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alliedbiscuit · 3 years

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msr fic / s7 post-closure but pre-all things / wc: 3398

Scully takes Maggie out for a birthday dinner, and you'll never guess who they run into.

************

“So, how are feeling about dessert?” the waiter asks hopefully.

Maggie Scully scoffs. “Oh, no. I couldn’t eat another bite. Maybe just a cup of coffee? Decaf, please.”

“Mom, are you sure? You should get dessert,” Dana Scully prods, stopping herself short before she could let it slip, “It’s your birthday!” The last gift her mother would appreciate is a gaggle of underpaid waiters singing some public-domain-compliant version of a birthday song while the whole restaurant turns its attention toward her. Like mother, like daughter.

Well, the daughter made an exception and found that kind of thing charming exactly once. But at least she got a nice keychain out of it. All her mother would get was humiliation and a chocolate lava cake.

As soon as the waiter leaves to fetch their after dinner coffees, Maggie reveals her true intentions.

“I was thinking we could go to that ice cream parlor down the street. If I’m going to indulge, I think I want a hot fudge sundae. Or maybe we could split a banana split?”

“Or you could get a hot fudge sundae and I could get a banana split, and we could split both,” Scully suggests.

“See, that’s why you work for the FBI.”

“Dessert Conflict Resolution was part of my training at Quantico.”

Both Scullys giggle.

“Does Fox have the same specialty? Or is that what you bring to the team?”

“Mulder’s dessert strategy is just to eat everything and then swim a mile and run five the next day. No, he’s a Takeout Menu Marksman, though. He knows where to order from and what to order so it travels the best and doesn’t get cold and congealed by the time it arrives. Might sound like a trivial skill, but it’s a lifesaver on movie night.”

Maggie continues smiling but cocks her head slightly. Dana realizes why almost instantly.

“You have movie night?”

“It’s not a set thing or anything. We just…if we’re not busy with a case.”

“You just watch movies? As coworkers?”

“As friends.”

“Just friends?”

Dana lets out a long sigh as she stares her mother down. Her mother, maintaining that gentle yet challenging grin. Dana considers her response carefully. She could offer a simple yes because that is the fact of the matter. They are just friends. She could criticize the wording choice. “Just” friends? Why does it have to be “just” friends? As if friendship isn’t somehow enough or isn’t valuable?

She could realize it’s her mother’s birthday and she’s the only other Scully woman left to confide in about matters of the heart, and although she doesn’t want to bring up the New Year’s kiss because she still doesn’t really know what it meant, maybe they both need this little gift of honesty, filled with tempered excitement and promise.

“For now,” Dana Scully finally admits.

Maggie’s grin grows as Scully just shakes her head and manages to keep her slight eye roll from reaching embarrassed teenager level. The waiter does bail her out a bit by choosing that moment to deliver their coffees.

“How is Fox doing? After his mother…” Maggie trails off, but her daughter knows not to expect any more specifics.

“Better? I mean, as well as can be expected. The thing is, right after that, he found out some more about his sister. About what happened to her. It was just so much all at once. I was really worried…”

Maggie reaches across the table to lay a hand on hers.

“But, it was almost like he was ready for it. He finally had some answers. Like it brought him some peace.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“Yeah. He needed that.”

“We all do.”

*************

Maggie is the one to spot him first as they’re heading for the door.

“Is that- is that Fox?” she asks her daughter.

“What? No, he wouldn't…” Dana trails off as she looks straight ahead to where her mother was indicating and confirms that it is indeed Fox Mulder, standing with his hands in his pockets and his eyes trained to the floor as he appears to be waiting near the vestibule for the restrooms.

“Mulder?” Scully questions as she approaches, her voice giving away her confusion and growing concern.

His head darts up in surprise, but a beaming smile of recognition quickly overtakes his face.

“Hey, Scully! Mrs. Scully, it’s so nice to see you!”

“You too, Fox,” Maggie kindly replies, although a quick glance to her daughter confirms her suspicion that Dana is still very confused by his presence.

“Did you…did you need something?” She suddenly feels silly for presuming that he must have come there with urgent news or a case or something, but why else would Fox Mulder be at Petrino’s on a Saturday night? Did his informants trade in clandestine meetings in parking garages for family-style Italian?

“Hmm?” Mulder asks.

“You didn’t come here to find me? I told you I was bringing my mom here for her birthday, didn’t I?” He didn’t look like he had rushed to the restaurant from the office or his apartment as she had originally assumed. He had clearly shaved and combed his hair nicely. He wore an olive green sweater with dark blue jeans and a black wool pea coat rather than his leather jacket. He had definitely made an effort.

“You did, but I thought you were going out tomorrow night on her actual birthday. Happy birthday, by the way, Mrs. Scully.”

“Thank you, Fox. I’m going to have lunch with some ladies from church after mass tomorrow, so I asked Dana if we could do Saturday night instead.”

“Ah. What a weird coincidence then. I can’t believe we didn’t see you at all during dinner.”

We.

Oh God.

Mulder was on a date.

Mulder was on a date in this restaurant on the night he thought Scully wasn’t going to be there. Mulder was on a date right after Scully had confessed to her mother (and herself) that their “just friends” status was in the process of changing. Mulder was on a date right after he’d been through so much pain but seemed to come out lighter and more open and he wanted to share it with someone…who wasn’t Dana Scully.

“So, you’ve already eaten then?” Maggie asks since her daughter appears unable to form a coherent statement at the moment.

“Yeah, we just finished. I’m just waiting for her…” he seems to trail off just to motion towards the restroom rather than say anything indelicate, but then he notices Maggie’s poorly masked look of concern toward Dana, and then he notices Dana’s completely unmasked look of shock.

And then he gets it.

“Oh, no! It’s not…I want you to meet her,” Mulder insists as he grabs a hold of both of Scully’s elbows and then glances anxiously toward the restroom door.

Dana Scully looks like she might be ill.

Thankfully Mulder only stammers a moment longer until the restroom door opens and he finds reprieve when a tall, thin woman appearing to be in her mid-60s walks through the door.

“Aunt Helen,” Mulder calls.

Somehow Scully’s eyes manage to get even wider as some of the color returns to her face.

“Aunt Helen, there are a few people I’d really like you to meet. This is my partner, Dana Scully, and this is her mother, Margaret Scully.”

Aunt Helen smiles widely in recognition, first shaking Maggie’s hand and then Dana’s. “It is such a pleasure to meet you both. I’ve heard such wonderful things.”

She lingers with her hand holding Dana’s while she says this, and the younger Scully is left blushing. She hazards a look at Mulder, but he doesn’t look embarrassed by this revelation. He holds her gaze with nothing but pride.

“This is my aunt, Helen Briggs. She’s my mom’s sister. She’s visiting for the weekend from Charlotte.”

They all kind of marvel over the fact that they were in the same restaurant and what a coincidence and oh, we were seated near the back bar, that must be why we didn’t see you and Scully is just starting to feel her pulse return to normal as Aunt Helen laments not having a chance to talk with the Scullys.

“Well, Dana and I skipped dessert so we could go to The Big Dipper for some ice cream. Would you two like to join us?”

“Oh, that would be lovely. As long as we’re not intruding,” says Aunt Helen.

“Not at all,” Scully assures her. “There is one catch, though.”

“It’s not real ice cream. It’s that Tofutti nonsense, isn’t it?” Mulder groans.

“It better not be,” Maggie insists. “I don’t know how she eats that stuff.”

Scully ignores her mother and her partner’s bad mouthing of her frozen treats as she returns her attention to Aunt Helen.

“I’m afraid if you want to come along, you will have to reveal a few good Young Mulder stories. And by ‘a few,’ I mean as many as you’ve got. And by ‘good,’ I mean the more embarrassing the better.”

“I’ll start thinking now,” Aunt Helen laughs.

“I knew I should’ve picked a different restaurant,” Mulder says regretfully.

***********

They’ve just sat down to a small, round table for four with their ice cream when Mulder stands up to get them all more napkins, and Aunt Helen retrieves a small, rectangular piece of paper from her purse that she then deftly slides to Dana.

“Oh my god!” Scully exclaims with joy.

Staring back at her from the paper is a very young Fox Mulder. She guesses he must be around 8 or 9 in the school photo. His long, sandy brown hair falls just above his eyebrows. He doesn’t have his distinctive nose yet, but his bottom lip is already a little pouty. The real give away is the eyes. He’s grinning for the camera, but his eyes still have that soulfulness, that slight sadness.

She’s surprised. She knows she shouldn’t be. His eyes didn’t suddenly change when Samantha was taken. His eyes were probably always like that.

But she had always assumed that the great tragedy had flipped a switch for Young Fox Mulder. That before that single event, he had certainly been a perfectly happy child. Funny and athletic, popular for sure. But the humor developed as a defense mechanism later in life. And the sports were a great physical release as well as an excuse to be out of the house as much as possible. She didn’t actually know what he was like before, but now that she thought about it, home life was probably never all that great if it eventually led to a father sacrificing one child and leaving the other to always live with the guilt and loss.

It was very possible that Fox Mulder had always been a little boy with a lot on his mind.

In contrast, present day, adult Fox Mulder looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world as he returns with extra napkins, ready to tuck into his chocolate peanut butter ice cream in a waffle cone – that is until he realizes what his friend and partner Dana Scully is looking at.

“Oh come on. I was gone for thirty seconds, and you have the visual aids out.”

Scully continues to beam as Maggie finally gets a glimpse of the photo in her hand.

“Oh, Fox!”

“Okay,” Mulder said exasperatedly. “Does this meet your embarrassment quota?” he asks, looking pointedly at Scully.

“Not even close! This isn’t embarrassing. It’s adorable!”

Mulder rolls his eyes but can’t hide his bashful grin at her comment.

“It’s only fair, Fox. I know you’ve seen family photos of Dana at my house,” Mrs. Scully says, sounding like a mother well practiced in settling disputes between children.

“Just a couple. I do like that high school graduation picture, though. I still don’t know how you kept your cap on with all that hair.”

“That was the style back then. Everybody teased their hair and used a ton of hairspray.”

“I thought it might be a religious thing at Catholic school. The higher the hair, the closer to God,” Mulder teases.

Maggie and Aunt Helen chuckle, though the latter gives him a good-natured swat on the arm in admonishment.

“See, this is what I need, though. I need something from the teen years. That’s peak embarrassment fodder,” Scully says.

“If you ask our colleagues, I think my peak embarrassment fodder would come from about 1991 to present,” Mulder points out.

Aunt Helen just looks slightly regretful. “I’m afraid I don’t have many stories from those years, Dana.”

Mulder makes eye contact with Aunt Helen. “You didn’t miss much,” he insists. She looks like she wants to debate him, but he just places a hand on hers reassuringly, and they seem to make a silent agreement to not argue the point any further.

Mulder had never really mentioned any other family before. She knew his grandparents had all passed before she met him, but she had assumed, just like with everything else, that any other extended family connections had disappeared along with Samantha. That no one would know how to comfort and console The Mulders in a situation like that, with no explanation.

His aunts and uncles must have had questions, probably even had their own theories. Did his mother’s side suspect his father’s involvement, or did his father’s side blame his mother somehow? Did any of them blame…no, she couldn’t go down that route. Besides, did anyone ever suspect horrific things like that before the days of cable news and supermarket tabloids?

The point is, it was a tense situation, so Scully assumed they had all done what wealthy white people in places like Martha’s Vineyard and Boston and Raleigh did with any uncomfortable subject – they avoided it completely.

And that meant avoiding the little boy with a lot on his mind as he became a teenager with even more on his mind.

Scully had accompanied Mulder to a small burial service for his mother in Raleigh a few months ago. It was just the service. No gathering or dinner after, or at least not one that Mulder told her about. The attendees at the service were all pretty spread out, not much mingling. Again, it was another sudden loss shrouded in mystery. They all avoided particulars as much as they could.

Scully didn’t remember seeing Aunt Helen that day, but maybe she was there and just couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Maybe she wasn’t there because she couldn’t bring herself to go and then regretted it. Dana Scully didn’t know, and it didn’t actually matter. The point is that she’s here now. And that’s exactly what Mulder’s look of reassurance and acceptance seems to say.

It seems to help her perk up because she offers playfully, “Oh, what about that summer on Quonochontaug? I think you were 9 or so, and you were collecting leaves for one of your Indian Guide badges.”

“Oh god!”

“I’m hooked already. Not to jump ahead, but please tell me there’s poison ivy involved,” Scully says gleefully.

Aunt Helen’s bark of laughter and Mulder’s exaggerated eye roll are all the confirmation she needs.

“It was heavily involved! But that’s not the worst part. While he was working on his Leaf Collecting badge, he also earned credit towards his Wildlife badge when he came across a skunk in the woods.”

“No!” Scully shouts.

“Ivyed and skunked at the same time,” Mulder admits.

“Oh you poor thing,” Maggie adds sympathetically, but with barely contained laughter.

“He had to jump right from a tomato juice bath for the skunk smell…”

“Which didn’t work!”

“…into an oatmeal bath for the itching.”

“Which worked better, but I still smelled like a Grateful Dead concert.”

Both Scullys are full on giggling at this point.

“Do you remember what Grandpa Ralph said when he walked in and saw you and mom dunking me in a tub of oatmeal?” Mulder asks.

Aunt Helen pitches her voice deeper and amps up her Southern twang, “Why don’t cha dip him in some egg and flour next? We toss him in the frying pan, we got supper! We’re havin’ Fried Fox tonight!”

Now they’re all in hysterics. Even the man who usually hates his given name can’t help but laugh along, especially when it makes his lovely company so happy.

*****************

Scully enters the basement office Monday morning to find Mulder already there, flipping through an open drawer in the filing cabinet.

“Good morning,” she says cheerfully.

He looks up and smiles. “Good morning. Long time no see.”

“How was the rest of your weekend? Did you guys do any sightseeing or anything?”

“No, we just had a late breakfast yesterday before I took her to the airport, but it was good to catch up some more. She told me to thank you again for letting us tag along for ice cream. It was really nice.”

“It was,” Scully agrees.

Mulder appears to be considering something for a moment before he crosses over to the desk and picks up a small envelope.

“She also told me to give this to you,” he says almost bashfully, extending the envelope in Scully’s direction. “She told me I couldn’t look inside, and I didn’t. But I think I know what’s in there, and if I’m right, you don’t have to keep it. You can just leave it here on the desk.”

Well, now she’s intrigued. Scully opens the envelope to find a small handwritten note at the top.

“I thought you might like these. I have plenty more too, if you’d ever like to see them or want any more stories. Please don’t be a stranger.”

Scully lifts up the note to see the remaining contents inside and finds a small stack of photographs, a mixture of more school photos along with a few wallet-sized family portraits and a couple candids taken on the beaches of the Vineyard or Rhode Island, she can’t tell. But she sees the same set of eyes in all of them.

She looks back to read the rest of the note.

“I’m so glad I got to meet you, Dana. Take care!”

Below Aunt Helen’s elegant signature, she has also written her home address and phone number. Scully will have to call and thank her.

“She tried to give some to me,” Mulder explains, “but I didn’t really want…and like I said, you don’t have to…”

“No, I’d like to keep them,” Dana insists.

Mulder lets her statement hang in the air for a moment, but he can’t help but diffuse it.

“You just want more blackmail material.”

“Something like that,” Scully says teasingly, but there’s no bite behind it.

“I knew I should’ve picked a different restaurant.”

She chuckles lightly as she shuffles the photos into a neat stack to place back in the envelope, thinking that this is the point where they get back to work. Mulder stays standing in front of her and appears to be considering something again. Does he have another envelope that he’s afraid to give her?

“You know it was pure luck that we ended up at Petrino’s the same night as you. I actually gave Aunt Helen a few options and let her choose. I was pushing more for that Thai place in Arlington, just off Old Dominion. The one that’s been there forever,” Mulder explains.

“Oh, the one with the secret menu? I’ve still never been there. Can’t say I’m surprised that Aunt Helen wasn’t up for Thai food, though.”

“Yeah. Fair point,” Mulder nods for a moment too long before continuing. “Would you like to go there sometime? Like this Saturday? With me?”

Scully slowly looks up from the envelope to see Mulder’s face because in all matters, other than the divine, Dana Scully needs to see to believe. And the slightly nervous yet gentle grin that she finds allows her to believe it to be true – Fox Mulder has just asked her out on a real date.

“I would like that,” Scully says gently.

“Good. You wanna say 7:30? Or we can always figure out time later,” Mulder states, aiming for practicality to keep him from grinning like a complete idiot. He ends up grinning like a moderate idiot, but he’s okay with that.

“Sounds good.”

Yep, Scully will definitely have to call Aunt Helen and thank her.

#msr fanfic #txf fanfic #msr #mulder and scully #dana scully #maggie scully #fox mulder

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jubilantwriter · 3 years

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Of Blood and Static

Chapter 3: But I'm hoping something new will happen.

(AO3) (First) (Previous) (Next)

Word Count: 2729

////

The Lady is aware of the loops. The ignorance begins at the start of her journey, where the deja vu first strikes her when she catches a glimpse of a boy in a paper bag. The feeling remains as bits and pieces fall into place - where to run, where to hide, and where to jump to. She knows which places are the best to hold on to when a boy in an olive coat comes running and leaping her way. The warmth of his hand is also familiar, as is the sound of his voice, and the kindness he exudes. Of course, as a child, she chooses not to acknowledge these strange feelings, focusing more so on their joint survival.

Things feel natural around the boy. How she enjoys smiling and offering a small laugh in his company. Giving him aid and comfort when he needs it. Watching with concern and worry as he rushes off to face things on his own. Perhaps she should have questioned why she was so quick to lower her guard around him. Perhaps she shouldn't have ignored it.

(Although, what good would have come from acknowledging it?)

Little things keep falling through the cracks and into place as she traverses the city with him. It's easy to call him her friend. Easy to know how to make him smile and laugh. Easy to know what's on his mind and predict his next move.

The cracks grow wider and wider, the picture slowly growing more and more complete as more pieces slip through to feed her memory and actions. She calls him over to a piano, where they must jump on it over and over to make it fall. The instinct is natural, as though she knew all along that destroying this nice instrument would be the key to their escape.

She doesn’t question how she knows it was the right course of action. Perhaps she should have. Mono plays on the keys, and she stops her jumping to watch him try and play a tune. It doesn't work, but it makes her laugh, and that makes Mono laugh.

She should have learned to question this strange naturalness, these strange memory fragments that tell her to look at him in scorn, and to look at him with a kindness that matches his own.

Perhaps that's why letting him go hurts so much. Tears trickle down her cheeks as she holds him, dangling over the ledge.

She has to let go. She has to. It's what her instinct tells her.

(But she doesn't want to. She loves listening to him laugh - it's like a melody unlike the one her music box used to have. She wants to hear it more, fearing that she'll lose that chance someday.)

Mono looks up at her with wide eyes and shock as her tears fall onto his face. He stays shocked as she pulls her hand away from him. Stays shocked even as she fails to form a single "goodbye" or "I'm sorry" before he disappears into the abyss.

Once she becomes the Lady, her memories return in a bigger stream, a larger crack that threatens to bring down the entire wall held up between her memories and not-memories. It's then that she realizes what the television must be for.

(His eyes looked just like the Thin Man's. The connection was made, but she never stopped to question how she knew. Now that she has all the time until her death, she knows why the resemblance struck her as uncanny.)

She presses her hand against the glass of the screen as though it is second nature and watches as it turns on by itself. As she waits for the channel to stabilize, she can't help but wonder just how many times they have done this for her to start out with the picture growing steadily and steadily more complete when she wakes up as a child. How many times has she dropped Mono? How many times have they fought, betrayed, hurt each other before either of them could remember that they've done this before?

Ignorance is bliss, so they say - but to always be so ignorant as a child and then face the consequences as an adult, knowing that the mistakes they made could have been avoided...

Her fingers curl against the warming glass. This television wasn't always here. It must have been through the sheer patience and willpower of one of them that mended their relationship enough for this television to be here. The earlier loops remain a fuzzy recollection to her, but for a man who keeps memories like recordings, it must have pained the Thin Man with each dragging iteration for them to finally reach this stage.

The silhouette of said man appears on the screen, and he looks just as defeated, just as tired, as her many loops have shown her before. She knows the reason for why they continue this endless game of catch-and-release, why she convinces him that there is still a way out for him.

Survival.

But even she's grown tired of her own excuse.

"Mono?" No words greet her as he remains slumped in his chair. "Mono, I'm sorry."

"Mono?" The words feel more like an echo than clear text on a screen. "Strange of you to start off with my childhood name."

"It's your name."

"Not anymore." He straightens in his seat, ramrod and upright as if assuming a position of sorts. "Mono belongs to the boy with the paper bag. I'm not that boy anymore, my Lady."

"You'll always be Mono, just as I will always be Six," she presses. Her mask clinks against the glass as she leans forward. "I'm sorry, Mono, for dropping you again."

No words appear on the screen. This is it, she thinks, no more second chances, no more loops. But why does she care? Is it really for survival? To continue this farce of being alive just to die and live to be tortured and traumatized and broken and betrayed? For so long, she believed that this was how it was supposed to be. But she was always good at lying.

Especially to herself.

"I'm sorry," she repeats, because that's all she can say. He's tired, but she's pushed him past his limits time and time again. And he allowed her to, just because of- what? Because he didn't want to be alone? Because he used this to enact his own act of vengeance, whatever that may be?

She got more out of this than he ever did. Perhaps he realizes this. Perhaps that's why he always asks why she drops him. Perhaps that's why he always holds a thinly veiled plea for her to give it up. He could end the loops easily. He could just not capture her younger self, not harm a hair on his younger self, and they could both escape the Tower. It's that easy.

(...Right? She digs through her memories, hoping to come across a shard that reveals this to her. But alas, she can't find one. What she finds instead is a pile of grounded dust hidden amongst the shards and puzzle pieces, as though someone had thoroughly crushed it and ground it into the floor to erase it from her mind. And only one person could have done that.)

"I'm sorry," she says again, because that's all she can say. "I'm sorry for letting you down again."

"You didn't." She almost misses his words flashing on the screen, and it's almost pathetic how she clings to them. As if she committed no wrong. "I promise you didn't."

"I let you fall. Again." And for what reason? There's always a reason. But she can't find one this time. Not one that makes sense, to be precise. Because she didn't want to let him go. She didn't.

"I know." His words are oddly calm, strangely soothing. They shouldn't be, after all she's put him through. As if she's the one who needs comforting. "I know you did. But I'm not upset."

"Why?" She presses him for answers, because there's no way he can be so calm about this. How many times have they repeated this? For her sake? Never his sake, just hers.

"You gave me a gift this loop."

"...What?"

"A gift." As if to fully emphasize his point, he opens his hands to reveal something. She squints at the screen, but she can't see what it is that he holds so tenderly in his hands. "Do you remember? The hat you found for me."

She blinks behind her mask, nearly stunned silent at the memory. "I... do." It was an old, ratty thing that she found in one of the apartments they'd stumbled through. She had picked it up behind his back as he was searching around for anything they could use, the white of the hat long since dirtied and the ends of the ribbon tattered with age and possible abuse.

A sailor's cap.

When she first presented it to him, his delighted squeal made her smile proudly as he turned to take off his bag and put the hat on. It was bigger than his head with the rim of the cap slipping over his eyes a bit, but he smiled widely for her to see before turning away bashfully to hide his face completely. He'd only worn it for that moment, and she'd concluded that it was a pretty bad hat since it didn't hide his face like he wanted.

"I loved it. I still do." The affection from his words startles her. "Now, it only fits on the tip of my finger, but I still wish that I could have worn it more around you." A pause. "You showed me a kindness I didn't expect. You rarely give presents, after all."

"It was by pure chance that I found it." It wasn't like she was actively searching for it - the sheer dumb luck she possessed that day was what allowed her to come across it. His love for hats was firmly cemented in her mind, and the choice to present it to him was purely on impulse. Like playing together in the school playground. Or sitting down by the vending machine to try out all the weird, flat drinks it had. Pure impulse.

"Still." He tenderly cradles the tiny thing in his hands, and she swears that she can see the smile on his lips despite the distance between them. "It was something different."

Meaning is pressed upon his words, and she struggles to find the right memory for it. But before she can give him a response, his words flash on the screen once more. Somehow, there's a bit of whimsy attached to them, as if he's expecting her to have run out of excuses by now.

"So tell me, dear friend, why did you let me go that day?" She can almost hear his soft tone from her side of the screen (how she so desperately wants to hear it again).

"I..." Her mind struggles to find a reason. Any reason, really, to have let him go. She presses her lips into a thin line, unseen due to her mask. What could she say? What does he want her to say? For what purpose does she need to create a reason for letting him go? Her mind stumbles upon a memory that continues like a loop. A horror that stings her conscience like a lingering wound. Well, better to open up than to let it fester, right? "I wanted a do-over."

"A do-over?" He tilts his head to the side, curious by nature. "How would you know that as a child?"

"We've been through these events so often, Mono, that things tend to linger." She's lying, of course, but perhaps he knows that already. "So of course the feelings can carry over."

"And why did you want a do-over?"

"I..." It’s not something she’s proud of - it’s something she’d rather keep buried forever until she dies and repeats the same horrible, Hunger-induced mistake again, but what’s a few demons between friends? "Before I became the Lady, and when I was still Six, I developed this unruly Hunger."

"Yes, I recall you telling me this before."

"So you would know that I must feed this Hunger before it consumes me entirely." She prepares herself as she watches him lean forward in interest.

"What did you eat, Six?"

Ah, he used her name.

"I... may have eaten a child."

"...Excuse me?"

"I ate a child." She watches as he straightens in his seat, no doubt horrified by her admission.

"You... ate a what?"

"A child. As a child."

"As a child?"

"By accident, may I add."

"By ACCIDENT?"

Oh, she didn't know he could do that with his words.

"By accident." There's no use in skirting the edges of this conversation, now that she's dredged it up herself. "Allow me to explain."

"I don't think I want an explanation."

"You do, I insist." She pulls her hand off the screen to gesture elegantly through the series of events that led to her consumption of the nome. How she had powers to turn children into nomes as an adult. How she, as a child, had no idea that these nomes she'd encounter were actual children. How she, in her vicious Hunger, lashed out at a nome trying to help her and... consumed it. How she, as an adult, finally connected the dots. By the time she finishes her tale, the Thin Man is cradling his head in his hands instead. "And that is why I dropped you. I needed a do-over badly."

"Because you ate a child."

"Because I was going to consume a child, and I had the forethought to plan ahead." She watches as he drags his hands down his face, perhaps rethinking his earlier affection.

"Six, I..." His words trail off, as he fidgets in his seat. "I can't say that I've been any kinder to children than you have, but I can at least confidently say that I haven't eaten any."

"They are actually quite tender and sweet-"

"I really do not want to know." She giggles as he manages to silently cut her off. "But. I guess. I can understand your reasoning." His shoulders slump in what she can only assume is a sigh. "We can try again, so long as you try not to eat another child."

"I can't make any promises."

"Please, I am begging you. At least not as a child."

She smiles as she returns her hand to the warm glass. "I can try. After all, that's the whole point of me dropping you, hm? For another chance to do things right."

"Please. Please do this right." She watches him put something away in his suit pocket, and a fondness warms her soul as he pats it securely. "Please do not resort to cannibalism so early on. I can't say the same for when you're an adult but... at least as a child. Please?"

"You're begging quite a lot, my good sir."

"If you dropped me in hopes of preventing this singular tragedy from continuing, I think it is within my rights to beg for you to keep your word."

"True." She hums softly to herself as she curls her fingers against the screen. "Perhaps I can surprise you again this time around."

"Perhaps." He pauses from his side of the screen as he straightens his posture. "But knowing you, I'm sure you will."

She smiles behind her mask, despite knowing the tragedy that befalls them.

(A little boy in a blue sweater tries to run past her as she screams in rage. Before he can get any further, she captures him in her grasp and watches as he struggles against her hold. She could turn him into a little scrabbling creature, doomed to labor thanklessly in the depths of her ship.

But.

She tosses him at the wall, an audible thud in her dressing room as the shadows drag him away from her sight. It would be a waste of energy to deal with this one when she has more pressing matters to deal with. And besides, she has enough nomes to exploit for loops to come.)

The loop ends with the creaks of bending buildings and the groans of a rocking ship.

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iamchikara · 5 years

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Results for Chikarasaurus Rex under the cut. As with yesterday’s results, only point gains will be recorded. Point totals will not be touched, as they are still in flux due to the Regency Furniture results fiasco. A full update to the point standings covering all three shows, as well as any others that happen in the interval (next one is in October so I really hope this isn’t dragged out for a month) will be done once those results are released.

Match #1: Singles Contest John Francis of Coronado vs. Jakob Hammermeier w/Der Wildebeest John Francis is starting to morph into this weird mish-mash of previous American-hero types, as he used the big boot and legdrop, several of John Cena’s moves, the Angle Slam, and the ankle lock. I’m not sure how to feel about that. Anyways, the ankle lock made Jakob submit. WINNER: John Francis of Coronado (1 point) Match #2: Tag Contest, Campeonatos de Parejas Defense #1 Travis Huckabee and Tony Deppen vs. Lucas Calhoun and Stray Kat First fall went to F.I.S.T. with a small package on Calhoun after a corner kick doubleteam...and then the second fall went to them as well, as Deppen hit a double stomp on Kat while Huckabee had her in the stretch muffler. For how long we had to wait for this first defense, F.I.S.T. taking it in two straight is a bit of a disappointment for me, though at the same time it also conveys the renewed dominance that F.I.S.T. has displayed lately. WINNERS: Travis Huckabee and Tony Deppen Match #3: Singles Contest Missile Assault Man vs. Kobald MAM got the win by submitting Kobald with the Sharpshooter, then was attacked by Hallowicked and Frightmare. Lucas Calhoun and Stray Kat came to MAM’s aid, with Calhoun telling MAM that he couldn’t fight the world alone before they shook hands. Trio #15? WINNER: Missile Assault Man (1 point) Match #4: Singles Contest Fire Ant vs. Cajun Crawdad Crawdad spent the entire match trying to blind Fire, but got put away with a brainbuster after Fire got sick of that. WINNER: Fire Ant (1 point) Match #5: Singles Contest BLANK vs. Penelope Ford This is prob’ly Ford’s last CHIKARA match, as she’s full time with AEW starting next month. Accordingly, BLANK ended his obsession with the Color Wheel. Post-match, he called out Still Life for King of Trios. Considering that we haven’t actually gotten much of a reason for the breakup of the Nouveau Aesthetic beyond BLANK’s obsession with Ford and Still Life having other things to do, it’s weird that we get to this point right now and not, say, at the Season finale or something. WINNER: BLANK (1 point) Match #6: Singles Contest, Grand Championship Defense #1 (as undisputed champion) Dasher Hatfield vs. Mick Moretti Lot of interesting notes described to me from commentary. Technically, this is Dasher’s eighth defense, though first as undisputed champion. Moretti’s facepaint resembled that of one of the Baseball Furies from The Warriors, with suggestions that he was using it to get under Dasher’s skin. Most harshly, Sidney Bakabella claimed that Dasher asked for the match to go on early so he could go home and be with his kids...even though Boomer’s match was on later. See? Toxic! Described as a hot back and forth match, and Dasher successfully retained. WINNER: Dasher Hatfield INTERMI...no, not quite, pre-taped interview from Ophidian hyping up Matt Makowski. Someone possibly jumped the gun with that, but considering how disruptive the Crucible’s been lately, it fit right in with their modus operandi. Then INTERMISSION. It’s time for the Crucible’s presence on this show, as the ropes are down and Ophidian brings out his entire cadre including their referee. Match #7: Crucible Exhibition #1 Matt Makowski vs... Thief Ant is out to answer the challenge, but is shut down fairly quickly and made to tap out with a cross armbreaker. WINNER: Matt Makowski (1 point...I guess? If our esteemed Director of Fun is legitimatizing this whole thing...) Match #8: Crucible Exhibition #2 Evan Matthew Demorest vs... Still Life answers this one, to a huge reaction from the crowd. Unfortunately for Still Life, they didn’t fare any better than Thief, and the match was stopped after they were knocked out with the Demoralizer (a variant of the Last Ride powerbomb). WINNER: Evan Matthew Demorest (1 point...I guess? It’s being treated as a legit part of the show...) Ophidian issues a third open challenge on the behalf of Tunku Amir... Match #9: Crucible Exhibition #3 Tunku Amir vs... ...which is answered by a voice in the crowd screaming “I WILL!” and Jawbreaker Josue/Joey, accompanied by Xavier Faraday and Josh Wells, appears. Joey scored what looks to be the first actual victory against the Crucible cadre, forcing Amir to submit, then racing out of the building with Wells and Faraday, leaving Ophidian to fume and berate Amir before leading his followers out. WINNER: Jawbreaker Josue/Joey (1 point...I guess? Didn’t go Ophidian’s way...) INTERMISSION AGAIN Mike Quackenbush is out to address the crowd. As he apparently suffered an injury at Earning The Lucha Libre Merit Badge, he’s withdrawing from his match on here, and has handpicked Hallowicked as Joey Janela’s opponent. Match #10: Singles Contest Hallowicked vs. Joey Janela In what’s prob’ly Janela’s last CHIKARA match as well (same situation as Ford), he scored the victory with a top rope elbow drop. I don’t get why that happened, but it did. Hopefully some kind of deal can be worked out with AEW, so that he can at least come back and not sit in the inactive part of the standings. WINNER: Joey Janela (1 point) Match #11: Trios Contest The Crucible (Lance Steel, The Whisper, and Devantes) vs. the Creatures of the Deep (Oceanea, Merlok, and Hermit Crab) Bouncing back from their utter humiliation earlier in the show, the Crucible returned to form here, as Devantes pinned Merlok after a TKO. Post-match, the Queen of the Deep was not happy in the slightest with her charges, berating and hitting the big fish in her fury, then told her subjects that they’d regret it if they kept losing. Oceanea, I love ya but they’ve been losing all along and you haven’t done a thing about it, what makes you think they’re going to take that threat seriously? WINNERS: The Crucible Match #12: Singles Contest Princess Kimberlee vs. Solo Darling Kim returned to CHIKARA in strong fashion, defeating Solo with the Alligator Clutch after a Ganso Bomb. Post-match, she shook Solo’s hand, then addressed everything that has been going on. (Below is the transcription, provided by Freakin’ Awesome Network forum lildude8218) "This is just Kimber Lee here for a minute. I need to get real with you guys. Everybody has a past. Every single person here. And in Pittsburgh mine hit me smack in the face. It's something I've ran from for SO LONG and so far even to the point where I gave up my crown to keep this hidden from you. I was a different person in the past, everything you heard it wasn't wrong. I did use Lance Steel as a stepping stool to get where I am. But here's the thing: in life we all do things we regret but it's what you do afterwards that defines who you are. And I am a different person now. So this crown jewel is going to do whatever it takes to make things right." Ophidian interrupts her. "I know how you can make peace with your past. You call yourself the Princess. The Crown Jewel. But you have no kingdom. You have no purpose. The way to make peace with Lance Steel and the Whisper is by becoming a resource of the Crucible." He tells the Whisper to get in the ring and pay his respect. He tells Kim to do the same. She does. "Your new purpose is to lead me and my team to victory at King of Trios. Leave!" So yes, the deep, dark secret that Princess Kimberlee has been harboring for years, the one that she left CHIKARA to protect, the one that she let herself be first blackmailed over and now outright conscripted, is that she was a jerk to Knight Eye 4 The Pirate Guy years ago. This is something that everyone paying attention to Wrestling is Fun! at the time already knew, that anyone not in the know could easily look up, and that I’ve never seen anything even remotely resembling an outcry over. The past is past. People change. We all know that. Dwelling on regrets and holding onto things long past their relevance isn’t healthy. Why Kim let herself be bothered by something like that this far into the future from it is...concerning. Perhaps she’s weaker-willed than we all thought. Who knows? WINNER: Princess Kimberlee (1 point) Match #13: Singles Contest Volgar w/Professor Hugo Nicodemus vs. Boomer Hatfield Boomer tried his best to fight back from the underdog position, even nearly surprising Volgar with a bulldog off the top, but Volgar scored the victory in the end. WINNER: Volgar (1 point) Match #14: Tag Contest Xyberhawx 2000 (Danjerhawk and Razerhawk) vs. Cornelius Crummels and Sonny DeFarge Danjer scored the win for his team with an O’Connor Roll pin on Crummels. Man, those legitimate businessmen can’t catch a break lately, can they? WINNERS: Xyberhawx 2000 (1 point) Match #15: MAIN EVENT, Singles Contest, JKI Finals Green Ant vs. Ophidian Green Ant attempted some psychological warfare by coming out with an Ophidian mask on over his own, but Ophidian wasn’t having any of it and bumrushed him (and even rolled out of the CHIKARA Special) before tapping him out. Post-match, the Crucible paid their respects to end the show. WINNER: Ophidian (1 point...JKI is one point per round adding up to the three)

#CHIKARA #Chikarasaurus Rex #Results

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topweeklyupdate · 6 years

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TØP Weekly Update #59: Taking a Bath (8/24/2018)

As predicted, after a pretty calm preceding week, stuff went totally bonkers. We didn’t quite get a new song, breaking the last few months’ pattern, but we did get plenty other new content to parse through and get excited about. So let’s get into it!

This Week’s TØPics:

Tyler Finishes His Bath (and Trench)

“A Complete Diversion” Pre-Release Concert Announced for London

“My Blood” Snippet Released

And MORE!

Major News and Announcements:

To kick it off with something totally unexpected: Tyler Joseph tweeted. Twice.

In all seriousness, this would normally go in the “Other Shenanigans” section (though year-long payoff on the bath joke is undeniably epic), were it not for what it might mean for the story of dmaorg.info. Tyler’s desktop background in his image of the completed Trench masters was quickly identified as matching this image of the Nicolas Bourbaki Group, a mathematics society whose de facto leader, Andre Weil, popularized the use of “Ø” as a null sign and whose photo previously appeared on the website. Notably, the image on Tyler’s desktop appears to have had at least one additional figure photoshopped into the doorway, leading to wild speculation as to what the hell this cryptic boy is trying to tell us.

The Clique’s collective attention then shifted from Dema to the real world when the band quietly announced via an unlisted video linked to their UK site that they would be performing at least one pre-album release concert. Entitled “A Complete Diversion”, the show will be held at the O2 Academy Brixton in London on September 12, over a full month before the start of the proper Bandito Tour. The band last played this 5,000 capacity theater during the original Blurryface Tour, and anyone lucky enough to get tickets when they become available this Wednesday, August 29th, will be in for an intimate experience that will likely mark the first time many songs from Trench are played live.

London was one of the first sites where the band’s new logo began to appear on billboards, leading many to speculate that there may be other pre-release dates for smaller shows like this still to be announced. I’m not sure if I totally buy that, though; while London may not seem like the most obvious place for the band to make their return, the UK fanbase is extremely passionate and will have to wait much longer than Americans to see the band perform live. A one-off trip to the UK to play a show and do some interviews with British press to hype the album makes sense. Regardless, I’m just excited beyond words that we’ll be seeing Tyler and Josh onstage again in less than three weeks playing new music. And speaking of new music...

The VMAs, as usual, were a total mess not worth anyone’s time. HOWEVER, they did feature a trailer for Trench, one that featured a nine-second audio clip of "My Blood”. While there’s no sign that we’ll be hearing the rest this groovy track prior to the leaked release date on September 7, let alone get a music video or any other supplementary content, this snippet was enough to send the Clique into a real tizzy.

Here’s what has me most excited: From the four songs we’ve heard, we know that Trench will feature:

The hardest-edged rock track TØP has ever produced

The most experimental rap-raggae concept track TØP has ever produced

The most committed hip-hop track TØP has ever produced

The funkiest track TØP has ever produced (with a stellar falsetto to boot)

I’m just gonna say it: unless the other ten songs on this project are all mediocre or worse, Trench is already set up to be the band’s most boundary-pushing album to date. Even if it can’t match Blurryface’s financial success, Trench could really have the potential to sneak up and get Twenty One Pilots the kind of critical praise that they’ve deserved for so long (I mean, even The Melon’s on-board). I cannot wait to see what happens.

Other Shenanigans:

I somehow missed this last week, but I should shout out Josh’s latest Instagram post, where he praises his boxing trainer Glenn Holmes for not only helping him improve his rhythm and power on the drums but also for helping him manage his mental health by staying in good physical shape. The band does a lot of great stuff to support those with mental health struggles, but this is one of the more pragmatic and immediately useful bits of advice that either Josh or Tyler have provided. I know from my own experience just how much exercise helps keep your head focused on where you want it to be. So thanks, Josh, that was really cool and you’re looking real good.

Almost immediately after I posted last week’s update, the Clique briefly became concerned that a warped audio clip posted anonymously on YouTube might actually be a real demo for “Pet Cheetah”. Thankfully, Mark hopped on Twitch to quash that real quick before anybody got any funny ideas. And thank God he did- I was actually seeing people say that this reminded them of No Phun Intended in a good way, and I was getting a little concerned. I’m so grateful that Mark is so pragmatic and cares about the fanbase enough to shoot down fake content even if I still haven’t forgiven him for that fake setlist.

Oh, and Jim remains the best boy.

Chart Performance:

Now with a full week of sales tracking, “Levitate” went up exactly one spot on the Rock Sales Chart and made no appearances anywhere else at Billboard- as predicted, it’s genre-bending inclinations are going to keep it from any real mainstream success. “Jumpsuit” still isn’t boasting major sales, but it is continuing to pick up at rock and alternative radio, keeping the dream alive that maybe, just maybe, it can make a comeback and crossover when the album comes out. And if it doesn’t, well, “Stressed Out” was not the lead single from Blurryface and “My Blood” is really out here sounding like a bop already. We’ll see

That’s all for this week! Will next week be a quiet one to keep the running pattern going, or is Twenty One Pilots going to make my life a constant state of chaos for the foreseeable future. Only one thing’s for sure: it’s a good time to be a Twenty One Pilots fan.

Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #tyler joseph #josh dun #trench #jumpsuit #levitate #a complete diversion #concert #my blood #vmas #billboard #pet cheetah #mental health #fitness #top weekly update

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dotbammie · 7 years

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The Way You Move//Kim Yugyeom (Final)

Pairing: Yugeyom x Reader

Genre: Romance, SmutSummary: @morsalinou said: Your rrequest are open omgggg ok,…. I will try requesting simething for the first time here😅 hmm can i request a smut (🙊💕) where yugyeom sees you dancing in a competition (like hit the stage) or you dance with him you can decide (this weeks theme is love did you watch this show btw😍) and the rest is up to you! I’m so nervous omg😲😂

Author’s Note: This is the last part of my Yugyeom series! it’s so bittersweet >.< i’m so sorry for the long wait; i hope the ending is as wonderful as you imagined! thank you all for the support, i love you so much and enjoy!

xoxo Sara

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 -Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Final

You stayed up late with Bambam that night even after Yugyeom went to sleep, planning out things that were going to happen tomorrow. He stayed, helping you set up things that needed to be set up without Yugyeom’s knowledge until you went to bed. The next morning when you woke, you felt nerves in your stomach. You didn’t want to necessarily call it the ‘big day,’ but that’s what it felt like. You have attended many competitions in your dancing career, but today’s competition felt more personal to you, and it was because now you weren’t winning for a team or for yourself, but you were winning for someone you love.

You rolled over in bed, looking at his peaceful face as he slept. You smiled to yourself before wrapping your arms around his waist, snuggling in closer to him. He had an incredible amount of warmth that automatically made you want to snuggle in closer to him, it was a warmth that you couldn’t find anywhere else.

“Yugyeom,” you whispered to him, nuzzling your nose into his neck, “it’s time to wake up. We should practice once or twice alone before practicing it at the place.”

Yugyeom let out a soft grunt, burying his face into your hair as his arms went and circled your waist. “I don’t want to get up yet.”

“We have to,” you spoke, rubbing his arms gently as you began to sit up, his soft whines filling your ears, “We have to practice.”

Yugyeom looked at you through his eyelashes, a soft sigh escaping his lips before he rested his forearm over his eyes. “Give me a couple of minutes, I’ll be up soon.”

You nodded and smiled at him, standing up and exiting the room to start your morning routine. You began to overthink; what if your leg began to hurt? What if your routine isn’t as good as you thought? What if you lose?

You wouldn’t be disappointed in the dance if you lost— you would be disappointed in yourself. You knew you had been out due to an injury, but in the end, you could have practiced anyway. You knew that being on that stage at that time would be Yugyeom’s big chance to put his name out there so he could get the recognition that he deserves.

You were pulled out of your thoughts when you felt something gentle press against your cheek as you brushed your teeth. You looked up to see him smiling down at you, his hand coming down slowly to pet your head. “Overthinking?”

You paused for a moment before nodding slightly, averting your eyes over to the sink while you finished brushing your teeth.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, taking the toothbrush that he had ‘accidentally’ left at your house and wetting it a bit, “You know how I feel about the competition. Of course I was all about winning before, bu-“

“if you say,” you interrupt him, looking at him through the mirror, “That you’ve already won the biggest prize, and that’s me, i’m going to hit you.”

Before he could finish, a wide smile spread across his face as his toothbrush hung from the side of his mouth, a soft giggle coming up from the back of his throat. You couldn’t help but smile at his actions before rolling your eyes.

“Get cleaned up. We’re going to go to practice in fifteen minutes.” You walked out of the bathroom and got dressed into your practice gear; making sure it was simply and easy to remove due to the fact that you were going to need to get out of it to change into your costume later that night.

“So, how many times do you plan to practice before we get called down for pre-competition rehearsals?”

“About three times,” you said, picking your bag up and flinging it over your shoulder. you walked out of your bedroom, meeting yugyeom in the hallway before switching rooms. you went back into the bathroom to put your hair up while you continued, “At least three, actually. We need all of the practice we can get.”

“Don’t overwork yourself. If you get burned out before the competition, I know you’ll regret it. So please, take it easy okay?” You looked to your right, to see Yugyeom standing shirtless in your doorway, a concerned look on his face.

“Put your shirt on,” you said, rolling your eyes as he laughed at you.

“Promise me you’ll take it easy for a little.”

“I promise, okay?” you both met in the hallway after he finished getting changed, small smiles on both of your faces as he leaned down to kiss your now-exposed forehead.

“Good. I can’t have my girlfriend breaking herself again.” He laced his fingers with yours, nodding down the hallway that led to the living room. “Shall we?”

You smiled at him and allowed him to lead you out of the apartment, walking side by side with him down the streets. You both stayed in silence, yet you could hear his thoughts in his head as he stared forward; you knew he was just as nervous as you, but Yugyeom had a tendency to overthink things. You knew that he was probably thinking of every single outcome that could happen with the competition, eve the things that could possibly happen before then. You didn’t blame him, though, because you were thinking of the same things.

As you both arrived, you were met with a sight that you hadn’t seen; all of the couples were met on the main sage, some of them discussing costumes, other discussing the lineup, but all discussion stopped once you two entered the room.

You felt all eyes on you as you both walked to the hallway entrance, the only sound audible being your footsteps against the wooden floors. You wondered as to why no one was even muttering a word in your presence, but decided to ignore it until you both arrived to your practice room.

You placed your bag down against the mirror as you entered, humming gently as you went to start stretching.

“Do you know why that happened?” Yugyeom questioned you, stretching out his arms as he looked at you through the mirror, “Do you think that they’re intimidated?”

“Why would they be?” You asked, going to stand behind him to help stretch out his arms, “It’s not like anyone has seen our routine besides that substitute.”

“Then why would they stay quiet around us? Have we done something to upset them?”

“I have no idea. Maybe because we’ve been the most anti-social group out of all of them. They probably think that we’re hiding something.” You sat and began to stretch your legs, Yugyeom following suit while pressing his feet to yours and pulling you forward with your hands.

“Well, we kind of are. They’ve probably seen each others routines a billion times if they’re all friends.”

“But isn’t the element of surprise better when it comes to routines?” you groaned out as you felt your back stretch out due to Yugyeom’s pulling, “We wouldn’t want anyone stealing anything in our routine, you know?”

“I guess you’re right. We worked really hard on our routine and perfecting it.”

“You’re right,” you sighed, releasing Yugyeom’s hands and beginning to stand up.

“Maybe they’re thinking that the competition is biased towards us.”

You turned to Yugyeom for a moment, tilting your head in confusion as you raised your eyebrow. You hadn’t thought of that idea, and you had no idea as to why he had.

“Well, the director always comes to our room,” He walked over to the stereo, plugging in his phone, “And he even said that we have the best chance of winning out of all of the groups.”

“I’m sure those were just words of encouragement.”

Yugyeom shrugged, searching through his phone, “Then, come up with another reason that everyone is currently giving us the cold shoulder.”

“Let’s just practice, and not let it get to us okay?” You sighed, pressing your hands into your eyes as you walked to your spot, “I don’t want it to eat us alive and psych us out. That’s probably why they’re doing it. They’re trying to make us scared.”

“I’m not scared,” Yugyeom shoved his hands in his pockets as he met you in the middle of the floor. “Are you?”

You looked at him for a moment, a slight moment of hesitance before you looked away. “Not at all. Get into your spot, we need to practice.”

You both had practiced your routine twice, before you heard a gentle knock on the door. You patted Yugyeom’s chest as you caught your breath, “You go get it.”

“Come in,” He called, looking at you as you rolled your eyes.

The director entered your practice room, but his presence didn’t seem as happy as it usually was. Behind him came in four other people; two you noticed, were another couple in the competition.

“Hello,” you both greeted all of them, your attention quickly going back to the director as you rose your eyebrow. “Is everything alright?”

“It was brought to our attention,” The director said, complete serious in voice, yet complete remorse in his eyes, “That your routine is very similar, almost identical to that of,” He looked back at the two as they stood side by side, “these contestants.”

“What do you mean..?” you asked, looking at the director and then to the couple, “We’ve never seen their routine.”

“Then how have you stolen the moves of our bridge?” The girl of the group spoke, crossing her arms, “We saw you two practicing before you had your accident, and you copied our whole bridge.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yugyeom said politely, “We don’t even know what song that you’re dancing to. How could we have stolen the whole bridge?”

“Even if you don’t think that you have stolen their moves,” The director spoke softly, “We still have to check to make sure. We need you two to follow us to the main stage so we can asses.”

“We aren’t the only couple that has complaints with them,” The boy spoke up, nodding his head towards both you and Yugyeom, “Two other couples think that they’ve stolen moves from their routines as well.”

“We don’t know anyone in the competition besides each other,” You spoke up, beginning to feel your blood boil as your eyes wondered from the couple and to the director, “We don’t leave the practice room when we come to practice. We don’t know what songs any of the couples are using, since we were first to practice before I passed out. I don’t think it’s possible for us to steal any moves to any routine if we never leave the practice room.”

“I understand that you’re upset,” One of the two men behind the director spoke, “But even though you don’t believe that you have stolen any part of your dance, we still have to make sure. Plagiarism is taken very seriously in this competition, and could result in immediate disqualification.”

Your eyes widened at the word ‘disqualification.’ How could you get disqualified for something that you didn’t do? You looked back at Yugyeom, who seemed just as shocked as you were.

“Please, follow us,” The other said, turning around and beginning to walk out of the room with everyone following suit. You gripped your hands into fists, digging your nails into your skin as you took a deep breath. You knew though, that doing that was no use. You simply couldn’t calm down after being accused of something you knew you wouldn’t be able to do.

You felt everyone’s eyes on you as you went through the entrance to the main stage; couples littered everywhere in midst of dress rehearsal, yet they seemed to have enough time to stare you down as you made your way down the aisle. You looked straight Yugyeom’s back, not giving anyone the satisfaction that they had managed to grab your attention. You walked up on the stage, the director kindly asking everyone else who was practicing to get off while the other couple began to get into place.

“Okay,” one of the two men who followed the director said, “Do you remember what part it is that you think they stole?”

“It was right before (Y/N) had passed out,” The girl said, “It was nine counts of eight before their big lift. We do all of that, as well as the lift.”

“That’s a very large chunk of your song that you’re claiming that they plagiarized,” The director said, looking from her to you. You could tell that he didn’t want to do this; that he believed that you wouldn’t steal another competitors dance, but it seems as if the two men who are standing behind him have more power than he has, because he won’t go easy on you with his words like he usually would.

“That’s around one third of our dance,” your competitor said, “It’s the main part of it.”

“Alright, get in places, both couples,” The director said, him and the three men walking off stage to give you both more room, “You know where she’s talking about, right?”

You nodded, looking at Yugyeom to make sure he knew, but he was already in place. You went to stand in front of him, and realized that both you two and your competitors did have the same starting position. You began to get an uneasy feeling in your stomach.

The director counted off for you, and as you both danced, you could hear other competitors whisper. Whenever you looked at Yugyeom, he had a soft smile on his face; you knew he was trying to calm you down. He could tell how worried you were about this from the moment they told you. You smiled back as you backed up and ran to him for the lift and toss, executing the move successfully before stopping.

You looked down at the director, but he looked away from you. You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, feeling Yugyeom’s hands rest on your shoulders as you heard footsteps nearing you.

“Well,” you heard one of the men say, “It is incredibly similar, down to the point and flex of your toes.”

“Thank you,” the girl in an exasperated tone, “I was worried you’d say it wasn’t. We’ve been working on that move for so long.”

“But how can you tell that we took it from them?” Yugyeom said gently, “Why can’t it be the other way around as well?”

“They were the ones who brought it to our attention, so we only have to assume that you were the ones who copied them.”

“I can assure you that we have never stolen any dance move from any of our competitors,” you stated calmly, looking at the man, “We don’t socialize or leave our practice room.”

“I understand that. But your dances are too similar. If you go on stage with that, you would get a very low score.”

“Then disqualify them,” The girl said, gesturing to you and Yugyeom, “Tonights the competition.”

“I don’t think we have to disqualify them,” The director said, going in front of you and Yugyeom while facing the two men, “I’m sure that if we let them compete, they’ll be able to pull something together quick.”

“Like a freestyle dance? For one third of our routine?” You asked, looking back at Yugyeom, “Think we can?”

“I know we can,” he looked at the two men, “If they’ll let us.”

“That’s unfair,” the girl said, “You said immediate disqualification. Why do they get an exception? Because they’re the directors favorite couple?” She sighed, letting he arm fall to the floor, “We’re all going to lose if you let them compete.”

“Then you all should have worked harder, shouldn’t you?” The other man said, “I heard that almost all of the couple barely had their dances together at the beginning of this week. If that’s true, then you should have worked twice as hard as you were working from the beginning.”

The girl stayed in silence, letting her eyes wander around the room as her partner stood behind her.

“We’ll let them compete. But if there’s any similarities in that part of the dance again, they will be disqualified during the competition.”

You let out a sigh in relief, turning to Yugyeom who in turn wrapped his arms around you. “Thank you,” Yugyeom said with a smile, patting your back gently to make you look up at him, “We should go practice now.”

You nodded softly, looking back at the men and the director and thanking them, before passing the couple and getting off stage. All of the whispers before had gotten even louder, some saying that you and Yugyeom should be ashamed of trying to copy another persons dance, while others saying that you should have gotten disqualified because you wont be able to pull together that much of a dance in so little time.

You let out a loud groan as you entered the practice room, slamming the door behind you. “This is unfair. We’ve had that part of the dance in there forever, I don’t understand how they could think that we plagiarized another couples dance! I don’t even know who they are, let alone their dance. why would i jeopardize this competition for something so stupid?”

“Hey,” Yugyeom said in a soothing voice, walking over to you slowly. He pressed his hand to your cheek gently, while the other wiped a few stray hairs from your face, “It’s okay, just breathe. I know it’s unfair that they’re doing this to us, but we were lucky. We could have been disqualified, but they’re just letting us come up with a new part of the dance. They let us off easy, so we should show them all that we’re made of with the new part of the routine. Let’s make it the absolute best choreography we can, alright?”

You looked at him for a moment, a soft smile on his face as you nodded. “Alright. But we have to work on it now. You know the rest of the dance by heart, right?”

“I could dance the whole thing backwards with no music,” Yugyeom assured you, making you chuckle as he walked towards the speaker, “Now, let’s get working.”

The following hours were filled with brainstorming of new, fresh moves to do. You knew that that part in the dance was both very simple and very easy, so you thought that maybe, this gave you a chance to make the moves more intricate and complex. It gave you the chance to make the whole routine fit more.

You and Yugyeom had decided to do a lift in the beginning of the routine instead of the end, While other moves afterwards would be more floor based than air based. You had decided on doing more things beneath him and more things to follow the storyline that you were trying to create, rather than following the rhythm too much.

Each new move you tried to execute made your head spin, and though they were difficult, you continued to practice them over and over until you got them perfectly. Though, you were only able to do one full run-through of the dance before you two were called down for costume check.

“I’m actually really nervous,” you voiced to Yugyeom as you fixed your costume, walking down the hall hip by hip with him, ‘With the new moves, I mean. What if I forget them?”

“You won’t,” Yugyeom said, patting your head gently, “You’re very smart and you’re good at remembering things. And besides, you have been in hundreds of competitions, this one is just the same, if not smaller than all of your other ones. Just breathe, we’re going to be fine.”

You looked up at him and smiled as you entered the backstage area. You sat in a chair and fixed your hair and makeup a bit, while other competitors had family members and such come backstage to wish them good luck before they went out onstage. It was then you realized a familiar face.

“Yugyeom,” you said, pulling on his sleeve to grab his attention. You nodded your head behind you, to a girl who was sitting on her phone while leaning against the wall, “Isn’t that the substitute that you worked with?”

Yugyeom looked up for a moment, before nodding. “Yeah, that’s her. But she’s not in the competition. Why is she backstage?”

You shrugged softly, looking back at her, when you saw her smile widen. She looked up from her phone and began walking straight; right into one of your competitors arms. But not just any competitor; she walked straight into the arms of the girl that had accused you of copying your dance. They gave each other kisses, while the partner patted the girl on the head.

“Wow,” You sighed, looking back at Yugyeom, “Are you thinking what i’m thinking?”

“I’m thinking that the sub told those two about our dance because I didn’t like her like she liked me.”

You nodded at Yugyeom, letting him know that that was exactly what had been going through your mind. Before you could say anything else, you saw someone put their hands on yugyeom. You quickly looked back and smiled, seeing Bambam with a big bouquet of roses tucked under one arm and a very tiny sign under the other.

“Boo!” BamBam said, laughing softly as Yugyeom and you both turned your chairs to look at him, “Why does everyone seem so glum? Come on! Competition day, woo!” BamBam shook the sign and the roses slightly as he cheered, making you chuckle and roll your eyes.

“I can’t believe they let you back here," you sighed, watching BamBam pout as he looked at the roses he had.

“Well, i’m your family aren’t I?” he asked, his question making your heart swell. You nodded softly at him, a small smile on your face. He extended the roses out to you, humming, “And your big brother got you roses for the big day~”

You took the roses, thanking him softly as you held them while Yugyeom pouted. “And none for me, big brother?” he teased, making Bambam push his shoulder back softly.

“Of course there’s something for you, but you have to wait until you get home to see it.” BamBam smiled, taking his little sign and waving it, “Woo! Go Yugyeom and (Y/N)!”

You laughed, reaching out to hug him while Yugyeom did the same. No matter what happens, you were happy to have your new little family with you.

“Go get a seat,” Yugyeom said to Bambam as he stood from his chair, “We have to do more quick stretches before we go on.”

“You’re kicking me out?” Bambam laughed, beginning to walk away before looking back at you two, “Alright, whatever. Good luck you too!” You both waved as he exited the backstage, sighing softly as Yugyeom helped you up. BamBam was always able to help you get rid of your nerves, especially at this stressful of a time.

“Alright,” The director game up on the stage, smiling at everyone with a piece of paper in his hand, “Here’s the setlist. Find which number you are so you can line up accordingly. Show starts in five, good luck everyone!” He turned around and handed the setlist to whoever was there, everyone crowding around that one person as they all read aloud what number they were. As the person saw you and Yugyeom coming, they rolled their eyes and allowed the setlist to fall out of their hands and onto the floor, everyone stomping over it as they left the area to freshen up and stretch before lining up. You rolled your eyes and bent down to grab the setlist.

“I thought we were all adults, but it seems some of us are still stuck in the first grade,” You said to Yugyeom, trying to de-wrinkle the setlist as best as you can before looking at it.

“We’re the third to last act,” Yugyeom said, smiling at you, “We have plenty of time. We can probably run through our number once or twice before we go on stage.”

“That’s both a relief and a curse,” you sighed gently, turning and placing the setlist on a table, “As much as I want to practice, i want to get this over with too.”

“Don’t whine now,” Yugyeom scolded, tapping your nose gently, “We’re almost to the end. Just hold out a little longer, and you can whine when it’s over.”

You sighed, looking away from him before taking his hand. “Come on. Let’s go practice.”

You dragged him to a corner, the sounds of music and the instructors loud voice booming through the microphone as he introduced the competition. You heard people screaming and chanting for their favorites as he spoke, and you felt a small tinge of nerves in your tummy as you and Yugyeom practiced on of the more difficult parts of your dance over and over.

While practicing, you heard the beginning and end of a couple of songs, always keeping track on what number song you were listening to so you would know when to line up. You looked at Yugyeom momentarily, who was shaking out his body. You knew he must be nervous as well, but he was trying to act like the calm one of you two for you. You smiled softly as him, walking over to him and wrapping your arms around his waist.

“You know i love you, right?”

You saw his smile grow wide as he kept his focus not on you, but on cracking his neck and shaking out his shoulders. “And I love you. And I know that we can do this, no matter who lied about us copying their dance.” he looked down at you momentarily, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead before wrapping his arms around your shoulders. “How many danced are we up to?”

“This is number seven,” you said gently, “We should be lining up soon.”

He hummed in acknowledgment, rubbing your shoulders gently. “Still nervous?”

“Of course. But it would be abnormal not to be nervous at a time like this.” You released him from your grip as he did to you, smiling up at him gently. “But I can get through it.”

He nodded gently at you, patting your head gently as he looked to the side. You followed his gaze as you watched one couple exit the stage and another couple enter. “Seven.”

“Let’s go line up,” He said gently, patting your back as he began to walk. You followed after him, but the walk seemed so long for some reason. You felt your body becoming tense, but you knew it wouldn’t stay like that, you knew it was simply due to nerves. You took a deep breath as you finally arrived next to Yugyeom on the line. It kept getting shorter and shorter before you could even count what number you were up to, and before you knew it, the couple in front of you had entered the stage.

You breathed in again, closing your eyes and counting to ten. You tried to reassure yourself that you were fine, that the moves you had just made were good enough to fit your dance, that you wouldn’t mess up or forget. You ran through your list of nerves, telling yourself that they wont happen, when you felt something warm engulf your hand.

you looked down and saw that Yugyeom’s hand was holding yours gently. He slowly lifted both of your hands and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of yours, a small smile on his plump lips before letting go.

You heard the crowd cheer, and looked over to see the couple before you walk off stage.

“And now,” The instructor said, “Our next couple, (Y/N) and Yugyeom!”

You sighed softly, walking on the stage with Yugyeom while the lights went dim. In the midst of whispers, you could hear a loud, but deep groan, cheering your names, and you knew that it was Bambam. You looked out to the crowd momentarily and saw blinking lights in the distance, making you smile.

You took another deep breath and got in place. When you heard the music begin, your dance began to flow through your arms and legs in time with the music. For those few minutes on stage, your focus was on nothing more than the dance that you were doing. You would look at Yugyeom during the dance, your facials and longing stares important to the choreography, but as soon as you turned away, you would smile. As the part you had just choreographed came, Yugyeom nodded at you gently. He had so much faith in you, he was your rock. He knew that you would be able to do the dance perfectly. And because of that faith, you ran and did the lift perfectly. You did all of the floor moves easily, and after that, you were able to execute the rest of the dance without a care in the world.

The music stopped and the crowd cheered, your chest rising and falling roughly as you and Yugyeom bowed, taking hands and bowing again together, before the lights on the stage went off. You both ran off, him turning around and gathering you into his arms. He spun you around, laughing gently and pressing gentle kisses into your cheeks.

“I’m so happy,” You smiled, gripping him tightly before he let you down, “I’m so relieved.”

“I told you that you’d do fine,” Yugyeom smiled, pressing his hands to your cheeks, “That was amazing!”

“Do you think we did well enough to win?” you asked him, watching in the corner of your eye as the second to last act went on stage, “Do you think the judges liked it?”

“I think so,” Yugyeom said, nodding gently as he took your hand, “But even if they didn’t, who cares? We did great. We did everything we could have because of the little choreography hiccup, and i’m proud of you and proud of us.”

You nodded, smiling up at him, “I am too.”

You both sat in your chairs backstage, waiting for the announcement for all of the dancers to come onstage, when you saw the instructor come towards you. You quickly stood, patting Yugyeom softly for him to do the same, as the instructor situated himself in front of you.

“We reviewed the tapes,” the instructor said, a small smile on his face, “We reviewed the security tapes from the day of the practice runs.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, looking to Yugyeom and back. “Why?”

“Because I don’t remember seeing their dance that day,” he said to you, “I went with Yugyeom to the hospital as soon as I saw that you were hurt, and I allowed all of the groups to practice on their own. I didn’t get back in time to see them practice, so we reviewed the tapes. Their dance was completely different from yours on that day, and the day after that when they practiced on the large stage too. They must have changed their routine after they saw yours.”

“We actually think that the girl I was working with as a substitute showed them our dance,” Yugyeom said. “We saw her backstage before the concert started. She’s probably a little sister or something?”

“So you think that she told them about your choreography? Why would she do that? Does she have anything against you two?”

“I think that she’s upset that i didn’t want to go out with her,” Yugyeom said, you nodding gently, “But, why?”

“Because of the tapes that we found, we were immediately disqualified.” The instructor smiled widely at you both, “So now both of you have a better chance at winning.”

“That’s amazing!” You said, “Thank you so much!”

“Don’t thank me. I just know that you would never steal someone else’s dances when both of you are very incredible and talented dancers. On behalf of all of the judges, we are terribly sorry for this mistake.” He bowed his head down at you, smiling as he came up. “Now, go line up for the results. I need to go back.”

“Thank you again,” Yugyeom smiled, wrapping his arm around your waist as the instructor exited the back stage and ran to sit down. You smiled up at Yugyeom , feeling him squeeze you gently.

“Can I say something?” Yugyeom asked, pulling you along to line up with the other dancers, “I don’t really care about winning that much anymore. I’m happy that we got to compete, and i’m happy that I have you. Of course winning would be a nice all-kill, but, i’m really content with what I have now.”

Yugyeom pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead as you nodded, closing your eyes and leaning into him. “I agree. But now, I kind of want to win to shove it in their faces after they falsely accused us of plagiarizing their dance.”

Yugyeom laughed softly, nodding at you, “That’s understandable. But if we win, we have to pick an apartment to put the trophy in.”

You were about to hum in response, when music began to blare, and lights began to shine. Soon, you heard an announcers voice, “And now we have entered the final portion of the competition! I would like to welcome our wonderful dancers to the stage!”

As he finished that, the line began to enter on stage. You followed suit, hand in hand with Yugyeom as you entered, smiling at all of the people in their seats. You saw Bambam, standing up and waving his tiny sign, chanting and cheering your name along with Yugyeoms. You waved to him and he waved back, giving you a thumbs up before the announcer came back on stage.

“Yes, give these wonderful dancers another round of applause!” He gestured to all of you as the audience clapped once more, “Everyone did a fantastic job dancing today, and i’m sure they’re all tired.” Everyone nodded and groaned in agreement, making the announcer laugh, “Well don’t worry everyone. in just a matter of minutes, you’ll be able to go home and lay down and take a ten hour nap.”

Yugyeom squeezed your hand softly, causing your attention to go over to him. He mouthed a quick, ‘i love you’ before winking at you. You giggled and hit him gently, before going back to listen to the announcer.

“We want to thank each one of the dancers before we announce the winners, as well as the audience for being such a wonderful audience.” The announcer kept dragging the time along, making everyone on the stage become impatient.

“And now, we’d like to announce the winner!”

The whole crowd went silent as someone ran and gave the results up to the announcer. He smiled, looking at the envelope before he opened it. You felt nervous; you both agreed you would be fine to lose, but you also would like to win just as much.

“And now, the winners of this dance competition,” he said, holding up the small piece of paper, “Is…”

You took a deep breath, closing your eyes , Yugyeom’s hand squeezing yours so hard that you thought it would fall off.

“The team of (Y/N) and Yugyeom!”

You heard the crowd cheer as you opened your eyes, a wide smile on your face. You hugged Yugyeom tightly, a sigh of relief leaving your mouth as a laugh of pure happiness left his. The other contestants clapped, not bothering to look at you both as you both went and accepted the trophy. You held his hand tightly and bowed with him, whispering, “I thought you didn’t want to win?”

“Shut up,” he said as you both stood back up. You laughed at him, watching as his eyes traced the crowd, “It… Feels really good.”

As you both exited the stage, Yugyeom gripping the trophy, you saw Bambam running up to you both. He engulfed you both in a hug, cheering, “I told you I told you I told you~”

You laughed softly, hugging his waist until he let go. You grabbed the roses that he had given you, giggling to him, “Thank you for encouraging us, BamBam,” you said, smiling up at him.

“Wah, (Y/N),” Bambam teased, pressing his hands to your cheeks, “Your cheeks are red from smiling so much! Are you happy?”

“I’m super happy,” You nodded softly, looking up at Yugyeom as he continued your statement, “Now we can split the money and I can give you some sort of rent, Bam!”

“No need, no need!” Bambam said, wrapping his arms around both of yours and Yugyeoms shoulders, “You don’t have to pay me rent Yugyeom!”

You all laughed gently, smiling like complete idiots, when you saw a small woman walking over to you, someone you didn’t know.

“Excuse me…?” She said, her voice very gentle, “You’re (Y/N) and Yugyeom, right?” She looked at you both, Bambam slowly taking his arms off of you as you both nodded.

“Yes we are…”

“My name is Miss Choi,” She explained, extending her hand out for both of you to shake, “I’m running a dance studio just down the road from here. Mister Han, the director of this competition, told me to come and see the talent, and you two have incredible amounts of it.”

“Thank you so much,” Yugyeom chuckled, looking at you quickly and then back to her, “That means a lot.”

“Of course,” she nodded at you both softly. “I was supposed to be scouting for more than one couple to ask to run a workshop in my dance studio, but I can’t seem to keep my eyes off of you two. You both dance with so much passion and your techniques are so intricate and lovely. I was wondering, if you would want to teach two workshops in my dance studio? Of course not for free, i would love to pay you. And if things go well, we could make this into a job for you two. Are you up for it?”

You looked at Yugyeom, whose eyes were wide. He seemed to shocked to answer, but you knew that he would like that.

“They would love that!” Bambam spoke up, a wide smile on his face as he sprung forwards with his hand out, “Hi, my name is BamBam, and i’m the manager of both Yugyeom and (Y/N), and they would absolutely love that! Here, let me give you our numbers and we can keep in touch!”

“That would be amazing,” Miss Choi said, a wide smile on her faces as she extended her phone out to Bambam. You weren’t even mad at him for pretending to be your manager; you weren’t able to speak and you knew that Yugyeom wasn’t either. He just kept looking from her, to the trophy in complete and utter disbelief.

After a few minutes, Miss Choi left and Bambam turned to you both, a wide smile on his face. “So, will I get paid for being your manager?”

“We didn’t ask you to be our manager,” You laughed, pushing his chest as all three of you began to walk out the door.

After a while, you all arrived at the apartment complex. You all began to walk up the stairs when you announced, “Everyone should come over to my place.”

You held Yugyeom’s hand, gripping your key and going to the door to unlock it. Yugyeom kissed your cheek gently, a soft giggle rising from the back of his throat, while humming, “I love you so much, i’m so so lucky to have you.”

“No more sappy stuff!” Bambam chuckled, pushing through you both, “I already lost my roommate, now i’m going to lose my lunch.” He made sounds of him throwing up as you all entered. Yugyeom raised an eyebrow at Bambam, before he took a look at the apartment; everything was different.

“Why are there boy clothes all over the place?” He asked you, walking over to the couch and examining the clothes.

“You can’t even recognize your own clothes?” Bambam chuckled, looking at you as you went to get a vase for the roses, “What the heck, dude.”

“Why are all of my clothes here?” Yugyeom looked back at you as you began to fill the vase with water.

“I couldn’t get them into the dresser before I could get to the competition.” Bambam hummed, taking a shirt and folding it before placing it on a pile of other folded clothes, “I had to build it too. What a handy man I am.”

“Why is there a dresser to begin with? What’s going on?” Yugyeom looked at you both as you stayed silent. He looked down the hallway before storming down there, allowing you and Bambam to smile at each other before following behind him.

You both came into the room, walking around him as he seemed to have frozen in his place. In your room, laid a beautiful dark dresser; a perfect contrast to your white one right next to it. There were pictures you had taken with Yugyeom in frames on the dresser, while the only blanket he owned laid nicely folded in the middle of your bed.

“It took Bambam a long time to move all of your stuff and to build the dresser,” you hummed, turning to face him while you smiled, “You should thank him.”

“No, you should thank your beautiful girlfriend for putting the idea of surprising you with moving you in in my head last night,” BamBam said, wrapping an arm around your shoulder, “I would have never thought of it myself.”

“I’m…” Yugyeom said softly, looking at you, “I’m moving in?”

“Of course,” you said, walking over to him and wrapping your arms around his waist while resting your chin on his chest, “You had most of your clothes and stuff here, anyway. And plus, i can’t sleep without you, I miss you too much,” you pouted at him softly, “I hope it’s okay with you.”

“Okay…?” Yugyeom said in disbelief, arms finally coming from his sides to wrap you up and pick you up. He pressed his forehead to yours, a smile spreading across his face as he closed his eyes, “It’s incredible. It’s perfect.”

“You’re happy right now?” You asked, leaning your ear agains this chest and listening to his heart race. You smiled at Bambam, who did another thumbs up to you.

“My life could not get any better than this,” Yugyeom spoke, running his hand through your hair. Suddenly, you felt Something warm press against your back, and you heard Bambam’s voice right against your ear.

“What a beautiful ending to an amazing day, right?” He spoke, patting Yugyeom’s back, “But now, i’m hungry. Let’s go out and celebrate!”

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jonathanbogart · 7 years

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Melodier: Nordic Corporatist Pop and New Wave

Part IV. Youtube. Previously (I, II, III). Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Finnish pop between 1981 and 1987. Tracklisting below, notes after that.

Elisabeth, “En sømand som dig”

Doe Maar, “De bom”

Belaboris, “Kuolleet peilit”

Lustans Lakejer, “Diamanter”

Lillie-Ane, “Meg selv”

Arbeid Adelt!, “Lekker westers”

Geisha, “Kesä”

Det Neodepressionistiske Danseorkester, “Godt nok mørkt”

Cherry, “Vang me”

Tappi Tíkarrass, “Kríó”

Eva Dahlgren, “Guldgrävarsång”

Svart Klovn, “Knust knekt”

Het Goede Doel, “Net zo lief gefortuneerd”

tv-2, “Vil du danse med mig (nå- nå mix)”

Lolita Pop, “Regn av dagar”

Cirkus Modern, “Karianne”

Madou, “Witte nachten”

Tuula Amberla, “Lulu”

Grafík, “Þúsund sinnum segðu já”

Klein Orkest, “Over de muur”

Di Leva, “I morgon”

Melodier: nordic corporatist pop and new wave

So far in this survey, I’ve been looking at pop scenes in languages I may not entirely speak, but am at least comfortable with. Moving into northern Europe means I’ve left the Romance family behind, and am at the mercy of fan transcribers and Google Translate if I want to understand the lyrics to the songs I enjoy. Lyrics aren’t everything (I couldn’t tell you what some of my favorite songs in English are about) but they’re enough that I’ve at least tried to look up everything I’m presenting for you in this series.

This entry collects together a bunch of nation-states that aren’t necessarily related culturally or historically. Scandinavia only refers to three countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Adding Finland and Iceland makes the “Nordic” countries; but adding in the Netherlands (and Dutch-speaking Belgium, or Flanders), as I have, isn’t anything as far as UN statistical calculations are concerned. They all fit together in my head, though, because they are all stable, prosperous, and socially liberal Western nations with Germanic linguistic roots (except Finland), NATO (except Sweden and Finland) and EU (except Norway) membership, and an extensive welfare state linked to strong unionized labor and government oversight of business: the “corporatist” social organization of my subtitle.

They are all also collectively central to white supremacists’ imagined European identity, and their liberal welfare policies are frequently cited (by racists) as unworkable in more heterogeneous societies. So i’m a little hesitant to be extremely fulsome in my praise here, lest anyone get the wrong idea. For the record, money, access, and individual creativity have far more to do with making great pop music than genetics.

Still, there is undoubtedly an enviable Northern European pop tradition. A lot of that can be traced to a single act: the Swedish ABBA, who borrowed liberally from US and UK pop forms to build a global pop empire based on careful production and universal sentiments. Thanks in part to their pioneering efforts, as well as Dutch acts like Shocking Blue and Golden Earring, a great deal of Northern European pop music was produced in English, with local languages often reserved for traditional folk, comedy records, sentimental ballads — or punk rock. There was particularly a gender-based split here: female Dutch, Danish, and Swedish pop stars were, like Frida and Agnetha, more likely to sing in a universal and generic English, while male rockers could afford to be poets and philosophers in the vernacular. (This is a generalization; but the phenomenon is by no means exclusive to northern Europe, or even across languages.) But regardless of language, there was a Nordic emphasis on slickness of production that means that this mix may, record for record, sound the most expensive of any in this summertime European excavation.

Which is another way of saying it’s the most pop. The low-density Scandinavian countries have few urban populist music traditions like Portuguese fado, Spanish flamenco, French musette, Greek rebetiko, or even Italian canzone napoletana: Protestant hymnody, fishing songs, and a rather austere nineteenth-century European concert repertoire are the most prominent native cultural influences. When American, and especially American Black, music made its midcentury European Invasion (far stronger and more lasting than any Invasion US pop ever suffered), it gave Northern European youth an emotional as well as a physical pop vocabulary. This, the second generation of European rock, made it perhaps more political and personal, but by no means less international.

Because pop is an international language, even when the lyrics are not. Although the subfocus of these mixes has been “new wave,” meaning the sometimes eccentric and often electronic music made under the twin influences of punk and disco, there was less of a noodly self-important rock tradition in these nations than in the English- (or Italian-) speaking world for a new wave to rebel against. Pop thrills remained consistent; only the tools changed.

“Melodier” is the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian word for “melodies,” and it came to mind because the annual pre-Eurovision national pop contests in the Nordic countries are mostly named some variation of the Swedish Melodifestivalen.

The linguistic breakdowns in the mix, roughly following population counts, are as follows; six Dutch (of which two are Flemish), four Swedish, three each Danish, Norwegian and Finnish, and two Icelandic. Fans of twenty-first century Scandinavian pop may hear some material that presages later developments: a lot happened between ABBA and Robyn, and I’m excited to possibly introduce you to some of it.

1. Elisabeth En sømand som dig Genlyd | Aarhus, 1984

The coastal peninsula-and-archipelago nation of Denmark has been a seafaring one since the Vikings, etc. — but this song isn’t about those ancient sagas, but more recent colonial history, as the lover “Jakarta Danny” is presumably a merchant marine in the service of the Dutch East India Company. Elisabeth first became known to the Danish pop audience as the frontwoman of Voxpop, a Blondie-like pop group, and her first solo album in 1984 is a quiet classic of sultry mid-80s pop moves. This, the leadoff track, uses naval metaphors for sex: the title means “A Seaman Like You,” and the next line is “sailing in me.” The video makes it even more explicit, in more ways than one. She’s still active (her whole catalog is on Spotify), and often does children’s music now.

2. Doe Maar De bom Sky | Amsterdam, 1982

The two-tone wave in the UK had a corresponding wave in the Low Countries and Scandinavia: goofy white dudes are drawn to ska music, as Orange County can attest. Doe Maar (“go ahead,” with connotations of anger or sulkiness) were the Madness of Holland, with a string of skanking, socially observant hits. “De bom,” one of their biggest, means “The Bomb,” and is about the hideous irony of being told to go to school, get a job, and save for retirement, all under the threat of nuclear annihilation.

3. Belaboris Kuolleet peilit Femme Fatale | Helsinki, 1982

The Finnish girl group Belaboris (named for Lugosi and Karloff) was manufactured by producer Kimmo Miettinen, a Malcolm McLaren-esque figure who hired girls to sing and look pretty while a hired band played new wave music. “Kuolleet peilit” (Dead Mirror?) is a minimal-disco jam with a detached vocal by Vilma Vainikainen that looks forward to spacy twenty-first century house: in Finland, such synthpop was known as “futu,” short for futurist. When Belaboris had a second big hit in 1984, it was as an entirely different set of pretty girls.

4. Lustans Lakejer Diamanter Stranded | Stockholm, 1982

In the twenty-first century, Swedish pop is synonymous with a certain ruthless muscularity, often considered the result of pop producer Max Martin’s heavy-metal past. But even here in the early 80s, fey New Romantic band Lustans Lakejer (Lackeys of Lust) takes time out from frontman Johan Kinde’s baleful sneering about diamonds being a girl’s best friend for a flashy guitar solo that fits into glam, post-punk, and metal traditions. Lustans Lakejer were a novelty in late-70s/early-80s Swedish pop, a well-dressed band who proclaimed that their clothes were as important as their music; when Kinde had finally had enough of posing, he dissolved the band, only returning to the name occasionally as a solo act over the years.

5. Lillie-Ane Meg selv RCA Victor | Oslo, 1983

If I were approaching these mixes sensibly, I’d only be including music that had been reissued on CD, or was available on streaming platforms, or something. But having access to the more eclectic and unremunerated catalog of YouTube has ruined me: once I’d heard Lillie-Ane, I couldn’t not include her. She’d been the voice of Norwegian synthpop trio Plann, but her classical training and avant-garde sympathies made her solo material — what I’ve heard of it, which is not enough — weirder and more galvanizing than the rather derivative music she’s still better known for in Norway. She died in 2004; her swooping voice and dense harmonies on “Meg Selv” (Myself) deserve wider appreciation.

6. Arbeid Adelt! Lekker Westers Parlophone | Brussels, 1983

Flemish Belgium in the 1980s is justly famous for its industrial-music scene, with acts like Front 242 and Neon Judgment pioneering sounds that would form the basis of many electronic-rock hybrids in the 1990s. Few of them sang in Dutch, however, apart from Arbeid Adelt!, whose early records were prankstery lock-groove new wave. Once Luc van Acker (later of Revolting Cocks) joined, though, things got harsher, and “Lekker Westers” (Yummy Westerners), with its satirical singsong melody over dissonant grooves, is halfway between their Devoesque beginnngs and the industrial harshness that put Belgium on the map

7. Geisha Kesä Johanna | Helsinki, 1983

The all-female Finnish trio Geisha only released a single EP during their brief existence, but because it was on the legendary Helsinki indie label Johanna, they’ve been compiled and fondly remembered by Finnish rock fans for decades since. “Kesä” (Summer) is of a piece with the moody, dry sound of Finnish goth rock of the period, but its danceable rhythm and spectacular clattery all-percussion instrumental break suggest that they had a lot more to offer beyond being a distaff Musta Paraati.

8. Det Neodepressionistiske Danseorkester Godt nok mørkt Genlyd | Aarhus, 1986

A Danish band that began as an art-installation soundtrack and ended as a sampladelic pop act, DND (for short; their full title, as might be presumed, translates as The Neodepressionist Dance-Band) were rather inspired by the Talking Heads’ combination of dance rhythms and irony-laden cultural critique; their debut album was called Flere sange om sex og arbejde, or More Songs About Sex and Work. This song, “Good Enough [in the] Dark,” features leader Helge Dürrfeld mutter-rapping about the limits of perception while a passionate saxophone wheels endlessly and a sassy chorus chants the title.

9. Cherry Vang me Vertigo | Utrecht, 1982

Cherry Wijdenbosch is, if not the first person of color to appear in these mixes (which reflects my desire to keep back some key acts from former colonies for later inclusion around the globe more than any unadulterated whiteness of 80s European pop), is certainly the first Black woman. Of mixed Indonesian and Surinamese (which latter is to say African slave) descent, she had a couple of jazz-inflected Nederpop hits in the early 80s before becoming a cabaret act. Her debut single, “Vang me” (Catch Me), is a breezy but clear-eyed love song that borrows some of Jona Lewie’s dry music-hall delivery and adds a Manhattan Transfer kick to the middle eight.

10. Tappi Tíkarrass Kríó Gramm | Reykjavik, 1983

The eighteen-year-old singer, with her clear, youthful, and powerful voice, is nearly the only reason anyone has heard of this post-punk band; if she had not gone on to front bands K.U.K.L. and Sugarcubes, not to mention her own global superstardom as a mononymic solo artist, Tappi Tíkarrass might be an undiscovered gem rather than a pored-over Da Vinci Code by which adepts seek to unlock the mysteries of her sacred genius. This song, which predicts the soft-loud dynamics of 90s alt-rock with almost a shrug, is, according to internet Björkologists, the cry of an elderly man searching for his tern.

11. Eva Dahlgren Guldgrävarsång Polar | Stockholm, 1984

Discovered on a 1978 talent show, Dahlgren wouldn’t be a true pan-Scandinavian star until her 1991 adult-pop classic En blekt blondins hjärta (A Bleach Blonde’s Heart), but I really like her 1984 album Ett fönster mot gatan (A Window to the Street). The title of this slow-burn anthem, the leadoff track, can be translated as “Gold-digger’s song,” and is a reference to an early twentieth-century Swedish hit about Swedish immigrants failing to strike it rich in America: Dahlgren interiorizes the sentiment, making it a song about a streetwalker who dreams of finding a place where she can “kiss my brothers and sisters.” She would come out as gay in the 1990s, and is married to her partner of many years.

12. Svart Klovn Knust knekt Uniton | Oslo, 1983

Probably the most legendary Norwegian minimal-synth (I almost said synthpop, and then I remembered a-ha) single, “Knust knekt” (Shattered Jacks, as in the playing card) is a miniature masterpiece of mood. The lyrics, as far as I can determine, are standard post-punk gloom about moral corruption, but the sound and image of Svart Klovn (Black Clown), the alter ego of Svenn Jakobsen, are among the most striking in all Scandinavian pop.

13. Het Goede Doel Net zo lief gefortuneerd CNR | Utrecht, 1984

Dutch new wave duo Het Goede Doel (The Good Cause) were second only to Doe Maar in popularity, with a string of sarcastic, melodic hits that occasionally remind me of mid-period XTC. The opening orchestral hits belie the crooning tenderness of this portrait of callowness and privilege (the title is “Just So Sweet [and] Wealthy”), only tipping its satiric hand when Henk Westbroek sings on the prechorus that naturally he wanted to marry his mother.

14. tv-2 Vil du danse med mig CBS | Copenhagen, 1984

Akin to U2 in their longevity, success, and consistency (they’ve had the same four-man lineup since 1982), tv-2 are perhaps the most successful Danish band ever. Formed from the ashes of prog-hippy band Taurus and new-wave band Kliché, they started with an industrial sound that gradually brightened: this song (Will You Dance With Me) is one of the signature sounds of mid-80s Scandinavian pop. With muttered verses about how shitty men are after the initial bloom of romance is over, the chorus (and its saxophone riff) returning constantly to the moment when he asks her to dance is a sharp and poignant evocation of memory.

15. Lolita Pop Regn av dagar Mistlur | Stockholm, 1985

The small city of Örebro in inland Sweden was far distant from the Paisley Underground scene swirling around Los Angeles in the early 80s, but a band with the same influences — the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, the Beatles — formed there, and with crisp Stockholm production seemed to predict the alternate-tuned 90s of Tanya Donelly and Letters to Cleo. “Regn av dagar” is “Rain for Days,” and the lyric is similarly 90s-depressed, while the rock band behind singer Karin Wistrand chimes and chugs along.

16. Cirkus Modern Karianne Sonet | Oslo, 1984

The songs I’ve chosen from Norway are all representative of more left-of-center pop than the more mainstream work I’ve chosen from Sweden and Denmark. Partly that reflects the the fact that Norway was just a smaller regional scene, but partly it’s that Norwegian pop is not well documented online. Cirkus Modern were a moderately successful post-punk act who produced two albums and an EP, which makes them by far the most prolific Norwegian act represented here: “Karianne” is a joyfully raucous (and slightly unsettling) jam that reminds me of when the Cure went pop circa “Lovecats.”

17. Madou Witte nachten Lark | Antwerp, 1982

The Dutch musical genre of “kleinkunst” (literally “little art”) can be compared to the German “kabarett” (cabaret) but includes folk-musical forms and socially critical lyrics. Madou, an experimental Flemish band centered around singer Vera Coomans and pianist and composer Wiet Van de Leest, brought kleinkunst into the new wave scene, with dark songs about abuse, incest, and suicide. “Witte nachten” (white or sleepless nights), despite its vaudevillian bounce, is sung from the perspective of a child whose mother shares her bed to escape the father’s fists.

18. Tuula Amberla Lulu Selecta | Turku, 1984

I may have stretched the definition of new wave to the breaking point with “Lulu” — the jazz manouche violin and general 1930s air (at least until the crisp Cars-y electric guitar solo) might sound too much like a nostalgia act for the rest of this mix. But Tuula Amberla was the lead singer of gothy post-punk band Liikkuvat Lapset, and the lyrics, written by doctor and songwriter Jukka Alihanka after a poem by sculptor and architect Alpo Jaakola, are about the decadent nightlife of modern Helsinki, as the video makes clear.

19. Grafík Þúsund sinnum segðu já GRAF | Reykjavik, 1984

Iceland’s vibrant and highly original music scene has gotten really short shrift from this mix, thanks to its tiny population. There’s lots more to dig into where this came from. But when I ran an initial survey of European music of 1984 some months ago, this sparkling gem of a pop song stood out immediately. Part Huey Lewis (that shiny production), part Prefab Sprout (those lovelorn melodies), all Grafík, perhaps Iceland’s premier pop-rock band of the 80s (at least until the Sugarcubes came along), “A Thousand TImes Say Yes” is a plea for total romantic commitment that comes across in any language.

20. Klein Orkest Over de muur Polydor | Amsterdam, 1984

One of the key songs of the Cold-War 80s, “Over de muur” is sometimes classed as a protest song, but if so it’s hard to parse which side it’s protesting. Making a clear-eyed examination of the repressive idealism of the Communist East as well as of the gluttonous “freedom” of the Democratic West, singer Harrie Jekkers’ real sympathies are with the birds who can fly over the Berlin Wall at will, as he imagines a day when the people will be able to do the same.

21. Di Leva I morgon Mistlur | Stockholm, 1987

Born Sven Thomas Magnusson, he adopted the stage name Thomas Di Leva when he joined the punk band the Pillisnorks as a teenager. His next band was Modern Art, and he went solo in 1982, at the age of 19. One of the most fascinating and creative Swedish pop stars of the early 80s, he drew inspiration from glam, electronic experiments, traditional pop, and eventually, Eastern mysticism. Those New Age leanings are all over “I morgon” (Tomorrow), which combines an up-to-the-moment U2 chug with Di Leva’s early-70s Bowie wail to create an extended, lightly trippy meditation on being, time, and the unknowableness of reality. He’s since become a New Age guru and life coach; but his early music is still really interesting.

Okay, that’s it. Join me next time when I’ll be looking at the Neue Deutsche Welle (and the Neue Österreichische Welle, and the Neue Schweizer Welle). I’m over the hump: there are three mixes left to go in this series. Thanks for reading and listening. If you want to talk to me about what I’ve compiled, or what I’ve said about it. I’m around.

#my mixology career

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lets-misa-blog · 5 years

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7 Advanced Content Promotion Strategies for 2019 http://google-keyword-research.s3-website.us-east-2.amazonaws.com check out concerning it here

Today I'm going to disclose 7 of my all-time preferred web content promo strategies.

As a matter of fact:

These coincide exact methods that I made use of to get 7,077 sees on one of my latest posts ... in less than a week.

Allow's dive right in ...

Prior To Your Promote ANYTHING, Maintain This In Mind ...

Many people fall short with material promo for one easy reason:

Their web content HAS AN ODOR.

For instance, inspect out this outreach email someone sent me recently:

Was this outreach email excellent?

No.

It's in fact rather awful.

However that's not why I removed it.

I erased it due to the fact that they sent me a bad infographic!

I actually can't stress this sufficient:

If your message is something like "5 Tips for Losing Weight" or "8 Reasons That Email Advertising And Marketing Is Necessary", don't bother promoting it.

But if you have something truly AMAZING, after that you'll find that individuals enjoy share your stuff.

With that said little caution off the beaten track, it's time for our very first method ...

Approach # 1: (Targeted) Blog Owner Outreach

So you simply released an outstanding item of content.

Currently what?

It's time to advertise it with blogger outreach.

In reality, among my newest blog post obtained a great spike in website traffic mostly due to a solitary tweet from an influential blog owner:

The concern is ...

Exactly how?

All you need to do is discover bloggers that share web content on your subject ...

... and also send them a non-pushy e-mail.

Here's a the real world instance of this process at work:

First, I sent a tailored email to a blogger that's already shared content on my subject:

(By doing this, I knew she 'd in fact WANT to read my blog post ... prior to I hit "send out")

Then, when she obtained back to me, I sent her a web link:

([ $-$] Pro Idea: Don't ask the person to share or web link to your content. If they believe your web content is excellent, they'll share it) Due to the fact that I had not been a pushy jerkface, this blogger mored than happy to get the word out:

That's all there is to it.

Keep in mind:

If you desire to discover A WHOLE LOT much more regarding blog writer outreach I recommend reading this in-depth overview: Technique # 2: Web content Roundups

Visualize if people published post with the sole function of connecting bent on high quality web content.

(The kind of quality content that you already publish on your website)

It would certainly be pretty wonderful, right?

The good news is for us, that's a real thing. And they're called material roundups.

(Additionally sometimes called "Web link Roundups")

Here's an example:

So: what are web link summaries?

Link summaries are daily, regular or monthly blog messages that connect to AMAZING web content. Right here's an example of a web link I recently built from a summary: Currently allow's malfunction the exact process I utilized to get this web link.

Initially,

discover summaries in your niche. Below are a couple of search strings that function actually well.

"Key words" + "link roundup"

"Search phrase" + roundup

"Search phrase" + "ideal of"

"Keyword" + today

Next,

pitch your material. Here's the email script that I personally utilize.

[Website Owner Name] , I just stumbled on your

[Saturday Roundup] this afternoon. Great stuff! I'm just connecting since I recently published a content marketing instance study that could be a great fit:

[Your Page] In any case, maintain the awesome work

Cheers,

[Your Given name] As well as if your post is a good suitable for that individual's roundup, you'll get a wonderful web link.

Method # 3: Email Newsletter Promo

This is HUGE.

If you desire even more people to read your web content, you need to start building your e-mail list.

(And after that let your clients find out about your new things).

Instance in factor:

A while ago I sent this tweet to advertise my latest blog article:

That Tweet obtained a grand total of 111 clicks:

I additionally sent out an e-newsletter to my e-mail subscribers.

How several clicks did the e-newsletter obtain?

7 THOUSAND.

(To be fair, I have twice as lots of e-mail subscribers than Twitter fans. Yet you get the concept).

And also if you wish to get going developing your e-mail listing, I recommend looking into this listing of 17 untapped list structure methods, tips and methods.

Strategy # 4: Web content Makeover

Content Change is basic:

You just transform among your blog site posts right into another layout (like an ebook, video, infographic or podcast).

For instance, I published this study on my blog a while back:

As you can see, this message generated great deals of social shares ...

... and comments.

Yet I understood that I could press even extra value out of this content.

So I transformed that message right into a YouTube Video:

That single video has generated over 150k views ... as well as numerous website visitors.

(All from a piece of material that I released YEARS ago)

Good.

Approach # 5: The Material Relaunch

In some cases the most effective means to advertise your web content

is to revamp and also relaunch it. (Likewise referred to as "The Material Relaunch")

Here's an example:

I recently spruced up and relaunched this listing of Search Engine Optimization copywriting tactics:

So I shared the blog post on social networks:

As well as sent a statement to my e-mail clients:

Which caused a substantial increase in web traffic (consisting of almost 5k site visitors in eventually):

Now:

The secret to this strategy is to actually transform the post's "Published" date in WordPress.

Why?

When you transform the blog post's "published" date, your blog post appears at the top of your blog feed.

To transform the day, just head over to that article and click the "modify" link under the article's day:

Then transform the day to today ...

... as well as hit "update".

Like magic, your message will certainly show up at the really leading of your blog site feed.

Technique # 6: The Material Roadshow

The Material Roadshow is just one of my best web content promotion techniques.

Why?

Since much like with approach # 1 from this blog post (Targeted Blog owner Outreach), you're getting your material before people that are legitimate curious about your subject.

The distinction is that with The Material Roadshow, you're not only seeking people that shared material on your topic.

You can likewise email blog writers

that blog about your topic. Allow me show you just how a the real world example of just how a Backlinko visitor (Emil) utilized The Web content Roadshow to obtain a HUGE traffic spike:

Emil lately released this article on his company blog site.

ANd he utilized The Web content Roadshow to obtain the word out.

Right here are the deets ...

First, Emil searched for blog owners that covered his topic (employee wellness, human sources and also various other associated topics) on their blog

And when he located a piece of wonderful content similar to this one ...

... he emailed the author:

In this situation, Kristi asked Emil to send his material to her material roundup:

He did ... as well as obtained a wonderful back links in return:

Method # 7: Email Individuals and also Brands That You Discuss In Your Post

This is basic. However it works.

Whenever you state or connect to a person in your material,

let them know. For instance, Emil pointed out Authority Nutrition here:

So he sent them a message to allow them understand that they've been featured:

As you can see, they gladly shared his post:

Bonus offer Strategy # 1: LinkedIn Republishing

LinkedIn is an

incredible location to organization your material. For instance, I released this research of YouTube ranking aspects on my blog regarding a year and also a fifty percent ago:

This post did well. Lots of people review my blog post as well as shared it on social media.

Yet I KNEW that there were countless individuals that can take advantage of my material ... yet had not seen it yet.

So I republished my web content as a LinkedIn article:

Which (along with my various other LinkedIn messages) brought about a good piece of targeted website traffic:

Benefit Method # 2: Make use of "Click to Tweet" Buttons

This happens to me a minimum of once a week:

I read a short article, assume it's cool, so I decide to tweet it ...

... only I can't find a tweet switch.

So I say "oh well" as well as shut the tab.

Profits: You intend to make sharing your web content on social networks very easy.

Get in: Click To Tweet Buttons.

Here's how it works:

First,

locate something "tweetable" in your material. This can be a bite-sized suggestion, method, quote or statistic.

As an example, I utilized click to tweet switches to advertise this post:

Since my message was a list blog post, I thought about each tip on my checklist "tweetable".

Second,

create a click to tweet link. Head over to ClickToTweet.com as well as write your tweet:

As well as the device will create a special link for you:

Finally,

include that link in your material. Whenever a person clicks on the link ...

... they obtain a pre-written tweet for very easy sharing:

It's that very easy.

Final thought

It's more difficult than ever before for your content stand apart.

Also if your web content is AMAZING.

Actually, Derek Halpern suggests that you invested 20% of your time developing and 80% of your time promoting.

I don't necessarily agree with that proportion. But I DO agree with the premise.

As well as I wish these 7 marketing methods assist you get the word out regarding your next blog site message, video clip or podcast episode.

#ILoveIt #ok #game #fine #great #window #more #misa

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dawnbrigade · 7 years

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SoV thoughts (because I’ve been physically incapable of shutting up about this game for the past two months)

Just preordered SoV this morning (special edition or bust amirite) and man, I can’t remember the last time I was this excited for a game. I was actually pretty nervous when it was first announced, because a) FE doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to remakes, and b) FE’s recent games have been…. well. Fates.

But the fact that SoV doesn’t have a MU is a MASSIVE relief imo. Supports also seem to work more like the GBA games/PoR in that characters can only support with 5-7 characters that, yknow, actually make sense for them to support with (so far we’ve seen Celica/Mae, Tobin/Clair, Valbar/Kamui, etc. - all pre-established relationships within the story itself). The massive scale of the support system in Awakening & Fates was something I wasn’t a fan of because it’s just so hard to develop characters when the writers are trying to stretch out over, like, sixteen different support threads. The marriage+kids gimmick is also something I was really, really tired of by the time Fates came around, haha. I understand why people like it (…no I don’t), but man, applying that system to the Gaiden cast would be such a trainwreck.

Everything we’ve seen so far just seems so polished and high-quality. The art is SO gorgeous and I’ll probably never stop yelling about how amazing these redesigns look. Hidari’s attention to detail with character design is fantastic. I’ve seen several people point this out already, but in Kamui’s ending he helps Jesse form a country in the desert, and given how much he looks like Lon'qu/Say'ri/etc. there’s been speculation that said country eventually turns into Chon'sin. I love details like that (and I also hope this game is full of references to Valm & the shit that’s going on in the continent next door, because I LIVE for that kind of easter egg content).

I was concerned about how they’d deal with dungeon and village exploration, especially since villages were pretty boring in Gaiden, but they’ve really revamped it! It’s neat that the player can interact with the surroundings, like how Alm/Celica can smash walls and boxes with their sword and how it seems they can talk to individual NPC villagers. Also, Alm’s monologuing in the dungeon exploration PAX video is absolutely hilarious and I can’t wait to experience that. I love this kid and his overdramatic sophomore English class soliloquies.

I’m a bit wary about how they seem to be milking the whole “two warring countries, two different paths” shtick in the trailers. Gaiden isn’t really about choosing which side you’re going to fight for, so I’m hoping they’re just doing it to draw in the Fates crowd and not actually making it a focal point of the plot. Other than that, the storyline seems really neat - I looove what we’ve seen of Celica’s portrayal, I’m glad they’re writing her as a protagonist with agency and not Azura 2.0 (I liked Azura, but the writers certainly did not). The added prologue/childhood flashback segment is so cool! Besides the fact that small Celica is absolutely adorable, it’s nice that they’re obviously elaborating on the preexisting story - while I think Gaiden had a neat little plot, it was just so bare-bones. Adding flashbacks and a sizeable amount of character development is a wise decision, imo.

The only thing I’d change about Gaiden’s established storyline is how the female characters were handled. Besides Celica’s starting gang and arguably Palla, Catria, and Sonia, every single other woman is recruited by freeing them from capture. I’m definitely not saying that IntSys should rewrite every single recruitment scenario, but I /do/ think it’d be a good move to have at least a few of the female characters’ backstories not involve anything along the lines of “I was being held hostage but then the liberation army saved me.” I dunno, I can’t tell if I’m being too critical about this. Considering how IntSys has been writing female characters in their recent games, I don’t have a whole lot of hope for any changes here, but it would certainly be nice.

I have mixed feelings on Liprica’s backstory, because being forced into marriage against her will by Lima IV was an obvious example of how depraved and lazy Zofia had become, but also… ehhh…. not a big fan of the blatantly rape-y undertones here. I wouldn’t be heartbroken if they left this part in, but it’d be cool if they did find a different way to write it.

This is another very specific complaint, but goddamn I hope they change Clair’s ending. I’ve been complaining about this for years like the shitty fire emblem gremlin I am but oh my gooooood the trope of “two dudes fight over a girl and the winner gets to bang her, even though she tells him that she’s into someone else!” is just gross. I think the writers tried to smooth it over by having Clair’s Gray-is-dead ending revealing that “aw, she would’ve let him win anyway,” but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not great for any of them as characters. Though I don’t have high hopes for any changes happening here, it would certainly be nice. Also, this is incredibly nitpicky, but that ending is a glaring plothole - if Gray dies before Clair is even recruited, then how in the HELL are Tobin and Gray supposed to plan a fight over her? Gray never even knew she existed! Dammit, IntSys…

Anyway, that was a lot of complaining (SORRY) but overall I’m really, really stoked for this game. Every trailer they release just gets me more excited about the direction they’re taking it in. It’s very comforting that the devs have pretty clearly learned from the mistakes of the Archanea remakes, as well as the less desirable aspects of Awakening and Fates.

May 19th can’t come fast enough :’D

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kayla1993-world · 4 years

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All the success in the world will never make up for the sudden loss of a friend.

So while this fall has seen a most proud return to action for Dallas Green and City and Colour after a surprisingly long four-year layoff between records — including a No. 1 appearance on top of the Canadian Billboard collection chart for the group’s positioned sixth collection, “A Pill for Loneliness,” and a hot-ticket cross-Canada tour that hits Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena this Friday — that victory has been weakened by the unexpected passing of longtime producer, engineer and in all ways band best bud Karl “Horse” Bareham in late September.

“Our lives are forever changed. Three days ago we lost our dear friend and brother, Karl Bareham, to a sad event,” Green announced in a statement on Sept. 27, mere days before “A Pill for Loneliness” was due to arrive in stores on Oct. 4. “He was so loved and such an important part of this family — my friend for 16 years, next to me in the studio and on the road. After a hard few days we made the decision to continue on with the shows. He would want us to be together during this terrible time. We’ll carry on in celebration of our beautiful friend. We love you, Horse.”

Needless to say, Bareham’s death knocked the new album’s rollout completely sideways, with a harmed Green unable to do any pre-release press to tee up either standing near October run of sold-out two-night stands in five U.S. cities or the 15-date Canadian trip in which he’s now embroiled.

He and City and Colour did in fact make it as promised to the other side of the world to honor a date at the Brisbane Festival on Sept. 28, however, taking the stage before a big-screen image of a single horse for a performance described by Australian music magazine The Music as “watching sadness, watching feelings being processed in real time.” And they’ve greatly soldiered on through the shock ever since, no doubt with an little bit of the same playing out beneath the spotlights every single night.

“It’s day to day,” sighs Green, 39, from the depths of Regina’s Brandt Centre shortly after a pre-show sound check last week. “It’s hard because I made the record with Karl and I’m touring on this thing that we made together, but also he toured with us, too, and we’re all out here — thankfully, we’re all together — and it’s weird because every day we do this thing and our friend who’s supposed to be here with us isn’t. I think we’re all just kind of minute to minute.

“And yeah, the fact that we’re starting this touring cycle on this record that we made together is making it a little bit stranger. I’m talking to people about this collection that I am proud of, but I’m also having a hard time finding how to be proud of this thing or happy about it when my friend Karl’s not here anymore. It’s one of those things that you’ve got to figure out how to get through, I guess.”

Making it better though it might be to those left behind, Bareham’s future will live on in the role he played in steering City and Colour from a quiet, sad-boy sound-related side project on and off watched during Green’s downtime from the much more aggressive Alexisonfire toward the unlikely area act it has become today.

It was, in fact, at the encouraging of Bareham and “Pill” producer Jacquire King — who worked with Tom Waits, Norah Jones and Kings of Leon next to an completely insane list of other big names before joining the City and Colour “family” as mixer on 2015’s “If I Should Go Before You” — that Green was motivated to take the confident steps to making City and Colour sound more like an actual area act than it ever has on “A Pill for Loneliness.”

Slightly so, of course. City and Colour remains the vehicle by which Green unloads songwriting of a mirror-like and highly personal nature that never did and never will fit the metallo-punk-ish Alexisonfire mold. But “A Pill for Loneliness” nudges the big Crazy Horse-isms of “If I Should Go …” one highly happiness-causing step further into shoegaze area on the smashing lead single “Astronaut,” and thin faster numbers “Imagination” and “Strangers.” It also stirs layered keyboards and ever-more-widescreen interferences into the mix on cuts like “Young Lovers,” “The War Years” and “Difficult Love” to push City and Colour toward a non-icky kind of Coldplay land fit for its current station.

The hugely important, kinda-prog “Astronaut,” especially, pointed the way to the present, says Green.

“A lot of the songs were a little bit, well, not too outside the box for me,” he chuckles. “They were quite sad. And at first I thought I was going to make a really quiet, sad record because that was the nature of the tunes when I was demo-ing them. But then I wrote the big, spacey outro to ‘Astronaut’ before I wrote the song. I was just fooling around on the guitar and came up with that spacey, noodly part and I thought, ‘That’s a fun riff. I should try to write a song that can go with this’ because it seemed like it would be a fun thing to do live.

“So I think when I wrote ‘Astronaut’ for that part, that sort of opened up the door to make it a bit more of a bigger-sounding thing. And then I thought maybe instead of doing a really quiet, sad record dealing with all of these things, I could still write those songs but expand the sound a bit more to put together what I’m writing about with beautiful, movie-based kind of production.”

Although City and Colour remains, at core, a project that was never meant to be “big-room music,” the new songs can rather extremely easy fill a big room without messing too much with the original qualities of City and Colour.

This was of most important concern to Green, who will not be chasing down Max Martin to write him a No. 1 anytime soon.

“Every record I make, I still want it to sound like me,” he says. “I need to be able to hear myself in it because, beautifully and stuff, I’m mostly using it to get something out of my head. I’m always happy to explore new sound-related areas and stuff like that, but at the end of the day I need to hear me in it.”

Even as Green breaks in the current City and Colour lineup for a tour that will extend into 2020 summer celebration season — including familiar guitarist Dante Schwebel and multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly but replacing Jack Lawrence (back with the Raconteurs for the future) and sometime Constantine Doug MacGregor with player Anna Ruddick and drummer Leon Power — he’s also just signed on for a run of January dates with hardcore outfit Alexisonfire.

Green is not missing stuff to do. And, encouragingly, it’s stuff done for the right reasons, when he and all others involved feel forced to do it. The music industry has been forced to come their way, not the other way around. Does he ever have “how the hell did this happen?” moments?

“Yes. Constantly,” he says. “I feel like I’m still the same person I’ve always been, who’s always been kind of surprised by the interest people have shown in the music that I’ve made. And, yeah, every day walking around on this tour I’ve been, like, ‘This is crazy.’ I’m very thankful for it, you know?

“To me, the most rewarding part about it is I haven’t changed anything carefully to get to this point. Does that make sense? I just make the records the way I want to make them and write the songs the way I feel like they should be at that point and I’ve just kind of grown it,” he says.

“It was never about, like, ‘Oh, now that I’m popular should I try to write a radio song?’ I’ve been able to maintain independence and not had to really try to sell myself too much. It still sorts of just remains about my songs and the music and, to me, that’s the most rewarding part.”

0 notes

thesinglesjukebox · 5 years

Video

youtube

K.FLAY - SISTER

[7.00]

Today's posts are brought to you by the letter K! Is that o-K with you all?

Jackie Powell: This song is personal while also serendipitous for me. I came to the same realization as K.Flay this past Thursday. "Sister," according to Flaherty is a song about "unselfconcious love" that comes to the forefront in sisterhood, a bond that is free from institutional standards and rules. I said goodbye to my younger sister this past Thursday. She's a college freshman now. It still doesn't feel real. But this track helped me internalize the concept that my sister won't judge me for how weird I am, and that love is eternal. This track is both a promise and a dictionary definition. Katy Perry attempted to explain it in "Unconditionally," but K.Flay's take is about a type of relationship which retains a less continuous spotlight. While the earnestness in her writing is consistent, "Sister" represents a sonic departure. It's less dark and sexy compared to the Tommy English-produced "Giver," which plays in the background during the most NSFW scene I've ever seen on any teen soap: Choni, the best queer pairing on Riverdale. The brighter "Sister" may lean toward the stylings of Lorde rather than K.Flay's usual Joan Jett vocal tone, but that's the effect of production from Joel Little. The explosion into and out from the chorus is accompanied by a rhythm guitar loop that's reminiscent of Annie Clark but is still fresh. What's most impressive about Little and Flaherty's collaboration is how they've allowed this track to breathe, providing it with surprises including that cartoonish slide sound that enters the song for the first time after 2:00. The lyrics "If you ever go and get your heart broke/I would go and take a red-eye plane" illustrate the rage I feel inside when I hear that anyone crosses my sister. I'm so lucky. [8]

Kylo Nocom: Sure, crush songs are great, but friend crush songs are something to cherish. What makes "Sister" such a resounding victory lap, though, is how K.Flay manages to shed the slight misanthropy that she engages with too often on Solutions. There's none of the signature try-hard cool here that's stuck with her since originating as a "real" rapper in the aughties (and hasn't quite gone away even after transitioning into a bit of an alt-pop oddball since her Dan Reynolds co-sign). "Sister" shines as the most heartwarming thing I've heard all year, where the awkwardness this time lies not in her self-importance but in endearingly lame adoration, which makes the release of those Sucker guitar blasts that much more exciting. On an album so concerned with others' nihilism and its own blank inspirational platitudes, there's something resonant about how the most obvious standout is a song that's so dedicated to sincere companionship. [9]

Will Adams: Putting the CRUSH in friend crush, "Sister" dials up the distortion to match K.Flay's professions of loyalty to her would-be sister. But more than trying on all their clothes, offering to be an accomplice or to revenge-kill someone (not the person who hurt them, mind you, just some random someone), the line that rings the truest is the chorus's repeated, "DO YOU WANNA BE MINE?" That's where the vulnerability lies, and that it's set to the song's loudest, unabashed moment makes it all the more effective. [7]

Ian Mathers: Even just the delivery of "if somebody hurts you/then I'm gonna kill somebody for you" manages to sell the two-edged blade of wonder and terror that's a particular kind of intense friendship, especially when you're still in the feeling-out phase ("do you wanna be mine?" I mean, sometimes we check that before swearing murderous pre-vengeance, but I get it). K.Flay matches the sentiment with maybe the most quiet/loud/quiet song like this since, what, "I Love It"? [7]

Alex Clifton: Platonic relationships can be really tricky to navigate, especially in adulthood; you can't really go up to someone and just declare an intention to be BFFs for life. And yet you can go up to someone and ask them on a date without hardly knowing them -- why isn't there any sort of middle ground? "Sister" is highly relatable because it's a wish for intimacy with a person, a closeness with a friend that definitely builds over time -- but sometimes it's like a crush that just overwhelms your senses. I want to be there for you! I want to have your favourite flavour of ice cream in my fridge for when you have a bad day, I want to keep a mental log of the books you want so I can get you them for your birthday, I want to let you know that if you need a friend in the middle of the night I am always here for you. I have spent much of my life writing stories about this kind of friendship and trying to build it myself, although I know (again) solid friendship takes constant work and time to build a foundation. It's a rush and a thrill, though, to know you want to be friends with someone, and I don't think I have ever heard that expressed so clearly in a song before. It's not a perfect song (I find the industrial-ish synths a bit much at times) but K.Flay has knocked on a feeling I have chased my whole life. [8]

Nortey Dowuona: A thick, rubbery bass line is strolled over with an unerring calm by K.Flay, who starts back flipping over the volcano as her sister sends pics to the family group chat. [8]

Alfred Soto: When the synths go blippety-bloopety like Eno rubbing knobs with erotic glee in Roxy Music's "Editions of You," I consider "Sister" one of the more garishly, fully realized approximations of erotic craving. And K. Flay shows more vocal power than recent Taylor Swift and Carly Rae Jepsen. [7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: K.Flay saves "Sister" from pure Imaginary Draconian burble with a few weirdo turns of phrase and vocal melodies, but can't save it from her own variety of too-specific corniness. The third verse is nice -- tightly written and with a nice melodic shift -- but the hammer of the chorus can't help but ruin a good moment. [4]

Joshua Lu: All of the background information and promotional imagery K.Flay has released in support of "Sister" paints the song as genuine and heartfelt, an honest depiction of a filial love that can be applied to anyone, regardless of blood ties, you hold dear to you. Yet upon listening to the song, I feel more frequently uneasy than I'd expect; at times K.Flay's delivery sounds sinister, and the second verse's allusions to death and murder feel oddly serrated for a song with a concept as ostensibly frictionless as this one. This impression comes and goes, and I'd prefer if the song committed to one interpretation instead of hovering between two. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#K Flay #pop #music #music review #writing

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deadcactuswalking · 5 years

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 10th March 2019

Top 10

We have the same #1 from last week, specifically “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi, hanging onto the top this week for a second stint at the top.

“Giant” by Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man is also not moving at number-two.

Mabel is up two spots to number-three with “Don’t Call Me Up”.

Ariana Grande’s “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” is currently at number-four, down one position from last week.

There’s another song from Ariana down only one space from last week at number-five, this one being “7 rings”. Both of these tracks aren’t falling fast enough, by the way.

The most interesting story of this week in pop music is the return of the Jonas Brothers and their impact on the charts. In the US, they debuted at #1, which kind of perplexes me to be completely honest, but they’re also at number-six here, so there must be some hole in the public’s consumption of music worldwide that the Jonas bros are filling I suppose. If you’re interested in stats, their last charting song in the top 40 here was in 2008, with “Burnin’ Up”, and this is actually their highest charting song ever in the UK, being their fourth top 40 but first ever top 10. Congratulations... I guess?

“Dancing with a Stranger” by Sam Smith and Normani is down a spot to number-seven.

Tom Walker’s “Just You and I” is up two spaces to number-eight.

P!nk’s “Walk Me Home” surprisingly doesn’t falter off the debut despite lack of a video, only dropping a single space to number-nine.

Oh, and NSG’s “Options” featuring Tion Wayne is down three spots to #10.

Climbers

We have exactly two, both in the top 20. “Please Me” by Cardi B and Bruno Mars moves up seven positions probably thanks to the video, to #13, whilst YNW Melly enjoys his first ever top 20 hit whilst incarcerated and on trial for double murder, as “Murder on My Mind” slips up 11 spaces to #20.

Fallers

We have a lot more of these, although it’s still relatively dry in this area too. “Wow.” by Post Malone continues its gradual fall, down five to #19, “Going Bad” by Meek Mill and Drake is down seven to #23, joining “Advice” by Cadet and Deno Driz down six to #24, “Kitchen Kings” by D-Block Europe is down seven to #26, “Shotgun” by George Ezra is down five to #31, “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande is down six to #36, and that’s it, it seems.

Dropouts

Thanks to streaming cuts, two long-running chart hits have dropped out as they always do because of these arbitrary UK chart rules: “Play” by Jax Jones featuring Years & Years is out from #22 and “Lost Without You” by Freya Ridings is out from #25. Otherwise, we just have a few natural dropouts, with “Promises” by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith dropping out from the return last week at #37, “Undecided” by Chris Brown dropping out from #38 (Good riddance) and the sad loss of “Black” by Dave from #40, although there’s no questioning it’ll rebound at a much higher position once the album impacts – which, by the way, you should check out. It’s called PSYCHODRAMA and it’s fantastic.

Returning Entries

“Leave a Light On” by Tom Walker is back at #37. Please go away.

NEW ARRIVALS

#34 – “Don’t Feel Like Crying” – Sigrid

Produced by Oscar Holter – Currently charting at #15 in Scotland

So, I like Sigrid quite a bit, actually. I had a really negative reaction to “Strangers” more than a year ago when it first debuted on the charts but that opinion has waned with time, although it’s still probably one of the worst she’s released, especially on the album Sucker Punch, which I admit I haven’t finished but contains some pretty great UK synthpop, especially the title track, which is awesome and I’m quite sad that didn’t turn out to be the hit from the record, but instead we’ve got the second top 40 hit from young Norwegian singer and BBC’s “Sound of 2018”, which seems to be the token break-up hit on the record (Although there’s probably more songs on the topic throughout), and honestly, it’s pretty epic. I love the orchestral strings that start the track off, they step the fine line between classical-tinged and more electronic sounds by having that synth harmonising with it and the unnatural sound of the slick, polished pop song. The chorus, despite a somewhat concerning falsetto, is catchy and anthemic, and especially in the second verse, it’s such an effective kiss-off, despite being really clean and inoffensive. Similarly to “Sucker Punch”, it’s just Sigrid doing what she knows best: singing some cool synthpop songs (With a rock edge that I appreciate) that she only co-wrote, with enough indie cred in the interesting vocal mannerisms and 808s to seep through what I would usually see as manufactured and boring. Yeah, this is pretty good, even though I feel it could be improved by being less repetitive and more developed, since it’s two and a half minutes long and I feel it needs a proper bridge instead of an admittedly weak post-chorus. Next.

#32 – “Bally” – Swarmz featuring Tion Wayne

Produced by DABEATFREAKZ

Apparently this is a returning entry according to the BBC, and so is “Don’t Feel Like Crying”, but they also think Swae Lee isn’t on “Sunflower” with Post Malone so you know, it’s not exactly like they’re the most reliable in their top 40 countdowns they have available on their Radio One website. Anyway, this is Swarmz, a UK rapper from the same irk as all the faux-reggae-influenced British hip hop artists that break through nearly every week now, sometimes twice, with a slightly bigger name as a feature, in this case Tion Wayne, who also features on a top 10 hit right now by NSG (Making this his second top 40 hit and obviously Swarmz’s first). It sounds really similar to “Options” actually, with a blunt piano-lead beat, almost reggaeton or dancehall percussion as well as a deep 808 drowning out everything else, except, in this case, the piano is completely or at least partially off-beat for the intro and outro due to how washed out the percussion and claps are. The mix is okay, but Swarmz’s autotune especially is pretty muddy, with the multi-layering making the song especially cluttered but I do love his verse and chorus actually, since he has so much charisma and he’s pretty funny and exciting due to his happy delivery despite dark lyrics about shooting people. Maybe it’s because of the BlocBoy JB level of stuttering in the hook or his elongated syllables, but something about this dude is hilarious. Tion Wayne is okay here too (I especially like his pre-chorus), and the beat is decent enough for both of them once it really gets started, so to be honest, I can’t really complain about this one too much, it has a cool almost afrobeat swing to it and I quite like it. Maybe it’s just because I’ve heard so much of this trash that any slightly better forms of this style of British hip hop amazes me, but at least I’ve started to see the reason for this co-existing with people like Dave and people like Loyle Carner; there is some quality to be found in faux-dancehall-gangsta-rap, sometimes.

#18 – “How it Is” – Roddy Ricch, Yxng Bane and Chip featuring the Plug

Produced by SpeakerBangerz

Okay, let’s name off everyone here, starting with probably the most well-known. Yxng Bane is perhaps the most recognisable here as he’s a rapper from East London who is one of the few of the rappers in this style who know how to have a pop sensibility and still be decent, but honestly when he charts his songs are painfully and pathetically bad. His song “Vroom” is probably even worse than I dubbed it in retrospect. This is his fourth Top 40 hit and second top 20. Chip is definitely the artist with the biggest (And probably best) discography here, and can be seen as more of a legacy act in recent years, being one of the few UK rappers to have connections with the US hip-hop scene that aren’t forced, probably because he used to be on T.I.’s record label. He’s collaborated with people like Emeli Sandé, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Keri Hilson, Stormzy, Elton John and even Big Shaq (No, the last two are not on the same track, although that would be interesting to say the least), and 16 UK Top 40s under his belt, including 10 Top 20s and a number-one hit, although this is his first hit since 2013. Roddy Ricch is an American rapper heavily affiliated with Meek Mill and somehow Marshmello, who seems to be gaining buzz for his trap-rap mixtapes recently. This is his first ever charting song in the UK. The Plug is seemingly a collective that pulls everything together, we’ve seen another collaboration between UK and US rappers initiated by the Plug end up on the chart before, making this their second hit. The song itself isn’t as interesting as any of these backstories if you’re wondering, its piano melody is nice and I like the ambience it builds until Roddy Ricch comes in with the beat and drowns out whatever was there, sounding like a slightly less watered-down version of Young Thug than, say, Lil Baby, but still a shameless rip-off with not near enough quirkiness to make it work. Chip’s verse is mixed awfully and he sounds pretty bad with that autotune anyway. I may as well add that every single verse goes on for a few too many bars to make this song in any way tolerable, and that it’s nearly five freaking minutes, with only three verses but an incessant repetition of the hook. Yxng Bane doesn’t add anything but for once he doesn’t really subtract anything. I actually kind of like the distorted vocals he pulls off. Otherwise, this is gutter trash. Let’s talk about the Jonas Brothers.

#6 – “Sucker” – Jonas Brothers

Produced by Frank Dukes and Louis Bell – Currently charting at #1 in the US and Canada

I’ve never heard a Jonas Brothers song before this, and I’m frankly not going to bother researching a Disney-grown boy band that probably didn’t even make interesting enough music to commentate on despite most probable lack of quality. I have heard some stuff they’ve done outside of this project, with Nick Jonas having two boring solo hits that aren’t much to speak of, Joe Jonas being the frontman of the band DNCE, who had two excellent hits over here, with “Cake by the Ocean” and the funky Nicki Minaj featuring “Kissing Strangers”, and not going to lie, has probably aged the best out of the brothers, musically and in appearance. Sorry, I’ll try to keep it professional – Kevin Jonas, well, I’m sure he existed too, but he didn’t really make music, he just went into either acting or off the face of the Earth until they made their return. Well, I can’t really discern their voices from each other, but I can tell that the shaky falsetto comes from Nick, and the bland, dime-a-dozen production comes from producers Frank Dukes and Louis Bell, both of which known for their aggressively pointless and emotionless, manufactured instrumentals, especially the guitars here, which are so watery and gross. I like the melodies here and I’d be lying to say it wasn’t catchy, especially the whistling in the post-chorus, but there’s nothing really of interest to speak of here, other than the striking similarity to “Feel it Still” by Portugal. The Man, and in response, I see it, but I don’t care.

Conclusion

Not much here was outright bad except the obvious stinker, so Worst of the Week goes to the Plug, Roddy Ricch, Yxng Bane and Chip for “How it Is”, while Best of the Week probably goes to Sigrid for “Don’t Feel Like Crying”, although I feel like I should mention that I do like “Bally”, so Honourable Mention goes to Swarmz and Tion Wayne for making British faux-dancehall hip hop interesting for a brief three minutes. See you next time!

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technato · 6 years

Text

Video Friday: Skydio’s Car Follow, Telexistence, and Tick-Killing Robot

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos

Photo: Telexistence

Tokyo-based robotics startup Telexistence unveils its Model H robot and control system.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We’ll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here’s what we have so far (send us your events!):

RoboCup 2018 – June 18-22, 2018 – Montreal, Canada

RSS 2018 – June 26-30, 2018 – Pittsburgh, Pa., USA

Ubiquitous Robots 2018 – June 27-30, 2018 – Honolulu, Hawaii

MARSS 2018 – July 4-8, 2018 – Nagoya, Japan

AIM 2018 – July 9-12, 2018 – Auckland, New Zealand

ICARM 2018 – July 18-20, 2018 – Singapore

ICMA 2018 – August 5-8, 2018 – Changchun, China

SSRR 2018 – August 6-8, 2018 – Philadelphia, Pa., USA

ISR 2018 – August 24-27, 2018 – Shenyang, China

BioRob 2018 – August 26-29, 2018 – University of Twente, Netherlands

RO-MAN 2018 – August 27-30, 2018 – Nanjing, China

Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today’s videos.

Skydio’s R1 can now follow cars, while not crashing into other stuff, of course:

[ Skydio ]

Telexistence thinks that having a telepresence robot that’s humanoid on the other end will make it more natural to interact with, I’m guessing. And they’ve done a reasonable job with the design:

I have to wonder what kind of latency you get between Japan and Hawaii, though. And honestly, if I had to pick a place to experience via telepresence, “inside of a surf shop” would not be at the top of my list. But space, pretty cool.

[ Telexistence ]

Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have designed a fleet of autonomous boats that offer high maneuverability and precise control. These boats can be 3-D printed using low-cost hardware and materials, and could serve as models for future self-assembling, driver-less water taxis transporting people and goods from place to place.

[ MIT ]

Exoskeletons are currently being tested for development and adoption in various roles, like helping assembly line workers with repetitive movements, baggage handlers lift luggage, and helping disabled people become more mobile. At the Applied Collegiate Exoskeleton (ACE) Competition, the first of it’s kind, teams created their exoskeletons for use by rescue workers.

The exoskeletons were put through tests similar to those for entry-level firefighters. After a design review, where safety components and how long it took to suit up were assessed, the exoskeletons were fitted with a 75 pounds of weights and timed while moving through an obstacle course: on balance beam, up and down stairs, across uneven terrain, under a low-clearance beam, and dragging a 165-pound mannequin for 100 feet.

Colorado School of Mines won the overall competition, edging out the U-M host team by less than a tenth of a point on a 650-point scale. MSU took third place.

[ University of Michigan ]

Thanks Damen!

Better TickBot than me, mate.

The TickBot works by using a magnetic sensor that follows a metal wire strung along the ground. Dry ice loaded into the TickBot is released as it crawls along, and the carbon dioxide it emits causes the ticks to grab onto a piece of cloth treated with pyrethrin, a pesticide that is non-toxic to humans.

[ NASA Langley ]

This multi-axis 3D printer from TU Delft moves the object around instead of the plastic squirty bit:

IEEE Spectrum contributor Fan Shi asked Professor Yong-jin Liu, “What is the advantage of this method compared to normal one in which the support is fixed and nozzle is attached to the manipulator?” Profesor Liu: “The two methods are symmetrical in geometry. But physically, it is the best choice that the nozzle is always vertical to the ground.”

[ RoboFDM ]

From Japan, for those of you who prefer your horse to be perfectly stationary.

[ Japan Racing Association ]

In a new paper spearheaded by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the University of Toronto, researchers demonstrate “VirtualHome,” a system that can simulate detailed household tasks and then have artificial “agents” execute them, opening up the possibility of one day teaching robots to do such tasks.

The team trained the system using nearly 3,000 programs of various activities, which are further broken down into subtasks for the computer to understand. A simple task like “making coffee,” for example, would also include the step “grabbing a cup.” The researchers demonstrated VirtualHome in a 3-D world inspired by the Sims video game.

The team’s artificial agent can execute 1,000 of these interactions in the Sims-style world, with eight different scenes including a living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and home office.

[ MIT ]

If you haven’t noticed, we’re morally obligated to post Cassie videos every week, so here’s one from Agility Robotics itself, showing Cassie learning stairs:

Not to be outdone, the University of Michigan posted this response video, entitled “Trolling Agility Robotics:”

And what’s better than watching videos of Cassie doing stuff? Watching videos of Cassie failing to do stuff:

[ Michigan Robotics ] via [ Agility Robotics ]

Space exploration today is hindered by the size and mass of the hardware and equipment human beings are capable of launching to space, the frequency of those launches and the human safety factors involved in transferring and integrating hardware components during astronaut extravehicular activities, or EVAs.

Now, building on the latest robotic technologies available, NASA and its commercial partners seek to transform the way we manufacture, assemble and repair large structures in space, leading us closer to a robust space infrastructure freed from launch window scheduling, launch vehicle mass limitations and astronaut safety concerns. Ultimately, NASA’s new In-space Robotic Manufacturing and Assembly (IRMA) project will enable more frequent science and discovery missions in Earth orbit, across the solar system and beyond.

[ NASA Langley ]

Details on the computer vision, mobility, and motion systems that you’ll be getting when that Misty II you’ve pre-ordered shows up at your door.

[ Misty Robotics ]

The project TransFIT is part of the space road map of the DFKI RIC. The project focuses on the assembly and installation of infrastructure for space applications by humans and robots either autonomously or in cooperation. The cooperation between humans and robots follows the concept of “sliding autonomy”. This means that the control over a robot by a human can be very strong as it is the case during teleoperation, weaker as in case of teleoperation with an autonomous control of components or like supervision only in case of “operator in the loop” approaches. The goal of the human-robot interaction is not only task sharing but further training of robots enabling more complex autonomous behaviour.

[ DFKI ]

This is some of the most fluid and lifelike robot motion I’ve ever seen, and of course it comes from Disney.

[ Disney ] via [ Gizmodo ]

Single stream recycling, enabled by your friendly robot sorting system.

[ Zen Robotics ]

2020 is going to be an exciting year for robots on Mars, and the ESA’s ExoMars rover will be conducting the most detailed search for Martians yet.

ESA’s (The European Space Agency) ExoMars rover is headed to the red planet in 2020, on a mission to search for signs of past or present life. One of its primary tools in this endeavor is MOMA, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer. MOMA is a sophisticated suite of technologies that squeezes a lab full of chemistry equipment into a package the size of a toaster oven. Its mass spectrometer subsystem and main electronics were built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md, and mark the first use of a linear ion trap on another planet – a leap forward in the search for life beyond Earth.

[ ExoMars MOMA ]

Wyss Core Faculty member, Robert Wood, Ph.D., presents a talk titled “The Mechanical Side of Artificial Intelligence”. Artificial intelligence typically focuses on perception, learning, and control methods to enable autonomous robots to make and act on decisions in real environments. With our research, which focuses on the design, mechanics, materials, and manufacturing of novel robot platforms that make the perception, control, or action easier or more robust, we aim to facilitate this decision-making process in natural, unstructured, and often unpredictable environments. Key principles in this pursuit include bio-inspired designs, smart materials for novel sensors and actuators, and the development of multi-scale, multi-material manufacturing methods.

[ Harvard Wyss Institute ]

On this week’s episode of Robots in Depth, Per interviews Spring Berman from Arizona State University.

Spring Berman talks about her extensive experience from research in the field of swarm robotics. One of the underlying ideas of the area is designing robot controls similar to the ones used in nature by different types of swarms of animals, systems that work without having a leader. We get to hear how many robots can be used together to handle tasks that would not be possible using one or a small number of robots. We also get introduced to the opportunities of mixing artificial animals with real ones. Spring describes some of the challenges within swarm robotics, which can be as diverse as mathematical modelling and regulatory issues. She also comments on the next frontier of research and the different research areas that are relevant to advance this area.

[ Robots in Depth ]

Video Friday: Skydio’s Car Follow, Telexistence, and Tick-Killing Robot syndicated from https://jiohowweb.blogspot.com

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nancy-astorga · 7 years

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‘The last line of defense for a democratic society’: The problem with Reince Priebus’ chat with a top FBI official

The formal independence of the Justice Department dates back to Watergate.

After President Richard Nixon resigned because of the scandal, President Jimmy Carter sought to give the Justice Department as much insulation from politics as possible, to keep investigations independent of meddling from the White House or Congress.

Other administrations have since strengthened this distinction, explicitly outlining what officials can and cannot do in Department of Justice memoranda.

But President Donald Trump’s administration appears to have flouted this longstanding ethical protocol, experts and former FBI and Justice Department officials say, prompting new questions about the impartiality of the FBI’s look into Trump and his associates’ ties to Russia.

CNN reported Thursday that the FBI (which is housed within the DOJ) rejected a White House request to publicly shoot down a New York Times story reporting repeated communications between Russian operatives and the Trump campaign.

The White House said Friday that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was the one who spoke up first, telling Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, in an unprompted fashion that the New York Times story was “bulls—.” He also said Priebus could disclose publicly that “senior intelligence officials” discredited the story, White House officials have said. The FBI has not commented, per longstanding protocol during ongoing investigations.

No matter what actually happened between Priebus and McCabe, and who may have initiated the comments about the Times story and Russia investigation, experts suggest there seem to have been improper communications about an ongoing investigation.

‘This isn’t something new’

Timothy Murphy, former deputy director of the FBI who served under multiple administrations, told Business Insider that he never had any officials try to influence or get information on investigations when he was briefing them at the White House. He said FBI agents are trained not to release any information, anyway.

“This White House being new, maybe they think that they can ask the FBI — who knows? You’ve got a whole new administration — most of them without former government experience — maybe it’s something they thought they could ask the FBI to go out and get out front of,” he said. “But the FBI did exactly what they were supposed to do, which is say they are not going to comment on active investigations.”

That echoed an argument from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a political ally of Trump and former US attorney who pointed Sunday to the fact that “these are all people who have never been in government before.”

“I can guarantee this: I don’t think the chief of staff will ever have that kind of conversation with the FBI, with an FBI personnel again, nor should he,” Christie said on CNN.

The DOJ memo restricting conversations on ongoing investigations says that the FBI can inform the White House about investigations if they need to inform the president about crucial counterintelligence information, which Murphy called a “gray area.”

However, Jane Chong, a national security and law associate at the Hoover Institution, wrote in a post for Lawfare that the national security exception wouldn’t apply in this case.

Murphy added that no one at the White House or FBI is breaking any US law by discussing investigations.

“You have to be careful about blurring the line between law enforcement and politics,” he said. “This isn’t something new. Every new administration comes in and they’ve got to understand where the lines have been drawn, and they rely on memos, they rely on laws, but there is no law about the White House talking to the FBI. There’s no law; it’s really just been practice and protocol and memos put out by the Department of Justice.”

James Wedick, a retired agent who spent 35 years at the FBI, told Business Insider that opening up about ongoing investigations “erodes the public’s trust in the bureau.”

“The best thing to do if you want to remain independent — and that’s what the bureau should be — is to not get yourself involved in the day to day operations of the White House,” Wedick said. “When bureau executives get themselves into problems of speaking to the White House about investigations, sooner or later you’re going to get pulled into the swamp yourself.”

‘It is a massive scandal’

Several lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle have criticized Trump for his and his associates’ reported ties to Russia. Priebus’ conversation with McCabe has only inflamed that criticism.

On Monday, hours after Republican House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes said he’d seen “no evidence” of contact between the Trump campaign and Russia, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic ranking member on the committee, said a bipartisan commission looking into the matter hadn’t started digging yet. He compared the investigation to the commission that investigated the FBI after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, and said Congress would need the full cooperation of the FBI in order to get all the facts.

“I’m concerned that the FBI engaging in conversations with the White House about an ongoing investigation or a potentially ongoing investigation, [and] if the CIA director was brought in to push down news reports,” Schiff said. “We have reached no conclusion, nor could we, in terms of issues of collusion, because we haven’t called in a single witness or reviewed a single document on that issue as of yet. It’s very important that we not pre-judge.”

Matthew Miller, a former DOJ spokesman under President Barack Obama, has been highly critical of Priebus, and called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself and let a special investigator take over the investigation.

“It is a massive scandal that would lead to the resignation of the chief of staff. … [Priebus] has to go,” he said on MSNBC Thursday night. “Jeff Sessions was also a member of this campaign that is under investigation. He ought to be recused from it; the department’s rules are very clear about it. He hasn’t recused, and he for all we know is right in the middle of this, too, and he’s probably being briefed on the investigation.”

‘The system … is under stress’

Chong, of the Hoover Institution, emphasized in her post on Lawfare the problem with Priebus giving off the appearance of trying to influence the FBI.

“The fact that we are left groping in the dark right now, wondering about what happened between the White House and the FBI, means the system … is under stress,” she wrote. “[But] in every version of the story playing out in the press … the system is at least putting up a strong defense.”

If such conversations continue, or the independence of the FBI becomes compromised, Murphy said, it could be a threat to democracy itself.

“Organizations like the FBI are the last line of defense for a democratic society,” Murphy said. “They have to be independent. They have to be willing to investigate any party, they have to be willing to investigate any individual, including themselves, and if they’re not then we’re starting to lose a grip on what the United States stands for.”

SEE ALSO: Sean Spicer on Russia: ‘How many people have to say there’s nothing there before you realize there’s nothing there’

DON’T MISS: TRUMP HITS FBI: ‘Totally unable to stop the national security “leakers”‘

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: ‘He’s the underdog’: We went to Staten Island to talk to people about Trump’s first month

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technato · 6 years

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Video Friday: Skydio’s Car Follow, Telexistence, and Tick-Killing Robot

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos

Photo: Telexistence

Tokyo-based robotics startup Telexistence unveils its Model H robot and control system.

RoboCup 2018 – June 18-22, 2018 – Montreal, Canada

RSS 2018 – June 26-30, 2018 – Pittsburgh, Pa., USA

Ubiquitous Robots 2018 – June 27-30, 2018 – Honolulu, Hawaii

MARSS 2018 – July 4-8, 2018 – Nagoya, Japan

AIM 2018 – July 9-12, 2018 – Auckland, New Zealand

ICARM 2018 – July 18-20, 2018 – Singapore

ICMA 2018 – August 5-8, 2018 – Changchun, China

SSRR 2018 – August 6-8, 2018 – Philadelphia, Pa., USA

ISR 2018 – August 24-27, 2018 – Shenyang, China

BioRob 2018 – August 26-29, 2018 – University of Twente, Netherlands

RO-MAN 2018 – August 27-30, 2018 – Nanjing, China

Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today’s videos.

Skydio’s R1 can now follow cars, while not crashing into other stuff, of course:

[ Skydio ]

[ Telexistence ]

[ MIT ]

Colorado School of Mines won the overall competition, edging out the U-M host team by less than a tenth of a point on a 650-point scale. MSU took third place.

[ University of Michigan ]

Thanks Damen!

Better TickBot than me, mate.

[ NASA Langley ]

This multi-axis 3D printer from TU Delft moves the object around instead of the plastic squirty bit:

[ RoboFDM ]

From Japan, for those of you who prefer your horse to be perfectly stationary.

[ Japan Racing Association ]

The team’s artificial agent can execute 1,000 of these interactions in the Sims-style world, with eight different scenes including a living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and home office.

[ MIT ]

If you haven’t noticed, we’re morally obligated to post Cassie videos every week, so here’s one from Agility Robotics itself, showing Cassie learning stairs:

Not to be outdone, the University of Michigan posted this response video, entitled “Trolling Agility Robotics:”

And what’s better than watching videos of Cassie doing stuff? Watching videos of Cassie failing to do stuff:

[ Michigan Robotics ] via [ Agility Robotics ]

[ NASA Langley ]

Details on the computer vision, mobility, and motion systems that you’ll be getting when that Misty II you’ve pre-ordered shows up at your door.

[ Misty Robotics ]

[ DFKI ]

This is some of the most fluid and lifelike robot motion I’ve ever seen, and of course it comes from Disney.

[ Disney ] via [ Gizmodo ]

Single stream recycling, enabled by your friendly robot sorting system.

[ Zen Robotics ]

2020 is going to be an exciting year for robots on Mars, and the ESA’s ExoMars rover will be conducting the most detailed search for Martians yet.

[ ExoMars MOMA ]

[ Harvard Wyss Institute ]

On this week’s episode of Robots in Depth, Per interviews Spring Berman from Arizona State University.

[ Robots in Depth ]

Video Friday: Skydio’s Car Follow, Telexistence, and Tick-Killing Robot syndicated from https://jiohowweb.blogspot.com

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