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dekupalace · 4 months

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AJR'S INERTIA ANIMATIC SCRIPT

this shit is LONG btw I'm so sorry. I am not artistically talented enough to make this a real thing, but I hope the writing is nice enough!

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME! SERIOUSLY!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION! cw for implied sui and sh!

[Opening “vocals” and instrumental have a rhythm similar to a ticking clock. Throughout this, a very high number will be rapidly decreasing in the background, with a clock ticking backwards - going back in time, dozens and dozens of loops ago.]

[MAL DU PAYS - just a single entity - stands in the center of the screen at the first vocal phrase, hovering similarly to Siffrin in the game over screen. On each repeated vocal, another MAL DU PAYS appears to the right, then to the left of the center entity, doing the same floating motion. When the vocals stretch and sound reverse, all entities of MAL DU PAYS will be thrown to the side like when Start Again is selected. It will then zoom in to the center entity—]

Inertia.

[—which will open its mouth as the first proper lyric comes in. It will zoom through the entity on the same beat, moving on from the scene.]

I've worn the same skinny jeans —

[Mira and Siffrin are talking as shown in the intro to Act 1, where she asks him if he's okay traveling with the party.]

— since I was fifteen.

[Siffrin smiles at Mira like we see in the same cutscene - he's never been happier!]

It's probably nothing.

[Mira looks at Siffrin with a concerned expression, and the screen fades to black.]

Inertia.

[MAL DU PAYS mouths the word again on the fade-to-black, and it zooms in once more to the next scene.]

[Similar to the cutscene in game, the scene pans down slowly from the top of the Favor Tree, showing Siffrin looking up towards it with his back turned towards the camera.]

My friends say they're quittin’ this week — to chase down their dreams.

[On beat with the song (¾ time signature, so every 3 beats), there will be slightly transparent scenes above Siffrin's head, like flashbacks - his friends are shown in the tree’s leaves, influencing his Wish. First it's Odile, who looks bored in the shop. Then Bonnie, who has their arms crossed over their chest, looking to the side sadly - they're thinking about their sister. Next is Mira, who has stars in her eyes, excited about what's to come next after their victory. And finally, Isa, who has one arm stretched out with the other hand gesturing towards his sleeve - showing off his fashion.]

They're probably bluffin’, but…

[The camera cuts to show a side profile of Siffrin, looking down at the leaf holding his Wish. He then lets go of the leaf and turns at the same time, as if the Wish he made wasn't that big of a deal. The screen once again fades to black.]

Don't you like it bigger, better —

[This sequence will have the scenes pop up, then slowly fade out, with the next scene popping up afterwards.]

[Siffrin and his party are eating happily in the Clocktower.]

— but you do what you can? (do what you can)

[Siffrin and Isa are laying in bed, Isa looking embarrassed with a sheepish smile, while Siffrin simply looks curious.]

Don't you like it a little better —

[The party looks up at the entrance to the House, their backs turned towards the camera, each of them holding their Orbs above their heads.]

— when you don't understand?

[With the camera facing their fronts, the party walks through the entrance of the first main room, everyone looking in different directions curiously.]

(don’t understand)

[Siffrin hovers his hand over the star save point, the rest of his party, evenly divided, looking around his shoulders in confusion.]

I was gonna save the planet —

[The party enters the Death Corridor. Mira is grabbing Siffrin’s cloak with a distressed look on her face, while Siffrin is squinting at her with a cocky smirk. He’s the trap master, he’s got this! There’s nothing to worry about!]

— but today I’ve got plans.

[With the camera at the other end of the room - the exit - Siffrin is shown looking around one of the middle pillars. Mira is seen in the background with her hands together in front of her chest, looking anxious. Isa is watching Siffrin with a little smile, and Odile and Bonnie are in the opposite corner, Bonnie looking at the wall while Odile looks down at Bonnie.]

I guess this is just what I am.

[The camera cuts back to be by the party, only Siffrin being shown in the shot. He stands in the middle of the room with a big smile on his face, showing off a thumbs up. Everything is fine!]

[On the first beat to the three ticks of the instrumental, multiple scenes will pop up on screen similarly in style to the previous ones.]

[A massive rock appears above Siffrin’s head.]

[Siffrin wakes up in the meadow.]

[He sits up quickly, like he was waking up from a nightmare.]

I'm an —

[The lyrics will start during the last fade-out of Siffrin waking up. Once it does, MAL DU PAYS will zip across the screen in the darkness towards the right - coming back to the present time rather than going back. No more backstory. No more prologue. This is where the story starts.]

— object in motion, —

[Throughout this whole section, a counter will be in the corner, counting up with EVERY beat in the song. This is the loop count. The scenes will not change with every beat, signifying that Siffrin has experienced those exact moments in the same exact ways multiple times.]

[Siffrin, with his back turned towards the camera, is seen hitting the switch on the pillar, his allies looking towards the fallen rock behind them in shock.]

— I've lost all emotion, —

[Siffrin walks by some Tears with a tired expression, staring blankly forward towards the end of the hallway. His allies behind him look at the Tears curiously, but follow him anyway.]

— my two legs are broken —

[Siffrin is hunched over slightly, facing a locked door with his hand closed into a fist, resting it against the door. Mira behind him is holding a note - the note about the key in the classroom on Floor 2 - looking upset, while Isa and Odile stand at each of her sides, both looking as if they were trying to think of what to do. Only Bonnie is looking at Siffrin, their head tilted slightly at his shaking, angry demeanor.]

— but look at me dance!

[In the same room, the camera cuts to show the front of Siffrin, who turned just a little to face away from the door. With the other adults distracted, he fails to notice Bonnie, who looks at him with wide eyes as Siffrin holds his dagger. It’s pointed at his own stomach, and he has an exhausted smile on his face.]

An object in motion, —

[Siffrin and Mira are talking on the bench. Mira is looking at the bonding papers in her hands with a worried expression, while Siffrin sits with his eye closed, a big smile on his face.]

— don't ask where I'm going —

[Siffrin and Odile are in the woods, the familytale sitting on the ground between them. Odile is looking off to the side, her mouth open and her eyes tired as she talks about her mother, while Siffrin sits with his eye closed, a big smile on his face.]

— 'cause where I am goin' is —

[Siffrin and Bonnie are outside of Dormont, Siffrin standing just behind Bonnie as they look towards the right at a Sadness. Bonnie has their hands raised into shaking fists, while Siffrin stands back with his eye closed, a big smile on his face.]

— right where I am!

[Siffrin and Isa are walking into the field. Isa is pointing up towards the stars, just ahead of them, and Siffrin is following him, their eye closed, a big smile on their face.]

[The short instrumental between the lyrics will show the others joining Siffrin and Isa for a picnic under the stars. They’re all laughing, smiling, eating…having a great time.]

Where I am goin’ is —

[It cuts to zoom in slightly on Siffrin, who is smiling and laughing along with his family members…]

— right where I am!

[...but then the screen will glitch, and while the others will continue their laughter, Siffrin will be looking away from them, appearing exhausted- no, guilty. He’s making them love him.]

[The screen fades to black.]

Inertia.

[MAL DU PLAYS will move to the left of the screen - looping again - and mouth the lyric.]

[The loop counter will stop temporarily. It should be at 72. Throughout this section, the counter will count up every 3 beats instead.]

You said you'd break up with her, —

[Isa and Mira are around a frozen housemaiden, Isa holding their partner’s half of a bonding earring with an excited expression. Mira appears to look the same, both of them fantasizing about the future reunion of the partners. Siffrin is in the background, staring blankly at their backs. His stare is noticeably more focused on Isa.]

— but she met your family, —

[The party is in the secret room where the runaway kid’s book is found. Isa is laughing as Mira looks distressed, Odile rolling her eyes while Bonnie peeks around her to watch Mira. Siffrin, once again to the side, is looking towards the bookshelf of romance novels, which sparked the conversation in the first place.]

— and dating's the worst, yeah.

[Odile opens her mouth as Mira playfully yells in her direction, Mira’s eyes squeezed shut - don’t tease her, madame! - while Bonnie starts laughing. Isa’s head is turned towards Siffrin. Siffrin has turned away from the others all together, his arms wrapped around himself. Isa looks concerned, but can’t say anything over the bickering.]

[The screen fades to black.]

Inertia.

[MAL DU PLAYS will move to the left of the screen - looping again - and mouth the lyric.]

Now you're not in love anymore, —

[Now at the end, Siffrin is looking up towards Isa, waiting for him to confess. Isa looks shy, his hands in fists to his sides as he tries to gain the courage to say it. Just say it. Just say it. They’ve been waiting.]

— but you'll stick it out for like twenty years more, saying…

[On beat with the counter in the corner, Isa will rapidly change positions, all of them looking hesitant and shy, while Siffrin remains completely still. The only thing changing is their smile - it keeps getting bigger, strained, forced. He never says it. He never will. They’ve heard this same thing so many times. Why won’t he just say it.]

Don't you like it bigger, better —

[Like before, this sequence will have the scenes pop up, then slowly fade out, with the next scene popping up afterwards.]

[The party is in the storage room on Floor 1. Siffrin is surrounded by the others, looking excited with a book in his hands. His allies, however, look confused. They can’t read that book.]

— but you do what you can (do what you can)

[Siffrin is holding the page of the article about the King, pointing towards the star on his armor. He looks deep in thought as he explains, the backs of his allies slightly in frame on each side.]

Don't you like it a little better —

[Loop and Siffrin are sitting under the Favor Tree, Loop looking up with their hand pointing towards where their chin would be, appearing to be brainstorming. Siffrin’s back is towards the camera. He’s hunched over slightly, not bothering to look up at Loop.]

— when you don't understand?

[The screen zooms in slightly on Loop, who has their eyes closed with nervous brows. Their hand is up and to the side slightly with relaxed fingers, as if they were asking a question. At this rate, isn’t it better this way, Stardust?]

(don't understand)

[With his allies looking at the orrery in the background, Siffrin is staring down at the journal of someone attempting Wish Craft. His eye is wide, and his mouth is slightly open in awe, like he just discovered something incredible.]

[The following scenes will be in time with the counter.]

I was gonna save the planet, —

[Siffrin looks up enthusiastically at the Head Housemaiden, her back slightly in frame. It cuts to show her face afterwards, and has her hand over her mouth.]

— but today I’ve got plans…

[The Head Housemaiden lowers her hand, looking upset. It cuts to show the sides of both her and Siffrin, with the Head Housemaiden leaning down to bring their foreheads together.]

I guess this is just what I am!

[The counter will stop. It should be at 100.]

[The camera will shift slightly to show just a bit more of Siffrin’s distressed, heartbroken face rather than Euphrasie. She will be holding Siffrin’s face, tears streaming down her face, the pair surrounded by ghostly outlines of other Siffrins. The screen glitches out slightly. After 100 loops, it’s still not enough. He’s going back.]

[Here's a visual of how the counter would work:]

[The counter has to play catch-up at the start of the video, but this was tested multiple times with the same result.]

I'm an —

[The screen glitches harshly, and Siffrin sits up in the meadow again. Encore!]

— object in motion, —

[With a darkened expression, Siffrin greets Mira, who looks concerned and confused. Why does he seem so angry?]

— I've lost all emotion, —

[Odile stares at Siffrin with wide eyes, watching him hand her the familytale while standing in front of the counter by the little girl. He looks annoyed, despite his enormous, painful smile. How did he know she had that?]

— my two legs are broken —

[Back turned towards the camera, Siffrin looks down at Bonnie, who is pointing up towards him and yelling at him with tears streaming down their cheeks. They’re holding their frying pan in their other hand, which is noticeably shaking from their grip. Why is he acting like this?]

— but look at me dance!

[Siffrin and Isa are standing in front of the Favor Tree, with Siffrin looking dismissive as they speak with a big smile, their eye to the side as if they were rolling it. Isa, however, looks very upset, and yet concerned at the same time. Where is all of this coming from so suddenly?]

An object in motion, —

[Back to the camera again, Siffrin points at Loop, seemingly yelling at them. Loop is looking away, their eyes and expression filled with guilt, with their hands up in mock defense. They knew. They knew the whole time and didn’t tell him. The loops are never going to end.]

— don't ask where I'm going —

[Siffrin can be seen barely in frame, hastily walking away from the tree. Loop is in the background peeking around the leaves, reaching for him with a worried expression. It’s too late. He’s off to prove his theory. It has to work. It has to.]

— 'cause where I am goin' is —

[In the hallway of the Clocktower, Siffrin is seen walking down a dark hallway, carrying all of the Orbs in his arms. The party can be seen in the background of another room, all in deep discussion about what to do, completely unaware of Siffrin’s intrusion and theft.]

— right where I am!

[With the same exact spacing as the first shot in front of the House, signifying Siffrin being alone, he holds his arms up in the air. They’re empty, the Orbs floating about halfway up towards their spots in the massive door. He looks so small compared to it. But that doesn’t matter. He’s strong now. He’s so much stronger than he ever was before.]

[The short instrumental will show different scenes in time with the song, popping up and fading out before the next pops up*]

[Siffrin effortlessly slices through the first Sadness with his dagger. They’re nothing to him now.]

[Siffrin performs Rock Craft on a different Sadness.]

[Siffrin performs Paper Craft on a different Sadness.]

[Sadnesses run away from Siffrin as he travels down a hallway, his back to the camera. Wasting time. They’re wasting his time.]

Where I am goin’ is —

[The party stands in front of the mirror, everyone looking surprised while Isa smiles brightly.]

— right where I am!

[Siffrin is standing alone in the mirror. No one is here but him.]

[*]

[Siffrin slices through one of the crest Sadnesses.]

[The Traveler draws a big, bloody star in his arm with the shard of glass.]

[The Wanderer smashes the kitchen counter to pieces.]

[With the camera facing him from further in the room, The Lost One is seen in the doorway to the observatory, the table with the star chart and other objects in the room scattered, glitchy, and not in their proper spots.]

Where I am goin’ is —

[Back turned towards the camera, The Lost One faces the observatory window - the Universe - and raises an arm above his head.]

— right where I am!

[The camera cuts to the front of The Lost One, and he lowers his arm across his body and takes a bow. The Universe is watching, and he knows it.]

Inertia!

[A vague, ghostly figure of The Researcher comes in from stage right, and The Lost One perks up in time to look towards her, still bowing towards the camera. The ghostly Researcher has red strings attached to her like a puppet, and the strings stretch to the top of the screen with no puppeteer in sight.]

I wanna move out of this town —

[The Lost One and The Researcher join hands, and gently spin around like a dance. In the background, there's a sketchy-lined flashback of Siffrin and Odile in the woods, with the familytale sitting between them on the ground, as seen in Acts 2-4.]

[Characters that are in the background/flashback will be italicized from now on to help further differentiate the two different scenes happening at the same time.]

— but everyone knows me —

[The background changes to show Odile grabbing Siffrin’s cloak as described in Act 5 - The Lost One turns his head away from the ghostly Researcher in time, their hands starting to slip out of each other's hold.]

— and packing is tiring.

[The background lines change to a red color before the flashback disappears, and The Lost One lets go of The Researcher’s hands in time, spinning away from her to return to the middle of the stage as she stands to the side, unmoving, facing the camera.]

Inertia!

[Similar in appearance to The Researcher, a ghostly figure of The Fighter comes in from stage left, The Lost One’s head being turned to face him as he enters. Like The Researcher, The Fighter also has red puppet strings.]

I said I would start workin’ out —

[The Lost One and the ghostly Fighter join hands, and The Fighter spins them around under his finger. The background shows a flashback of the pair laying in the grass like in Acts 2-4, but Siffrin is clearly looking at Isa instead of the stars. The flashback then changes to Siffrin and Isa in front of the Favor Tree, Isa’s hand raised forward like he was about to touch their shoulder.]

— but I'm fuckin’ hungry —

[After the spin, The Fighter and The Lost One stand close together like they were about to slow dance, their faces close together. In the flashback, Siffrin kisses Isa as seen in the Bad Touch event, but Isa pushes them away. At the same time, The Lost One looks up at the ghostly form of The Fighter, as if they were about to kiss him, but looks away instead.]

— and screw you, I'm tryin’!

[Once again, the background lines change to a red color before the flashback disappears. The Lost One steps back out of the ghostly Fighter’s hold and returns to center stage, their arms around themself instead as The Fighter moves to stand next to The Researcher, unmoving, looking at the camera.]

Inertia!

[Prepared for what comes next this time, The Lost One holds out his arms to the sides, welcoming a ghostly Housemaiden entering stage right, and a ghostly Kid entering stage left. Like the others, The Housemaiden and The Kid have red strings attached to them like puppets.]

I wanna be big like my plans —

[The Kid watches as The Housemaiden and The Lost One join hands, spinning around in a big circle with their arms extended as far as possible. In the background, a flashback plays of Mira and Siffrin talking on the bench seen in Acts 2-4, with Mira looking a little distressed. After a big spin, The Housemaiden lets go of The Lost One, and sends him stumbling back into The Kid, who clings to him in a side hug as the ghostly Housemaiden seems to giggle. The flashback plays Bonnie and Siffrin hugging seen in Acts 2-4.]

— so why’m I so tiny —

[As The Lost One reaches around to return the hug, he flinches, and the flashback cuts from the hug to Bonnie reaching for Siffrin while being crushed in the King's hand.]

— and why’m I so mad?

[The flashback shows Mira yelling at Siffrin who's sitting alone on the bench as seen in Act 5. The Kid steps back - The Lost One doesn’t like to be touched, after all - and The Housemaiden takes their hand, letting go of The Lost One’s and stepping to the opposite side of The Researcher and The Fighter. One final time, the background lines change to a red color before the flashback disappears.]

It's inertia!

[With the party members on each side of The Lost One, he faces the camera again, his hands gripping his hair with his mouth open, eye squeezed shut, like he just yelled something. A red-colored ripple effect will wave through the lineart at the shouted ‘inertia,’ starting at The Lost One and extending out at all angles to the screen edges.]

Guess this is just what I am!

[He looks towards The Researcher and The Fighter, who fade out and appear as MAL DU PAYS instead, then turns towards The Housemaiden and The Kid on the other beat, and they fade out into MAL DU PAYS as well.]

I'm stuck in this life —

[The camera spins around The Lost One to his side, and he looks up angrily at the window - the Universe - with a flash of red in his remaining eye, tears streaming down his cheek.]

— and I'm stuck in these pants!

[The camera makes a full turn around to show his opposite side, still facing the window, and he reels back his fist.]

[On beat to the cymbal crash of the instrumental, Siffrin punches and shatters the window, and it transitions similarly to if the player were entering a fight, revealing Siffrin towering over his friends like at the end of Act 5. It pans up slowly from the party’s backs, similarly to how the cutscene plays in game.]

[Several cuts can be seen of the party looking distressed at different angles, while Siffrin only continues to tower over them, noticeably shaking.]

[Eventually, it pans back up to Siffrin, who looks panicked, but then…]

I'm an —

[Siffrin will visibly take a big breath in, then flinch, a clock appearing in his eye - he feels a tug on his stomach.]

— object in motion, —

[On beat to the cymbal crash, Odile will stop Siffrin with her Paper move, the screen shaking slightly to emphasize the power of the Craft.]

— I've lost all emotion, —

[Siffrin will stare down at her with a wide eye, the clock in it now gone, looking surprised that she managed to stop him.]

— my two legs are broken, —

[Everyone will look up towards Siffrin, crying out to him, asking what he Wished for.]

— but look at me dance!

[Their hands reach out towards him, only their arms and hands on screen.]

An object in motion, —

[Their backs to the camera, the party reaches up for Siffrin–]

— don't ask where I'm going —

[--in which the camera will pan up from the same shot, showing Siffrin looking down at them in shock with tears in his eye.]

— 'cause where I am goin' is —

[Zooming in on Siffrin’s face, he looks distressed, braces himself–]

— right where I am!

[--and then cries out, his eye shut as his head tilts up towards the sky. The screen fades to…white.]

Don't you like it bigger, better, but you do what you can…

[On beat to the song, so every three beats, Siffrin’s hat can be seen slowly falling from the top to the bottom of the screen.]

Where I am going is right where I am! (right where I am)

[On beat, all five can be seen holding hands in a circle, slowly falling and spinning towards the center of the screen before it starts to zoom in on them.]

Don't you like it bigger, better —

[On beat to the song, Mira is shown, then Isa–]

— but you do what you can…

[--then Odile, then Bonnie, all of them falling with their arms stretched to the sides like it’s seen in game.]

Where I am going is —

[Siffrin is shown, falling, crying, looking at the screen.]

— right where I am, oh-

[Still falling, he smiles. He’s overwhelmed with emotion, relief, knowing that it’s over.]

Inertia!

[The song ends with a full drawing of Siffrin being hugged by his allies- no, his friends, his family, all while he cries out towards the sky. He’s safe. He’s okay. They’re not going anywhere. They’re not leaving him. They’re here.]

[He’s loved.]

#isat #in stars and time #isat spoilers #in stars and time spoilers #isat siffrin #isat isabeau #isat mirabelle #isat odile #isat bonnie #big shout-out to the isat discord server for dealing with my spam as i was liveblogging writing this lol #AND TO THAT ONE PERSON WHO DID AN ANIMATION WITHIN THE FIRST LIKE. HOUR?? THAT I POSTED IT THERE???#YOURE THE MVP BRO......#and to anyone that made it to the end: thank you for reading!! i hope you enjoyed it!#EDIT: I FORGOT LOOP IN THE TAAAAGS #isat loop #there we go. im so sorry bby

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adagioapassionato · 11 months

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Thinking about...Reflection by RM.

I would today like to talk about the multiple ways in which ‘Reflection’ breaks my heart and what it means to me. I seriously cannot listen to it without feeling completely broken inside and wanting to cry because I hate that Namjoon has felt like this and I also hate that I know exactly the feeling he tries to portray here. I think the way this song is constructed is incredibly beautiful. Namjoon begins with the words "I know every life's a movie..." and the entire song is constructed exactly like a movie scene.

The song begins with background noise that sets the scene: a bar, noise, talking, and as the music begins to fade in, it’s as though a camera zooms in on Namjoon, who then begins a sort of monologue. "I know every life's a movie, we got different stars and stories..." Although he wants to continue “shooting the movie (of his life) well,” he can’t help but hate himself. It’s a beautiful way to describe attempts to ‘romanticise’ your loneliness. That’s something common people say these days – to ‘romanticise’ and fall in love with your alone time, pretending you’re a ‘main character’ in a movie or a story. However, doing this also overlooks the feelings of self-hatred that come with loneliness and make it hard to continue pretending your life is a movie. He goes on to talk about why he comes to this bar in Dduksum when he hates himself. It reminded me of going out and surrounding myself with people when I felt lonely, which hardly helped and often made me feel worse and even more like I didn’t fit in. However, doing this is something of a guilty pleasure – “when I hate myself I come to Dduksum...fear, which holds my hand/it's alright if everyone is in 2s and 3s/it's good that I have a friend too." Although he hates himself, although coming to a noisy bar reminds him of the very self-hatred and loneliness consuming him, he still returns each time he feels this way. He almost romanticises fear holding his hand as his only friend – as he tries to maintain this movie-like, romantic aura around his loneliness, he ends up creating an eerily sad image.

After he says this, the instrumental break is cinematic and adds further to conjuring a scene that seems to zoom out from Namjoon – the music is emotional and sad, creating the feeling of gazing on as the world passes by around you. We observe the whole scene of the bar while also focusing on Namjoon who is alone in a crowd, and how his fear, loneliness and pain are mixed in with the scene. In the following verses, he progressively breaks down and overthinks about his loneliness, getting further into his head. Where the first verse was like a slow description of his feelings, the second verse gets more desperate as the tone of his voice and his rap flow get louder and faster: "the world is just another name for despair/my height is a diameter of the earth/I'm all my joy and hate." He desperately describes how he feels too big for his body, too distant and out of place, an outsider and alone even when he surrounds himself with people. He captures loneliness accurately with heart-wrenching lyrics: “Everyone else knows where they’re supposed to be/But only I walk without purpose” “I want to be free/I want to be free from freedom.” Loneliness, being on your own, is often considered as you being ‘free’ to do what you want without being bound to anyone, but it can also be disorienting and feel like you’re suspended in time without an idea of where you want to go. The record scratch before the instrumental break is jarring here – it’s as though he is suddenly jerked out of his thought spiral and returns to a reflective state of watching the world pass by him in his loneliness.

The last verse, which contains only one line, is the most desperate of all: "I wish I could love myself." He repeats this over and over – a solution he knows would end these feelings, but one he simply doesn't know how to reach. He seems to rap this melodically, blurring the lines between whether he’s singing or rapping – creating further this dichotomy between romanticising and loving loneliness and screaming the pain that it brings. Then the music fades out as a camera would in a movie, zooming out of this sad, upset character to the general scene before it turns black and ends the song.

I've cried to this song playing on repeat, and it now brings that memory to mind. I interpret the song in this way because my emotions while listening to it progressed in much the same way. It reminds me of a day when I was slapped in the face by the realization that I. Didn’t. Have. Friends. To add insult to injury, I decided to listen to Reflection on repeat that day. I sat there sobbing my eyes out every time Namjoon said "I wish I could love myself," because God, I wished I could love myself, but how, when I felt like no one would ever love me? The instrumental break too, I sat sobbing as the ambient music of life passing by me played behind me. It was such a painful and heartrending experience that I don’t think I'll ever forget how understood I felt by the song. There are some days where I cannot bring myself to listen to it because it brings this feeling back to me. It's truly amazing how he captures one feeling in so many different ways and yet makes it so relatable for everyone. Thus, this song reflects my own feelings of loneliness, of being alone when surrounded by so-called friends, of watching the world pass happily by around you while you stay stuck in your head wishing that for once in your life that you could just be part of that world, but you can’t.

Reflection. You reflect and think a bit too much as the world passes by you. Reflection. You watch the world as though it is reflected in a mirror – it seems like you know it and recognise it like it’s facing you, but you still can’t touch it: it’s far away, distant, alien. This song breaks me so much that I often struggle to listen to it without feeling hurt and sad, but it is so beautiful, just like everything else Namjoon writes.

-a slightly old piece of writing, but this song means a lot to me. i hope you enjoy my take on it :)

References:

Reflection English Lyrics

#bts #namjoon #kim namjoon #rm #reflection #wings #writing #music #thinking about...music #adagio apassionato

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jacksonjb · 7 months

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PRE-VIS: Pre-Production Song Timeline

Below is my pre-visualization timeline and rough shot list that I made in my planning notes, with the idea of listing each shot and lyric so I could use it as a reference when both filming and editing

0:00-0:08: Dog barking

0:08-0:18: Ink Spill in water

0:18-0:23: Dolly track observing bailey

0:23-0:26: Gliding past windows (in dark?)

0:26-0:29: push-in head turning

0:29-0:32: 'I seen you go down to a cold miror' - pulling back, Bailey walking at camera - mid close up

0:32-0:35: 'it was never clearer in my era so' - bailey turns head, camera on 225° angle, body on 180° but head turned towards 225°

0:35-0:38: 'You lick a shine upon your forehead or' - bailey turns head to 135°

0:38-0:41: 'check it by the signs in the corridor' - back to 180°, bailey looks up and to the side, cuts to walking past exit sign

0:41-0:44: 'you light my ways through the club maze' - walking forward, head turned to 180° angle, head comes back from looking up, back forward

0:44-0:46: 'We would struggle through the dub daze' - bailey walking at camera, revert to standard angle

0:46-0:53: instrumental - could potentially cut to candle burning out shot

0:53-0:56: 'I see myself In there upon my lover' - walk into bathroom through door, short track then off frame

0:56-0:59: 'it's how you go down to the men's room sink' - head over sink shot

0:58-1:02: 'Sad we talk of how madmen think' - looking around simple profile shot

1:02-1:05: 'I see myself in there upon my lover' - same profile shot, nod towards bathroom stall, whip pan transition

1:05-1:08: 'I don't know her from another miss' - whip pan transitions to face bathroom stall, bailey sitting there, says the line

1:08-1:11: 'I don’t know you from another' - gets up, says the line,

1:11-1:13: 'See me run now you're gone,' - dolly track pulling back - another potential whip pan transition to door?

1:13-1:16: (drawn out) 'Dream on' - dolly track pull back all the way as bailey stays still - /pan transition to see bailey walking out the door

1:16-1:25: Instrumental, following from 'Dream On' - pushing into the party and around the corner, seeing the lights and the people. Gimbal shot

1:25-1:29: Why you want to take to this party and breathe - rack focus onto bailey, focussing between different people to preface

1:29-1:31: I'm dying to leave - around the party

1:31-1:33: Every time we grind you know we severed lines - panning around the party - maybe even flash cut of wires snapping/being cut

1:33-1:37: Short instrumental pause - push in/zoom in on bailey from between people

1:37-1:40: Where have all those flowers gone - gliding past people, EYE CONTACT - do multiple of these -------- PARTY SCENES WILL BE IN COLOUR - MAKE LIGHTS POP look at nick cave Loverman MV

1:40-1:43: Long time passing - flash cut bailey looking around

1:43-1:46: Why you keep me testing, keep me tasking - crane shots ? More party coverage

1:46-1:48: You keep on asking - bailey turns head, looks at camera 'you keep on asking' moves onwards

1:48-1:51: Toy like people make me boy like - back lit, bailey punching the air, doused in shadow, preferably long cloak

1:51-1:54: Toy like people make me boy like - cut to close up, out of focus background bailey but when he punches it's in focus

1:54-1:57: They're invisible, when the trip it flips - bailey singing (ext.?) , moving back, flash cut to light switch

1:57-2:00: They get physical, way below my lips - bailey singing, camera moves down to his lower and then passes him by - transition to outside, camera blocked by Bailey's side, then when revealed again we are outside.

2:00-2:03: And everything you've got, hoi-polloi like - transition following from previous shot, following baileys feet from the ground thru bras basah, side to side angles and shots

2:03-2:06: Now you're lost and you're lethal - electric dragon 80.000V running across the street

2:06-2:09: And now's about the time you gotta leave all - running up on someplace, behind crowds, cutting to him looking around, side of his face, front of his face etc. cut to the front and we see surprise, shock, anger and frustration in close up - but we don't see why.

2:09-2:11: These good people - crowd shot something - pull back from in front of someplace, lots of people around him

2:11-2:15: Dream on~ - pulling away from bailey - in party or elsewhere - match cut from shot prior.

2:15-2:47: Instrumental with pause in it - shots of the party, people talking to, looking at bailey, bailey unresponsive. Lots of gliding shots and dollys, something visceral heartbeat. Fade out when the music slows down… - when music starts up again, do the aftersun party scene. Black and white flashing, people turning and look etc.

2:47-2:50: Nicer than the bird up in the tree top - walking at camera with strobe flashing, meant to mimic previous party scene - bailey screaming, yelling lyrics, putting hands over head,

Pulling at his eyes

2:50-2:53: Cheaper than the chip inside my laptop - snorricam hell is around the corner shot, somewhere light in the warehouse

2:53-2:56: All the variations you could do with me

2:56-2:59: Nicer than the girl up in your mind, you're free - close up on mouth

2:59-3:02: Automatic crystal remote control - bailey walking, carrying something. Following it along. Grips tighter

3:02-3:04: They come to move your soul

3:05-3:07: You're gonna fade into the background - something ephemeral, fading shots, maybe back in warehouse ? - pull back crowd shot

3:07-3:10: Like a better smoke will bring you back 'round - cigarette shot ? Something else20

3:10-3:13: Like a man slide, inside you my dear

3:13-3:16: Your cheap beer's filled with crocodile tears

3:16-3:18: See 'em run now you're gone

3:18-3:22: Dream on~

3:22-3:57: Instrumental

3:57-4:00: Toy like people make me boy like

4:00-4:03: Toy like people make me boy like

4:03-4:05: I found a reason~

4:05-4:15: Instrumental

4:15-4:17: I found a reason~

4:17-4:26: Instrumental ---------- Cutting between shots of the warehouse, shots of the party, shouts ext. People talking to each other at the party

4:26-4:29: Dream on~ Bailey being ignored, him looking around, general footage.

4:29-4:38: Instrumental

4:38-4:41: Dream on~

4:41-4:44: Instrumental

4:44-4:46: Dream on~

4:46-4:57: Instrumental

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iwebnext · 4 months

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Shopify Website Design Tips to Create a Beautiful Site

In the cutthroat world of eCommerce, your Shopify website development is your online storefront, your digital billboard, your silent salesperson. It's the first impression you make on potential customers, and let's be real, you want that impression to be stunning.

But how do you create a Shopify website that's both beautiful and effective? Fear not, fellow entrepreneur, for I come bearing a treasure trove of design tips to transform your online shop into a visual masterpiece.

1. Theme Symphony: Your theme is the foundation of your site's aesthetic melody. Don't settle for a generic tune! Choose one that harmonizes with your brand identity – playful and quirky, or sophisticated and sleek? Each note should resonate with your brand's essence. But don't forget functionality – ensure it can handle all the instruments your product range demands, like high-quality zoom or 360° product views. Remember, customization is key! Don't be afraid to tweak colors, fonts, and layouts to make it your own signature composition.

2. Mobile Maestro: In today's mobile-first world, ignoring responsive design is like conducting an orchestra without a conductor. Every note, from layout to image size, must adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes. Use Shopify's mobile preview tool and real devices to ensure your site performs flawlessly on every stage, from grand theater screens to intimate smartphone solos. Prioritize speed and clarity – mobile audiences have short attention spans, so keep your pages uncluttered, load times fast, and essential information readily available.

3. Content Crescendo: High-quality visuals are like captivating vocals, but compelling content is the heart and soul of your symphony. Craft clear and concise product descriptions, highlighting features and benefits in a way that resonates with your audience. Think "show, don't tell," letting your product descriptions paint a vivid picture. Don't forget to tell your brand story, weave a narrative that lets customers connect with who you are, what you stand for, and why they should join your chorus. Embrace the power of storytelling – use blog posts, customer testimonials, and even video to add emotional depth and texture to your composition.

4. Photography's Podium: Forget blurry phone snaps! High-quality product photos are like star soloists, demanding center stage. Invest in a professional photographer who can capture your products in all their glory. Consistent lighting and backgrounds create a polished and professional ambiance, while showcasing products from multiple angles gives your audience a full 360° appreciation. Don't forget the power of lifestyle shots – show your products in action, being used and loved, adding that extra layer of emotional connection.

5. White Space's Whisper: Whitespace isn't empty silence; it's the space between the notes, allowing each element to breathe and resonate. Use it to create visual hierarchy, highlighting important elements like calls to action by surrounding them with a respectful pause. Grid layouts provide structure and balance, like a musical score, guiding the eye and ensuring harmony. Remember, less is often more – don't overcrowd your pages, let your content shine with ample room to express itself.

6. Color's Concerto: Your color palette can evoke emotions and set the tone for your entire brand. Choose colors that complement your brand identity, like a well-rehearsed orchestra playing in perfect harmony. Limit your palette to a few key notes, too many can create dissonance. Use color strategically, like a skilled conductor highlighting instruments to draw attention to CTAs.

7. Font's Forte: Fonts are the unsung heroes of design, the voices that bring your content to life. Choose fonts that are readable and appropriate for your brand, avoiding overly decorative or difficult-to-read choices. Think of them like a well-cast ensemble, each playing their role to perfection. Limit your font choices to two or three, too many can create a cacophony. Use font size and weight strategically, like emphasizing headlines with a bolder voice while letting body text flow smoothly.

8. Usability's Encore: A beautiful website is useless if it doesn't convert visitors into fans. Optimize your site for conversions, ensuring every element is in tune with your sales goals. Make navigation intuitive, CTAs clear and prominent, and checkout seamless. Remember, a website is a performance, not just a static display. Make sure it leads your audience to the desired applause – a successful purchase and a loyal customer.

By following these tips, you can transform your Shopify store development into a visual masterpiece that not only resonates with your brand but also converts visitors into loyal fans. So go forth, maestro, and conduct your online symphony to success!

#Shopify website development #Shopify store development

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gannonflew22 · 1 year

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Virtual Sketchbook 2

Unity and Variety

Unity is the appearance of one condition or theme

Variety is the appearance of diverse themes and is opposite of unity

Unity is found in the daily life of things that do not change, like the color of water we drink, or the same white socks I recycle through each week. Variety is when I wear a different outfit each day, or the different options I can choose to color a drawing.

Balance

Balance is how things are symmetrical and asymmetrically related that creates equal amount of both sides.

Balance can be found in the foods we eat. We try to balance amounts of dairy, carbs, vegetables, proteins, etc. For a healthy diet.

Emphasis and subordination

Emphasis is purposely written to draw attention to a certain point of importance. Subordination is the lesser areas of importance that keep us from being distracted from areas of importance.

A personal example of emphasis is a calendar board I use to keep important things for the month, so I do not forget. Subordination would be the fact that it is a whole month on the board and not a day at time so I feel less stress in my days or important things.

Directional forces

Directional forces are pathways for the eyes to look, whether that be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal.

Like how we look at a I phone, there are paths our eyes look to identify which apps we have and want to choose.

Repetition and rhythm

Repetition is the regular occurrence of visual elements. Rhythm is repetitive ordering of elements.

In life repetition can be a morning routine I do every day, sometimes it varies but the basic element of the routine is repetitive. While rhythm is like music, and it does not change like a snare drum on two and four.

Scale and proportion

Scale is the size relationship of objects to each. Proportion is the relationship of those parts to a whole.

For scale, I always pick the biggest watermelon I can find because they taste better. Proportion would be comparing how many grapes equal a whole watermelon.

2. Figure 4.17 Cildo Meireles Cruzeiro Do Sul (Southern Cross) Unit 4.6

It is a picture of a man holding a tiny wood block on edge of finger. This artist is disorienting scale for visual effects. We all know the approximate length of fingers and seeing this tiny block on it gives us a clever idea of just how small the object is. In this instance, the artist is using emphasis on how poorly the people of southern hemisphere countries are treated. There are also implied directional forces focused on the wood block. In the background is subordination to focus on the scale of the arm. The balance is intact because they would block rest where it cannot fall over.

3. Blue has had the biggest impact on my life personally. Blue is a primary color and has multiple hues that give off different emotional responses. My eyes are light blue that give off kind and soft colors. While dark blue can symbolize the oceans that are endless in depth of blue that eventually turns too dark to tell. Blue is my favorite color.

4. Comic

It is more of an inside joke for percussionists but, we always have instruments we could be practicing because there are so many of them. No matter how long I practice, they will always be something else. In my comic is used balance, repetition, and rhythm, emphasis, and directional forces.

Portrait:

Landscape: located above

Still Life:

Portrait: This is a up close portrait of a tiger. The photo is zoomed up and really emphasizes the emotion from the tiger. In my opinion the tiger looks threatening. Not as in that they are about to attack, but instead looking at prey and saying it is over no matter how hard you try. Now I believe that the person that did this portrait wanted the exact opposite and instead wanted you to feel disconnected from the environment.

Landscape: This is a beautiful landscape of a desert, but not your ordinary desert. Usually a desert has no trees, but the photo has one right in the middle. To me, this person who took this wanted people to see something different from the usual, and not feel weird or opposed to it.

Still Life; This is a still life photo of the elements in glass cups. In order it is earth, fire, water, and wind. The person who took this was trying to make the elements of life fit into small cups. They want people to remember that we had controlled the elements into the palms of our hands, but they are still ever so powerful. These things never change and are infinite, what a amazing picture to remind us of that.

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classbugs · 1 year

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Learn how to Make Image-in-Image Video On-line

These days, such a video format as picture-in-picture (pip) video is fashionable amongst video bloggers and reviewers.

Make picture-in-picture video

A picture-in-picture (pip) video is a video with a picture-in-picture impact. It implies that one other video with the picture of the blogger or the reviewer is positioned high on the primary video, often within the nook, so it doesn’t distract an excessive amount of.

Marvel how one can make a video with photos and movies which you'll layer on high of one another as you need? There's some video modifying software program with picture-in-picture impact accessible, however you usually need to obtain it and determine the place the wanted settings are.

However, for those who solely must put an image on high of a video or one other image, you don’t must resort to complicated skilled editors and even obtain something – our instrument will make it easier to with that! It really works utterly on-line, so you should utilize it anytime and, on any gadget, so long as you've gotten a web connection.

It’s additionally fairly easy, simply have a look at the steps under:

Add records data

Open Clideo’s On-line Video Editor and click on "Get began".

Then, click on "+ Add" and decide photos, clips, and music both out of your gadget or your cloud storage account. If you have to add extra records data later, you are able to do so anytime you need.

Create a picture-in-picture video

All of the uploaded records data are within the "My Media" tab.

Click on the "+" signal so as to add two or extra recorded data to the timeline or manually drag them there.

You may edit every file individually by clicking on them and adjusting totally different crops, saturation, and different settings. Additionally, it is attainable to alter the pace and quantity of video and audio records data.

To place an image on high of one other image or video you possibly can manually change the place and dimension of 1 or each photo and movies nevertheless you need after choosing them on the preview display screen.

On the high left of the timeline, you could find the choices to separate a file, duplicate it, place it in both foreground and background and delete it.

Just remember to even out the size of every file in order that they begin and finish concurrently, choose the file within the timeline and drag its proper or left handles. If the challenge is brief, use the "+" button on the high proper of the timeline to zoom in and make the size of the records data extra exact. In any other case, use the "–" button to zoom out or the "→←" image to make the timeline match the display screen.

If you have to add some subtitles, it’s easy too – simply click on the "Textual content" tab and add the preset you want. Then, click on the subtitle file on the timeline to customise the font, dimension, boldness, colour, background, and alignment. To vary the video’s side ratio, go to the "Settings" tab and apply the preset that fits your wants. Right here, you may as well change the background colour if there may be an unused area within the video.

If you wish to undo some change, click on the reverse arrow on the height of the participant.

When all of the settings wanted are utilized, click on "Export" and select one of many export choices.

Save the video

Watch the preview to see what the ultimate end result seems to be like. If you have to add some modifications, click on "Edit". And if all the pieces seem to be good, click on "Obtain" to avoid wasting the video to your gadget or add it to the cloud storage.

Looking for editing softwares for your studio or office? Find MCP’s list of the Best Video Editing Software, Video Making Software, Photo Editing Software, Audio Editing Software, and Graphic Design Software.

#picture-in-picture video #video modifying software

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self-loathing-angel-of-thursday2 · 1 year

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Beautiful Spouse’s Rewatch Thoughts SPN 04x02

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester

“So do you jizz your pants every time you hear Cas say the perdition line in the intro?” “Cas is so weird as a character.” “this is the eye roller part. Oh she’s got the breath. Oh the lights. Oh she’s fucked” “the salt budget increased” “how many analogies for hell are we gonna get?” Oh, Dean and Sam become Chuck’s favorite boys

“He didn’t even grab a book. He just slapped them” “That’s the dirtiest Baby has ever been” “Not Ruby - I mean the car” “That’s something supernatural weird - you’d think you’re done being trapped as a demon, and hell is pretty bad. You’d think they’d want to redeem themselves or something but even the demons don’t want to go to heaven so it makes you wonder what’s happening up there” “Dean likes cherry pie especially” “sausage” “Dean’s sleeping with the window down? With his face in the air? Is he a dog or something?” “I supposed dogs are no better than daddy’s blunt instrument or something” “of course they zoomed in on his hands where there’s something trapping him” “Is it his childhood shotgun?” “that was a weird scene transition” “Is this supposed to be like the Shining?” “nice” “I guess deep-throating demons does that to you” “that was smart. I didn’t see that coming” “You didn’t have to say “iron” out loud” “every time I see this sort of scene, I think of Casino Royale when the balls get hit by the rope. So this is the ball-hittin’ rope dungeon” “wouldn’t it be rusty? It’s not going to last forever. What’s the maintenance like?” “3 dudes in a room and point out the lady calendar on the wall” “what the fuck” “not even 2 episodes into S4, and we’re talking the end of the world? That’s some serious escalation there” “$5 gallon gas. That’s it?” “He would say Bunny Ranch” “They’re really going broad with the salt this time” “It would have been funny if there was a cat in the linen closet” “getting your insides groped by a ghost. It’s weird” “they would be so deaf after this episode” “whack-a-mole with ghosts” “it’s like that quest - defend the spell caster for however minutes” “pretty extreme” “lots of heavy breathing for 3 old men. Just saying” “fkn messy hair. Showing up at night, too. Tie hair half-down. Sex hair” “why is he talking so quiet? He’s half-yelling, too. Can’t wake the other guys?” “that’s funny as fuck” “I mean the black backgrounds, tight shots, music…I mean you’re not even thinking about Bobby and Sam. Plus, they’re whisper-talking well within a comfort zone” Points out how close Jensen and Misha get and the lip staring “What the fuck” “was he dreaming?”

#beautifulspouserewatchesspn #supernatural s4 #supernatural #supernatural rewatch

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zenruption · 2 years

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Passions And Hobbies You Can Turn Into A Career

Every one of us has a hobby or two. Whether it be jogging or reading, there is something in our lives that we do to bring us joy and comfort.

Although it might be more challenging to turn jogging and reading into a hobby that can be a money-spinner, it could be possible.

Yet, if you are looking into hobbies that can (more easily) make you a passive income then you have come to the right place. This list will offer you some ideas of hobbies that can be effectively transitioned into a career.

Guitar Guitarist Music Playing - Free photo on Pixabay

Musician

Anyone that enjoys music and loves to make music should be fully aware that their passion and hobby could turn into a passive income. If you doubt yourself or lack the confidence to become an artist, then you should find more comfort in discomfort and take the leap to sell your music.

Whether you enjoy playing the guitar or singing, there are so many opportunities out there that will provide you with a profit in return for your talent.

To enhance your music and have a greater chance of attaining success, it can be a smart move to invest in the right setup. Although many people can become successful acoustic performers, it can sometimes help certain genres to utilize the right tools. For instance, let’s say you love to play the guitar alongside the drums and wish to record one instrument to play in the background of sets, you can do so with an Aeros Loop Studio. You can use the software to record dubs, tracks, and more, to be played back. To make the most out of the studio equipment, see more here about the new updates for the Aeros Loop Studio that will allow you to free up more space and other features that will improve your music sessions.

Creative artist

Another form of artistry, alongside music, is creative arts. Whether that be dancing, painting, or performing, you could use your passion to make an income.

Knowing that you have a true talent, why not turn your occasional hobby into a full-time career?

You will need to create a portfolio and put yourself out there to agencies that will help you get hired. Or, you can start as a freelancer and offer your creativity to those looking for it. For instance, if you love to paint abstract pictures, then you can start your own social media pages and website to sell your creations. Or, you could freelance as a dancer and market yourself to perform at weddings, musical festivals, and more.

Photography

Furthemore, another creative industry that is always open to new talent is photography. If you have a keen eye for cool shots or simply love to be behind the camera, then plucking up the courage to plunge into the photography industry is going to be a great idea.

You could freelance and work for brands, or individuals, or sell your photographs. Or, you could pursue a career alongside a company and become their expert photographer.

There are always people looking for photography help. Photography isn’t a common talent. Plus, the equipment can be expensive. So, if you have the talent and the equipment then you should utilize your setup and turn your photography passion into a career.

Fitness

Another great passion to pursue in your life and take further into a potential career opportunity is fitness. Knowing that you love fitness is quite obvious. However, acknowledging that you like the idea of being an instructor or guide is an entirely different ball game.

You could use your motivation and passion to turn your fitness practices into a full-time income stream. You will need to attain qualifications to become a verified tutor. However, once you have those qualifications under your belt, you can begin to source clients and start to make a passive income by being a fitness instructor.

Nowadays, you can even make a passive income as an online fitness instructor. If you do not have the time or confidence to train people in person, then you could either:

Train people through virtual calls. Through Zoom or Skype, you can train individuals or groups to help them achieve their fitness goals.

Create an online platform for your workouts. Or, you can be more tech-savvy and create a website or app whereby customers can signup for a membership to gain access to your workouts and fitness tips.

Sewing

Those that have a keen passion for sewing and making fun clothes and accessories should seriously consider turning their passion into a career.

There are tonnes of clothing lines and individuals that seek talented and creative sewers. You could work alongside a fashion label as a freelance sewing expert. Or, you could create your own unique pieces and sell them through your own online platforms or by setting up your own shop.

Writing

Writing comes in various forms. Hence, you could be a keen novelist or features writer. Either way, there is a plethora of writing roles out there that could help you turn your writing hobby into a career.

You could write your own books, freelance as a copywriter, or work with a company doing what you love the most.

Baking/cooking

Although most people will be happy with cooking for themselves on an everyday basis, most people will not want to cook to host a celebration. Or, some people simply do not have the essential skills to make their friend a lovely birthday cake.

Either way, there are always people out there looking for help with baking and cooking. Hence, if you are a keen baker/chef, then you could use your skills to help these people out.

You could bake birthday cakes and occasion cakes to be sold to local people. Or, become a caterer for weddings and bigger events. Loving to cook is an obvious passion so if you know that you enjoy it, why not take it up as your new career path?

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banjovirgo46 · 2 years

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How To Grow Your Business With Linkedin Adverts

Make notice of adverts that you just see lots — meaning they’re working and you'll in all probability get some tips on your personal efforts. Your LinkedIn adverts ought to be relevant to the business and the individuals you are attempting to succeed in. Ensure the copy, images or photos, or any other element of the LinkedIn ads are acceptable. And these LinkedIn advertisements will appear on LinkedIn pages with excessive traffic, making it more likely your prospect will see them. Again, these are pretty subtle ads… not the best place to begin if you’re just starting to use LinkedIn adverts. When you wish to broaden your skilled community and uncover the conversion alternatives then there could be nothing like LinkedIn. One great instance of a highly lively Facebook community is The Daily Carnage, a marketing-focused Facebook Group run by agency Carney. The agency publishes posts in the Group, however the conversations are usually member-run and at all times all about advertising. Other methods to personalize experiences is by ensuring social media interactions and email newsletters embrace your recipient’s first name. LinkedIn is the world’s largest skilled network, constructed to assist members of all backgrounds and experiences achieve extra in their careers. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for each member of the global workforce. Every day our members use our products to make connections, discover alternatives, build expertise and gain insights. We consider amazing things happen after we work collectively in an environment where everyone feels a true sense of belonging, and that what issues most in a candidate is having the abilities wanted to succeed. According to an Investis IQ research performed in the first quarter of 2013, LinkedIn leads social networks in driving visitors to corporate web sites. The Importance Of Social Media Advertising Social media marketing also contains paid social media promoting, where you'll be able to pay to have your business seem in entrance of huge volumes of highly focused customers. At LOCALiQ, we consider digital marketing doesn’t have to be advanced and big objectives aren’t only for massive companies. LOCALiQ supplies the platform, expertise, and providers you have to attain your greatest goals. WordStream by LOCALiQ is your go-to source for information and insights in the world of digital advertising. Check out our award-winning blog, free tools and different sources that make internet marketing simple. The social media panorama is evolving so rapidly that social media platforms are preventing to remain related. Another good thing about ads is they are a straightforward method to enable customers to get via to your website. Ads on most social platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, can include built-in “shop now” or “learn more” links that help turn potential clients into active prospects sooner. 89% of marketers say social media is “Very important”, with 30 p.c saying it’s “Somewhat important” to their overall advertising technique, according to Buffer. It’s clear that social platforms are nice instruments for showcasing worker stories, the brand’s imaginative and prescient and values, and creating an emotional reference to audiences . Zoom turned our default assembly room, and webinars are regular events. But essentially the most impactful change was how social media turned the go-to window to learn, find new career opportunities, and grow our brands. How To Repurpose Content For Social Media Are you a slave to posting endlessly on social media in hopes to develop your business? Does it really feel such as you spend a lot of your time creating content material for each platform, only to really feel burnt out and exhausted? That is why you have to create visually enticing content material in order that even earlier than the shopper reads what’s written, they want to be impressed by what they see. It may simply be a graphically designed social media post, a video, or even a professionally or creatively clicked an image of your product. How To Create Engaging Content On Social Media Add computerized subtitles and open BIGVU Composer, an internet video maker to edit captions, add photographs, movies, and visuals. It’s the fastest and easier method to combine your presentation with photos, movies, captions, and commercial-free music beds. That make information easy to retain, explanations convincing, and model storytelling compelling. The other pillars are key to encouraging engagement and interplay and this final pillar is to take them to the next step. 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#seo

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putseraphinaonthaphone · 3 years

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UNDERRATED KINGS EDITION | Nerds With The Fattest Dicks HCs

cw// *graphic* descriptions of fat cocks and the nerd boys they belong to

@vilbabywrites this is your fault for making me SIMP at 3 IN THE AFTERNOON

Tenya Iida

Quickest quirk + endurance training = he's able to use his very fat dick to reduce you to a babbling over stimulated mess

He's always so polite about stretching you out, thick fingers getting you ready for an even thicker dick, first one, then three (because even he gets a bit impatient, but it's not technically cheating right?)

even when you're whining and begging for him to hurry up, put it in me, please

I think he'd keep his pubes trimmed and neat, and he got the heaviest fucking balls that slap against your ass when he's trying his best not to fuck you too hard (baby boy got powerful thighs that can fuck you through a wall if he's not careful)

FAT TIP, that makes you feel like you're already stretched to wide when he pushes into you for the first time

VEINS, mans has so much stress he needs to work out his cock is red and aching in seconds and every time it takes him by surprise how much he needs you

Shower not a grower, which makes cuddling interesting cause how can you NOT grind back on it?? It's there?? BEGGING TO BE FUCKED?

Sitting on his lap, same thing, you're unable to focus on anything but feel the thickness of him pressing into your ass

Remember how he gets hard at the drop of a hat?

Y'all end up zooming back to his room to take care of his unhideable problem more often than not

Shouji Mezou

CAPTAIN HOOK

The curve, y'all. THE CURVE

Everytime you and Shouji get naked together you can't help but get wet at the sight of him, because it curves up just right to hit your spot every time he bottoms out inside you

He discovers he has a size kink because you, you realize you're a fucking size queen because of him

The bump in your belly when he actually fucks you is a rare sight that makes both of y'all horny as hell (that was the night you realized, with the BUCKETS of cum leaking out of you, you might need some stronger birth control)

He usually shaves bare, but you think his white pubes are so adorable that you compromise on trimming instead of shaving (you both enjoyed the blowjob where you showed off the deepthroating skills you practiced so you could swallow his cock to the base of wiry white hairs that tickled your nose)

Look... the mans is made to breed, him and Iida (and Deku) have the biggest balls in the class, literally

Another shower, he thinks it's weirdly adorable that you can and have fallen asleep while keeping his soft cock warm in your mouth, breathing through your nose and resting your head on his thick thigh

Your oral obsession is fully satisfied with his balls or his dick or his fingers in your mouth

Tokoyami Fumikage

G R O W E R

you thinks it's sweet until y'all an hour deep into a makeout session with low emo music playing in the background, and then you're faced with a pierced cock that wants nothing more than to split you open

jacob's ladder and a frenulum barbell, which has you cumming just from him using your wetness to lube himself up, the metal bumping against your clit again and again

he's so sweet about it, telling you he'll take care of you and make you feel good

by which he means you're going to squirt before he's even inside you to make sure you're wet enough

his sheets are black so you don't have to be too embarrassed by the mess he demands y'all make every time

Dark Shadow loves to be the peanut gallery whenever y'all are intimate, yellow eyes noticing every twitch and moan and reaction you wish you could hide-- gathering all the intel needed to be able to play your body like a finely tuned instrument

His favorite way of telling you he's gonna destroy your guts is by sending Dark Shadow across the room to whisper in your ear

"Ready to sing for us tonight, nightingale?"

#iida x reader #shouji x reader #tokoyami x reader #mezou x reader #fumikage x reader #tenya x reader #this is all vils fault #i'm h word now #so y'all gotta be h word with me #missives from the concubine #concubine thots #t h i r s t

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setzappersto-pew · 2 years

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StarKid and Musical Score #3

“The Nightmare Time is gonna get you!”

StarKid’s Hatchetfield series is an incredible collection of musical horrors, tales of terror, and the deepest lore that keeps me up at night. The series includes StarKid’s three most recent full-length (I say this to distinguish them from StarKid’s actual most recent stage show, VHS Christmas Carol Live, which was only ~40 minutes) stage musicals, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Black Friday, and Nerdy Prudes Must Die, and a series of “staged” musical short story readings performed over Zoom (and a nicer video conference platform for season 2) and livestreamed, Nightmare Time. All songs were written by Jeff Blim, and the score was provided by musical director Matt Dahan--who essentially improvised the entire background score for Nightmare Time! Matt used motifs from Jeff’s songs throughout the score to tie everything together as well.

A few things of note about Jeff’s work include his ability to play with genre and his use of diegetic music. Due to the nature of Nightmare Time, with the songs being often treated like music videos and therefore non-diegetic, Jeff has more room to play with different genres. Diegetic music, or music that the characters are aware of, plays a major role in how Hatchetfield functions as well.

Below the cut, I will further discuss Jeff’s use of genre, the importance of diegetic vs. non-diegetic music, and my favorite or most significant moments of Matt using motifs in the score. I will include a Google doc with a more comprehensive examination of motifs. And I will note, as I have before, that I am not a professional musician! I am well-versed in music form, instrumentation, and genre from being an amateur musician for a long time...but I had to look up a lot of this stuff. I’m just a lover of music and musicals and also a librarian who loves categorizing and analyzing things. Enjoy, and be cautious of spoilers!

First, here’s the Google doc. This took too much of my time, but of course I did it anyway. I attempted to list every time Matt used a motif from a Hatchetfield song in his background score, with some exceptions.

Here are some of my favorites:

The Meteor Montage in TGWDLM foreshadows “Join Us (And Die)” “Show Me Your Hands”, and “Not Your Seed” as we see all the characters react to the meteor. It also is the first moment of any music at all after the opening number!

The origin of the “Nightmare Time” motif is in “Not Your Seed” in TGWDLM, and every instance of it in Black Friday and Nightmare Time makes me miss the days when that 7-note riff meant nothing to me.

Matt’s use of “Somehow”, a deleted song, in Black Friday. This song was an Ethan song after “Feast or Famine” when he and Hannah talk right before he dies. The score in this moment is this song, and is used later in the show. Matt also uses in briefly in “Jane’s A Car” and a lot in “Yellow Jacket”!

The classic Christmas music, “Carol of the Bells” is sampled in “Wiggle” in Black Friday and is used to set scenes influenced by Wiggly.

The intertwined plots of “Forever and Always” and “Time Bastard” allow for some cool musical foreshadowing: when the Homeless Man intrudes near the beginning of “Forever and Always”, the music from “Time Bastard” plays because it is later revealed that the Homeless Man is Ted. In subsequent Nightmare Time 2 episodes, Matt uses the “Time Bastard” motif whenever Ted OR the Homeless Man are present! These include “Honey Queen”, “Abstinence Camp”, “Daddy”, and “Killer Track”.

“What Tim Wants” is referenced a lot in “Jane’s A Car”, but it often is specifically the “Flash...bang...Jane” bit of the song.

New themes Matt created for Nightmare Time: a theme for the Black Book and a theme for the Witchwood! They are not in any songs...yet. They are eerie and melancholy, and I just love them!

In “Yellow Jacket”, every use of “Join Us (And Die)”, “Let It Out”, and “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals” really clues you in about the main threat, Otho. In case you didn’t put it together, Otho = Pokotho, the Singular Voice = the Apotheosis.

There are 2 themes that get focus in Nerdy Prudes Must Die: in my Google doc, I’ve dubbed them the “Nerdy Prudes Must Die motif” and the “Cool As I Think As I Am bridge”. The first, featured in the very first trailer for NPMD, is a piano riff (meant to emulate the themes from The Exorcist and Halloween) featured throughout the show and in a few songs, namely the title track and “Hatchet Town”. The second, the bridge from “Cool As I Think I Am”, is also used in the title track around the same time stamp as the first theme, in a reprise, and even “Just For Once”. The intertwining of these themes, not just as background music but in other songs, makes the show as a whole really cohesive.

Diegetic Music is Key

Diegetic music, or music that can be heard by the characters, is key to the plot of The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals and is used cleverly in the other shows as well. In TGWDLM, the very fact that Paul and the other characters can hear the songs is the main driving horror...which makes Hidgens seem all the more insane!

After seeing TGWDLM with these diegetic rules established, the opening to Black Friday is very jarring; “Tickle-Me Wiggly Jingle” is crazy enough, but the realization that it is only diegetic because it is a commercial puts us in a lull of relief. The other songs in Black Friday are generally non-diegetic. This is apparent when we see Tom just standing there singing while also seemingly driving to Lakeside Mall, the shoppers getting right back in line like nothing happened after “What Do You Say” and “Our Doors Are Open”, Lex having an out-of-body experience in “Black Friday”, and more. Songs like the jingle and “Deck the Halls (Of Northville High)” are commercials or in a movie, so those are diegetic. The one that might not fit the mold is “What If Tomorrow Comes”: Hannah really does seem to be singing, as the others seem confused...but then they join in anyway. Hannah can see all the realities and timelines, so it’s plausible she can break the fourth wall.

For Nerdy Prudes Must Die, it’s almost an even split, or there are songs that are semi-diegetic. In “Cool As I Think I Am”, the lyrics “I bet this song’ll suck” implies that Pete is really singing this song, but the Greek chorus behind him is unlikely to be real. It’s more just a tongue-in-cheek fourth wall break. “Dirty Girl” is Grace’s sexual fantasy, and I believe she would imagine singing as sexy song with Max. The fact that “[Grace] is snapping again” in “Bully the Bully” and “Bury the Bully” implies they really are singing these songs, or at least Grace is. “Go Go Nighthawks” is at least partially diegetic, because the actual fight song part at the end seems real. “Nerdy Prudes Must Die” and “Dirty Dudes Must Die” seem semi-diegetic, given the call and response between Max and Richie as well as Jason’s reaction to Grace’s madness. “Just For Once” is diegetic, as Ruth is literally singing this song on stage by herself. Finally, “The Summoning” is absolutely diegetic: the chanting to summon the Lords is definitely real, and I firmly believe the Lords would appear to their worshippers singing obnoxious songs and being chaos gremlins.

Nightmare Time is a whole other story. The songs are music videos essentially, so many are non-diegetic and more metaphorically connected and representative of the plot and characters. Exceptions: “The Blinky Song” and “Snoozle Town” are sung by the Sniggles at Watcher World; “Forever and Always” might be Paul and Emma’s wedding song; “The Witch in the Web” is the song Webby taught Hannah; Zoey really sings “Latte Hatte” at Beanies, and Linda really sings “Queen B” for her performance; Boy Jerry and Girl Jeri really sing “Virginity Rocks” to welcome the campers; Miss Holloway really sings “Run Away With Me”; and “Killer Track” plays multiple times as it plays over and over in Rose’s head. The latter is rather interesting because it’s played multiple times akin to the motifs Matt uses, but every instance is an actual instance of the song playing, whether by Kale or in Rose’s head.

Most StarKid musicals are diegetic, as evidenced by characters talking about their own or other characters singing. They break the fourth wall all the time. So, it was interesting in TGWDLM to see diegetic songs and have it be a problem! It tracks, then, that Black Friday, as the most serious StarKid show, is mostly non-diegetic.

Get Your Genres Here!

Disclaimer: For this part, I looked up a list of music genres. The problem is...there’s far too many and the distinction between them is often unclear for a non-professional like me. I’ll try my best, but for most I will have to be general in my classifcation. Modern musicals are especially hard to categorize because they tend to mix genres a lot.

Most of StarKid’s songs could be classified as rock or pop songs; while there are definite influences for some, most fall into the same category. They tread the line between rock or pop, jazz, and opera. TGWDLM follows this pattern as well. Most are rock/pop inspired songs, but more influenced by jazz with the prominent use of piano in some songs--electric guitar is still a major player in the “darker” songs, though. Some exceptions:

“Cup of Roasted Coffee” is swing, directly inspired by “Solid Potato Salad” (according to Jaime Lyn Beatty), a swing song from the 1940s.

“Join Us (And Die)” leans more towards hard rock, as does “Not Your Seed”. It’s the electric guitar and distortion, as well as Jaime’s vocals!

“Show Stoppin Number” is very “musical theatre”, if that counts as its own genre. But that was the point...it’s a very meta song. It’s almost strictly piano, which doesn’t automatically make it “musical theatre”, but it gives it that vibe. Also, when I say “musical theatre” as a genre, I typically mean musicals from the 1960s and before; Broadway in the 1970s and after began using more rock, pop, and other genres that fit the tone or plot. So, think like “Anything Goes”.

“America Is Great Again” takes inspiration from military marches, for obvious reasons. The steady snare drum really drives the song forward.

Black Friday is where it starts getting fun. Because the songs are mostly non-diegetic, Jeff had more freedom to play with genre. Most are roughly rock or pop, with some being more like rock ballads. The “darker” songs like “Made In America” or “Wiggle” make great use of synthesizer and heavy distorted guitar and bass.

“Tickle-me Wiggly Jingle” is obviously a jingle (this is its own genre!). It sounds more like children’s music mixed with dance music, as it uses synthesizer and claps as the main instrumentation.

“CaliforM.I.A.” is hard rock or alternative rock. Electric guitar, heavy drumset, driving bass, and Angela and Robert’s vocals give me that vibe.

“Our Doors Are Open” is Motown, a type of early soul/R&B popularized by Black singers in 1960s Detroit, Michigan (a fitting song for a Black man in Hatchetfield, Michigan like Frank Pricely!), and a bit of Doo wop--which is really just slower and smoother Motown. Tight drums, driving bass, smooth vocals (especially the “doo-wop” parts), and jazz/big band instrumentation. Think of The Temptations (”My Girl”) or The Supremes. Just listen to the first track of this Motown compilation, and you’ll get it.

“Monsters and Men” is again based on military marches, because PEIP and MacNamara, but it has a specific inspiration as well. In the commentary track, Jeff states that he based this heavily on the song “Into the Fire” from the Broadway musical The Scarlet Pimpernel. Both give me “One Day More” or “Red and Black” from Les Misérables vibes, for a more well-known example.

“Deck the Halls (Of Northville High)” is just a rock song, but obviously based on High School Musical...specifically “Get’cha Head in the Game”, “Stick to the Status Quo”, “We’re All In This Together”, “What Time Is It” , and “All For One”--the last two are from High School Musical 2. The big group numbers and cheesy pop tracks are so early 2000s Disney.

“What If Tomorrow Comes” feels like New Wave alternative based on the instrumentation: synthesizers (bell tones and strings) alongside guitar and drums (often synthetic, but not in this case). There’s a lot I haven’t heard before, but I haven’t heard anything like this song before.

For Nightmare Time, Jeff just went wild, and we applaud him for it! Since the songs were more abstract and metaphorically connected, they could really be any genre and still work. In this case, Jeff also made musical references to specific categories of songs, not just genres.

The theme song mixes the piano and synthesizer so well, I really don’t know what it is. Electronic and rock; there can be more than one genre. It’s just a banger!

“The Hatchetfield Ape-Man” is kind of jazz, kind of swing, kind of boogie-woogie blues. I can imagine Jaime Lyn singing this at a 1920s speakeasy.

“The Blinky Song” is similar to “Tickle-Me Wiggly Jingle”, obviously on purpose, in that it is kind of a mix of children’s music, dance music, and swing in this case.

“Snoozle Town” is just a pop ballad.

“One Thousand Eyes” is EDM, house, dubstep--not sure, because EDM has A LOT of subgenres. Think like Daft Punk, Cascada, Marshmello, “Levels” by Avicii, “Sandstorm” by Darude. When that bass drops...mmm, it’s nice.

“Forever and Always” is a very “musical theatre” love song or ballad.

“Time Bastard” is a James Bond song, an obvious reference to “Goldfinger”. Even the video parodies the opening to that movie! Some other similar James Bond themes: “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Skyfall” (by Adele!). Wikipedia lists these songs as orchestral pop and R&B/soul.

“Peanuts!” is, I guess, electronic music, as it uses all synthesized MIDI instrumentation. It reminds me of something, but I really have no idea. It’s just weird and I love it.

"Jane’s A Car” leans towards country, but is still more of a rock song. Driving down a country road makes me think of modern country music.

“The Witch in the Web” is a sweet little indie folk song. I’m thinking like Ingrid Michaelson, Lenka, She & Him (Zooey Deschanel!), or the more chill Florence + The Machine songs.

“The Web I Spin For You” is indie pop and electronic. I could see a remix playing at a rave. It kind of reminds me “Yellow Flicker Beat” by Lorde, but really just the vibes.

“Honey Queen” is a parody of the stereotypical pageant song. For real, the Miss America pageant has its own song. As for genre, it’s a slow, sweeping jazz song.

“Latte Hatte” has two parts: the first is swing or boogie-woogie blues, like a burlesque show, while the chorus is mixed more with pop.

“Queen B” is electronic pop with a bit of rap--the verses are rapped, go Lauren! This type of heavily-electronic pop is reminiscent of Lady Gaga and Kesha. Specifically, I’m feeling “Bad Romance”, “Applause”, and “I Like It Rough” by Lady Gaga; and “Take It Off” by Kesha.

“The Nibbly Ditty” is EDM and reminds me of “Sandstorm” by Darude. The break in the middle (”Nibbly needs a sacrifice”) reminds me of a similar break in one Fall Out Boy song, “Tiffany Blews”, which is otherwise totally unrelated to this song...it’s just a weird association that my mind went to. Other than that, it’s just a cool and weird song.

“Perky’s Buds” is jazz, just listen to that sexy saxophone! The piano and drums also contribute to this feel.

“Axe Man” is electronic rock, but it takes influence from some iconic themes. “Abstinence Camp” as a story is an homage to teen slasher movies like “Friday the 13th”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, and “Scream”, so it follows that the anthem would do the same. The synthesizer/piano parts remind me of the themes from “Halloween” and “The Exorcist”. The whole thing reminds me of Stranger Things as well. Basically, any teen horror/sci-fi from or inspired by the 1980s and 1990s will fit the mood.

“Virginity Rocks” is alternative rock, but I can so imagine Boy Jerry and Girl Jeri singing this song at a church where the pastor wears jeans and is a Cool Guy™️. Christian rock is a strange thing in that one of the more famous groups is a metal group, but others are more indie. I grew up Catholic, so we sang hymns instead of those worship songs that try to get kids excited for Jesus. But I can just tell that “Virginity Rocks” would be a hit at Protestant youth groups.

“Young At Heart” is absolutely arena rock a la Journey or REO Speedwagon. I hear the similarities to “Don’t Stop Believin” or “Keep on Loving You”. The persistent piano, echoing drums, and powerful electric guitar really sell it.

“Killer Track”...uuuuuh, death metal. Is that too on the nose? Death metal and screamo.

“Run Away With Me” is 1980s pop in the same vein as Tiffany, Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, Bonnie Tyler, etc. Kim’s vocals also remind me of Kelly Clarkson, a 2000s pop star.

“Nightmare Time (Needy Beast cover)” is a 2000s punk rock cover of the main theme. Influences of both the instrumentation and Joey’s vocals include Blink-182, Sum 41, Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Bowling for Soup, Good Charlotte, etc.

“Yellow Jacket” is 1990s and 2000s punk and pop, but in the vein of Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morrissette, and Paramore. I can hear this type of song playing in a 2000s teen movie starring Lindsay Lohan.

“Use It or Lose It” is EDM and pop, but it specifically reminds me of Europop groups from the 1990s, like Aqua (Barbie Girl!), Toy-Box, and Ace of Base. Jaime’s high vocals really help sell it.

“Next Time” reminds me of “Seasons of Love” from Rent, which was probably purposeful on Jeff’s part. It also reminds me of Jim and the Povolos, a group featuring many StarKids and of which Jeff was a part at one point. It’s just kind of indie rock.

EDIT: Now, in 2023, we can finally add Nerdy Prudes Must Die to the lineup! A lot of the songs are rock or pop, like the previous stage shows and a lot of modern musicals. The vibes I get from many songs and the whole show remind me of musicals like Heathers, Be More Chill, Dear Evan Hansen, Mean Girls, etc. Here are several genre choices or specific references that stand out to me:

“Cool As I Think I Am” gives me “Waving Through a Window” or “Michael in the Bathroom” vibes: an awkward teen lamenting his awkwardness.

“Dirty Girl” is heavy on the sexy 80s synth, mixed in with some R&B grooves.

“Bully the Bully” and “Bury the Bully” have some swing vibes, and influenced by “Cool” from West Side Story (confirmed in commentary track)

“Go Go Nighthawks!” is a school fight song, which are generally inspired by classic American marches by composers like John Philip Sousa.

“Nerdy Prudes Must Die” is heavy rock, but the part I want to focus on is the piano motif that is featured frequently throughout the show. This motif is purposefully reminiscent of themes from classic horror movies like The Exorcist and Halloween.

“Just for Once” is supposed to be from an in-universe musical, The Barbecue Monologues, so Jeff had the opportunity to take inspiration from more traditional theatre. The song feels very Sondheim-esque (Jeff said the same in the commentary track), with the quick and clever lyrics and the back-and-forth between the verse and chorus and even the sort of “talking instead of singing”. I’m feeling like “On the Steps of the Palace” from Into the Woods, or “Ladies Who Lunch” from Company.

“If I Loved You”, as per the commentary track, is inspired by “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent and “i2i” from A Goofy Movie. The first fits the message and vibes of a modern musical love song, and the second is just the musicality and instrumentation.

“The Summoning” is just pure chaos, honestly. And I love every second of it. The beginning is religious chanting, which I suppose is its own genre. The rest of the song is just insanity that transcends everything. Amazing.

“The Best of You” brings back that modern YA musical vibe again, almost perfectly bookending the show. It also has a 2000s pop-punk vibe that I really like! Fun fact from the commentary track: this was originally intended to be a song by the in-universe band Needy Beast, the band from Nightmare Time 2 episode “Killer Track”...hence the 2000s pop-punk feel.

And thus ends my StarKid and Musical Score series. There’s only a few StarKid musicals left in the rewatch, and I don’t feel as if the music in those is as strong--though I still enjoy them! I might make smaller posts, but this is the final big post. Thanks for reading all of this!

This post took way too long to make, but I hope you all think it was worth it! I really enjoy analyzing music like this, and I feel like this is one of the only ways I can contribute to new ideas in the fandom. My brain is spiraling from all of the Hatchetfield lore, but I can’t ever put any theories into words. I’m much better at doing this, even if I may have missed some obvious sound-alikes or references or missed the mark on some.

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bosspigeon · 3 years

Text

Carabosse et la Fee des Lilas

Prompt: 💋Drag

Pairing: Adam/Male Detective, Bonus Found Family Vibes~

Words: 5,346

Summary: Tina spends some quality time with Arlo and Unit Bravo as they prepare for Wayhaven's first real Pride festival, Tina torments her best friend and his maybe-boyfriend (as is her god-given right), and Arlo has a big think about his favorite role and what that role allowed him to explore~

CW for references to transmisogyny and implications of past trans/homophobia

Sometimes, Tina wonders if Arlo missed his true calling. His hands are surgeon-steady as he pencils delicate patterns onto Felix’s cheeks, outlining with white eyeliner in preparation to fill them in with bold colors and glitter. Tina almost can’t wait for her turn, even though Felix looks like he’s in real, physical pain with the effort of holding as still as possible. She’s no stranger to that struggle herself.

Neither is she a stranger to Arlo’s forceful, if toothless, threats, overcome as she is by fondness when he growls that he's going to draw a mustache on Felix’s face with permanent marker if he doesn’t stop bloody bouncing.

It’s pretty fun to watch from the outside. Sure, when you first sit down when he’s like this—all sharp and snappish and “stop moving or I’ll chuck you out the window”—it’s hard to keep still, but Arlo’s got this sort of quiet intensity to him when he’s focusing on something that’s oddly meditative. He’s just a soothing presence, really. Like a capybara or something. He’s friend-shaped.

Whatever weird magic it is, it’s definitely catching, because Felix looks less like he’s about to burst, like he did when Arlo was putting down the foundation, and more like he’s enjoying the attention. Tina’s not sure how long it’s going to last, seeing as Felix has given her a run for her money in the “manic energy” department, and he’s nowhere near as caffeinated as she is at any given time, but for the time being, he’s (mostly) still and quiet.

There’s music playing, quiet enough that the broody one (she knows his name, but it seems to bug him when she calls him "the broody one," which is funny, so—) only grumbled about it for a few minutes when Arlo turned it on, and even seems to enjoy sitting close enough to Arlo’s stupidly fancy stereo system to, she guesses, feel the rumble of the bass through the floor. Vampires are weird.

Anyway, it’s Arlo’s usual sad goth boy nonsense, but as quiet as it is, and with its intense instrumentals and rumbling vocals, it’s pleasant background noise more than anything.

Nate (the handsome and charming one, because of course all Arlo’s vampire friends are handsome, so she has to differentiate between them somehow) is rifling through Arlo’s bookshelf like it’s his job, and visibly struggling to pick something to read, because Arlo’s sitting room bookshelf (the one she found at a yard sale three hours away and lashed to the top of her sedan with every single bungee cord she could find at the local hardware store because it was coffin-shaped, for god's sake) is where he keeps all his weirdo occult stuff to, quote, “make people who pop by unannounced leave faster.”

And then there’s the big, handsome, stupidly fit blonde Arlo still won’t call his boyfriend, even though they’re so obvious it’s sickening, and she means that with all the love in her heart. He’s sitting in the armchair by the bookshelf, positioned so he can look like he’s reading one of Arlo’s old music magazines and totally isn’t taking advantage of the perfect line of sight of Arlo perched on the end of his coffee table so he’s not too tall to work on Felix, sitting in a chair from the kitchen. Tina sure hopes he doesn’t think he’s subtle, being a super special vampire secret agent and all.

He seems to notice her eyeing him, at least, and keeps his attention pinned firmly on the magazine, though he is definitely not reading a single word. Nate keeps browsing, the Broody One keeps brooding, Arlo keeps working, and Felix starts to hum. Arlo gives him a sharp look, but it doesn’t seem to be moving his face in any major way, so he just rolls his eyes and keeps tracing pretty patterns onto that unfairly smooth, dark skin. Do vampires do skin care? They probably don’t even need to, and that’s probably one of the reasons people like to villainize them. It always comes down to jealousy, doesn’t it?

She sighs, loudly enough that every eye in the room turns to her, and while she did not expect the sudden attention, she knows she can at least use it to entertain herself. She homes in on Adam, and smiles when she finally looks at the magazine he’s still valiantly pretending to read. There’s a familiar man on the cover, and while she can’t be bothered to remember his name, she grins. “Oh, hey! Arlo, he’s reading the one with the guy who looks like you!”

Arlo doesn’t even look up, but he huffs out a laugh and rolls his eyes again. He’s going to give himself a headache if he keeps that up.

The comment does exactly what she wants it to, which is draw the attention of all the other vampires. Arlo even begrudgingly pulls the pencil away from Felix’s cheek so he can take a look, and he immediately bursts out laughing.

“Arlo!” he exclaims, slapping at Arlo’s knee. “You didn’t tell us you had a twin!”

Nate chuckles (warm and rich and handsome, if a sound can be called handsome) and turns from the shelf to study the magazine curiously himself. Even the Broody One peers over to see, a little smirk curling his permanently-scowling mouth.

“Considering he was born in the sixties, I definitely don’t,” Arlo drawls. “Tina’s been making that joke since we were kids. She’s just happy she’s got an audience who hasn’t heard it twelve times a week since she first saw my old Type O Negative poster.”

“Some jokes just get better with time,” Tina says archly. “Like a fine wine.”

“And some jokes age like milk,” Arlo fires back.

Adam tilts the magazine so he can look for himself, and his dour expression clouds over even more, brows furrowing and mouth twisting. He peers up at Arlo, studying him, then down again.

Got you. “Yeah, you’re right,” Tina says, nodding sagely at him. “Arlo’s much prettier.”

It has exactly the reaction she was hoping for. Arlo drops his eyeliner pencil and makes a strangled noise, glowering at her with his cute freckly cheeks going all red, and Adam, who is a good bit paler than Arlo, goes pink from the crewneck of his just-this-side-of-too-tight tee shirt to his hairline. Tina wants to punch the air as the other vampires snicker at them. Well, except for Nate. Nate’s not a snickerer. He chortles. It’s adorable.

“Speaking of pretty!” Felix crows once they’ve all had a laugh at their fearless leader’s expense. He points to his own face with both hands, dancing in his chair, and Arlo sighs and rolls his eyes again, bending to pick up the dropped pencil. Luckily, the tip isn’t broken, so he can get right back to work, once he’s given the young vampire a moment to get his wiggles out. He settles, sitting on his hands and pursing his lips when Arlo gives him a dry look. He hovers back in with the pencil, and then Felix blurts out, “How’d you get so good at this anyway? Well, I assume you’re good at it. I haven’t seen it yet.”

Arlo doesn’t say anything. He just looks at him, pencil poised, until Felix pinches his mouth shut with a quick little apology. Once Arlo’s satisfied his canvas is actually going to hold still and keep quiet, he gets back to it. “My school was pretty small, especially compared to the bigger-name performing arts schools out there,” he says after a moment of quiet focus, tracing the outline of a heart around one of Felix’s eyes. “Our department didn’t really have a huge budget, and workspace was at a premium too. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for performances before someone else had to use the theatre, so we all did our own makeup at once, for the most part. Sometimes we’d help each other out, because we all had our strengths and weaknesses.”

He pulls back the pencil, squinting critically at the heart like it’s not completely perfect. “Demi was the best at laying the groundwork, and at matching colors to our costumes and complexions. Viv was the best at coming up with concepts and making sure we looked like a matching set. Wendi could do insane prosthetics, and was the best at bullying our department head into giving us the money for them. I had the steadiest hands, so I always did the eyes and the details.”

“Was Wendi the one who did your Dracula look?” Tina gasps. “That one was so cool!”

“Dracula?” Felix blurts. Tina doesn’t miss how the others perk up with interest too.

Arlo glares at him, and he shrinks back with a sheepish little grin. “Yeah, we did Dracula, uh… second year, I think? That was when Tilly transferred in and started doing our choreography. She’s the one who got Professor Dacey to let us do less classical stuff and start branching out a bit.” He glances briefly at Tina, staunchly ignoring the way Felix pouts at him for dividing his attention. “And, yeah, Wendi did the prosthetics for that one.”

“She’s got to be magic,” Tina asserts. “She managed to make your sweet, mopey face look so scary.”

Felix and Mason both snicker at that, and Arlo’s mouth goes all lemon-sour pinchy, like it always does when she calls him a sad puppy man, or any variation thereof.

“Take a lap,” Arlo says to Felix. “Don’t touch your face.” He jerks his head at Tina when Felix bolts to his feet and starts zooming around the flat to get out some of his energy. “Your turn, if you’re done being a comedian.”

“I’m never done,” she says with a sunny smile, but she bounces over to take Felix’s place in the chair and closes her eyes serenely so he can start on her makeup.

“And, God, do I know it,” he grumbles under his breath, knowing full well she can hear him, and so can everyone else in the room, too.

“Do you have pictures?” Felix hollers. He’s dipped into Arlo’s studio, and he’s making no secret of rifling through the desk in there, drawers slamming and paper rustling.

Arlo tips his head back so when he sighs, loud and dramatically long-suffering, he’s not blowing his breath right in Tina’s face. She appreciates the gesture. “Bottom right drawer,” he calls back, resignation thick in his voice. Given how long he’s been putting up with Tina—and Felix might just be Tina’s second platonic soulmate (Arlo, of course, being the first)—he already knows that keeping quiet is just prolonging the inevitable. Tina opens her eyes briefly to see Felix come sailing out of the studio with a thick leather-bound album held triumphantly over his head.

“Oh, I haven’t seen that in years!” she coos happily.

Arlo bops her on the forehead pointedly with a sponge covered in foundation, and she closes her eyes obediently.

She hears Arlo’s antique sofa creak as Felix plops down onto it, rifling through the plastic pages. “Aw,” he whines, “no baby pictures?”

“I can’t imagine him ever being a baby,” Mason snorts, and he sounds closer than he was before. Tina knows better than to open her eyes while Arlo’s in the zone, though. He’ll bop her with something less soft than a sponge next time. “I figured he’s just always been a giant.”

Felix laughs, high and chiming. “No wonder Agent Priestley’s always so sour, then,” he says. Tina giggles, and it becomes an inelegant snort when Arlo bops her again on the nose.

“Ask Rebecca if you want to see my baby pictures,” Arlo mutters blandly, and Tina can feel the weight of his attention. “I doubt she has many after age two, and the ones before I’ve barely seen.”

Tina’s not a super-special supernatural secret agent, but she tries with all her might to will someone to change the subject before things get weird. Now’s as good a time as any to learn telepathy.

Felix, heart of her heart, interrupts what’s shaping up to be a real prize winner of an awkward silence with a loud gasp. “Woah!” he exclaims, and pages crinkle as he presumably holds up the book for Arlo to see. “Who’s this? Did you do her makeup too?”

Arlo’s hair rustles as he turns his head away from her, and then the hand on her cheek freezes. Tension radiates through every inch of his body, practically leaching into hers. She cautiously opens one eye, and sees Arlo sitting up impeccably straight, stiff as a board and staring at Felix like a deer in the headlights. He swallows so hard she can see his throat move. “Um,” he says, stilted and strange. “Yeah. I did.”

Tina opens both eyes and squints at the photo album. Oh.

Felix looks at the sudden strain in the way Arlo is sitting, the tightness of his posture, and looks quizzically down at the picture again.

Tina remembers that performance. She remembers Arlo dancing (ha) around the subject when she asked him teasingly if he was going to be playing the prince, who was the lead, was he excited to kiss a pretty girl?

She can’t remember the character’s name, not so many years after the fact, especially since they were all weird classical nonsense, either Latin or French or some mishmash of the two. But she remembers the costume. She remembers waiting with bated breath to see Arlo onstage, to stand and scream and cheer obnoxiously loud in support of her best friend. She shot to her feet the second she saw his obvious silhouette rise from a feather-bedecked black chariot, head and shoulders taller than anyone else onstage. The music swelled, lightning flashed, and then when the spotlight hit him, she was so stunned she plopped right back into her seat with her jaw on the floor.

Arlo’s always been one of those guys that straddled the line between pretty and handsome. Long, lustrous hair and eyelashes she would kill for, cheekbones that could kill, a defined jaw, a proud nose, and intense eyes she could only call sultry—if she hadn’t known him since they were both weird, gawky brats, she’d probably be half in love with him before figuring out she wasn’t his cup of tea. But seeing him onstage was always an adventure. He threw himself into whatever character he played, put his everything into them, from the costume to the makeup to the performance. He just became the character, and in a way that was so very Arlo, all that intensity and focus channeled into an act that completely stole the show, in Tina’s humble and completely unbiased opinion.

Carabosse! That was her name!

Carabosse was no different.

Arlo’s makeup was flawless, ghost-white foundation giving him intense Morticia Addams vibes, contouring that made his cheekbones look absolutely unreal, bold black (or maybe really dark purple?) lipstick and shiny, smoky eyeshadow that made him look ethereal and wicked, with a daggerpoint cat-eye that she spent an hour begging him to teach her after the show. When he turned his head in a sharp, birdlike motion to look down his nose at the dancers playing the King and Queen, she gasped at the way his hair rippled down his back, shiny-black and woven with actual feathers that trailed back from the ornate metal circlet resting on his brow like a bird’s crest. The costume was breathtaking, too, a tightly corseted bodice and a high collar, a dramatically billowing skirt and trailing, feathered sleeves that flared like wings whenever he moved.

And the way he moved! Arlo’s dancing changed with every role, whatever he felt would suit the character. One of her favorites was always his Hans-Peter (she had a soft spot for that one, and had ever since she was little—one of the first Christmas gifts her stepmom had ever given her was little storybook version of The Nutcracker that came with a CD) because his dancing was so stiff and stridently mechanical, he looked like a real toy soldier come to life. But his villains moved with a slinking, predatory prowl she’d only ever seen in monster movies, and never in something like a ballet. His Carabosse was as beautiful as she was terrifying, and it was incredible to watch. She wanted to fling herself at him after the show and babble at him endlessly like she always did, but she spent a solid minute staring at him slack-jawed, until he shifted awkwardly and looked down, and the confident intimidation of the Wicked Fairy sloughed away to reveal Arlo underneath.

He almost melted into the floor with relief when she finally startled to babble.

She puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes, and he takes a slow, deep breath, offering Felix a strained smile. “Take a closer look, mate,” he says quietly.

Felix does. He looks up and squints at Arlo, and then back down at the photo. Tina has to bite her lip so she doesn’t laugh when he looks over at Adam, still holding the magazine with that metal singer that kind of looks like Arlo on it, and then back at Arlo. His mouth drops open into a little o, and he shoots to his feet and shouts, “No way!”

Mason was allowed his name back briefly, but he goes right back to Broody One when he grimaces at Felix and slinks pettishly back to his corner.

Arlo’s shoulders are practically around his ears, but he tries to keep smiling. “Yeah. Sleeping Beauty. Fourth year. I was the Wicked Fairy.”

“He was amazing,” Tina declares, shoulders back and chin tipped up challengingly. “The costume was insane, but the way he played her was absolutely, ridiculously badass.”

“You look awesome!” Felix blurts, still gawking down at the photo. He flips to the next page, and squeaks happily when he finds more pictures, from different angles, showing off the costume, the way Arlo loomed over the other dancers, the way he commanded the stage. Tina should really find out who took the pictures and send them her thanks, because they really put in the work. “Your makeup, your dress, your hair! How’d you even do that?”

Arlo laughs, and it sounds so utterly relieved, Tina’s heart breaks a little. Arlo’s always been sensitive, and for someone who dresses and holds himself the way he does, he worries more than he lets on what people think of him. Especially people he cares about. She squeezes his shoulder again, and he bites his lip when he glances back at her and smiles hesitantly.

“A lot of wire, and enough hairspray to choke a bloody cow,” he says, twisting around and slinging his long legs over the coffee table so he can face the sofa. “I think we bought every bag of black feathers the craft store had, and then spent an entire weekend painting them with this stupidly expensive embossing powder. We had to get, like, ten pots of the stuff, because the craft store only had pots the size of a quarter.”

“I admire your dedication,” Nate says pleasantly, strolling over to peer over Arlo’s shoulder. They tighten just a bit before relaxing slowly. “That costuming is superb. I’ve seen professional productions that weren’t half so detailed.”

“That would be Viv’s work,” Arlo laughs, looking down at the pictures fondly. “She took whatever cheap garbage the department had for us, raided the nearest clearance fabric rack, and worked her magic. The employees at that little craft store loved and hated us in equal measure.”

Arlo is still tense, but he’s loosening up little by little, and with him Tina does too. The easy camaraderie is soothing, and she knows how much Arlo cares about his vampire friends, so it’s got to be a huge weight off his shoulders to be able to let his guard down around them. He deserves that. He deserves to be able to be himself.

Adam standing up draws Arlo’s attention like nothing else could, and he freezes like a startled rabbit again looking up at the burly blonde vampire as he approaches the sofa. He looks a split second from bolting. Tina sits up straighter and gives Adam her most daring look, squaring her shoulders to make it perfectly clear she's ready to fight the second he opens his mouth. She’ll definitely lose, sure, but she’ll make as much trouble as she can before she goes down.

He reaches out, his hand hesitating before it touches the album’s glossy page, and he looks up at Arlo with a questioning tilt to his brows. Arlo looks like he’s barely breathing, but he nods, and Adam slips one of the pictures from its sleeve. He straightens his spine, shoulders back, holding the photo and studying it carefully. His face is impossible to read, about as expressive as a bloody brick wall. Tina’s vibrating with nervous energy. She’ll fight a vampire, though. She will.

When Adam does finally speak, his voice comes out so softly Tina almost doesn’t hear it over the adrenaline rushing through her. “You look… striking.”

Striking. Oh my god.

She wants to laugh. They’re ridiculous.

“Thanks,” Arlo chokes out, his cheeks and ears going red this time.

Oh my god. Tina covers her mouth with both hands. Arlo glowers at her. It’s a lot less threatening when he’s blushing like that. “I didn’t say anything,” she mumbles against her palms.

“Your face,” he hisses, and she yelps.

“Oh! Shit!” She pulls her hands away, and he grabs her by the chin to check the damage with a click of his tongue.

Tina thought things would get better once Arlo actually kissed the man (and maybe got a leg over, but that’s only her business when she can finally get Arlo to actually talk about if the big, beefy Adonis is as missionary-with-the-lights-off as he looks) but at least they’re not just staring longingly at each other from across the room and then getting all sad about it anymore . Thankfully, Felix seems to be an old hand at clearing up the weird tension between the two of them, chiming in a delighted, “I’ve never seen you look so scary!” as he rifles through all the pictures from the Sleeping Beauty show. “I mean, you’re pretty scary when you go all furry, but also, you sort of just look like a big lanky puppy, because it’s just you, you know? This is someone else! Who is she! She's so cool!”

Arlo sighs and turns around to fix whatever Tina’s ruined with her foundation, and throws himself back into dolling her up. Thankfully, the actual festival’s not for a while yet. She complained about the unnecessarily early start when Arlo suggested the time, but now she’s glad he’s such a persnickety prick about scheduling. “I had a lot of fun with it,” he admits, shrugging his shoulders. “The original script notes said to get, y’know, sort of silly with it, but I wasn’t a big fan of that angle for a character like her. Yeah, I wanted to be campy, but not in the way…” He purses his lips. “Okay, well, Nate probably knows this, but a lot of classical ballets that have a female villains do this thing with them that I hate.” He frowns deeply, patting at Tina’s chin with gentle ferocity. “ An evil female character is supposed to be sort of… sort of a cautionary tale, I guess? Like your typical bitter spinster crone, the old hag, or the wicked stepsisters, things like that. So they’ll specifically cast a male dancer and put them in bright, gaudy facepaint and garish costumes that are supposed to be cartoonish and ugly, that you're supposed to find funny, to show you that this character is bad because she’s indelicate and mannish, and that’s why she’s evil.”

His mouth twists around the words, and he looks up, back at the vampires, leaving Tina a moment to really appreciate that Arlo’s comfortable enough with them to do what he’s only ever really done with her—which is ramble about something he’s passionate about. It’s always fun to watch. He turns back to her, and she just wishes his hands weren’t occupied, because he’s a big hand-talker otherwise. “I got the role because the professor thought it would be funny to stick me in a role like that, being so tall and, y’know,” he gestures vaguely to his faded old band tee and dark jeans, the thick leather cuff around his wrist. Tina doesn’t see what he really means, seeing as he looks cozy and content right now, but she gets what he’s going for. “He was expecting me to be awkward about it. The big, tough guy doing drag as the creepy crone caricature.” He huffs. “I talked with Demi about it, and we decided to say fuck that.” He sits up straighter, tilts up his chin, and looks down his nose at Tina.

She peers up at him, wide-eyed, and suddenly wonders if this is how Demi felt, playing Aurora when Carabosse looked down her nose at her like an insect under her heel.

“I thought Carabosse deserved better,” Arlo says fiercely. “If I was going to be a villain, I was going to be a damned good villain. I was going to tower over all the delicate, dainty little princesses and fairies, and I was going to be fierce. Professor Dacey wanted Aurora, and Candide, and Florine to be the epitome of sweet, delicate femininity, the ideal damsel in any classical show. Carabosse is supposed to be the complete opposite. You’re supposed to root against her, not want to be her. She’s a threat to the idea of womanhood, of the ideal feminine. She’s bold and selfish and she takes what she wants. I leaned into that. I even danced en pointe for parts of it, even though Carabosse isn't supposed to, and between the rehearsals and the actual performance, I thought my feet were gonna fall off, but it was worth it.”

Arlo smiles, and Tina is thrilled by the wickedness of it. She thinks she even sees just a hint of fang. Arlo’s been so careful about showing his teeth, ever since he told her what happened to him, why he disappeared for so long, so it's somehow special for him to feel like he can show her even a hint of what he’s become.

“Professor Dacey was pissed, afterwards, of course,” Arlo laughs, but there’s an edge to it. He seems to shrink. From Arlo to Carabosse to Arlo again. He looks down at his hands as they work on Tina more than at her face. “He didn’t, y’know, say anything he could have gotten fired over, but he did rail about being left out of planning and the budget and all that rot. Got even madder when Demi pointed out we’d spent our own money on the costumes. I think if he was tall enough to look down on me, he would have.” He snorts, a bitter curl to his mouth. Tina thinks of it painted bold, dark purple, thinks of how it would look with those teeth behind it. She wonders if he’d let her do his makeup for the festival. She’s not nearly as good at details as he is, but she’s no slouch either.

“You should have let me put raw fish in his hubcaps,” Tina mutters, just to make Arlo laugh. It works, and she beams at him.

“Would have been a waste of fish,” he mumbles, sucking his teeth. He finally picks up a bright eyeshadow palette and starts waffling over colors. He’s quiet while he deliberates, but after a while, he sighs. “I liked being Carabosse,” he says, like it’s a secret. Like he’s trying very hard not to be ashamed.

“I wish I could have seen it,” Adam says, almost dreamily. Tina could scream. “I— We could have, I mean. All of us. In solidarity.”

“Smooth,” Felix whispers.

“I’m sure it was a phenomenal performance,” Nate adds helpfully. He’s taken the album from Felix to flip through to some of Arlo’s other shows. “The passion you have for your characters shines through in just photos. It’s quite impressive.”

“You should have gone pro,” Tina mutters. “You’d be a household name by now.”

Arlo snorts and bops her with the brush. How many bops is that now? She’s certainly on a roll today. “And who’d keep you in line back here?” he teases.

Tina squints up at him and sticks out her tongue. “Like you’ve ever even tried to keep me in line, you big softie. You love the chaos, just admit it.”

“I’ll admit you to the hospital when you do something stupid and get yourself hurt again, how about that?”

They bicker like children back and forth while Arlo finishes her makeup, a wash of pink, purple, and blue eyeshadow and matching lipstick, overlaid with a lustrous sparkle to her cheekbones and a cute little black heart-shaped beauty mark under one eye. Felix gets a bi flag heart to match her eyeshadow around one eye, and then the rest is a sort of confetti splash of sparkly stars and hearts in every color. Even Nate goes for the bi eyeshadow (Bi-shadow? She should have been saying that this whole time!), making him, Tina, and Felix a matching set, and Mason consents to a very simple pan flag on his cheek. Tina suspects Adam only allows the eyeshadow treatment so he can have Arlo cup his face all tenderly, but she keeps the thought (mostly) to herself. He looks good in pastels, she thinks when she sees the finished blue, pink, and white.

Arlo draws a little heart under his eye too. The heart in Tina's chest almost explodes with warmth.

And then Arlo disappears into the bathroom, leaving the rest of them to entertain themselves while he gets ready on his own. They go through the album some more, and Tina tells them all about her favorite shows, because she went to every single one she could manage, and got Arlo’s school friends to send her videos of the ones she couldn’t. Tina Poname is Arlo Priestley’s number one fan, and that will never change. Not even now that she's got some competition.

When Arlo comes out of the bathroom, they all look up in sync, and he stands there, shifting anxiously from foot to foot under the attention, and lifts his hands in a stilted shrug. “So?” he asks, smiling nervously. He’s changed clothes, too. Tight pants, big boots, a mesh-sleeved black shirt underneath his patch-and-pin-covered denim vest. His wrists jingle with chunky bracelets, and his hair is braided neatly over one shoulder. But his makeup is what really steals the show. That insanely sharp cat-eye, of course, but one eye is done up in blue, pink, and white, and the other in yellow, white, purple, and black. He smiles timidly. “I, uh, I couldn’t really decide on just one,” he says, sticking his gloved hands into the pockets of his vest. “I’m, um, I’m not sure which one’s really right for me yet, I guess?” He shrugs again, and Tina watches delightedly as Adam stands up slowly, his eyes on Arlo with such an awed intensity she wonders if he even remembers there’s other people in the room. Arlo keeps babbling as he approaches, the words tumbling nervously from his black-painted lips. “I sort of like matching with you, Adam, and I know they’re both fine, but I—”

Adam grabs him by the lapels of his jacket, yanks him down to his level, and silences him with a kiss. Tina throws her arms up in the air with an impulsive shriek of “WOO!” that Felix echoes even louder. They high-five over Mason’s head, and he looks like he wants to throw them both out the window. Nate sits by with a pleasant little smile, which only fades when he takes note of the clock.

Adam and Arlo are still kissing, Arlo’s hands cupped around the vampire’s cheeks and Adam clinging to his vest like he'll drown if he lets go. Tina thinks she might see a hint of tongue when Nate loudly clears his throat.

They break apart with an indecent smacking noise, and Tina yelps out a sharp laugh when she sees Arlo’s black lipstick smeared all around Adam’s mouth.

Nate crosses his arms and smiles dryly at them. “Why don’t you two go fix your faces,” he suggests. “The rest of us will make sure the car is packed for the festival.”

“Um, yes. You— We—” Arlo fumbles for a bit, touching his smeared lips, his eyes just a bit dazed. He and Adam look at each other, and then flee for the bathroom together.

Tina’s never been more excited for a festival in her life.

#the wayhaven chronicles #wayhavensummer #pride in wayhaven #tina poname #adam du mortain #a du mortain #felix hauville #f hauville #specialist agent mason #specialist agent m #nate sewell #n sewell #oc: arlo priestley #pidge writes #HELLO I AM FINISHING THIS AT 3:30 AM #I HAVE MY FIRST DAY OF MY NEW JOB TOMORROW #WISH ME LUCK #this turned out WAY longer than i meant it to but god was it fun #i hope you guys like it as much as i liked writing it #arlo playin w gender expression via ballet is my everything #the costume designs for carabosse can be SO GOOD #but some of them are SO BAD #ballet is like that #its very uuuuh traditional wrt its aesthetics and gender roles #and arlo and his friends were all like 'but what if not'#anyway title is v last minute bc *shrug*#tina gets to be the lilac fairy #i did so much reserach into this ballet y'all #the only thing i didnt do was watch the whole thing #tho i DID find it on yt so i could later....

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shadowed-dancer · 3 years

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My Thoughts on the New MHA Opening and Ending

I have thoughts, and I will share them because oh boy if I don’t get this out I’m gonna explode

Vague Spoilers for the manga (up to chapter 258 and vigilantes) because I discuss the upcoming arcs, but I don’t discuss any major plot points in detail. Still, proceed with caution if you’re anime only

Keep in mind, this OP and ED will cover the Endeavour Agency Arc and the MVA Arc, so I will be judging them accordingly.

First, the OP

This is a good OP... in theory (that’s going to become my catchphrase for this post). It’s nice to look at and flows pretty well, but my biggest problem is that it doesn’t do it’s job. An OP is supposed to be a sort of... summary (?) of the Cour it plays for. That means any cool plot points, emotional beats, and important characters should be featured in some way, shape, or form. We’ll talk about that more later, but first let’s discuss the music.

The song is really good. I have a feeling it will continue to grow on me as I listen to it more often, but yeah my first impression is that the song sounds great. My only complaint about the music itself is that it ends kind of abruptly (I noticed this is the JT opening too). The previous openings used to have a bit of instrumental to “play us out” and lead us to the end card, but this one feels like it ends very suddenly and unnaturally.

As for the visuals...

Yeah alright I’ll admit, the visuals are stunning... in theory. I appreciate the variety in backgrounds and colours, it makes the OP really interesting to look at. This was actually one of my biggest problems with the JT Opening, it all took place on the training grounds, so there was no variety (everything was metal tubes with a blue sky, with only 3 shots set somewhere different). I appreciate the style of this OP.

But like I said, that’s only in theory, as in, through screenshots these are all pleasing to look at. The pacing of this OP is wild, and I truly don’t know who to blame for this.

That sunset shot above? It lasts approximately 12 seconds, zooming in every few to make it seem like something is happening (when in reality it’s still the same poses, angles, etc). While there’s nothing wrong with a nice, drawn out shot, it becomes irritating when compared to the pacing of the rest of this op.

At the 41 second mark, we are given the shot above. It has flowed directly from the previous sunset scene. We still have not moved away from the image of the trio (aside from the opening shot and the title card) yet we’re approaching the halfway mark of the OP.

The next shot is the MLA, which lasts about 5 seconds. Ok, perfect. Not too long, but also not short enough to be confusing. It cuts away a little fast once the dude on the far left appears, but does anyone actually know who that is? No, seriously, I’m asking. I don’t remember his name and he’s not on the wiki, so I can only assume he’s not important. Therefore, it’s not all that bad if the shot cuts away shortly after he comes into frame. The audience is able to take in the scene without having to pause...

... And then the problems start

While this shot is fine in theory, it pans up fast and cuts away quickly. You know how hard it was for me to get this screenshot? Really hard. You want to know why I struggled so much? Because, due to the timing of the cut and the way it pans upwards, it’s almost impossible to pause on Dabi’s face. I literally had to go frame by frame to get it, because he’s in shot for so little time that naturally pausing is guaranteed to miss him.

When watching this in real time (without pausing) the cut away makes you feel as if you missed something because “something was there, I just couldn’t register what because now it’s gone”. Unlike Compress, who wears a very colourful coat you can recognize the entire time, Dabi’s pants are more blended into the background.

It also doesn’t help that this shot is literally composed to draw your attention away from Dabi until the last possible second. Due to framing, your eye is naturally drawn to the brightly coloured Toga in the foreground, making it super easy to miss Dabi in the back (until, of course, his bright face appears and contrasts against the background, drawing your eye just in time for the scene to change, leaving you to wonder who or what you missed).

I know this sounds like nitpicking, but this shot is the only group shot we get of the League, and is also the start of a seriously weird trend for the villains in this OP getting the short end of the stick.

Anyways, then we get what I’ll call “The Carousel Shot” in which every Class 1A kid shows up and poses dramatically, as if they were on a carousel. It’s a lovely sequence and I really enjoy watching it but... why is it in this OP?

Seriously, this is a genuine question. Class 1A barely shows up in the Endeavour Agency Arc, and NONE of the students are in MVA. This sequence (not counting the three boys at the end) lasts 8 seconds. Why is this much time dedicated to characters who are barely in the arc? (Unless Studio Bones extends their work studies into fuller plot lines which oh my gosh please don’t do that, or if they do, do it quick).

We then get what I call the “Oh God I Blinked And Missed Everything” sequence, which lasts 3 seconds (not including the longer, moving shot of Shigaraki at the end) and features NINE INDIVIDUAL IMAGES, none of which are related to each other. Not only is this 3 images per second, but the fact that they are all unrelated means you can’t even use previous information to fill in the blanks.

What do I mean by that? Well, imagine if I show you 9 images of various pro heroes posing. If I play that in 3 seconds you’ll absolutely miss some of them, but as long as you catch some you’ll still get an idea of what I’m trying to show to you. Your brain is able to fill in the gaps that “I recognized 4 pro heroes, therefore the rest must have also been pros” even if you didn’t register every single frame.

That doesn’t work if every frame features a completely different subject. The shots in this sequence vary so widely that it’s impossible to find a through line. Some feature multiple characters, some feature one, some are closeups, some are super far away, some are character’s we know, others are characters we don’t. It’s impossible to get a solid read on what you’re being shown.

Now, again, there’s nothing wrong with these super quick shots... in theory. The problem comes from the fact that these shots are the only indicators for some of the major themes that will be explored during this Cour (like Twice’s growth and young Shigaraki).

That being said, let’s move away from criticism and talk about speculation, because hidden amongst this sequence are two... interesting images.

This All Might one is very reminiscent of the shot in Chapter 257, where Aizawa and All Might have a conversation while staring up at the stars. However, this is technically the start of the “War Arc” (or the “prologue”, if that’s what you want to call it), so this might indicate that we’re going to get farther into the series than a lot of us guessed.

(Many people suspected we’d get to that cliffhanger at the start of the season (if you read the manga you know the one), but after seeing the pacing for JT a lot of us assumed we’d be lucky to even finish Endeavour Agency. It seems we’re back to the cliffhanger now though lol).

This is another really interesting shot because it’s indicative of Shirakumo, meaning we might get to see Aizawa and Mic confront him some time this Cour (this also makes sense, since this confrontation technically happens before that All Might scene I mentioned in the previous paragraph).

But the cat specifically is a really strange addition. That cat is named Sushi and, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Sushi is ever mentioned in the main series. I think he’s only in Vigilantes.

This might just be a little Easter Egg for Vigilante readers, but I’m personally hoping that they’ll add at least a few Vigilante shots in there to really tug at the heart strings. I’d say I want a whole Vigilante episode but I don’t think they have the time (unless they really cram MVA, which I do NOT want).

I don’t have much to say about the last bit of the OP. The action shot between the 3 boys was nice, and it follows the sort of narrative through line they established from the early shot of them sitting at the sunset. I also like the shot of Endeavour fading in to replace All Might, even if it’s very simple.

But I want to talk about an overarching problem I touched upon earlier in that villain shot: the way the villains are handled in this OP.

This is a good OP... in theory. The problem is, it doesn’t represent half the arcs in the cour! Every shot of the League is so rushed that you can barely register that they were on screen before they’re gone.

I have no idea how many Episodes Endeavour Agency will take, but I’d assume 3 (4 if you count the Christmas episode). 12 episodes for this Cour minus 3 for Endeavour Agency = 9 episodes left. If we truly do get the prologue for the War Arc (and if we assume it’s only 1 episode) that leaves us with 8 villains episodes.

8/12 episodes (aka two thirds of the Cour) will likely be about the villains. And yet they’re pushed to the background so hard in this OP.

I want to dream, and I want to believe that this OP is going to magically change when MVA starts. The song fits super well, and I can imagine like an inversion of the OP but from the Villain side! Wouldn’t that be neat? Imagine right after the “it’s alright” part Shigaraki just freaking decays the title card... oh man that would be so cool. But, alas, I highly doubt they’d do that.

Side rant, but you know what was so fun about MVA in the manga? It’s that, for 21 chapters, we leave the kids behind and the villains become our protagonists. Suddenly Shigaraki is the one we’re rooting for, suddenly we’re learning backstories for everyone, and suddenly we find ourselves just as attached to the villains as we are to the kids. It’s an inversion that’s SO RARE to find, and I think many people (myself included) were hoping it would be reflected in the OP.

A big part of being the protagonist means featuring heavily in the OP, and a lot of us just wanted the villains to get that honour, even if only once. As is, the OP still treats them as the antagonists when... really they aren’t. Not right now, at least.

So yeah, final thoughts on the OP are that it’s good, it’s just not very representative of the arcs it’s supposed to cover. If this was just for Endeavour Agency, I’d say it’s actually really cool, but if we assume that this is what will play for the Villain Arc, then it simply doesn’t do it’s job. And it makes me sad to say that because, again, this OP is really well done.

If I had to rate it? Hmmm

If Studio Bones actually grants my wish and creates a different visual for the Villain Arc (while using the same song) and then this version only plays for the Endeavour Agency Arc and the War Prologue? I’d give it an 8/10. It’s really good, but it could use a few more elements that are clearly derived from the Agency Arc (ahem, Todoroki siblings).

But if this is the OP that will play for the entire Cour? a 6.5/10. It’s nice, but it’s not representative of one of the arcs it’s going to cover. And, unlike other arcs like Pro Hero or Summer Exams, the villain Arc is so important and takes up so much time that it honestly feels like a bit of a disservice.

Now for the Ending

I want to say that I appreciate how soft this ending starts. This cour will likely feature a lot of episodes that end on... heavier themes, and I think the sight of peaceful, falling raindrops is the perfect way to let the audience process their emotions before starting the ending in earnest.

The song itself is very nice, and I like that it’s a bit slower than the more recent endings.

(Side note, but the FUNNIEST moment in the entire series is when Sir Nighteye dies because it’s so emotional and everyone is standing around his bed in his heartwrentching silence, only for the ending to come BLARING IN out of no where. If you forgot how jarringly hilarious it was, go listen to the Eri ending and tell me that’s not the funniest thing this series ever did. Anyways yeah I’m glad that’s not gonna happen this Cour).

This ending is a bit all over the place in terms of it’s visuals, but honestly I think it works. Most endings usually have a theme tying them together (all the Class 1A girls, a fantasy AU, old photographs, planning a party, etc) but this ending’s theme is a bit harder to identify.

That being said, I think it’s just supposed to show everyone going about their day. It’s calm, it’s peaceful, and it’s just very sweet to think about

I like this shot. Actually, scratch that, I like this whole sequence. I enjoy anything that allows Class 1A to chill and have fun.

Hawks is featured quite heavily in this ending which, fair. He’s pretty important in this arc.

I really love the shot where Endeavour immediately switches to Hawks, I thought that was a lot of fun, and very good symbolism on how Hawks wants to be like Endeavour. I also love all the shots of Baby Hawks, because it’s adorable.

Something about this shot is just so cute. It’s the little domestic things like waiting for a bus that make this ending feel... idk the word, real? It shows a side of the characters that we’ll never see in the episodes, but we know have to exist.

Like yes, of course the kids have to wait for the bus. We never see it, but of course there are those moments of quiet. Agh, I love it.

The villains also make an appearance and I’m very happy about that (I’d love to see more of the villains just chilling around, I think they deserve it). I kind of wish they weren’t sitting in a dark room for the sake of being edgy, since I think it would be nice to see the villains just... sort of existing, but honestly it’s still a nice shot. I also like how this shot sort of mirrors the first one with Class 1A (someone coming in while everyone else is sitting and waiting for them).

That being said, as much as I love looking at Dabi and his stupid face (affectionate)... why is Dabi the one getting the closeup?

Mind you, endings don’t need to be connected to their Cours (they can be, like the Eri one, but they don’t have to be). But this ending does seem to be connected to the arcs it intends to cover, given all the Hawks appearances, the boys wearing their work study scarves, etc.

So, I ask again, why Dabi? Out of the six League members, we learn the backstory for four of them in this arc (Shigaraki, Toga, Twice, and we very briefly learn about Spinner). The only two left out are Dabi and Compress.

I can only assume they chose Dabi because he’s constantly in contact with Hawks, and therefore that makes him important? If the OP told us anything, it’s that Bones values the Endeavour Agency Arc over the Villain Arc lol...

... Oh my gosh please tell me that’s not actually the reason Dabi is focused on here BONES WAI-

Anyways, the ending comes to a close with Hawks watching over the kids and Endeavour. The relaxing time is done, it’s time for work studies.

Overall impression? It’s great. It’s hard to screw up an ending, so as long as you have something pretty on screen, it’s wonderful.

I’ll give this a 9/10

#bnha #bnha season 5 #dabi #keigo takami #bnha season five #katsuki bakugo #shoto todoroki #mha season 5 #mha season five #bnha op #bnha opinions #izuku midoriya #bnha hawks #ok to reblog #actually yes please do reblog if you found this interesting #I worked hard on it

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hhomunculus · 2 years

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I posted 1,028 times in 2021

212 posts created (21%)

816 posts reblogged (79%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.8 posts.

I added 873 tags in 2021

#south park - 367 posts

#kenny mccormick - 82 posts

#south park: post covid - 71 posts

#stan marsh - 66 posts

#south park fanart - 61 posts

#kyle broflovski - 58 posts

#eric cartman - 50 posts

#trey parker - 49 posts

#matt stone - 42 posts

#south park fandom - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 128 characters

#but it really fuckin sent me when everyone started zooming in on the 4 black pixels sitting next to tweek and called it craig 😭

My Top Posts in 2021

I wish I could feel the way audiences must’ve felt seeing kenny without his hood for the first time in the movie back in 99

like imagine you’re sitting down in the theatre, the movie has just begun, and suddenly bam

kenny is now canonically blonde, and you get a flash face reveal

but obviously yall know it doesn’t stop there, no, this lil guy is ab to save the gd world and sacrifice himself for his friends, and then…

as instrumentals swell in the background, he pulls the hood down, leading to a full face reveal and unmuffled voice. when he does that little smile before fading away, it almost feels like in that exact moment he transitions from story prop to a full fledged character

I lost my shit seeing it the first time after binge watching the first 3 seasons in 2 weeks, and already seeing him unhooded on pinterest. I can’t imagine how sick it must’ve been following the series for nearly 3 years and then getting taken by surprise

319 notes • Posted 2021-11-14 03:41:43 GMT

I have a lot of big feelings about this special that will definitely seep out over the next couple days, but I wanna take this moment

to sob

320 notes • Posted 2021-11-27 07:32:30 GMT

yk, it’s kind of interesting how kenny and cartman are usually the masculine figures in their ships when the fandom heteronormalizes them considering these two have the most significant histories of crossdressing/gender noncon in the show (except for maybe butters, but he’s always forced into the situation from what I remember)

367 notes • Posted 2021-11-08 04:48:34 GMT

OH MY GOD…THEY HAVE NOSES…IT JUST HIT ME…AND THE EARS

380 notes • Posted 2021-11-18 19:08:57 GMT

GUYS WHAT IF THEY DO “FLASHBACKS” FROM THE MAIN POINT IN THE FUTURE AND SHOW BITS OF THEM NOT JUST IN ELEMENTARY, BUT IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL

596 notes • Posted 2021-11-18 19:10:15 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#yeahhh no surprises here #my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #v cool #ty tumblr

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yoongiseesawmp3 · 3 years

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brown piano - yoongi

i’ve never written fic on this account before so bear with me, but here’s a little something about the only man i trust. and no i will not be capitalizing anything xx

summary: friends to lovers. yoongi and y/n have known each other casually for a couple years and never intended to take their friendship further than a few study groups together or the occasional dinner with friends. but being in the same applied piano class has brought them together, and their mutual love for epik high bonds them more than they’d like to admit.

warnings: language, probably. there’s a couple cliches in here too, i couldn’t help it. i probably only refer to yoongi as a honey dumpling twice

word count: 8.3k (its really just a long ass love letter to bv4/in the soop yoongi)

playlist: end of the world - epik high, gsoul / love song - epik high, park sung woong / go - epik high / can you hear my heart - epik high, lee hi / life is good - epik high, jay park

“fuck,” you whisper, nimble fingers slipping over the wrong keys once again. for a music composition major, you’re pretty lousy at practicing your instrument. mostly because you practice and mess up and get so frustrated that you stop for a minute to scroll through your phone and before you know it, your time in the practice room is over.

the time limit on your practice contributes to your stress, but the keyboard you keep tucked in the corner of your apartment just doesn’t do this song justice. a lot of the students in the school of music ignore this room, because the old brown spinet creaks too much for their “high class” performances, but you like it for its personality and the all-encompassing feeling it gives to your songs. when you play this piano, you can’t help but listen to its song. a keyboard or a grand can easily become background music to you, but this one is stubborn. it will not be ignored, so you come back to it when you need to fall in love with a song again.

the pinging of your phone pulls you out of your daydreams about the daunting black and white keys in front of you, and you check the time left on your reservation before opening your messages.

it’s a text from yoongi, who’s been talking to you more often lately. usually you just exchange pleasantries with each other when your big group of friends happens to get together, but you’re both in this applied piano class and it was nice to have a familiar face among the pretentious students you struggle to get through lectures with.

the quiet music technology major never caught your attention before this class, because he never had much to say when you were talking in passing. but this class has taken your friendship from nonexistent to yoongi texting you semi creepy photos of you through the practice room door with the text “your posture is shit, that’s probably why you keep messing up.” you swivel around on the bench to glance at the door and notice a mop of black hair in the distance. he must be finishing up a session in one of the studios because he’s usually your competition for this practice room. the piano reminds him of the one he played growing up, he says, so it’s the easiest for him to practice on. he’s more gifted than you are however, so he doesn’t need to practice for class as much as you do. hell, he could probably think of a song to play on the spot and still ace the performance midterm without another thought.

“where are you headed?” you text back, shuffling your sheet music together as neatly as possible before you start gathering the rest of your things. “i sounded so bad that you’re running away?”

“no,” he replies, and you can picture his shoulders shaking with a silent laugh. “need coffee.”

“omw,” you text quickly, going from tenderly placing things in your bag to slightly shoving them down enough to zip everything up securely. you gaze sadly at the piano before you leave. you really should try and practice some more, you have a few minutes left in the room, but you let out a sigh and head for the door instead. you need coffee and your dumpling shaped friend right now. hopefully the combination will help you get over some of your stress.

you find yoongi just outside, leaning up against a pillar of the building with his hands in his pockets and a bucket hat that he’s produced out of nowhere pulled over his head. he peeks up at you from under the brim when he hears the rickety doors clang shut, and he smiles slightly before pushing himself off the stone column.

“how’s the song coming?” he asks casually, leading the way to your mutual favorite coffeeshop like it’s second nature. which honestly, it’s getting to be like that. how did you go from barely knowing yoongi to spending almost every day with him?

“uh, my fingers don’t work anymore i think,” you explain. “i’ll get it though. i just need to practice more.”

“i could always help you,” he offers. you quirk an eyebrow at him and he continues. “like, i could listen and maybe watch the way you’re playing, and if there’s a spot you’re constantly messing up on i’ll just know to cough a lot during that part of your performance so the professor doesn’t hear it.”

“wow, who would’ve thought that min yoongi would be my knight in shining armor,” you joke. “what were you working on?”

“another song for my mixtape,” he tells you simply. “i want to sample an epik high song, but i can’t find one that fits the vibe yet.”

“hmm,” you think. “you’ll find one. or you can wait for their new album and use something off of that.”

“yeah, but i won’t have the same connection to those songs that i do with the old ones, you know?”

“then just go back to your favorites. have you tried doing something like lesson one?” you ask as you arrive at the coffeeshop. yoongi opens the door for you and ushers you inside, scooting you out of the way so someone zooming by on a bird scooter doesn’t accidentally clip your heel.

“when i first started working on this i tried doing my own version of it, but i don’t think anything i have to say would be better than tablo,” he explains.

“that’s not how you should be thinking when you’re making music,” you scold. “whatever you make will be worth listening to, and whatever you say in those songs will mean something. thinking like that will only limit what you make, min yoongi.”

he pauses and looks at you with an unreadable expression before he pulls his lips into a straight smile and nods.

“huh. you’re right, y/n,” he sighs.

“and for that little nugget of wisdom,” you say, “you owe me a coffee. toffee n-”

“toffee nut latte with no sugar, i remember,” he says, cutting you off as he pulls out his wallet. “what size?”

“considering i’m a little high strung from not nailing my song yet, probably a small,” you tell him. he nods and orders you a medium anyway and gets a muffin for you two to split. you fall into a comfortable silence as you wait for your order, but yoongi breaks it after checking his phone.

“namjoon wants to know if you’re free this weekend,” he deadpans, making it sound like a statement when it’s meant to be a question.

“i don’t know, why?” you ask, pulling the warmed muffin closer to you. you start picking out one of the chocolate chips before you continue. “isn’t it fall break? i’ll probably stay here and practice. it’s too short of a break for me to go home.”

“apparently we’re all staying in a cabin or a box or something up in the mountains,” yoongi says. “it’s supposed to be a combined birthday trip for him and jungkook, i think it might just be the guys but he says you’re welcome to come with us. he says you look stressed.”

“why does he think i look stressed?!”

“because you do,” namjoon says, popping up beside you from one of the couches against the wall. he must have been buried in a book or his laptop, because neither of you noticed him when you first walked in. he gives you a casual side hug, tussling your hair and talking to yoongi above your head. “hey hyung.”

yoongi grunts a hello in response, and you share an eye roll with namjoon before he goes on about the whole mountain thing. he explains where it is, how long you’ll stay, and some of the other specifics that have already been arranged. it sounds nice, so maybe you should go.

“you should really come,” namjoon half pleads. “it’s kind of last minute, so not many of our friends can make it, but we need you to be the dj for the weekend. and i think you deserve a break.”

“you do,” yoongi chimes in, picking up your drinks and leading your small group to a table near the window. “it’ll help you come back to the song later without getting tired of it. you should never be frustrated when you’re playing.”

“i guess i’ll consider it,” you say. “you’re lucky i live too far away to go home for just a couple days, otherwise i would have to turn you down.”

“and i don’t need that kind of rejection on my birthday,” namjoon teases.

“your birthday was last month,” yoongi points out.

“but i’m celebrating it now, hyung. birthday rules still count for the celebration of said birthday.”

“yeah, but it’s not fair that you played the birthday card then and you’re doing it again now...”

sipping your latte, you laugh to yourself as yoongi and namjoon go on with their petty argument. you notice a fleck of chocolate on yoongi’s lip from the muffin, and you involuntarily lift your hand to wipe it off, but you stop yourself before it can be noticeable. you just let your hand fall to your coffee cup and take another sip of your drink, thinking about how many clean sweaters you have that you can wear this weekend.

you end up in the car with jin, hoseok and yoongi on the way to the cabin that they all rented. you’ve been roped into cooking duties for the weekend, and the four of you went grocery shopping before heading up to the mountains to meet everyone else. actually, you begged them to let you cook, bring booze, anything, since they didn’t let you chip in for the weekend at all in the first place.

“i’m not going to invite you last minute and then make you pay for anything,” yoongi told you clearly as you left the coffeeshop after talking to namjoon. “plus, jimin owes me at least $50 for ruining one of my mics, so i’ll just make him pay extra.”

like namjoon said, you are technically the dj for the weekend. you know the guys well enough to know what kind of music they want to listen to, so you crafted the perfect road trip playlist and shared it with hoseok, who’s in the front seat. he’s groaning and skipping each song he doesn’t like while jin calmly drives, complaining every now and then when hoseok skips a song jin knows all the words to.

and yoongi? well, he’s quietly scrolling through his phone beside you in the backseat. jin insisted on you sitting back there, claiming hoseok has some kind of carsickness that only appears when he sits in the back, so that meant you and yoongi were cramped in the tight space together. no biggie, but you keep bumping elbows with him, and you have to pee, and you didn’t sleep enough the night before so you’re already a little testy. you try to situate yourself so you hopefully forget about your need for a restroom and you bump into yoongi once again, and it sets you off. you don’t do anything aside from shoot him an angry glare before huffing a little bit and adjusting yourself so you’re fully looking out the window next to you. a few moments pass in silence save for the sound of go by epik high playing over the speakers.

you’re pulled from your mini rant session in your head to, oh my god, yoongi nudging your arm. you’re ready to give him a piece of your mind when you turn to lock eyes with him, but the delicately peeled tangerine that he’s offering you is so...confusing? and slightly endearing, so you abandon your plan to be mean to him and just graciously take the sweet fruit.

“where’d you get this?” you ask as you pull apart the half he handed to you.

“did he give you a tangerine?” hoseok asks with a smile, peeking at you both in the rearview mirror.

“yeah, like out of nowhere too.”

“if it’s oddly warm y/n, don’t be alarmed. he keeps them in his pockets for safekeeping,” jin explains.

“in your pocket?” you laugh, making yoongi’s cheeks tinge pink. “have you ever sat on one?”

“i don’t wanna talk about it,” he grumbles, bowing his head to focus on peeling off the stringy white skin left on his slices of citrus. the car falls into silence again and you notice everyone bobbing along to the epik high song still playing. you smile to yourself and finally pop a piece of the tangerine into your mouth.

it’s maybe the sweetest thing you’ve ever eaten, and you surprise yourself by thinking for a moment that its sweetness could be due to the fact that it came from yoongi.

“are you still working on your mixtape hyung?” hoseok questions, once again warmly breaking the quiet of the car.

“yeah, why?”

“have you tried doing something like this?” he asks, referring to the last few bars of go that play as jin turns down a road that must be just seconds away from the house, it looks exactly like the pictures the boys have shown you and you let out a sigh of relief at the thought of a bathroom and a bed.

“i have,” yoongi starts, peeking at you without turning his head. “y/n suggested it, actually. we talked about going back to this album for inspiration and it’s helped a lot.”

“it has?” you ask, beaming at the thought of bringing yoongi out of his funk with your mutual love of this group. yoongi simply shrugs and makes some non committal sound as the car comes to a stop.

“alright everybody, thank you for riding jin express. please don’t forget to rate and tip this ride in the app once you exit the vehicle,” jin jokes. everyone shuffles to get out of the car, and as hoseok pops the trunk you’re reminded that you really should start cooking right away. you politely ask hoseok to bring your bag in with his stuff, and he promises not to drop it before you grab some of the groceries and head for the kitchen.

once everything is taken care of and the cars are unloaded, you find yourself in the middle of a crowded kitchen full of ingredients and booze and boys. not a bad place to be.

hoseok did bring your bag in for you, you can see it laying by the couch a few steps away from the kitchen island. you’ll just have to hope there’s a room left for you at the end of the night, because your back won’t do well on a sofa.

“so what are we making, chef min?” you ask, washing your hands after playfully pushing jimin out of the way.

“carbonara,” he says simply. “namjoon’s request.”

“and did you get what i asked for hyung?” jungkook asks, several beer bottles distributed evenly between both his hands. as he waits for yoongi’s answer he passes the bottles around until everyone has a drink and he looks satisfied.

“yeah, we got the pizza stuff. we’ll make it tomorrow when we watch the movie.”

“what movie are we watching?” you’re curious, only because the last movie you watched with them was one you’ve all seen hundreds of times collectively so it was less watching and more reciting the movie line for line.

“that’s a secret,” jungkook says with a glint in his eyes. “my choice.”

“it’s gonna be some sappy love story, i’d bet ten bucks on it,” jin jokes.

“make it twenty and i’m in,” taehyung adds.

“oh you’re on.”

despite never cooking together before, you and yoongi are a well oiled machine. you receive some help from jin in the form of chopping or washing, but for the most part it’s you preparing everything, from the chicken to the sauce and handing it off to yoongi to be finished in the biggest pot of pasta you’ve ever seen. it smells amazing though, and you’ve attracted a park jimin who’s a few drinks ahead of the chefs and he has a mischievous idea in his head.

“so how long have you two known each other?” he starts out innocently, speaking more to you than to yoongi.

“uh, i guess i met yoongi at a party freshman year, when i met all of you. but he was arguing with someone, so i didn’t get to say much. just introduced myself and moved on,” you explain. “we haven’t really been friends, at least i would say, until we took this piano class together.”

“and how’s that going?”

“fine, considering he and i are the most competent out of all of them,” you state matter of factly, earning a chuckle from yoongi.

“most of the kids in there took this class thinking it’d be an easy elective grade.” yoongi adds, sliding beside you and reaching across to grab the colander you just used to drain some vegetables. as he retreats you catch a whiff of his cologne and a hint of tangerine. you smile to yourself and turn back to jimin.

“plus yoongi and i played the same song for our first assignment, so i had to confront him about that to establish dominance.”

jimin laughs maybe too much at this, and yoongi pipes in from the stove to quickly change the subject.

“y/n, i’m gonna need the cheese for the topping soon.”

“yes chef!”

dinner is ready soon after that. jimin had to be removed from the kitchen for tasting things that weren’t quite cooked yet, and jin took his place next to you. it seems that all of the boys are interested in learning more about the person that yoongi insisted on inviting this weekend, but you don’t know that. after a final taste test from the three of you and several approving nods, jin summons everyone from the rest of the house.

“it’s ready!!!” jin yells. it’s too loud for the situation but you’ll soon learn that these boys usually are. it gets their attention though, because one by one they file into the kitchen and grab plates and start serving themselves. you get your own plate and follow behind taehyung, who’s currently wearing a blanket cape. while you wait, you feel a tap on your shoulder and turn around to find yoongi.

“y/n, i already made you a plate,” he tells you, holding up one of the two plates in his hands. “c’mon.”

“oh, thank you,” you reply, returning the plate in your hands and gratefully taking the one yoongi extends to you.

“did you hear that? he made y/n’s plate and not mine,” jungkook pouts.

“yeah, my feelings are hurt,” jimin whines.

“at least it’s not your birthday!”

“i wouldn’t have made you a plate no matter what, jimin,” yoongi defends himself. “but i wanted to be sure y/n sat next to me, i was at the food, i got a second plate. no biggie.”

“leave the man alone,” namjoon cuts in. “he’s being a good host to the outsider.”

“outsider?!” you ask incredulously. “i just made you dinner. be nice to me, birthday boy.”

“y/n, i looooooove you,” jungkook coos, plopping down at the table across from you and yoongi. “it looks delicious.”

“it really does,” namjoon agrees. “thanks for making it. especially you, y/n. you didn’t have to.”

“i don’t mind,” you shrug. “besides, i wasn’t sure how well any of you could cook and i didn��t want to eat shit for the weekend, so...”

your sly remark is met with a chorus of insulted voices, mostly from jin and yoongi, but jimin pipes in that he’s good at everything while namjoon and taehyung insist that they “try their best” in the kitchen, and jungkook just nods and says something about ramen for eight.

“yoongi’s quite the chef, actually,” jin says. “he can make almost anything.”

“that’s impressive,” you say with a nod, peeking at yoongi. his cheeks are turning pink ever so slightly.

“yeah, you should ask him to cook for you sometime,” jin continues. “maybe after one of your late nights in the music building.”

there are knowing glances exchanged all across the table, but you and yoongi are oblivious. he hasn’t looked up from his plate in a few minutes just to be safe, and you really have no clue, you think it’s some best friend inside joke. which it is, depending on how you read the situation. namjoon brings the attention back to what the plan is for tomorrow, and the little tension between you and yoongi dissolves without notice until it’s time for bed.

after dinner, everyone went their separate ways, jin and jungkook flocking to the game console in the living room with hoseok watching on, jimin and taehyung made a mess of the kitchen as they cleaned up after dinner, and you found yourself outside by the fire with namjoon while yoongi shuffled through the cars, mumbling about some bag of producing equipment he couldn’t seem to find. it was easy hanging out with them, which is saying something considering that these boys are basically family. but they’ve welcomed you with open arms, and it isn’t until you’re bundled up with a nice blanket and a crisp cider that you realize how much you needed a break like this.

your eyes start drooping as you stare into the fire, and namjoon seems to have the same idea as you because you both stretch at the same time and mumble something about going to sleep. he says he’ll handle the fire, and you take the blanket from his chair, along with yours, and trudge back into the living room.

“hey, where did you guys put my stuff?” you ask, looking behind the couch where you noticed your bags earlier. jimin and jungkook are the only ones left awake, and jimin glances at you quickly before replying.

“i think jin brought your things upstairs, y/n,” he explains. “first door on the left.”

“oh, thanks,” you reply, gently laying the blankets on the back of the couch before you head to the stairs. “night guys.”

“good niiight,” they both sing-song back, and you laugh as you shuffle up to your room.

the door is closed, so you reach out to open it with no hesitation, but when you see yoongi sprawled out on the bed, you jump a little.

“damn, y/n, you scared me,” he mutters, sitting up and dropping the notebook he had been scribbling in. “do you need something?”

“uh, no?” you reply, looking around. “i just, um, jimin said this was my room, so, i guess i opened the wrong door, is all.”

“wait, are those your bags? i thought they were namjoon’s,” yoongi says, pointing to, yep, your bags, laying at the foot of the bed.

“what?” namjoon asks, poking his head into the room. “i’m with jungkook.”

“are there any rooms left?” you ask, looking between them both. “i don’t want to intrude, so if i have to sleep on the couch-”

“what’s with all the chit chat?!” jin whisper yells, popping his head out of the room across the hall.

“y/n doesn’t have a room,” namjoon answers.

“no, y/n is sleeping with yoongi,” jin says, face twisting into a smile once he realizes his wording. “i mean, the two of you are sharing a room. you have the biggest bed, so i thought it would be more comfortable.”

“are you sure there isn’t another room one of us can sleep in?” yoongi asks with a certain emotion hidden in his voice that you can’t quite place.

“nope, y/n is your friend, so you’re stuck together,” jin says with finality. “now shut up, i already have to listen to hoseok snoring, i don’t want to hear any more bickering about beds.”

“hey, i don’t snore!” a voice, obviously hoseok, shouts from behind jin.

“good night!” jin laughs, shutting his door. namjoon chuckles as well, giving you and yoongi a sympathetic shrug before he heads to his own room. leaving you all alone with yoongi. you slowly turn back to him, quietly shutting the door behind you.

“i, uh-”

“sorry-”

“no, you go.”

“i was just gonna say i could sleep on the floor,” yoongi offers, but before he can even finish his sentence you’re shaking your head.

“no way,” you refuse. “it’ll be no biggie, right?”

“right,” he agrees.

“right,” you nod, convincing yourself that this isn’t as awkward as it seems. “i’m, uh, gonna go change in the bathroom though.”

“that would be smart.”

falling asleep in the same bed as yoongi was no big deal. really, what was the harm? it’s not like this trip has awakened feelings for him that you didn’t know you had...except it absolutely has. which is why you’re so freaked out in the morning when you wake up next to the man you just dreamt about cuddling all night.

wait.

your pillow wasn’t that warm when you went to sleep.

and you weren’t holding onto anything either.

cool, yeah, no big deal, definitely. you’re just latched onto yoongi’s arm while you drool on his shoulder. very attractive and not at all weird friend behavior. as you’re silently freaking out, eyes barely open, you register warm breath hitting the top of your head, and you look up to catch yoongi staring at you.

“oh, shit, sorry,” he stutters, pulling his arm from your grasp too soon. “i’m sorry, i wasn’t, like, i was trying to figure out if you were awake or not-”

“yoongi, it’s fine,” you laugh. “you staring at me is better than me turning you into my personal teddy bear. sorry about that.”

“you’re good,” he mumbles, sitting up. his hand rubs at the back of his neck, something you register as his go to nervous habit, as he keeps speaking. “it was nice actually. uh, because of the cold.”

“right,” you say, smiling to yourself. a layer of silence falls over you both as you lay there and yoongi fumbles for a minute on his phone. now you’re the one staring, looking up at yoongi’s delicate features like someone just took a blindfold off of you and you’re seeing the world in such a clear, sharp image. you’re noticing yoongi like you’ve never noticed him before.

to stop yourself from memorizing the outline of yoongi’s profile, you pull the covers off and get out of bed, groaning at the cold. you throw on an extra hoodie and some wool socks, noticing yoongi doing the same. once you’re both dressed, you’re staring at each other again, and the silence returns. it’s not awkward, just heavy, and you break it with a simple, “yoongi?”

“yeah?”

“don’t tell the guys i drooled on you, please.”

“as long as you don’t tell them i was staring at you.”

the kitchen is buzzing more than you thought it’d be, cups of coffee already poured and the stove sizzling with eggs, sausage and some sad attempt at pancakes. last night when taehyung said he tries to cook, this must be what he meant, because the finished plate of “pancakes” looks like...a good try.

you beeline for the coffee, inhaling the comforting scent and enjoying the warmth it brings to your fingers. as you take your first sip you realize the boys have been quiet since you and yoongi ambled downstairs.

“so,” jungkook begins. “how’d you two sleep?”

“fine,” you both reply simultaneously, raising a few eyebrows from your audience. convincing.

“sorry,” you apologize. “not a morning person.”

“neither is yoongi,” namjoon notes.

“seems like it’s a good thing you’re sharing a room then,” jimin says over the rim of his coffee mug, smug smirk not as clearly hidden as he’d like it to be.

“hyung,” taehyung pouts from the stove. “can you help me with these?”

“i’m not good at flour-based things,” yoongi replies without a glance, deepening the pathetic pout on the chef’s face.

“i can help you, tae,” you offer, sliding past him and taking the spatula. he utters his gratefulness, going as far as kissing your hand, and yoongi finds his ears flaring red at the sight. chill out, he thinks to himself. tae’s just being tae.

but jin notices the change in yoongi’s demeanor after taehyung’s playfulness. it seems that when it comes to the two of you, one of the boys will always notice something before either of you do.

ok, so, something that wasn’t made totally clear to you is the fact that this is a ski trip, the main event of the weekend is skiing, and here you are with nothing thicker than a nice sweater to keep you warm. maybe it was mentioned in passing and you just didn’t pick up on it, but the conversation last night at dinner made you realize how under prepared you were.

that’s how you end up shuffling through the ski lodge down the street, laden in several borrowed layers. an extra pair of pants from jimin, a hoodie from jungkook and a jacket from hoseok. and yoongi’s gloves, which he insists he won’t need because he suddenly has to work on his mixtape before he loses his inspiration. you wonder if it’s the sight of the mountain covered in artificial snow that does it, because you’re even thinking about how you wish you could paint or draw so you can capture the true beauty of this place.

but yoongi knows the reason he has to write these lyrics down now is because of the lingering feeling of you holding onto his arm, head on his shoulder and delicate breaths brushing over his chest as you slept so peacefully. in all honesty, yes, he had been staring at you, for quite some time actually. and it was while he stared that he got the idea for this song.

so, yeah, he needs to write it down now, and he figures the best time to do it without prying eyes is while everyone is occupied with skiing. he hunkers down in the ski lodge, promising to watch everyone’s stuff as the rest of you layer up and carry the rented equipment outside to the slopes. you follow jimin and taehyung to the bunny slope while jin, namjoon and hoseok go toward the snowboard-only trails with jungkook deciding on the competition style ski slope. as you walk out, you look back at yoongi, admiring the concentrated look on his face as he passionately writes down whatever is on his mind, and for the briefest moment, you hope that he’s writing about you.

“i’m never going skiing again,” jimin declares, dropping all of his wet clothes in the living room of the rental as soon as he gets inside. “why did i fall down so much? how did i get so wet because of that?”

“well, jimin, snow is just frozen water, and water is wet, right?” namjoon teases. jimin’s response is to throw a soaking scarf at namjoon, gross ski slope water flinging everywhere in its wake.

“ew, jimin!” you yell, dodging the tail end of the scarf as it makes a terrible sound when it collides with namjoon’s chest.

“he deserved it.”

“yeah well now i’m covered in your gross sweat water too,” you whine. jimin acts like he’s going to throw something else wet and squishy your way, and you shriek before you dodge behind yoongi as protection.

“don’t get me involved in this,” he groans. you mumble an apology, secretly wiping some of the water off on his scarf.

“i’m gonna go change,” you tell him. “so knock before you come in.”

yoongi nods in response, heading toward the kitchen to get out the ingredients for dinner tonight. as per jungkook’s request, you’ll be assembling your own pizzas, which means you’re off the hook for cooking, at least. everything is premade, it just has to be warmed in the oven, and jin has already declared himself the pizza master, so you just get to enjoy.

“wait, y/n!” yoongi semi-shouts, stopping you on the first step of the staircase. “can you take this up with you? you can put it on top of my black bag.”

“which one, you have three,” you playfully dig, taking the bundle from his hands anyway. it’s his jacket from earlier wrapped around something, his journal maybe? and you tuck it under your arm as you continue upstairs.

you drop the bundle on top of yoongi’s things, knowing he’ll grumble about it messing up how neatly he arranged all of his bags and their contents. that’s why you find yourself peeking back at it after you’ve changed. plus the nagging feeling in your brain that maybe, just maybe, there’s something written about you in there has you tip-toeing to the corner of the room before you gingerly pick his jacket up, letting his notebook tumble out. you hold back, neatly folding the jacket and draping it over one bag before you lean down to grab the notebook, which happened to fall face down, pages open.

it’s not a crime that you glance at the words as you pick it up, and you’re reading the whole page before you can stop yourself. you’re about to start on the next group of words when you hear a knock at the door, and you drop the notebook, feeling caught. you scramble to put it neatly with his jacket, but the words inside are running through your head as you call out to yoongi that he can come in.

if he knows that you were snooping, he doesn’t show it. he simply thanks you for folding his things, and you nod at him quickly before you duck out of the room and go back to the kitchen, all the while thinking about the lyrics that made your stomach do backflips while at the same time making your heart feel totally content. what you read on that page was pure comfort embodied in a few words, and it came from the comfort yoongi feels when he’s around you. you recognize that feeling, those words resonating because that’s the same way you feel when you’re around him. you smile to yourself, thinking about how to confront yoongi about this.

except you can’t. because then he’ll know you were looking at his things, his innermost thoughts. you know how personal his lyrics are to him, and you know he’d be upset that you looked without his permission. so you resign yourself to making your sad little pizza, distracting your mind with cheese, cheese and more cheese. hoseok must notice the gloomy look on your face, because there’s suddenly a ball of sunshine at your side. he slides ingredients onto your pizza without you knowing, until you look down and see a smiley face staring back at you. you can’t help but laugh and lean into his warmth, giggling as he makes up some silly voice for the new pizza face he created.

yoongi enters the kitchen at that moment, seeing how you smile at hoseok like that, laughing so easily at his actions, and suddenly the song he was so eager to write, to compose, to pour his heart into, suddenly he wants to go upstairs and burn the pages. he won’t, because he knows he’s just being jealous, but he distances himself immediately, silently helping jin with slicing some fresh onion or prepping the oven for another pizza. yoongi was ready to show the song to you after dinner, but now...maybe he never will.

once you’ve all eaten an unhealthy amount of food, and consumed an impressive amount of alcohol (”we have to finish it before we leave!!” - jimin), you’re all gathered in the living room to watch a movie, another jungkook choice. it’s some sappy love story, and you find yourself looking over at yoongi each time something touching happens onscreen. jin notices as well, nudging yoongi the next time he sees your eyes drift in their direction. yoongi acknowledges jin, who directs yoongi’s attention to you, and when your eyes meet you can see something has changed. you turn away, looking back up at the tv and shivering despite the warm fire just a few feet away. taehyung, sitting next to you on the floor, offers you a corner of his blanket, and you take it, scooting closer to him as you try to focus on the terrible plot of this movie.

the boring movie, the warmth of tae along with the fire, and the two glasses of yoongi’s fancy whiskey you wanted to try now sitting in your stomach all lull you to sleep at some point. tae shuffling around next to you wakes you up, and in your stupor you look around and can’t find who you’re looking for.

“where’s yoongi?” you mumble with a yawn.

“already in bed,” taehyung explains. “he went up a little while ago.”

“hm, ok,” you half-whisper, voice barely returning after your quick nap. you stand up and stretch, alerting everyone to your movements because you’re right in front of the tv. jungkook whines, and you side step out of the way. “m’goin to sleep too.”

“alright,” taehyung says, pushing the blanket out of your way so you don’t trip. “sleep tight!”

“don’t let the lovebugs bite!” jimin chirps out, making some of the boys giggle. you don’t register it as you walk to your room, just barely awake.

for the second night in a row you’re surprised to see yoongi on the bed, still awake, but tonight he’s got his laptop and all of his producing equipment is laid out around him. he doesn’t acknowledge you entering the room and you don’t pay him any mind either, kneeling down to rifle through your bags at the foot of the bed. once you find what you’re looking for, you can’t decide if it’s the sleep or the whiskey, but you unabashedly take your sweater off right in front of yoongi. suddenly he’s jumping out of bed, equipment scattering.

“uh, what- why, what, what are you doing?!” he asks, voice an octave higher than usual as he looks anywhere but down at you. you laugh at how jumpy he is, and quietly apologize.

“sorry, i should’ve warned you,” you explain. “too tired to go to the bathroom.”

“tha-that’s fine,” he replies, still not looking at you. “tell me when you’re ready.”

“good,” you say once you’ve pulled on the shirt you slept in last night. “why’d you come up here so early?”

yoongi risks a glance at you, color coming back to his cheeks once he sees that you’re clothed again. he starts meticulously packing up the tech covering the bed, leaning over his laptop and furiously saving what he was working on before he closes it.

“uh, i just didn’t like that movie,” he lies, not wanting to mention how jealous he was seeing you laughing with hoseok and then sharing a blanket with taehyung. he doesn’t have a right to be jealous, but he is. he wants to tell you how that made him feel, but he doesn’t.

“ugh, me either,” you groan, rolling up one of the stray wires on the bed before passing it to yoongi. “not my favorite genre.”

yoongi notices that you’ve folded the wire the way he likes, without harming it too much and with the ends tucked in just so. the fact that you remember such a small detail has his heart warming again, and suddenly the gloomy thoughts he had about tonight have washed away. he all but forgets why he was in a bad mood in the first place as he looks at you, crawling under the blankets and he has the urge to stop you, to wake you up again so that he can play you what he was working on. but he can do that later, he will. he sees you glance up at him, patting the bed next to you.

“c’mon, i promise i won’t drool on you tonight,” you assure him, and he laughs before pulling the covers back on his side so he can lay down. he turns the lamp off on his bedside table and then settles in, suddenly missing the warmth of you from last night.

“good night,” he mumbles, looking over at you on your phone, setting an alarm for tomorrow. the rental ends in the early afternoon, so there can be no sleeping in.

“night yoongi,” you reply, locking your phone. you keep it on your chest for a moment, contemplating how tired you actually are. before you came in, you could’ve fallen asleep on the floor, but now, laying next to yoongi, you’re reminded of those lyrics and you don’t think your mind can turn off. after a few minutes of silence, you decide it’s probably best to just try to sleep, having your phone on might bother yoongi. you need to charge it anyway, but you groan as you remember you never packed your charger.

“hm?” yoongi hums at your sound of frustration.

“do you have a phone charger plugged in over there?” you ask quietly.

“mhm.”

“can i use it?”

“yep.”

“are you almost asleep?” you ask, even quieter now, moving over so you’re a little closer to him than before.

“trying to be.”

“i’ll plug it in then,” you say, carefully reaching over him to grasp blindly until your fingers reach the cord. you fumble with it for a moment, successfully plugging your phone in eventually, and you start to retreat to your side of the bed. as you pass back over yoongi, you place a quick kiss on his cheek and mumble another good night, not even realizing what you’ve just done.

there’s no way you can fall asleep now, and neither can he. there’s a beat of silence before he speaks up.

“y/n.”

“what.”

“look at me.”

slowly, you turn your head back to him, and his intense gaze has you blushing before he even says anything.

“sorry.”

“don’t apologize.”

“ok. right. sorry,” you quickly reply, voice still barely audible, but with the lack of space between you two it’s not hard for yoongi to hear.

“y/n,” he says again, this time grabbing your hand beneath the blankets.

“yeah?”

“i think i might be in love with you.”

“that’s....nice,” you squeak back, and yoongi lets out a loud laugh. your blush deepens at the sound.

“that’s nice?” he laughs. “that’s all you have to say?”

“yoongi?”

“yeah?”

“can i kiss you?” you ask, propping yourself up on an elbow. it’s dark in the room, but you clearly see him nod, and you don’t even remember moving to connect your lips to his. the moment you do, there’s a spark of electricity flowing through you. it’s a simple kiss, lips moving in sync with each other, both knowing what move the other is going to make before you even make it. yoongi pulls himself up so he can cage you underneath his arms, long fingers brushing your cheek and sending more sparks down your spine. he cups your face as he delicately tries deepening the kiss, your lips opening just slightly to let him in. he tastes like mint, and something else, something....citrus-y. even though you don’t want to, you pull away from his lips, his pout chasing you as you rest your head back on your pillows.

“what, what’s wrong?” he asks, fear slowly creeping in.

“when did you have time to eat a tangerine?”

“seriously? that’s the question you have for me right now?” he asks, laughing again but quieter this time. it still makes you smile at the sound.

“hm, i do have one question,” you say. it’s dark in the room but you can see yoongi encouraging you to go on with a lift of his eyebrow. your smile deepens as you speak. “how long have you been in love with me?”

“okay, good night,” he grumbles, turning over. you let out a sound of frustration and prop yourself up on an elbow, holding onto his shoulder with your other hand.

“this ok?” you ask quietly, slowly melting into his side. he makes a sound of confirmation, and you pull him back towards you slightly. “i still don’t have an answer to my question.”

“when did i fall in love with you?” he asks for confirmation.

“ooh, you fell in love with me, how romantic,” you tease. “i asked how long it’s been, but i’d take either answer.”

“ok, yes, i did fall in love with you,” he begins. “you’re annoying so it took some time.”

“hey.”

“not done.”

“sorry.”

“and how long?” he continues. “mm, when i saw your name on the sign up sheet for the room with the brown piano, that’s when i knew for sure. so i guess a couple months.”

“hm. alright,” you respond, butterflies suddenly in your stomach and fluttering up to your throat. “that’s.....nice.”

that sends you both into a fit of giggles right as jimin and taehyung are passing outside your door, and jimin pulls him toward the sound. but taehyung accidentally bumps his knee on the door, alerting you and yoongi to their unwanted presence.

“go to bed!” yoongi shouts, making you jump while scaring the now snickering boys outside your door. yoongi lays an arm over your waist seeing you jerk at the sudden noise, and you feel a little bit of that comfort that he so perfectly put into words with his lyrics.

“you too!” jimin shouts back, laughing all the way to his room.

“and you called me annoying,” you whisper to yoongi.

“you know they put you in here on purpose,” he tells you.

“huh?”

“they knew i was into you, so they made sure we were sharing a room,” he explains.

“so you knew about it too?”

“i-i knew we might share a room, i didn’t know we’d be sharing a bed,” he stumbles out. “once i saw there was one bed i assumed they gave you your own room. i’m...i’m glad i was wrong.”

“well min yoongi, i never expected this,” you tell him.

“pff, seriously?”

“seriously,” you confirm. “guess i was too busy with my own feelings for you to notice that you were into me.”

“really?” he asks with a smile. you nod, but realize he may not see it in the dark.

“yeah,” you whisper.

“how long?” he whispers back.

“honestly? probably longer than i’d like to admit. you’re really cute, you know.”

“back at ya.”

“not done,” you scold.

“sorry.”

“but i finally accepted it when i...” you trail off, and then you decide it’s best to just tell him. “when i read the lyrics in your journal.”

you can feel him stiffen at your words, but he doesn’t move his arm from its place on your waist.

“which song?”

“the one from today,” you reply. “wait, which song? there’s more than one?!”

“uh, good night!” he exclaims, trying to turn away again. you grab his arm and stop him though, placing your hand over his.

“min yoongi!”

“hey,” he mumbles.

“i hope i get to read the other ones at some point.”

“you will,” he assures you. there’s a beat of silence before he speaks again. “uh, so, you still haven’t used the l word, and that’s totally fine, i swear, but, did i cross a line? by using it already?”

“nah,” you shrug. “i’m just not good at this, so you’ll have to give me a little time. i’ll say it when i’m sure.”

“alright. take your time,” he says with a nod. it’s quiet again, and you think you’re both finally going to fall asleep when you feel yoongi’s lips on your cheek. “good night, for real. feel free to use me as your teddy bear again.”

“you sure?” you ask with a smile.

“i insist.”

the next morning, you keep it chill, trying not to tip off the guys and let them know their little plan worked. but damn, how sneaky of them! you’ll have to thank them later though. for now, you’re helping them clean the house so you don’t get charged for leaving the rental a total mess. yoongi is in the living room clearing bottles from last night and you’re washing dishes with hoseok. yoongi keeps stealing glances at you, and you stick your tongue out at him whenever he catches your eye. once everything is clean, and the bags are in the car, you’re ready to head back to the city to enjoy the last bit of break.

you’re the car dj again, next to yoongi in the backseat again, but this time you have a new playlist. epik high’s new album came out this morning, so you queue that up for your intimate little listening party in the car. everyone is in a good mood from the trip, so you’re talking over most of the songs in the beginning, just noting quickly when you like a lyric or a beat. yoongi scribbles things down when the inspiration strikes him, and your mind starts drifting back to your performance midterm. you’re starting to think you may be playing the wrong song, but the question is, what song will you play instead?

as you get to the end of the album, and the end of your weekend, one song catches your attention. you check your phone, noting the title as you turn the volume up slightly. you listen extra hard to this song, trying to memorize the chord progressions as they come. you start composing the song in your mind, tapping out the melody on your lap as you decide: end of the world will be your performance song. you glance over at yoongi, still focused on his notebook, and you reach out to lightly tap his hand. he looks up at you, hair falling into his eyes, dewy cheeks shining and mouth slightly open, questioning your actions with a quiet “hm?”

“i’m sure now.”

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