#this is my second favorite scene in ddd

[dreamsy990]

is that really so scary?

as a bonus. some of my thoughts on this scene from when i played (ft phantom commentary!)

[sapphireneil]

Pillow Talks // OM! Brothers Aftercare hcs

Cw: none really, just fluff after a scene because aftercare is SO important, based on a convo i had with one of my bsfs (mentions of rough sex, bite marks and hickeys)

Gender neutral reader!

A/n: I'll work on the requests soon i swear!

- Lucifer -

Man is so so gentle with you after it (in contrast to just a few minutes earlier)

PRAISE !!!!

Would definitely clean the both of you up and give you one of his shirts to cuddle into

After making sure you're alright and doing well he would brew the both of you some tea

Asks you if you would like to listen to a specific record and if not, he'd just put on something calming

Definitely spends quite some time in bed with you, cuddling and talking about everything and nothing, only going back to his work when he's 100% sure you're mentally and physically alright

- Mammon -

Would not give a single fck about the mess the both of you made, you're immediately wrapped up in his strong arms

He'd definitely would shower you with innocent kisses all over

Naked cuddles!! I repeat, naked cuddles!!!

Would also make sure you have everything you need, not leaving your side for more than five seconds though

Cracked jokes about what just happened!!!

Would probably spend hours just lying in bed with you, the both of you just scrolling through Akuzon, voicing out your thoughts about certain items you stumble across (he takes mental note of everything you mention to be to you liking )

- Asmodeus -

Spa time!!! Bubble bath especially!!

Would totally rant about how beautiful you looked earlier

Cuddles in the bathtub, facemasks and candles

If you would be sore anywhere he would totally massage it

Washes your hair and body for you, he just wants you to relax

When he dries you off, he'll wrap you in the softest towels and carry you to bed after he sprayed you with his perfume just so you still smell like him

- Satan -

would definitely question if he was too rough on you

Totally kisses any marks or hickeys that he'd left and brush over them gently

Cleaning up kinda is teamwork, until you curl up next to him, scrolling through ur DDD a bit

A book in one hand, the other arm wrapped around you, keeping you close

Makes sure to wrap you up in a nice fuzzy blanket too, he doesn't want you to feel cold after all

You fall asleep before him, but he eventually gets tired too, the book is now on his face, you still cradled in his arm, your DDD dropped next to you

- Leviathan -

Asks you if you enjoyed it and if you felt good immediately

Admiring all the love marks hes left on you

Cleaning up and then he seats you in his lap in one of his hoodies

Also quite literally SHOWERS you in kisses, extremely flustered

It's your decision what you want to do, rather its just cuddling, watching anime or him playing a a game, or even playing something together

Man is clingy asf, he knows that the afterglow is a quite vulnerable state so he keeps you as close as possible

- Beelzebub -

No doubt, this man carries you to bed after he cleaned your up. Bridal style. No exeptions.

Tucks you in carefully and would feed you your favorite candy from the jar in his room

Keeps you in his arms until you are fast asleep, then quietly goes to clean up the kitchen

Would totally kiss the bite marks he left, probably even lick over them apologetically

He finishes that cake you had started only for you to wake up to an almost empty plate of it, and a very sorry Beel

- Belphegor -

It takes him a while before coming down from his high, so hes perhaps a bit quiet at first and just keeps his arms wrapped around you, processing in silence

Veeeeryyy sleepy afterwards, but also cold

Will probably get another fuzzy blanket after wiping the both of you down lazily

Naked cuddles part II

Gives a lot of small tired pecks and pulls the blanket over both of you

Hes not gonna let go of you this soon, but that's okay, the both of you will take a nap first anyway

Heya everyone, this is it for today (kinda short im sorry) these are actually my first hcs posted on here, enjoy!!!!

[tharkflark1]

Just noticed your description says “KH2 Hater” I was wondering why you hate it so much? :x

also this has probs been asked before but which one is your favorite?

My favs are tied between kh3, Coded, and DDD. Like they’re a lot of fun to play through.

As for my kh2 thoughts, I’ll put em under the cut

I mostly hate it cuz it overshadows everything else when people a) talk about any other games or part of the franchise, b) new kh merch gets announced and it’s only kh2/mostly kh2, and c) people treat it like the second coming of Christ and put down other games because it’s not like kh2

But also like… it’s like the most tedious kh game I’ve ever played. (and I’ve played CoM and Days. There’s a reason for the tediousness in those games as they enhance the atmosphere of the story)

Lots of worlds but barely anything in them. They’re essentially boxes with a couple chests. (Which is so weird coming from kh1 which manages to feel LESS boxed in).

You don’t get dodge roll til halfway thru the game and even then you have to unlock it. Drive forms are clunky and annoying. (Keyblade transformations in kh3 are my GOAT)

It’s not casual friendly AT ALL. Like good luck wanting to finish up ur treasures list cuz the last one is locked behind the super hard data battles :) also FUCK that difficulty jump on the second trip to Beasts Castle like fuck off

Keyblade designs are,,, so ass. Like what even happened. Ultima isn’t even the best weapon in kh2 ;0; and is kinda useless

God the pacing. I know people harp on kh3, but at least the worlds are long enough and interesting enough to keep u engaged. Even the gummiship is meant to help u space out those worlds. And there’s cutscenes between each one to help progress the story. Kh2 is like stuttering and stopping over and over and over again. Going to every world again. All 12 of them. For maybe like, 1 new boxed room and a boss.

The only things I rlly liked are Riku’s scenes, roxas’ scenes, the beginning and end parts of kh2, Anti form my beloved, and Atlantica.

And honestly I’d be less harsh on it if gen dudebros got their heads out of their own asses every once and awhile and enjoyed a different kind of gameplay. (Shout out to that recent IGN article saying how you should just play kh2 first and skip kh1 and CoM cuz “kh2 tells u everything you need to know”. It’s a parasite I tell you.)

If you don’t wanna play kh3, Go play Coded. It’s a lot of fun. Despite reusing kh1 worlds, the gameplay is different in each one and it’s super creative with it. Also it introduced the idea of leveling up ur keyblade and giving it more abilities! And it gets seriously challenging. Go get a ROM and emulator and go play.

[sorikufeels]

not really soriku but i replayed kh3 recently and it makes me SO MAD every time someone belittles sora and/or laughs at him like this boy saved the universe!!! twice!!! yeah he needed to be saved once but that doesn’t negate everyone else he’s saved and everything he’s done!!!

that “half-baked rescue” scene especially makes me rabid like i love riku and soriku but in that moment i wanted to grab him by his stupidly broad shoulders and shake him because oh my god! riku! you really wanna tell sora that his recuse is half-baked when you jumped into his heart with basically no plan??? you want to talk about half-baked when you opened the door in the secret place not knowing what could happen??

and then everyone just fucking laughs at my poor boy for a solid few seconds, like that’s humiliating and traumatizing. and sora wasn’t even the one who volunteered!! it was ventus!! imagine getting that response for something you didn’t even say

also burns me up that yen sid goes from “you both deserve the honor” of being named keyblade master in ddd but then acts as if sora is useless in kh3. yen sid has a favorite child and somehow it’s not the one who saved the universe twice

sora deserves so much better and riku i’m looking at you because i know you know this so step the fuck up

[dynamic-k]

H'lo friend!! I really love ur super stick au!! reached the second arc, and I really love what ur doing!!

ur tsc and victim are absolutely perfect!! I love them so much!!

can't wait to see what happens with victim's plot lol

:DDD

EEEEEEE!! That's so great so hear udhjgskjgks

EHehe "Second" arc-

:3 SS!Second and SS!Vic are definitely two of my favorite characters to write out, just purely because of the SHEER amount of LORE THAT SURROUNDS THEM is concerned.

Chapter eight for Arc Two is probably not going to be done soon because I got my phone taken away (It was my own fault- I got distracted talking to a Tumblr friend and Mom was completely within her right to yoink the device until further notice-) and the data for a scene in chapter eight I had been in the middle of, uhh... It didn't back up yet, so until I get the phone back in... maybe a few weeks from now? ...I am unable to just pick up the progress on my computer. o ^ o Oh welp-

Vic's whole plot arc/character arc/lorebits... it is indeed a doozy to behold! I have so many things I'm excited to share RIGHT THIS INSTANT, though unfortunately, there exists a thing known far and wide as "chronological order".

[kasarawolf]

Just story things~

My favorite thing to draw with these two? Longingly staring at the other when he's not looking :DDD

And here is the drawing that somehow survived despite my computer crashing!! I am happy about that ^0^ (For those who don't know, my computer on Saturday died :D It refused to stay on for more than 5 seconds. It needed its motherboard replaced and today a new one was installed in it!)

This is a digital version of one of my quick notebook sketches~ I still have to redraw the moon page :) The chapter with this scene is called "Home is Where the Heart Is."

[catboygirljoker]

6, 7, and 12 for the general kh asks

Kingdom Hearts Ask Game !!! :>

6. Favorite song?

fun fact! my top spotify artist last year was Yoko Shimomura. lol. first tracks that come to mind are "The Key" (perfectly captures the tone of being on the edge of the world's fate), "Master of Masters" (with 12 years of piano education i know that it's not easy to compose or play music that dissonant and have it sound that good), and the version of "Vector to the Heavens" used in Xion's data battle in 3 (that fucking 2 second drum breakdown before it goes back into the main melody UGHHH pure catharsis)

7. Which moment left the biggest impact on you?

i connected emotionally with KH right away when i first got into it, just from the opening cutscenes. i didn't even grow up with it, and i still think it's high-octane nostalgia in a bottle in all the best ways. but the moment that KH went from a passing curiosity to "this is going to be really important to me" was the Road to Dawn scene in CoM.

due to a lot of personal stuff i was dealing with at the time, i really resonated with this idea of choosing a path not of dogmatic refusal to accept any inner darkness, nor of nihilistically embracing that darkness, but rather a path of progress. a path that accepts that there will always be darkness, but a path that insists that there will always be light, too.

there's more than one answer to these questions, pointing me in a crooked line / but the less i seek my source for some definitive, the closer i am to fine. (oh it looks like that song was on the barbie soundtrack? neat i guess. the link is to the original version.)

12. Favorite platonic ship?

obviously because of the above i really like the relationship between king mickey and riku. there's a running motif in the series of Authority Figures Failing Those Under Their Authority, but i think mickey and riku's relationship is KH's model for what a good master-apprentice relationship looks like. part of it is that, even before riku becomes a keyblade master, mickey treats riku as an equal, doesn't hold his authority over him, is willing to learn from him without any apparent pride. it's so different from nearly every other master-student relationship we see in the series!

granted, mickey still fails riku, unwittingly sending him into a trap during the mark of mastery exam in DDD. but then, i dont think there's a single master who DOESN'T fail their apprentices in some way.

[remembers how aqua is kairi's master now] uh oh. uh oh! noo kairi watch out, the recurring motif is right behind you! oh no she has airpods in!! kairi!!!!

[midnightdemonhunter]

hi midnight :) 6, 8, 10, 15, anddd 46 for the ud asks? for 46 specifically, how abouttt matt?

HIIIII LILY!! thank you dearly for the ask :DDD

6. What character first caught your eye?

This is an interesting one.....I feel like Chris definitely claimed my heart immediately... was very charmed by him. BUT Matt was the first character i felt like i started tuning in to at a meta level. a lot of chap 1 was a blur the first time around but matt made it all start to come into focus for me, and I have strong memories of all his first scenes!

8. What character did you not expect to love as much as you do now?

Ingame, I think the love for Mike came fast and furious lol. Chap 3 was just so fun and fascinating.... Loved controlling him, watching the way he acted different with jess than in public, and the sheer vibe differences depending on what choices you picked.

Postgame...SAM. 100% Sam. Ingame, because i really only started processing what was going on in like. chap 3, i missed a lottt of sam time, and just didn't really give af about her. only character who i went Damn, Anyway when i killed her in my first playthrough lolllll. However, after some heavy discussion time about her for our au (you know the one) i feel wayyyy more crazy about her. Just had to find her flaws and dig into them!! Now she's constantly showing up in my sketchbook :)))

10. Which character design is your favorite?

Fascinating question.... I think a big part of Chris' charm is his silhouette with his infinite fuckass layers. its so fun to draw and so fun to look at.... i also think mike and jess have such wonderful extreme physical transformations over the course of the game.... anytime i wanna feel instantly crazy i just remember how they look/act in chapter 1 and contrast it to chap 10. ITS SO FUN. they have matching green jackets and sooooo many open wounds i LOVE the vibe shift.

15. Which characters do you wish interacted more or just interacted at all?

SO MANY OPTIONS. short answer is literally anyone. guarantee im forgetting at least 1 potential dynamic that makes me crazy buttt off the top of my head:

matt and literally anyone, but especially josh, ash and sam, JESS....and i'd really have loved to see him interact late-game with mike... mike and josh would be really good (though i guess they do get stuff...but i want even more obvious ingame paralleling) lategame jess and em would be beautiful. jess and ash... need to know what inspired the trapdoor trick.

Even more: chris and jess, CHRIS AND EM, josh and em anddd mike and ash. amen.

46. What song(s) do you associate with (insert character or ship)?

YAYYYY SONG TIME. Will say that Hermit the Frog by Marina really snuck up on me as a matt song, and though the second half is a bit more em @ mike to me, i cant help the matt connections.... verse 1 has big fire tower vibes. (AND AN EXPLOSION COMES IN TIME....BEFORE I GO AND CROSS THE LINE)

ALSO this one comes from you lol but Self Esteem by the Offspring is so so real for him...THE MORE YOU SUFFER THE MORE IT SHOWS YOU REALLY CARE RIGHT??

[notreallyuseless]

SECOND WEEK OF READING MHA MANGA EVERYDAY FOR OCTOBER

(Vol 8-14) (it's a little late because i forgot to read 2 days so i was stuck reading 3mangas in like... a few hours ooch)

There's another really creepy close up of Shigaraki's face in vol 8 and OH BOY. Horikoshi and his team are talented because you go from a normal simple panel to Junji Ito-esque type of panel. Also the jumpscare everytime it happens haha

Also finally we meet Dabi and Himiko :DDD you can tell me if i'm insane but... i wonder what Dabi's fucked up skin feels like 🤔

Vol 9 has the moment where i went from "who's this fucked up looking stapled guy?" To "omg he's so cool" in the anime. The moment being Dabi blasting Aizawa with fire so close to his face. My friend who also watch mha knows i like this scene lololol.

LET'S NOT FORGET TOKOYAMI OMGOOOOD!!! Tokoyami losing control of Dark Shadow is just WOW. I'm so biased (he's my favorite character lol) but he looked so cool!

The OFA vs AFO fight in vol 11! *chef's kiss* so good. I have nothing else to say lol

Inasa is soooo funny I love this guy haha his hero costume is so cool and it looks so much cooler in the manga idk why buy woah. OH! MISS.JOKE!!! i love her! Her design is so cool i love the colors!!! Aaaaahhh!!!!!

(Spoilers i guess?)

Himiko as Camie is SO SO COOL. I totally forgot that she explains how she can kind of disappear when she attacks! I love Real Camie (that i'll see soon in the manga!) But Camie/Himiko is just so cool to see! Also the fact that she can change from one person to another person??? Never realized!

Ouch! Inasa telling Shoto that he has the same eye(s) as his father in vol 13 and the manga panel is just Shoto's blue eye! WAH! Horikoshi you're so smart lol

Dabi looks so hot while burning down people 🥰

Vol 13, we get the first look at Overhaul! Still great character design i can't say anything bad about his design.

I'll be honest, Bakugo is far from my favorite character in the anime, he's...alright sometimes in the manga, but damn that guy is smart haha. Maybe he'll grow on my idk

(^^^^ this was at the end of vol 13)

(vvvvv here's me at the start of vol 14)

I always loved the Deku/Bakugo fight because they FINALLY FUCKING TALK OMG! EVERYONE CHEERS! Bakugo is not so bad finally!

THE BIG THREE!!! MY FAVORITE GUYS!!!! I really like that Mirio decided tk fight ALL of class 1-A by himself, but it would have been cool if it was the three of them against the class. We could have seen Tamaki and Nejire kick some teenagers' butt haha

Everytime i see Overhaul and Shigaraki talk, i remember this screenshot of Shigaraki saying "with all due respect, which is none, go to hell" i can't take anything they're saying seriously.

To finish, here's two drawings i found funny!

ANYWAY! Second week is done! I'm already a day behind! It's funny because it's taking me way longer to read them than I thought, but also it's not too bad! I'm just slow haha

[velvetwyrme]

ouuaauauagaha i just got home and i was so sad the whole way back :-(( I can't articulate what i feel but dee (??) and pax DDD: their friendship :'(( i love whatever they have it's so GRHRHHHGHH the animations and visuals are sooo pleasing to the eye and so good auauaga the choreography of the fight scenes are so ?!??!!$(#((#($? also sooooo foul for that sentinel keychain omg id get one if i could lololol

im so happy i watched tfone i loved every single second of it (my faves r bee and dee auauuaah) i rlly wanna know where to go after this movie what do you recommend reading/watching after?? :00

YAAY IM GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT!! And yeah!!!! TF One is inherently kind of a tragedy since it's a prequel... Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and D-16/Megatron's dynamic before the war hurts me so 😭😭 my little HEART...

Omg yes the fight choreography 💖💖 I especially loved how they included their transformations into the fighting scenes (even more so because some of the specific transformations were ones they had trouble with at the beginning, and now they've learned how to use them and I thought that was pretty neat! is it obvious I've seen thsi movie 3 times now rhdkfbdkfbk)

And thank you ;]] I aim to be extremely ill about characters always. Sentinel. Oh, Sentinel...

Bee and Dee my beloveds!!! 🤝 I was surprised that I liked Bee as much as I did in this- he's the comedic relief but I LOVE HIM SO MUCH...

and. OH GOD. WHAT A QUESTION.

I've stuck the rest of this post under the cut because if you've been following me for any amount of time you know how wordy I can get 😔

==========

So. you have multiple options because Transformers has a truly ridiculous amount of TV series and some really REALLY good comics.

Transformers Skybound (Comics)

I can only really vouch for the ones I've watched/read, but here are my general suggestions for where to look next! There's also a tl;dr at the end in case you looked at this and just went "oh god"

Additional note: mmmmost of these series have their own idea of what pre-war Cybertron (and subsequently, Megatron and Optimus' origins) looked like, so if you're expecting a continuation of the story from TF One uhhhhh apologies u_u

First off: the current ongoing comic series!

If you want more action, more violence, and also so much more sadness, definitely go for this one. It's gutpunch after gutpunch after gutpunch. Since it IS ongoing however, only time will tell what how the storyline/s will turn out ^^" I think it's pretty good so far though!

However, if you're also intending to eventually look for fanmade content, this series has less of a dedicated fanbase, especially when compared to...

It's easy to get into, but it's also relatively short (especially in comparison to the other suggestions) since it's up to... Issue 13 at the moment? That's still a decent chunk to sink your teeth into!

Transformers (2005) // IDW1 (Comics)

The IDW comic run of Transformers :]!! It's REALLY REALLY GOOD. It ran from 2005-2018, so it's also really, really long.

It can be a bit confusing in terms of order, but luckily there are several reading guides - ONE MORE which I would have loved to have known about when I started reading LMAO IDW1 tends to jump from story to story, which can get a bit confusing, but also it does so in such a way that ties plots together in really fun ways.

Some people will tell you that you can start off with the More Than Meets The Eye (MTMTE) series which is... probably true! It's a fan favorite series, and rightfully so. Also, I think the characterisation of Megatron in MTMTE is really interesting!

I tried starting at MTMTE and just went "HEY. This is set after the war though! I want to know about the war and all that stuff!" and so I ended up reading literally Everything else that comes before it. Which is a lot. I smashed through most of the 420+ total issues in under 2 months because I'm insatiable though.

Transformers Prime // TFP (Animated Series)

Another recommendation I saw for testing the waters (taken directly from a reddit post I saw while locating the guides) is to try reading Last Stand of the Wreckers and the sequel, Sins of the Wreckers, or Megatron Origins and Spotlight: Megatron to kind of get a feel for the sort of thing you're getting into.

My personal suggestion would be to follow this reading guide if you decide to read the comics! Mostly because the person who made it included notes, and as evidenced, I love notes. Theirs are thankfully much shorter than mine.

Another fan favorite! It's an animated series that takes things in a more gritty direction, but I think it does it really well! Maybe. I haven't... actually watched it, which is funny because it's technically what got me to finally check out Transformers.

You might have seen me reblogging a certain Pointy Black, Purple and Faceless guy sometimes. He's from this series.

Transformers Animated // TFA (Animated Series)

And lastly...

TFA is a standalone series (as in it has minimal ties to the lore/continuity of other series) which is the main reason why I'm recommending it. The secondary reasons are because it's really fun and it's the series I grew up watching lol. I'm biased!! I like it a lot!! I would probably suggest one of the other options on this list to start off with, but I really like TFA... ;u;

.......... Fanfiction.

This, in my opinion, is The Best Way to get familiarised with characters.* ...I'm serious about that, and only slightly less serious about this being a suggestion of where to look next lol.

*Well, this plus TFWiki, which is genuinely the coolest wiki of all time. There are jokes and silly jabs while still being incredibly informative!! I love it!!!!

Other options that I can't personally vouch for, but have heard good things about:

Anyway, this is ACTUALLY how I got into Transformers. I kept reading TF fanfic and furiously googling characters appearances because I like giant robots, then I fell in love with Soundwave from TFP, and then I caved and read IDW1 as my proper introduction to Transformers lol. I think it's fun to do it that way, but I know it's not for everyone lol.

Earthspark is one of the newer animated series, and apparently it's pretty good! The second season less so (...?), but it seems to have been a pretty good jumping on point for a lot of people.

TL;DR: suggestions, in no particular order:

Cyberverse is another animated series, and it's pretty cute! I watched the first season and some of the second. Apparently it gets better in the later seasons- more plot heavy and interesting ^^!

If you're so inclined there's also always the Original G1 cartoon, which is fun! If you like cartoons from the 80s, just jump in idk. I've watched some, I think it's neat.

There is also the Transformers (2019) or IDW2 comics which was a reboot done by the the same publishers who did the 2005 series (thus IDW1/2) with a different and much more... streamlined story to follow. I haven't read that yet, but I've heard it's good! It got cut short because they lost the licensing though :(

==========

Comics:

Transformers (Skybound)

Transformers (IDW 2005)

Transformers (IDW 2019)

Animated Series:

Transformers Prime

Transformers Animated

Transformers Earthspark

Transformers Cyberverse

Misc.:

Fanfiction...? (I'm making a fic reclist anyway so I thought I might as well include this as an option lol)

Good luck! Enjoy! Tell me what you decide on, if you so desire!!!

Would you believe me if I said this is me specifically holding back from talking about each series? Because this is me holding back from going wild and talking abt each series.

I was going to make a flowchart, but then decided that would take too long. And then I wrote this out and took too long.

[hestzhyen]

What Can Kairi Do Now?

KH Brainrot has completely taken over so let me yeet these thoughts into the uncaring abyss. In the off chance anyone reads this... I like Kairi. I related to her struggle a lot as a kid; it was reassuring to see a character resist change when so many are written to embrace it. She's not my favorite KH character but she's definitely up there. Poor girl's been not much more than a plot device for her entire series so far. Friend to be rescued in KH1, forgotten memory in CoM, side-quest rescue mission in 2, completely absent in Coded despite it being a KH1 retelling, absent in DDD, important but not proactive in 3, present but not effectual in MoM... it's tough out there for Kairi fans. Most of this, I think, is because she's not meant to be important to the narrative beyond her relationship to Sora. I've felt for a long time that Nomura just wasn't very interested in writing about her as an independent character. She's there for Sora as a friend, a love interest, and as a McGuffin. Makes sense since she's supposed to represent friends drifting apart- she's the comfort and stability that Sora so badly wants to return to for most of the series. And yet, over and over again, he's getting called away from her side. Star-crossed and separated from each other despite how badly Kairi wants him to stay with her forever. So now that Sora's gone to the Other Side of reality itself and her left behind again... where does that leave Kairi?

Well, this could be her time to shine! FOR REAL! No cap, as the kids say. I mean it.

Kairi has so far been inseparable from Sora's character. Everything she's been shown to be so far is about him- Sora don't change, Sora I'll wait for you, Sora I'll protect you. Sora, Sora, Sora. Every scene of her relates back to him in some way, except the one in BBS when she had yet to meet him... which actually still leads to Sora since that's where Aqua placed the spell on Kairi's necklace that enabled her heart to take refuge in his during KH1. It's only the precious few scenes we see of her apart from Sora that we see her growth. She decides waiting isn't good enough in KH2, then decides she's going all-in on wielding a Keyblade so she can protect him in KH3- decisions made only in his absence. So the problem is pretty clear: for Kairi to grow, she needs to be separated from Sora. And oh hey guess what, MoM went out of it's way to do exactly that when it really didn't have to.

So what could we see our sweet girl doing going forward? There are two things that come to mind for me. First, by choosing to train under Aqua, she can forge strong bonds outside of Sora and Riku. Second, she can take charge of one of the subplots dangling around. I'm under no illusion that she'll ever be as imporant as Sora is to the narrative, but it's not unreasonable for her to step up and protect their home until he comes back. Deciding to take control of her own fate at the end of MoM set a solid foundation for her to grow separately from Sora in a natural, realistic way. And this would be the best thing possible for her character.

KH3, re:mind, and MoM all point to the end of the status quo for the relationship between Kairi and Sora. Nothing stopped him from fading away, after all. She tried everything and came up short when it mattered again. So Kairi seems to finally be accepting that she can't be strong enough to stand with Sora if she's only doing things for his sake. She needs to find her own inner strength. Deciding to train on her own terms, without mentioning Sora even once, is letting us know that Kairi's primed for her own arc for realsies this time. Will it come to be? Maybe!

There's a bit more I could say about Kairi but... well, I just want to wait and see. We know so little about what to expect in KH4 that I don't want to go full-on theorizing mode into this empty chasm. Especially since every time Kairi's been set up for growth it just hasn't happened. There's a big enough difference between this situation and all the previous ones that lets me have some room for hope at least. Thanks for listening to this ramble, internet void.

[baronessblixen]

Frasier episode roundup! :DDD

Mel's a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal stinker, huh. Niles picks all the bad ones, and Frasier picks (and leaps from) all the good ones.

LOVE Ferguson; and will always love Ferguson. One of my favorite S8 episodes.

Donny got engaged and married? So soon...? Uh oh. This smells like a rebound.

Roz and Frasier and Roz's ex Luke... within two seconds I wanted to get away from that dude; but I guess flattery will always catch (in this case desperate) people.

Mary's back! Sometimes I do and don't like her... but this episode was a x2 speed type of watch. (Just saw Stephen King as a call-in? Huh.)

I love Frasier's Harvard mentor. Love him, love him, love him. He needs to be in many more episodes. Wearing Roz's robe? The actor killed those scenes.

Frederick turning into a gamer shouldn't be as surprising as it was. I wonder if maybe Marty's genes skipped a generation. >:D

x2 speed on the car and Dalmatian episode; but it wasn't all that bad. (There really isn't an all-bad Frasier episode, though.)

The chaos trying to prevent the Shakespearean scifi actor from getting onstage was quite amusing. In similar scenarios, I'm usually annoyed or frustrated that things won't work out; but him quite literally crawling to the chair won me over.

The two parallel universes episode was intriguing-- two people meant to be, getting together regardless, awww-- and Bernadette Peters was a guest caller???? I gotta rewatch her segment.

Kenny! I liked him... then he got a wandering eye; and now I don't respect him. His wife was really nice, though. Liked her a whole lot.

Niles wins the basketball competition only to join Frasier in making a fool of himself. C'est la vie.

John Glenn going off on an alien rant while Roz and Frasier are bickering is just... so good.

x2 speed for the rich widow. I expected better of you, Martin. You should have known two women in the dark always ends in disaster, especially when Frasier flubbed it so badly last(?) season.

Martin shaming his sons in front of their wine club. I'm not sorry for them. >:)))

Daphne's back! And what a touching look into her and Niles's psyche. Him blurting out his problems with her, her taking it wrong, then both "having at" each other was freeing even for me.

Also, whichever episode had Niles struggling with Daphne's sleeping habits was gold.

Niles deciding to let Daphne keep her psychic opinion of herself was also sweet, awwwww.

FRASIER, WHY'D YA RUIN A GOOD THING WITH CLAIRE. (Also... she can do better. Also: it didn't seem like you two really meshed.) FRASIER, WHY ARE YOU SABOTAGING YOURSELF WITH LANA.

Lana's son was a fun character, though.

The finale was x2; but the rest of the arc was juicy, SO I finished it. XDD Fascinating little dig into Frasier's psychology. Intrigued to see what he does-- more likely doesn't-- with these revelations.

Overall: leagues better than the season where everyone at the station lost their jobs; but not the besssssst, either.

I had a good time, regardless. :DDDD

Glad you had a good time! This really shows me that I don't watch season 8 often cause most of these didn't even ring a bell 😂 it's definitely not my favorite season.

How do you watch an episode on double speed? I'm not sure I could follow the episode 😂

In my opinion, season 9 has better episodes.

[dorkiedoodle]

I recently wrote a short scene for my favorite couple 😊💙, so I decided to add some art to it.

You can find the scene below, I can't promise it'll be any good or that it'll make sense without context, but my friends enjoyed it :DDD, so why not?

The moon had barely reached its peak in the night sky when the three friends shot awake from their sleep in Icy’s cold house. With heavy breathing, they all looked around in panic to get their bearings. Though they’ve gotten used to the crazy situation they found themselves in by now, waking up from the Omnidream had remained just as jarring as the first time.

Icy sighed loudly, brushing her bangs out of her face, “ Coming back from there is never going to not be horrible… ”, the short woman complained to herself.

Stephanie clutching onto her chest tightly took a deep breath and slowly exhaled in an effort to calm herself down. “ Is it… Is it over? ”, the universal asked with uncertainty in her voice.

Ember, who had always taken their returns from the Omnidream the best of the whole trio simply chuckled the shock off, “ It better be, “ she spoke, slowly picking herself off the ground, “ because I’m running dry on secrets. ”

Unlike her Omnidream, the room they had gone to rest in was quiet, the shallow breaths of her friends and the whistling of the wind through the holes in the roof being the only things breaking the deathly silence. On one hand, the peace and calm of the room was a welcome escape from the emotional overload of facing one’s deepest desires, but on the other hand, the silence made it hard not to think about what they had just gone through.

Ember walked to the window through the darkened room, nearly stepping on Icy along the way, who made sure to return this transgression with a myriad of curses. After wiping the layer of dust off the lightly cracked glass she peered outside, taking a look at the night sky.

“ It’s still early.. ” Ember noted, ” Looks like we didn’t spend much time in there. “

“ Well, it sure felt like an eternity… ” Icy retorted, also picking herself off the ground, “ You’ve got problems, girl. ”

Ember frowned at this, putting her hands on her hips as she turned to face the shorter woman, “ Well, I take offense to that! I’d like to see how little problems you have, miss Dilapidated House. ”

“ I never said I didn’t have problems. ” Icy admitted, she walked over to where Ember was standing to also take a glance at the moon.  “ Oh, I’ve got problems, believe me. Like this back ache that’s killing me right now. ”

“ Oh, toughen up,  ” Ember replied, punching Icy with moderate strength in the shoulder. “ If you cared about your back you’d get more furniture. ”

Icy, who had almost been knocked to the ground by Ember’s playful hit, gave the taller elemental her deadliest glare. “ I wouldn’t be sleeping on the ground if you didn’t just barge into my house the other day, you know. ”

But just as the two women were about to get into another one of their little arguments, they were interrupted by Stephanie also standing up and dusting herself off.

“ I think… I think I’ll go to sleep… ” she announced quietly.

The two women turned to her in surprise.

“ Are you sure? ” Ember asked, “ It’s still pretty early.  ”

“ We could start a fire outside and still chat. ” Icy offered gently, “ I’m sure there’s something we can cook around here.. ”

The universal opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words escaped her lips. After a second of hesitation she bowed her head and turned around, leaving the room without saying a thing.

Ember and Icy simply blinked in confusion at this, it wasn’t normal for Steph to be this quiet. The fire elemental took a step forward to go after her little sister, but she felt herself being stopped with a cold hand gripping her arm.

“ Just let her rest. ” Icy said as Ember whipped her head back to look at her. “ A lot has happened, give her some time to process. ”

As much as she hated to admit it, Icy was probably right. Though she really wanted to chase after her, explain everything, and apologise profusely, it was probably better to give Stephanie space for now.

Icy let go off Ember’s arm. Silence hushed over the room once more…  Again with this silence…The thoughts just kept rushing back, especially now that they were alone. Gazing at Icy’s moonlit face, Ember couldn’t help but think of that last fight… Her eyes kept trailing down the features of Icy’s face, from her piercing bright eyes all the way down to her lips, those cold but surprisingly soft lips��� And with nothing to distract her thoughts,her head replayed the moment Aphrodite kissed Icy, the exact instant playing on loop over and over and over again.

Though she knew Aphrodite was just a construct of her mind, though she knew she wasn’t real, she still felt this anger and envy in her heart at the sight, she could feel her fists clench, she just wanted to punch Aphrodite all over again. It all just made her long for that time so long ago… That time when they-

“ You still wanna make some food? ”, Icy asked, breaking Ember out of thought and disrupting the silence.

Ember blinked for a moment, trying not to let any of what she was thinking show on her face.  “Oh… Yeah, I’d like that a lot. “, she replied.

“ Cool, you’re cooking then! ” Icy chuckled to herself as she quickly dashed out of the room to make sure Ember couldn’t protest.

She now stood there alone, completely stunned at what had happened. Taking another glance out the window, she could already see Icy sitting by the fire pit outside, waiting for Ember to do all the work. How did she even get there so fast? The tall woman laughed heartily, she had to admit, there was never a dull moment with that one…

“ I guess I better get to it then… “ She smiled to herself as she made her way into the kitchen.

Rummaging through all the cabinets proved to be incredibly disappointing: besides the dust, cobwebs, spiders, and some spices, she was able to only scrounge up a few veggies of questionable freshness. They could roast them up pretty easily, it wasn’t exciting, but it would do for now.

“ Note to self, buy more ingredients for Icy at the market tomorrow… ” Ember whispered to herself as she grabbed a pot, a chopping board, and some tableware before heading outside.

The air was refreshingly cold, it was a needed break from Aphrodite’s fire in the Omnidream. Ember walked over to the fire pit where Icy was already kicking her feet impatiently. Setting all her tools on a nearby tree stump, Ember got to work preparing the fire, chopping the ingredients, mixing all the spices and leaving them in the pot hanging above the flame to roast. She sat down next to Icy, who had not spoken a word this whole time.

Though she was kicking her feet, it was still obvious she was also lost in thought, much like Ember earlier… Did the silence get to her too? Could she perhaps be thinking about the same thing? Ember felt a pit in her stomach… She had only thought about her perspective of that moment in the heat of the situation, but it had only now occurred to her that she didn’t check with Icy about what happened…

Ember tapped her knee repeatedly with her fingers in an effort to ease the sudden nervousness. Gazing into the dancing flame she wondered if she should even bring this up now or if just like Steph, she should give Icy space. And perhaps she could wait to talk about it later, but the idea that she could’ve made someone so important to her uncomfortable just wouldn’t let her rest.

“ So… About earlier… ” Ember began the conversation, grasping tightly at the knees of her trousers. “ I’m sorry if that was weird or it made you uncomfortable…”

Icy looked around, gazing at the moon, the fire, and then at Ember. “ A moonlight night… A kiss…A  fire… A talk… I’d be getting deja vu if the order wasn’t all mixed up” she joked at the displeasure of the other woman.

“ I’m being serious…” Ember protested, “ What happened was… Not okay. I hope you know I wouldn’t just kiss you without getting your permission. I would never want to make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. ” she explained herself nervously.

“ I wasn’t uncomfortable… ” Icy replied, gazing into Ember’s eyes. Though her cheeks were always somewhat red, Ember could’ve sworn they had shifted to a more intense shade. “ It’s not the first time we’ve kissed… “

Ember felt a lump in the back of her throat as Icy brought up their first kiss… “ Yeah, but… We had both agreed to it that night…”

“ But this time it wasn’t you… Well, it was you… It was a part of you, but not you at the same time… Like, it was something deeply suppressed and grown out of proportion- “ Icy explained, wildly waving her hands around as she was trying to piece her thoughts together. However, she gave up mid-thought and turned to Ember with defeat in her eyes. “ Does that make sense? ”, she asked.

“ I guess… I’m glad you see it that way. ”Ember replied, studying Icy’s expression.

Though she said she wasn’t uncomfortable, there was still something about the way she was looking at her, the way her cheeks turned red when she brought the subject up.

Ember inhaled and exhaled, her nervous grip growing tighter, “ I can tell you’re feeling conflicted about something… You know, you can tell me anything, I won’t judg-  ”

“ It didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. ” Icy interrupted Ember, “ That’s the problem…”

Ember felt her face become warm,” What do you mean? ” She asked, confused.

“ It’s just that it’s been 6 years…” Icy sighed as her voice began to shake lightly, ”  It’s been 6 years since we lost Ash… Since anyone’s been affectionate with me.  ” she confessed, dropping her usual rough exterior as her face turned an even brighter shade of red. “ It’s not the kiss that made me uncomfortable, it’s the fact that I was okay with it, that I was ready for it.. ”

Ember looked at the girl compassionately. A part of her felt like she was going to explode, the implication of what she said made her heart beat faster than it ever had before. But the other part of her nearly felt her heart drop… She didn’t think of how this must’ve made her feel like considering she was probably still in mourning… And now her selfish  inner desires brought all those feelings to the surface…

“ I said I would never move on from him…I’m trying not to think about it… ” Icy continued, brushing her fingers through her long ponytail nervously. “ But now it feels like we have to figure out what this means… And that’s so serious, so quickly… It’s like we have to talk about-”

“ Talk about how great this dinner is going to be. ” Ember interrupted the other woman, standing up to check on the food.

Icy stared at her with confusion, “  You can’t go back on what we saw in there, you know… I know you love me… Shouldn’t we talk about what that means? Talk about what the kiss meant? “

Ember tossed the veggies in the pot around as she thought about how to respond. Resting the pot back into its place above the flame, she returned to her seat next to Icy and gently grabbed her cold hands.

“ That would make me very happy… ” Ember admitted, looking at their hands. 

Her larger hands were completely embracing Icy’s, softly rubbing them with her thumbs, almost as if she was trying to warm them, despite knowing that was a futile effort. They were hands that she wanted to hold for a long time… Hands that she wanted to hold for the rest of her life… Hands that were not hers to hold… Not yet.

 “ But would it make you happy right now? “ she asked, gazing back into Icy’s eyes. “ If it causes you distress, we don’t have to talk about anything, alright? ”

“ But-  ” Icy tried to speak, but Ember squeezed her hands tighter to let her know it was okay.

“ Now you know that I love you… As a rival, as a friend, as anything we may or may not ever be… As long as you’re still in my life, I’ll be happy. ” she professed with a soft smile.

A somber expression washed over Icy’s face upon hearing that… A rollercoaster of confusion, of guilt, of fear… Expressions completely unusual to her. Only the goddesses could know what was going on through her mind at that moment, but soon this rollercoaster of feelings brought a small smile onto her lips as she finally returned Ember’s gaze.

It’s been so long since the last time she’s seen a real smile from her.

The two sat there together quietly for what felt like hours as the cool wind blew through their hair.  Though she couldn’t bring herself to say the words “ Thank you”, Ember could still tell that Icy was grateful. It was something she could read from the look in her eyes after all these years. The future was still uncertain, but Ember could feel a weight lift of her shoulders that she never even realised was there. She could breathe easy knowing her feelings were out in the open.

“ …Ember? ” Icy broke her silence at last after many minutes.

“ Y-yes? “ Ember quickly replied, still bearing a reassuring smile on her face.

“ I think the food is burning… ” Icy commented as she pointed towards the fire.

A big cloud of smoke was rising from the pot as an unpleasant stench of burnt food attacked both the women’s sense of smell. Ember in an instant jumped from her seat to try salvage as much as possible. When she sat back down with two plates in her hands, neither of them could even tell anymore what veggies they even roasted, they were all completely charred.

Both of them hesitantly took a bite from the dark cubes of what used to be vegetables… One bite was all it took to realise it was a pointless endeavour. Feeling defeated, the two women decided that it might be better to just go to bed instead.

“ If this is how you show all your girlfriends love, I hope we never have that talk… ” Icy teased.

“ You know how to ruin a moment, don’t you? ” Ember sighed as they both walked inside.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

get to know you better game! answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better.

tagged by: @monstrousgourmandizingcats Thank you!

last song I listened to: I think it was "Antigravity" by Starset yesterday? It was the second song I discovered by that band (thank you for always Getting Me, Pandora Internet Radio), and Starset is now in my top 10 and I'm going to see them in concert in April!

currently reading: Both Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett and Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 by John Maxwell. It's my first time reading a full novel by Terry Pratchett, certainly my first time reading Discworld, and it has its moments, but I'm not devouring it. John Maxwell, however, is killing it as always.

currently watching: Uhhhhh.... Nothing much, actually. Music videos when my favorite bands release them. Slowly re-watching Steven Universe with a roommate. "Watching" the Antigravity video in the other tab now because I Really Like That Song.

currently obsessed with: Trying, for the ten thousandth time, to finish chapter 21 of DDD. All the Best Moments in the chapter are written! It's just the weird transitional stuff that I can't pull together pretty or somber enough words for.... I'm considering cutting a scene entirely and I Think that'll speed it up, but there are other moments I'm shying away from for the simple fact that they're not as engaging as other moments. Just little blips of information that my mind's only gliving me snapshot glimpses of, like "Dove's begging for it to stop" but it won't give me the rest of the scene around that.

Conceivably I could cut those moments, too.... The chapter's already 27 pages long. It would certainly survive it. And if I'm not even interested in it as the writer, I suppose the audience wouldn't be? But alas. Culling your darlings is painful when you have barely had any darlings at all in the past 10 years.

tagging: (This meme is Very Old and has probably been passed around to everyone already, so if you've recently done it or don't want to do it for whatever reason, feel free to disregard it. In a similar vein: If you see this and you haven't done it, but you want to, consider yourself tagged!)

@astrearl @cxttlefishcxller @chasm-connected @cyberninja @creepycute-kitty-gf @orionsdestiny @yazzy-the-cat (I can't tag you. :c) @sirenianheart @robynrpmain (if you see this and want to, I know you're ambivalent on them sometimes!)

[sturmdunkel]

🧡❄️ Very sweet of you to worry about me not liking your ideas, but i've spent several minutes pacing the room in excitement just now because fuck yeah robots! Big fan of AUs in general and also sci-fi as a genre, so i legit read the word robot and kinda blacked out for a second. Like, hell yeah! Let's do robots!

(Werewolves are good too, and I'll keep them as a back up idea but...robots are perfect ngl)

In fact I think I already have an idea so I don't even really have any follow up questions? Maybe after I've turned the idea over a bit more in my head but...okay i guess maybe one question: I'd probably try to keep the fic on the shorter side, so have it be as self-contained as I can while probably hinting at a lot of big worldbuilding elements and further conflict that I just don't have the time to also write in the next couple months (or maybe even ever. Don't want to go making promises I'm not a 100% certain I can keep). Would that be okay?

Lastly, I don't think anyone can fault you for stating a preference, especially since I asked for it! Personally songfics are also not my thing, so you don't have to worry about that, but also I think it's very fair to say you wouldn't really enjoy being gifted one. This is about creating a gift you'd like, after all. And speaking of which: thank you for the Andrew sketch! I love him and he's the first pic in the nonexistant moodboard for this fic. Like, I can picture him in the opening scene so clearly! ❄️🧡

:DDD yay I'm so glad you like the robot idea hehe >:D also yes it's perfectly fine to do that!!! I don't want you to stress over this gift :P

But speaking of AUs and sci-fi,,,any favorite works in the fandom in this genre? :OOO or just favorite sci-fi works in general :D I'm a big fan of anything to do with mechas and space,,,,so just a big sci-fi enthusiast haha :D

[byemambo]

Concert Diaries: THE BOYZ - ZENERATION II

Artist: THE BOYZ

Tour: ZENERATION II World Tour

Date: July 21, 2024

Location: Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA

Tier: SRA/Gen Admission

Time(s) Seen: Second time

Favorite Songs (Title Track): TATTOO, Levitating, Fantasize, DDD, Survive the Night, Back 2 U, REVEAL, The Stealer, Nectar

Notable Moments (in depth reflection under the cut):

Never been to the Fox Theatre before, it's beautiful in there and I finally experienced a concert with real seating aka cushions 😂

They also provided theatre concessions like popcorn, so I know some people were going to town

Every group I've seen in Atlanta has always said the same thing: "Atlanta is so HOT 🔥"

Jacob singing a snippet of Peaches - Justin Bieber

Kevin mixing up the dates of the previous concert in New York thinking it was "yesterday" instead of two days ago (dates of tour locations stagger every other day, so they were in Atlanta the day before the concert)

Eric and Q first time performing in Atlanta: Eric was on hiatus last tour in 2022, Q got sick while on tour and couldn't attend the Atlanta stop

Haknyeon talking about Atlanta's sports culture: also asked if there were any sports fans in the audience def not me

Brought back pink hair predebut Eric, felt like I got teleported back to 2017 (which is crazy how I've been here since the beginning)

If I remember correctly: Atlanta is home to Sangyeon stans so they delivered whenever that man appeared on screen and talked, same energy last tour as well

The way I started losing my mind when they performed TATTOO (it's their first Japanese EP and I had no hope that I'd be able to see it in person one day since groups usually don't perform their Japanese discography outside of their fan concerts or in Japan)

The members taking time to acknowledge the second floor of the venue, and taking so many moments to scan and take in their image of the experience we're all sharing in that moment

The pure excitement and joy of being in stage and showing us how free they are when they're in the spotlight is addictive and yearned for: to keep their focus on their own path without engaging with any moment of disregard, undermining, or challenging their influence and presence in the industry

Sharing silly moments, such as them fooling around with the height of the mic stands during more fun and carefree songs

Witnessing the comfortability and confidence they now have from being in the industry all these years, while taking time to reflect on their journey as they were once young boys with a big dream ahead of them

The VCR was gorgeous: usually in between outfit changes, the videos shown usually compose of more behind-the-scenes footage (recording sessions, dance practices, self reflections, etc), but THE BOYZ really kept the concert consistent with their "Zeneration" concept (the theatre style venue made it feel like I was watching a movie)

My interpretation (since the Seoul concert VCR has more commentary and behind-the-scenes), there were lots of juxtaposition from a more industrial/sterile environment (all white set, cat walk, very interesting motion transitions (even though I used Adobe After Effects for animated illustration, VFX work on there is otherworldly), defying the natural laws through astrology and galaxy elements (traveling through space and seeing the warping of the universe was so dynamic and peaked my interest because I personally enjoy those themes), and teleporting us into a world filled with nature elements (open grass field, lakeside, flowers, trees, open sky).

THE BOYZ have been working for officially 7 years in December (which is the typical length of time a contract lasts), and I had the privilege of witnessing their growth and journey in finding their footing in the industry. Being a part of a "small company," the level of exposure and opportunities is drastically different in comparison to groups entering the industry from "big companies," whether from music show appearances, award ceremonies, variety show appearances, access to ambitious production professionals (music production, music video directors, content producers, etc). The threshold in attaining any level of commercial "success" is a financial and opportunistic division, which the industry currently operates on. Therefore, groups like THE BOYZ have to overexert themselves beyond what can be a walk in the park for other groups (which doesn't diminish the coexistence of all groups working hard while still acknowledging the innate advantages and disadvantages that vary from the level of influence a company has due to the saturated market), and from being so involved in their journey as a fan, THE BOYZ's ambition and passion in delivering the best performances while exploring and solidifying their artistic voice and color is one of their best traits that resonate to me as a multi stan.

With 7 years of experience, not only is their discography extensive and diverse, active solo/unit promotion (while bringing more attention to the group themselves) continues to keep THE BOYZ head above water for all these years. Appearing in shows like Road to Kingdom while also earning their ticket to join Kingdom: Legendary War, they only continue to make me proud to see them shining on stage and being recognized for their hard work and ambitions. Moments that resonated with me during those times were witnessing and sharing their vulnerable moments with us as the audience (which reminds me of Kevin mentioning after finishing their ballad songs that he kept forgetting the lyrics, but being met with empathy and a smile because we're all human and experiencing the same life full of pressure, anxiety, forgetfulness, etc): Sunwoo being so brave despite having a fear of being head below water and heights taking on many killing parts that challenged him and amplified the drama/storytelling of the performance, the members pushing the limitations of their bodies to showcase their creativity and drive to deliver to the audience something attention grabbing, Juyeon crying after finishing their Quasi una fantasia because he couldn't find his specific branch during the climax of the performance and felt that it could potentially risk their ranking (seeing the fancam of him scrambling on the side of the stage brought me heartache knowing how much pressure he puts on himself because of how deeply he cares about his performance), investing time to showcase a storyline throughout the show that built upon one another (from Eastern warriors, crowned kings, phantom thieves, blossoming sakura petals, and so much more). There is so much love and dedication to what they want to bring to the industry, while also understanding their strengths and capitalizing off of them: intentionality is the word that comes to mind.

From starting out with their school boy youth concepts from Boy as their debut song, silly resort employees in Thrill Ride, werewolf callbacks in REVEAL, defining what it being their individual versions of BE YOUR OWN KING means in their own right, thieves in The Stealer, competing against one another and resorting to violent methods to escape their doom in MAVERICK, exploring nostalgia as school boys again in Nectar, there are so many concepts and sides of THE BOYZ that has only solidified their position in my life as one of my favorite artists. The willingness to experiment and explore, the willingness to deliver new flavors of THE BOYZ while also calling back to past concepts as newer versions of who they once were at that point in their lives. Having so much awareness of the creative direction they're walking on is inspiring, it's admirable, it's cherished. Please give them their flowers, moments of acknowledging their efforts and impact they have on the world around them, and taking the time to return the love we receive from them tenfold. For some, it may seem like the end to a beginning, but with any end, there's always a beginning. I only hope and pray that they will continue down this flowering path and inspire everyone around them, while also taking moments for themselves to join in on the human experience and remove the fame and "idol" mask. That they are just like us, that they have their own worries and insecurities, their own qualms and moments of weakness, their own dreams and goals, their own paths to pave, their own acknowledgement of their emotions and down to earth contemplations. That we all aren't so different after all: that we all share the mutual exchange of love and energy for one another. We're all playing the same game of life: it's up to us to continue grounding ourselves and to return home to our safe spaces.

While driving home four hours away (ended up being three from me being ballsy and driving during midnight) from Atlanta shortly after the concert was over and everyone else attended hi-touch, I finally took the time to record a long awaited voice memo for myself: spent the entire drive reflecting and acknowledging areas of my life that deserve praise and have been on the back burner for a long time. Just from enjoying my time at the concert, the energy gave me so much strength, so much love and care, so much inspiration and desire to work harder, so much appreciation for living my life with intentionality, second by second, moment to moment. Moments like these mean the world to me, giving me evidence and more reasons to continue waking up every day whether to clear skies or thunder clouds. That there is more to this life than what meets the eyes. To some, it's never "this deep" or belittling people choosing to live in their authentic selves and love what they love even if it seems weird, lame, stupid, which to that I say: "don't yuck another man's yum" and "I hope that one day you will have the courage to reflect and meet yourself at such levels of depth where there's no reason to fear the judgment of others, society, the world. Where living in your authentic self will not only alter your relationship with your own pursuit of happiness, but wanting to share that same warm fuzzy feeling with the rest of the world. Nothing makes me more joyous than seeing someone else tap into themselves and light up like a chandelier, like a sparkler, like a candle, like a campfire, like a firework. Why wouldn't you want to witness such moments of pure passion and love?"

Next Concert: ATEEZ - TOWARDS THE LIGHT : WILL TO POWER