#this would've done NUMBERS back in 2016

[jonathanbyersphd]

Down on the West Coast

[calqlate]

SAVE HIM

SUMMARY: If you had to name your biggest regret, it would be failing to save Akaashi Keiji. So, when the time came for you to save him, would you be able to do that?

PAIRING: akaashi keiji x gn! reader

WC: 2298

NOTE(S): based off the 2016 anime orange

A/N: edited and republished this from wattpad! this is completely not proofread so there might be mistakes :") n e ways pls enjoy! ^^

MASTERLIST

If one could change the future, would they do so? If one could erase their regrets from the past, would they do so? And if one could change the future, would they do so?

Because those were your exact thoughts. You knew that if a chance arose for you to redo the mistakes from your past, you would glady do so, all to create a better future with fewer regrets. Or, at the very least, reduce the number of regrets you would be carrying with you into the future.

At present day, you stood in front of the framed picture, tears rolling down your cheeks. The picture was of a somewhat tan boy with wavy black hair and a pair of mesmerising eyes that were a harmonious blend of blue, grey, and green. A dull ache settled in your chest as you bent over and clutched your shirt, with the same few words leaving your lips.

"I'm sorry, Keiji," was all you could say over and over again, as if the boy could hear you, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

There were a million things you knew that you could have done to prevent him from leaving your life for good, but you ultimately failed to do so. Regret-filled thoughts filled your head as you bawled your eyes out.

If only I'd taken his words into more consideration.

If only I didn't anger him like that.

If only I had found out earlier that he was actually hurting, and his smiles were just masks to hide his sadness.

If only I'd done something to make him happier. Maybe he would've stayed.

If only he was still alive.

Ten years after the boy's passing, the chance of time travel arose, so you made sure to make full use of it. You knew that you had to help your past self right your wrongs and do something (at the very least) to change your future. Perhaps a parallel timeline would be created if your past self followed through, and this timeline would be one where Akaashi Keiji was still very much alive.

This was how it was going to work: you were going to write a letter addressed to yourself from ten years ago and send it out to the sea, sealed in a bottle, hoping it will reach the recepient. There was a chance it would get lost, so you were banking all of your faith into the will of the heavens. The letter, as you willed, would detail all the things that would happen (as it did to you) and highlight what should be done differently so that your younger self's timeline could be changed.

You and your friends had sent the letters out together, all for one common goal and one shared regret. Hopefully, something would change, and that a good ending could be seen through for their past selves.

As you sent your letter out, you could only clasp your hands together and pray that it would be successful, and that your younger self would have a different future from you.

Please, you whispered in your head as you closed your eyes shut, Please, no matter what, please save him.

The year was 2012, and it was October. Meaning, it was now autumn, and that half a school year was gone. Just before you left your home, your mother had passed you an envelope that was addressed to you.

At present, you were sitting in your homeroom, and it was way before the first bell of the day would chime. You had plenty of time to relax, so you pulled the envelope out to read its contents. As you scanned the sealed envelope, you noticed one peculiar trait: there was no return address.

That's strange, your brows furrowed as you flipped the envelope back and forth, wondering if your eyes were playing tricks on you, There's no way someone would mail this out to me without writing their own return address.

You sighed, Well, it reached me safe and sound, so I guess there's no need for a return address. Right?

You opened the envelope and pulled out a small stack of folded papers. The papers were the exact size of your small notebook that you used as a journal. You took the very first sheet of paper among the many and read the lines written in neat penmanship:

To the me of ten years back,

Hey there. I'm the ten-year-older version of you, [F/N].

What kind of sick joke is this? You had half a mind to scoff and throw the entire stack of papers away, but you decided to continue reading it anyway. You might as well humour the sender for a little, right?

You might not — no, scratch that. You're definitely in disbelief right now, and you're probably thinking that someone is pulling your leg right now. Well, how about I tell you something that you haven't told anyone before?

Oh, this ought to get interesting, you scoffed inwardly as you continued to read.

Back in the second term, for the sake of passing chemistry, you cheated during the exam and somehow got away with it. You got a good grade on it, too, and you've not told anyone about it.

Your eyes widened. There was absolutely no way anyone would know that; you had not breathed a single word about it to anyone before, not even to your closest friends.

Well, how about it? Do you believe me now?

See, I have a couple of regrets made from some bad choices back in my first year of high school, and I would like you to see that you wouldn't have them ten years later. Trust me.

Like I said, there are many regrets that I have, but there is one that haunts me and will haunt me forever: not doing enough to protect Akaashi Keiji.

You held the papers in your hands. Were these prank letters? No one could possibly send a letter back to the past, right? However, then again, no one knew a thing about the time you cheated on the chemistry test, and it was a dirty secret that you had planned to take to your grave since the very beginning.

In more important news, who was Akaashi Keiji? You had never met anyone by that name, ever. You were also very sure that he was not in your year, at the very least; you had never heard of a fellow first year with that name.

You held the second sheet of paper up, which was written in somewhat of a diary format, with only the important points being written in bullet points.

「 1 October 2012, Monday 」

It's the first day of october and it's autumn. I was heading to the choir room after school. Along the way, I had to pass by the third gym. The door was open, and a volleyball had rolled out, and a boy came right out to collect it. he apologised, and I said, "It's fine, I didn't get hit or anything." He bowed and left. His name was Akaashi Keiji.

After choir practice, I bumped into him on the way to the school gate. He offered to then walk me home.

◎ This is the one time I want you to turn down his — actually, anyone's — offer. Seriously.

The first bell chimed, and first period was about to begin. Quickly, you shoved the stack of papers under your desk. The rest of the journal entry could wait. You had plenty of time to read it and mull it over before the end of the school day, anyway.

You looked at the clock mounted on the wall, which read 3.20 p.m. You folded the letters neatly and shoved it into your bag as you trudged out of the classroom and made your way towards the choir room. True to the letter's word, you did have to walk past the third gym. You stopped and glanced at the gym, noting that the door was wide open.

A chill ran up your spine, So the letter's pretty accurate. Not even a second later, a blue and yellow striped volleyball rolled out and stopped at your feet, and you bent down to pick it up.

"Sorry, did it hit you?" a voice caused you to turn her head towards the source. A boy jogged up towards you, his brows furrowed together in concern.

It was as if time froze as you looked at this guy properly. He had relatively tan skin and curled raven hair that tumbled over his head in an effortlessly beautiful kind of way. As your gaze finally settled on his face, you realised that he also had a ethereal face to match: a sharp jawline, thick brows, a high nose bridge, thin pink lips, and eyes that were a mesmerising mix of blue, grey, and green.

As he approached you, you could not help but think, He's the walking textbook definition of a bishounen. How can such a fine man even exist? Is this actually real life? You blinked a couple of times and still saw the same guy standing in front of you. Yep, he's real all right.

Quickly, you snapped back to reality as time unfroze and moved forward again. You shook your head and plastered a smile on your face, "It's fine, I didn't get hit or anything." You handed the ball to him, "I believe this belongs to you."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, before giving a little bow, "Please excuse me."

He stood back straight and the cogs in your head began to whir. The letter said that a guy named Akaashi Keiji came to collect the stray ball. Is he the guy? As he turned to leave, you blurted out, "Wait!"

He turned back around to face you and raised a curious eyebrow up at you, "Can I help you?"

It's now or never. You took a breath and asked, "May I know your name?"

His eyes flickered in slight confusion. You were about to tell him that it was alright if he did not wish to answer your question, but he beat you to it by speaking.

"Akaashi. Akaashi Keiji."

Ah, your thoughts came to a standstill as you connected this beautiful face to the name you had seen earlier, So he is the Akaashi Keiji the letter was talking about.

As you stood very still, he bowed again, then turned to return to the gym. You watched him disappear into the gym as questions popped into your head, How am I supposed to save him? What does the letter mean? I'm not even that close of a friend to him, anyway.

You recalled the contents of that day's letter, which showed zero answers to your current questions. And unfortunately, these were questions to be answered later in the future.

Four hours had passed since your encounter with Akaashi. The final bell of the day had rung, and it was time for everyone to pack up and leave the school grounds. The sun had already begun to set, only showing half of itself in the distance, glowing orange-red in the west. The skies were painted a pretty shade of orange-gold, and the clouds were dappled in hues of rose-pink and amber. Students were trickling towards the gate, saying their goodbyes and parting ways.

You were no exception to this. You walked towards the gate, and were saying goodbye to your friends when you felt a tap on your shoulder. You whirled around to see the pretty boy whom you had met a few hours prior before going for choir practice.

"Hey," he said slowly and a little awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, "You asked me for my name, so I thought I should ask you for yours."

That's a pretty odd reasoning, but I'll take it, I guess, you thought, then replied, "I'm [L/N] [F/N], nice to meet you."

"[L/N] [F/N]..." he muttered your name softly, as if he was trying to get used to it by testing it out, then asked, "Do you live nearby?"

"Yeah," you answered, "I live at the apartment complex near Niihara Park."

"I can walk you home," he offered, then added, "I live pretty close to Niihara Park, too."

You almost snickered at his chivalrous behaviour. Instead, you asked playfully, "Do you normally walk people whom you've just met back home?"

"Well, not really, but—" he let a small smile curve his lips (which almost caused you to blush because you never knew a smile could fit a person so well), then continued in a teasing manner, "I find you different."

You laughed at his reponse, and you let him have his way, completely forgetting what the letter told you to do: to turn his request down.

So under that warm sunset, the both of you walked home together and talked to get to know one another better. For instance, what respective year you were both in ("So I should be calling you Akaashi-senpai," you jested), what they liked to do in their free time, which teacher was the worst, and such. Akaashi walked you up till the front gates of your apartment complex and you bid each other farewell, promising to say hello if you bumped into each other at school in the future.

After you washed up and collapsed into bed that evening, you could only smile blissfully at the ceiling as you recalled the walk home, Today was an eventful day. And it was a pretty good one, too.

However, little did you know, that walk that they shared was just the start of the multiple regrets that you would have ten years later.

[astropithecus]

Like a lot of people that have ADHD and like to draw, it's a passion I discovered while held against my will in an elementary school classroom. I drew a lot up until the time I started working, then it gradually tapered off, and I didn't draw much of anything for a decade or more. I expected - much like my teachers - bosses and coworkers would take doodling as a sign that I wasn't paying attention, and - also like my teachers - would probably be dubious of my assertions that it helps me listen. Consequently I just didn't let myself draw. Once I'd made the decision not to draw while I was supposed to be doing something else, I just sort of stopped drawing altogether (and had a lot more trouble listening).

One of the strategies I've found for overcoming executive dysfunction is "get close to the work." If you can't focus on the work, you get as close to doing it as you can, and sometimes being 'near' it (both physical proximity to where the work is, but also "close to" as in "similar to the actions that would accomplish the thing you're trying to get done") you'll sort of ease into it.

A good example - I couldn't get going on a September layout in my bullet journal. The video in the link is from 2016, I saw it before I was even diagnosed. It made a lot of sense to me - I'd also struggled to maintain any sort of day planner my entire life - you get a new planner, you get it all set up, you get all excited about how it's going to change your life, then you never use it again. The bullet journal clicked, though - this time the planner really did change my life - and I've kept doing it regularly for 7 years now.

Executive dysfunction around my bullet journal is bad news, though. It starts a cascade of things being forgotten, the more things that are forgotten there more "undoing" (fees, fines, apologies, rescheduling, catching up) there is to do, and the more overwhelming ever getting back on track seems. When I was doodling this I was behind on schoolwork, I'd done almost nothing on a major annual work project despite the deadline being a week away, my vehicle registration was expired, and I hadn't brushed my teeth. My very oldest friend in the world had a birthday on September 3rd and I'd forgotten to tell him happy birthday. The old me would've berated myself - "get your shit together, man, this is for real, why are you always like this? quit fucking around and just do the damn thing, goddamn" - instead I decided I'd get close to the work instead.

"Close to the work" in this case looked like "get out the bullet journal and your trusty 0.5mm Uni Kuru Toga, and open it to a blank page, you can do that much."

I only ever feel like drawing when I'm supposed to be doing something else. I decided drawing in my bullet journal was being close to the work - it's open, the pencil is in my hand, I'm marking on the paper - that's very close to the work.

As you might suspect from the elaborate shading, it did not work quickly. But it did work. Eventually I felt like I could draw day numbers as long as I didn't have to put them on the right lines and could start with 13. I didn't feel like I had the brainspace to decide what tasks go on what days, so I just migrated everything from August to the month log. On Monday the 10th I noticed I forgot to box off the weekends like I normally do, so I did.

It's ultimately not a very useful, efficient monthly log. It's more doodle than day planner, and it's only got the barest-minimum-please-god-do-these-things-sometime-this-month stuff on it. But without getting close to the work and then indulging my inclination to draw when I'm supposed to be doing something else, I don't think it would've happened at all. My current struggle is I still can't exactly feel proud of myself for doing it. I can recognize that I used self-awareness and healthy coping mechanisms to overcome a challenge, and that from a rational standpoint that's a thing I should be proud of, but instead I just sort of feel silly that I had to basically trick myself into being able to write a to-do list in a notebook. In other words,

self-portrait by the author

Weirdly, what I can feel proud of is the doodles. You know, the thing I was doing while I was supposed to be doing something else.

These curly banner things are Sailor Jerry/traditional tattoo flash inspired. This one's sort of a joke, the dagger is normally through the heart, here we haven't gotten around to it yet.

Executive Dysfunction is his superhero name. He's a Clark Kent type, everyone sees him as a competent, consummately professional business executive, but his secret identity is a guy with no pants whose life is falling apart. Can you spot both of his shoes?

This is Executive Dysfunction's equivalent of a utility belt. It's a briefcase full of sugar.

This is a neat trick if you can't remember that "30 days hath September" stuff. If I'm working on a monthly layout and I stop to go look at a calendar and see how many days are in the month, I will often get distracted and not finish. So I needed a way to remember on my own, I've used this 'knuckles' method for years.

Starting from your pinky knuckle (on either hand, but I usually start with my right since it's the one holding the pencil) count one month for each knuckle, and each space between knuckles. So January is your pinky, February is the space between your pinky and ring knuckles, March is your ring knuckle, etc. Months on a knuckle (January, March, May, July, August, October, and December) have 31 days, months between knuckles have fewer (30, except February).

Since the U.S. has Presidential elections on leap years, I can remember if it's a leap year or not based on whether or not we're voting for a President this year, so with just my knuckles and the smallest amount of political awareness, I can know how many days each month has without having to put down the bullet journal and pick up a phone or a computer.

If you think that was exciting you should hear how I mentally convert hex to decimal.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Here's a fun stat regarding Walt Disney Animation Studios' recent Thanksgiving-release films.

As in, films released the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, giving them a 5-day opening advantage and usually great holiday legs from there.

It's a spot that had been utilized by Disney before for animated features, chiefly from 1988 (OLIVER & COMPANY) to 1992 (ALADDIN), before embracing primarily summer debuts, with a few exceptions here and there. TREASURE PLANET, in 2002, would be the first Disney animated feature to try Thanksgiving again... And the last until, not counting a limited release of THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG... TANGLED, in 2010.

After TANGLED, WDAS released multiple animated films during the Thanksgiving frame of their respective release years: FROZEN, MOANA, RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET, FROZEN II, ENCANTO, STRANGE WORLD, WISH, MOANA 2... And this year, ZOOTOPIA 2 aims for it, an untitled original for Thanksgiving 2026, and FROZEN III for Thanksgiving 2027...

And it's interesting to note that the studio's best Thanksgiving release multipliers, post-2009, have been their 2010s features. In the before-COVID times, when an animated feature that wasn't a sequel could easily score a good $45-60m opening weekend. Nowadays, they mostly have to fight to get anywhere near that, sometimes it helps to be based on some kind of well-known IP.

I wanted to look at this because despite MOANA 2's massive numbers, which is way more than what the previous few WDAS movies made combined... It doesn't have the best multiplier, suggesting that it was frontloaded *and* some audiences weren't that big on it.

Let's look at the top movies in this criteria...

FROZEN, of course, has the highest multiplier of the domestic releases, a then-unprecedented 5.97x. $67m three-day, all the way to $400m final total. Excellent for any movie, let alone an animated feature. We all remember what a leggy phenomenon that movie was, well past its late November release.

Second place here is the first MOANA back in 2016/17, which made 4.42x its opening weekend. $56m OW, $248m DOM. Very good legs there.

TANGLED made 4.16x its opening weekend, also very good. Anything above 4x is excellent, really, especially if it opened pretty solidly. $48m to $200m.

FROZEN II opened way higher than the first one, with $130m, and topped out at $477m. 3.66x its opening. Still good! 3x is usually a good multiplier for anything. Certainly not what the first one was some 6 years prior, but even then, it probably wouldn't have recaptured that kind of phenomenon anyways. Even if the movie were widely beloved and considered as good as the original/superior to it.

RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET opened with $56m, finished with $201m, 3.58x the opening. That's a somewhat weaker multiplier than the original WRECK-IT RALPH's, which made 3.85x off of an early November opening.

A click below here is ENCANTO, the first of the 2020s WDAS movies on here... Which... We have to make a special case for that one. ENCANTO opened in Thanksgiving 2021, which was at the tail end of COVID-19's Delta variant and at the start of the Omicron variant. Not that that affected every movie out there (SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, anyone?), but it was still very much a concern for now-reopened theaters and family audiences. I saw it the week after opening in a theater w/ maybe 4 to 5 other people in it? Not even a month into its run, it was put on Disney+. On Christmas Day. That's where the movie *really* took off!

Still, the feature made 3.55x its opening. The movie was that good to audiences, that the Disney+ release didn't cut too much into it, I suppose! It played in domestic theaters 'til April of 2022, it was at $88m by Christmas weekend and finished with $97m when all was said and done. A world where COVID never happened, this would've opened - easily - with $40m and made well over $170m+ domestically. In that scenario, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON would've opened in Thanksgiving 2020 as originally intended, and probably would've done equally as well.

Next is WISH, Thanksgiving 2023, with an okay 3.31x multiplier. Again, for a Thanksgiving WDAS movie. It had a pretty blah $19m opening, and made only $63m in the long run, which wasn't great - even for a post-outbreak animated feature like that. ENCANTO had major COVID variants up against it, this did not. Audiences didn't really like this one, nor really wanted to see it.

Then we have MOANA 2, with - currently - a 3.25x multiplier. Should it make $460m here by the end of its long run, it'll still be a sliiiight notch below WISH's multiplier. This movie was much more frontloaded, and while I saw - at my theater job - audiences flocking to it and coming out of it satisfied (or loving it, even), it apparently wasn't that high on their lists. If the reception was on the level of the original MOANA, it may have pulled more of a 3.5x multiplier and made roughly $485m+ domestically. Maybe even made a play for $500m. INSIDE OUT 2, from Pixar, opened gargantuan and made 4.23x its $154m opening. It could've been done, but MOANA 2 didn't have the juice. I'd imagine WICKED and other competition could've played a part, too, maybe not. Still, that's a goddamn ocean-full of money there!

And then, predictably, in last place... Is poor STRANGE WORLD, which made only 3.08x its pitiful $12m opening. Well past Omicron, in Thanksgiving 2022, back when movies were really starting to do better again. We had gotten past the summer of TOP GUN: MAVERICK and MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, in addition to heavy-hitters like ELVIS, NOPE, and THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER. The biggest non-sequel animated films of 2022 were THE BAD GUYS and DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS, both of which scored in the 90s. If TURNING RED had been a theatrical release, it probably would've made somewhere around that amount... So, in a better scenario, STRANGE WORLD could've been primed to be a successful film.

No good word of mouth could save the picture Disney dumped and did a poor job presenting beforehand (crickets in the auditorium whenever that teaser played), and I'm sure homophobic audiences staying away played a tiny part too (I remember at least one person demanding a refund at my job for the gay stuff)... It puttered out at $37m domestically. Like ENCANTO, it too went straight to Disney+ not even a month after opening.

So yeah, interestingly... Only the 2010s WDAS movies released during Thanksgiving had the really good multipliers.

Maybe if ZOOTOPIA 2 is both a critical and audience hit, as in something they really love- A CinemaScore, well above 80% in aggregated Rotten Tomatoes-counted reviews, etc.... Maybe ZOOTOPIA 2 makes over 3.5x its sure to be big opening weekend. Well, maybe it'll open big... Let's see what the country looks like by then, first, given everything that's already been going on. Movie tickets and snacks cost quite a bit, ya know?

But suppose we are in decent-to-good standing by Thanksgiving 2025... Yeah, I fully expect ZOOTOPIA 2 - should it be very satisfactory as a movie - to open big and have truly good/great legs from there on out.

[denziezwhattfuck]

Ian | Sam X Tommy (Nerve 2016)

-

"Hey Tommy, can I ask for your number? Also sorry about my behaviour earlier in the restaurant, i was kind of rushing." Ian smiles as he looks at Tommy with a headset on, Ian had a perfect timing as Tommy's music stopped from when he asked for his number, "It's alright, would've been more awkward if you were behind me talking to Vee." Tommy looks at Ian with a slight smile on his face, "And sure I'll give you my number, what for though?" Tommy asked confused with why he asked for his number, "You know, just in case you were to worry about Vee, you can contact me whenever." Ian spoke, keeping the smile on his face, "Alright." The two then exchanged numbers in case if there were gonna be troubles ahead, Tommy is there to back them up, Vee was his best friend and he'll do anything as to keep her safe from dangers, "I'll keep in touch." Ian clicked his tongue, winking at ian before rushing outside to see Vee again, on the parking lot.

Earlier...

"I'll back out if ever i feel uncomfortable." Vee spoke pondering about the decision she's about to make, "That's fair." Ian then hands out the extra helmet he brought attached onto his motor, Ian then saw Tommy from behind Vee, Tommy looking at Ian suspiciously not fully trusting the man Vee just met, even just from a kiss, Tommy then weng back inside the restaurant, wearing his headphones before entering, hands on his pockets, Ian then bit his tongue, thinking for a second with what he can give towards Vee's best friend, "Vee, can you wait a little bit? I'm gonna talk to your friend a bit and apologize for my behaviour earlier." Ian then hangs his helmet back on the mirror of his motor, Vee then grabbed the helmet, holding on her hands, agreeing with his statement, "Yeah, go ahead, I'll wait out here." Ian then gave her a grin before running back to the restaurant,

Present...

Tommy felt himself blush slightly from the gesture, shaking it off quickly as he scratches his head, Tommy then looked at his phone, playing the playlist he made on his phone's music app, listening as he looks at the people eating, drinking, and chattering, "Hope you'll be alright Vee.",

"You ready to go? Hold onto my chest, we don't wanna fall dont we?" Ian chuckles, looking behind to ensure that Vee's ready to take on the challenge, "Alright, lets do this." Vee then held on to his chest, the motors engine revving, as he squeezed the handle on his motor as they took off on their journey, "Can't believe you were dared to take me to the city." Vee laughs from behind, holding onto Ian tightly, "Well the watchers want it, so lets give it to them." Ian chuckles, increasing the speed of his motor to move even faster, "Can we hear a scream from the back!" Ian shouted, "WOO HOO!" Vee screamed, laughing right after,

They then arrived at a store that sells luxurious suits and dresses, apparently Ian was dared to be there, to wear a suit his size, "Had a lot of fun, but i got to get inside to finish a dare." Ian spoke, admitting that he has to leave Vee outside, "Well, you go on ahead. I had a lot of fun aswell." Vee smiled at Ian, Ian then smiled back at her as he ran towards the store, but then Vee was dared to wear a specific green dress, she quickly ran towards the store, showing the staff the image of the green dress, the woman then agreed to take her to that dress, her leading the way first as Vee followed her, the female staff then brought her the dress her size, she quickly took it without hesitation, entering the changing room as fast as possible as the time was running out, she quickly undresses herself as the watchers watch her, complimenting her body, and some other weird stuff, she completely wore the dress showing it to the watchers as she proves that her dare is done, as she saw that it was successful, she sighed going outside the changing room, looking at the mirror as she looked stunning with the dress on, it fit her so well that she talked to herself on the mirror, asking herself a number, then all of a sudden Ian came in wearing a suit coloured grey with thin lines and a red tie hung on his white shirt, "Oh Vee, you're here."

Tommy was still in the restaurant looking onto his phone, then he was curious, he inputted the link that can take him to this unknown site called nerve, as he saw the options on the screen, he felt suspicious at first, "Can i choose neither." Tommy thought, but then chose to be a watcher, just to keep track of what Vee and Ian were doing, he then taps on what seems to be Vee putting on her green dress, "What are you doing Vee." Tommy said worried, but then he receives a text notification on his phone, and it was from Ian, which he found weird because at this time it wasn't something to concern Vee with, on the message he sent an image, Ian with his thumbs up showing off the suit the watchers dared him to wear, "Hey Tommy, hows the suit?" Ian sent the message with a emoji that was also having a thumbs up, Tommy rolled his eyes, deciding if whether to reply to him or not, Tommy sighed finally decided to text him back, "It looks good on you." Tommy sent the message with nothing but a formal text, Tommy then continued on watching Vee, keeping watch if whether something comes up, Ian sent another message, "Awww, come on. Why the plain text?" Ian sent the message with a single tear dropped emoji, Tommy chuckles but remembers that he has to focus on what he's doing currently and thats by doing the dares to earn some money, so he decided to ignore him and continue on watching Vee,

""I thought you were gonna leave?" Ian spoke, with a phone on his hand, confused thinking that Vee left, "Well, I was dared to wear this green dress." Vee spoke shyly, "Well, you look pretty." Ian smiled at her, then she awkwardly gave it back, "What are you doing here?" Vee asks, "Oh uh, I was dared ro wear this suit, do i look good on it?" Ian asks, "You do." Vee chuckles, then hears a ring near Ian, sensing that it was his phone, "Well, apparently the watchers want me to complete your dress, madamoiselle." Ian spoke, as he pans the camera on her face to her dress,

Tommy then left the restaurant, moving to another location, hopping in his car as he drove off, then Vee's mother started to call, concerned with whoever is sending Vee money on her account, Tommy then looks at his phone and tries to come up with a lie, "Oh, its because Vee found a job, yeah. She hasn't told me what it was about but it surely is making her gain alot of money." Tommy spoke, looking both the road and the phone to keep track, "Alright, please just tell me whatever Vee is up to." She asked, a favor of hers towards Tommy, "Will do, I have to go now, bye." Tommy then taps on the phone to end the call, Tommy then thought of Vee, worried for her as there were possibilities things could get worse, especially the dares, he then receives another message and it was from Ian again, "Tommy? Are you there?" Tommy then stops the care at a nearby gas station, he then grabs his phone reaponding to his message, "Yeah, what do you want?" He responds, "Nothing, just thought you weren't receiving my texts." Ian responds with an animated emoji that was giggling with a hand on his face, "Why do you want to talk to me all of a sudden? We just met." Tommy asked confused, "Nothing, you just seem interesting, what can I say?" Ian texts back, "Go look after Vee, she might be looking for you." Ian responds, "We just did our dare, it was fun." Ian sends another image, it was him with just his white shirt on, not even with his suit, it was just the shirt and it was unbuttoned aswell, Tommy quickly covered his phone, looking around to see if ever anyone was around, Tommy then inhales and exhales deciding to not respond to his text, but was proven to be seen so Ian knows he saw it,

"What is he trying to do?"

[sunberry-strawflower]

Hi so SIF2 came out a week ago and I decided I'd post how I feel abt it so far (as someone who played the original SIF for nearly 7 years)

Pros:

1. Calibration is SO MUCH BETTER OMG. The last game's engine must've sucked or something bcz the rhythm was so weird. You had to change your calibration every 3 secs it was awful😭the only reason I even full combo'd most of the songs is bcz of the timer cards. Now in SIF2 I just had to set my calibration to 3 and I was good to go like the notes actually went with the beat.

2. Most (keyword being most) of the cards are really pretty and well done! I can tell they went all out with these initial URs they are GORGEOUS MY GOSH. And the first event URs are really good!

3. The home menu is a lot cleaner. I rlly like it!

4. OVER 500 SONGS HOLY COW. Ofc more doesn't equal good BUT if you know Love Live you know almost all of their songs slap I can't rlly think of any bad ones. I'm so happy they added their whole song catalog.

5. 3% UR rate instead of the last game's 1% thank God.

Cons:

(Note some of these are just some personal gripes I have with it)

1. Still no co-op live for some reason? Like maybe when an event rolls around there'll be one but idk why we need an event to do co-op lives. Plenty of other games have co-op lives without any events and the Rhythmic Carnival was a thing back in LLSIF and that stopped being event based why do we need events to do co-op lives? </3

2. We can't sort by characters in member lists. There are WAYYYY too many characters for us to just sort them by group come on😭what if I just wanna see my (not that great) collection of Keke cards? But nooo I have to see all of Liella.

3. Remember when I said most of the cards were really pretty? Well yes they are but then there's that some that I don't rlly like that much tbh.. Like You's card for example. I saw quite a few ppl like it bcz of the background and all that and I get that but ngl You's butt being in most of the shot kinda rubs me the wrong way like I get she dives but can't we just use a different camera angle? Why do we have to focus on her butt? She's SIXTEEN. Alsoalso some of the nijigaku and liella cards don't rlly do it for me--maybe it's cause of the differing art styles from the muse and aqours cards idk. I will say tho that Chisato's new event card and cards like Ayumu and Emma look AMAZING imo.

4. You can't set certain songs as favorites and sort them by your favorite :( that would've been a great feature to add especially bcz of the amount of songs there are. Looking for some of my favorite songs is a pain sometimes even with the member sorting system cause there's just SO MANY SONGS. Ik I just said 500 songs is great AND IT IS BUT PLSS LET IT BE EASIER TO SCROLL THROUGH </3 you can only scroll by like 3 songs it's pain.

5. The "Live 2D" is kinda disappointing to me. Like yea they move but that's kinda it. They don't change poses and bcz of that they aren't rlly that expressive. Poor Muse and Aqours especially they've been stuck in those same poses since 2013-2016 LET THEM MOVE MORE PLEASE💔also the "lip syncing" is just random mouth movements it doesn't actually sync with what they're saying.

6. I find the texting system to be very limited and tedious. I know it's the only way to bond with your members (other than grinding songs but bond points are given at a snail's pace with that method) and the chats don't last very long but aaaaa I just find them so boring. Even the group chats. And I can understand the gist of what they're saying so it's not like I don't understand. It's just boring.

7. There's not a lot of master charts for songs tbh--at least not satisfactory enough for me. Only 240+ out of the 500 have master charts for some reason? I know most rhythm games also have a limited number of master charts, but their expert/extreme charts make up for it. LLSIF's expert charts are so easy for me. Maybe it's cause I've been playing for a long time idk. I'll cut them some slack for this one tho bcz the last game also had this issue.

8. They removed a good majority of features SIF had. The rhythm game screen, notes, etc. aren't as customizable, you can't message your friends anymore, nor can you look at your friends activity like stories they read and cards they got. You remember side stories from the last game? Welp, they're gone. Remember the sticker shop? That's gone too. Support members? Gone. N girls? Gone. Blue vouchers? Nope. School idol skills? Screw those, amiright? They removed so many things that made School idol festival...School idol festival.

In conclusion, uhmm it's alright. The rhythm game is fun but that's abt it </3 I can't help but be a little disappointed by this game simply because they took away so many features the original had and the features they did add weren't rlly doing it for me.

The fact a lot of the player base lost their accs for this is rlly upsetting.

I still have hopes this game can improve. Especially because it's in its first week so I don't wanna be TOO harsh. But with the way it is right now, I can't rate SIF2 any higher than a 6/10 :(

[destinyudogie]

thoughts on semi 1 having finally watched all of it:

albania: i DO NOT get how this didn't qualify! maybe the staging was a bit ... generic? compared to the music video but even that feels like a stretch

latvia: whoever put them in at number 2 should be punished i mean it. this is one that could've done with a proper led backing? i'm in shock this didn't get through its just fun. and do we not, as a continent, still love men with saxophones? i could go on

lithuania: god i LOVE HER, im so glad this one qualified i was worried about it. its a song i think id enjoy even more at 2am after a bottle and a half of wine (this is a good thing)

switzerland: no words. i would find nice things to say if it nqd but as it stands... fuck off. its like frans from 2016 but with the most horrendous vibes.

slovenia: funky jazzy little boys! obsessed with the song with the staging... juries across the world should be shivering in their boots about what i am going to do when the split results are revealed.

ukraine: i actually like it on stage a lot more than i did just listening to it, rap's not always my kind of music but i like this a lot. i've always adored the chorus and i love the folkiness of it :)

bulgaria: it's alright! it's nice but i get why it didn't qualify. for me this was a very strong semifinal, and if it hadn't been i think this would've had a better chance. points for pyro and guitar solo

netherlands: this was the first i watched live! it's pleasant and i love the staging of it – a bit city lights esque? – would've been a shock if it didn't qualify. it has that sort of vague country/western sound i really like (and that the netherlands generally does really well)

moldova: one of those songs i couldn't fit in my top 10 but i'm not upset at all it qualified. joyful, an actual representation of their country, makes me want to take a train from chisinau to bucharest... what's not to love?

portugal: love her so much wow. when do portugal not bring beautiful songs, for one? i don't think any country does it better. i was a little worried it would get lost as they sometimes do but i'm excited to see it again in the final!

croatia: MIA. you may have put together from my other posts that i am devastated she didn't get through. i knew it was a low chance but i love this one so much, it gives me ivy by taylor swift vibes in particular? one of the songs that will make it on to my non-eurovision playlists. i love you mia i'm so sorry my queen 😔😔

denmark: like bulgaria for me, i think it was a strong semifinal and this just wasn't quite the top for me, although i don't dislike it. i don't know if it was intended or if it was just the broken sun but the backdrop looks like vinyl records and i love that

austria: i liked the music video a lot! if i'd just seen this for the first time... i understand how it did not qualify.

iceland: its very first aid kit, which i really like. it didn't capture me before the show but the performance is lovely and i'm happy it qualified. (just noticed the flag on sigga's hand, as well, i respect that a lot)

greece: she ATE. lapped them all. my favourite qualifier of the semi. i don't have any words for this because all i can say is watch the performance then watch it again. askhgvdfjl

norway: i have to admit i'm not the biggest fan of this, in terms of i guess 'novelty' songs i much preferred latvia, and i don't tend to love extra effects on the screen (though that is very specific personal nitpicking). i'm not unhappy its in the final, i understand why and the song is alright i just wouldn't pick it personally!

armenia: i liked armenia a lot when i first heard it but i think i might have listened to it too much asgdjfh. i wish we could hear a finger click when she snapped her fingers.

[96thdayofrage]

If Old Cankles wanted to be President, she should have challenged Dumya the Shrub back in 2004 when his favorability numbers were lower than snail slime. By 2008, she would've been the incumbent Obama had to beat. I thought that was the whole reason why the Illinois born Arkansas carpetbagger set up residency in New York in 2000 and ran unopposed for the senate. Instead of aptly using 9/11 to bolster a 2004 candidacy, she ruined her political life supporting the unfounded need to destabilize the entire Persian Gulf at the behest of oil and weapons profiteers.

When she finally decided it was 'her turn,' she squandered a warchest and any iota of political capital she had left, running a 1989 campaign against a 2008 opponent with a name few folks who liked him could even pronounce.

Once Obama was nominated, she petulantly stabbed him in the back every chance she got. Despite her best foils, Obama won.

She couldn't dare face the Senate after that crushing defeat. So, Obama graciously added her to his team as Secretary of State. She used that spot to launder money through the Clinton Foundation while undermining the administration's foreign policy at every turn. She was so abysmal in the role that her resignation was accepted to avoid the embarrassment of firing her from a cannon.

With the email scandal, the Benghazi stain and an Ambassador 's death fresh on the nation’s mind, she decided it best not to run in 2012.

She waited until 2016 when she hoped John Kerry looking better in the SOS office than she ever could, was behind the voters. Despite everything she had done to damage Obama, he still endorsed her. But, in case that wasn't enough, the Clinton Foundation paid all the DNC's debts in exchange for a commitment of all the Super Delegates, the will of the voters be damned. It was how, even though she barely drew crowds of a couple hundred, she managed to beat Bernie Sanders who effortlessly packed out the Staple Center to its greatest capacity since Michael Jackson's funeral.

Sadly, unable to game the Electoral College the same way she had the DNC delegates, she lost to a candidate who had never been in politics and had been a Democrat until she solicited him and Oily Teatz in 2007 to question Obama's birth certificate and nationality.

After the agony of the Trump election, I'm personally stunned Old Cankles still wants to put herself atop of that infernal dumpster pire again. Queue Elsa: LET IT GO! The Dimwitocracy is in bad enough shape without the distraction of a two time loser whose only qualifications seem to be an unfounded entitlement to our highest office en lieu of alimony for staying with a Presidential spouse who shamelessly cheated on her through two terms in office.

Bye Felicia!