watch! i thought their title tracks were catchy as well! quite unfortunate that i never got into them really. but again, i dont think i can handle stanning temporary groups.

i'm starting to see a pattern in your biases :D i wouldn't be too surprised if you'll be drawn to jeno at some point in your dream venture. dream is soooo easy to love so if you really end up ulting them, i would understand why. and also, YES PLEASE WRITE FOR DREAM AND TAG ME IF YOU WILL. THANK YOU ><

thank you! :c don't get your hopes up tho, the masterlist must've been interesting to browse but are the fics truly worth it? XD i think not. since you already know koe, i'm reccing users @/rouiyan, @/nsheetee and @/loonacitys. i don't have that much fluff in my ficrecs blog. i think, i've heard of lvdsc before (maybe even read a fic or two) but i can't find their blog now. be careful in privating your works, you might end up losing them forever if you don't keep track of their links...(?) that's what happened to the works that i privated :/ take me with you if you move blogs ;n;

seungmin frequently left updates abt what he was doing, left good nights and good mornings, the occasional i miss you. he called fans 'baby' once. not sure if it was a mistranslation, or really just a one-time endearment. other than that, nothing beyond the usual. seung vlives always make me cry ;n; he always look so adorable and precious. also the gif, the fic was more on fake head-butting really but yes you could say it was also a fake nose boop bc it sounds cuter. i'll make sure to tag you on future seung content on the dash. (time to officially claim him as your ult, yes. dont make him secret anymore :3)

sorry it took me a while. tumblr went batshit. the ' werkl;' stopped working midway and i got busy with school yesterday. also haechan birth today and i'm so emo abt it. it's literally just a boy turning 21.

little font and cut saga lets go!!

(just kidding, i cant do little font typing for long periods of time, makes my eyes go beserk haha.)

true true, im afraid for txt on music shows now because theyre going against some big names (literally bts like whatj jsdf what was hybe thinking). yeah, streaming mvs while studying aka watching mvs on loop lmao. i still want to stream skzs final kingdom performance on instinct but i remember that theyve already won!! hehe

ah chinese ballads always make me emo, i like to scream out lyrics to the songs at the top of my lungs and sit there on the verge of tears. its a cultural thing maybe *sobs*. ooh, what show is sungchan mc-ing in? ill check it out. i thought sm would make nct japan for sungtaro (i heard sungchan speaks japanese) so it was a shocker when they made...nct hollywood lmao. given the current circumstances we're probably not going to get a new subunit anytime soon :( hopefully taro will have stuff to showcase during that period of time.

burned down?? oh my, what happened to your mall? that sounds terrifying. i remember when the front of my school caught on fire and we were all ushered out but we thought it was a drill and didnt find out till years later lmao.

oh true, since theyre such a big pack too. constant comebacks and promotions haha, nctzens never catch a break with 23 members. i listened to the new track again (ive forgotten the name already) but i cant- i cant do it. its just not my style hhh. i rewatched the mv for the godly visuals though. i dont know if youre talking about that 'bibididibibidiododo' part by that female morphed voice at the beginning of the song, because i wasnt a fan of that too. it grew on me though.

same, actually! im not an atiny and dont stan any other group in the show besides skz but i watched each groups performance and ranked them haha. at times ateez would rank over skz, it was wild. also yeah, my other multi friend was freaking out about kingdom and ended up abandoning the show because she was so scared of the fanwars and having to deal with her 'conflicting feelings'. about the stanning thing, in my defense, i have a list of groups i want to stan and ive recently added tbz and atz. the list is long, i have a long way to go! also yeah, i dont prefer ateez's songs and i have a bunch of tbz title tracks in my playlist but if i approach their discography like i did with nct then i think i would like at least five songs.

izone are my queens. theres a reason why theyre the only girl group who made it to my ult list haha! super talented and filled with variety and visuals, a perfectly concocted group (literally, sobs in pd48 scandal). ah, temporary groups. yeah i cried about their disbandment for like 3 days straight, it was bad.

a pATTERN?? INTERESTING. DO ELABORATE. jeno, oh my gosh hes like bang chan. an intimidating-looking bear whos actually filled with love and softness on the inside. im currently having a jaemin run though, his make a wish fancam is doing some wacky things. also yeah, dream is really easy to love. i fell for them so hard, theyre all talented and cute and adorable and the team ambiance is so nice. really rising up my stan list now. i mightt write for dream! ill have to see, hehe.

personally i think the fics are going to be worth it. i can feel it in my boOOnes. ooh, recommendations! fun :D ill check them (and yours) out after i finish this 30k jisung fic. ive been trying to finish it since yesterday but i keep getting sidetracked. also, i made a mistake. its luvdsc with a 'u', maybe thats why you couldnt find it? ahh. thank you for the privating tip though! will keep in mind. and of course ill take you with me if/when i move blogs. we're friends now! <3

SEUNGMIN CALLED STAYS 'BABY'???!!@)(@#*()! I SHOULDVE BEEN THERE ASKDFJDF. im exciting for the fake nose boop drabble!! i love soft couple moments hehe. also yeah maybe its time to make him my ult...hes going to have to compete against jake my beloved ope.

dont worry about being 'late' or anything! we all have our own stuff to do. also yeah tumblr is weird asf sometimes. if you havent realized i typically answer longer asks around the same time everyday, when i get to sit in front of my computer and pull out my clickity-clackity keyboard. super relaxing.

AND YES HYUCKIE DAY!!! HES SO ADORABLE HONESTLY. im in love with all seven members of dream, my fic rec blog is currently filled with fics for them haha.