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popculturebuffet · 9 months

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review and Analysis: This Films What Makes Me Feel Alright

Hello all you happy turtles! It's time to grab some pizza and party sized cool ranch doritos and pull your old high school sketchbooks out of some ancient backback in your closet, it's time to talk TMNT: Mutant Mayhem. As a massive TMNT nerd who was beyond hyped for this film coming from the powerhouses of both Point Grey Pictures and one jeff rowe, how did the film stack up? How did it spin kick on it's own? And why did they think Bebop nipple piercings were a good idea? All this and more under the cut, with FULL SPOILERS so if you haven't seen the film, you've been warned.

A New Coat of Ooze: Mutant Mayhem's story of how it came to be is oddly familiar: a massive movie company who has an iconic IP has no idea how to use said IP on it's own, and taps creators who have had some recent noticable and well loved succeses to make them a hit.

If that sounds familiar.. it really should as it was sony's creative desperation to get something spider-man centric only they would get profit from out that lead to Into the Spider verse and i'ts sequel. So it's funny and endearing to me that a film that wouldn't of gotten away with it's utterly unique and grungy art style without spider-verse.. happened for pretty much the exact same reasons.

Like with spidey, Paramount.. really didn't know what to do with TMNT for a while. And it's weird because when they first aquired the heroes in a halfshell from mirage, they had a pretty solid plan: the 2012 show, while messy as it went on, started out really promising and was a huge hit. The IDW comics prior to it were a massive hit for the company and are STILL around today, having outlasted other long term idw liscenses like transformers and having kept a consistent continuity for a decade while also leaving room for crossovers with ghostbusters, the mighty morphin power rangers, the goddamn batman and now street fighter.

So what went wrong? Simple.. they tried WAY too hard to mimic the transformers formula with their theatrical film, Ninja Turtles, not only not getting that audiences were tired of "Micheal Bay makes a weirdly sexual comedy about your childhood and it may have robots", but what really made the franchise work. The sequel from what i hear is slightly better but it just wasn't enoguh. Not helping is they quickly lost their shit on the tv front, as after the 2012 series concluded, they launched the creative, hilarious, and gorgeous Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.. which proceded to last only two seasons because it wasn't an instant hit, aka the same issue most nick shows fell into, not helped by the fact that Nick also seemed to pick up Cartoon Network's bad habit of hating action shows. We DID at least get a really good Rise film that gave the series a nice epilogue, but it's still sad it sputtered out so fast.

So Paramount turned to something they really weren't using.. their film animatoin department.

Paramount Pictures Animation is neat to look into as it had a steep rise.. then fell right off a cliff. It was a bit spottier at first, producing two of the charlie brown films, Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (And don't come back) and my beloved Race for Your Life Charlie Brown... mostly for this theme song.. okay ENTIRELY for the theme song.

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And scattered experiments like Cool World, which was so good Ralph Bakshi punched a man over what they'd done to his idea, Bebe's Kids, and Beavis and Butthead Do America.

It wasn't till the late 90's and the nick boom they really started seeing success with the rugrats movies, jimmy neutron, spongebob and even the failures like Hey Arnold and Wild Thronberries were still neat. And yes i'd like to talk about any and all of these films at some point, they made up my childhood etc etc.

Eventually they got a cushy partneriship with dreamworks, still releasing the ocasional original effort like Rango, Barnyard and TinTin (The last of which I WILL be covering next august, I simply didnt' have room in pirate month this year. Once dreamworks left.. it seemed like Paramount genuinely had no clue what to do with the animation divsion. We had things like Sherlock Gnomes or Wonder Park, and the ocasoinal spongebob movies but it's clear that with Nick constantly cutting itself off at the knees they had no idea what to do. The closest they got was the turdtastic loud house movie and the totally awesome Rise of the TMNT films on netflix, but they just had no idea what they were doing. I mean it's telling that their trying to get extra paw patrol tickets by promiting a double feature with saw X. I.. I wish that was just some stupid joke I made as it's comedy gold. Eventually they came across an idea: Stay the course in focusiong on ips they own.. but bring in someone who knows what their doing to create something truly jawdropping.

So for Mayhem Parmount brought in two proven successes. The first were producers Point Grey Pictures, helmed by friends, writing partners and permenant teenagers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Rogen has made quite the name for himself as a producer. While Point Grey started as mainly a way for Rogen to produce comedies starring himself and a pre-outing as a sex monster james franco, over time Rogen has proven to be REALLY good at making adaptations, with point grey having had a hand in both the Boys, which I haven't seen but seems to be a MASSIVE improvment over the original comics , which isn't hard but it's still nice they tried, and Invincible, one of the best superhero shows PERIOD and a fantastic adaptation that changes what needed it, moves around pieces and ultimatley creates something really special. So tapping him to adapt a big property like this was a no brainer. He even had animation experince thanks to Sony Pictures Sauage party and while this was Point Grey's first family production, it's clear it wasn't too hard for Rogen to adapt. As for their director they picked a hell of one: Jeff Rowe. For those not familar with him Rowe helmed the Mitchells vs the Machines, sony's first post spider-verse success and the film that helped codify the 2d on 3d style that spider-verse made popular and peanuts pioneered. And it was clearly just ont hes trength of word of mouth alone as Rowe went right from machines to mayhem and only got better. From interviews, the two worked really well together: Rogen was hands on but didn't make the mistakes lord did of being way TOO hands on, simply pitching neat ideas, adding to the film and clearly being heavily involved, while still letting Rowe steer the ship. Rowe in turn learned to have a good work life ballance and give his employees one, preventing the kind of nightmarish working conditions present on other flims such as, sadly, Across the Spider-Verse.

For the direction of the film Rowe was a fan of the franchise as a kid, specifically the toys. He recalled a really sweet story about he and his dad spent a saturday trying to find Tokka and Rahzar and really loved the toys designs and uniquely grungy astetic. As such Rowe really didn't lean into or heavily research the rest of the franchise. Which set off my alarm bells when I read it in a review close to release: after all a LOT of bad adaptations come out of the person adapting it not giving one iota of a shit about the source material. Eventually though I realized I was .. over panicking. What jeff meant was more "I don't want to be overly reverent to the material and see what we can do on our own with the basic concept' rather than "THE TURTLES ARE GOD YOU FOOLS GODS. GODS I SAY!". There are still little nods in there and bits taken from other series; There's a mention of the turtles taking in a knicks game (something that happened in out of the shadows), April's design borrows heavily from her design from Rise while still being unique, Donnie has glasses like the bay movies, there apparently was a miyamoto usagi sticker on a notebook (thanks tv tropes for noticing), and there's a TON of refrences to the 87 continuity as it's clearly the one rowe knew best. And while I do get a LITTLE tired of that being the one continuity most creators seem to lean on the most, I don't hate it and plan to binge the whole giant thing soon I just feel there's a LOT more turtles to pull from, paticuarlly the idw comics, the nods are neat stuff like them having their belts form that series, the various obscure mutants. The Ninja Rap even shows up. Rowe and Rogen clearly love them some turtles.. they just wanted to do something new with it and I completely love and respect that. The biggest swing and the one that's paid off the most was leaning on the teenage aspect. Rowe and Rogan were baffled that no other version of the franchise had done the obvious: Have actual teens voice the turtles. There are reasons for that: For the various tv shows it's simply easier to know the va's wont' age out of the roll, and to the 2012 and rise series credits, they both still tried to make the turtles feel younger and had va's that still made them sound sorta like teens, paticuarlly rise... but it's not at all a bad concept and i'm shocked it took this long for someone to try it.

Another aspect was having the boys all record in one booth. Rogen had the idea.. but Rowe had to explain that it'd be a sound mixing nightmare.. but eventually agreed to it when they tested it out and he saw how much having the four actors playing the turtles riffed off each other and just how much material they got out of the boys adlibs. It adds a natural feeling to the boys conversations: it feels like four teens riffing who just happen to be turtles. It was indeed an audio nightmare.. but the nightmare was worth it and Rowe was greatful and apologetic to his sound crew.

The final bit was simply taking from teen movies, the film even outright has the boys watch Feris Buller's Day Off, which gives me one of my faviorite lines in the film, courtesy of Raph: "Being in high school means you can hyjack a parade whenever you want. "

There's more to get into as we go but with the film opening decently and paramount being so confident in the film pre-release they announced a two season tv show and a sequel, the future looks bright for the green machines. So now we've seen how the pizza gets made let's see how it came out

Perfectly Sketchy: Rogen and Rowe's "Teenage Energy" philosphy went into the design. Rowe wanted to find a unique look for the film, but it was a bit of a puzzler at first: There's SO many incarnations of the tmnt, which one do you pick for this? Do you go with the mirage comics, the 87 cartoon? 2003? the next mutation if you huffed some paint? In the end Rowe decided

Instead he made a brilliant decision: if the film was going to feel teenagery, then why not have it look like the sketches teenagers make in their notebooks? It's an idea that just oozes brilliance and still fits the franchises history like a razor decked claw glove. Part of what made the early comics stand out was it's sketchy, frank miller-esque style, and the toys stood out for largely echoing that as much as you could in three dimensions at the time. So it still fit.. but did something entirley new with it. As as a result the film has a look that simply nothing else has: porportions on most things are off, the backgrounds arne't hugely detailed , did you when you were a teen?, but still pop gloriously, and the characters all have SOMETHING that would be off model anywhere else. One of the thugs in the turtles first act of vigilnate justice, for instanc,e has a weirdly crooked head with indents. It's a look that's perfectly stylitic, fits the series history, and it's a kind of weird that perfectly complintes a series that was already having our heroes fight space dinosaurs by the third issue. I especially love how the shurikens are not even yet still throw perfectly and Mikey's hey arnold head. It's a look that pops with creativity and the crew really took to playing with. It's a style that will, much like spider-verse lead to this, undoubtly lead to more unique swings and I cannot wait to see what people come up with as a result

Protecting a World that Hates and Fears Them

The film's core comes from a rather genius decision to simply pick apart a key part of the franchise... the fact Splinter keeps the boys isolated from humanity for most of their lives and encourages them to stay hidden. Now credit where it's due some continuties justify it well enough: sometimes splinters hiding from shredder, or already had a sweet rent free sewer apartment he set up for no reason, trying to find his lost son and complete his family while avoiding a mutated alley cat or simply was waiting till the boys could defend themselves. They often have a lot of enemies... but even that shouldn't mean they can't get an education or have friends. April and Casey stick by them no matter what. They should be able to at least try for a normal life or the idea of them WANTING more than hidnig all the time should really come up more. The only ones that have really tapped into this are the IDW continuity which is just now having the boys integrate post armageddong game, out of the shadows which from what i've read has a throughly intresting subplot about the boys wanting to become human and leos' resistance to the idea (which also makes him come off as a bit of a jackass honestly as it's not his choice and "We're turtles end of story" is not an excuse). We've had the turtles say move into an apartment but this is the first to just flat out ask: why CANT the boys at least try to live with humanity instead of under them? And if so why did splinter keep them apart?

It's part of what really grounds the boys in this incarnation and makes them feel so damn real. The other of course was the decision to have actual teens play them and riff off each other. We get them making unteiotnally douchey digs at each other, such as the other three mocking Leo attempting a batman voice, casually talk about how they'd like to meet drake or have brunch with tom brady, which leo no you can do better man, or do some goofy shit while april marvels at their stupidity.. and then double down when told it might make people like them less. By making the biggest attempt so far to make the turtles FEEL like teens instead of young adults, an evolution the franchise has been undergoing since the 2012 cartoon and honestly reaches it's apex here, it makes us feel for them that much more; These are just kids who simply want to be loved and accepted, like any teenager. That awkwardness, wanting to fit in, wanting to simply belong.. it's one of the most painful parts of a teen and transplanting that to the tutles wa sa brilliant move. One of the earliest scenes is what sells this the most: the boys going to see Ferris Buller's Day off.. and just wondering what it'd be like to be normal. That lost shot of them sadly returning to the sewer... looking on screen at something they only wish they could have... it's so heartbreakingly beautiful.

The reasons WHY Splitner restricts their time in the outside world and refers to humans as "the demon scum of the earth. They lust to destroy that which is diffrent than them"

Giving Splinter a deep fear of humans is a brilliant move. It's something that really coudln't be done in most incarnations as he's been the pet of a martial arts master who treated him well, said martial arts master living in a sweet sewer apartment after being clumsily blamed for murder, got reincarnated as a rat after dying in ancient japan, a martial arts master who turned his back on his heritage because his clan let his family die, became a movie star, fucked a spider lady, had said spider lady put him in gladatorial games, then got depressed after becoming a rat but gladly adopted his sons. Here they strip that away and we're left with a splinter who was just a rat who was yelled at by other animals, shooed by humans just for trying to survivie and whose only friend was a cockroach.. who he ended up eating after humanity killed the poor guy. Finding the boys also abandoned in the sewers and covered in ooze, as oozual, not only made him into a rat man.. but also gave him the one thing he never had: a family. We also get a REALLY adorable montage set to de la soul's eye know that makes me REALLY glad the copy right hurdles around them are gone so we don't have another spider-man no way home situation because the song both slaps and has a nice soothing tone that really fits. We'll get more into the music on i'ts own later, I just really love this montage.

It also makes what follows..

We see that Splinter GENUINELY tried to go out into the world.. and the result was humanity throwing things at him despite carrying 4 small children and said children nearly being hit by a car. It's a really unsettling sequence. While yeah everyone going "rat man" and throwing things is a bit on the nose... given how a LOT of humanity acts to LBGTIQ+ persons, People of color, diffrent religions I could go on but i'm depressed enough as is, it's not really that much of a stretch that they'd throw things at a rat just trying to show his sons the world. It reminds me a LOT of the x-men and it's honestly weird to me that the othe rbiggest mutant franchise int he world HADN'T taken a page from them sooner.

It gives the film nuance: Splinter IS objectively prejudiced, leo even says so directly, but you can see how those prejudices formed and why he's so terrified for his own kids. He's worried a world that hates and fears them will also hate and milk them.. a runner that while awkwardly phrased, I don't think Seth or Jeff have heard of the term milking before, is hilarious, especially the usual refrain of "we don't even have nipples. " He just wants them safe and happy and you can tell he really does love them. He taught them the martial arts to protect them.. and the how is also really clever and a really fun idae: instead of "I learned it from a book" Or "I happened to be owned by a ninja master" or "I was reincarnated" we instead get him teaching them.. via martial arts films, instuctional videos, and the ocasional youtube thing. I love it because it honestly makes way more sense than it should as shown in the animation: splinter watched the films, learned the movements himself and then taught the boys. It's also a nice bit of meta text as Jackie Chan himself is a practicing martial artist who makes martial arts films and did his own stunts. One of his films is apparently even in the montage. It's one of my faaviorite takes of the film.

One of my faviorite scenes is Splinter's biggest pet the dog moment: the pizzza party. Splinter brings in a bunch of pizza hut pizzas

It's neat because it both clearly misses the point, Splinter really dosen't seem to get that simply bringing down a bunch of pizzas to have a human style prom and having kelvin captain kirk cutout won't fill the void inside. I mean I could think of a lot of uses for a chris pine cutout, i'm not saying it's a bad gift and it's sweet he's trying SO HARD to get his boys to open up and Jackie Chan just nails the dad energy on this one. It's just clear that they don't want to stay there there whole lives as safe as that is.

What brings it to it's head is one of the films more brilliant decisions. Originally, while I haven't found many specifics the film had other antagonists: Baxter Stockman was originally the boys teacher (they went to school during the course of this film in this draft) and became the fly again, while Shredder was TCRI"s heavy in earlier drafts. Both were nixed, the former likely due to abandoing the school plot and the latter for the entirely on the mark decision that it was just too much. Shredder.. is THE arch enemy to the turtles. The one constant in every universe. So it makes way more sense to save him for a sequel and let someone else take the reigns. As Rowe has teased Shredder's going to be a bit of a wakeup call: just as the boys think they have it figured out .. in comes shredder to kick their asses. Which really has happened A LOT across the franchise, with it being a regular tradition that the shredder beats the shit out of the turtles the first time they fight. Even in IDW where they do rally and turn the fight on it's head.. he still easily handles them all one on one before they rally as a team. It makes sense to save their ultimate test for a sequel while still giving them one hell of a trial by fire

Instead we got Superfly, who better fit into the fantastic racisim narritive. If the boys want to get love and acceptance by fighting for a world that hates and fears them x-men style.. it only makes sense they have a magneto on that other end.

Like Magneto Superfly has a tragic backstory behind his hatred of mankind.. Superfly was the creation of Baxter Stockman and what they did with Baxter both completely floored me.. and drove me to tears. Instead of what he is normally, either a put upon target coerced into villany who strikes back at both the turtles and those who wronged him, or a narcsitic monster who will gladly do whatever he wants and kill anyone in his way, here... Baxter is just a deeply lonely old man who just wants a family. At worst he steals from TCRI.. but given we see their a horrifying company who wants the mutants as weapons and will gladly torture teenagers for a buck, it's not hard to side with him. It's really nice ot see a heroic baxter.. and sad to see him go so quickly.

It puts Superfly's hatred in perspective: like splinter he saw just what huamanity does and how his kind is treated and grew up having to raise his younger siblings. Like Splinter he seems to really love them. And like splinter his attempt to take his siblings topside.. went horribly wrong with them being chased by an angry mob for just..c oming to a snack bar. But it's right after that we get the clear diffrence: Splinter just ran in fear and while he trained the boys ot protect themselves, he just wants a line between himself and humanity. Superfly.. wants them all to pay. He wants to mutate the world that killed his dad and drove him and his siblings into hiding. The only way they can be accepted.. is if humanity is mostly gone and what's left are enslaved.

IT's that sadistic streak that ultimately defines him as a villian: the turtles just want to be accepted, splinter just wants to be loved, the rest of the mutant "cousins" just want a home and have been indocrinated and browbeaten into thinking there isn't another way. Superfly.. wants things his way: he wants blood, he wants revenge and if anyone stands in his way no matter their age or being his family he will kill them. It's that anger inside that makes him a true monster.

And that extends to his own family. Superfly's an abusive parent to Splinters flawed but loving one: The rest of the mutants turn stone quiet when he subtly/notsubtly threatens the turtles if they happen to disagree, and during the chase not only are they all desperate to get the thing back but Wingnut in paticular gets the most telling line

Wingnut: Superfly's almost here and he's not going to be as nice about this! Leo: You're not being nice! Wingnut: He'll be less nice!!

While the other mutants SEEM jazzed during the bowling alley scene, it's very clear later none of them were that enthused about the idea. Both sets are afraid to speak to their parental figure.. but the diffrence is clear in motion: the boys hide from splinter because they know he'll say no, it's a standard teenage thing and as seen with the pizza party when Splinter finds the various knick knacks they've picked up on their heroic journey, his response is to try to bring the surface to the sewer. It's awkward as hell and dosen't remotely work.. but it's still a sweet gesture and you still feel bad for him when the boys quickly leave to finish their half assed plan. Splinter ultimately wants what's best for his kids and even if he's not always right in carrying that out, I never doubted he actually loved his children.

This all brillantly comes to a head towards the end: While Splinter plans to just.. isolate the turtles after their nearly milked, the one time he seems GENUINELY angry the whole film, he still wants to save April, the one good human, who warned him the boys were in danger in the first place.

This leads to a touching bit in itself: the boys COULD fight the other mutants, their trying to do a genocide after all.. but instead the boys.. just talk them down. I mean i'm used to this kinda thing by now, most animation these days is about forgivness, but it still works: earlier when meeting each other the turtles gladly bonded with their cousins, who i'll talk about in more detail later: Mondo and Mikey were both chill, raph finally found some people who liked to hit stuff, presumibly while blasting Limp Bisikit, it was really sweet. THeir relutance to stop them added a nice dimension to things: they UNDOUBTLY want to stop superfly's plan.. but they genuinely like their cousins and see them as good people in a bad situation. Likewise the cousins are utterly destraught at the fight afterwords and miss the turtles. These are simply at the end of the day teens 20 somethings and whatever scumbug is who just wanted to not be chased iwth torches.

So it's utterly heartwarming when the turtles and splinter simply offer their home. They may not have humanity.. but they'd have each other. It's also YET ANOTHER idea that seems obvious in retrospect but most turtle series never really thought of: why.. can't other mutants stay with them? They usually order suplies and stuff descretley anyway or in this case take them out of nescsity, if they can afford pizza for 5 people reguarly, why NOT let other smove in. I mean I get it meta wise, you dont' want to overcrowd things. But it's a nice thought i'm glad gets realized: that the boys aren't alone and now have a whole new family to lean on.

And of course Superfly can't take that. To him there's only one way to go: never stop making them pay. I'll also say I like just how poweful superfly is: he's got strength inunerablity, and super smarts, which I thought was a nice touch. I assumed he woudln't have baxter's intellegence and I'm glad to be wrong. He's only stopped and only then breifly by sheer numbers.

What follows is a LITTLE on the nose, with superfly just.... saying outight he and splinter aren't so diffrent, down to both having said "You'll be safe if you just LISTEN TO ME".

That part.. dosen't quite work for me. What does work is the animation on splinter during the struggle between everyone else and superfly.. the dawning realization of what he is as Superfly states the obvious and his determination as soon as Superfly says "the diffrence is i'm not a punk". Superfly just wants to get revenge on a world that hates and fears him.. Splinter just wants his sons to be happy. And he finally realizes that even if there's a lot of risk involved, they DESERVE to live out there with everyone else. There is something better than hiding or murder.

I also like how Superfly.. drops the pretense: once his plans done he just goes on a massive kaiju attack: I also like how fucking horrific his form is: the whale part's a bit goofy at first.. but then you see how much STRENGTH that gives him as he destroys it. Even if we get the ocasional joke (I didn't need that horse is gold), for the finale Superfly is just a nightmarish, imposing threat that threatnes to run our heroes lives and also maybe end them. The glee he takes in crushing the boys alive... it's fucking terrifying.

I also love the bit of the boys panning... seeing all the destruction.. and seeing the media blame them too. Their trying to HELP people.. and get blamed. I'd suggest moving to krakoa but a lo tof shit has went down and living with one old man full of fear and regret is what started this whole caper. And the boys.. fight on anyway because it's the right thing to do. Despite all the hate... someone has to stop superfly. And in doing so.. April makes sure they get the glory and praise they deserve anyway.

Finally I love splinter's turnaround right before the final fight... where he admits he was wrong.. but hasn't FULLY turned around on humans. He's simply realized he can't let his baggage with humanity weigh down his sons. And it pays off brilliantly during the time square fight, as when Splinter is downed.. someone helps him up. And what I love is that while it COULD just be someone who saw April's newscast clearing the turtles and other mutants.. it's left ambgious. As far as we know it was just a nice guy and gal helping an old man up regardless of if he was a giant rat or not. It dosen't paper over all the films flaws with the rat man mob scene but it does help quite a bit.

The film brillantly tackles prejudice and I like how unlike most films.. there's no easy answers. Our boys have to do something big and loud to get accepted and it's not guaranteed to shield them, as seen with the stingers. THey find friends , activites and get what they want.. but it's likely not the end.. but that's okay. The important thing is for the first time the turtles are out of the shadows and into the sun. And it suits them. Seriously this last twist was brilliant and i'm shocked it took a tmnt this long to just.. let them be public since 87, and since media has evolved, it means when we get to the series we can actually explore what that means: how will they adapt? will everyone accept them? will april realize Leo is into her and it wasn't just a friend thing? there's a lot of questions I can't wait to be answered.

Change is Constant

I didn't have a good segway so.. CHARACTERS! MY WHEELHOUSE. LET'S GO.

Starting with the boys, their more of a package deal here. They still have unique deisgns, takes on the cores of their personalities, all you'd expect from a good tmnt adaptation.

What changes it up a bit is the recording together: while most sets of turtles have great chemistry, this one.. really feels like their brothers thanks to the shared recording: they talk over one another, dunk on each other and goof around. This has always been a thing, and part of the franchises charm, but how they do it here feels more real, helped by the fact they clearly took some adlibs in. Both the BTS bit where they try to comfort Donnie only to both mangle the lyrics and writhe in pain and the bit with the new york accents both sound like the boys just started riffing on the prompt given, didn't stop and they rolled with it because it was comedy gold. It also means a LOT more pop culture refrences.. but it works. It dosen't feel like too much

Admitely I don't know how current the refrences are to ACTUAL teens, but they work well enough and don't feel like their horribly date the film. Plus it'd be.. weird to have a turtles work that didn't reflect it's era in some way, as all 4 cartoons and most films and comics reflect their time either in writing or in the general vibe.

The downside to this is the turtles indvidual personalities, while present.. get kinda underplayed. Leo and Raph make it out fine enough: After the radience that was Rise Leo and ben schwartz being at his peak slacker doofus (while also still being badass), we're back to Leo being Teachers Pet. But thankfully like the 2012 film they play with it: like that Leo his brother's don't really respect him as a leader, but rather than the usual raph snarling at him like wolverine, here it's more just their his brothers, they woudln't respect him anyway and benig their dad's mouthpiece just makes them ignore him harder. He's the dutiful son but he's simply outnumbered. Raph dosen't get a ton of spotlight, but gets enough to be a fun little murder baby and probably my faviorite of the 4. Instead of the usual brooding loner, sometimes ultra violent sometimes just sassy, often both, here he's more an obnoxious older brother who picks on leo the most, is happy to do dangerous stunts and badly needs therapy. He's essentially Reese from malcom in the middle as a ninja turtle. He still loves his brothers and loves a good scrap, but he's got some issues to adress.

Mikey and Donnie likewise aren't bad but kinda one note: Mikey gets it the worst: he's a bit goofy.. but since they ALL are this incarnation it dosen't stand out as much. He gets some nice bits and one hell of a impariment shot, but not much else.

Donnie fairs better, but suffers from the unintended consequences of a good choice. As part of grounding things a bit, Donnie isn't a super genius. He's just a snarky little otaku who does really like tech, but on the resonable level of a teenage boy. As a result he dosen't get as much to do as most donnies as he's not hotwiring shit as often or making super lasers. It works for me, it's intresting to have a donnie whose just a normal kid who happens to be really nerdy, but it means plotwise he dosen't have as much to do as Raph as the ringleader to the boys mischief or Leo as the leader of the band during hero stuff. I get why: they only had a hundred minutes and it's remarkable they crammed as much in as they did, but it's something I really hope the series can course correct. I don't mind the boys riffing and hope it continues, but I also hope we get them more as their own people too.

As a final note I love Leo's crush on April. IT feels like a better realized version of the Donnie one from 2012. Instead of waffling over wether april notices or just dosen't want to turn him down which..

And then having it go from cute to "spiraling obessive dickhole", here April notices something's weird, but is clearly more intrested in the "giant talking turtles who can help my rep" thing and thus dosen't really pry. It only REALLY crosses into that at the end when he transparently asks her out.. and she waits till prom to ask "wait this is a friend thing right". But that could be nerves or her being just as scared of her feelings as he is with his. It also helps that while he's intrested in april romantically the two do bond: out of the four he' sthe most empathetic at her barf reputation, priortizes her not out of his crush but because she asked for their help and later works with her at her club. It's still somethign the series could work on, but for "a way to both mine jokes and get leo to go against his dad's wise council" it works fine. It's better than "how dare you ruin my ship you bastards" and "Mikey stop being a sex creep. "

So moving on to April herself, I mostly like this version. She's the third time this franchise has gone with a teen april and the third to have her POC. I've liked the turn to teen april as instead of being a big sister to the turtles, and essentially another authority figure when they already have their dad, she's on their level and it opens up fresh possiblities. Mayhem is the first with this take on april to have her be a reporter again, and it's honestly nice to see that work at a school level, having her TRIED to be on their equivleant of channel one.. and end up puking. And i'm not a barf joke man but walking back into the theater after a bathroom break to see her ralphing to "UnwritteN" may be one of my faviorite cinema moments of 2023, up there with walking back into Barbie to find she and ken now had cowboy outfits they'd apparently stolen.

I also love how it gives her a personal stake: she just wants to be loved same as the turtles and like them realizes this isn't WHY to do this. She also provides a nicely needed straight man to the goofier brothers without being reduced to the old sterotype of "Joy killing female foil. ", something her fellow teen aprils and most aprils in general have thankfully achieved. April is just a person and reacts with annoyance to the boys because their going on a 4 minute tangent saying new york sterotypes while mike does a rumpshaker.

We do have to unpack that mostly though and that comes from April being kind of a dick at time's. She's pressuery when the boys are undercover with SUperfly's gang.. even though she can HEAR what their saying.. and thus hear that he's clearly indocrinated the others and that the boys may not want to harm THEM. I get her not wanting Superfly to succeed, his plan is fucking horrible, but even for a teen it's weird she dosen't see the nuance. She can also be a bhit short with them, though the latter I acknolwedge in hindsight as being like the boys: she's a teenager and teens aren't perfect. This is still a great april and continues Ayo's streak this year of great voice acting roles.

The other mutants are great. I was worried: While the cast for them is fucking stacked and Seth called in a lot of his rolodex to fill it out, and himself as credit where it's due he tends to show up in shit he produces and bring his absolute best rather than showing up because he can, i've seen plenty of films fall flat because they tried to add too many characters from the source. Just this year I felt one of the biggest issues with Transformers; Rise of the Beasts is that they tried to jam so many autobots and maximals in, a total of 10 but didn't bother to give any of them but optimus, bee and mirage an actual character.

Here while the characters are one note, they have charming designs and work more as a unit like the boys, but are still friendly and likeable enough that your fond of them like the turtles and happy when they join the family. The breakout is easily natasha dimoscu's wingnut. I already loved wingnut, but this is easily the best verison: she's cheery kind and gets some great subtle jokes, the wifi one is fucking great as is her swiping Donni'es akira voices. All of them are pretty charming though. The only one to not really feel like a character is Hannibal frog, a sad waste of hannibal burgess, but everyone else gets something fun to do: Bebop and Rocksteady are rageholic morons who then get a sweet character arc as they realize their rage is because Superfly ENCOURAGED them to be constantly angry, and it's fun to see a version of them that's genuinely heroic. Not so fun is Bebop's pierced nipples.

I am genuinely baffled by this design choice. I don't doubt Bebop would get pierced nips, it' sin character. But why Seth thought anyone would want to see that, why he made HIS CHARACTER HAVE THEM, OR WHY HE MAKES IT SO PROMINENT will be a question that will haunt me for years to come. Or until we get creators commentary to explain why he hates viewers eyes. For the record I have nothing against nipple piercings, I just question why anyone thought giving them to Bebop was a good idea. OR their so large or

I also like Scumbug and i'm happy to see Splinter in his first relationship where his partner hasn't died horribly or put him in gladiator games. I did not need to see them make out with clone high level tounge. I"ll let this discord conversation with my good friend @kammieceleek handle the heavy lifting.

I mean their a cute couple but please, NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN NEVER

Anyways capping us off we have TCRI, who are decent enough. I like remaking them as this sort of paramilitary goon squad that shows the worst of humanity. Cynthia herself.. is fucking great. I like that to anyone familiar with Krang, it's DAMN obvious who she either is, or is a stand in for, with the name, apperance and Maya Rudolph somehow doing the Pat Fraley krang voice and tics while also doing a thick german accent. She's a brillaint combo of over the top hammy.. and an utterly sadstic monster, shocking the boys just for speaking, not carring that they don't really belong to her, and willing to kill them just to get her super weapons. She's what a remade krang should be: still over the top.. but also dead seriously terrifying. My only complaint is she's a bit OBVIOUS as a sequel hook. Like Rowe was really banking on that sequel and i'm never a fan of when films do this when they don't KNOW this story will continue. It is clearly, with the film slowly picking up more and more money and more than enough in merch, but he coudln't of known that.

So with that we just have one bit of buisness to wrap up

Yo Jeff Drop the Verse

The soundtrack for this flim is liquid gold. It's so good to my ears and full of such nice cuts. Guardians cemented my love of needle drops in film in tv: If you can pull it off well do it. And this film does it so damn good. The film skews to hip hop, likely due to wanting a "Tony Hawk Pro Skater" vibe, which really does fit teendom well. I will admit it's also pretty explicit here and there, so kids may be disapointed to find they can't stream these songs, but it's still a stacked selectoin

So before I break it down track by track, something I regret failing to do with spider-verse as like this reveiw it was massively behind, I whipped up a playlist as Parmount's own leaves out several tracks. While I get the what's going on bit being left out as that bit is a good suprise why it has'nt been added weeks out from the film I don't know. You can find it here

Ante Up is a song i've heard maybe once or two here, but is a perfect gag for the opening grocery run, while still showing off just what our boys can do.. even if their doing it for some party sized cool ranch doritos. Which is still a great reward.

Danke Scheon shows up in the clip of feris buller. This dosen't really count but I do think the film is a perfect fit, since John Hughes was an inspiration for this film, and it's an idealized version of the freedom the boys desperately want. Not a John Hughes film I was ever a huge fan of, but it works and that "You can hyjack parades whenever you want" joke is so damn good.

Now we come to a track I wasn't familiar with but is easily my faviorite now: Eye Know. I"m glad more films are using De La Soul's music, mostly because it makes ME want to know them better as I haven't heard much and even after really enjoying three is the number, thanks to the weird rights limbo it wasn't avaliable to stream ad nauseum when No Way Home came out. Thankfully just a few short months ago, the whole De La Soul catalogue is up. This song is a really gentle, really fun love song with one heck of a chorus, and it nicely meshes with Splitner raising his adorable little children. It's one of my faviorite scenes of the movie.

The next track is another perfect selection but for something more hilarious and badass: While Push It To the Limit verges on a parody of training montage music it works for one where we find out the turtles and splinter learned ninjitsu from movies,, instructional tapes and whatever they could scrounge up. HOw their learning is awesomely rediculous, so it needs backing that's cheestastic.

Love is an Illusion by Ronnie Walker was nice for Leo falling for APril. It's a really crisp, dreamy love song so it fits.

Okay look i'ts only there for a second, but I can't tell you how much I love Ninja Rap making a cameo on this soundtrack. The soundtrack is cheesy good and one of the more iconic ninja turtle songs for a reason. It's not as good as say Pizza Power or the various awesome theme songs, but it's goofy fun that fit the film it was in. It's also one of Vanilla Ice's better songs, though that isn't huge compettion especially since he made a weird as fuck sequel I still can't comprehend that was also compeltely ninja turtle free for some reason.

Cavern By LIquid Liquid is fun, a nice chill beat to meet turtles to.

Dance by ESG is already a fun song and fits the boys going full blast on their plan well. THat's.. about it. THankfully I have more for unwritten. I'm not a fan of Vomit humor most of the time unless you have a paticuarlly inspired twist like say. a mad scientest making everyone in the room vomit at a bar as a thought experiment leading to an image like this

That's just beautiful. But i'm just not a gross out guy, so this gag working for me was a lot... setting the most embarassing moment of April's life to FUCKING UNWRITTEN, a song I heard 998 times over the course of the 2000's as every fucking movie and tv show overused the hell out of this throughly mid song, it was transedeant. First and only good use of unwritten. Well done.

Now we come to what's easily the best musical bit of the movie. And it has some steep competition from Eye Know and another song we all know is coming, but the No Diggity Scene is just one of those sequences that once you see it you know "This shit is iconic". This is a scene that's now etched in tmnt lore and for damn good reason. It's also a brilliant way to get up to the chain to superfly and have a few weeks of sluthing and our heroes getting better pass as our heroes easily blaze through some goons and those shots of EACH turtle getting to burst in and lead the assault?

And look I admit this montage hits a sweet spot that was also started by guardians: setting an action montage to music that somehow fits despite having no right to. In this case a mellow smooth as hell jam perfectly complmenting some frantic action. So fucking smooth.

Wake Up in the Sky grew on me as let's face it, a song that has bruno mars saying fly a dozen times nad saying he's super fly works. I just don't like it a lot because trap is'nt something that fits me musically. I prefer more intricate beats or at least a really solid one thorugh the whole thing. The more relaxed beatwork here isn't for me, but I can't deny it fits Superfly's big debut well.

Fitting me much better is the use of Shimmy Shimmy Yay for the bowling scene. It's fucking great, a song that's never not awesome and that's also a bit low key while being way more my speed.

The use of BOTH major versions of What's Up? .. is an easy close second for best use of music int he film and one of the most brilliant masterstrokes. And this all comes to Seth Rogen. When the chase scene wasn't quite working, he suggested the slackcircus version of he man. It's also awsome in that the song's themes of isolation PERFECTLY fit what the mutants are going through. So not only did they manage to stick one of the best meme songs in human history in a feature film.. but they did so with it being ENTIRELY relevant. The switch from the 4 non blondes version to slackcircus is fucking genius and the song adds nice manic energy. It'll also hopefully give this song a rightful ressurgence as the heman cover is , while hilarious, also GENUINELY good. The original ain't too shabby either.

The boys version of butter is hilarious and got me to listen to the original which is alright. Mr. Lonely isn't a bad song, and perfectly fits Splinter's mope session.

Finally we have can I kcik it, an objectively awesome song. It fit the trailer perfectly and it fits our ending as our heroes are finally allowed to mingle with the surface adn get their happy ending beauitfully. A beautiful ending to a beautiful film.

So overall mutant mayhem is fucking awesome. If you haven't seen it after all this go see it, support the hard workers who made this film possible by supporting the ongoing strike and thanks for reading.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt mutant mayhem #mutant mayhem #leonardo #donetello #raphael #michalangelo #april 0'neil #screwloose #superfly #bebop #rocksteady #jeff rowe #seth rogen #nickelodeon #scumbug

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rockethorse · 2 years

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TS2 ideas for gift-giving Sims

So, I love having my Sims use the Seasons gift-giving function to give each other presents for birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc., but if the recipient Sim doesn’t really need anything, I often got stuck for ideas.

Then it occured to me - the gift can simply stay in their inventory forever! It doesn’t actually have to be something functional that they place on their own lot, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a duplicate, or if it doesn’t match their style, etc. Such a simple and obvoius realisation, but (and perhaps this makes me a humbug) I’d largely seen the ‘give a gift’ function as simply a means to transfer items I wanted to move between Sims and forgotten that, just like irl gift-giving, the thought is often more meaningful than the actual gift.

So let’s come up with some ideas for what kind of things Sims could gift each other! Of course, Sims will reject very cheap gifts if they have a low relationship, but if you’re just having family members swap gifts for the holidays, pretty much anything goes. It’s fun to consider both what the recipient would like as a gift vs what the gift-giver would think to get them - not everyone is a great gifter, after all!

Here are some potential gifts - add your own! I’m trying to stick to items found within the game but CC suggestions are great too.

Something Handmade

This is where crafting stations excel - the toy bench obviously makes perfect gifts for kids or parents (and dog owners, for the Water Wiggler), and the flower table provides great anniversary presents. The pottery wheel and sewing machine have something for anyone.

Paintings (or drawings, with the architect’s table, or photos from the antique camera) made by the gifter

BV photo prints or books the gifter had made for them

Home cooking! Anyone else remember the fruit cake your neighbours would drop off in TS1? A talented home cook could offer a layer cake, a pie, or some holiday cookies.

Home-grown Seasons produce and trays of juice

By Aspiration

Family: Commission a portrait or photo (or series of portraits/photos) of the Sim’s family and/or pets; SmartMilk; “Don’t Wake The Llama”

Fortune: Money; a money sack from a wish; a money tree; cologne; champagne; fancy souvenirs; pricy art; buried treasure; a really nice mahogany desk; extracted/clutter CC handbags, hats, watches or shoes; the counterfeiting machine (good "gag gift” that doesn’t have to be used)

Romance: Cologne; a vanity table; fancy candles; regift them some date bouquets for them to drop off with their next date; a Love Tub; some deco (or sewn) lingerie; this chair

Knowledge: A new bookshelf; a globe; a telescope; a spare dragon legend scroll or Bon Voyage map; a ReNuYu potion, even if they have no use for it; a fancy chess set

Popularity: A novelty house phone; a tanning bed/towel; a makeup palette; a bubble blower; a punch keg; an Apartment Life lapdog; some Cool Shades; some pool toys or an above-ground pool; a picnic basket

Pleasure Seeker: A beanbag; a bubble blower; a coffee machine; a boom box or jukebox; a noodle soother; a hammock; plants from the hydroponic grower

Grilled Cheese: Grilled cheese; the grilled cheese painting; grilled cheese; the grilled cheese recolour of the mini decorative easel that came with the IKEA stuff pack; grilled cheese

By Age Range

For Kids: Doll houses; play ovens; activity tables; toy chests; new pajamas (with the sewing machine); a funky lamp, clock or rug; a cute chair just for their room, like the ‘beanbag’ or bear chair; a trampoline; a lemonade stand; a hot cocoa maker; a paddling pool; the wall deco blackboard or height chart; a swing set; an antfarm or snowglobe; the cute little MySims figurines including the Witch craftable one; a racecar bed; a dog house because they’re getTING A PUPPY!!!!

From Kids: Kids may not be able to craft as many things as adults, but they can still paint, bake muffins, draw things on the activity table, fish and tend/harvest Seasons produce, and regift any treasures they dig up or find on hikes. With this modded pottery wheel, they can even sculpt clay!

Teens: A new computer for school/uni; a used car (or custom bike); handheld devices; posters for their walls; a mini-fridge; magazines; cologne; a bunch of home-made meals to take to college

Elders: A reclining chair; a coffee maker; those posters that look like they were drawn by toddlers; a nice rug; sculptures of cherubs or kittens or realistic sleeping babies or whatever else grannies like to keep around

For Hobby Enthusiasts

Sports: A signed jersey for their wall; a commemorative football; a sewn soccer jersey; the sports-themed drinks bar; a novelty plaque or trophy; a deco surfboard or snowboard

Games: RGB lights for their computer setup; “Myshuno”; mahjong; a pinball machine or arcade cabinet; a rare Void Critters card; a poker table; gamer fuel or a gaming chair

Fitness: A yoga mat; a blender; a sauna (big spender); some deco workout equipment or an exercise ball office chair; geodes, witchy crystal balls & salt lamps; deco gym shoe clutter or a gym bag

Cooking: Some new decorative cooking pots/pans; a cornucopia; freshly-caught fish (divisive); decorative plates; the wall-deco wine racks; a nectar bar; a tea set; canisters or oven mitts

Science: A deco molecule or microscope; a cheap telescope; an ant farm; space/alien posters; hanging planet light; a Thinking Cap

Art & Crafts: The poseable mini wooden Sim figure every irl artist gets gifted too and doesn’t know how to use; the deco books where the bookends are actually those statues; deco canvases; a new desk or table just for their crafting area; shelves; fabric bolts; yarn

Tinkering: RC cars; filing cabinets/organisers for the garage; deco tools; a crafting bench; a toy robot; Sir Bricks-a-Lot

Film & Literature: A new bookshelf; some decorative books; a novel; film posters; old film & TV props; a mini mecha figure; pillows to curl up & read on; a cozy lamp to read by; a typewriter

Nature: Lawn ornaments; house plants; planters; gardening tools (decorative or functional, such as sprinklers or a grow lamp); an aquarium; outdoor lights; camping chairs/tents etc and shade parasols; seedlings in planters higher-level than the recipient’s gardening badge; a small fountain for their yard

Music & Dance: A ballet barre and shoes; full-length mirrors; a new stereo or some speakers; a new or upgraded instrument (especially for the child-teen birthday); a disco ball; artist, tour, or album art poster prints; wall or floor CD racks; commemorative record wall hangings

If the gifting Sim is higher than the recipient Sim in a given hobby, they could give them a magazine!

By Relationship/Event

Dating: The teddy bear in a T-shirt sculpture; the IKEA heart plush; framed photo booth romantic photo; the groovy heart sculpture; a bouquet; a box of chocolates

Professional: A tasteful vase or trinket bowl; a nice desk or wall clock; an RC helicopter (for the boss who has everything); something for their cubicle like a bonsai tree, stationery, or an executive desk toy

Housewarming: A welcome mat; a useless plate people throw their keys in; an obnoxious sculpture or house plant they wouldn’t buy for themselves; Shelves For Things; a statement armchair; an actually tasteful rug; fresh produce; champagne, a nectar bar, or the deco wall wine rack; deco towels/towel warmer; a compost bin; the weird toilet paper gnome; a BBQ or fire pit (to take it quite literally) If the Sims are completely new to the neighbourhood, not just the house, their neighbours could gift them a cake or some other group meal as a way of welcoming them and introducing themselves.

Wedding: A framed photo of the couple; that one wall hanging with the two hands holding and all the handwritten notes; champagne; the wall-mounted deco plates set; an appliance nobody actually uses like a toaster oven or a food processor; matching “them & theirs” deck chairs, towels, etc; pushy baby stuff; something obnoxious that implies marriage is a prison (if heterosexual); a suitcase or luggage for their honeymoon; a photo booth, if you can give it to them before the wedding, for guests

Graduation: Some more deco plaques to really show off those extra certifications; more champagne or wine or juice or a bar or anything to help you forget; mounted mascot head; something related to their degree/future career; a sleek professional desk & chair ready for them to start work; restaurant vouchers because oops looks like job hunting is taking longer than expected; grandma’s comfort soup :’(

Now that you have all these ideas, why not get your Sims together for a random gift exchange? Whether it’s the whole town or just within a big family - challenge them (and yourself) to think about what each Sim would buy for their recipient, whether it matches up with what the recipient would want, and then see if the recipient accepts or trashes the gift! This is my favourite name-from-a-hat generator for this purpose since it does not require email signups or push wishlists, etc. while also allowing you to set certain exclusions (e.g. Sims cannot draw their own family members, their spouse, etc). You could even make it a white elephant - where each Sim is competing to give the worst gift (be wary if the gifting Sims don’t have a high relationship already!)

#TS2 #the sims 2

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randomvarious · 5 days

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Today's mix:

Audiophonic 5 by Christian Weber 2001 Techno / Electro

Finally! A techno mix from 2001 with a good amount of absolute bangers on it, folks! I was really in a little bit of a rut over the past week or so with this early 2000s techno mix foray that I've been on recently, but this one here managed to pull me right out of it 🤘. And I really don't know who Christian Weber is—seems like the vast majority of his career just consists of these Audiophonic mixes for Berlin-based label Fine Audio Recordings—but he picked some fantastic tunes for this CD nonetheless.

Here's the big disclaimer, though: if you want something that's mixed well, you need to avoid this thing at all costs, because the transitions on this really are just absolute, bottom-of-the-barrel, gutter-ass. However, if lack of mixing skills isn't a dealbreaker and you just want a sampling of some fire techno tunes from 2000 and 2001, this pretty broad selection of tracks will definitely have you covered.

Undoubtedly, the two best tunes on here come back-to-back, when in the somewhat early going Weber unleashes a pair of remixes from the inimitable Swedish techno wizard, Adam Beyer. Here we get Beyer's take on duo Air Frog's (Jesper Dahlbäck and Stephan Grieder) "Bon Voyage," which implements the original version's irresistibly wicked and fuzzy sub-bassline; and immediately after that we're treated to another total ground-shaker with Beyer's remix of Ben Sims' "Manipulated," which sees Beyer on that nuttily thooming-and-booming, super percussive tribal shit, as a bevy of clamorous drums and dinging hi-hats play alongside vocal samples of Cuban singer Albita's "Ta Bueno Ya." Really incredible stuff.

And another excellent tune on here is German native Richard Bartz' techno remix of Italo-disco trio 'Lectric Workers' 1982 song, "Robot Is Systematic." With this one, Bartz adds a techno backbeat and plonky synths to accompany the original version's classic, sci-fi futuristic lead string melody. An awesome modern update for a sweet and much older dance tune.

So, like I said, if you're looking for someone who can throw down a stellar DJ mix, Christian Weber's Audiophonic 5 is not for you, but if you treat this thing more like an early 2000s techno playlist of sorts, I guarantee you're gonna really dig a bunch of these selections here 🙌.

Listen to the full mix here.

Highlights:

DJ Zank - "Game Over" Air Frog - "Bon Voyage (Adam Beyer Mix)" Ben Sims - "Manipulated (Adam Beyer Remix)" Dirty Ali + Funky Farid - "Electronic for Children (Warriors Groove Mix)" Bolz Bolz - "Out the Door" Lectric Workers - "Robot Is Systematic (Richard Bartz Remix)"

#techno #electro #dance #dance music #electronic #electronic music #music #2000s #2000s music #2000's #2000's music #00s #00s music #00's #00's music

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sizzlingpatrolfox · 5 months

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Loool I never realized it was such a hot take not watching non-jimin centric bts content, what's with the fake outrage? I think I barely even watched ot7 content at the beginning when I started getting into them and it was the pandemic and I was bored as hell. I don't really care about RUN BTS or ITS or BV I watched some of the episodes and then they started to become repetitive to me so I just resorted to watching clips on twitter which honestly that's what most people do anyways?????

The pandemic was also the time I stopped watching things like run. Long story short, it all started after Jungkook and Mijoo actually lmao but well yeah, I was uncomfortable looking at Jungkook and jikook because of everything that had happened. That's why I didn't watch bon voyage New Zealand.

On side of that, I knew 2020 was going to be their last year active as a group so I made the conscious decision to slowly step away so I wouldn't be so devastated when they left.

Then boom. Covid. Literally nothing mattered anymore to me once lockdown was in place here. I moved back with my parents and my sister, I baked and studied all day, I read a lot. Folklore by Taylor healed me in ways I didn't know I needed to heal. For months I barely thought about BTS or consumed their content. I just got used to not watching BTS content, and so I stopped and when I tried to watch again during dynamite promo, I found their content to be boring and repetitive and the narratives trying to be sold (happy bros ot7 can't live without each other Ingalls family stuff) were so glaringly obvious and it was off-putting. Don't even get me started on taekook themselves trying to tell everyone how inseparable they were. Also everyone (Jungkook Taehyung Yoongi) were so annoying, and Jimin was different too. It just wasn't hitting the same.

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arielle-stretching · 2 years

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Goodbye, Tree

Have you ever thought about the sound of a falling tree? It starts with a cracking noise, like the anticipatory claps of thunder preceded by a loud boom. It takes a while for your brain to register that this is the sound of wood breaking. Then, the rattling of leaves and a loud whoosh fills the air. The sound that follows is an anticlimactic grand finale: a muffled boom whose force you can feel under your feet and in your chest–the last cry of the once upright tree finally hitting the earth, fed through a microphone whose only output is a subwoofer.

The fallen tree grew on a large, empty lot behind our house. The lot resembled a tiny forest, complete with verdant undergrowth covering the ground. Sitting in the backseat, on the way to Catholic elementary school, the sun’s rays would pierce through the leaves of the trees just so. The whole scene looked like it could be the cover of a prayer book. This is what Teacher meant, I would think to myself, when she said that God was everywhere.

I grew up away from a lot of noise and light pollution common in more dense areas of Manila. You can imagine how this backdrop casts a hazy, rose-colored tint on my childhood memories.

Our subdivision’s placement is deep in a residential part of Quezon City, on a hill 30-minutes away from La Mesa Dam. I became curious about the natural world. As kids, my Kuya and I were given a telescope to look at planets. Evening skies would be so clear I could identify several constellations just sitting at the top of our slide, craning my neck upwards.

As a child everything to me was big, and I was little. I had hoped to grow out of it, that one day I would be big too, and things wouldn’t feel so large in comparison to my short limbs, my kid brain, and the constraints of bedtime. I thought this was the pinnacle of adulthood: the world would feel smaller, and therefore easily comprehensible. I’m not sure if I’ve reached that point in my life yet.

Something else you should know: I have lived in the same house all my life; to this day waking, working, and dreaming in the childhood bedroom where I learned how to speak my first words.

—

IC Jaucian’s work for CCP Thirteen Artists Awards 2021 entitled Bon Bon Voyage tickles the kid version of myself who so desperately wanted to be an astronaut. Onto a piece of hard candy the artist duplicated Voyager’s Golden Records: a NASA project compiling the sounds of Earth on a solid gold LP, launching it into space hoping that it would reach intelligent, alien life. The candy record is playable, by the way, the warbling of indigenous music and whale sounds echoing throughout CCP’s gallery space.

The choice to fashion the record out of candy is meant to be a critique of NASA’s project, a reminder that this collection of images, greetings, and sounds are not meant to be an “enduring ambassador of earth… for billions of years across the cosmos”. The artist also reminds us of the “colonial undertones” of these records, an interpretation I had never encountered, and therefore loved, struck by how the world had seemed to grow larger before my eyes at the realization.

While we strive to read and engage critically with art, I think it’s worth thinking about how this act allows us a glimpse into our own thought patterns, seeing the moment of synapse take shape. IC Jaucian’s work makes me think about taking a gander at the void. When I first learned about the Golden Record project as a teenager, I could relate to its audacity and romance–the lonely planet Earth singing hymns to the darkness, hoping that someone would sing back.

I understand what worship means in the religious sense when faced with expanse: outerspace, ocean depths, mountainous terrain on tropical archipelagos, slowly rising from the sea after millions of years. Wonder is where I find it easiest to encounter the divine.

—

I had woken up late one morning, feeling out of it after coming home from a trip with friends. My brother and I passed each other at the top landing of the stairs; he was in scrubs, ready to head to the hospital while I was still in my oversized sleep shirt. The neighbors are building something on the lot, he said, gaze pointed at the window by the landing, a clear view of the empty lot before us. He and I lamented the loss of the quiet little forest behind the house. I returned to my bedroom and faintly registered the sound of a chainsaw through the thick walls of my exhaustion.

For the next few days, I was in close proximity to the destruction of this tiny forest. A young mahogany, and two bangkal trees almost as tall as our house were a few of the casualties. My rage, which prompted me to consider demanding our neighbors for DENR permits, fizzled into helplessness (they were a family of politicians), which eventually gave way to weepiness. The trees had already been cut. I shed tears when the enormous trunk of the bangkal was axed into smaller pieces. I thought of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, of something that had once stood tall being rendered into nothing, how the act of claiming and transforming can be violent, and felt very small. The natural world in its vastness were my first encounters with being humbled by something much larger than myself. I mourned the trees because I felt the sense of wonder I had attached to them as a young girl being taken from me. I have no conclusion, no silver lining. There is only a chasm; a soft, pulsating void that is shrinking. I see myself as I am, and who I was as a child merging–I am telling her: this is how it is. Wonder makes you feel small, but so does loss.

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movementors10 · 9 months

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Decoding the Value: Are Travel Credit Cards Really Worth It?

We all share that daydream of exploring far-off lands, and thanks to travel credit cards, that dream is within closer reach than ever. These cards promise the moon and the stars—enticing rewards, expensive benefits, and perks that make traveling seem like a breeze.

But hold up, are travel credit cards worth the hype, or are they just another one of those financial tricks with hidden traps? Let's dive into the nitty-gritty of travel credit cards to unveil the real scoop on whether they're worth your consideration.

What's So Cool About Travel Credit Cards?

What makes travel credit cards so intriguing, you ask? Let's be honest here—there's something undeniably alluring about these cards, especially if you've got that insatiable craving for travel.

They come with the fantastic allure of earning some pretty cool rewards and accessing exclusive perks, adding an extra layer of goodness to your wanderlust-filled fantasies.

So, let's explore why these cards have such an irresistible charm, shall we?

The Hunt for Rewards and Points

With every swipe of your card, you're racking up those coveted rewards points or miles. These seemingly small points gradually accumulate, and down the line, you can exchange them for flights, cozy hotel stays, or even snag a deal on car rentals.

It's the thrill of getting complimentary travel, all from using your credit card. Who wouldn't be tempted by that enticing offer?

Let's Talk About Sign-Up Bonuses

New cardholders, listen up! Many travel credit cards roll out the red carpet with sign-up bonuses. It's like a welcome gift but for grown-ups.

All you need to do is spend a certain amount within a specific time, and boom, you get a load of bonus points or miles. It's like turbocharging your rewards right from the start.

Perks That Make You Feel Like a VIP

Let's talk about the perks that give you that VIP vibe. We're talking about the good stuff here—imagine lounging in posh airport lounges, having reliable travel insurance watching over you, and they might even handle your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fees.

The card practically murmurs, "Hey there, let me elevate the comfort and luxury factors in your travel life."

Using Rewards YOUR Way

Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to travel credit cards. You're the boss here – it's your call to utilize those rewards—craving a spontaneous flight adventure? No problem.

Longing for the comfort of an Airbnb hideaway? Absolutely within reach. It's almost like having your travel genie here to fulfill your wishes just as you like them.

Is It All Sunshine and Rainbows?

But before we dive headlong into the allure, let's take a moment to pause and consider the bigger picture. While travel credit cards certainly showcase some impressive perks, stepping back and examining whether they truly live up to the hype is essential.

Are they genuinely worth their weight in gold? Let's find out.

Annual Fees

I will not lie; some travel credit cards come with a yearly fee. It's like paying to get access to all those juicy benefits. The catch? You've got to weigh whether those perks outweigh the cost of the fee.

Do the math and see if it's a win-win for you.

Spending Smarts

The true rewards reveal themselves when you wield your card wisely. If you're casually swiping away without a game plan, you might be in the bustling city of debt.

And believe us, those interest charges have a knack for erasing your hard-earned rewards quicker than you can utter "bon voyage." So, keep those spending smarts in check!

How Often Do You Fly High?

Are you the kind who practically lives in the skies, jetting off every chance you get? If so, those rewards and perks could quickly become your trusty companions in wanderlust.

On the flip side, if you're more of a homebody, the sparkle of those benefits might lose a bit of its shine. Your flying frequency plays a significant role in this tale.

The Redemption Riddle

You can use your rewards, but there might be some pesky restrictions. Blackout dates or limited options can throw a wrench in your plans. Make sure the way you redeem fits snugly with your travel dreams.

Credit Score Shenanigans

Introducing a new credit card can sometimes prompt a dance with your credit score. Especially if you've set your sights on significant financial endeavors, like purchasing a new house or a snazzy car, strategically timing your credit card application might be in your best interest.

After all, the choreography between credit moves can impact the grand financial performance.

The Final Verdict

Travel credit cards are worth it boils down to you. If you're jet-setting, a travel credit card could be your golden ticket to saving on flights and living that first-class life. But if your passport has more cobwebs than stamps, consider other options.

Bottom line? Do your homework. Compare cards, read the fine print (yes, even the super small text), and crunch the numbers based on your spending style. A travel credit card can be your trusty sidekick on your adventures, but only if it matches your vibe and adds sparkle to your journey.

So go on, decode the value, and prepare to embark on a new travel chapter with your plastic travel buddy.

#Travel Credit Cards #Credit Cards #financialplanning #financial

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jikookdetails · 7 years

Photo

Jimin redefined the meaning of heart eyes 💕

#jikook #kookmin #jimin #jungkook #you make my heart boom boom 💕#bon voyage 2 #bts #bangtan #i love them so much

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fuckmybiaslist · 7 years

Video

...Suddenly a wild Jin appears (with commentary from Hope)

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lostgirlinthewoods · 3 years

Text

GHOSTLORE | pjs x reader

- horror!au

Description: There was no point in denying that Jisung is a curious boy. He entertains the idea of aliens, ghosts, monsters, and such; even going as far as visiting popular sightings. You know what they say, “curiosity kills the cat.”

Word Count: 4,142

Date: February 28, 2021

TW // HORROR, MURDER, SUICIDE, MENTIONS OF BLOOD

A/N: Finished this long ago but I totally forgot to upload it :((

- Part of my Bon Voyage special projects for NCT’s February celebrant.

October 29 - Thursday

Jisung was mindlessly playing on his phone, bored and unmotivated, when Renjun came running to Jisung. His phone is in his hand, seemingly wanting to show something to the said boy. He was frantic and quite excited to show his phone screen to the said boy. "Look Jisung! It's just three blocks away here." Renjun clicked the article he saw on his twitter screen.

THE CHILLING STORY OF “THE CURSED RED HOUSE” ON WOODVILLE

WOODVILLE, 2020 - It was November 01, 1878 when a quiet town was left in terror as a massive and horrible massacre happened in the, now infamously called The Cursed Red House. A family of five was found left bloodied and murdered inside the house - four of them were lying lifelessly in a pool of blood in their living room while their father was found hanged up in a rope in the master’s bedroom. Investigators have long concluded that the head of the family killed his children and wife before succumbing to his own demise based on the evidence presented on the scene. The mystery of what happened that night still leaves people speculating. Countless theories have been formed since then, but the most prominent one involved had left people frightened to even look at the innocent-looking red house.

May of 1986 when the family moved into the town - a family of five consisting of the parent and their two little girls and a teenage daughter. The mother was a bodice maker. Not long after they moved in, her popularity for her attentiveness at details started booming. And soon enough, townspeople are lining up to have their bodice made by her. Meanwhile, the father was a clock smith in one of the town central’s famous shops. Unbeknownst to others, he was a macabre writer on the side. Some accounts would state seeing him often in the local library with books about death. Despite the macabre background, the father was a decent man. Neighbors would often say he loved his children so much. It wasn’t until the summer of the next year came when changes started occurring in the household. Maybe it was due to the amount of books that had led the father to do such a horrendous thing.

The mother would often tell her frequenter, in one of her bodice fitting, how afraid she is to sleep at night, how sleep at one night, and how sometimes she would stay in her children’s room just watching them sleep and making sure nothing would happen. When asked why, she would often say, “I can’t tell you that. He’s going to be mad.” The father has quit his job as a clock smith and stopped going to the community library. Where he spent most of his time remains unknown to the townspeople. Rumors about the father joining a satanic cult started circulating in the town and soon enough, no one even bothered to come near their house. The children stopped coming out of the house, often only seeing them looking out of their window longingly. Sudden screams and shrieks would be heard inside the house here and there but the neighbors don’t bother checking them out due to fear of being cursed by a demonic figure. Whatever that is, something haunting happened in the family before the night of the murder.

It wasn’t surprising to say that ghost sighting is often felt, heard, and seen in the Cursed Red House. Oftentimes, when one’s gaze lingers for more than a minute in the said house, something unfortunate would occur to them - be it in the form of a fatal accident of even death. Every living soul who attempted to enter the said house had vanished with no traces of clue in the vicinity. It wasn’t a stretch to say there is something uncanny and frightening in the house. If you ever came by in Woodsville, never ever attempt to come near the Cursed Red House.

October 30 - Friday

“Come on, just come with me. This will be the last time I’ll ask you to come to these places.” Jisung begged like a madman while following you in your school’s massive cafeteria. You shook your head, once again. “You know how much I love you right? But I don’t love you enough to come with you there.” You continued walking, trying to ignore your boyfriend’s persistent voice. You weren’t exactly a fan of horror stories and such but ever since you started dating Jisung, you were basically forced to ghost-hunt with the said guy. You must admit, it had been generally fun ghost hunting with him considering you never really encountered any supernatural being. But you’re not about to take any chances on this one. Not when the Red House had proven her ferociousness on multiple accounts. Not when there’s a rumor circulating that nobody had ever stepped out of that house after stepping a foot in it.

“If you won’t come with me, I’m going alone then.”

“No, you won’t. It’s too dangerous out there.” You’re starting to get worried.

“How will I know if it’s truly dangerous if I don’t experience it myself.” He reasoned out. It seems like nothing would stop him from going.

As you continue to persuade the poor, adventurous boy, you were hoping he would drop his curiosity of this place.

October 31 - Saturday

You know you’re going to regret this as you make your way on the dark streets, the only lights illuminating your way are coming from the moon itself and the few streetlights along the corners of the blocks. It was 9 in the evening. The time of the night when you can already see the starry skies in its full bloom. Your walking shadow is your only companion as you make your way to the place you know you shouldn’t visit. To say the least, your walk was spooky. But you didn’t have any time to second guess as you saw the petrifying outline of the house you dread to see. In front of it was a figure, a familiar silhouette. JISUNG.

Jisung texted you about going to The Cursed Red House an hour ago. Whatever the food he ate that day must have given him ample amounts of courage because as much as he loves horror, he’s a cowardly little hamster who always hides behind his partner’s back - that being you. Deep inside, you know he’ll come back immediately though. There’s no way he would be able to go inside. Yet, the following messages coming from him worried you a lot.

mochisung; 8:28 p.m.

I’m here

You really went there alone?

I’m alone, couldn’t convince renjun to come with me

GO HOME!

This is not worth your time

y/n, i’m already in the front door though

Don’t come inside!

this is scarier than i expected

that’s why you must come home

okay i’ve opened the door

NO JISUNG WHY WOULD YOU

as expected, it’s dark inside

OF COURSE! NOW COME BACK HOME!!

mochisung; 8:35

Ji, where are you?

Did you really come in?

why aren’t you answering your phone

THIS IS NOT FUNNY

There was no message following that. He wouldn’t even answer his phone.

mochisung; 8:41

FINALLY FOUND A SIGNAL

YOU WERE RIGHT

I SHOULDN’T COME HERE

Y/N, I’M SCARED

I CAN’T FIND THE EXIT

I THINK I’M TRAPPED IN HERE

WAIT THERE, I’M COMING

NO!

DON’T!!!

PLEASE DON’T COME HERE!

MFOOE

%LIRN

Y/N NO PLEASE EWFWDSQ

F32ERFE

EFET

“{{-439

COME HERE! SAVE ME!!!

This is why you found yourself walking towards the house with Jisung standing in front. He seems to be unscratched which made you exhale a sigh of relief.

“There you are. I was so worried about you.” You exclaimed as soon as you arrived besides him. There wasn’t any response. You checked to see how Jisung was doing. He was standing there, simply looking at the house with a blank stare.

You slightly nudged his arms and said with a comforting voice, “Come on! Let me take you home. You must have been so tired.” Whatever he had seen inside, you know you must comfort him.

There wasn’t any response. He was still standing there like a statue. His eyes never left the infrastructure in front you - not even blinking. You even had to look at his chest area just to make sure he was breathing. He was acting so strange and it’s starting to give you chills.

“Hey, did the house scare you so much you malfunctioned?” You laughed awkwardly, trying to hide the fear in your voice. That’s when something in him clicked. He walked towards the house - not sparing you a glance. He walked until he stopped in front of the door.

Your mind is spiraling down. You have no clue if you should follow him and grab him home or whether you should call his name instead. Too afraid to do the former, you called his name. Your own voice echoing inside your ears. JISUNG! Come on, Jisung! Let’s go home. No matter how much you called him, he doesn’t seem to hear anything as he twists the knob of the door and continues his way inside. He had left you no choice but to follow him inside.

Shivers went up your spine the moment you opened the door. It was cold inside. Darkness enveloped your eyes. You barely see anything. You blinked and blinked, trying to adjust your vision to the darkness embracing the surrounding. Goosebumps started to appear in your skin. Whether because it was chilly inside or if the ambience of the house was causing it, you don’t know. The moment you got an inkling sight of vision inside the room, Jisung was out of sight.

“JISUNG, WHERE ARE YOU?” You shouted. Your voice echoing right back. There wasn’t any sight of life inside as you continue to walk down the creepy house, trying to find any source of light.

Soon enough, you arrived at what seemed like the dining area. It was massive. You carefully tiptoed around the area. It seems intrusive for you to be walking around this house. You can’t shake off the feeling that someone is watching you. The goose bumps in your skin had never once left. “Jisung, where are you? Please stop playing around.” You whispered to yourself, knowing very well that Jisung isn’t here.

That’s when you heard it, a giggle coming from what you assumed is a voice of a girl. You were frozen at your spot - too scared to move, too scared to make noise. The giggled followed by loud footsteps. They seemed to be running around the area. There was another giggle. It’s a different voice this time. The footsteps suddenly started to get louder. You cannot point out in which direction it is coming from. You closed your eyes, not wanting to see a glimpse of the running girls around you.

“Oh look, who’s standing there? Let’s play!” You heard a voice. The footsteps started coming closer to you.

Closer.

Louder.

There’s a whisper, “You don’t want to play with us anymore?”

“Y/N!”

You felt a hand on your shoulder. “Y/N!” It was Jisung’s voice. Your eyes remained closed, not sure of what’s happening.

“Y/N!! Y/N!! It’s me. Why are you here?” Jisung slightly shook your shoulders. You opened your eyes only to come face-to-face with your boyfriend’s looks. You immediately hugged him, shaken from what just happened. Eyes are starting to get wet from the pool of tears threatening to fall down from it.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. Don’t cry, please!” His words of consolation calms you down for a moment but somehow you know it’s not okay. It’s never going to be okay.

“What? You’re being ridiculous. I never sent you any messages after I came inside that house. There’s no signal here, look at your phone! There’s nothing even spooky in there. It’s just a normal, innocent house.” Jisung explained. You are sitting at the corner of Jisung’s bed while he was on his gaming chair. How you got out there safely, you don’t understand. The moment Jisung escorted you outside that house, you could only let out a sigh of relief, glad to be able to get out of that hellhole.

“No! I’m not mistaken, I can’t be wrong. Stop playing jokes on me.” Your tone was sharp. You are starting to get angry at Jisung. Whatever game he is playing, it’s starting to get on your nerves. You brought out your phone to and scrolled through your messages just to show him his messages. But there wasn’t any. You looked at it with disbelief. This can’t be true. Your mind cannot be playing any games with you, can it? He noticed your silence.

“What’s wrong?” He stood up and walked over you. He sat next to you with concerned eyes.

“Did you or did you not wait for me outside that house?” You asked, hoping for the answer you were looking for. Your lower lip trembles at the sudden realization and intensity of the event.

“No. I didn’t.” He answered, almost too casually. As if nothing is wrong.

So it wasn’t him. It wasn’t him all along.

November 01 - Sunday

You hurriedly dressed up in comfortable clothes as you were already late and Jisung is probably already waiting for you. Every Sunday, Jisung and his friends hang outs at Renjun’s home to watch movies or play games. The boys invited you to come to their weekend get together which you gladly agreed to. Truth to be told, yesterday’s event bothered you a lot. You explained everything to Jisung. And he did try to comfort you last night although it is clearly evident how shaken he was also. So you decided, for the sake of Jisung and his sanity, you will stop thinking of the said effect and act like nothing is wrong. You figured the both of you will eventually forget it anyways. After putting on a decent and comfortable outfit, you went down on the stairs. Your steps are quick yet light as you skipped through the steps. You saw your mom’s figure in the living room. “Mom, I’m going out!” You said.

There was no response. You carefully observed her. She was talking to someone on her phone while pacing around. You figured she just didn’t hear you. You walked closer to her. Then you heard.

“No, no. She--- she did not come last night. I was waiting the whole night.”

Who didn’t come home last night?

“Her boyfriend. I believe she was with her boyfriend. Jisung. His name is Jisung. He also didn’t come home.”

Why is your mom mentioning Jisung to random people?

Jisung didn’t come home? Your mom is mistaken.

“Please just find her.” She was choking up.

You called her name.

Once.

Twice.

Going thrice.

No response.

What’s going on? What’s wrong with your mom?”

“Please just find my Y/N.”

The sudden realization came to you. You and Jisung weren’t able to leave the cursed house safely.

As soon as you left the front door, Jisung was already there waiting for you. Judging from the look on his face, he probably already realized the circumstances the both of you were under. You hurriedly ran to his arms and hugged him tightly. You couldn’t help but to weep as he quietly hugged and kept your shaking body in his arms.

As soon as he heard you sniffle, something in his eyes shifted, “We should come back. Maybe we can do anything.”

“No, Ji! I’m not going back there. I can’t go back.” You pulled away from his embrace and looked directly at his eyes.

“Listen Y/N!” He steadied your figure, knowing how weak your knees must be from crying. “We have nothing to lose now. We don’t know what’s going on.” You continued to shake your head. There’s no way you're stepping a foot in there again. He looked at you carefully, observing the way you were acting. He hasn't seen you like this before - so shaken, so broken, and full of fear.

“I’m sorry. This is all my fault.” He said softly as he wiped a tear away from your cheeks. “If you don’t want to go back. At least, allow me to go there. Let me fix this for you.” He whispered as he hugged you again. You’re scared - too frightened to make sense of what is happening. But you’re not going to let Jisung go there alone. No, you wouldn’t.

The one advantage of going in that house in the daylight is that the windows offered you enough lighting to roam around the house with clear visibility of what is there in front of you. Your arm was looped around Jisung’s as the both of you carefully walked around the house. There was no sign of life here. No noise. No everything. The house remains chilly though. You felt like someone was watching you every move you take. The both of you walked upstairs. As soon as you got up, you saw it with your own eyes. Along the halls of the house are various photo frames. There were different faces every frame. Jisung removed your arms on his as he carefully walked around.

“I didn’t see this last night.” He gulped.

“What do you mean?” He looked at you. His eyes widening, disbelief written all over it.

“This is not here last night. This is just a simple hallway, no photos.” He said while frantically looking around.

“You must be wrong.” You know he wasn't wrong. For an abandoned house, this is clearly a clean one. As if someone is living here and maintaining the cleanliness of the house. There are no cobwebs at sight. There are barely any dusts.

Jisung continued to walk, observing each photo. You were following him closely. You stopped at your track when you noticed something in the corner of your eye. There was a mirror in there. The mirror itself would be enough to scared you but what caught your attention was the reflection that stare right back at you

Jisung continued to walk towards the end of the hallway. He didn’t notice you weren’t next to him anymore. As he reached the end, he saw the largest portrait hanging in the room. It’s a family portrait - a painted one. It looks old judging by how the canvas of the painting looked a little yellowish. There are five people in the photo. A middle-aged man with a few white strands of hair, a middle-aged woman with a slight crow-feet in her eyes, two little girls who were smiling brightly, but what caught his attention was the last person. It was a teenage girl with long wavy locks. Her lips were slightly turned upwards in a shy, small smile. Her eyes were full of life, he can feel it even if he was only looking at the portrait. There was something eerily familiar with this girl. You ran on the hallway quickly. He heard your footsteps and turned towards you. You stopped running to catch your breath. “Why did you leave me, Ji?” You were panting as you talked. There was a decent distance between the both of you. You looked up and met his eyes. That’s when it all clicked. That’s why it was so familiar. Jisung realized. Your eyes answered it all for him.

You are the girl in the portrait.

“Are you avoiding me?” You said, confused as you see Jisung stepped backward.

“You know what, I suddenly realized something. The reason why you were able to leave this house. It’s because you were with me.” You exclaimed with a joyful tone, smiling at him.

“I don’t understand.” His eyes were shaking as he walked backwards, avoiding you.

“Didn’t the picture explain it enough? You saw it right?” Jisung was trembling under your gaze. The sun is setting down as the light illuminating the room slowly turns into darkness. But Jisung can still clearly see his reflection in your dark eyes.

“I’m that teenage daughter you read about. This body died 8 years ago. Poor girl was riding her bicycle when she accidentally stumbled into this house. She didn’t have to die like that, but I needed a body. I wanted to explore.” You said casually; acting like you pity the poor girl but it only went shiver down Jisung’s spine as he recognized the monotony of your voice. You were acting like you pity the girl when you were actually playing a game all along. You are no longer the nice and sweet girlfriend he fell in love with. You must have recognized the look on his face.

“You’re not Y/N! You’re not! You’re not!” He continuously repeated to himself.

“Don’t worry too much though. You were the perfect first boyfriend for me. I love you, Ji! Please don’t be scared.” You pouted. “I mean, I’m still Y/N! It’s not the exact body, but didn’t you love me too?” You said. Your tone changed into a sad one. He was confused whether it’s a genuine one or not. He was frightened and you noticed it.

“Come on!” You raised your voice. “What are you afraid of? I’m your girlfriend! You didn’t even get to meet the original owner of this body.” You stood firmly, obviously mad at his reactions. You couldn’t understand him. “You think I’m disgusting, don’t you? For killing her soul?” He looked down at the floor. His breathing uneven and his body still trembling. Whatever dark forces are following you is too overwhelming for him. He can no longer walk away as his back touched the wall behind him. “The body dies. The soul lives forever. I needed a house for my soul. I needed to experience the world. Is that hard to understand, Ji?” He flinched at the nickname you called him; the nickname that he used to love hearing. You were devious. Something evil is embracing you and he can feel every inch of it. The last thing he saw was your sweet smile and gentle eyes at him as his consciousness fades in the background.

“It took you long enough to realize what was going. Mom’s going to be mad but it’s the hundredth body you brought here.”

“Absolutely. Mom didn’t want me to be like you. But I like the feeling of it.” You looked at the unconscious Jisung lying lifelessly in the middle of a drawn red circle. Candles were surrounding his body. “You know what. I won’t get all the credits. He’s a curious boy. He loves ghost hunting so much. I didn’t need to lure him at all. Too bad, I did like him a lot though.”

“Maybe we can keep his soul around here if you liked him so much. We won’t consume his soul for you. But that’s only if he’ll be one of us.” The soul of the living is what makes all of you alive in this world. You don’t have to cross the afterlife as long as you have the soul of a living person in you. You hummed in response, “Well, I hope he accepts your offer then.”

“Even if he accepts my offer, you’ll kill him anyhow. Just the way you killed your mom and sisters before.”

“They were being annoying dad! You know that. We did nothing wrong. There’s nothing wrong with practicing black magic, I believe. Mom was being unreasonable and she deserved it.” Your eyes were sharp and your tone changed into a fierce one.

“Anyway, so tell me. Did I pass the test, dad?” You continued. Your voice is as sweeter as the smile you offered him.

“Absolutely, my love. ”

November 05 - Friday

“Two high school students had been missing for five days after planning on visiting the infamous Cursed Red House. They had been identified as Park Jisung and Y/N. Whether they indeed go to the Cursed Red House or not, officials had yet to find out. Information about this matter had remained unknown. Whether they got lost due to supernatural reasons or whether there’s a kidnapper in the lost had remained a mystery. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Woodville Police.” The reporter stated and photos of you and Jisung appeared on the television’s monitor.

Inside the Cursed Red House, two newly added photo frames hanging in the hallway appeared. It was a picture of the body you used and Jisung. Both of which were smiling at the portrait. Along with the photos are hundreds of pictures of various people of different backgrounds posted on the wall. They were just two of the hundreds of people who attempted and failed to uncover the secret of the said house.

----------

#nct scenarios #jisung scenarios #nct imagines #nct dream scenarios #nct #nct dream #nct 2020 #park jisung #nct fanfic

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mrs-monaghan · 9 months

Note

Hey Shaz it's my bd but unfortunately I'm not celebrating it so I came to your blog bcuz it brings me joy so I was wandering if you could mention some jikook sus moments that made you a jikooker with or without receipt. Thank you

Why are u not celebrating? 🥺 Happy Birthday my lovely!!!

Please be happy today. No matter what.

I did not believe in Jikook because of a single moment. I talk about my journey here. I have Mizgator to thank for my current state 🤭🤭

So since that's that, guess I'll just find u some random sus Jikook moments for your birthday 😁😁

Exhibit a) Run Bts episode 133 members were supposed to identify the lips presented and Jimin did not even hesitate for a second before saying which lips were JK's

I find that highly suspicious, don't you?

Exhibit b) Jimin messing up during a live and saying this is our room

He corrects himself but its too late. Armys caught it. Jikook and sharing hotel rooms... An ongoing saga. Wbk 😁

Exhibit c) Jimin going from this

To this

Satellite Jimin at work. At least he was subtle.🤭🤭

Exhibit d)

Right. Now watch that again and notice that where JK touches is most definitely NOT where Jimin hit him. You are not in pain JK, just say you want Mimi's attention and go

Exhibit e) Jimin is Jungkook's toy and he likes the way JK plays with him

I.... don't even know where to begin with this one, anon...

Exhibit f) Its common knowledge in the fandom that Jimin likes to bend the candles when he prepares cakes for members

So when JK's brother posted his birthday cake that one time....

Two plus two is 4 minus one is 3 quick maths! 🎵🎵 man's not hot. 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾

Exhibit g) i believe is self explanatory

#feels 🥺🥺

Exhibit h) Is not really sus. I just wanted to throw it in here coz I find it so cute!!! Jimin didn't want JK to be left out. The way he yells for JK over and over will always be sooooo funny to me. Best part being JK's face

He's like; babe, calm tf down, I'm here 😂😂😂

No, but this habit of Jimin always being responsible for JK amuses the hell out of me. Whether its telling him to put his toe socks away or apologising to the flying yoga teacher for JK's behaviour, I just love to see it guys. Rare moments of Jimin actually acting like the hyung he is 😂😂😂

Exhibit h) Bon Voyage 1 episode 4. As they prepare to take the photo;

After the photo has been taken, Boom!

I love when JK doesn't even try to be subtle. Anygays, teleport JK ftw 🙌🏽

Exhibit i) Bon Voyage sn 2 episode 3. Members are playing for pocket money and it's JK's last chance.

He had failed before and didn't have any money so he was nervous

Guess who else was nervous?

Birthday anon that's kinda sus, no? Why is Jimin nervous? He wasn't nervous when other members were playing, why nervous for JK? Guess he was worried about his baby not getting anything to eat 🥺🥺

Exhibit j) Last but not least, is not sus at all, its just me throwing shade because I can 😌 Bon voyage season 4

V as JK's co-driver:

Vs Jimin as JK's co-driver.

He he he heee 🤭🤭🤭🤭

Anyone who's watched it can confirm that this isn't me being an unreliable narrator. This actually happened. Tkk were so.... they were just there. While Jikook on the other hand were having the time of their lives. ☕☕

Happy Birthday anon! All the best 😘😘😘

#jikook feels #jikook is real #if jikook isn't real then neither am i #ask shaz #bts ask #jikook #kookmin #minkook #jimin and jungkook #jimin #jungkook #park jimin #jeon jungkook #bts #jikook analysis #run jikook #bon voyage jikook #the shade

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emeraldbabygirl · 3 years

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ATEEZ - Answer I’ve already stated why this song made me cry when I reviewed it over the summer. To attempt to put it shortly, I feel a sense of almost relief? It makes me feel proud of the boys in general and the songs feels like overcoming an obstacle and coming out stronger and just feeling overwhelmed by joy and happiness? And the part at the end really makes me just burst into tears it feels uplifting and beautiful.

MCND - Beautiful this song give me this nostalgia feeling, it sounds similar to a pop song I first heard in middle school (Down by Jay Sean). I started listening to pop in middle school and middle school is hell for everyone along with high school but there’s certain memories I have of middle school that weren’t too bad. I had a lot of friends, we filled up an entire table in the cafeteria. It was also in middle school that I sort of confessed to both my crushes. Middle school was different and new to me and ya’know middle school but this song reminds me of those times. Also about the song itself it gives me this feeling of longing and want like longing to fall in love and just it’s very strong and that really gets to me. (Upon looking up the lyrics it’s seems more like a song for the fans rather than a love song but that’s just the feeling it gives me and the way I interpret it)

Secret Number - Got That Boom recently this song has been making me feel things. Just the chorus is so upbeat and it feel like I can relax and just dance my heart out and just be happy and I don’t know if these girls will become an Itzy situation but there’s definitely something about the song that gives me kind of a similar feeling. I feel happy

CIX - Cinema ok so I never thought CIX would have this effect on me and up until recent songs didn’t give me these feelings and make me cry unless the song itself was sad. The way it’s been lately the songs I listen to can really sit with me and make me feel emotional even if the song is happy and upbeat. The way Cinema is, I’ve never used this phrasing before with anything, but the way I cried while just listening to the bridge and chorus in Cinema, that song is truly my safe place. Like my friend said “it feels like a hug” it does. That chorus gives me a feeling of nostalgia but in a way that makes it feel okay and it’s not a feeling that’s upsets me it’s literally a hug, it’s like a warm hug it feels like, like when I listen to it the way the members make their voices sound it’s relaxing and calming. It’s like whenever I hear the song, even if I’m watching a performance of it I feel calm, I feel okay. Like every bone in my body is at ease, every worry is melting away and I’m almost just floating on a cloud. I don’t exactly know how to put these feelings and emotions into words but I cannot praise Cinema enough.

OneWe & OneUs - Last Song this song is very upbeat and makes me feel joy and it doesn’t make me feel safe persay but it’s comforting. It’s another song that gives me a sense of longing. It’s like seeing an old friend again and reconnecting, like the ending credits to a really wholesome and wonderful movie about friendship and love amoung these friends that never stops growing. Just seeing all the clips in the mv of Oneus and Onewe together having fun and enjoying each other’s company, it’s almost like an end of summer recap having all these fun adventures and fun memories that you never want to forget and you will always cherish those memories and you want to keep those friends with you forever. And seeing them perform the song together on stage, the choreo has the same vibe it’s just a really feel good and wholesome song. (Also thinking about it now there also seems to be this sadness, like, ok in short sometimes I get really upset when I think about how I’m not little anymore. More on that later but this song feels like you’re just trying to be in the moment and preserve your youth, you don’t want to grow up, you don’t want things to change you want your friends to be with you always and you just want to live in this memory that you’ve captured foever and never grow up. That emotion is really strong here as well.)

Loona - Star a lot of people said this song gave them nostalgic feels and it’s crazy how that happened, it did for me too, as soon as I heard the chorus it hit me like a truck. I really don’t have the words to describe this song really other than that weird nostalgic feeling but it was weird how a lot of us had that feeling. The mv is beautiful and it’s crazy how I had memorized the chorus in the Korean version within a few days of watching them perform it. I really don’t know what to say about this song other than how amazing it is really. It kinda takes you back to a certain time in your life but I don’t know what that time it. Someone had said that they were listening to it while their mum was a asleep and the mum dreamed she was back in her hometown and she could hear that song play in the streets, it almost seems as if that song has time traveling powers or some power truly beyond humans lmao. She’s really something

Dreamcatcher - Odd Eye this song is hella but the bridge and the hard rock in the chorus sent me into fight or flight for the first time. I got another nostalgia feeling but with an image which never happens to me but basically picture it raining hard and you have extreme feelings of sadness and dread and you just want to almost scream?

Ghost9 - Thinking of Dawn another fight or flight song, it’s really weird tho but specifically Prince’s line in the bridge or chorus gave me a panic attack the first time I heard it, there’s something about the way the song and his voice sounds that like upsets me? And makes me want to cry. (Almost like this impending doom feeling. Similar vibes actually to that cursed Artificial Intelligence movie that I fucking loathe so goddamn much)

Twice - Cry for Me gurl this song gives me nostalgia like an early 2000’s but maybe late 90’s pop song and wow, it’s just so damn good I had to put it here

Sunmi - Pporoppipiiram - this song is another one that kinda plays with my emotions, I’ve described it as running away in the night with a secret lover, I’ve talked about wanting to just have these crazy night time shenanigans with a lover or friend and feeling free, it’s a song that I can see a sunrise in my head, the opening sounds and smells like a sunrise during the summer, possibly on the beach seeing the sun’s rays lighting up the ocean, the soft pink and orange glow, what Sunmi perfectly portrays in that mv is exactly what goes on in my mind whenever I listen to that song and she’s a certified bop™️ and that song is just so lovely but she’s got some feeling to it

2Z - Not Without You - motherfuckin 2Z came out with this song after Hyungwoong left and I was still upset about him leaving but I still wanted to support 2Z cause I wasn’t about to give up on them like that and the way this song was carried was gorgeous. I clearly cried, the way the song and the members voices make you feel comforted and kind of at peace with the world. It’s an uplifting song and the member’s sound wonderfully and Zunon’s voice was actually what brought me to tears, his singing is so gentle and truly beautiful and he fits right in with 2Z and when I realized that and I realized that 2Z can do all these things with their voices I just couldn’t help but cry. This song is like a huge sigh of relief but also tears of happiness

2Z - Stand nothing really specific about this song just the mv made me fucking cry at like 5 in the am. There was a big sad feeling tho

Yooa - Bon Voyage I never expected Yooa to get a solo but I was so blown away for her solo. It’s not a song that is a bop or really upbeat but it’s a gorgeous piece and with the way it sounds and the set and her outfits. It’s really the whole fantasy theme. It takes you away to a make believe world where you are free and you can just get away and escape. I don’t really know how to describe it but the scene where she’s on like rocks and she’s just spinning and it’s got that cool sound to the song, that scene describes the feeling perfectly

Pentagon - Daisy this fucking song. First off fuck you Pentagon for making me feel emotions yet making Yuto and Hongseok go tits up. Just seeing them all on the floor looking defeated or at a loss, it’s a painful feeling. It’s a song that makes me feel bad and towards the end I felt this feeling of fight or flight like, I wanted to stop watching it because I felt this inner panic for some reason like I had to get away. And then when they all sing together that really did me in, made me tear up and it’s a beautiful song but not in a beautiful way it’s painfully beautiful and the boys did so well in portraying all the feeling through their voices and just the different scenes in the mv

BlackPink - Lovesick Girls this song I call my self proclaimed anthem, I heard it for the first some time and it wasn’t until I watched them perform it for the first time that I teared up. At the time this happened I was really sad and I kept “slipping” so I felt very touch starved and clingy and I wanted just love and affection from anyone. I was feeling really lonely and the feeling was stronger than it’s ever been it I felt like crying all the time I was just so upset that I was lonely and I really wanted love and affection and this song was like my therapy for that I guess? I didn’t feel so alone. There’s a strong emotional bond I have with this, the desire and the need to fall in love and to just have attention from that one special person. I know the song is kind of about just feeling like you’re not cut out for falling in love and you know every relationship ends but there’s still that need, that desire to fall in love and be in love with another person, and with me I always say I don’t want to be in a relationship, I hate men, love is disgusting, but there’s thing strong desire and need inside me to be loved and to fall in love and sometimes, like when this song came out, you just get so upset that it feels like your heart is like in pain, like you hurt on the inside. That whole “hurts your heart” shit

Itzy - Wannabe I’m actually not going to explain why this song makes me cry I’m not ready to give the whole story yet and I probably won’t be. So in short, I heard this song when I was at quite a low point in my life I suppose, problems at work were just causing me to truly feel like shit and this song really hit me and actually the Wannabe era is what made me stan Itzy those girls are so precious to me and I hold them so close to my heart they are little miracles honestly and that song just really sits with me

I highly recommend all these songs they are so good and they have such beautiful and great mvs to go with them, some even cinematic masterpieces also this finna be my playlist for my funeral honestly. She doubles as the ‘play this at my funeral’ playlist

#she can’t come to the phone rn and you can bet the entire state of washington on that #ateez #mcnd #secret number #cix #onewe #oneus #loona #dreamcatcher #ghost9 #twice #sunmi #oh my girl #omg #yooa #2z #pentagon #blackpink #itzy

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btsandvmin · 4 years

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Hello!I just want to say that i love your analyses, they always make me think more about the whole dynamic of the group.I was wondering if you're going to write something about bv4 and all the vmin we got there.Or the vmin we got at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020.Why are they getting away with it and does it seem like BigHit is preparing something for vmin in the new album.Also it's unfair how every small jikook or vkook moment is talked about but the big vmin moments are ignored...

Hi! You had a lot covered in this ask, but let me start with saying thank you! :) I’m glad you like my analyses and that they make you look and think about the whole group, not just Vmin.

I will have to write something about Bon Voyage for sure, because it was an amazing season in terms of Vmin moments (though one could argue all seasons have been). 2019 and so far 2020 has been really good for us and I am definitely not complaining.

And I think Vmin “get away with it” for the same reasons they always have, no one really bothers to question most of the things they do anymore and it’s mostly seen as platonic. I also think that they have become more open gradually, so since it’s not something that has happened suddenly and they always have a lot of good moments not many will notice how they have started to do things more often now that they rarely did a few years back.

I also think we shouldn’t get too used to it, because even if I do think they have gotten more comfortable with showing some things publicly there are always highs and lows when it comes to moments for any ship. So be careful if a few months from now some people start shouting Vmin is dead or has fallen apart, because honestly that happens all the time in periods with less moments. And then BOOM something like Bon Voyage comes along or Vmin decides to hold hands for no reason at the airport and has us all melting (for good reason).

Also I wouldn’t say I think Big Hit is preparing something, I was hoping for a Vmin unit but I really don’t think the odds are in our favor to get anything, or at least not much. I do hope the theme of Vmin being opposites/two parts of a whole etc will be used in this comeback as well to continue from HER and TEAR. But I guess we don’t have to wait much longer to see.

As for why Vmin gets less attention than other ships, it’s just because those fandoms are bigger and also make everything into a huge deal. So far Vmin shippers are more chill, and I think we should actually be happy about this. We don’t want to become the ship everyone hates with everyone assuming you are delulu just because you like a certain pair. Something that will happen if too many start to hype things that aren’t a big deal or make anything into having a deeper meaning. It’s also better for Vmin themselves if the fans try to stay a bit lowkey. We can enjoy all the great Vmin we get without getting angry that other shippers don’t notice, shipping is personal after all. :)

But yeah, I can’t quite believe what a great year 2019 was for us, and I hope 2020 will live up to the expectations. Thank you again for the ask. <3

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hongugu · 3 years

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Best Kpop Songs of 2020

My rules for this were very loose like these are supposed to be title tracks but I’m pretty sure there are like, digital singles on this list, or just songs that had a music video...? Some of them don’t even have a video but they were promoted still IIIiiI don’t fucking know whatever. I also wasn’t sure if I should count songs like Dynamite, Ice Cream, or 100 Ways? Because they’re in all English but they’re from kpop artists??? But then I did anyway so whatever it’s not that deep.

>> Listen to it on Spotify <<

(the spotify list is backwards) (or i guess this list is backwards) (so like this one ends with the best song) (the spotify playlist starts with the best song) (because logic)

250 Kang Daniel: 2U 249 Sechskies: All For You 248 VAV: Made For Two 247 Demian: Karma 246 E’Last: Tears of Chaos 245 woo!ah!: Bad Girl 244 Momoland: Starry Night 243 EXO-SC: 1 Billion Views 242 Baekhyun: Candy 241 VOISPER: Keep GOing 240 PinkFantasy: Shadow Play 239 D1CE: Draw You 238 BoA: Better 237 Zico: Summer Hate 236 Miso: Blessed 235 MCND: Top Gang 234 TST: Count Down 233 IZ: The Day 232 Onewe: Q 231 DIA: Hug U 230 UNVS: Sand Castle 229 NCT U: Work It 228 Taeyeon: Happy 227 WJSN: Butterfly 226 Saturday: DBDBDIB 225 Dongkiz: Lupin 224 3YE: Yessir 223 Kang Daniel: Who U Are 222 DKB: Still 221 Dawn: Dawndididawn 220 Natty: Teddy Bear 219 Moonbin & Sanha: Bad Idea 218 Weeekly: Zig Zag 217 Rocket Punch: Juicy 216 Super Junior: 2YA2YAO! 215 Blackswan: Tonight 214 Cravity: Break All the Rules 213 Hyolyn: Say My Name 212 Bling Bling: G.G.B 211 SF9: Good Guy 210 DKB: Sorry Mama 209 DKB: Work Hard 208 BerryGood: Accio 207 Kai: Mmmh 206 Wonho: Open Mind 205 Mamamoo: Wanna Be Myself 204 Huh Chanmi: Lights 203 Ryu Sujeong: Tiger Eyes 202 WJSN Chocome: Hmph! 201 Botopass: Flamingo

200 Lunarsolar: Oh Ya Ya Ya 199 Jamie: Apollo 11 198 Nature: Bing Bing 197 DreamNote: Wish 196 Elris: Jackpot 195 Cherry Bullet: Aloha Oe 194 P1Harmony: Siren 193 Momoland: Ready or Not 192 NCT U: 90′s Love 191 Golden Child: Pump It Up 190 Zico: Any Song 189 Victon: Mayday 188 Jeong Sewoon: Say Yes 187 Cravity: Flame 186 MCND: nanana 185 Lee Daehwi: Rose, Scent, Kiss 184 Taeyeon: #GirlsSpkOut 183 Refund Sisters: Don’t Touch Me 182 CNBlue: Then, Now and Forever 181 Super Junior: The Melody 180 1TEAM: Ullaeli Kkollaeli 179 K/DA: More 178 TOO: Count 1, 2 177 Gfriend: Mago 176 AleXa: Villain

175 fromis_9: Feel Good (Secret Code) 174 Drippin: Nostalgia 173 1THE9: Bad Guy 172 KNK: Ride 171 Rocket Punch: Bouncy 170 ANS: Say My Name 169 Nature: Girls 168 MCND: Spring 167 Momoland: Thumbs Up 166 Dongkiz: All I Need Is You 165 Hyolyn: 9Lives 164 TOO: Magnolia 163 J.Y.Park & Sunmi: When We Disco 162 Xum: Ddalala 161 Youngha: Dark Cloud 160 Ong Seongwu: Gravity 159 Verivery: Thunder 158 Oneus: Bbusyeo 157 HA:TFELT: La Luna 156 Ong Seongwu: We Belong 155 Gfriend: Crossroads 154 Park Jihoon: Wing 153 WEi: Twilight 152 YooA: Bon Voyage 151 SuperM: Tiger Inside

150 April: Now or Never 149 Ha Sungwoon: Forbidden Island 148 Lovelyz: Obliviate 147 Secret Number: Who Dis? 146 ENOi: Cheeky 145 AleXa: Do or Die 144 HYO: Dessert 143 Victon: Howling 142 æspa: Black Mamba 141 Soyou: Gotta Go 140 MCND: Ice Age 139 Kim Kyunghoon, Kim Heechul, BIBI: Hanryang 138 Moonbyul: Eclipse 137 Secret Number: Got That Boom 136 WayV: Bad Alive (the Korean one thank u) 135 GOT7: Not By the Moon 134 NCT127: Punch 133 XRO: Welcome to My Jungle 132 Donkiz: Beautiful 131 Kim Wooseok: Red Moon 130 Han Seungwoo: Sacrifice 129 Blackpink: Ice Cream 128 Gfriend: Apple 127 UP10TION: Light 126 Blackpink: Lovesick Girls 125 GOT7: Breath 124 Verivery: G.B.T.B. 123 CL: +HWA+ 122 Irene & Seulgi: Monster 121 K/DA: The Baddest 120 Cherry Bullet: Hands Up 119 Lucy: Jogging 118 Twice: More & More 117 AleXa: Revolution 116 LeeHi: Holo 115 Day6 (Even of Day): Where the Sea Sleeps 114 B1A4: Like a Movie 113 Park Jihoon: Gotcha 112 Ghost9: W.ALL 111 Enhypen: Given-Taken 110 BAE173: Crush On U 109 SuperM: One (Monster & Infinity) 108 Max Changmin: Chocolate 107 Pentagon: Dr. Bebe 106 NCT Dream: Ridin’ 105 Verivery: Lay Back 104 Mino: Run Away 103 Ghost9: Think of Dawn 102 SuperM: 100 101 Weeekly: Tag Me (@Me)

100 Natty: Nineteen 099 Somi: What You Waiting For 098 Jessi: Nunu Nana 097 CLC: Helicopter 096 TxT: Blue Hour 095 (G)I-DLE: Dumdi Dumdi 094 Oh My Girl: Nonstop 093 Solar: Spit It Out 092 Monsta X: Love Killa 091 HA:TFELT: Life Sucks 090 AKMU: Happening 089 Lee Suhyun: Alien 088 Kard: Red Moon 087 Treasure: Mmm 086 Golden Child: Without You 085 AB6IX: The Answer 084 Hwasa: Maria 083 Sunmi: pporappippam 081 Jamie: Numbers 080 Yook Sungjae: Come With the Wind 079 Jackson Wang: 100 Ways 078 The Boyz: The Stealer 077 Dreamcatcher: Boca 076 The Boyz: Reveal

075 Treasure: Boy 074 (G)I-DLE: Oh My God 073 BTS: Dynamite 072 Woodz: Bump Bump 071 Itzy: Not Shy 070 Twice: I Can’t Stop Me 069 Chungha: Stay Tonight 068 Astro: Knock 067 Onewe: End of Spring 066 Iz*One: Panorama 065 NCT U: Make A Wish (Birthday Song) 064 Everglow: Dun Dun 063 Kard: Gunshot 062 AB6IX: Salute 061 GWSN: Bazooka! 060 Winner: Hold 059 Nu’est: I’m In Trouble 058 NCT 127: Kick It 057 Zico: Refresh 056 SF9: Summer Breeze 055 E’Last: Swear 054 Kim Namjoo: Bird 053 CIX: Jungle 052 IU: eight 051 Mamamoo: Dingga

050 Stella Jang: Villain 049 Heize: Midnight 048 Monsta X: Fantasia 047 BTS: ON (feat. Sia)--I’m just kidding lmao but could u imagine 046 Itzy: Wannabe 045 cignature: Nun Nu Nan Na 044 Taemin: Criminal 043 Agust D: Daechwita 042 Blackpink: How You Like That 041 Dreamcatcher: Scream 040 Woodz: Love Me Harder 039 ONF: Sukhumvit Swimming 038 Oneus: To Be Or Not To Be 037 Loona: So What 036 April: LaLaLiLaLa 035 Everglow: La Di Da 034 Pentagon: Daisy 033 Stray Kids: Back Door 032 Treasure: I Love You 031 cignature: Assa 030 Eric Nam: Paradise 029 Mamamoo: Aya 028 Weki Meki: Cool 027 cignature: Arisong 026 BTS: Life Goes On

025 Eric Nam: How You Been 024 Oneus: A Song Written Easily 023 A.C.E: Goblin (Favorite Boys) 022 Loona: Why Not? 021 Golden Child: One (Lucid Dream) 020 StayC: So Bad 019 Taemin: Idea (理想) 018 Iz*One: Fiesta 017 Weki Meki: Oopsy 016 Bvndit: Jungle 015 Ateez: Inception 014 Seventeen: Left & Run 013 Apink: Dumhdurum 012 Weki Meki: Dazzle Dazzle 011 Loona: Voice

010 Iz*One: Secret Story of the Swan 009 Ateez: Thanxx 008 TxT: Can’t You See Me? 007 Seventeen: Home;Run 006 Chungha: Play 005 N.Flying: Oh really. 004 Ateez: Answer 003 Day6: Zombie 002 BTS: Black Swan 001 Stray Kids: God’s Menu

Remember when I used to link all of these to their youtube videos? Hahhha yeah, that’s not happening this year :”D

#kpop #best of 2020 #misc*#yeah id give my life for most songs up until like #roughly the 175-200 range #lotsa good songs

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jamkookies · 4 years

Text

Epilogue: Red Moon

Description : A trip to Malta for the shooting of Bon Voyage seems peaceful enough until the moment things take an unexpected turn...

Word count: 7,4k

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You could hear the hushed voices that broke the silence and along with it the quiet buzz of traffic behind the glass panes. They were trying not to wake you up but what they didn't know was that you'd already been awake this whole time, only choosing to close your eyes for the sake of trying to satiate your inner turmoil.

"What did he say?" A voice you would recognize anywhere and anytime. Jungkook's arm was comfortably draped around your back, allowing your head to lean on his warm, familiar chest. It felt more like home now that you knew that you were going there...

A tap on a screen. A rustle of clothes.

"He said they're all waiting for us at the dorm." Another voice but this one you'd missed hearing for a long time.

Namjoon.

"Good." Jungkook's low voice vibrates through his chest. He sighs wistfully. "I hope everything goes well from now on. I'm tired."

"Don't worry. It's over now, " you hear Namjoon reply. Then, a hesitant pause. "How is she?"

"I'm alive and well, Joon-Hyung. Thanks for asking," you mumble with your face mushed into Jungkook's chest, eyes still closed. The latter flinches slightly and tilts his head down, trying to see if you'd really been the one talking. "I thought you were asleep."

"How can I when the both of you won't stop babbling?" You turn to stare at the boy sitting across from you.

Namjoon smiles sheepishly and two small dimples appear on his cheeks. "Sorry."

It was not easy to describe the warm sensation you felt blooming in your chest, spreading its colorful tendrils into a series of explosions. Weird, to realize the importance of some people in your life, how their absence could turn your heart into a hollow, a barren crater. Only now that he was right in front of your eyes did you understand that you'd grown used to being around your loved ones. Keeping yourself apart from them did not particularly make you happy.

Namjoon's smile disappears as his forehead creases into a line. "Jungkook, will you please hand her over for a second for goodness' sake? You've been with her all this time. It's my turn now."

You momentarily freeze, surprise written all over your face. All these years of living with him had made you hesitate about being too clingy since you knew perfectly well that he wasn't a fan of overly physical contact. Sure, you'd hugged a bit earlier back at the building but that was it. Namjoon liked short, quick interactions but now that he was demanding extra cuddling himself, you didn't really know how to react.

Jungkook disentangles himself from you and gives your body a slight push towards the boy waiting with open arms. You sit down next to him, a bit hesitant at first but Namjoon ends the awkwardness by throwing his arm around your shoulders, pulling you in for a side hug. You breathe him in, trying to absorb that scent of solace. It eased every strain on your muscles; you could feel it from the way you just sag into his arms.

"I missed you," Namjoon whispers softly and strokes your back with the flat of his palm.

"I missed you more," you sigh.

Through a crack in Namjoon's elbow, you peek at Jungkook on the opposite seat, smiling endearingly at the scene unfolding in front of him. "What are you smiling at?" you murmur in distaste.

"I'm not smiling, " Jungkook quickly regains his composure and wipes off the dumb-looking expression.

"You were, actually, " Namjoon confirms.

"Hyung!" the boy complains, utterly shocked at the unexpected betrayal. You find the corners of your lips upturn, delighted from these harmless quarrels that reminded you of the way you'd always been with each other. Playful, mischievous and happy.

"Now you're the one smiling, " you find Jungkook staring at you unabashedly. You change your expression with lightning speed, just as he'd done earlier. "Oh shut up, Jungkook."

"It's a shame that the both of you didn't pursue acting, " Namjoon intervenes. "I was really speechless at your little game back there with manager-nim."

"I didn't even know it was gonna work, " you admit. "I was just hoping he would fall for the trick."

"You did well, though, " Jungkook says. "At first I almost thought you were being for real. But then you dropped the hint and I went along with the game."

"What hint?" Namjoon asks.

"She said the words 'fake it' and stared at me so hard, it was impossible not to tell. Besides-" he throws a leg across his knee. "- I know you would never say those things about me."

You look away and choose to stare hard at the scenery skipping past your eyes, the presence of Namjoon suddenly making you too self-conscious. He rapidly switches glances between you and Jungkook, trying to make sense of it all. "I don't understand what's going on."

"It doesn't matter. Jungkook-Hyung will explain it to you later, " you clarify for him.

They both do a double-take, one giving you a death glare while the other just a confused one. "Why are you calling me that, Y/N?" the former demands. "Namjoon-hyung already knows about us."

This whole situation didn't sit well with you. You don't take your eyes off the window but choose to talk with their obscure reflections instead. "But the others-"

"Y/N, literally everyone knew about the two of you, " Namjoon's reflection says. "You were the one who took the longest to realize it."

This was crazy. Even after all the hell you'd been through, you still felt concerned over their thoughts and opinions and the light they saw you in. Were they okay with it? Did they feel angry? Betrayed? Disappointed? Just what did they feel?

You rest your forehead on the glass pane of the window and shut your eyes tight. There was a throbbing ache in between your brows that was growing more and more intense and you just wanted it gone. "What do I do? Tell me, please. I'm tired, " you drawl the words out.

"First, you stop whining, that's what you should do, " Jungkook's slightly irritated voice causes your eyelids to shoot open, vision straying out of focus.

"Jungkook, it's better if you-"

"No, hyung. She's been going on like this since I can remember. I already told her that I was being serious about us and I don't think the others would ever say anything against it but she just doesn't want to admit it. It's always the people. Always the damn people. Well, screw the people. I don't even care at this po- why won't you look at me?"

As if on cue, your eyes raise deliberately towards the glass till they hold his stare. His hands are paused mid-air, strangely resembling a choking position. The heat in his words had been real after all. "Don't turn your back on me, " he continues, his voice an octave lower.

You turn around.

Jungkook lowers his hands into his lap. "Stop making things harder. It's not that deep."

Your lips crack into an uncontainable smirk. "You're such a bastard. Joon-hyung, can you believe I love this idiot?"

"Idiots love idiots, I guess, " Namjoon answers.

Jungkook's booming laugh echoes across the small space of the car. "Nice one, hyung. Wait, did you just call me-"

"You have no evidence, " Namjoon defends himself.

Now you're the one exploding into a frenzy of manic laughter. This whole situation had made a one-eighty flip, any traces of gloom now utterly forgotten.

"You shut up, " Jungkook sneers.

"Make me, " you reply.

"I'll throw you out of the car."

"I'll bash your head into the window."

He sticks his tongue at you.

You do the same.

"Sir, how much longer?" Namjoon yells at the driver.

* * *

The dorm has never looked more beautiful in your eyes. You'd experienced something similar to it hundreds of times. The numerous tours you did throughout the year would often make your homesickness unbearable so when you came back, nothing could top the familiar way your old blanket would pool in the floor, accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate in your hand.

Despite the eagerness to join the others after so long, you still dread having to explain everything all over again. You just didn't want to dwell on the past anymore, no matter how visible the results were to the present.

As soon as the car stops, you take a deep breath before doing anything else. "Are you okay?" Namjoon asks, concern evident on his face.

"No, " you admit.

He'd probably been waiting for you to go through the usual procedure; pretend to be fine and suck it up. Well, you don't. After all, you'd promised not to pretend anymore.

"It's okay. You will be, " he assures.

As if to emphasize this very fact, Jungkook intertwines your hands together and opens the car door. He pulls you close to him, Namjoon not far behind and after a few steps, the three of you are standing in front of the main entrance. The way you nod a silent salute at the bodyguards in each corner has changed just like the brand new lenses you now see them through.

Jungkook rings the bell. Not even two seconds have passed when the door flies open, an angry-looking Hoseok occupying the threshold. There are daggers shooting from his eyes and unfortunately, you're the target. He points a finger at you accusingly. "You owe me an apology."

You blink.

"First of all-" he throws his arms around you. "-lying is not cool. Second of all-" he squeezes you affectionately. "- don't ever act like you don't know me. I knew it was you at the airport."

You couldn't really take his words seriously while his actions said otherwise but then again, this was Hoseok you were talking about. You squeeze him back. "Sorry, hyung."

The others must have heard the pandemonium because next thing you know; a rumble of footsteps boom across the salon. The first head you peep from Hoseok's shoulder is Yoongi's, who is speeding towards you with his signature grandpa run. You're not even left a moment to breathe as he crashes into you as soon as Hoseok lets go. "Oh thank God. Don't you ever do that again. Ever." He guides your head onto the crook of his neck, laying it for support as he squeezes the life out of you.

Overwhelmed was an understatement. You were feeling all sorts of things, the kinds of which you'd never felt before. They were all worried sick, you knew that but you'd never seen them act like this. Still, you had yet to wait for a series of scoldings and simultaneous hugs.

Out of nowhere, the inseparable duo of Jimin and Taehyung pops up. You're immediately ripped off from Yoongi's embrace and dragged like a rag doll through the floor as both of them throw themselves at you. Normally, you would've been able to hold their weight just fine; the practice of all those years of fights had trained you more than enough, but now you just drop like a sack of potatoes, Tae's and Jimin's faces looming over you from above.

For some strange reason, they always seemed to forget that you had some girl things on your chest that didn't exactly allow you to play around freely. At this moment, Taehyung's elbow digs painfully on the spot right next to your armpit, which meant really close to the area of danger. They were weighing you down on each side like two overgrown pigs.

"Do you want to go first?" Jimin asks his partner in crime while boring holes with his eyes into your face.

"No, I'll let you do the honors, " the latter answers while mirroring his actions.

"Hey, lay off her!" Namjoon scorns them. "She's tired." They still remain on top of you, indifferent to their hyung's words. Then, Jimin's playfully serious face turns genuine for a moment and you detect the look of concern that flashes behind his eyes. "You really scared us you, idiot."

"Yeah, you did," Taehyung confirms.

You have the nerve to laugh. "Is this how you say hi to your old roommate?"

"Hey, don't exclude me!" Jimin whines.

You knee him in the groin. He doubles over in pain and rolls off your body, taking a huge chunk from the weight that had been pushing you down. Finally, you can breathe freely once again. But not quite.

Your old roommate is still frozen in his spot, not a muscle moving. You didn't know whether he was shocked or if their stupid soulmate voodoo made them feel pain on both partners but either way, you were certainly not gonna cut him any slack because of it. He notices the shift in your facial expression only a split second later and even though his hands instinctively reach for his crotch they don't manage to cover it in time. Your upper thigh hits his delicate area not so delicately if you might say. He groans and finally removes himself from your exhausted body.

Finally.

"Can't you just greet me like a normal person would?" you grunt as you support one hand to the floor to push yourself up. Jungkook easily comes to your aid and to the injured soldiers that still hadn't gotten up from the floor.

"You kinda deserved it, though, " he mumbles. You bend your knee, acting as if you're gonna hit him too and he flinches.

Hoseok's delighted chuckle brings joy in your chest. His face is back to that radiating aura, just like you remembered. It had that contagious quality to it. You would almost always notice the corners of your lips turning up as if they had a mind of their own. But after that, awkward silence.

You'd seen it coming but now that the white noise in the room turns almost deafening, you are overly aware of the situation. It's like you're the center of unwanted attention. At first, you're wondering why they were all cornering you with their glares and not even throwing a look at Jungkook but then you remember. They'd already met while you were unconscious. There was so much you needed to catch on.

You clear your throat. "So, where's Jin-hyung?"

Yoongi's face contorts in distress. "He's upstairs."

You don't miss the sudden change in his expression. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, " Hoseok interferes. "He just wasn't feeling very well."

Oh no.

His words have barely registered in your brain when you're suddenly sprinting up the stairs, swallowing them two by two with each step. You don't even think about knocking, swinging the door on his room wide open in a quick motion.

The shape of a body is discernible under the covers in the bed. It resembles a fetal position but not a strip of skin is visible. He'd covered himself up from head to toe.

"Leave me alone, " you hear his muffled voice.

"Hyung..." you hesitate.

The covers are ripped immediately from his body, his head popping out in the surface with a sharp swish. You see past the bed-head, past the lines the fabric had etched onto his skin and focus on his eyes. They widened twice the size and just like that, were hooded in surrender. Glassy.

"Y/N?"

"Hyung, " you repeat.

He pulls the covers over his head, clenching his hands tight on the edges and wrapping himself up like a mummy. You creep closer to the side of the bed and slowly approach him. "Hyung, what's wrong?"

You lay a hesitant hand where you supposed his arm was and talk hushedly, almost in a whisper. As if he were a little boy. The covers start shaking, the body underneath heaving with convulsions.

"Hyung, please don't cry. This is all my fault, please don't cry." You delicately pull the covers from him and his face emerges into the surface, glistening with undried tears. This wasn't like him. You'd never seen him like this, in this level of misery before. You couldn't understand the reason why he was so affected.

And then, suddenly everything clicks into place. He wasn't mad at you, nor bitter at that case. He was mad at himself. Being the oldest had always been a burden to him, no matter how hard he tried to deny it. It went without saying that he had responsibilities and that's why the recent events had taken a toll on him more than anyone else. He felt like it was his fault that you'd gotten yourself into all that trouble and rendered himself guilty for not being able to do anything about it.

You crouch down until your head lays on his chest and lock his waist in a warm hug. Thankfully he returns the hug and doesn't hesitate to thread his fingers through your hair. "Jin-hyung, I..."

"I know. Jungkook told us everything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• JUNGKOOK •

What is taking her so long?

It has been half an hour since she disappeared upstairs and I haven't heard a single chirp from either of them. I'm starting to get worried. "Hyung, are you sure Jin-hyung is okay?" I ask Yoongi for the nth time within the recent hour.

"He's fine, don't worry. His pride is hurt that's all."

It still baffled me that Jin-hyung had been so hurt by everything that had happened. However, I did sympathize with him to some extent. After all, he has been like a lord-protector for us all this time despite the carefree portrait everyone likes to paint him in. Only now do I realize how much can time bring out people's true colors.

"There you are!" I hear Taehyung call out at the top of his lungs. On cue, two pairs of legs make their way down the stairs, one of which attains loose white pajamas with tiny RJ figurines. Jin leans heavily onto Y/N 's shoulders as he shuffles one step after the other. I patiently wait for them to reach the bottom of the stairs before going into a frenzy of critiques. "Don't tell me you exercised right after eating again, Hyung! " I scold him in a poor attempt to get rid of the gloominess in the room. "I've told you millions of times that it makes you sick."

"Shut up, kid. What do you know? I basically raised you." He gives me that typical expressionless face when he tags along in my games. "I should've let you starve." He shakes his head pitifully.

"Hey, I paid for my own lunch!" I whine yet again.

He sighs wistfully and turns his head to Y/N who is still supporting his weight. " You better shut your boyfriend's mouth before I beat his ass."

She snorts."You'll have to get in line."

I try not to let the relief show on my face. At least she didn't blush so furiously or flinch upon hearing such terms. It took a long time for me to get rid of her unnecessary shyness, which to be honest I sometimes enjoyed, but fortunately, she now doesn't mind being called names that indicated more than just friendship.

Jimin takes the lead from Y/N, throwing Jin's arm around his own shoulders and guiding him towards the sofa. The latter plops down heavily, arching his back till the nape of his neck touches the soft fabric.

There really was something going on with him.

"Hyung..." I start, almost in a whisper but he raises a hand to stop me from going further.

"Spare me."

Why was everyone being so irritating today? I'm torn between decking Jin on the face and pulling Y/N by the hair for acting like a spoiled brat back at the car. Or even better, I could just smash their heads together and call it a day. They did seem to enjoy each other's company so much after all.

I just don't understand why is everyone acting like a drama queen all of a sudden. They'd been fine when I came bursting through the door yesterday morning, shouting cries of help in between hurried breaths. Sure, they'd been shocked at first. Who wouldn't? After all, I may or may have not spent a couple of weeks like a fugitive, without even bothering to let them know where I was that whole time. But they'd been quick to recover.

Namjoon and Yoongi had been the first ones to take over the reins, making sure I was okay before proceeding to ask me all about what happened. I'd managed to squeeze the events of the last couple of days into a hot minute, struggling to catch my breath when my throat started to dry. Almost everyone had rushed to help.

Everyone except Jin.

It was like he'd closed in on himself, building invisible walls around his frame and not letting any intruders from breaking through them. He'd silently made his way up the stairs, and locked himself up in his room, the rest of the guys way too distracted to properly pay him attention. After that, I hadn't seen him at all.

"You're staring, Jungkook."

"Oh, sorry hyung. I just got...lost in thought I guess."

"Are you really okay?" Y/N asks him again, hints of concern still visible on the creases of her forehead.

"He's fine. Stop brushing his mane so much." Namjoon pipes in.

"Did you just call me hairy?" Jin's voice raises in a pitch on the last syllable.

I feel my lips tug at their corners in amusement. Even though the memories of the past events lurked around the corners like uninvited guests, everyone seemed to be trying to bring things back to normal again. Just like the old days, playing around with each other, cracking dumb jokes once in a while. It's like I can finally breathe in peace and not worry about what fate has stored for me in the future. I have everything I want and everything I need and that's all that matters for now.

It's not long after the sun has made its wide arch over the sky, painting its canvas with strange mixes of colors. Time passed with a mind of its own, not bothering to wait for my silent prayers to cherish these peaceful moments just for a little longer. And neither did the hunger. My stomach had been whining over the last thirty minutes like a newborn baby and it wasn't intending on keeping it down anytime soon.

Thankfully, Yoongi has already taken care of that, attracting our attention with the clink of a spoon on a glass of water. "Dinner's served, fellas." He announces before taking a seat on the head of the table. We all scramble forward, abandoning whatever we were doing to take a curious look over the table.

And sure enough, it did not disappoint.

There's not an inch of bare surface as the table overflows with numerous dishes, all sorts of mouth-watering assortments and delicacies laid out like a true work of art. I don't even know where to land my eyes, the sight suddenly too overwhelming for my poor food-deprived stomach. I'd been so caught up with things during the day that I hadn't managed to give the little guy the right attention.

From the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Y/N's figure standing right by the table and drinking it all in.

Poor baby must be so hungry after all she went through.

I slap a hand over my mouth even though none of the words made it past my lips. If she ever heard me calling her that, she would punch me right in the face.

And just like that, as if she'd pried her way into my thoughts, her eyes flicker to mine and hold their stare. She notices the hand that still covers my mouth and raises her eyebrows in confusion. I pretend to scratch my chin and let my hand fall back in its place, followed by a wink I send in her direction.

She rolls her eyes and unceremoniously takes a seat.

Not letting this golden opportunity slip past my hands, I sneak my way over the crowd of boys rushing to get their hands on the food and sit right next to her. As soon as she notices my presence, a smug grin creeps its way into her features. "Missed me, Koo?"

"Kind of but don't get too full of yourself, " I reply softly.

"Oh I'm about to get full alright, " she says, eyeing a medium cooked steak with a predatory look.

"Hyung, did you really make all of this?" Taehyung asks through a mouthful of something. Bread, most likely.

"I sure did." Yoongi unconsciously puffs out his chest as he fills a glass of red wine.

"Liar. I totally saw you order from the catering service, " Hoseok accuses the poor guy, earning nothing more from him than a devilish grin disguised by the glass he lifts to his mouth.

Eventually, everyone joins the circle and the sounds of conversation are quickly replaced by the clinking of spoons, chopsticks, and glasses. The food was really that good. In between bites, I throw constant glances at Y/N, sat by my left side, but she seems too absorbed in the honey-covered pancake to pay me any mind.

I discreetly tug at her sleeve and drag her hand under the table, intertwining our fingers together. I use my thigh to support our linked hands and she abruptly stops chewing. I can't help the subtle smile that threatens to make its appearance on my face and by the looks of it, she's trying to hide it too.

Totally unbothered, I turn back my attention to the plate in front of me and stab my fork into a piece of asparagus while my other hand's thumb starts tracing smooth circles into her skin. Then she does something I really wasn't expecting. She disentangles our fingers and stretches her palm before laying it facedown on my thigh.

Caressing it.

I feel like I'm about to die right there and then. And if that wasn't enough she looks straight ahead with her lips twitching in amusement, not even throwing me a glance and somehow that's better 'cause I don't think I would be able to keep myself from squirming beneath her heavy gaze. My whole body tenses and I reach for the glass of water to cool myself down. My little game had backfired.

Just when her hand begins its ministrations, tracing meaningless patterns that grow close to dangerous areas, my eyes clash with Jimin's. He narrows his eyes at my uneasiness and then drops his glare on a spot under the table, staring at it for a moment too long. Did this guy have X-ray vision or something?

"You're holding hands, aren't you?" He states without a care in the world.

I choke on my water while Y/N quickly lets go of my thigh and proceeds to plaster a huge smile on her face. "You might wanna have to slow down with the wine, Jimin-ssi. It's getting to you."

Her remark still doesn't stop all the heads around the table from turning in our direction. I take advantage of the situation and clear my throat. "That reminds me, I know we haven't really talked about this seriously so I guess it's time we did." Y/N whips her head on her right and glares at me so intensely that it feels like she'll pounce on me and rip my throat out.

My glare on her doesn't falter either. "Do you want to go to your room and cry about it?"

She scoffs and links her arms in her chest.

"Hey, what's the matter with you two? I thought we went over this." Namjoon switches his attention from one to the other, his sense of protectiveness already taking hold of his judgment.

Y/N relents. Just barely. "Fine. This idiot over here told me that none of you is against us being in a relationship together but I'm not completely convinced. And I'm not even sure what will PD-nimm say about this. Call me stupid all you want but this is not a children's game. I want to know if I'm making anyone uncomfortable 'cause, to be honest, I don't know if I can live with that knowledge." Her breath hitches on that last part. Her words had gone lower and lower in timbre til by the end of it, even I could barely make out what she said.

I feel a pang in my chest. She was saying the truth and I was one of the people that had no doubts about it. I'd seen it beforehand how it pained her to say those words, how insecure and troubled she'd felt whenever it came to this particular topic. There's nothing more that I wanted to do except for taking that burden from her and putting it on my own shoulders.

"Y/N, you should've figured out by now that we would never do such a thing, " Jimin says quietly. One of his blinding smiles lights up his whole features and it's weird how contagious it is because I slowly feel myself smile too. "As long as you're happy, it doesn't really matter who you choose to live your life with. Right?" His eyes stop by each of the guys in a half-circle, demanding their affirmation.

"Yeah, sure, " Jin says and stretches his arms high above his head. "I mean they can have kids for all I care."

"Hyung, what the hell!"

A series of protests follow after that, each one louder and more incredulous than the other. I sneak a look at Y/N and sure enough, her eyes are crinkled at the corners, observing the scene with mild amusement.

I almost melt into a puddle right there.

"My point IS, " Jin continues. "I have no objections and I don't think anyone else has either."

Y/N smiles endearingly. "Thanks, hyung. I owe you one."

"You sure do, " he fires back. "I'm expecting a new bag by tonight."

That seems to put her gears working and then she's wincing painfully, features twisted into a look of guilt. "Hate to break it to you hyung but my credit card is disabled."

"Yeah mine too, " I chime in. "It's been like that for a while."

"Oh right." Namjoon looks as if a realization dawned upon him and his eyes grow twice the size. "I totally forgot about that."

"Forgot about what?"

There's not an ounce of sheepishness when he says the next words. "Your credit cards. I'm the one who disabled them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N

After a long session of arguments and incredulous outrage, Kim Namjoon had been forced into explaining every itsy bitsy piece of information that he apparently had been keeping from you. You had been listening intently at every word that made it past his lips with deep concentration, stopping occasionally to stop yourself from slitting his throat but in the end, you had finally managed to get the gist of it. He had disabled your credit cards so you would not be able to go anywhere and he could be sure you would remain within the country. That's right. This boy/man had it all figured it out. Who were you to compete with his 148 IQ?

You sigh once again and bury your face deeper into the pillow, seeking comfort into the soft material for a change. You couldn't believe Namjoon had played the both of you like puppeteers in his skillful hands and how exactly he had done that was beyond your comprehension. You had so much to learn from that shrewd son of a-

The door knocks. You don't bother answering. Whoever it was, they better saw that you were trying to sleep and left you alone. Careful footsteps sound across the room and make their way into your ears. Then, the bed slightly dips down and another weight joins in.

"Can you even breathe like that?"

You lift your head the slightest bit, letting the air fill your lungs before dropping it back down with a loud thump.

A chuckle.

Your curtain of hair is suddenly tucked behind your ear as Jungkook's face gets in view, his head tilted adorably to the side as he looks at you with wide eyes. "What's wrong?"

You lean your cheek into his palm. "Nothing. I just missed laying down on my bed."

He smiles at that. A stray hair escapes his own ear and gets into the way and you resist the temptation to mirror his movements. The heat in your body rises tenfold when Jungkook scoots closer and lays down by your side. It's a sight you can't seem to look away from; his cheek mushed into the pillow with the dark locks falling carelessly across his forehead and nose, yet they still can't hide the boyish sparkle in his eyes. And those same eyes dip down to the expanse of your lips. You know he's looking at them because you're doing just the same and then you're both leaning closer and closer-

"Wait," he pauses.

You freeze, worried if you'd been too straight-forward and force your hormone-driven body to stop acting with a mind of its own. Jungkook rises from the bed and tip-toes his way to the door, careful not to make a sound.

Curiosity now makes you turn around and lay on your back, observing his delicate movements with newfound interest.

He smirks and abruptly swings the door wide open in one swift motion. Six pairs of eyes are left staring at the both of you in utter shock. You don't know whether to laugh or cry at Jimin's crouched position by the threshold (he'd obviously been trying to eavesdrop with his ear stuck to the door), Taehyung's identic stance or the other guys leaning in to have a peek of their own. Even Namjoon had joined in for heaven's sake.

"Jungkook-ssi!" Jimin squeaks, a little bit more excited than necessary, even though you weren't completely sure that was the case. "We were just about to call for you. We're going on a yacht trip tonight. PD-nimm invited us. Ok, that's it." He laughs nervously and scurries away, dragging the others by their necks.

As soon as the door shuts, you explode into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "What was that?!" you gasp for breath and Jungkook is quick to join you, the sound of his melodious giggling, music to your ears.

"We caught them red-handed, " he says and locks the door.

Locks it.

Twice.

The laughter dies in your throat. He notices your change of mood and quickly explains himself. "Just to make sure."

"For what, though?" you challenge him.

This time the devilish grin is crystal clear on his face and you swear you can feel your stomach do a backflip.

"Don't play dumb, " he says in a low voice.

"Ok, I'm sorry."

His eyebrows jump all the way to his hairline. "That was fast."

You fold an arm under your neck. "Yeah, I mean you can be intimidating sometimes."

He slowly makes his way back to the bed with an angry pout and this time he tucks himself under the covers. "Stop mocking me."

A smile tugs at the corners of your lips. "Sorry, can't help it when you're so cu-" He silences you when his mouth crashes into yours with surprising force but it soon slows down into something more gentle and delicate. The soft flesh of his rosy lips caresses yours with a breathy sigh and it's all you can do not to melt into goo. Suddenly things start getting a little more heated, and the covers aren't exactly making it any easier. The sweat makes your clothes stick uncomfortably into your back and you try to shake it off but Jungkook beats you to it, grabbing a handful of the material and violently throwing it to the ground.

You've never seen him so desperate with desire, completely given in to the thoughts you were sure had been occupying his mind for a long time now. Because yours was already a mess of limbs, touches, and sounds. You'd missed feeling his skin against yours, missed raking a hand through his beautiful dark locks and giving them a light tug. That only seems to spur him on because now not only was he touching you with his hands but his torso also kept driving you higher into the mattress, desperate for some friction.

You involuntarily gasp, pulling him into you impossibly closer, until you were sure that there was no space between the two of you.

The kisses start getting sloppier as he moves his attention to the sensitive skin of your neck and grazes his teeth lightly over it. The feeling has you arching your back in pure bliss.

Your hands find their way sneaking under his shirt to feel the expanse of his muscles flexing under your touch. He suddenly lifts himself up just so he can look straight into your eyes and there are so many unspoken emotions that fleetingly pass between the both of you that you feel yourself drown in the depths of his beautiful onyx orbs.

No words.

None needed.

He smiles hesitantly and lowers himself back down, each forearm at the side of your head, re-attaching the burning skin of his lips onto yours and this goes on until you lose all sense of time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JUNGKOOK

It's been a while since I've felt so good. The warm breeze gently swaying the boat (or more exactly, the yacht), the calming crash of waves onto the shore and to top it all off, the moon has peeked its head behind the clouds, standing in its full glory. And it was red!

At first, I thought my mind had been playing tricks on me but then, sure enough, everyone was pointing at it and I felt lucky to witness such a rare thing in all my twenty years of living. It made this whole thing even more special and we made sure we enjoyed it to the fullest even though we were warned to protect our eyes. Screw it, I said to myself. You don't get to experience something like this every day.

I frown as soon as the natural phenomenon comes to an end. The edge of the celestial object slowly starts lighting up until its whole surface goes back to its original color.

I flick my eyes to the boys sitting down in a circle around me, carefully checking their reactions and somehow, hers seems to stand out the most, with her lips turned down at the edges. It looks so cute on her I can barely hold myself from scooting closer and gifting her with a death hug.

"Hey, Jungkook your hair's gotten really long, man, " Hoseok says while examining it closely.

"He needs a haircut." Yoongi states.

"NO!" I yell and my voice mixes with another just to find out that Y/N had yelled the same thing. I hold my snort.

"Wow, they're such love pigeons."

"I know, right?"

I brush past the mocking remarks with a smile of my own and focus my attention on her for now. I can't stop my mind from replaying the glimpses of memory from moments earlier. The bits and pieces refuse to leave me be.

"Hey, Y/N why don't you play that new song for us?" I drag my eyes away from her and look at the outstretched Guittar Jin is offering her way. My eyes almost pop out of my sockets.

A song?

She raises her palms up in protest. "It's just a demo-"

"Aww c'mon, do it for your boyfriend," Taehyung whines while gesturing at me and there's nothing she can do except for accepting the musical instrument and placing it atop her lap.

"Don't laugh, " she warns and I almost do.

Then her whole posture changes and she scrunches her eyebrows in deep concentration.

Twinkle in your eyes

Brighter than the sun

An imposed lie

Triggering the gun

You said don't be scared

Please don't let me go

I was unprepared

For your change of soul

Steal me

Thieve me

Please don't you leave me

Craters of my heart filling up tonight

Trick me

Tease me

Say that you need me

Turn to the moon and tell her I'm alright.

She finishes the song with a dumb smile plastered on her face but I'm not sure which one of us looks the dumbest right now.

She's caught us all off guard. I can see it from the way the others' mouths hang open like a fish out of water.

I shake my head in disbelief. She really sang it perfectly. It's like every sound struck a chord within me, plucking at the strings of my soul instead of the guitar. I open my mouth, ready to speak but nothing makes it to the surface. I'm left utterly speechless.

"That was good," Namjoon admits with a lopsided smile hanging on his face. "That was really good."

The others chirp in their hums of agreement. Yoongi seems to notice my hopeless condition and snaps his fingers at them. "Why don't we go get something to eat?" The boys catch on fast and rise to their feet, ready to provide some alone time for the both of us.

When the coast is clear I stand up and move to the edge of the yacht, leaning onto the frame to take a look at the glittering waves.

"I'm guessing the song was for me, " I state matter of factly and to my surprise, she doesn't deny it, nor mock me for it but simply nods in agreement.

I already was aware of that.

There was no love triangle.

There were not even angles, for that matter.

There was just me, an arrow pointing in the same direction, like a compass, always heading north.

Always to her.

I clear my throat. "Look, I know the things we've been through are terrible but there's actually a bright side to them." I stare straight ahead. " I don't think I would have ever been able to confess to you if we hadn't been on the verge of death. That's what pushed me- knowing that I had nothing to lose, that I would never have the chance to say it again."

She's now looking at me and I turn my head immediately, locking my eyes with her enrapturing ones. "So, who cares if we suffered along the way? All that matters is that we have each other now and that's that."

She throws her arms around me, capturing me in a hug so warm, I melt right into my bones. "I love you, " she whispers against my throat and I whisper the same words into her ear.

But it's not that easy.

I grip her waist with both hands and lift her off her feet. Before she has time to protest, I give her a strong push and throw her into the sea, clothes and all. A loud splash echoes in the air, followed by the screech that gets drowned by the water swallowing her whole.

She emerges into the surface a mere two seconds later, coughing and spluttering like a madwoman. "JUNGKOOK! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU STUPID BASTARD! JUST WAIT UNTIL I COME OVER THERE AND BEAT YOUR ASS YOU LITTLE-"

"What's going on?!" Taehyung comes rushing out and as soon as his eyes land on Y/N's flailing hands, he groans. "Aw come on man, did you really have to throw her like that?"

I smirk in reply and not a moment later my hands are latching onto the railing and my body is soaring into the air. The cold water greets me like an aphrodisiac, the adrenaline already coarsing through my veins. I swim to the surface and stick my head up, smoothing the water from my hair. I look at Y/N and she's suddenly laughing. Laughing like crazy.

I smile at the moon and I can swear that the moon smiles right back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A massive thank you to everyone who stayed till the end. I cherish every nice word and remark and even though I know my work is not one of the best ones out there, it feels good to know that there are people who enjoy it. It really pained me to say goodbye to this fanfic and there were moments when I just felt like quitting but now it’s complete and ready to sail off. thank you once again. and see you on other projects in the future ;)

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