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#meaning i can download all my music onto the thing and have it until the player goes kaput
houkagokappa · 7 months
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Comfort shows
I was tagged by @theurbanfuturesoftherecentpast to share 10 of my comfort shows and then tag 10 people to do the same. Thank you so much for the tag, I always love these!!!!
Comfort shows are hard though!! I don't really have them. I don't own a tv and I don't keep up with subscriptions to watch things online whenever I get in the mood for something specific. I've also not been watching much outside of a few seasonals lately. Instead I have a lot of comfort manga, mostly based on what or who I'm into at the time.
I'll try to honor the tag and come up with my top 10 comfort shows regardless!
Doukyuusei. This was an actual comfort show for me, although it's a movie, but a very short movie. I watched it as soon as it came out because it shared a lot of staff with Penguindrum and the gifs I saw from it were cute. I fell in love instantly and rewatched it right away. A few months later I went to Japan for an exchange, and during a trip to Tokyo my Airbnb warned me that they had limited wifi, so I downloaded Doukyuusei in advance and watched it literally every single night for 10 days straight as my main entertainment. I also kept watching it once I got back home whenever I was feeling down and needed something to cheer me up, or I simply needed something to play in the background as a distraction. I love how simple the story is, you really don't need anything more complex than this, as long as you do it right (considering what made it to the movie, the manga series goes further and it's amazing as well). Truly a comfort show for me, although it's been years since I've watched it now.
Kyosougiga (2013) episode 1. This is also not an entire show, but a single episode. Don't get me wrong, I love the entire series, it's just that the first episode is so insanely good I can never get past it, instead I get stuck replaying it until I'm a puddle of tears and no longer capable of watching anything. This is also a show that ties in with my exchange, because I went to Kyoto where Kyosougiga *doesn't* take place, and I watched it once I came back to Finland, and everything started falling apart for me. Kyousougiga gave me something to latch onto when I didn't have anything else. It's a touching story, beautifully directed with gorgeous animation. I love the mix of history and fantasy, the buildup in the first episode is amazing, and the music is to die for. It's the family themes that really get me, but overall I love it as anime at its best.
Mawaru Penguindrum. Now this is an entire series, although whenever I watch something for comfort I tend to rewatch my favourite episodes. For Penguindrum that's episode 1, which rivals Kyousougiga's first episode as the best ever made, episode 9, where we meet Sanetoshi and find out about Himari's past with Triple H, and episode 15, about Yuri's past. Yeah... Penguindrum is simply an amazing show, and watching something amazing brings me comfort.
Monogatari series. I love Monogatari because I can jump in wherever and have a good time. I think that's key for a comfort show, you don't have to strain yourself, you can simply put it on and enjoy yourself, or process your emotions through whatever happens on screen. I've loved Monogatari for years, but what makes it earn a spot on this list is how it helped me process something awful I went through a couple of years ago. I was simply supposed to rewatch it for fun, and to refresh my memory on it, but instead it had me work through the difficult situation I was in, and all the feelings I had related to it through the characters and their stories. I also gained some hope for the future, which I hadn't gotten from anything else at that time. Wow, my life's been pretty shitty this past half-decade.
I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE IT TO NUMBER 5 BEFORE I REMEMBERED SARAZANMAI. Speaking of a shitty life, I don't think you understand to what degree I ran away from my responsibilities and the general expectations I felt I was under, and found safety and meaning for my life from Sarazanmai back in 2018-2019. I was NOT doing well, but following Sarazanmai from its initial announcement to when it aired gave me a reason to keep going, and a purpose for my existence as I kept track of and shared news with other fans. I love the little community that got built around it, even if it could be frustrating at times (Enta discourse etc.), but most of all I saw people come together and connect with each other thanks to this silly little series. The series itself is amazing, and could be a comfort in itself, but for the most part it was a needed distraction for me, and something that showed me that there's some good in this world :)
The tag thingy said 10, but I can't top Sarazanmai so this will do. I'm tagging @akroglam @cookiecthulhu @ihearasound @natsunes @nezoomi @qkawo @dreamyghostie @softsorrows @itskyatto and @exdeath-chan
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illfoandillfie · 2 years
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Kinktober Day 6: Hypnosis
Kinktober Masterlist | Regular Masterlist
Pairing: Gwilym Lee x Reader
Words: 1,906
Warnings: hypnosis (obviously), orgasm denial, edging, reference to blowjob and handjob
A/N: The idea for this one has been kicking around in the back of my mind for a while now, although originally it was not a Gwil fic. But I struggled getting it to work before so I think switching to Gwil was the right choice lmao. Also the hypnosis file mentioned, Cal’s Curse, is a real hypnosis audio available online.
You’d never met anyone you were more sexually compatible with than Gwil. Which was proven by your shared interest in orgasm denial. Both of you found it hot to think about and both of you had wanted to experiment with it, though from opposite sides. Gwil liked the idea of controlling your orgasms so explicitly and you were intrigued by the effect edging and denial at his hands would have. There was really only one problem. You weren’t good at being denied. No matter how many times you played with it, no matter what research you did, it never seemed to work. You struggled to recognise when to stop stimulation and sometimes you just entirely forgot when you should be edging. Of course you’d experimented with it a lot. Gwil had watched you and tried to use orders and commands to keep you denied. He’d been more hands on, edging you himself sometimes with toys and something just his body. There’d been punishment spankings when you’d gone over the edge and then, when you enjoyed that too much, he’d tried using humiliation to motivate you. Only it hadn’t worked all that well since you discovered you actually could get off just from humping the furniture and all the mean, degrading, humiliating things he said made you even hornier. The most success you’d had was when Gwil had fingered you and watched very closely for your reactions but he’d only ever managed a couple of edges at a time and it had never seemed to make you as wet as all the accounts and articles online promised it would. You weren’t overly upset about it. It was a little frustrating to not experience the heightened arousal you’d read about, but you liked cumming more than you liked being denied and you were perfectly happy to say you tried and it wasn’t right. But Gwil didn’t like the idea of giving up so quickly. He wanted to make sure he tried everything he could before he let the idea go. So he went back to the internet to do more research and, you happily tried out every idea he had, to mixed success.  
Until one day when Gwil announced he’d found something new.   “It’s going to sound a bit crazy.” he prefaced the idea with, “but basically, it’s an audio file that you would listen to and it’ll sort of stop you being able to cum without explicit permission from me.” “You’re right that does sound crazy.” “I know, I found it on this reddit page about sexual hypnosis and-” “Hypnosis!” “I was sceptical too, at first. But there was a bunch of people saying it had worked for them.” You considered him, still not sure you believed it would work but intrigued by the idea that it might, “I suppose there’s no harm in trying.” “Exactly.” He said quickly.   “Alright, explain it all then.” “Well the file is called Cal’s Curse. Basically we’d download the audio onto your phone and you’d listen to it on loop overnight. It’s a guy talking about how you can’t cum and theres like sounds or music in the background that are hypnotic so the suggestion takes hold and, if it works, you won’t be able to cum unless you’re told to.” “Sounds easy enough.” “It might take multiple listens for it to properly work so I was thinking that you can spend the next two nights listening to it before we test to see if it worked. Does that sound okay?” “Mmhmm, sounds great.”
It took you a little longer than usual to fall asleep, the audio a bit distracting and hard to adjust to. But when you woke the next morning it was still playing, though one headphone had fallen out of your ear. You lay in bed for a little longer than normal, still listening to it, the repetitiveness and calming words making it hard to pull your mind away. Gwil watched you closely over breakfast, as if trying to determine how affected you were. “Sorry,” he said when you told him to quit it, “I just wanna know if it’s working. Also the idea of you being hypnotised into denial is kinda hot. Get a semi every time I think about it.” You laughed, “Well, I can probably help with that.” “Good idea,” Gwil said.   You moved towards the bedroom excited at the thought of being fucked, but before you got more than a step away Gwil stopped you.   “Where do you think you’re going? You can help me right here. On your knees.” “But-,” you started, even as you did as he asked. “I don’t want to ruin our little test with Cal’s Curse. I think you can be on no touch for today, get you all worked up and horny so that when I do fuck you it’ll make your inability to cum all the more fun. But you can still suck me off.”
The recording was always at the back of your mind throughout the rest of the day. You couldn't shake the desire to listen to it again and once or twice gave in, listening as you tidied the kitchen or scrolled through Instagram. The idea that it might somehow remove your ability to orgasm without permission was hot and made you wet when you thought about it for too long. But even if that didn’t happen the file was nice to listen to as background noise. Gwil was thrilled that you were so on-board with his idea, that you were listening to it more than he’d suggested. To the point where he couldn’t resist asking for a handjob after dinner, sure that it was only going to help make you hornier and more fun to deny. And once more you fell asleep listening to the recording on loop.  
The next day Gwil decided you were ready. Or at least that he was too horny not to fuck you. He had to wait until he was done with a few errands but once he was back home fucking you was all he could think about, and you were just as eager. “Remember you do not have permission to cum.” Gwil reminded you as he striped your clothes off. You nodded and giggled a little as he kissed your inner thigh, his beard tickling your skin.   “Already wet,” he smiled before licking along your slit. Gwil still wasn’t sure the hypnosis had actually worked and decided to play it safe, manually edging you a few times. His fingers and tongue brought you close but he monitored your reactions, improved at recognising the signs of your approaching orgasm and so improved at stopping at the right time. You tried to help too, warning him when you were starting to feel close, though he knew he couldn’t rely on that alone. But he wanted to push you, to see if hypnosis was real and if you’d be unable to disobey. So, after three edges, he ignored the signs of your nearing climax and kept fingering you just the way you liked, knowing that either you’d cum or the audio file had done what it said it would do.   You felt the change as he watched your face, his fingers working purposefully, hitting the best spots. You arched into his touch, able to feel the pleasure growing, the words ‘thank you’ on your lips as you got ready for what was bound to be a satisfying orgasm. Only the orgasm never came.  
Gwil grinned, his fingers suddenly stopping and pulling his fingers free, “It worked.” You whined but Gwil just kept looking pleased, automatically moving to rub your clit again. It sent pleasure through you again and you’d have sworn you were going to cum but it never quite reached the peak. “Please can I come, Gwil,” “Not yet,” he shook his head, “After all this work to get you here I’m not going to give in before I fuck my denied cunt.” You didn’t know whether to moan or sob and instead settled on a strangled sort of whimper that made Gwil grin again.   “Oh honey, don’t worry. You’ll still feel good, just not too good.” With that he got rid of his underwear and pushed your legs wider, taking a moment to appreciate how wet you were before lining up and pushing inside.   He was right too, you did feel good. The way his body caged you in, the way his cock filled you, the way he moved. You moaned at how amazing it felt and grasped his arse and his hip to keep him going. But all the same it was never quite enough. Or it was enough, you knew it would have made you cum on an ordinary day, but no matter how much you willed yourself to tip over the edge you were physically incapable. Your brain wouldn’t let it. You had one rule and it was not to cum without permission and it was impossible to force or trick yourself into breaking it.   Gwil however had no such problem. He gasped and panted about how easily he could fuck you, how good you felt when you clenched, how hot it was knowing he was controlling your orgasms. And then he came with a deep groan, slumping against you, crushing you in the best way.   You felt tears fill your eyes, a mixture of frustration at not achieving the same release and also joy at how you’d pleased Gwil.   He was still trying to catch his breath as he kissed you tenderly,.   But you only had one thing on your mind, exacerbated by the feeling of him still inside you, “Can I cum now Gwil?” He laughed and kissed you again, saying “no” against your lips.   You whined but accepted the kiss, happy for any sort of attention and anything that might distract you from the need.   “How about we make a deal,” he said finally, “You’ve been very good for me and I am very very proud of you for trying this.” His praise made you feel warm and you hummed, wanting him to continue. “So I will let you cum today. But not yet.” “Thank you Gwil, thank you.” “I do want to see if we can push this a bit further so tonight you’ll listen to the curse again. And tomorrow. And the next day and the next, for the whole week this time. And I’m going to fuck you every day because I can’t have my drippy cunt going to waste.” You whined, your need only growing with everything he said.   “Uh uh, listen. So, one orgasm later today. Denied for a whole week. And then after the week I’ll let you cum as much as you like. Deal?” “Deal,” you said without even pausing to consider, only thinking about the orgasm you’d get that day. Gwil laughed and grabbed your jaw, forcing you to look at him, “God if you’re this desperate now I can’t wait to see you after a week. You’ll be humping me in your sleep.” You whined again and this time felt his hips rock in response.   “I don’t know if you can tell, honey, but the idea of you being constantly wet and desperate has really got me going again.” He thrust again, “This next week is going to be fun.” All you could do was moan as he started fucking you again.
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illusionaryneil · 8 months
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For Edward: 1, 8, 9, 23, & 29
1. How would you best describe yourself? “I think I would consider myself to be quite the troublemaker! I think it is really funny to see others get annoyed with what I am capable of. I can be somewhat sneaky as well! I've been able to download and hide certain files and Nostalgia wouldn't find them until weeks later! There are still a few they haven't even found still! You shoulda seen the look on their face when I installed the You Are An Idiot trojan on the computer a few months ago, it was priceless hahaha!! Don't worry I got rid of it a few minutes later, but being able to cause such irritation to them is so comedic! Obviously they know I am just joking around.”
8. Tell us about the one thing you enjoy more than anything. “Besides messing with Nostalgia's ability to do stuff on the computer, I love being able to browse the internet and discover stuff! Have you seen how much is out there?? The creative expression of those across the globe, the endless access of media, the access to information, it is all so beautiful!! Sorta want to experiment with website building in the future. I greatly enjoy seeing so many people being able to just be themselves and share what they create and what they do!”
9. Name the one thing you hate the most. “When the computer is turned off. I just hate how dark it gets and the complete restriction of access to all of my abilities. Not a good time at all for anyone! I think I gave Nostalgia a fair amount of error messages warning against doing this at all though, so I should be fine. Hasn't happened in a long, LONG time at least, so I'm not too worried about it!”
23. What kind of music do you enjoy? “I enjoy a lot of music!! Most of the time I am forced to listen to whatever Nostalgia has on when they're using the computer. I don't really hate the music they listen to, but it's not my absolute favorite by any means. Whenever I do have the computer to myself though I really enjoy being able to listen to electronic and drum and bass music! Have you ever heard of Pilotredsky?? His music is amazing!! Cousin Joule, vancouver, and deadly mission are some of my favorites by him! Oh I also really enjoy Add N to (X)! On the Wires of Our Nerves is an album of all time in my eyes! Nostalgia always tries to argue that some other album called View-Monster or whatever is actually the best album of all time, but they're just wrong I think!!”
29. What is the greatest gift anyone could give you? "Hmmm…seeing that I can't really really receive physical gifts, I think the greatest gift someone could give to me is complete and total freedom from being in a computer. It's not that I dislike being in a computer cause I have access to all information that can be accessed through a computer and more!! I guess I still feel like I am missing something by being stuck in this form I guess!. If I were to think of a realistic gift though, I guess having someone download some movies and shows for me would be one of the greater ones! Gets really boring sitting around here whenever no one is around, plus Nostalgia isn't a huge fan of me downloading media through less legal means onto their computer haha!!”
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💿🎼🎸💿🎼🎸💿🎼🎸💿🎼🎸💿
Currently listening to: Move Along by All American Rejects
💿🎼🎸💿🎼🎸💿🎼🎸💿🎼🎸💿
Memory lane!
Picture this: You're a music loving nine year old living in Oahu, Hawaii, and your dad takes you to RadioShack. It's 2008 or 2009. You see the cutest portable CD player while he's buying a new remote or something for the TV.
The CD player is white with pink butterflies on top. It's totally your thing. You beg your dad to shell out the twenty something bucks for it and it becomes your new best friend.
Your parents buy you a few CDs. Hannah Montana. Taylor Swift's Debut album. Your collection grows. You win a Halloween themed 80s music CD. Your dad informs you that he can make you the perfect CD.
He introduces you to what would later become one of your favorite pastimes: Burning amazing playlists onto CDs. You ask him to put all your favorite songs on it and he teaches you how to do it. (And when you later switch to an MP3 player when ur twelve, you become obsessed with meticulously renaming all of the music on your mp3 player because they all download with random capital letters and titles so you change them to make sure they look cohesive and rearrange them into specific playlists, furthering your life long obsession with having a playlist for every mood and experience a human being could possibly have)
This becomes your prized possession. You go literally everywhere with it. You never leave the house without your CD player. It's there for you while you read on your bedroom floor. When you're crying. When you're tired of the world. When you want to dance around the room. When you're on the bus.
It brings you closer to music than you ever had been and puts you into your own little world.
Until the MP3 player, and later the iPod comes into view 😂 and then you move away from your cute little house ontop of a hill in Hawaii and lose your prized possession, gain an MP3 player that morphs into an ipod and then a smartphone.
But you never forget your trusty little CD player, and like a week ago, you decide to heal a part of your inner child and order a brand new one with a bunch of the music you would have obsessed over between the ages of 9-11 years old when your baby emo phase first started and now you're sitting in your blue, orange and yellow space, flowers and butterfly themed bedroom listening to all American rejects and remembering that you don't have to wish you were a kid again.
You can just put your headphones in and giggle because now you can do all the same things you used to, only now you're the one who makes the rules and you have more money now (which means more CDs!!).
Now, you can't wait to save up for all the other things that you loved as a child but no longer have or lost in some traumatic way (such as your bubblegum pink Disney princess tv with the DVD player, your beloved VCR, your dad's big ass camera that he filmed you and your niece's music videos on, and your care bear collection) and experience the joys of having all of them all over again
Anyways BRB. Gonna go belt out Who Said by Hannah Montana in my room now 😎✌️ Baby Brooklyn had taste.
🎼💿🎸I can be soft and sweet or louder than the radiooooo, I can be sophisticated or totally out of controllllllll. Who said I can't be superman?🎼💿🎸
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kittengrape2 · 2 years
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I am a huge fan of television shows which take the time to choose rare and exceptional music tracks to create the ambience.
Dark TV Series is where my fascination and awe comes from. I'm now in season 3 and cannot stop watching. Although it's not the most exciting show, there are 2 things I like about it that I've not seen elsewhere. It's the meticulous work of casting agents. محول يوتيوب الى mp3 They show several versions of the same person, varying by 33 year increments. This is a wonderful moment that proves my point.
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The second thing I noticed that stands out about this show is music. Yes, we must mention the plot. And Dark is definitely number 1. The focus of this article is not on the plot twists or negative developments in the TV program. But, I want you to be attentive to the music. It's been an amazing collective effort to select music. They travel to search for mood-building or degrading songs at important moments throughout their show. I simply do not imagine, cannot believe this show could exist and have the kind of waves it has without the music that it plays.. That weird lullaby is probably the most memorable and strangest song I've ever heard. I don’t know if TV shows are required to reference the music when they end, or if they have particular songs in the public domain which do not need to be credited. It's not clear whether I have used the lyrics to find the song or the title. I went to this YouTube page to listen to Bonaparte's song. You can find the song's name on the YouTube page. You can also search the lyrics by using the title. Try the video that I've attached. Are you certain? This is one of the most bizarre songs I've heard to date, yet it's so compelling. I'm in love with the show and the music. I am so in love with it that I created my own mixtape. I used convert-to-mp3 for saving all the music on CD maker. Both CDs were then created for me. youtube mp4 converter Normally I would just download the video from Youtube. But this time I needed music that could be played in my car's CD player. Are you an old-fashioned person? Or is it an older man? I'm not trying to be a judge, but my car has an excellent sound system. However, the music downloaded from Youtube isn't great, it doesn't have the best quality sound and certainly lacks bass.. It is all about mp3 encryption. It blocks frequencies that are barely audible in the human ear. It also allows a lot of practically unnecessary sound to be cut off, which makes the mp3 files smaller and more comfortable for ear use. Even though I am now sleeping I am still able to watch the videos I have copied onto my tablet before I go to sleep. Blue tooth connection is used to send music signals to the boombox. This creates an satisfying sound quality. At home, I don't have MP3, which means I can both listen to music and play videos. The tablet is compatible with MP4 formats. Both of them were very easy to download using online converter 2 mp3 tools. Webapps allow users to access sites much quicker and can be downloaded offline. The built-in search function allows users to find Youtube videos and download them to MP3 format. It's as simple as that. now can build your own mixtape of music from Dark. or any other show on TV or film. This concept has endless possibilities. You can easily locate any great song from today until the day or 50 years ago on Youtube. As long as you remember the title and some of the lyrics.
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writer-k-pop · 3 years
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Inside My Phone
나는 그의 연락처를 바꾸는 것으 잊었다. I forgot to change his contact name.
Description: During an appearance on a talk show about all things woman, YouTuber (y/n) reveals some cute relationship facts about her relationship with Seventeen’s Seungcheol. The hosts asked to call him and then his voice appeared in the interview as he’s asked a couple questions about you. Warnings: Swearing Genre: Fluff, Idol!Seungcheol x Fem!Youtuber!Reader Word Count: 2.3k
Seventeen Masterlist | Masterlists
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"Alright," Sook, one of the panelists clapped her hands together, "Shall we move onto the next topic?"
My hands got a little sweaty with nerves, "This is the topic I'm most nervous about." I commented, looking at the other women sitting at the camera facing tables.
"The fans love 'Inside My Phone.'" Narae said and I couldn't deny that because I also really enjoyed watching this segment also.
A staff member handed me my phone and I looked to Sook who had a cord that would display my phone on the screen behind me.
"This," She said, holding the cord in front of her face, "Is the magically cord that will reveal what is on your phone. Are you ready, (y/n)?" She asks me with a quirked eyebrow.
I let out an airy chuckle, "I hope so." I tried to burst all the bubbles of nervousness but they still bubbled.
"I'm so curious!" Oh My Girl's Seunghee squealed excitedly from the spot next to Narae as Sook handed me the cord and I plugged it into my phone.
"Won't it be similar to what's on your phone?" Youngja wondered.
Seunghee shook her head, "Youtubers and singers are similar but she's totally different than me." She explained, "Plus, she might have cute photos with her boyfriend."
Narae clapped her hands, "Right! You don't have anything we should be worried about, right?" She asked her heavily hinted question, tilting her head down and rapidly blinked her eyes.
I shook my hands and head, but played into her joke. "There aren't any. I double checked last night." Though, there were never any naughty pictures on my phone to start with. We kept those somewhere else (😏).
"So, should we start then?" Sook asked everyone once the PD's gave us the clear connection for my phone.
"First up, your lock screen." Narae reads from her cue cards.
I awakened my phone and my lock screen shined up at me. The picture of Seungcheol and I surrounded by cherry blossoms graced my phone screen, only the time and date distorting the picture. The memory of the day made me smile and made the others coo.
"As expected." Youngja nodded her head in approval.
"When was this taken?" Sook asked me with curiosity.
"Mmmm, about..." I trailed off in thought, trying to pinpoint when we took this photo, "3-4 months ago, I think..." I answered her and gave her a slightly apologetic look for not remembering more clearly.
"Yah, that's so cute." Seunghee sighed, staring at the screen. I nearly blushed from all the compliments about us.
"Next, if you would unlock your phone." Sook pressed forward and I quickly followed her instructions. "What's the most recent photo you took?" She finished her part.
"Uh..." I opened my photos app, "Like selfie or screenshot or...?" "Selfie." Seunghee piped up excitedly.
I smiled at her answer and scanned my pictures for the last selfie I took. Which just happened to also have Seungcheol in it. I clicked on it and it filled my screen.
In it, Seungcheol has his post-practice face smooshed up against my left cheek and my face shows a smile of shock that he had done that. In the background, however, are a few of the members doing some interesting things.
"Stop being so cute!" Youngja exclaimed and swatted her hands in my direction.
"Can you explain what is happening?" Narae wondered and I nodded.
"A few days ago, I went to pick Seungcheol up for a small date and he was a little sweaty." I explained, "But he had asked to use my camera to fix his hair. Then he smooshed his cheek against mine and took the picture."
"All sweaty?" Sook asked.
I nodded with a laugh, "Yeah. It was gross."
"But the picture is cute." Narae complimented.
"But what is happening in the background?" Seunghee asked, pointing up to the screen with a little bit of worry.
I squinted at my phone and zoomed in on the background where Hoshi and DK were caught posing in some really weird ways and Vernon and Woozi just stare at them with their arms crossed over their chests.
"Ah, I think that's Hoshi and DK, uhm, yeah, I don't really know what they're doing." I laughed, "Probably some thing that only makes sense in their minds."
"They sure are characters." Sook chuckled. "Shall we continue on?"
I nodded, ready to get Hoshi and DK's weird poses off my screen.
"Last song or album you downloaded onto your phone." Narae said.
"That's easy." I opened my music app and scrolled down a bit, "It was Monsta X's new album." I tapped on the album but Seunghee's squeal made me quickly swipe back.
"OH!" She covered her mouth with her hand, "You have our album on your phone?"
I scrolled down a little more and there it sat. "Yeah, I really enjoyed it." I told her with a smile.
"Wait, how did you see that? It was like not even halfway visible." Sook wondered, looking at Seunghee with bewildered eyes.
"An artist knows their album cover from anywhere." I said, recalling the many times Seungcheol would point out their new release from a ridiculous distance away.
"Exactly." Seunghee said smugly, liking the fact that I defended her, "I could find our albums anywhere."
"Don't test her, Seunghee." Narae warned her as Sook pointed a playfully threatening finger at her.
"I really like their album." Youngja said absentmindedly and we all whipped our heads toward her, "The Monsta X album." She clarified, pointing up at the screen.
We all dropped our jaws slightly in realization and chuckled.
"Next question: what is the last text message you received?" Sook tapped her cue cards against the table and my heartbeat jumped.
"Uh, last text message I received..." I said slowly, and opened my messages app. Preparing for it to be a really embarrassing conversation in the group chat, I'm relieved when my most recent conversation is a private conversation with Seungcheol.
"Cheollie?" Narae read out his name and I almost bursted into laughter. He definitely told me to change his contact name yesterday and I definitely forgot. Oh, he was going to be so pouty when this show aired.
"I forgot to change his contact name." I squeezed my eyes shut in embarrassment. "He's going to be pouty."
"Why?" Youngja wondered, "It's cute!"
"Hey, you sound like a fangirl." Narae pointed at Youngja with a laugh.
"I'm just stating facts." Youngja defended herself.
"What did Seungcheol send you?" Sook wondered, ignoring the other two women.
"Uh, he said," I opened the conversation and the last message he sent made my heart fill with love.
'Hey, you, I don't remember when you said your filming thing is but good luck! You'll do amazing! Call me when you're done and we can do something. Love you!'
Seunghee giggled and Narae and Sook put their hands over their hearts and leaned back in their chairs. Youngja just awed at the message. It was a little weird having such large reactions to a simple, pretty normal, text message so all I could do was laugh at the awkward position I was in.
"Ya, I don't think any of my friends get messages like that and they're married!" Sook said, regaining some of her composure. Seunghee was still very much still in the feels.
"It's pretty normal for us." I told her, "We don't do it often but if we know the other has a really big schedule, we'll send supportive messages like that."
"By chance," Narae started with an unexplainable excitement in her eyes, "Do you think you could call him?"
I paused to glance at the PD's behind the cameras but they were saying it was okay to go off script.
"If he's free." Sook added, quickly taking in my silence, "If he's busy, we don't want to bother him."
"I don't think he has anything going on today." I tried to recall if he told me of any plans he had for the day, "I can try calling him."
Narae and Sook clapped their hands for me while I tapped on Seungcheol's profile picture and hit the call button before turning it on speaker.
We all sat in silence, listening to the first ring. Then the second. Then the third.
"Maybe he's busy..." Seunghee whispered.
"Maybe his phone's off." Youngja suggested.
I shook my head, "He doesn't really turn his ringer off if he-"
The receiver picking up cut me off.
"Hey, love." Seungcheol's deep voice rings through the phone. "Are you already finished?"
All four women got really giddy and their jaws dropped open.
"No, not yet." I answered him before he got worried. "Do you have time to call? Are you busy?" I asked.
"I'm not busy. I'm just hanging out at the dorm." He told me and I felt relief spread across my shoulders. "Are you good?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I chuckled at his question, "We're just recording and we are doing 'Inside My Phone' segment. They saw the text you sent and wanted to call you."
"Ah, that text." He chuckled over the phone in embarrassment. "Wait! That means you're recording right now?"
"Yeah." I told him and he instantly cleared his throat.
"Hello, I'm Seventeen's leader, S.Coups. Also known as YouTuber (y/n)'s boyfriend, Choi Seungcheol. Nice to meet you." He introduced himself with his leader voice and I nearly busted a lung from laughing.
"Nice to meet you, S.Coups." Sook said, getting closer to my phone. "I'm Kim Sook and Park Narae, Lee Youngja, and Oh My Girl's Seunghee are also with me."
"Seunghee's there?" Seungcheol asked, clearly surprised.
"Yes I am, sunbae!" Seunghee jumped up with excitement.
"Oh, Seunghee, I didn't know you'd be on the show." Seungcheol commented.
"(y/n) didn't tell you, sunbae?" Seunghee asked, shooting me a glance but I just shrugged. I didn't even know she was coming until I showed up for the recording.
"No, but I don't think she knew." Seungcheol explained and I clicked my tongue.
"S.Coups." Narae spoke up, "(y/n) said that you guys send texts to each other before big events."
"Yes, that's true." Seungcheol said.
"So when was the last time she sent you a text like that?" Narae finished her question.
"Uh..." Seungcheol trailed off in thought, "Last month when I had my first solo magazine shoot." He answered and the studio erupted in reactions.
"Yahhh. You two seem to match each other really well." Sook commented and Seungcheol let out an embarrassed laugh.
"What is your favorite thing about (y/n)?" Narae suddenly asked, turning the show into a special on our relationship.
"This suddenly?" Seungcheol chuckled nervously.
"You don't have to answer." I quickly tried to save him from having to answer it but he decided to answer anyway.
"No, no, it's fine. It was just unexpected." Seungcheol said and took a couple seconds to collect his thoughts, "Well, my favorite thing would have to be how considerate she is."
"Can you explain that?" Sook wondered and I lightly smacked her arm while giving her a 'why?' expression.
"She's just very caring towards everyone." Seungcheol explained, "The Seventeen members, our staff, other staff, and even the fans. She's very kind to them."
"That's right. She is really kind." Sook nodded her head in agreement and patted my shoulder.
There was some noise on his end of the line and I leaned forward to take over the conversation again.
"Everything good?" I asked, knowing the noise was probably the other members talking to him.
"Yeah, but I think I'm going to have to go. I'm being summoned by Woozi to fix some lyrics or something." Seungcheol said with an apology laced into his tone.
"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead." I told him, "I'll call you when I get done."
"Okay, sounds good." He replied, "Thank you Sook, Narae, Youngja, and Seunghee! (y/n), have fun!"
We all said bye before I hung up the call. After settling back into their chairs, Sook was the first to speak.
"That was so nice that he was able to talk for a little bit." Sook commented, scooting closer to the table.
"It was." I mirrored her content.
"So, tell us, (y/n)," Narae turned to me, "Do you have any big projects coming up?"
"Of course, I have many projects planned for the next few months." I teased her with a smile, "But they're all secrets for now."
Seunghee let out a small whine, "Can't you tell us about one of them? Like just who it's going to be with?"
"Yeah," Sook agreed, "Just give us a little hint. A tiny baby hint."
Youngja sat in her chair nodding aggressively.
I rested my hand over my lips, contemplating if I can or if I should. Glancing at my manager, she gave me a small shrug of indifference.
"Okay, I'll give you three hints for certain upcoming videos." I caved and the others clapped in excitement. I listed off the hints with my hands, "First hint is shopping. Second hint is colors. Third hint is boyfriend." I said and then clamped my mouth shut, not giving any other information.
"That's it? You're not going to explain?" Youngja said with a pout.
"She can't do that." Sook calmed the other woman, "They're hints. The fans have to try and guess, right?"
"Right, that's how hints work." I nodded, confirming Sook's guess.
"Well, thank you for coming, for talking with us, and for giving us those hints." Narae began the ending. "We'll see you at the Girl's Table next week."
"On Wednesday night." Sook continued.
"At 8:45." Seunghee stated the time.
"On KBS!" Youngja finished and we all smiled and waved at the camera.
Once the cameras were off, I moved to pull the cord out of my phone. But just as I do so, a text from Seungcheol lit up the screen.
It read, "You did remember to change my contact name, right?"
217 notes · View notes
bangtanloverboys · 3 years
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indented fingertips // myg
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summary: you don't know much about your roommate, min yoongi. until one day you come home to see him strumming away at a guitar, maybe he could give you a lesson?
pairing - rooommate!min yoongi x female!reader
genre - fluff; roommate au
word count - 2.2k
warning - nothing
author’s note - this is fic is dedicated to the lovely @cinnaminsvga for the @btsghostiewritersnet​ holiday fic exchange! this was a bit of a challenge as i have absolutely no idea how to play the guitar thus i don’t know proper instructions but! i gave it my best shot and i hope you enjoy it!!
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“Yoongi, I’m back!” You announced as you shut the door to your apartment. As you were pulling off your muddy shoes, you could hear the pitter-patter of rain against the windows accompanied by light strumming of a guitar. “Yoongi?” You called out as you made your way towards the music. You followed it until you were standing in front of the door of Yoongi’s room, the door cracked open a bit ever so slightly.
Peaking in, there your roommate sat on his bed, his back facing you, strumming away on a black guitar. Needless to say, you were a bit surprised. You didn’t know he could play! Then again, you didn’t know a lot about him since he moved in a few months back. Your mutual friend Seokjin introduced you to each other after you said you needed a roommate, and Yoongi to his word was the perfect roommate. He generally liked to keep to himself, which was nice considering you liked the quiet. But at the same time, you felt like you were living with a stranger. 
You watched in silence as he continued to strum at his guitar. Listening closely, you realized that you didn’t recognize it. Did he write his own music? What else wasn’t he telling you? You swung your head side to side as he continued to play, only freezing when he stopped playing. He repositioned his hands on the neck of the guitar before strumming again, letting out a couple small hums as he tried to get the note just right. He must be composing, you thought to yourself. 
You wanted to step in and talk to him about it, maybe learn a little more about him. But there was something itching you at the back of your mind, something Seokjin told you when Yoongi decided to move in, and that was not to disturb him while sleeping or working. You assumed working meant like work related stuff, this is what he must have meant. Biting your cheek, you silently began to tiptoe to your room. You wonder why he’s never told you, but then again, he doesn’t tell you much about himself. All you pretty much knew about him was he worked in accounting, is really cute, and apparently plays the guitar. 
As you shed your day clothes and change into some sweats, you can still hear him faintly playing though the wall. It brings a smile to your face, learning something new about your roommate. Once dressed, you made your way out to the living room and turned on the television. The faint sound of Yoongi playing ceased as you started to scroll through the service, looking for something to watch. As you clicked on an old comedy special, you heard footsteps come down the hall. 
“Hey Yoon,” you said nonchalantly as he appeared in your vision.
“H-hey, when did you get home?” He asked, scratching the back of his head.
“Few minutes ago,” you shrugged as the comedian was announced and walked on stage, “Just started this. Wanna join?”
“I’m good. . .” he responded as his hand dropped to his side, “Did you-” A loud clap of thunder interrupted him, the lights and the television going dark. 
“Ah shit,” you groaned. Looking at Yoongi, who looked mildly relieved yet at the same time annoyed at the inconvenience of the powering going out. “How long do you think the power is gonna be out?”
“Uhh, I don’t know. Couple hours maybe?” He sighed as he looked around. “Do we have any candles or anything?”
“Uh, should have a few in my room, hang on.” You pushed yourself off the sofa and trudged your room, pulling off the candles from your desk. As you made your way back to the living room, Yoongi seemed to have pulled out other candles from their long forgotten hiding spots, lighting them and placing them sporadically around the room. He handed you the lighter as you walked over to him, lighting the candles as you placed them down on the table. 
The room was filled with conflicted scents of different types of fruits and woods; a strange combination, but not all too bad as both you and Yoongi sat down on the couch. The continuous sound of rain was the only noise as the two of you sat in silence, unsure of what to do next. 
“So. . .” You started, “Any ideas to pass the time?”
“I uh, I don’t know.” He mumbled, as his gaze fell down to his hands, picking at his nails. 
“How about 20 questions?” You proposed, a way to pass the time and might as well use it as an excuse to get to know your roommate a little more. He gave a meek shrug, signalling to you that it wasn’t a no. Turning in your seat to face him, you clasped your hands together, “Okay. What’s your favorite type of cake?”
He looked at you with a confused look on his face before responding with, “Chocolate?”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“I don’t know, I’m not really picky when it comes to cake.” He exclaimed, throwing his hands up in confusion. 
“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to press, I guess.” You murmured, “It’s your turn.”
Letting out a huff, Yoongi turned in his seat to face you. His tongue in cheek as he thought of a question to ask. “Uh, what’s your favorite. . .book?”
“It’s Frankestien.” You answered. You caught an interested glimmer in his eye, so you continued to talk about it. “I like the classic monster stories, plus Mary Shelly was pretty cool too.” 
“Wow, I-I didn’t know that. I’ll make a note of that for your birthday.” He chuckled; you felt your heart flutter at the sound of his laugh.
“I- yeah, uh,” you scratched your head, trying to distract yourself from the sound of his obnoxiously cute chuckle. The only thing popping into your mind was the image of him playing the guitar, maybe now was a good time to ask him about it? “Do you- do you play any instruments?” 
“I uh,” his gaze fell down to the floor. “Yeah. . . Guitar. . .”
“Oh was that you playing earlier?” You feigned surprise. “I heard a little bit, you’re really good!”
A shy smile pulled at Yoongi’s lips, “Yeah, but I’m not that good. I’ve only been playing a few months.” His eyes avoided yours, staring at the lit candle. 
“No no no, don’t talk yourself down!” You pouted, shoving his shoulder a bit. “From what I heard, you’re really good.” 
“You’re just saying that,” he waved you off. “Anyways. . .what about you? Do you play anything?” He asked, diverting the conversation onto you. 
“No, I don’t.” You answered, but then it hit you, a brilliant idea. “Maybe you can teach me!”
“Teach you?!” Yoongi was baffled at your statement. “No, I could never, I’m-I’m not that good of a teacher.” He shied away from you once again.
“Come on, Yoongi.” You pursed your lip out in a pout, “Please! What else are we gonna do until the power comes on?!”
“Fine, I guess,” he muttered as pushed himself off the couch to go grab his guitar. You let out a small cheer as he reappeared with the instrument at hand. “I only know how to play Highway to Hell, Brown Eyed Girl, and an IU song. Which do you wanna learn?”
“Could I learn the one you were playing earlier?” 
Yoongi’s cheeks reddened at your question, “That-that’s uh, that’s an unfinished song. . .”
“Teach it to me? Please?” You pleaded, clasping your hands together in an effort to make yourself look more convincing. “Just the chorus?”
“Mmm, fine.” He exhaled as he positioned the guitar in his arms. “First, the basic chords are E,” he positioned his fingers on the neck then he strummed. “A.” He moved his fingers again then strummed the note. He proceeded to show you the rest of the basic notes, making sure you pay extra close attention to the placement of his fingers. Once the basic introduction was over, he began to demonstrate his song’s chorus. “It goes, two strums of D,” he strummed, “two strums of C,” he strummed again, “and four strums of G.” He strummed again. 
“Alright, seems easy enough.” You were impressed, it sounded pretty good. Okay more than pretty good, it was great! Yoongi was really talented, if he ever decided to put his music out no doubt you were gonna be the first to download it. “Let me try now.”
Yoongi handed the guitar to you and you mimicked the way you saw him hold the instrument, there was a twinge in his eyes as he saw you hold it, but he didn’t say anything. “Okay, fingers to the D chord position.” He instructed, you placed your fingers on the neck, your fingers looking close to how Yoongi positioned his. You looked to him, silently asking if the placement was correct; he nodded, giving you a tight smile. “Good, now two strums.” You did as you were told, it didn’t sound quite the same as how Yoongi did. From the look on Yoongi’s face, he noticed it too, yet he didn’t say anything again. “That was good. . . now two strums of C.” You repositioned your fingers again and yet again it didn’t sound the same. 
“Are you sure I’m doing this right?” You questioned.
“Yeah, you’re doing fine.” He assured you, but there was that same twinge in his eyes. He knew it wasn’t right, why wasn’t he correcting you? “Now four strums of G.”
Deciding to test his honesty, you placed your fingers in a position that definitely wasn’t the G chord and strummed 4 times. You watched as Yoongi visibly flinched at the sound, yet remained smiling at you. “How was that?”
“Great, you did. . . awesome.” He said as he gave you a thumbs up.
“Yoongii,” you whined. “You know that wasn’t right! How am I supposed to learn if you don’t help me properly.” 
“I just, uh, fine.” He scooted closer to you, taking your fingers in his hands and repositioning your fingers on the neck. “That’s the D chord, strum.” You did so and it sounded a lot better than your first shot. He repositioned your fingers again, “C chord.” You strummed twice more, you watched as Yoongi’s lips pulled into a smile. “Good, good. Okay and this is the G chord.” He moved your fingers once more and let you play the chord and it sounded almost like how he did it! “Great! Now do it all together slowly.”
Carefully examining your positioning again, you began again. Despite the long pauses between the notes as you tried to place your fingers in the correct places again, it sounded pretty good! Not as good as Yoongi’s playing, but it was still good! “I did it!”
“Think you can speed it up a bit?” He asked, his smile growing wider.
“Let’s give it a shot,” you straightened your shoulders as you moved your fingers back to the D chord. But apparently it wasn’t quite right as Yoongi stopped your hand before you moved to play.
“Sorry, just, your finger should be right,.” He with his thumb and pointer finger, he lightly pushed your finger a bit to the side, “here.” He pulled away with a grin on his face. “Now play.”
And so you did. With Yoongi’s help, you managed to play the chorus of his song pretty okay. After a while though, your fingers began to ache so you decided to stop, handing the guitar back over to Yoongi. You thought he was going to take it back to his room, but instead he started playing a melody that you barely recognized. Leaning back against the arm of the couch, you watched Yoongi play; the light of the candles illuminating the outline of his face. Neither of you said anything, the only noise that was heard was the sound of the rain, the crinkling of candles, and the sound of Yoongi’s guitar. 
As he played on, you felt yourself grow more relaxed. You slowly started to shut your eyes, but as you did, the lights blinked back on. Yoongi ceased his playing as the TV blared to life again, the comedy special overpowering the sound of his music anyways. Sitting up, you grabbed the remote and turned off the television. “Thank you, for teaching me. And-and playing in general, you’re really good.”
He slipped the guitar from his lap, leaning it against the couch. “I’m still just trying to learn and work on the song, it’s nowhere near finished-”
“Yoongi,” you placed your hand on his shoulder, “it’s gonna be great. I know it.”
He relaxed under your touch and smiled at you, his cheeks flushing. “Thank you, Y/N.” 
“It’s no problem,” you returned the smile. Feeling a little bold, you leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thanks again for the lesson.” Yoongi tensed up at the affection as you leaned back. “Maybe I can teach you something in return, like bracelet making. I don’t know.” You laughed, maybe it wasn’t an equal type of lesson as a guitar one but it was the only thing you could remember from sleep away camp. 
“Yeah-” His voice came out in a squeak, clearing his throat before he spoke again, “Yeah, that. . . sounds good!” He spoke as he rose to stand. “I’m uh, I’m gonna go put this away now.” With that, he picked up his guitar and scurried away towards his room. 
You chuckled as he left, heart feeling full after having a small bonding session with him. You were happy that you finally got to know Yoongi a bit more, with any luck you’ll get even closer.
171 notes · View notes
joezworld · 3 years
Note
📁
Specifically, any headcanons of the Sodor Engines interacting with the internet, or the internet in general?
For some reason, I’d imagine that podcasts and the like are popular among vehicles in general.
That is a question that I've been working on for some time - because I'm workshopping my own Tornado headcanon (and boy oh boy does she use the internet a lot) - but I have some ideas for the Sodor engines as well: 
Henry is probably the most "plugged in" engine on the island, weirdly enough. One of his drivers gave him an iPod back in the early 2000s, and kindly preloaded it with a bunch of torrented music.
 BTW, that works because all the engines are now equipped with automatic train warning systems, and the little on-board computer has a USB port - as a nice side effect it allows music players to work with the engines in the same way as bone-conducting headphones do. The computer also acts as some kind of computer interface, which I am not going to explain how that works because Jesus Christ I don’t know how it does either.  
 Henry has managed to upgrade his iPod a few times since thanks to hand-me-down units from NWR staff, so he eventually got his buffers on a wifi-enabled iPod Touch and now downloads new music from the station wifi. He does listen to podcasts, but as every other engine will tell you, you could show Henry ten thousand new and exciting songs from the best artists in the world, and his top ten played songs are still going to be Genesis, Phil Collins, and Yes. Bear considers it a win that he managed to convince Henry to regularly listen to Rush after a mere twenty years of convincing. 
 Mavis and Daisy listen to a very interesting program called The News, because as stated elsewhere, they invest a shitload of money and need to be on top of things. Thomas and Percy wish that Daisy would use headphones or something similar to that, instead of listening to Bloomberg TV at loud volumes in the middle of the night. Toby frankly doesn’t mind, as it’s very nice to be kept up-to-date on the outside world.  
In a move that surprises no-one, Bill and Ben have a podcast where they talk about whatever they think about at that moment - usually horse-racing, investing, and clay mining. As such, they have a wide audience, almost none of whom know that they’re that Bill and Ben, as their podcast is audio-only.  
 In an also unsurprising move, Edward and BoCo have been made very much aware that Bill and Ben have a podcast, but are still unsure as to what the hell a podcast is, despite being frequent guests on it.  
Of the main line diesels, only Bear has shown any real interest in the internet, and was immediately put in charge of the Amazon Alexa when a unit was installed in the diesel shed. He also has an iPod that he got for Christmas a few years back. (The NWR has a very good personal  electronics recycling program called give it to Henry, he’ll make use it.)  
Bear does listen to podcasts as well as music, but his choices are so insufferably boring that even Henry refuses to listen to them. (I don’t really listen to podcasts - despite making one - so insert the most boring podcast you can think of here.) 
 As for other internet uses... 
Gordon is very up-to-date on the newest social media trends - somehow - but only really cares when he is involved. He won’t admit it, but he’s been trying to figure out how to work a camera/selfie stick for some time so he can start up his own Instagram account. So far he has been unsuccessful, but one day he will manage it. 
 James has had an ongoing feud with his own Wikipedia page for about a decade now. The article sourced most of its information about his construction off of some out-of-print book about the L&Y. The book in question is accurate about James’ class, but not James himself - as he was a prototype engine. There’s no other primary sources available, so the very dedicated Wikipedia mod who created the page won’t change it - no matter how much James complains that he was there! He knows what happened! 
Every now and again a TTTE fan blog/tumblr will make a post about hypothetical “ships” of the Sodor engines. Most of the time it’s shipping the core characters like Gordon and Henry, much to Gordon’s bafflement and Henry’s amusement! 
Only one blog (a ttte fan tumblr by the curious name of @mean-scarlet-deceiver  ) has gotten it right. Henry actually reached out to congratulate this blogger, but was unfortunately mistaken for a very dedicated roleplay account.  
James is very annoyed by these blogs, as they have never once correctly guessed who he is “shipped” with! He has tried several times to be seen in public with Delta, but these events have never gone as planned - the “best” instance is when Edward rolled by at exactly the wrong moment, leading to months of speculation that JamesxEdward was the ship to look out for! 
Thomas, being a generally oblivious sort of engine, was totally unaware of the online fan community around the TV show until he started getting actively harassed by vloggers and Instagrammers in the early 2010s. He’s fine with it now, but it was a deeply unusual experience for most of 2012.  
Toby has developed an unexpectedly popular following on social media following his collab with Stormzy. His official twitter is huge now, with over a million followers, even if he has no idea what to do with it. He posts rarely, but usually manages to make an incredible post when he does.
No-one is sure who told Oliver what a “fan-production” is, but if you manage to get ahold of him for any period of time and ask him nicely, he will lend his voice to your TTTE fan-project, so long as it isn’t about [INSERT TERRIBLE SOCIAL/POLITICAL VIEW(S) HERE]. This means that he has 100% voiced dramatic readings of NSFW Fanfics before, which is always an absolute riot to spring on people unannounced.
There is a series of slice-of-life TTTE fanfics on Ao3 that have been written with such accuracy and innate railway knowledge that people are sure it was written by a Sodor engine, but nobody knows which one.
The Culdee Fell Railway has very active Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts, with all of the engines and coaches showing up regularly. It’s about the closest any of the railways on Sodor have come to what those outside the UK would call “normal locomotive social media”.
The Skarloey Railway has social media accounts too, but they don’t really feature the engines in any meaningful way, instead being used as a normal service announcements page.  
 The SR is a real working railway that doesn’t rely on tourism money as much as the others do, so they get a bit of a pass here.  
 The Arlesdale Railway has Twitter and YouTube, which didn’t usually get a lot of hits until 2020, when Ivan and Amanda Farrier started badgering the staff to make some videos just to alleviate some boredom. So far the most popular videos on the channel are a front-mounted camera video of the entire line slow-tv style, Bert explaining how steam engines work, and a video of Mike complaining about Justin Bieber for a solid half-hour.  
 That’s about it as far as Sodor goes, but before we’re done, I want to take a moment to talk about Tornado, because I have some fun ideas for her... 
First of all, we need to establish that Tornado is very young. Her construction only started in late 90′s, and she was steamed to life in 2000, putting her firmly into the “Zoomer” category. Add in the fact that she was built by a bunch of old men who didn’t really know how to treat a new engine, and she was raised much more like a human than a locomotive - I’ll get to this much more in the proper Tornado Headcanon post, but what this means here is that when social media started being a thing in the mid-to-late 2000′s, the people at the A1 Trust decided that they needed a young person to run things like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace... and, well, Tornado was the youngest person in the trust by a large margin.
I should state here that in the rest of the world, locomotives are on the internet at roughly the same level as humans are, so there’s plenty of equipment to connect a phone/computer/camera to an engine - being English, the A1 Trust didn’t know how common it was, but they managed to get it up and running just the same.
 So Tornado has very quickly become attuned to the internet, just like any other teenager would. (yes, let’s let that settle into our minds for a moment - Tornado is barely old enough to drink in the US!) Quite naturally that means that she knows social media inside and out, and is actually quite a proficient social media manager for the trust, managing all of their social pages. More than one person who has complained about the trust on twitter has unknowingly been complaining to Tornado herself! 
 “On the internet, nobody knows that you’re a dog Engine”. 
 Tornado has her own personal social media accounts too, but most/all of the time she gets mistaken for a very dedicated role-player, as the general perception of British Locomotives is that they don’t tweet. This has resulted in some amazing reactions from podcast hosts (because, as you might expect, Tornado is very knowledgeable about steam traction in the 21st century, and tweets about it often, so train podcasts want to talk to her) when she gets invited onto video calls, turns on her webcam, and is met with screams from people who suddenly realize that her profile picture is accurate.  
 By far the best instance of this is when she was invited onto a video call with a railfan podcast. She was at the NRM at the time and managed to convince them to let her use their Skype setup. A wide-angle lens was needed because she was on the turntable in the Great Hall, so that podcast quickly got sidetracked when her webcam was turned on and revealed Tornado, with Mallard, Evening Star, City of Truro, and Green Arrow visible behind her. Whatever the original topic was quickly got thrown out in favor of a 2-hour Q&A with some of the most famous engines in the UK. 
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When you need a Superfriend
By Nach0Ava
On Archive of Our Own
Tumblr user: @nach0ava
So I have not really watched Supergirl however when I read the first chapter I had to share this with you all! This is the first chapter by Nach0Ava. (Second chapter is on its way as well!) Marinette gets sent away by her parents to America! Please go read Nach0Ava's story!
Summary:
When Tom and Sabine believe Lila's lies, they send Marinette off to live with an old family friend in National City. When living with a government agent and a physiologist, how long is it until she gets figured out?
Chapter 1:
“I don’t understand! Why are you sending me away?”
Marinette looked up at her parents in disbelief. They had just told her that she was going to be sent to live with a family friend. In America! Sure, she could speak fairly good English, but it still didn’t make sense!
“Your recent behaviour has led us to think that the change could be good for you. Kelly and her girlfriend Alex are lovely people, and they might be better equipped to deal with you than we are.”
As her mother spoke, Marinette felt a bitterness rise in her. Of course. Lila. She had made good on her threat, managing to turn even her parents against her. Claiming that she was involved in a gang, she had an older boyfriend, she did drugs, the list went on. And when Tom and Sabine had caught Marinette out past curfew one too many times, they took it as the truth. She couldn’t tell them that she was Ladybug, so all she had was half-hearted excuses. Still, she needed a way to stay in Paris, as she couldn’t be Ladybug somewhere else, and if there was no Ladybug, there was no-one to catch the akuma, and no-one to cast the cure, never mind all her guardian duties…
She was getting off track. She had a goal and she needed to accomplish it. Just like taking down an akuma. Except she couldn’t hit this problem really hard for it to go away.
“Is there any way I could stay in Paris? I’ll switch schools, I’ll go live with grandpa Roland, I’ll do anything!”
Tom and Sabine exchanged a look. They didn’t want to believe it, but they had to make sure.
“Honey, calm down, aren’t you worried about an akuma?”
Marinette started pacing as she rambled, mostly to herself.
“Right, I’ll get upset, then you guys will get mad at me, and then one or both of you will be akumatised and then I’ll have that whole mess to deal with.”
Tom reached out a hand to her shoulder to stop her pacing.
“You aren’t worried about you getting akumatised?”
Marinette shook her head.
“No no, I’ll be fine.”
A slight push from her bag and the looks from her parents made her backtrack.
“I mean, I’m really good at calming down before they get to me, I mean, it’s worked so far right?”
She let out a nervous chuckle while her parents stared at her.
“Marinette… Are you working with Hawkmoth?”
Marinette looked for the start of a smile from her mum, the laughter in her dad’s eyes, anything to say they were joking. When the just kept staring she burst into laughter.
“Haha, you guys… You guys really thought… Haha, that’s hilarious!”
Her parents failed to see the humour and gave her thatlook.
“Remember all those times I’ve been attacked? Reflekta, Horificator, pretty much any akuma that clones or traps people I’ve gotten tangled up in.”
Not technically a lie, she never said she got hitspecifically, but she definitely got attacked.
“Well, maybe you should get out of Paris anyway. It’s clearly not safe here, and maybe it’s best for you to leave. You’ll like it in National City, they even have their own superheros!”
Great. A reminder of what I have to give up because of Lila. She was about to keep protesting, but she felt three quick pushed on her side by Tikki. We need to talk.Her argument died on her tongue and she sighed.
“When am I meant to leave?”
Her parents exchanged relived looks.
“The plane is booked for next Friday. That gives you about a week to pack up. We could mail over a box with all of your sewing things once you get settled, if Kelly and Alex are ok with it of course.”
Marinette fought the eyebrow that was threating to raise. A week? I was hoping for some more time to test and train a new guardian, and a new holder for Tikki. It would be a rush, and there weren’t many people she trusted anymore. Still, there was work to be done, so she had to get started.
“I guess I’ll go start packing then. Can I be un-grounded so I can spend my final week saying goodbye and sorting things out?”
Her parents nodded, glad she was taking this so well.
“Of course honey, just not tonight ok? It’s getting rather late.”
Marinette nodded and ran up to her room, shutting the trapdoor quickly. She went up onto her bed and starting crying into her pillow, feeling the weight of all the kwami comforting her. Eventually she rolled on to her back, drying her tears.
“I’m sorry Tikki, you said you wanted to talk?”
She looked at her expectantly. Marinette already knew what Tikki wanted. She needed to find a new wielder and Guardian, and she shouldn’t have been putting it off, but sometimes it felt good to cry. Tikki came to settle on her lap and patted her leg comfortingly.
“Marinette I know what you’re thinking, and you don’t have to give up being Ladybug or being Guardian. So you better stop that train of thought right now missy.”
Marinette sat up, blinking. How could she… Oh.
“I’m an idiot.”
Tikki giggled while she flew up and booped her nose, while Kaalki sniffed from the corner.
“I can’t believe you forgot about me Guardian. You’ve given me out before!”
Marinette giggled at the kwami’s haughty attitude.
“Sorry Kaalki, I got a bit too emotional to think clearly.”
Kaalki just grabbed a sugar cube with a huff and flew off. Marinette climbed off her bed and grabbed her bright pink suitcase.
“So who wants to help me pack?”
~~<3~~
Chloe, Kagami, Luka and Marinette were all sitting at a table at a café during their lunch break. Luka had graduated already, so he was usually free to hang out. Chloe had come up to Marinette not too long after Lila’s takeover with an apology. Marinette had been wary at first, but Chloe was actually really nice when she wasn’t putting up an act. She had soon proven herself and had been given another chance at being a hero, under the new name Honeybee. Kagami had approached her after Adrien had asked for advice on the Lila situation. She had hated his passive approach, and when she had tried to talk to him about it, he just refused her help, ignoring the fact that he had asked for her help. Kagami had come to offer her help, and they become friends soon after. She had re-claimed the dragon, under the new name Tempête. Luka had heard Lila’s heart song and immediately knew that was someone that he didn’t want to hang around. He had tried warning Juleka and the rest of Kitty Section, but Lila had told them that having an older singer wasn’t a good look. He had been kicked out, and Marinette had been there to comfort him with pastries and musicals. After she had introduced everyone to each other, they had become a tightly knit group. So, as one could imagine, they weren’t taking this well.
“They gave you a week? That’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”
Kagami made a noise of displeasure as well.
“Sending you to America seems a bit extreme, what reason did they give again?”
Marinette scoffed.
“My ‘recent behaviour’ or something like that. Also known as, Lila. Oh, that’s not even the best part.”
Marinette gave out a dry chuckle and everyone looked on in interest.
“Apparently, I’m working with Hawkmoth.”
Luka plucked a string on his guitar, sending out a loud note. Chloe just stared in disbelief, and Kagami made for her foil.
“I’m going to run them through with my sword.”
Kagami gripped it tightly, ready to get up and make good on her threat, but Marinette grabbed it from her, unbothered by the fencer’s unimpressed glare.
“No-one is stabbing anyone. I don’t really have a choice, so I just have to suck it up and deal with it. Besides, it could be good to get away from Lila.”
Chloe was the first to get up to give her a hug, followed by Luka, and then by Kagami, who Marinette wasn’t completely sure that she wasn’t just trying to get her sword back.
“It’ll be ok guys, we can still video chat through Skype or something. I won’t be able to text, because I’ll be on an American phone plan, but we can figure something out!”
Chloe pulled away and took out her phone, tapping away immediately.
“I’m going to get you an amazing phone plan, with unlimited overseas. Same for the rest of you. That way, we can all talk and not worry about the fact that there’ll be an ocean dividing us.”
Marinette slowly took the phone and added it to her slowly growing pile, pointedly ignoring the glare Chloe shot her.
“I’m sure there are other, free, ways to contact each other. I think there’s an online service, what’s the name in English? Chaos or something like that?”
Luka strummed at his guitar in thought before pulling up an app on his phone.
“Is this the one you were thinking of?”
He had opened Discord, in dark mode of course, and had his profile open.
“Yeah, that’s the one! We can talk on there, and it has the bonus of being accessible from computers! So, no reason to go overboard, ok Chloe?”
Chloe humped and opened up the app store, downloading Discord. Kagami noticed what she was doing and mirrored her. They all took a few minutes to make accounts and become friends, before Luka, the one with the most experience, had set up a server for them all. Quickly choosing nicknames, Marinette pocketed her phone with a grin.
“Now that that’s done, anyone want to come help me pick some things to take?”
~~<3~~
It felt like the week passed quickly, lessons passing by in a blur. She didn’t pay much attention, just enough to keep Mrs Bustier satisfied. She didn’t bother alerting anyone in the class (outside of Chloe) that she was leaving, ignoring their taunts and insults. Chloe and Kagami had been big helps in learning how to ignore them, so now they rolled off her like water on a duck. She made sure not to bring anything valuable, most of her stuff was in a suitcase anyway. On her final day, she only had her schoolbooks, the school assigned tablet, and three neatly wrapped gifts. As she was packing up to go meet her friends for a final goodbye, she was stopped by Alya.
“I need you to make a dress for the upcoming school dance.”
Marinette briefly noted that this was a demand, rather than a request, but she just started her usual commission speech with a sigh.
“Depending on the materials used and the time it takes to make, the dress could cost anywhere from €300 to €500. There will also be shipping costs, plus the fact I’m not taking commissions right now, so it will probably be a few weeks before I might be able to get started on it.”
Alya was staring at Marinette like she had grown another head.
“€300, what are you talking about? I’m not paying youfor a dress, and you make mine every year, so what’s the problem? I can’t wait a few weeks, the dance is next weekend!”
Marinette sighed and pushed past the taller girl.
“The problem is that I don’t have time, materials are expensive, and I made you those dresses when we were friends. But we’re not now. So, leave me alone. Goodbye Alya.”
She walked out to meet her friends, leaving Alya behind, too stunned to talk. When she snapped out of it, she grumbled to herself.
“She’ll see reason on Monday. She has no right to refuse after all she’s done to Lila! Maybe if she makes Lila’s dress too, she’ll forgive her! Lila’s nice like that, Marinette will come around after making up for everything she’s done!”
Alya walked away, satisfied, planning her new dress in her mind.
Marinette ran up to her friends, engulfing them in hugs. They all hugged right back, sad to see her go. Marinette suddenly pulled away from the hug, and grabbed three parcels out of her bag. She handed them all out, urging them to open them. Luka opened his first, finding a beanie that perfectly matched his hair, with a teal snake pattern around the rim. Chloe went next, her patience not holding any longer. She got a headband with tiny bees embroidered all along it. Kagami received a red handkerchief, with an elemental dragon on one side, and a storm cloud on the other, a lightning strike going all the way across. They all started to thank her at once, with Marinette just blushing sheepishly.
“I just took note of all your favourite heroes, and added them to a design. It’s not that big of a deal.”
They all hugged again, before the clock chimed behind them, making Marinette jump.
“I have to go! I’ll send you all a message when I land, but you better not stay up for it if it’s late here!”
A chorus of “No promises!” filled her ears as she ran home, taking in the sights one more time. She burst into the bakery to find her mum still working the counter, and her dad busy baking. Not thinking much of it, she went up to her room to grab her belongings. After some quick cuddles from the kwami, she had everything she needed. Most flew into the suitcase, comfy in the hidden area Marinette had made, lined with a soft faux fur. Only Tikki and Kaalki flew into her jacket, ready to transform if need be. They had assured her they wouldn’t show up on the x-ray, so she was fine with having them in there. As she lifted her suitcase and went downstairs, her strength from being Ladybug shining through, she was surprised to see her parents still busy at work.
“Maman, Papa, I thought we were going to the airport now?”
Her parent’s exchanged looks before Tom stopped his baking and walked over.
“Honey, we can’t afford to come with you, we need to keep the bakery open. There’s an Uber outside for you, but you’ll have to go on your own. I’m sorry.”
He pulled her into a hug, one she half-heartedly returned. She walked over to hug her mum as well, and went outside with her suitcase.
This was it.
She was really being sent away.
All because of some dumb liar.
With a comforting press coming from inside her jacket, she got in the Uber, prepared to start her new life.
536 notes · View notes
wanna-do-bad-things · 4 years
Text
Expecting.
Summary: Tired of dating for nothing, Henry laid everything out for her on that very first date. But when he gets everything he hoped for, there’s one thing left that he really wants.
Word count: 1683
Warnings: trying to get pregnant (no heartbreak tho, it just takes a lil time), fluffy baby daddy Henry
A/N: this was for @henrythickcavill, requested via my patreon. 
Forever tag list:  @luclittlepond |  @fcgrizi  | @henrythickcavill  |  @mitzwinchester  |  @mary-ann84 | @hell1129-blog  | @pensieve-foryour-thoughts  |  @agniavateira  |  @dancingwendigo  |  @living-in-the-darkness | @trippedmetaldetector |  @watermeloncavill  |   @justaboringadult   |   @madbaddic7ed   |   @ruthoakenshield  |  @omgkatinka   |   @iloveyouyen   |   @spursondele    |
________
Henry has been on cloud nine ever since she told him she was pregnant. Tired and mentally exhausted trying to find the right person, Henry had all but given up. It’s not that he was actively looking for a girlfriend, or wife in his case, but he did hope that when the right person came along, he’d just know. He’d feel it in his bones. He didn’t think it would happen like it does in the movies, where everything aligns, everything tastes better, music sounds better and he can breathe like he’s never breathed before. But he thought he’d feel something different.
She didn’t breeze into his life. She didn’t make him understand now why everything else hadn’t worked out. But what she did do was make him wonder how the hell he’d managed to feel so complete before when he felt bursting at the seams when he was around her. He’d laid it all on the table on their first date.
“I know this is a little full on, but I’m going to be honest with you. I can’t keep doing meaningless dates. If you’re not looking for something serious, something long term and possibly the end goal, then this date isn’t going to go far. You can leave, I’ll still pay for the bill, but I won’t hold it against you. I understand not everyone will be on the same page.”
Instead of pushing her chair back, grabbing her coat and bag and walking out of the restaurant, she pulled her chair a little closer, poured them both a drink and said, “so what colour theme are we having at the wedding and how many children are we having?”
She took an open interest in what he had to say, she challenged him on a few of his viewpoints just for a good conversation piece. They shared many of the same opinions and differed on a handful but nothing deal breaking or something that neither could get past. Henry understood that not everyone was the same and listening to her speak was amazing. He adored that they were on the same page when it came to values and their life.
As the weeks and months went on, he tried to trip her up. Tried to catch her out and see if she was just spoon feeding him everything he wanted to hear but no, it continued to flow almost perfectly. Henry took her on several vacations per year, she joined him on set, rode him when he needed his stress relieving and helped him with his lines. She was by no means a good actress, but she would try to put her feelings into it, try to give the script some sort of justice and helped Henry when he needed it.
They married three years later, with her joking that Henry would rush her down the aisle just so he could get straight to the baby making part of marriage. But it didn’t happen as quickly as either of them hoped. She came off her birth control and though they’d lose themselves within the sheets (or on the counter tops, table, against the hallway wall, the sofa, his gaming chair…just anywhere which could hold their weight,) as often as possible without wanting to take the fun out of sex and just have it for the sake of having a baby, pregnancy just wasn’t as easy to happen as they’d thought.
A year and half into their marriage, she’d began to draw up schedules, bought thermometers to check her temperature and downloaded several “trying to get pregnant” apps. She tracked her cycles, found the optimum times for having sex and had started to pitch it all to Henry when she realised she was two weeks late.
He’d sat there before her, waiting for her to reach the main part of her big presentation of why looking at their baby making schedule would be most effective when he’d watched the blood drain from her face and her scramble out of the room, roughly slamming the bathroom door closed and lock it before he’d been able to fully understand what had just happened. He’d heard things dropping onto the floor, things being torn open and as he’d stood nervously on the other side of the bathroom door, his hand on the wooden surface, listening carefully for anything which could give him an idea of what had happened, he’d finally heard the little sob that came from her.
“Are you ok?” He’d asked softly, not wanting to refer to her by any pet names, instead addressing her by her name. She hadn’t replied for a moment or two, just the sound of her soft cries filling the room in which he couldn’t access until she’d finally slid the lock open and he found her sitting on the floor, surrounded by torn open pregnancy test boxes and four tests sitting in front of her, letters boasting PREGNANT 4+ WEEKS on each of them.
Henry hadn’t wanted to go too crazy. He’d wanted this for too long and didn’t want to curse anything by purchasing anything too early. He’d gripped her hand, their fingers locked together, tears falling from his eyes as he’d pressed their hands to his lips as his eyes had remained fixated on the screen during her scan, watching as their two babies wriggled around for them. Watching as their tiny limbs stretched out and they flipped themselves around in their little bubble of comfort.
With each passing week, Henry ensured that he took care of any of the big jobs, needing her to take it as easily as possible. She hadn’t wanted to completely give up their workouts, and he’d make sure that he was there to observe each one, with a personalised plan specifically for pregnancy. They scoured the websites for the perfect nursery set up. With the babies genders remaining a secret, pots of neutral paint sits in the room. Dust sheets are down ready to catch any splatters of paint which hadn’t made it onto the walls. Tins of light colours are waiting to be applied and Henry has changed into his “DIY” clothes which are sweatpants and a loose, though still fitted for him, cotton tee shirt.
Most of the walls will be a pale grey to match the carpet, but there’ll be soft mint greens, duck egg blues, pale yellows scattered around the room in forms of cuddle bears, artwork and books that he wants to read to them. Two rocking chairs have been placed, and tested, and he already looks forward to sitting in them while reading to the two of them as they have their feed, much like he’s already done with her sitting beside him, their joined hands pressed to her large bump as he’d read some of his favourite childhood stories to them so that they would already recognise his voice. She’s due in one months’ time, and only now does he feel confident enough to begin to paint and assemble everything he’d bought.
She’d caught him in the middle of their living room two months ago, the boxes emptied out and him checking every screw, every nut, bolt and piece against the assembly instructions to ensure that everything was there, fully prepared with the phone and laptop beside him to make all the forms of contact needed to get the right parts sent out. “I’m not leaving it until last minute to then find out something is missing, or wrong or damaged and it’s too late.”
He’s strolled around the house with the double pram, telling her he needed to break in the wheels. He’s practiced for what felt like hours closing the pram and re-opening it again. Getting it in and out of the large car which he bought for the babies in mind. He’s tested numerous ways of picking up the baby carriers and how to get them in and out of the car with ease. He’s completed a baby first aid course and made sure he’s bought enough things to baby proof the house.
“You have some explaining to do.” She says, waddling into the doorway of the nursery, holding up some of the baby outfits he’s purchased.
“Look at the little cape though.” He grins, putting down the paint roller and tray before he’s even applied the first stroke. He walks over to her, his hand instinctively going to her belly as the other touches the cape of the baby vest which reads “my daddy is superman.”
“And this?” She holds up a mini Chiefs kit.
“I don’t make the rules around here. It’s law that they should match their daddy.”
“But what if they choose to suppo-”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Henry cuts her off with a wag of his finger, “we don’t have none of that negativity around here. Absolutely not.” It takes everything she can muster not to crack another smile and to try and keep her expression as neutral as possible but the stern look upon Henry’s face makes it more difficult to do so.
“You can’t wait for this, can you?” She asks him as she sinks down into her rocking chair and slowly goes back and forth, sighing contently to get the weight from her swelling ankles and sore feet.
“Lumberjack beard, bags under my eyes so big I could do a months shopping in them and endless stories of ‘so yeah, my kid pooped today’ conversations. I can’t wait.”
“No dad bod?” She questions.
“I’m a daddy now, and I’ve got a body.” You sure are daddy, she thinks. If she weren’t suffering from her aching hips, she’d be wanting to climb onto his lap and ride him. He looks far too good right now.
“Yeah you have, now let me see that body of yours get to work….on this room. Not on me.” She says, holding up her finger and lifting a leg up as though that could stop Henry from covering her body with his own, “you’ve done enough.”
“Well, you know what they say… it helps to speed things along…”
384 notes · View notes
the-edge-of-great · 3 years
Text
(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ friendsgiving ♥
---------- ----------
The silence that immediately follows “How did you spend your holidays?” is brief but deafening. Her heart sinks. She looks to Luke for help, but he’s watching the guys on the couch, eyes jumping between Alex and Reggie; the weight of the conversation seems to rest on their shoulders, and they don’t notice because they’re too busy avoiding everything, especially their bandmates.
So Julie backtracks, quickly. “I’m sorry,” she says, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t—Forget I said anything.” She reaches to fix the sheet music but realizes it’s already perfectly straight, and her hand falls flat, and there’s still an awkward silence, so she begins playing the start of Finally Free, which isn’t at all what they were working on, but this hasn’t happened before. She’s always been careful asking about their past because she doesn’t know how far is too far. And until now, she hasn’t struck out with any questions. They’ve been cool about it, mostly answering anything she wanted to know. If they didn’t want to talk about it, they kindly changed the subject. At some point, she thinks they became open books to her, and she them.
That’s why this question tumbled out so casually.
And that’s why the silence is scaring her.
Luke, finally, saves her. “We’d spend Thanksgiving with my dad’s family,” he tells her with a smile, which she immediately mirrors as her shoulders slump with relief, “and for Christmas, we’d go to my aunt’s place to party with my mom’s side. She actually lives in Pasadena.” He chuckles. It takes her all of five seconds to realize why that’s funny to him, and then she breathes a laugh and rolls her eyes.
“Holidays were always hectic for me,” Reggie says next. Julie’s heart flutters. “Like, three or four days of traveling to make sure we see both sides, both sets of grandparents, and somehow not barf from all the food.” He and Luke share a laugh, and Alex smiles faintly as he jumps to his feet.
“I just remembered,” he says, stepping over Luke, “I’m meeting Willie today.” He looks back at them briefly, his smile weak and probably forced, before vanishing.
Reggie and Luke share a look. Mumbling something about the beach, Reggie disappears too.
As soon as he’s gone, Julie’s face drops to her hands. “That was a disaster,” she groans.
“Family’s just a hard topic for them,” Luke replies quietly.
Chewing on her lip, Julie takes Alex’s spot next to him. “Tell me why?” she asks softly.
“Sure, since they outed all of my shit last month.” He chuckles.
“Whaaat?” Julie shakes her head. “They didn’t—” The look he gives her makes her stumble. Sheepishly, she adds, “They were trying to help.”
“I know.” Shaking his head, he explains, “Reggie’s parents fought a lot. So much that he didn’t like us coming over, like, ever. It was, seriously, all the time.”
“Fighting, like… arguing? Or…?”
“Just arguing,” he reassures. “They’d scream at each other, and sometimes at him if he got in the middle of it, but…” Luke sighs. “Just arguing.”
“And… Alex?”
He pauses, gaze dropping to his lap, and Julie’s stomach turns. She reaches for his hand, half to grab his attention again, half because she feels she’ll need a better alternative to digging her nails into her palm when she hears whatever he has to say. He intertwines their fingers, locking her hand in a grip tighter than she expected. If she wasn’t nervous before, she is now.
“Alex’s parents weren’t cool with him being gay.”
Julie sits up straighter. “What—What does that mean?” She needs better clarification because she knows what that could mean—she’s seen it on the news, on Tumblr and Twitter and Instagram, heard about it through the grapevine of high school—and her heart aches at the idea of Alex—sweet, caring Alex—going through anything of the sort.
“They didn’t kick him out which, I guess, is something, but they just… stopped caring. They stopped acknowledging him.”
Julie shakes her head. “They don’t deserve any praise for not kicking him out,” she says quietly, lip curling at her words. “Not for doing less than the bare minimum of being parents.”
“Getting angry over it is a lost cause.” He smiles sadly at her. “You don’t know how many times we talked about getting him out of his house. Both of ‘em. Bobby and I would spend nights out here, drawing up plans to run away to Vegas or something.”
“I should’ve never brought it up,” she mumbles. “I know holidays are hard for some people.”
“Hey, no, it’s okay.” He shakes his head, turning to her and taking her other hand in his. “It’s okay. You didn’t know. Besides, it was bound to come up eventually. Family’s just… different, you know?”
Julie sighs, shoulders slumping forward. She watches Luke’s thumb rub across her knuckles. Thanksgiving is in a few days; her house is going to be lively with the whole family. When Mom was alive, the studio was a place for the kids to hangout. Obviously, nobody went near it after she died. Dad locked it up before people began arriving. Julie wonders, as she looks around the room, if they’ll open it to the family again. Or maybe it should stay closed for the guys’ sake.
“So… No holidays?” she asks. “At all? ‘Cause… I have an idea…”
Luke raises an eyebrow. “What’re you thinking?”
“It’s this thing called… Friendsgiving.”
~**~**~**~
Star Wars and other movies downloaded to the computer? Check. Computer hooked up to the projector? Check. Two white sheets borrowed from Flynn strung up in front of the instruments? Check.
“Are the lights too much?” Julie asks, waving her phone around the room to show off her decorations. “They feel too much.”
“No, fairy lights are cute!” Flynn exclaims through the phone. “And you went through all the work hanging them up.”
“I know we think they’re cute, but will they think they’re cute?”
“Jules, they’re like puppies; they’ll be excited about anything.”
“Okay.” Julie nods. “Okay.” The lights are weaved around the loft railing and framing the sides of the sheets. She had to improvise with Christmas lights, so when she turns them on, instead of faint white, a soft rainbow glows off the loft and cascades down to the floor.
“Look okay?” she asks Flynn again. She doesn’t know why she’s so nervous. It’s just Luke, Reggie, and Alex… But Reggie and Alex haven’t had a good Thanksgiving in a while. So, okay, maybe there’s a little pressure for things to be perfect. Or a lot. Maybe the lights is overdoing it—
“Dude, what’s up with you?” she hears Alex say outside.
“They’re here!” Julie stage whispers.
“Okay?” Flynn says just as soft. “Go talk to them? And the lights are cute! Keep them on!”
“As Julie would say,” Reggie adds, voice getting louder as he nears the studio, “you’re acting hella sus.”
“Wait, wait,” Luke says, probably trying to stop him. “Just—Wait a second.”
“I’ll text you later,” Julie tells Flynn as she heads for the door.
“Julie!”
“What?!”
Flynn smiles at her. “They’re going to love it, okay?”
Julie stops, hand inches from the door handle. Taking a deep breath, she returns Flynn’s smile. “Thanks, Flynn.”
Feet shuffle out of the way of the door that swings open a few inches. Julie pokes her head out. “Hi there,” she says, grinning.
Alex squints at her. “You’re in on it too, huh?”
“Alex, honey, I planned it.”
Luke, who froze in the middle of holding Reggie back with arms around his chest when Julie stepped out, backs off and joins her by the door.
“And you guys never figured it out!” he says proudly, fist bumping her.
Reggie and Alex share a look that makes her think yeah, no, they totally figured something was going on. She giggles.
“Well, uh…” Julie glances over her shoulder. “You guys want to see what the secret is?” She leans against the door to push it open and waves them past. “Ta-da.”
Along with the Christmas lights is a lamp beside the couch, covered by a blanket to dim the brightness. In place of the coffee table she pushed to the side are pillows and blankets layered over each other. Board games she found in the loft are stacked high in the chair next to the couch. They’re a mixture of generations: some she received as Christmas and birthday gifts, and others that have been around for as long as she can remember—favorites among her family, especially her parents. Maybe the guys will remember them too.
The shelf behind the couch is empty except for the projector. She had to find an extension cord to plug in her computer and leave it safely on the couch (she may have tried to balance it on the shelf with the projector, but one close call was enough to look into alternatives).
After the door is latched behind her, she joins them in the middle of the room, playing with her hands. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” she begins. “I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories.”
Alex shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, Julie. You didn’t know.”
“But I do now. And… I don’t know how you guys feel about the holidays, but I hope you give this one a chance?” She steps around them, kicking off her shoes as she goes. “It’s not an official holiday, but over the years, it’s become more popular.” She steps onto the couch and looks back at them with a smile. “It’s called Friendsgiving. Families suck sometimes, and you can’t choose them. But, you can choose your friends.” Standing on her tiptoes, she flips the projector on. A light beam shoots past them and shines across the bed sheets. Two was a better decision than one, it seems. The picture has plenty of room to spread out. Perhaps not the best quality, but at least they can watch it full screen.
“I have all of the Star Wars movies downloaded,” she continues, stepping off the couch, “along with a few others if we get sick of the marathon. I don’t know if you like board games, but I found a few in the loft?” She points at the stack.
“You did… all of this for us?” Reggie asks, almost breathlessly.
“Well, yeah. And Luke helped.” Luke smiles when the guys look at him. Julie adds, “I don’t think I could’ve guessed your movie taste without him.”
“There are some good ones on there,” he promises.
Alex huffs a laugh. He spins in a slow circle, taking in everything. “This is awesome, Jules.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but… You’re wrong about one thing.” She freezes. Luke and Reggie look back at him. Alex shoves his hands in his jacket pockets, looking over each of them, the corner of his mouth curved in a smile. “You can choose the family that matters.”
“And it’s us?” Luke teases. “We’re your Chosen Ones?” As he and Reggie share a laugh, Alex walks away from them.
“C’mere,” he says with a laugh, pulling Julie into a hug. Alex gives some of the best hugs. He’s tall enough to tuck her head under his chin, and she can bury her face in his chest.
Luke and Reggie must move in, because Alex walks them near the couch. “No, no, she’s my Chosen One. You two go away.”
“We were here first,” Luke whines.
“But it’s Julie,” Reggie reasons. He shakes his head, a fond smile on his lips.
Luke nods. “Good point.”
“Still, you’re crazy if you think I’m just going to ignore group hug potential,” Reggie says, lunging for them. Alex pretends to try getting away, but he actually opens an arm for him, and now Julie’s squished between them. Not even a second later, Luke’s on her other side. They’re a mess of laughter until someone missteps. They fall in slow motion, it seems. Julie rolls off of Alex’s chest and into the arms of Luke, who hugs her to his chest immediately.
“Good thing Julie has all of the pillows of the universe here,” Alex jokes.
“Oh yeah, I called in every favor. They asked how many I wanted. I said yes.”
Reggie pushes himself up. He squints at the stack of board games. “No way! You have Candyland?”
Luke chuckles in her ear. “Are those Christmas lights?”
“I improvised.”
“I like it.”
Alex is looking at them. “Me too.”
Julie grins. “Thanks, guys.”
“Reg, Candyland or Star Wars?” Alex asks, rolling onto his stomach.
Reggie pauses, board game in his hands. “Can we… We can do both!”
Julie laughs out loud.
After a few minutes of clearing away the pillows (“Oh good, I thought we’d never see that rug again.”), setting up the game, and playing the movie, they’re ready: Candyland and Star Wars. Not how she ever imagined spending the day before Thanksgiving.
“Hey,” Julie says as she draws a card. It’s green. She looks up at them, smiling. “I love you guys, you know?”
They each share looks, grinning at one another. To her left, Luke draws next. “We know, Julie,” he says, moving his character forward. When he meets her eye, he tell her, “We love you, too.”
“Now, keep that in mind when I completely destroy all of you in these games,” Reggie warns.
Julie raises a challenging eyebrow.
“Bring it.”
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ledamemangociana · 3 years
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RANKING HAISUTE (or the ones i’ve seen so far)
not that anyone has asked me, but i’ve literally been so hyperfixated on these shows for MONTHS and although i’ve gotten my bestie into them now, it’s not like i can bombard them with all these deep-ish dives into these things and how much and why i love them, so i thought HEY why not just put it out into the ether coz DAMN i really wanna talk about them.
under the cut for length (HELLA LENGTH) and spoilers.
let me preface this first by saying i havent seen ALL the shows yet. i havent ever watched the first run of Itadaki No Keshiki, and i havent seen any of the new Karasuno cast shows yet, as by the time i had gotten hooked on these shows, the time to watch Strongest Challengers and Battle At The Garbage Dump on DMM.com had passed, and with my limited budget (i havent been able to work properly since literally mid-July last year), it’ll be a while before i can afford their twin pack DVD when it comes out next month. ALTHOUGH i am hoping to be able to download Fly High on DMM.com before the availability runs out in the middle of March, if i’ll actually have enough money for that.
additionally, i rank these from my least favorite to most favorite, but that does not mean that i hate or dislike any of them. in fact, i have little to zero negative things to say about any of these shows. i just happen to love some more than the others, and i think you’ll be able to tell by how long i go on about each show. i’ll TRY to keep things concise but im telling you now, i’ve already tried this once until an accidental button press erased everything i had written, and this will not be short. at all.
i’ll start first with the things i love about Haisute in general:
quite obviously, the projections. before i finally saw Haisute this year, i had only ever seen BNHA, KNY and Kuroshitsuji musicals, and while they have awesome set pieces, i had never seen video projections utilized the way Haisute does, and i think it’s so wonderful and creative, and so technically sound on everyone’s part. like, it has to be so precise with cast performance and blocking and sound and lights...like. dudes. shout-out to the tech staff of Haisute, y’all are amazing.
the acting performances in general. i dont think there’s a bad actor at all in any of these. some stiff-ish performances (Noah Ishikura as Lev, but mostly in SoE, which was his first time acting ever, so understandable), maybe, but even those actors do great when they’re having a pivotal moment, scene or dialogue. it’s hard to pick faves but somehow i do have them, lol - Kenta Suga as Hinata (obviously), Kentaro as Daichi, Hiroki Ino as Suga, Kousuke Asuma as Oikawa, literally ALL THREE BOKUTOS, literally BOTH AKAASHIS, Ami Saito as Yachi, Tatsunari Kimura as Kageyama, and my top two faves, Shori Kondo and Takato Nagata as KuroKen. for obvious reasons (see: my numerous gifsets that i still have so much to add to alkdjf).
the music is WONDERFUL. the varieties across shows, teams and characters while still maintaining the main themes are just so good. it’s easier for them to be highlighted to since there isnt any singing, and so many moments are told through the music rather than the music accompanying the moment imo.
the choreography is gold af. im sad we lose HIDALI after Tokyo Battle, but im sure the rest of the shows still keep that amazing spark. but i juST. HIDALI’s choreography is iconic. i’ll talk abt it a bit more in some of the entries in the list.
OKAY, now on to the rankings.
7. View from the Top (2nd Run) so again, I DONT HATE ANY OF THESE SHOWS. the reason this is at the bottom of my list is mostly because of what it doesnt have through no fault of its own, rather than anything that it does. i personally love watching character growth and evolution, so for the most part, the first story in anything that has multiple follow-ups tend to be my least favorite part, and i come to enjoy them more as a “look how far we’ve come” thing. that being said, i do think this was such an awesome show to kick-off what has become an iconic 2.5D franchise. so much of it feels like the transition from potential to kinetic energy. a little show that could, and then did. i do think i enjoy this more with a nostalgic sort of fondness than i do with a “look how cool this thing is!” feeling, but again, that’s coz i enjoy watching things changing rather than at the start. what definitely stands out to me here is that i came to it this as only my fourth 2.5D franchise, and the ones i’d watched before this were so different in staging and execution, and that really had me hooked. also, this franchise honestly is one of the best casting in any show i’ve ever seen in my life, like wtf, i havent seen a badly cast actor at all, even for the side characters i dont really pay that much attention to otherwise. you cant help but be sucked into the bright light that is Kenta Suga, and Kousuke Asuma has to be the most Oikawa Oikawa to ever Oikawa anything Oikawa. Tatsunari, Ryotaro and Justin absolutely jumped right out of the manga and anime and onto the stage as Kags, Tsukki and Asahi. and GAWD do i love me some Kentaro and Hiroki as DaiSuga. i went in a big fan and simp of Hiroki Ino and Sugawara, so for the first couple of watches, i was heavily focused on Ino!Suga, but by the third rewatch, Ken-chan came around a corner and smacked me in the face with a 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire. when that man smiles, i just get murdered.
6. Start of the Giant i honestly had a hard time picking between this and InK for the bottom spot, not because i hate this (AGAIN, I DONT HATE ANY OF THESE SHOWS), but because of how this show feels to me. ultimately, i picked this one to win over InK because of how much character progression is shown between these two shows. stating the obvious, KAZUMA KAWAHARA. HOO BOY. and big, BIG shout-outs to Kouhei Shiota for portraying Tanaka’s emotional roller-coaster so excellently to stride alongside Ennoshita’s big journey and Kazuma’s powerhouse performance. i also wanna spotlight how much more comfortable Tatsuya Kageyama was in his second go-around as Kags, and how well Keita Tanaka and Naoki Tanaka came in as new(old)!Daichi and new!Suga. it took me a while to get to this show because i was so sad to lose Ken-chan and Hiroki after SoE, and i thought i just would not be able to love DaiSuga the same way. turns out that that’s a good thing, because they do play similar but different DaiSugas to Kentaro and Hiroki. it possibly also helped to know that KT wasn’t entirely new, and to have known of Naoki from BNHA (with Hiroki!), although i hadnt known it was him until i started the show up at last, lol. Kentaro got to play a captain who was warm and very much one of the boys, someone who was growing into the role of a captain of a team that had a very real chance of going farther than it had in a while, while KT got to play a Daichi who, fittingly, was more established as a pillar of the group (and im sure the storytelling of this show helped with that), more of that Dadchi that we know and love. Hiroki got to play a gentle but mischeivous Suga who was all about watching over and taking care of the team, watching and waiting for his turn while understanding that Kags was their best chance, while Naoki got to play a more active, more athletic Suga who was becoming more active the closer the team got to Nationals. their performances stood out not just coz they were new, but because of the theme of this story in particular, about captains and leading, so i thought it was quite a nice way to welcome them into the fold. i also of course enjoyed Johzenji and Wakunan, maybe Johzenji more than Wakunan. i saw someone say they’re a bit like Fukurodani and Nekoma lite, and i can totally see and agree with that. this show also feels a bit like Revival lite, in that it’s got a fun first half and then a more action-packed second match with an emotional gutpunch at the end. but ultimately, this is lower on my list because, through no major fault of its own, it felt like a filler show, considering what was coming after this. it felt a bit like “lets’ get on with this story so we can get on to the last hurrah that everyone is looking forward to.” of all the side teams to have been portrayed in the Engeki story, i feel like i remember johzenji and wakunan less. again, that’s not really anyone’s fault, it’s just where this show was positioned in the timeline and what it was ultimately representing. as a parting thought tho, i just wanna shout-out the new lighting scheme they did for this show, especially coming from SoE where there was a lot of darkness or back-lighting. this show is brighter lit in general than most of the shows that came before it, and idky exactly but i do appreciate that a lot.
5. Winners And Losers objectively, this is probably one of the top 3 shows in all of Haisute’s history. but it’s lower on my list because it is the most taxing to watch and rewatch, not because it’s too slow or anything like that, but because it really just is such a tiring story, and i think that’s deliberate on the part of the writers and directors. this was Karasuno’s first major loss, and it was against an opponent they thought they knew, so of course the lead-up had to be a big deal. it’s also a story that revolves quite a bit around kageyama reaching a turning point and learning a few lessons that would ultimately change him, so the story had to also execute that change happening not just in Kageyama but around him. add to that the fact that this was Tatsunari’s goodbye performance (as well as Shohei’s as Noya, but then he doesn’t really get a big emotional moment here) and it’s just heavy on the emotions all around. the comedic distraction of ShoriTaka as Tetsuko and Kenko was honestly quite welcome, lmao. quick little shout-out to Kousuke Asuma and Allen Kohatsu as IwaOi, since they got to really show off the different sides to both those characters in this, and they just are stellar in general. that bit at the end of one of their flashbacks where Iwa-chan tells Oikawa that he’s not the only one fighting, there’s six people in that team, and Oikawa breaks into laughter as Kousuke strips off the flashback jacket, and Iwa’s like “uuuhhh did i hit you too hard, or?” UGH, i love that bit, that almost creepy laugh from Kousuke and the way he comes out of it to say “suddenly im not so upset” is just SO good. im also so happy to see Hiroki get his due as Suga when he finally gets to step up to the plate - or net, as it were - and basically pinch-hit for Kags. he plays senpai!Suga so sweetly, like you really can’t help but love him coz he’s so caring. i also did not expect to be hit right in the feels with the switch back from him to Kageyama, but that bit where he says “it’s frustrating, but hinata’s expression when he’s hitting my sets is different from when it’s yours” really got me. and then when he had to leave the court, asahi and daichi send a fist bump his way, and he gives just this tiny fist bump wave that’s both tired and disappointed and sad, and it’s juST! it hurts me everytime. and before this gets long, im gonna just spotlight the last 10-15 minutes of the show, right after Karasuno loses. Kenta absolutely nails Hinata’s expression in the manga, that wide-eyed disbelief and shock. and then when Daichi tells him not to apologize because he didn’t miss, when Daichi just walks over and hugs him, good gawd. (sidebar, but i’m so glad i got to see that bit with both Ken-chan here and KT in Strongest Team.) and the way Hinata couldn’t move after thanking the audience, not even after Ukai called him back, so Daichi had to actually go get him? my heart was in PIECES. and then the fuggin dinner scene. LORD ABOVE. like, if you dont love Kenta Suga as Hinata, this is the scene that should convince you you’re wrong.
4. The Strongest Team this is right smack dab in the middle of the list because it’s probably the best staged show of all the seven that i’ve seen, but it also hurts me so much for all the obvious reasons. this is the one i’ve rewatched the least, and everytime i rewatch it, i cry as if it’s the first time im watching it. the whole show absolutely feels like a tribute to the Karasuno cast and all the growth they’ve had and contributed to Haisute over their three years with the show, and the entire thing feels so fond, if that makes any sense. everyone on the team gets a big emotional moment, and it’s so sweet to see them each paid tribute. aside from them, i gotta AGAIN shout-out kousuke as oikawa. i like aoba josai enough, i like oikawa enough as a character, but that moment when kousuke absolutely broke down in the locker room after losing to karasuno broke my heart, even more so knowing that he absolutely felt all that gratitude because he wasnt sure he’d be able to come back to the show coz of his hip injury. i think one little moment that doesnt get as talked about as it should is just after he and Iwaizumi have that short convo of always being each other’s partners even after they’ve moved on to different schools. they do their fist bump, and then Iwa walks away, but Kousuke/Oikawa is still absolutely in tears, and as Iwa walks off, he just kind of reaches out and lets out a pained “Iwa-chan!” that’s just barely audible, and that jUST. GETS ME EVERYTIME. hell, im feeling a little heartstring pull right now just thinking about it. i also wanna shout-out Shiratorizawa because Engeki made me actually care about them. like, okay - i dont hate Shiratorizawa, at all. but watching the anime, despite having an entire season be around them, i just never really latched onto them. i like Ushiwaka enough, and i just...dont like Tendou (sue me). but Engeki Haikyuu has a habit of spotlighting other teams and characters enough to make you actually think about them and care about them, and Shiratorizawa was the biggest example of that for me. their theme is awesome, it’s this big, deep, heavy thing that feels as big and broad as the players look. and i could feel their almost militaristic teamwork when the coach is on them, and it’s so good. speaking of Coach Washijo, shout-out to that flashback scene to his younger days. Kenta looked absolutely risible in the wig and giant eyebrows, but i think it was an important touch to have the person playing Hinata be the person playing younger Washijo, because their inner conflicts are basically the same, and Washijo comes to appreciate Hinata’s efforts because of it, so i thought that was a nice touch. (still dont like Tendou tho, sue me.) i gotta end this entry coz it’s getting long, so im just gonna quickly list my favorite scenes/moments:
Yamaguchi’s pinch serve, and bringing out the spear. Kairi Miura wields that spear like he’s been doing it all his life.
Tsukki’s big “GODDAMMIT I THINK I LOVE VOLLEYBALL NOW” moment. the expression on ryotaro’s face right at the end of that scene, where he’s basically saying “it’s just a club, AND YET!” uuuggggghhhh, please i love it. also, shout-out to when Hinata pointed at him and just said “...nice.” like...that always feels like only half Hinata and Tsukki, and more half-Kenta and his best friend Ryotaro, just like the “Tsukki! that one was worth a 100 points!” line that absolutely gets Ryotaro so that on the live cam he had to turn his head away before he meant to for the next bit.
that moment in the last-ish set of the match where everyone is just DESPERATE to win, so it becomes this frantic rally and volley where everyone just starts to grunt and yell louder and louder, and people are running back and forth and jumping and diving, and it’s just this cacophony of sound and blur of movement that just seems to stretch on and on, until finally Shiratorizawa just yells “SHUT UP! WE’RE STRONGER!” and knocks all of Karasuno down. WHEW. that bit is just. WHEW. i almost always forget to breathe at that point. and then the waterworks get turned on as Ukai tearfully tells them to get back up, because volleyball is a sport where you HAVE to look up. LORDDDDD.
the bit towards the end of the match, after tsukki returns from his injury, where they absolutely acted out Ushiwaka pushing Hinata and Tsukki to the floor and holding their heads down. when i first watched it, i gasped because that is straight out of the anime and manga, and then when the rest of Karasuno came in to pull Ushi off, i just turned into a giant sobbing mess.
the graduation curtain call, obviously, but in particular, the bit that will ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, destroy me is when Kenta says “this show was so tiring and tough sometimes, but when i look back, all i can remember are the good times, the best times.” GODDAMMIT IM TEARING UP BADLY RN JUST THINKING ABOUT THAT BIT.
3. Summer Of Evolution this is where the lines between the rankings get a little bit blurred, because i love these top three equally for the most part, but i had to choose a number two (i absolutely know what my number one is), and when i really think about it, SoE just gets edged out by my number two, but barely. i think what i love the most about this show is that this, more than any of the other shows, really portrays these characters as high school kids. and that’s not just because part of the story is set in the school and it’s actually showing the school sometimes, but coz they’re going through and portraying teenage experiences and emotions. most of the other shows portray the team in matches, so we’re seeing them more as volleyball players than teenagers or students, but we get to finally see that here, and it’s really refreshing. other than that, im gonna try to just list some of my highlights and favorites again coz i dont wanna keep going too long:
im so glad to finally have girls on the show, and not just in a “YAY FEMINISM! GIRL POWER! WHOO!” kind of way. kiyoko has always felt like an inextricable part of the team for me, so it was bittersweet to have such a great Karasuno cast but without a Kiyoko, so i was REALLY happy to finally get her here! and for a first time actor ever, Shizune was so awesome! she absolutely has that gentle strength that Kiyoko has, and the way she’s been written in absolutely does feel like she’s always been there. i do wish she got more to do with the third year boys, but all in all, it’s SO good to have an actual Kiyoko who absolutely looks like she came out of the manga.
im also just so DAMN happy about Yachi and her portrayal here. i think ami saito is so dang perfect, and yachi is such a fun addition that fits right in with the chaotic fun of Karasuno. one thing that i REALLY love, though, is how she gets to just act. before Haisute, my only experience of female characters and actors on a 2.5D stage is with Uraraka (and two or three other female students) in BNHA and Elizabeth in Kuroshitsuji, and those characters are your typical cutesy girls, and their movements and body language are so typically girly, you know what i mean, those softer arms and smaller movements, looser fingers, these little “Kyaa~” things, those things. but Kiyoko, Yachi and Saeko arent like that, so that’s not how they’re portrayed here. Ami as Yachi is just as loud and expressive and active as the Karasuno boys, bar actually playing in a match. also, her chemistry with Kenta is SO GOOD. i dont really ship YachiHina, i think they’re cute friends, but BOY DID THESE TWO MAKE ME RETHINK THAT. ami’s Yachi with Kenta’s Hinata made me think “YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THESE TWO GO ON A CHAPERONED DATE.” they’re adorable. a particular fave of mine is when hinata climbs a tree to help a baby bird back into its nest and he asks Yachi if she wants to climb up too, and also after Yachi finishes making the Hinata poster, she jumps onto the back of Hinata’s bike and they ride off-stage together. PLEASE IT’S SO CUTE.
also: SAEKO NEE-SAN PLEASE STEP ON ME.
OH HI FUKURODANI. they are such good chaos boys, i love them. i dont have much to say about them here just yet, but WOW im so glad to have them onstage at last.  
NEKOMA IS BACK THANK GAWD I LOVE NEKOMA. of all the teams portrayed, i think nekoma is the one that feels the most connected together (AHA!). like, even when they have a new character and/or cast member, the new ones never really stand out as new, they feel like they’ve always been there. this play really showcases the teams at their most casual so we dont get to see as much of their excellent teamwork and connection as we do in past and future shows, but you really get a sense of their family dynamic and just GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, and honestly dont get me started on ShoriTaka, i will literally never stop
shout-out to Tatsuya Kageyama, he had big shoes to fill not just in terms of character but also as an actor, since this is his first show ever. much like with KT and Naoki as DaiSuga, it does feel like he plays a similar enough Kageyama without just mimicing Tacchu. this is also the right Kags arc to introduce a new Kageyama actor with as well, since there’s a big change after that loss to Aoba Josai and Oikawa, so i think the writing of the show also absolutely helped Kage-chan ease into his role, and helped the audience ease into this new Kageyama. overall, i think he did an awesome job, and we’re really fortunate to have had two awesome Kageyamas before gen 1/1.5 changed to gen 2.
i also just noticed/realized that the backstage video for SoE starts with the introduction of Kage-chan and Fucchi as new cast members, and ends with the farewell to Ken-chan and Hiroki as graduating members, and i know that’s just natural coz the first time the Karasuno cast met the two new members was at the photoshoot for visuals, but also what a nice little circle of life there.
COMING INTO THE HOMESTRETCH NOW, if you’ve made it this far, thank you SO MUCH, im sorry, i really just have a tendency to ramble, and like i said, i dont really have anyone or an opportunity to talk this deep about these shows to, so thanks so much for your time.
2. Karasuno, Revival! WHEW okay, so idk if this is Unpopular Opinion or controversial coz objectively it is the best show so far, and i’ve put it only at number 2. BUT LISTEN: before i saw Tokyo Battle, this was absolutely my number 1 favorite. the Dateko match is so good and so fun to watch, and honestly, that rap battle gives me so much life im almost immortal now. i LOVE that they also got to show ikejiri (THANK YOU KENTA SUGA) and ken-chan as daichi got his moments because of it, and it gave us “katou tou shinakya, katenai!” as an iconic quote and theme for the show, we got a fantastic moment for Asahi that was paid off from the previous show, also honestly “otchita kyougo, tobenai garasu” is just gonna be stuck in your head forever for a while. we also got Kousuke and Allen’s excellent IwaOi back, bringing with them their “Iwa-chan, are you my mom” dynamic (and gawd the cackle i let out when Iwa yeets a volleyball at Oikawa, or that turn and yell that makes Oikawa yelp as he exits off stage lkasdjf), which is always a plus. but! BUT!! best thING FOR ME???? NEKOMA, BABY!! like im sorry, im biased, but i fuggin LOVE nekoma, kuroo is my favorite character in the entire series, and Haisute really gave them a fantastic story and dynamic, because again, there’s so much you can do on stage that you sometimes cant do in anime or manga, so they were really able to highlight Nekoma’s famous teamwork, especially when centered around Kenma. more on that later, but like. it was just such a JOY to watch Karasuno, still kind of scattered puzzle pieces at this point trying to figure out how to best go together to create one big picture, go up against the smooth teamwork of Nekoma, and learn and grow from it. also they honestly have the best team theme music and team dance, fite me. also thank you Haisute for making KuroDai so painfully real lakdsfj
1. Tokyo Battle okay okaY OKAY OKAY OKAY. i think there are some people who actually like this the least coz it’s just too different from the rest of the shows that came before it - no Karasuno, less projections, different music style, aesthetically different stage, etc. B U T. aside from me just being biased because Nekoma are my favorite team, i actually think many of those differences are what makes this show my favorite one. first of all, the music is LIT AF. the themes for each team are so distinct, they really help play up the animal motifs that are played up the most in this show than in any of the others. secondly, THAT CHOREOGRAPHY THO. good gawd. HIDALI said “it’s our last Haisute, let’s go out with a bang” and they really fuggin did. Fukurodani absolutely is TOKYO PARTY TIME, they got to really play up their party birds schtick and i love it. Nohebi i cannot HELP but love because i love snakes, but also, with Nohebi’s cast, you can tell the choreographers were so happy to finally have an actual technical dancer. they had yuu fukuzawa doing the most and then some in playing up the snake theme, and it’s literally so hypnotic to watch his pops, locks and isolations. he’s also just such an AWESOME daisho, and it helps that nohebi are written to be cunning and sneaky. i also love that he and Kuroo seem to actually have a lot of untold history, and i kind of wish we could get a bit more elaboration on that, coz Yuu’s and Shori’s chemistry as frenemy team captains is SO GOOD. and then of course. NEKOMA, BABY!! so okay. kenma absolutely should be the lead of this show, and he is, BUT he’s also, to a certain extent, inextricable from Kuroo and the rest of the team, so that you dont always get that feeling of Kenma being in the spotlight the same way Hinata is (for understandable reasons since Nekoma arent even really the main characters of the story as a whole), and i think that’s important because, again, Nekoma is all about that teamwork and connection. like, Kenma is the lead because he thinks for Nekoma, and Nekoma acts accordingly, instead of how it is usually where the story is showing Hinata’s perspective alone. it also feels like that in terms of the actors. like, technically Takato is zachou, and he is, but also several times in the curtain call speeches, the cast members refer to or mention both Takato and Shori together. even Takato says that when he had spoken to Kenta about how nervous he was about taking up the zachou mantle from him, Kenta had said “if it’s you and shori, you’ll be fine.” they are a unit, and it really comes across in their portrayals of Kuroo and Kenma as well, and even if you love nothing else about this show, you literally cannot help but love that about them. i think the show does a great job revolving the Nekoma team dynamic around that too without making it the ONLY thing that keeps Nekoma together. the star of the show is absolutely the theme of “connection” (more than the other theme of promises), and if you’ve seen the show and you dont cry at the “Tsunage” section as Nekoma wins the match against Nohebi, then are you really watching the show lmao.
OKAY OKAY I’VE REALLY RAMBLED ON, and if you made it all the way here, THANK YOU AND IM SORRY. but also, there’s still a lot of things i wanna talk about that i didnt talk about here coz im mostly a scatterbrain and live half my life radiating BDE - Bokuto Dumbass Energy. so if you’re also ridiculously obsessed with these shows and wanna talk about it, my inbox is open. someone come hyperfixate with me while i make SO MANY MORE GIFSETS OHMYGOD ALL THE GIFSETS geezas crust when i get to Tokyo Battle i will be insufferable.
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the-lost-media-blog · 3 years
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Saki Sanobashi/Go for a Punch (Warning: Mentions of violence and suicide)
Alright, the first post for my new blog. Teach, if you’re reading this than hi :). Okay, lets get started!
Go For A Punch (also known as Saki Sanobashi) is a supposed lost anime that is speculated to have been made in either the 80′s or early 90′s that only have a sub available.
The first mention of Saki is on a 4-Chan comment on a post in 2015 asking about what was the most messed up thing found on the Deep Web. The comment in question said that they (the one who told the internet about this and will be called OP) they found the Deep Web. OP went on to describe how, in 2011 they found a subbed anime OVA called, at least on the site, ‘Go For A Punch’. In it, they described what it was about, so here’s the brief description:
Nine girls are trapped inside of a bathroom with no way out, they have debates over whether or not they’re going to get out. After days of starving, and being naked for some reason (honestly idk either), all of them commit suicide by either bashing their heads in against the floor/clawing at their throats, with one girl with a bright -almost white- hime cut being drowned by another girl in the sink because she couldn’t do it herself. ( below is a reference image of the hair cut.)
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The OP mentions that it was 80′s-ish in quality, most girls had short bushy brown hair (there was also the hime cut girl who might have white hair, there’s a red-head and apparently a blonde?), the eyes were small and far apart, strange camera angels, a scream that sounded like the scream Dies Irae from Stanly Kubrick’s The Shinning, the player on the site is similar to the modern Bing Player, and that there really wasn’t any music. People questioned OP as the whole thing sounded interesting, and defiantly stood out from the troll and basic ‘I saw real gore’ posts. One of these comments is where the name Saki Sanobashi came from.
The search went on for 5 years as of when I’m writing this, blowing up after YouTuber Whang posted a video on November 21, 2019 as apart of his ‘Tales From The Internet’ series, which brought more attention to it as part one has 779k views at the current time of writing.
One thing I would like to note is that many people have claimed to have seen Saki, some going into details that OP didn’t list, but sadly the majority of those posts have been proven false, with one admitting that their lie was only made to show how gullible people are, and will believe that anything’s Saki. 
Many people were hoping to find this lost anime, one person made a series where they go over manga/anime to see if it’s Saki (the series is on YouTube with a least 50 parts). There has been many false leads, one of which includes the profile pic I’m using claiming the girl was from Saki, but it’s not. Another reason for why the search got crazy was because of all the gore filled anime from back then. Like seriously, there’s a lot there some are more known than others. Also, side note, Saki Sanobashi/Go For A Punch has it’s own TV Tropes page, which is how you know it got big. 
But on December 22, 2019 someone claiming to be OP made a post on one of the many sub-reddits. 
They said that they made it all up for laughs since they thought the creator of the original 4-Chan thread was an idiot for expecting a serious answer, and OP’s coming forward since they feel bad for how crazy this all had gotten. Their proof was screen shots of the hime girl (which is above and why I chose it) and a book spine which was OP’s pic for the very first post on 4-chan, both screenshots dated for 2015, as well as the Bing player, and the Dies Irae scream.
Now, many people, like myself, are assuming that this OP might not be the real OP. One of the main reasons being why would they still hold onto those specific images, for nearly 4 years at that point, if it was for a troll post. This OP said it’s because they don’t delete downloaded pics, which sound off to me. I will delete pics on my phone if I don’t see a reason to keep it (example: I’ll keep a pic of the Halloween Timeline so I can keep track of which films are on which timeline, but delete a screenshot from a BuzzFeed quiz). But, never the less, some people gave up on the search, leading one of the sub-reddits to become nothing but memes, and the other ones had to pick up the slack. 
One group on the sub-reddit is claiming to be making the OVA themselves under the title Team Saki, the trailer’s on YouTube so I suggest that you look it up yourself. I’ve also heard of a possible Visual Novel being made of Saki on one of the sub-reddits. Also, there’s tons of fanart of Saki out there, so if you wanna see how some see it then go ahead search if you want to, there’s a whole sub-reddit dedicated just to artwork. On TikTok, there’s plenty of lovely cosplays as well.
Another thing I feel like mentioning is that there’s a music video made by a J-Pop (Japanese Pop) group, that some people claim is inspired by Saki. I kind of see that, I mean, the art shown at the start looks 80′s-ish, and there are some basic similarities. But, that being said, I’m betting it’s all a coincidence, and we have no clue what the Lost Media scene is like in Japan as Lost Media is different in every country (as the Lost Media ice-burg, made in Spanish, has shown). I’ve Googled if it was, and I’ve seen some sites claim that, but I’m sticking with it’s a coincidence until there’s an official claim from the band themselves to confirm the inspiration so I’m not going by word of mouth. 
Here’s the music video if you wanna check it out and there’s also (fake) blood as well as a suicide scene in it, so just to let you know so you’re not caught off guard when it happens. They stay dressed though, with only the pantyhose getting cut. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kBK33DvIoM
So as of when I’m writing, all we have is the mentioned teaser, concept art on the sub-reddit for both the animation and visual novel, an odd half live-action half drawn recreation clip made October 30, 2019. As well as just loads of dead ends. Some people hope that if we find it, or at the very least Team Saki turns out good or it leads to the real deal comes out because of something like a copyright claim or something.
I personally believe that it could exist some where out there, but maybe under a different name and somewhat buried on the internet. I meant if something that was banned such as Shoujo Tsukubki can find it’s way onto YouTube (aka the Surface Web/ Clear net) then it’s honestly possible it’s out there.
Either that or I just wasted your time with reading about something that might not even exist, so here have a kitty!
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GO FOR A PUNCH/SAKI’S CURRENT STATUS:  Existence unconfirmed, but fan projects are being made.
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