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timebird84 · 3 years

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🎄 PotO Advent Calendar 2020 🎄

By @a-partofthenarrative

“Silver and Gold”

A/N This is a sequel to my 2018 Advent Calendar piece, “Evergreen”. It is not necessary to read that first, but it might be helpful as there are some references to that here. Regardless, I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading. Happy Holidays, y’all!

Christine loved New York at Christmas.

The sights, the sounds, the smells…every moment of strolling through the city streets, block by block, had brought an exhilarating thrill that had been absent from her heart for far too many years. Even hours later, as she stood in the kitchen, elbow deep in pie dough, she had been unable to wipe the smile from her face.

Ms. Fleck had disappeared to somewhere or another at one point, claiming “errands” and leaving Christine to wander lower Manhattan for the better part of an hour. Weighed down by the variety of shopping bags, she had meandered uptown at a leisurely pace, stopping to admire the newly erected Christmas tree in Washington square before making her way up 5th Ave. to Herald Square, where she would find Ms. Fleck and Erik’s odd horseless contraption that had initially spirited her to Coney Island.

As she passed the stream of elaborate shops boasting anything any man, woman or children could ever desire, she lingered here and there, casting appreciative eyes to the elaborate window displays attracting crowds along the sidewalk. One particular window snagged her attention: a fanciful tower of toys teetering precariously on top of one another, held aloft in some miraculous defiance of gravity.

Biting back a smile, she stepped away with a silent resolution to return with Gustave. The poor boy would be positively beside himself when he saw the treasure trove in front of her.

She had located her shopping companion only moments later and, with confirmation from both parties that their feet and funds were exhausted, bags and passengers were located into the carriage for the trip home.

At least...she hoped it would become home. Goodness, but it did feel like home; this crazy, complicated family she had formed in a strange netherworld of curiosities. Upon returning to Erik’s home, it had been discovered that they had beaten “the boys” back to the residence, so with no tree to decorate, Christine had set her attention to another one of her favorite holiday pastimes.

Now, planted firmly in the large kitchen, covered in flour and holiday cheer, she rolled the stubborn dough into a thin sheet, a pie plate stuffed full of apples set to the side patiently waiting for its cover. Satisfied with her work, her fingers had just curled around the edge of the thin sheet when a commotion drew her attention to the front of the house. Brow furrowed, she wiped her hands on her apron and left the kitchen to investigate.

Ms. Fleck was already present and Christine cast her a questioning look before another shout snapped her eyes to the foyer.

Dr. Gangle stood just inside the door, the sole member of the group lucky enough to claim the prime position out of the cold, although one’s definition of luck would depend on one’s opinion. The poor man’s arms were wrapped around the top of one of the largest evergreen trees she had ever seen, this one seemingly dwarfing the childhood giant she had described to Erik only hours before. No doubt this had been Gustave’s doing. As his father before him, her son had a tendency to want to “one-up” anyone or anything that he deemed worthy of bragging rights and she bit back a chuckle despite herself. Maybe it was time her beloved masked enigma had a taste of his own medicine; the fact that it was delivered by his own progeny was turning out to be a delightful twist of Fate.

Shouts echoed from beyond the door, phasing in and out in a cacophony of chaos as the tree twisted and turned in a macabre dance in attempts to be pushed over the threshold.

“Left! Move it to the left!....No, the OTHER left!”

“That IS left! Watch it! You’re going to take the paint clean off the frame!”

“Gangle! Squelch! If either one of you idiots scratches the paint, you’ll be repairing it yourselves with Ms. Fleck’s mascara brush!”

Both women watched in stunned silence at the tenuous exchange before Christine glanced down, brow furrowed and voice weary. “Goodness, but it sounds like they’re having some trouble, doesn’t it?”

The smaller woman shrugged. “Frankly, I’m impressed that the Master knows what a mascara brush is.”

Christine blinked, unable to answer before the tree moved just so, allowing a small blur through the doorway and straight into her skirts. “Maman!” Gustave beamed up at her, thick snow caked in the hair along his brow. “Look at the tree we found! Isn’t it wonderful? I think it’s even bigger than yours!”

“It is..something!” she exclaimed brightly, hunkering down to look him in the eyes. “What happened, cherie? You look as though you’ve been caught in a snowstorm.”

Gustave pulled off his hat and swiped a carelessly palm over his hairline, sending clumps of snow to the wooden floor. “We had the best time! Dr. Gangel and mr. Squelch had a hard time cutting down the tree, so Mr. Y stepped in to help them. Well, the three of them began to argue over which way was the best way and while they were yelling at each other, the tree started to creak and then fell- right toward the sleigh!”

Christine gasped, feeling slightly “Oh no…”

“Oh yes!” The boy chattered on, seemingly oblivious to the picture he was painting. “That seemed to get their attention and then they ran toward the sleight. I didn’t get to see much after that because Mr. Y grabbed me, but we ended up in the snow. You should see him, Mama! He looks so funny!”

“Gustave, do you realize any of you could have been hurt or worse?! Mr. Y likely saved your life!”

Gustave rolled his eyes in a fashion so similar to Erik that Christine’s breath caught. “Maman, I’m fine. The tree didn’t even land anywhere near us.” His little brow furrowed as he glanced at the tree in the doorway, a frustrated Dr. Gangle staring at its branches with open disdain. “Do you think we’ll be able to get it inside?”

“I..don’t know, love. I’m sure Mr. Y and the others are doing everything they can.”

More grunts and shouts caused mother and son to glance up and Christine quickly snatched Gustave and stepped back as the tree hurtled forward, succumbing to a final desperate push from Squelch and Gangle. With one hand planted firmly on her son and the other pressed to her chest, she watched wide-eyed as the men muscled the enormous evergreen deeper into the house, and a masked figure stumble in behind them, shutting the door with an echoing bang and slumping against it with a weary sigh.

This man looked nothing like the impeccable figure she had always known. Instead, the man before her was a disheveled mess; wilted against the doorway, chest heaving, hair caked with snow, overcoat askew and one glove and his cravat missing (although really, who wore full evening dress to trek through the woods?).

With a quiet word and a promise to reconvene soon, Christine sent Gustave upstairs with Ms. Fleck to clean up before pasting a sympathetic smile on her lips and moving to his side. “Oh, my poor Erik,” she soothed, taking his gloveless hand in hers. “Something tells me today did not go exactly as planned.”

He cracked one eye open at the sound of her voice. “Christine…” Even his voice was exhausted. “Never again…”

“But Gustave is happy, Erik. You did well.”

“...and nearly killed us both in the process.”

“Yes, well, he did mention that,” she muttered. “But thankfully no one was killed or maimed and the tree was delivered successfully…”

Both eyes opened to regard her now and she only sighed and smoothed a hand over his snow-wet face. “I am nearly done with an apple pie. I meant it to be a surprise, but given the circumstances…” She chuckled at the faint light that came to his gaze at the mention of his favorite dessert, another newly discovered similarity to their son. “Go and clean up while I finish and then we’ll all decorate our new tree together.”

This brought another groan as Erik let his head fall back against the door with a thump. “Christine, I have a bountiful staff. This is what they are paid for.”

“Not this year.” she countered. “Besides, decorating is the most fun of all. I’ve already laid out the popcorn to be strung and I picked out some lovely ornaments in the City today.”

“The City? Christine, you went to Manhattan alone?!?”

“Of course not, Erik. Ms. Fleck accompanied me” She squeezed his hand. “Now up you go.”

“But Christine!”

She met him eye for eye. “Don’t! I am a grown woman. We were perfectly safe. Now go upstairs, change into some fresh clothes and decorate the Christmas tree with your son.” Stepping back, she helped him to his feet, smoothing her hands down the sleeves of his overcoat and pressing a kiss to his frozen lips. “I shall join you as soon as I get this pie in the oven.”

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

Nearly an hour later, the pie covered and browning nicely, Christine untied her apron, let down her hair and migrated to the living room where the festivities already appeared to be happening in full swing.

The tree now stood in the place of honor in the front corner of the room, beautifully centered in front of the large bay window, creating a lovely visual for anyone who happened to pass along the street. Dr. Gangle, Squelch and Ms. Fleck had taken up positions nearby, sorting through the packages and parcels from their shopping excursion, taking turns to comment on the contents of each.

Muttering from the back corner turned her attention to Erik and Gustave, both dressed in fresh shirtsleeves, waistcoats and trousers, and seated side-by-side on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between them. Gustave was attempting to teach his father to string the snack food to create a festive garland that would be just perfect. Erik, bless his heart, listened indulgently as he tried to copy Gustave’s motions. Unfortunately, while the former Opera Ghost was a master of innumerable things, the muttered curses and muffled cries of pain indicated that the needle was making better progress connecting with skin rather than kernels.

The rustling of skirts announced her presence to the room and Erik immediately set the string and bowl aside as he stood to greet her. “Ah, there you are, Christine. Would you care to ah...take over the garland crafting?”

Biting back a smile at his attempts to cover his inadequate stringing skills, she gave him an impish grin as she drew near. “And deprive you of the experience? I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“It’s all right, Maman,” Gustave commented, never taking his eyes from his work. “He’s not very good at it.”

Erik’s gaze snapped to hers as if to say There! You see? but she quickly and quietly tempered it with one of her own. “Not everyone excels at the same things, Gustave. But if there is one thing I know about Mr. Y, it is that he has quite the eye for making beautiful things.”

“Except popcorn garland,” Gustave supplied.

Erik’s expression was positively indignant as she worked to suppress the quirk of her lips. “So it would seem.”

“We’ve got all of the ornaments arranged for you when you’re ready, Boss,” Squelch announced, waving a hand over the various boxes of colored bulbs laid out beside the tree. “Ms. Christine picked up quite the selection.”

“Wonderful. Thank you, all.” Erik managed, taking Christine’s hand as they approached the tree. “Shall be begin?”

The three glanced between themselves, then back at the Master and his lady. “You want us to help?”

“Of course!” Christine smiled, “besides, none of this would have been possible without you.”

No further permission was needed by any of the parties. Gustave, finished with his popcorn garland, wound it around the tree, accepting assistance from Erik and Dr. Gangle at different points depending on height and availability. Christine, Squelch and Ms. Fleck declared themselves in charge of the myriad colors of ornaments and directed where and what were hung until the tree was transformed from a blank green palette to a wonder of color and light.

One of the most important purchases for Christine had been a set of candles for Advent. “This was one of my favorite traditions growing up,” she remarked as she struck a match. “With all of the traveling my father and I did, there were many of our traditions that we were forced to forego, but he always made certain we had a set of candles for Advent.” With a radiant smile, she lit their first candle, relishing in the pop and crack of the wick catching fire. “This one represents hope.”

“The second represents faith,” Passing the match to Gustave, she helped him light the second candle before offering it to the masked man standing at her side. Wordlessly, he accepted it, his expression unreadable as he set the match to the wick and the third candle spring to life. “And the third,” she supplied, meeting Erik’s gaze over the flickering flame, “is for joy.” A ghost of a smile crossed his lips then and her heart squeezed a bit tighter in her chest.

“What about the other candles?” Gustave asked.

Christine blew out the match and smiled down at him. “Traditionally, there are four Sundays in Advent and each week one more candle is lit. The fifth is lit on Christmas Eve. We’ve started a bit late this year, as it’s nearly Christmas, but all will be lit as the season progresses.”

Gustave studied the candles, then glanced at her “Did mofar teach you any other traditions that we can have here?”

“Oh, cheri, so many! Although, we rarely had the chance to partake in any of them given that we were never in Sweden much after my fifth birthday. The legend of St. Lucia, julbord, julklapper.” She brightened. “I may be able to make julmust for Christmas Eve if I can find the proper ingredients. That is, if you don’t mind, Erik?”

Slipping an arm around her waist, he remarked. “I want to know everything that is important to you, ange. If it makes you and Gustave happy, then consider it done.”

The boy’s attention shifted to him then. “What about you, Mr. Y? Did you have any traditions growing up?”

Erik’s panicked eyes immediately shot to her and Christine smoothly took control of the conversation. “Gustave, I’m sure Mr. Y knows many of the same holiday traditions that you do.”

“But he’s never even had a Christmas tree before…”

“And there were many years where I did not either. Like myself, Mr. Y has spent a great deal of his life traveling, haven't you, Erik?”

“I have,” the masked man confirmed, but offered no further explanation.

Thankfully, this seemed to satisfy the boy for the moment. “So... we’re blending. Maman’s traditions with Mr. Y’s?”

Christine glanced at Erik, who looked as lost as she felt. “Er…”

“In a sense, I suppose,” Erik supplied. “But perhaps it is more accurate to say that we are starting our own traditions. As a..” he trailed off suddenly, his normally stoic face slipping into something akin to sudden wonder.

“As a family?” Gustave ventured.

“Yes, my love,” Christine whispered, fingers covertly creeping into Erik’s palm as he held her hand like a lifeline. “Exactly that.” Drawing him close to her side, she bent down to press a kiss to his cheek. “You’ve had an exciting day and according to that clock in the hall, it is much past your bedtime. Say goodnight to everyone and I’ll be up in a moment.”

“Ah, actually, Christine, may I speak with you for a moment?” Erik cut in.

“Come on, little master,” Ms. Fleck said with a wink, catching Erik’s eye. “If you can get your nightclothes on, I’ll read you a story before your mama comes to tuck you in.”

Gustave broke into a grin, pecking Christine on the cheek before dashing for the stairs. Christine watched him go with a loving smile before tipping her head back to smile up at the man stationed behind her. “Look at how happy he is, Erik. You gave him one of the best days, despite all of the trials that came with it. That boy worships the ground you walk on.”

“I care for him in a way that I never knew I was capable of,” he admitted, tucking her hand in his arm and turning to the tree. “I would move heaven and earth for that boy.”

“Welcome to parenthood, my love,” she whispered.

With a sigh, Erik moved to stand before her, cloaked in the colors cast by the candles flames against the glass ornaments of the tree. “Christine, I admit I’ve been struggling when it comes to you and Gustave. I am not proud of it, but you must understand that I spent the majority of my life in utter solitude. Even in our...early acquaintance, the very notion that someone would care for me, let alone that I would one day have a son of my own…. was laughable.

“Both of us know how the last story ended and quite frankly, as far as I was concerned, that was the end,” He shook his head, glancing down to the floor. “But then our paths converged again, ten years later with the knowledge of Gustave...and almost losing you again...it awoke something in me, Christine. Something that made me realize that I never want to feel that way again.

“You, my darling, are the only thing that matters to me. You and Gustave and, if it is agreeable to you, you would make me innumerably happy if you would remain in Coney Island.”

Her breath caught as the weight of what he was asking began to sink in. “Erik, are you…?

He gripped her hands tighter, gaze steady, but pleading. “Stay with me, Christine. Be my wife. Let’s give Gustave the family we should have been from the beginning.”

‘Erik…” she whispered, leaning her forehead into his chest as tears flooded her eyes. “Truly?”

In response, he pulled a box from his vest pocket, flipping it open to reveal a diamond solitaire. On one side, a band of gold, warm and radiant, linked a band of silver on the other, cool but elegant, joining in metallic harmony to cradle the diamond that winked up at her.

“Oh, Erik…” she breathed again, “it’s stunning”

“I know the tradition is bended knee, but I seem to have had a traumatic incident with a rather aggressive evergreen,” he replied dryly, “so I hope you’ll forgive...”

“Yes.”

He blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Yes. I’ll marry you. We shall stay.” Christine beamed up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. “With all of my heart, I love you, you stubborn boar. The answer is ‘yes’.” Curling her fingers around the edges of his waistcoat she pulled him forward in a flash of motion and kissed him thoroughly in front of said evergreen tree.

A chorus of enthusiastic cheers broke the spell a moment later and the couple turned to see Gustave, Ms. Fleck, Dr. Gangle and Squelch positively glowing at them from the stairs. “Way to go, Boss!”

“Yes, well...” Erik sputtered, looking to Christine for assistance. She only chuckled, kissed him deeply again and extended her left hand, to which he responded by obediently sliding the ring on her finger.

Gustave rushed down the stairs to embrace them both, begging to see his mother’s ring, then beaming up at Erik as if he had just been handed the world on a plate. “Does this mean I can call you ‘Father’ now?”

Christine’s breath caught as her brown eyes collided with Erik’s mismatched ones, which looked slightly watery again. She watched as his throat bobbed, silently struggling for control before managing an answer. “Of course, my boy. You may call me whatever you wish,” he said, stooping down to look the boy in the eye. “You are my son and I am sorry if I’ve done anything to make you feel as though I’ve held you at arm’s length. I..love you, Gustave. I always have.”

Christine pressed her hands to her mouth, tears flowing anew as the boy’s mouth trembled and he launched himself into the arms of the masked man whom he had come to idolize. Erik caught him, holding him in an awkward embrace as he met Christine’s teary smile, unbidden moisture already beginning to track down his visible cheek.

Erik stood, bringing Gustave with him and Christine moved forward to join the embrace. As Erik’s free arm came around her and Gustave’s little hand held tight to hers, she was sure her heart would burst.

Her father used to say that a broken, battered path often led to the most beautiful destination and as she stood in the embrace of the two men she loved most in the world, bathed in the silver and gold glow of the candles and Christmas lights, she knew that she was finally home.

With a family of her own making.

As it always should have been.

Eyes slipping closed, her fingers languidly trailed up and down Erik’s spine and smiled as the large hand at her waist squeezed her imperceptibly closer.

From this day forward, as it always would be.

#PotO Advent Calendar #PotO #Phantom of the Opera #Door 15

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smolkooks · 4 years

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fruit cakes - p. jimin

pairing: idol!jimin x baker!reader, idolverse

word count: 1.6k

warnings: none

summary: jimin was only looking to buy a birthday cake, but he found you instead; tiny, adorable you. alternatively, jimin finally finds somebody with smaller hands than his.

a/n: hey everyone! i’m finally back with another fic, this time a it’s shorter, but very very cute <3 hope you enjoy yay

( please do not plagiarise my work! )

It must’ve been a Wednesday morning; something arbitrary like that. Jimin was standing outside of a bakery, staring through the window at the array of cakes that were arranged inside of the glass refrigerator.

He was pretty sure it was Namjoon birthday in a few days, and he distantly remembered being designated by his fellow group members to be the cake-buyer this year. That meant he’d have to put in an order soon, otherwise he’d never hear the end of it. He could almost hear Jungkook’s voice already—Jiminie-hyung, remember when you forgot to buy Namjoon-hyung’s birthday cake?—and the thought of it made him roll his eyes and snicker a bit, at the same time.

He loved Jungkook, he really did, but he knew that the youngest would never miss an opportunity to tease him. Better not give him a chance, then, he thought to himself determinedly, making his way to the entrance of the bakery so that he could make an order before he forgot. A little voice in the back of his head told him it was too late for that, Jungkook already had plenty of things to tease him about, but he shoved that thought away.

As Jimin pushed the door open, he was immediately met with a cool air-conditioned breeze. He breathed it in happily, grateful for the coolness on the slightly warmer day. Along with the air-conditioned cool, he also caught the sweet aroma of frosting and strawberries, which successfully drew him towards the cake fridge, located right by the counter. The counter was empty, at the moment, but a soft clanging in the back of the bakery suggested that the owner was baking.

He hadn’t come to this bakery before, but a bit of wandering had brought him to this quieter side of Seoul. It was a nice break from the fans constantly following behind him, because the more elderly population here had less of a care for idols like him. Also, he kept his face mask on and his bucket hat low on his eyes, so that most of his face was covered.

It seemed the trip here had been worth it, because Jimin was sure he hadn’t seen more adorable cakes in his life—they were frosted perfectly, the icing laced along the sides and the base, strawberries and various fruits decorating the top and forming beautiful patterns. The cakes were almost like sculptures in themselves, and he quickly picked one for Namjoon. He wasn’t sure if his hyung liked fruit cakes, but Jimin personally loved them—so he decided that if Namjoon didn’t like the cake then he’d just eat it himself. It was a win-win situation, honestly, although he found it hard to believe that anybody could not-like a cake from here, when they were all so gorgeous.

Even though he’d chosen out a cake—a big one with lots of fruit and lots of strawberries, he needed to make an order for it, and possibly also think of a funny message to be written on it. So, he carefully knocked on the bench of the counter and called out, “Hello? I’d like to order a cake.” There was some commotion in the back, the sound of a tray being put down against a bench, and then you appeared around the corner, hastily brushing flower off of your face and apron. He watched curiously as you pulled off your gloves and set them in the sink, then made your way over to the counter. Jimin hoped that he didn’t look too strange, or suspicious, dressed so darkly with his face covered, but he couldn’t risk anything. He didn’t want anyone to make a drama out of him being here and cause anybody any trouble.

You were probably around his age, but god, you were tiny, he noted affectionately—well, as affectionately as possible when it came to a stranger. But it wasn’t a lie; you were so tiny and so cute, especially with flower smudged across your cheek and a bright smile lighting up your features.

“Which one did you want to order?” You asked, shuffling through some folders in the cabinet next to the counter before finally pulling out a sheet—an order form, it read at the top, and you handed it to him.

He took it gingerly, before pointing to the one he’d chosen, “I’d like this one, please. Would it be alright to get it personalised?”

Jimin felt himself blush when your smile widened with his question, “Of course! Just fill out this form, are you getting it for a friend, or…?” You gave him a pen, and he took it gratefully.

“Um, yeah, a friend,” He said, uncapping the pen and beginning to write—attempting to subtly hide his name with his arm, but then his hat fell too low and he couldn’t see—

Frustrated, he pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, hoping that it didn’t look too messy, and then returned to filling out the form, putting in the order information that was required.

You were freaking out. You’d thought that the guy was kind of strange at first; after all, usually only familiars from the area came here, but this guy was completely new. Secondly, he was dressed in all black, with his face basically completely covered. Thirdly, his voice sounded unbelievably nice—far too nice for an odd stranger, no, customer in your bakery. But, after all, he hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, he’d been extremely polite, so much so that it kind of had you flustered. Not in a weird way, though.

But then he’d taken off his hat, and you finally saw his eyes, and his hair, which was dyed a lighter brown at the tips—it seemed to have grown out, but it still looked so good. You hoped you weren’t blushing; that would be absolutely embarrassing and just—

You forced yourself back into the present, focusing on not being a weirdo, but then he handed you the paper back and smiled and his eyes crinkled into these adorable crescent moons and you were sure you were blushing now. Especially when his hand brushed yours as he gave you the pen back. His eyes seemed to snag on your hand for a second, widening, and then his smile broadened, although he didn’t say anything—opening his mouth, and then closing it again. “Thank you,” He said instead of whatever it was he was going to say—and you couldn’t help but find yourself feeling a little bit disappointed.

You saw his name—Park Jimin—why had he been trying to hide that? Park Jimin was a pretty common name for a Korean guy… “Thanks, you can pick up your cake on the day of, that’s all for your order,” You managed to say, biting your lip to stop yourself from saying anything you’d regret. You fixated your attention, rather, on making sure that you filed the order form in the right place, with all of the others you’d received, so that you would be able to find it later on. You were about to return to the back room—after all, your job was finished, he had his cake ordered, and you had to find a place to hide so that he wouldn’t see your bright blush, but then he said—

“Your hands are really small!”

When you whipped around, stunned and confused, he flushed, “I’m sorry, that was really weird, I just—uh, well, my friends always tease me for having tiny hands, and I got really excited when I saw yours were really small too—I’m sorry, that’s weird, I’m weirding you out, I’ll just—thanks for the—,”

“No, no, it’s alright,” You said, still confused but also finding the man—Jimin—strangely endearing, “I do have very small hands. But they’re good for when I need to make pretty cakes. Precision,” You wiggled your fingers in the air and Jimin seemed to visibly sag in relief at your response, his smile becoming brighter, if that was possible.

“Here.” In a sudden surge of confidence, you approached the counter again, so that you were close enough to him. You raised your hand and held out your palm, gesturing for him to put his against it. He did, and you caught the light blush on his ears, which elicited a soft giggle from you. Indeed, your hands were smaller than his—quite a bit smaller, because he was able to fold his fingers over yours with no trouble.

He seemed to be in absolute bliss as he said, “Oh, my god, you have no idea how happy I am right now.”

“Why? Because you finally found someone with smaller hands than you?” You teased.

“No, because your hands are so cute,” He said, poking your hand playfully.

Jimin was sure he’d ruined it and scared you away the moment he blurted out those words, but instead, it seemed to have broken the ice. Suddenly, his thoughts became less consumed by Namjoon’s birthday cake, and more by the adorable girl behind the counter with the small, adorable hands. He could almost hear Jungkook’s voice already, Jiminie-hyung, remember that time you went to buy Namjoon-hyung’s cake and fell in love with th—

He cut that thought off so that he wouldn’t start blushing again. Instead, he focused on admiring the cute smile on your lips as you told him about your bakery.

Your brightness was all that mattered in that moment, and Jimin was captivated by it.

Absolutely entranced.

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wiener-blut · 4 years

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concert report, I guess

Idk if anyone wants to hear this, but here’s my memories from the Lindemann show in Leipzig, 14th february 2020. Keep in mind, all of this is my own opinion, I don’t mean to attack anyone here, and that I could easily be mistaken with some, my memory loves playing games with me :^) Also if you’re still to attend a concert and don’t want to be spoilered, avoid this, obviously.

Waiting.

Drove by bike to the venue, arrived at around 1.30/2pm. Around 15 people were already there, waiting. They were really nice altogether. Into 3pm, people started to form a disciplined queue. Shitty weather, but at least no heavy rain. Cold, though. 4pm; I decided to drive back home to get rid of our bag (on my way to the bikes a man in his fifties asked me who’s playing tonight, pointing at the crowd, bewildered, I responded “Lindemann, front singer of Rammstein”, he was like “I read he was born here!!” super excited that he knew – he was cute lol so confused by how crazy people are); got into a rather unpleasant rainfall on my way back to the venue. 5pm; people were told to not stand on the street, so people gathered all around us, ignoring the built queue from before; assholes tried to cut in line. Got really crowded, people in front us were still being really kind and considerate, people behind us not so much. Last hour went by quickly, good company around us, save for some idiots. 6.30pm; security let us in – people from behind were pushing, not cool. Inside the venue, it was really chill, I even waited for @haifisch-ohne-traenen, walked inside, people gathered around in the middle, low-key ran to our spot in the first row, right in front of Peter AW YEAH!!! Another wait til 8pm, filled with squeezing through people to get to the toilet and back, and chatting with the two guys behind us.

Jadu.

Shit, I’m so gay. She literally owned the stage so hard and her band mates were so cute and the keyboarder interacted with us a lot, he kept grinning at us whenever he saw us singing along; a perfect opening to an awesome night.

Aesthetic Perfection.

Surprisingly good tbh? Wasn’t the biggest fan after listening to some songs on youtube, but they’re a banger live. Really set the mood for the main act.

Lindemann.

Oh boy, where to start. First thing we saw was a video of Till in a diaper, with a bald head and the goggles from drsg’95 (at least I think it were those?), running and dancing around on the street, sucking his thumb (note: I reckon this video was shot a couple years ago). Actually hilarious, a surprisingly, and welcome, light hearted start to the show. I’m just gonna go through this song by song, because I suck at remembering things and need some kind of guidance lol.

Skills in Pills

Good song, good opener. The crowd went apeshit, it felt like the air was exploding, really unbelievably powerful. Peter was looking at us (naturally, because we were quite literally in his face), making faces, which he kept doing throughout the whole concert. Till was wandering across the stage, it seemed like he was noticing a lot of people, esp. in the first row, including us, huehue.

Ladyboy

One of my favorite Lindemann songs. Was so cool seeing and hearing it live, I went absolutely wild. I think this was the first time they changed places, and Jonathan (the one with the braided pigtails) came over to us, and whoops I fell in love.

Fat

Not the biggest fan of the song, admittedly. Still a good one. Good placement. The first time I glanced at the screen behind them, only did it one or two times more. I came here for the music, not some fucked up porn clips, I can easily find those on pornhub, thank you.

Ich Weiß Es Nicht

Never liked the verse, but the chorus is so touching to me, idk why. Sang my heart out at the chorus.

Allesfresser

Okay so I came prepared. I knew what was gonna happen. First half of the song was incredible, another fav song. Screamed my head off. Then, cakes were brought and ngl, it kinda took away from this awesome song for me. I really, really did not want to end up having cake smeared all over me by the first third of the concert. So I watched out for them, praying that they wouldn’t aim in our direction. Ended up with a few lil teeny tiny sprimkles on my arm and in my hair (that actually came from a cake Jonathan yeeted over our heads :3c), nothing too bad. Cake was actually delicious. Last cake was thrown by Sebastian, Peter’s son, Till was standing in the middle, in front of the drums, stealthily (so he thought) pointing to our side, but Sebastian didn’t catch it and threw it into the audience across from us and boy, you should’ve seen Till’s face lol. He looked so mad, internally. Also I was really happy to get to rewatch a clip from Hänsel und Gretel on the screen.

Frau & Mann

I have never seen a crowd go that hard to a song. Probably the loudest on the audience’s side. Was jumping a lot, Till came over a lot. Guess bobbing boobs really are an efficient Till-magnet. Actually, when the line “Kann dich nicht vergessen” (“Cannot forget you”) came on, Till pointed directly at us, like no fucking lie, we just froze. I know, I can’t be for sure, blah blah, but come on, just let me believe he pointed directly at us ok. There’s a video on youtube, where you see him pointing into the crowd at that line, that’s where we stood.

Knebel

Best choice they could’ve made regarding the placing of the song. Everyone was still hyped up from Frau & Mann, Knebel topped it. Starting out so calm and lovely, I really like the first half of the song. Beautiful lighting, they were so pretty in the blue light. Scream point hit, Lindemann hoaxed us into screaming MUND but made a break, Till shaking his head at us. Haha. Funny funny. Eh. I knew it was gonna happen, so it fell a bit flat for me personally, but okay I guess. Crowd went absolutely apeshit. So insane.

Home Sweet Home

Beautiful song, so heartfelt and a really good way to calm down after Frau & Mann and Knebel. Almost cried, ngl.

Cowboy

I. Fucking. Love. This. Song. Second time I looked at the screen and wow ngl, Till looked really good on the rodeo machine thing with his cowboy hat on lol. Also the song where Jonathan came over again and I made a heart with my hands and he smiled at me and :’)))

Golden Shower

Such a good song. My heart went big badum badum every time Peter shouted “Cunt” into the mic right in front of us, it felt like we were bonding just through shouting “Cunt” in unison lol. Also there was this part of them taking turns in raising their arms to the audience in time to the music, and I was laughing my ass off, because while Peter, Jonathan, and Sebastian all were perfectly in synch with the beat, Till always was a tad off and idk man, this shit was just so funny to me like c’mon Till, it’s not that hard.

Blut

Ah, yes. Like I said, we came prepared. We had our hoodies safely (and dryly) brought to the coatroom before the concert started so we were READY to get wet. The one thing I didn’t know though, the sprinkler system at the edge of the stage started right at the beginning of the song. I expected it to go off in like the middle of the song, or with the first chorus. So, sprinklers started, I saw the water coming. I thought “ah okay it’s just a little drizzle”, but boy, I was wrong. It felt like we were soaked after the second (and last) time we got sprayed. And actually? It was so nice. You know how concerts just make you all sweaty and drain your body from all water? I wouldn’t recommend trying to drink the water that was sprayed over us (it just had a weird smell to it, idk), but it was a welcome cooling, in that moment. Just imagine you feel like a little crop in the blazing sun, and then, finally, you get watered. Bye bye make up, but I just didn’t care lol. I don’t want to know what we looked like after that song. About the song itself; I didn’t mind the “interruption” at all, Blut is a decent song imo, but nothing more, so it didn’t bother me as much as the cake war during Allesfresser.

Platz Eins

Another top fav song for me. I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but Till and Peter climbing into that balloon thing and shuffling “out of reach” actually heightened my hype?? Like I could concentrate on really letting go during the song, screaming the lyrics out like there was no tomorrow. Also watching Jonathan and Sebastian’s little choreography was so entertaining. Jonathan being lifted up high also was something for the eye, at least for me :^) Also I remember the light show because it was gay. As in, so many vibrant rainbow colors. When Till and Peter returned to their starting point, Till climbed out, and Peter was holding his nose like Till just farted lol. The balloon started deflating and Peter mouthed an “OH NO” and when he climbed out, he made jazzy hands like “hell yeah guys I made it, I didn’t die in here”. Peter is a good man.

Praise Abort

Tbh, I don’t have many memories for this one. For me, one of Lindemann’s weaker songs, although it still slaps, don’t get me wrong. Just not one of my favorites. Only thing I remember is being happy about seeing the ballerinas from the mv on the screen in the background.

Fish On

Here we go again. After Praise Abort, I asked @haifisch-ohne-traenen if we wanted to change places, she looked at me like “You sure?” and I was like “Yeah, absolutely” – “You know which song comes next?” – “Oh. Nevermind lol”. I like Fish On, it’s my ringtone, but like with Allesfresser, the anticipation of the chances of getting hit by a fish kinda ruined the song for me. I couldn’t enjoy it as much. Also I was wondering why they needed so much time between Praise Abort and Fish On just to throw on this stupid raincoat. We successfully avoided all fish. A lot of them were thrown back on the stage by the audience, two of them hitting Till on the leg and arm, and one of them bowling down Till’s water bottles that stood in front of the drums. Also, when all fish were thrown, someone handed Till a last plate of fish pieces that he threw into the audience, but it slipped out of his hands and the plate went flying across the stage, shattering on a speaker and almost hitting the security guard that stood in front of us. I swear, that guard looked like he wanted to murder Till right at the spot lol (Also, this security guard was cute; he greeted us before the concert like “hi I’ll be your guardian for the next three hours”, he took pics of some people from the first row for them, and before the concert started, he got himself some gummy bears which he stuffed into his pocket to snack during the concert).

Ach So Gern

I was so mad about this?? But at the same time I was not?? So when they started Ach So Gern, they played the tango version and I was like !!! YES and I got all hyped up because I low-key hoped that, maybe, for valentine’s day, they’d switch the pain version for the tango version, but they didn’t. I guess if they HAD played the tango version though, I probably would’ve been mad I didn’t get to hear the pain version lol. The pain version definitely is more suited for a concert, I guess. And I still love it. Praise Peter. Seriously, he’s a god of music, just accept it.

Steh Auf

Incredible energy in the room when everyone’s screaming “Steh auf” on the top of their lungs. One of the most powerful songs live. Also Jonathan came over to us again and [insert heart eyes emoji].

Gummi

Okay, everyone slander me, but I really didn’t like this song as the finishing song. I don’t exactly love this song and I always skip it whenever I listen to F&M, so this was the only song I didn’t know the full lyrics to. It just doesn’t have either a specifically “deep” feeling to it, neither does it have the power I would expect from the last song of this kind of concert, if you get what I mean. For me, it was just missing this last, final BANG. Either that, or have a nice, calming song at the end, that will make people cry and think “fuck man, I don’t want this to end, but it’s been such a good concert”. Gummi just fell really flat for me as the final song. The happier I was when they put on an instrumental of Wer Weiß Das Schon, even if I was really hoping to see that one live and in full length, but you know, life isn’t a bowl of cherries. Also I certainly would have cried. Alas, I did almost cry when they took their bows and thanked us. Till’s voice was so soft and he sounded so sincerely humble and thankful. I don’t know whether it did have any impact on him or not, but he was born in this city, after all.

Till The End Teaser

So instead of showing the video of Till getting sucked off under the Rammstein stage (which I’m still not convinced is real, but that’s another story, I don’t want to delve into it) they put on the first like two minutes of Till The End. This is gonna sound super snobby and ungrateful, but I just turned away. Like I said, if I wanna watch porn, I’ll open pornhub. The two guys behind us, however, were standing there, eyes glued to the screen and their mouths were literally half open, no lie, it cracked me up so hard like really? Shit, it’s gotta be hard to be a person with a dick instead of a brain sometimes.

Bottom line.

Everything was worth it. The hours of waiting, the mediocre weather, driving to the venue by bike, the “fear” of getting hit by a cake or a fish. The concert was amazing, outstanding, mindblowing. I don’t want to compare it to my first row Rammstein experience, because they’re so vastly different bands, and I want to keep them separated. But man. This was probably the best valentine’s day of all time, by far.

#lindemann #lindemann live #text

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tcrmommabear · 4 years

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Merry Christmas Athens!

My good friend, @letterstoathens, you made my whole year requesting Role Reversal. Now I know it’s not the conventional kind, but honestly, I loved writing this.

And also Cat, who got a sneak peak, definitely made me confident with some of my lines. (I can be very funny once in a while!)

I hope you enjoy and let this give you a great start to your new year!

Perhaps now was a bad time.

After all, was it truly a good time to barge into a tiny town made of magic after a swarm of cats had come by and stolen away the orange tabby she’d saved earlier? Not really, no, absolutely not. Especially when two voices were arguing in the courtyard of said tiny town, and her brain was too deeply fried, because that was a cat and a crow swearing right now.

‘No good deed goes unpunished, huh,’ she thought glumly to herself. Steeling what few nerves she had after the events of the day, she puffed up her chest…

And promptly turned around to leave.

She would have too, if it hadn’t been for the devious works of air and clumsiness conspiring against her. She fell hard backwards, yelping when she met the cobblestone. The arguing stopped, and she found two sets of eyes staring at her like she’d gone and grown a third head.

Or maybe like a cat and crow look at a human girl in a tiny magic town.

She wasn’t really sure, her basic understanding was torn to shreds at the moment, so anything goes.

“H-Hello,” she grimaced through, shrinking in on herself the longer they stared.

“Muta,” the crow said slowly, “there’s a girl here.”

“I see that bird-brain!” the cat- Muta?- snapped back. He looked genuinely shocked, and maybe a little scared at the fact a human girl had fallen on her butt and landed before them.

“I’m sorry to have interrupted,” she spat out, gathering herself together and rushing to stand, “I can go, I’m so sorry-!”

“How did you get here?!” Muta barked (‘heehee, barked’) at her. He stomped out of the town, glancing back and forth between the alleyways next to her like neither should exist.

It was promptly at that moment that she realized they didn’t anymore.

“Wait, what?!” she yelped, running to a seamless wall, running her fingers over the brick. Real, there, trapping her. Okay. Panic? Panic.

“I guess that answers that question,” the bird mused, flying to land on the wall beside the magic town’s archway, looking her over once again.

“How does that answer any question, chicken pie, she’s here and we don’t know how!”

She rushed up to the bird, causing both animals to jump back with her hurried steps.

“How did you do that?! Can you fix it? Can you make it come back?!” she begged. The crow looked nervous, ruffling his feathers slightly.

“I didn’t do it. The Sanctuary- the town- did it. If it let you in, and it’s not letting you out, then it thinks you’re important in all of this,” he told her, wincing as she deflated.

“How did you find us, kid? Why are you even here?!”

She gulped, suddenly nervous. Not in the “trapped-in-tiny-magic-town-oh-god-help” way, but more like the nervous with a dash of guilt and a heaping amount of embarrassment. Right, the reason to why she was here.

“The tabby…” she mumbled, holding out her hand, “he dropped his hat after I rescued him.”

Stunned silence filled the town, and she shifted her weight in the hopes of burning off the anxious energy. Longer and longer they stared at her, until Muta threw back his head and roared with laughter. Haru jumped, taking a step back and stumbling again, but Toto gave a throaty “caw” and flapped in the air for a second.

“I wondered why he was so fussy about his clothes suddenly,” Muta explained, gripping his stomach, “no wonder the Sanctuary wants you here, you already rescued him once.”

She blushed, watching Muta approach with his mighty grin.

“Alright, kid,” he told her, “I’ll give you the lowdown real quick, but then we gotta get to planning how we get Baron out. Capiche?”

She nodded, not trusting her words. Though she really wanted to protest against being involved anymore than she was. You save a cat once, suddenly you’ve got to save it all the time.

The crow shook his head disapprovingly, buzzing Muta with a wing, “Muta, you idiot, we can’t just bring a stranger in. Besides, look at her, she’s scared enough as it is.”

“We ain’t got time for that, Toto,” Muta growled, shaking a fist at Toto, “it’s her or nothing.”

He turned towards Haru, nodding to himself.

“Alright chicky, here’s the deal- I’m Muta, a regular cat. That’s Toto, a bird-brain carved from stone. He’s called a “Creation”. Something about souls or another.”

Muta pointed as he spoke, first at himself then Toto, before adding in the air quotes for Creation. Toto began to interject, though what he wanted to say was lost as Muta spoke over him. He waved an arm back, gesturing at the tiny magic town that was the cause of all her troubles.

“This here,” he said, “is the Sanctuary. Dunno much, but it keeps us warm and dry and has angel food cake. We run something called “The Cat Bureau” where we solve problems like kidnapped human brides and trapped genies and stuff.”

Haru cautiously raised a hand, but Muta just lowered it with his paw.

“That’s the crash course. Baron runs this place, just got snagged by cats who probably saw him with the Prince you also saved earlier.”

“Prince?” she echoed back.

“No questions, we’ve got to stage a rescue. The cats saw me, and they definitely saw Toto when they broke in here and ruined the cake, but they haven’t seen you,” Muta grinned.

“Muta, you can’t seriously be considering sending her there!” Toto cawed indignantly, glancing between the two.

“Why not? Humans are normal there, they don’t know her, and the King’s an old perv anyways.”

“Alright, imagine the rest of that plan goes off perfectly, we’ve got two issues. One, how are we going to get her in there, and two, how are we getting them out?!”

Muta flapped a paw, and Haru had to giggle at the sight for a second. She really should be protesting so much more, but honestly, it sounded like she was in deep no matter what she did.

“Um, excuse me,” a soft voice called out.

The three jerked, and saw a pure white cat standing in the archway, looking at them all. She gripped at a faded ribbon tied in a bow around her neck, meek but determined.

“I’m looking for the Cat Bureau?”

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rkkyungsoo · 5 years

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‹ ace of hearts. ›

MGA5EP07 Performance Solo: All Night (0:30 - 4:21) & LUV (0:00 - 3:58)

With: @rksuwoong, @rkheejin, @ericxrk & coaches @rkella, @rkcheri & @rkwon

Honorary mention: @hyojinrk

Finale.

This was the final stretch and they were crowned the victors of the semi-finals. Joy flooded his chest as he turned towards Suwoong first, his smile so bright that it almost looked out of place on his usually stoic features. He hugged Hyojin - it was a slightly awkward hug because Kyungsoo was still learning how to embrace properly. For one glorious moment, the entire Royal team was perfectly content, basking in their victory, nearly forgetting that they too, must lose someone even though they were the winners.

When Hyojin’s name was called, Kyungsoo’s face visibly fell. Their arms dropped from each other, slowly. Hyojin was trying to not let his disappointment show, but Kyungsoo knew how much it must have hurt. He wanted to say something, but in the end got tongue tied and instead, held silence. Some of the others swept Hyojin away to comfort him, leaving Kyungsoo alone to think about...everything.

They were so close, just one step away from that grand finish line. This was what everyone was chasing after since day one - the thing that they shed endless sweat and potentially tears over. So now that Kyungsoo was actually close, why did he suddenly feel...scared?

Hyojin’s phone number was saved as the seventh friendly contact in his cell as they waved each other goodbye. Kyungsoo had so much on his mind that he barely heard Suwoong’s enthusiastic chatter on their way home. They needed not one song but two for the next week. This also meant two sets of choreo and different ambience for each. They had to select the songs, learn how to sing them, how to dance to them, what they wanted for stage setting and decide the outfits they’ll wear. This task alone would be difficult to accomplish and the Royal team had an additional challenge - they had to defend their crown. Their performances this week would surely be compared to Shangri-La and their only choice was to raise the bars.

There was no way Kyungsoo would want people to accuse his team of resting on their laurels.

Friday came and the coaches greeted them with enthusiasm. Coach Cheri brought them a delicious looking ice cream to celebrate their win. Kyungsoo walked forward absently to claim his portion, his mind still full of song choices when Cheri seemingly stumbled and dropped the cake. He stared, arms still outstretched as if he wanted to help save the cake even though he knew it would not be possible. The other contestants reacted similarly and that made the coaches burst out laughing. They produced the real cake and this one the contestants happily devoured as they discussed song choices. Hyojin, of course, was facetimed and Kyungsoo shook his head at Suwoong as his cousin attempted to feed the cake to their lost teammate through the screen.

One thing was for sure, the coaches got them good with that prank and this meant war.

...But it was a war they’d have to fight later because there were more pressing matters at hand.

Realistically speaking, there was no way they could choose two songs with difficult choreo and expect to be able to learn them in a week. All Night was chosen for their Royal themed song and Luv by She’z was selected by their Sphere theme. It was a difficult decision for the Sphere song and initially they put forward Please Don’t be Sad and Humph since they were both charismatic and had lovely vocals. One of the coaches pitched the idea of doing a girl group song, which Heejin latched onto since she haven’t gotten a chance to truly show off her feminine charms.

Suwoong and Kyungsoo looked at each other, both being terrible with girl groups they were of little help for the song selection. Thankfully, Coach Cheri reminded them of the girl group She’z, which was under Sphere. After going through their songs, the group opted for the very adorable LUV. The song had a simple choreo but good singing parts and lots of opportunity to show off their charisma.

Yeah, it was not Kyungsoo’s song at all because he wasn’t cute. Other people kept on telling him otherwise but Kyungsoo knew himself best, okay?

Anyway, he didn’t have a lot of time to have an internal debate about whether or not he had any aegyo to give because it was time to start working on their first song. Coach Ella, after watching the All Night dance, told them it was a song that required core muscles for getting off the floor without using hands and strong glutes for doing that open legged squat. As the result, working out became part of their routine. To make sure they were able to do the sexy squat during the chorus, the four Royal team contestants lined up against the wall and squatted. At some point, Coach Cheri even suggested they should practice harmonization while doing the squats. It must be a funny sight, Kyungsoo thought, to see four people exercising and sweating like pigs while singing so prettily.

The squats pretty much became part of their life that week and they found themselves squatting while eating, talking and even arguing. He didn’t have much conflict with Suwoong this week - it was as if they got it all out of their system already. Since it was the same people in the room, Kyungsoo was visibly chattier and more friendly this week compared to the last.

On Saturday, Kyungsoo presented the Royal team with handmade knee pads, courtesy of Mama Do. They had a dance move in All Night where they have to spin around on their knees, that part, while beautiful, can be pretty hard on their joints. After just trying the move out on Friday, Kyungsoo already knew they had to find some sort of protective measure or risk having bruises all over. If they wanted to stay on this career path, they’ll need their legs after Saturday. So, Mama Do decided to step in and help. The pads, lightweight and soft, were perfect to cushion their knees without hindering their movement. Everyone seemed appreciative and Kyungsoo texted his mom to let her know, she was overjoyed of course. Later, Suwoong the extra king sent her a whole video about how much he loved her and how she was the best person in the world. Mama Do nearly cried and Kyungsoo gave Suwoong the side eye the entire time.

On that same Saturday morning, the Royal contestants initiated their first prank retaliation against their coaches. Kyungsoo and Suwoong, since they were the first to arrive, conspired to jump scare the coaches. Kyungsoo was not in agreement at first because...this was so frigging childish. Still, when they heard footsteps coming and Suwoong stage whispered too loudly for him to hide, he did as requested. It was only Heejin, however, and the girl clearly heard Suwoong’s voice because she was well prepared for a scare. Tugging her behind the door with the two of them, they waited for their next victim, who turned out to be poor Eric. With Eric joining the line up (after a loud shriek), finally, they were able to give the Luxe girls the scare of the century when they arrived.

Kyungsoo was amused, until he realized that they actually scared the idols with Cheri actually shouting out GET AWAY, DEMON and Ella looking like she was ready to pass out. Feeling slightly guilty for having accepted this ridiculous prank idea, Kyungsoo walked over to Ella’s side and rubbed her back soothingly, only to get lightly punched on the arm by the woman. He gave her a sheepish look of apology, which turned into a soft smile when he realized he was forgiven.

They spent the rest of the day practising All Night choreo and went through LUV a few times too just to see where they can spice things up. By the time Sunday arrived, all of the contestants were able to gracefully rise from the ground handsfree. Their squat was looking fine, but Kyungsoo had a feeling they might need to start resting those muscles in between too - can’t walk up the stage sore, can they?

On Sunday, Kyungsoo sneaked out during lunch time for his own project. To make himself more comfortable with the crowd, he decided to do a quick street performance at a nearby park. Unfortunately, he did not notice little Eric was tailing him until it was too late. To make matters worse, Heejin and Suwoong who volunteered to go get the outfits this week, ended up catching the tail end of his performance too. Kyungsoo felt so flustered that he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself, but there was still much of the day left and his embarrassment streak had only begun.

“It’s a gift! You can’t refuse my gift!!” Suwoong waved the pastel yellow top in front of Kyungsoo’s face insistently. Since Sphere’s colour was yellow, they’d agreed to pick an outfit for LUV based on that. Kyungsoo knew he was going to be in something cutesy, but he didn’t expect Suwoong’s attempt in making him into a lemon icing cupcake.

“Uh-uh.” Kyungsoo shook his head as he took a step back from the top, as if somehow it was contaminated and even being in its proximity was dangerous. The top itself was yellow with long, white neck tie. Suwoong had purchased him a matching yellow hat (which reminded Kyungsoo unpleasantly of the hats Japanese elementary school kids wear) and sneakers too, for ‘added cuteness’.

“I am going to look like fucking pikachu,” he wanted to say, but managed to say the sentence without the swear word because he remembered the camera was watching. When Suwoong refused to back down and pressed the shirt closer to his body, Kyungsoo turned around and ran. That was a mistake because what did annoying older cousins do when they see the object of their endless desire to irritate run? They chase, that’s right. Suwoong ended up chasing Kyungsoo around the practice room before tackling him to the ground just outside of the practice room. Distant noises of protest can be heard and someone - probably Heejin - slowly shut the door behind the cousins for the sake of protecting the audience. Fifteen minutes later, Suwoong was the first to return to the studio. He was beaming and the reason was obvious as a very disgruntled Kyungsoo trailed in behind him, in that overly adorable outfit.

He wanted to die.

Monday started out early, much more so than the great su-ritto wanted. Since their argument last week, Kyungsoo had eased up in the mornings and started picking up Suwoong at 7 am instead of 5. Monday morning, however, he appeared at 5 again. While packing the blanket burrito into the back of his car, he explained to Suwoong that it was because he had to leave a bit earlier that night. He had dinner plans with Hyo and the two of them ate over at his place. Hyojin set up everything needed for a delicious bbq dinner and the two of them did a short vlog together singing JJ project. It was a spontaneous vlog that literally involved a laptop balanced precariously on a large salad bowl. Hyojin whipped out his guitar and Kyungsoo sang while carefully cooking the meat to perfection. The two of them took turns singing and eating. Kyungsoo made sure Hyo had lettuce wraps rolled to the shape for optimal human consumption every time he was ready to take a bite.

Their ex-teammate gave him a bag of snacks to bring in on Tuesday morning, including little sticky notes of encouragement for all of them. Kyungsoo laid the snacks out to the side of the practice room, so they could help themselves when they needed an energy boost. This week was less stressful mentally but physically, Kyungsoo was really feeling it. His abs (hidden under a thin (?) layer of fat) hurt and his ass was sore from all the squats. Almost every night, he passed out without listening to an audio book as he had to in the past. There were no dreams, only blissful oblivion.

On Wednesday, a second prank idea was proposed, this one intending not to scare the coaches but to lighten up the mood after these long days of practice. Eric initially protested when he heard there was a second prank coming but after hearing the idea, the other agreed. So, when the coaches showed up for Wednesday, they were greeted by the announcement of a song change idea. Kyungsoo and Heejin stood in the centre of the room and sang, with very serious expression, the soulful melody of the infamous PPAP. Then, Eric and Suwoong joined them and started dancing enthusiastically. Half way through they all started laughing because it was difficult to keep a straight face. The coaches smiled too, Kyungsoo saw them, just before Coach Ella (who was still pretending to be unamused) demanded for them to get back to practice.

On Thursday they were pulled in for a surprise interview and on Friday, the fun atmosphere they worked carefully to build over the week was all but vanished. Everyone seemed quieter, more thoughtful because they knew the performance day was tomorrow. This was going to change their lives, one way or another. Last minute tips were shared, such as how to find the recording cameras and look at them properly. Coach Won had a lot of thoughts on that, having been taught by someone himself and was excited to share. Eric insisted on a group hug after the final practice before bursting into tears because he never expected to make it this far and was so happy to have been chosen to represent Royal. Kyungsoo petted the teenager’s head soothingly, the same way he did to his cat when it was in a fussy mood. “Don’t cry ah,” he chided quietly, cutting in with his cool voice before other people could join in on the waterworks. It was a thing, you see, to start crying once you see someone else doing it.

“Seriously, we are going to perform in front of 3000 people tomorrow, not getting beheaded in front of them. I never understood the tears of joy thing so come on, give me a smile.” He grabbed hold of Eric’s face and squished their youngest teammate’s cheeks until the other whined for him to stop.

And then it was Saturday. The stage was larger, prettier and had better lighting than ever. Kyungsoo sat between Suwoong and Eric, poker face neatly disguising the nervousness he felt with each passing performance. Everyone did quite well, he thought, and came such a long way. He clapped and cheered earnestly for each of them, though he did think some of them were a little too ambitious with their song selections. The Royal team only picked two songs and did not do any sort of mash up, but Kyungsoo still thought they had a decent chance at victory. Flashiness, you see, didn’t always mean better. Often times, it could mean messier.

“Hello everyone, we are Royal Flush!” They declared and introduced themselves according to their card. Kyungsoo was the ace of hearts, Suwoong was the king of hearts, Heejin was their queen of hearts and their baby Eric was the jack. Why hearts? The audience will have to wait and see because that was a hint to their second song.

The stage was beautifully decorated with potted plants sprinkled with iridescent powder. Fresh flower arrangements hung from the ceiling, accompanied by realistic looking tree vines and a sweet floral scent. The screens at the side of the stage were inky blue, some displaying trees and plants as well to complete the picture they were attempting to paint - that enchanting garden, made mysterious by the night and over seen only by the stars and the moon...until you found it.

Blue light gave the stage a calming vibe as music played. One by one, the contestants of Royal laid down, their features softened by the clever angle of the lighting and appearing absolutely angelic in their outfits of white. Suwoong rose as the others fell, his arm graceful as it moved through the air. The music gave them their cue and the light dip of Suwoong’s hand was part of the prompt. The contestants propped themselves into a sitting position with their backs towards the audience.

Kyungsoo was the first to show his face as he spun around onto his knees, opening the song soft and dreamy.

왜 또 쳐다봐 cellular phone 결코 신경 안 쓰는 척 이런 나 참 우스워 너의 전활 기다리는 밤

As he rose and walked towards the right side of the stage, the other contestants stood up one by one as if they’ve been awakened, using that hands free movement they worked their core muscles so hard to achieve. Suwoong took the centre of the stage after him, followed by Heejin. Kyungsoo had the last line before chorus, which he smoothly delivered, glad that they had decided to cut out the jump spin to make things easier for the vocalists.

I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait

Heejin opened the chorus and Suwoong followed behind. Kyungsoo wheeled himself into the centre and dropped on one knee, waiting for his part.

졸린 듯이 나른나른 나른하게 스며 살짝 야릇야릇 야릇하게

He was first centre to do the squat that they’ve been practising all week. It wasn’t the easiest movement in the world considering they had to drop it quite low and get right back up. The key was to look classy and smooth giving that move, even though they were spreading their legs and letting their hand sweep across their crotch region almost immediately after. It was all about the hint with these sort of performances, a vague promise that will keep the audience watching and wanting. Kyungsoo brushed his thumb across his lips before dropping back down to let Suwoong who was behind him sing the next set of lines.

Eric came in with the rap, making small gestures with his hands to show they were attentive to the details. The rap started out slow and built up to a faster rate before Heejin returned to take centre stage with her powerful voice. Suwoong followed her before it was Kyungsoo’s line again.

졸린 듯이 나른나른 나른하게 스며 살짝 야릇야릇 야릇하게 눈 감으면 그려지는 니 모습이 좋아 지금

Their next rap part was shorter, but very charming. The rest of them were on the ground, scooting back as Eric shuffled forward, their movements synchronized just as they had been in Shangri-La, moving as one.

Heejin stood, giving her beautiful high note before she is abruptly pulled into Suwoong’s arms, who, with a rather seductive look, whispered such a good night. Suwoong fangirls, how are we doing?

Kyungsoo’s part came immediately after. He dropped to his knees as he sang, smile unfaltering as he shrugged his jacket off of his left shoulder as if by accident. In the original choreography, the dancer pulled down the jacket with his hand, but Kyungsoo thought it would be more enticing if he made it look like an accident even though everyone should know it wasn’t. He asked Coach Ella to help him practice this move and trust me, even something as simple as shrugging off a jacket took a lot of effort. So Kyungsoo fans, you better be happy because oppa’s really trying here.

내 온 맘이 두근두근 두근 하게 해 놓고 넌 새근새근 새근 하게

Suwoong sang the next part with Heejin’s voice in the background.

Then, all four of them jumped as they sang one last time! White and iridescent confetti shot into the sky, fluttering over them like flower petals.

어서 내게 전화해

Kyungsoo swept his thumb across his lips again, letting confetti flakes fall and linger in between his dark strands of hair.

Let's call in, let's call in Let's call in, let's call in

Suwoong was singing call me all night in the background throughout Kyungsoo’s part and Heejin brought the song to a close. Kyungsoo laid down on the ground for their final pose, his elbow propped and his hand under his chin. Suwoong and Eric sat back-to-back against each other while Heejin was left standing. As the last of the confetti flakes fell to the ground, their first performance of the night ended. It was not yet time for a round of celebratory pats on the back, for they had another battle incoming.

After another round of performances, this time with their second concept, it was once again, team Royal’s turn. When they appeared once again on the stage, they were unrecognizable. Having traded in their princely (or in Heejin’s case, queenly) white attire for pastel cuteness, Kyungsoo thought he actually heard a few cheers of pleasant surprise in the audience. They chose yellow because Sphere’s company colour was that. According to their coaches, Sphere favoured either the energetic/peppy or the youthful/shy vibe and they ended up picking the latter.

“Hello, Royal Flush back again to bring you our second performance.” And then Suwoong did a mini speech on how the song was supposed to represent their love for the audience. The song, LUV, was also why they chose to introduce themselves as the Royal Flush of the suit Hearts earlier because...yeah, you get it. Love, hearts, they go hand-in-hand.

Realistically speaking, there was no way they could learn two challenging choreos in the span of a week. Just because they had to choose something easier dance wise, however, didn’t mean they couldn’t still make it good. This was a lighthearted song to end the night of performances, aimed to bring up the nostalgia factor and make everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The stage dimmed and individual spotlights illuminated their forms as they posed along to the music. The stage brightened and yellow light paused according to the beat as they walked into the centre of the stage, positioning themselves for the beginning of their song.

The song was opened by Heejin, who looked really cute in her yellow skirt and white tennis shoes. Kyungsoo had the line after her:

이제는 가끔 생각나는 그때 L.O.V.E LUV 시간을 되돌릴 수는 없나요

At first he was worried about having to act over the top cute. A closer look at the original dance by She’z revealed, however, that none of them had those exaggerated fake expressions he was expecting. So for this performance, he just thought about things that made him happy. Remember the...you know, two and a half people that he ever loved and all that. If anything, he played into his awkward shy nature a little, trying to be the cute guy everyone kept on telling him he was.

The L.O.V.E part had a very easy but memorable hand movement part, which they fully intended to use later in the performance.

Eric got to sing for this song and the audience, used to Royal team’s little rapper, was in for a treat. Heejin supported Eric with her vocals in the background before handing the next set of lines to Suwoong.

너와 나 두렵지가 않던 그 시간 서로 손을 잡을 때면 Yeah

Ay, this song. Too damn cute. When was the last time Kyungsoo actually tried to hold someone’s hands? Probably never. If one of his exes asked him to recall the most wonderful moments during their relationship, he’d probably end up spewing some nsfw content that would not help the situation.

They were in the chorus again and the same iconic dance was repeated, Kyungsoo searched for the camera using tips coach Won provided before and put on his...erm, cutesy expression.

이제는 가끔 생각나는 그때 L.O.V.E LUV 시간을 되돌릴 수는 없나요

The last time they rolled into the chorus, they did something special. “Do it with us!” They shouted in unison as they danced. This part they actually had to practice because they wanted to sound uniform, not scattered.

이제는 가끔 생각나는 그때 L.O.V.E LUV 시간을 되돌릴 수는 없나요

By this point, even if the audience didn’t know the song from their past, they’ve hopefully been shown it enough times to copy the movement. Kyungsoo turned his eyes towards the ceos as if encouraging them to do it. Come on, his stare intensified on So Jiseob’s face. He knew the man was stoic and all but we are your team, give us some support. Next hopeful look went to Baek Jiyoung because this was a Sphere song so surely she knew it well. This would be a great opportunity to celebrate her senior artists but would she do it?

Whether or not the CEOs actually raised their arms in the end, Kyungsoo didn’t know because he was back to following the choreo and ending their song. All four of the contestants sang the last line together before striking their ending pose, which was forming a heart between the four of them. Suwoong and Kyungsoo were on the ground while Heejin and Eric remained standing because they were the shorter duo. They smiled, arms outstretched, giving the audience the big heart as a sign of their love, just as mentioned earlier.

Now it was truly over. Kyungsoo looked at the stage one last time as everyone was summoned back for the results. He wondered if he’ll ever get to perform like this again. The MGAs, while stressful at times, certainly gave him an experience that he would never forget.

#wc; 4280 #rkmga5 #rkmga5finale #last episode baby thanks for supporting ksoo's mga journey muah #click time for distribution

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teaandgames · 6 years

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A Hat in Time Review (2017)

A Hat in Time is making me feel old. That’s not a criticism of the game. Rather, I’ve always sat comfortably in a belief I fostered as a teenager. That children are irritating noise-boxes that exist only to drill into the anger centre of the brain. Yet as I watched the protagonist of A Hat in Time scamper about with a silly grin on her face, I knew then that if I ever have a daughter, I’m getting her a top hat. It’s absolutely adorable. But aside from making me question my own beliefs, A Hat in Time has proven itself to be a great game in many other ways.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve played a game that feels this nice to control. That’s bypassing all the different gameplay elements and what have you. It just feels good to run around and jump. That’s a difficult thing to really convey in words, which is why I stuck in this little intro blurb, but it’s true. A Hat in Time is good, silly fun which forms the core of a nicely detailed world. In fact, as I bounced through its handful of acts, my only real complaint was that it’s too short. And if that’s the only problem with your game, then you’ve got yourself a damn good game.

Now, when you first look on A Hat in Time, you might be tempted to mark it a ‘Collectathon’. It certainly has a lot of the hallmarks. Main collectibles dotted around in hard to reach locations and a host of smaller ones dotted around in easier places. Worlds with an emphasis on exploring. You could also technically say that the hat is a secondary main character if you really want to stretch things. A Hat in Time is not a collectathon, however. In the traditional, Banjo-Kazooie sense at least. In fact, it shares more in common with Super Mario 64 than anything else. It has the same mission based structure. Except instead of stars, we’re collecting shiny hourglasses with the power to rewind time. Which is kind of cooler.

The plot, which is appropriately thin for the genre, follows Hat Kid as she gets out of bed and charts her progress through space. She’s on a spaceship, heading home. Unfortunately she then ventures into a sector of space that’s controlled by the Mafia of Cooks. They come to collect a toll and decide that the best way of doing this is to bust the window of her ship. Explosive decompression pokes its head in and sucks Hat Kid, the mafia goon, and all of Hat Kid’s fuel (which means the hourglasses) out of the window, scattering them on to the planet below. Once down on the planet, she bumps into Mustache Girl, who looks exactly as you’d expect.

They form a friendship and then a bitter rivalry but then the plot kind of gets lost in the background. Probably for the best, as the important bits here are those shiny hourglasses. We land in Mafia Town first, where a goon has gotten his hands on one. In order to get it back, Hat Kid must jump, slide, bounce and… hit things with an umbrella. Mafia Town is a pretty nice place to do this in too. It’s bright, colourful and full of A Hat in Time’s signature weird humour. The Mafia of Cooks, for example, look like how they sound - bald men in blue suits with chef aprons. They put up strange posters of themselves, while occasionally riding on giant chunks of meat. And hitting old men. Nice place.

In fact, all of the worlds in A Hat in Time are pretty unique. The second world has you, at one point, starring in a mystery thriller set aboard a train. An owl has been murdered and you must find the culprit with your amazing platforming skills. It threw me for a complete loop in the best possible way. The level after, my favourite level by a hair, has you traversing a spooky forest at the behest of an evil spirit with a love for contractual obligations. It was hilarious and, while spooky forests are by no means original, it threw in a few twists and turns that kept things fun. Like fighting a possessed outhouse.

The last world takes the training shoes off and gives you a big vertical playground to have fun in, which is where the gameplay is put through its paces. As a rule, the gameplay keeps things incredibly simple. There is little more than I said earlier: you jump and you punch. Occasionally, you might swing on something. How you get around in a 3D platformer is only part of the puzzle, however. The biggest bugbear in these games is always going to be the camera. We saw that in Yooka-Laylee last year, for example. An uncooperative camera can kill the experience. Thankfully, the bugbear in A Hat in Time is more of a bugcub. The only times it had trouble was when I was rubbing against the walls. At most other times, it feels perfectly free and unrestrained. It never snapped into place or took control away from me. That’s the true bugbear of other games.

It’s just as well, because A Hat in Time loves its boss battles. The aforementioned Outhouse, for example. In order to hurt it, you have to repeatedly swing into it, while also avoiding it when it tries to slam down on you. A sturdy camera and decent controls are required to make these boss fights fun and A Hat in Time pulls it off. The final bossfight, against Mustache Girl, is wonderful too. Challenging, but not overly so, and brings back lots of elements from previous levels. Good job. In fact, the only times I fell out with the gameplay are when it flouted an odd love for stealth. As a fundamentally unstealthy person, it didn’t suit me. The second world is the worst offender, with cameras stationed everywhere that are an instant hit and reset. It strikes me as an odd choice in a game about running and jumping.

But that’s just an odd note in an otherwise perfect tune. A Hat in Time has certainly slotted in as one of the favourite games I’ve played this year. A damn shame then, that it was over so quickly. There are only forty of these Timepieces and they aren’t that difficult to scoop up. I gathered all forty, had a good time doing so as well, but it ended far too soon. My playtime makes me a little sad, to be honest with you. There are only four worlds here too, a rather smaller number than I was hoping for. But then again, I think A Hat in Time is the epitome of quality over quantity.

I appreciate that. I would rather have one perfect cupcake than a bland, tasteless wedding cake. A Hat in Time is pretty damn perfect, bar a few missteps here and there. It’s charming, bright, colourful and it plastered a giant smile on my face throughout. After a few months of playing fairly serious games (and Paper Mario) it was definitely a welcome change. Hat Kid is bloody adorable, as is her game, and I would recommend it to anybody who wants some happy, silly fun. Pros -Bright, colourful graphics -Basic controls are great and responsive -Camera actually helpful! -Funny as heck -Great world design -Gosh darned adorable Cons -Too short for my liking -A few unwelcome stealth sections A Hat in Time Developer: Gears For Breakfast Publisher: Humble Bundle Play it on: Windows, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch Played on: Windows

#A Hat in Time #yooka-layle #Super Mario 64 #gaming #Video Games #Review #Gears for Breakfast #humble bundle #Collectathon #Platformer #2017 #Tea And Video games

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skysplinter · 7 years

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Draft: Kitchen Sink Drama

Vola rolled over onto her back, as though looking at the television from a different angle would somehow improve the dreck she was watching. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t.

‘Ugh,’ she mumbled to herself. ‘Can’t take much more of this.’

She was watching the annual cheese-rolling championship, or whatever it was supposed to be called. Some human thing, she supposed. Ever since the little nub-ears had started taking notice of their new visitors, they seemed to have gone out of their way to flood their media with “quirky human traditions” in order to educate their “newfound friends”.

Honestly, Vola hadn’t really taken much from it. She was becoming more and more aware that the humans around here were petty, passive-aggressive little bitches who liked pushing their culture onto everyone else they came across, but other than that, it wasn’t as though she was learning anything from her experience. Except that apparently chucking a hunk of brie down a grassy embankment was something these nerds enjoyed doing in their downtime.

Vola stared slack-jawed at the screen as her eyes glazed over, her brain cells almost leaking out of her ears as she watched a bearded guy in a stupid looking hat pluck a round of cheese out of a cowpat.

‘Seriously,’ she told herself. ‘I can’t take this any more.’

Her senses seemed to dull as the whole experience washed over her. At least a quarter of an hour passed without her even moving, until eventually her hands and feet started to get itchy. There was only so much not being able to take this any more that she could take, and she had just about reached her limits.

Vola sat up on the bed, stretched, and clumsily found the remote. Finally freeing herself from the mindless human “entertainment” with the click of a button, she resigned herself to the fact that she would probably benefit from getting dressed and finding a better way to amuse herself than to sit in front of the TV until the sun went down.

She chucked on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt she’d left on the floor that didn’t smell too bad, and headed out of her room to get herself some breakfast - or lunch, whichever one she felt like.

She found Cade busying himself in the kitchen. It wasn’t a shock to find him awake, but she was a little taken aback that he was still at their apartment during the daylight hours. Honestly, sometimes she got the feeling the guy never slept, let alone sit still for longer than five minutes at a time. He was always moving around, doing things and going places and meeting people and telling Vola, with the kind of ungodly energy he always seemed to have, that he only wished he could be in two places at once.

Groggily, Vola wondered if all halflings were like this, or if she’d simply drawn the short straw in getting a roommate.

‘Oh,’ said Cade from behind a mixing bowl easily the same size as him. He winked at her as he cracked an egg into whatever he was mixing together, and shot her a huge, cartoony grin that filled his entire face. ‘I was wondering if you ever got up before midday, you old slugabed. Just kidding, just kidding! Did you have a good night’s rest? Tried out those meditation tapes I loaned you yet?’

Vola tried to smile back, but her facial muscles were exhausted out of sheer pity for Cade’s overworked little mush. He had a habit of making her feel tired simply by how much effort he was putting into living. She had half a mind to go back to bed after watching him for only a few seconds.

‘Um,’ she eventually managed, any attempt to respond to his questions lost in the scramble to keep up with his relentless optimism. ‘Do you know if we’ve got any cereal?’

Cade’s great big smile fell flat. ‘It’s nearly eleven, Vol,’ he said. ‘I think you might have missed the boat if you wanted to have breakfast.’

‘Who said anything about breakfast? Cereal’s an anytime food,’ Vola shrugged. She lumbered over to the cupboards and started opening them at random. ‘So, do you know if we’ve got cereal? I’m in a Cheerios kinda mood, but I’ll take anything if we got it.’

She could almost feel him rolling his eyes at her. ‘I hope you’re at least going to put it in a bowl this time,’ he muttered. ‘I mean, far be it from me to tell you how to live your life or tell you how to eat your meals - and yes, I’m quite aware that eating cereal straight out of the box saves on washing up - but honestly, did you really have to pour milk in there too…?’

It was at about this time in pretty much every conversation she’d ever had with Cade that she just started tuning out his little nasal rants. This morning was no exception to the rule. She only wished he had been more helpful in her quest for Cheerios before the inevitable had to happen.

A few minutes later, once she had found something to eat, and once Cade’s high-pitched mothering had faded away and had instead been replaced with the occasional hummed chorus of a song which sounded a little bit like “Walking on Sunshine” by one of those chirpy pop bands he liked so much, Vola decided that it was okay to start talking to the little nerd again. She pulled up a stool next to Cade as he poured sugar into his mixing bowl. ‘So,’ she said, shoving a handful of Chex into her mouth, ‘What’re you up to anyway? You never said.’

‘Ah,’ he said, back to his usual cheery self. ‘Well, you see, I’m trying my hand at baking! It’s something my mother was always insistent I give a try, but unfortunately I never really kept it up after leaving home. I just thought I’d, you know, have a bash at it again.’

‘Huh. That’s… cool.’ Vola looked into the bowl, then at the large book at the halfling’s side. She presumed that it was a recipe book, but it was written in that funny rounded human script she hadn’t bothered to learn how to read yet. ‘Can I have some when you’re done making it?’

Cade made that long, theatrical noise with his nostrils that he did whenever he really wanted to say no but couldn’t think of a polite way to put it. ‘It, erm… It’s… Well, technically it’s intended for someone else, but I suppose you can have a little bit. Perhaps. If you behave. I mean, you can start by putting that cereal in a bowl like I asked…’

She beamed at him, turned the box upside down and shook a fine dust of Chex crumbs all over the floor. ‘Too late,’ she snorted.

‘I still don’t know how you can eat that much so quickly.’ He shook his head in disbelief, his little nose wrinkling as he tried to distract himself by stirring his mixture with a wooden spoon easily as thick and as long as his arm. ‘Perhaps it’s not safe to let you have any of this cake; no doubt you’ll scoff the whole lot before I’ve even had chance to pry it out of its baking tin.’

‘Hey! I resent that! And anyway, it only looks like I’m eating a lot because - number one, you’re about the size of a tin of peaches and eat like a bird on a crash diet, so naturally anything I’m eating is going to look huge in comparison,’ she said, ‘and number two, humans have no idea how to package food in orc-sized portions. Seriously, you tiny people are all alike: halflings, humans, elves… maybe not dwarves, they know their way around a healthy-sized meal…’

Vola looked up, noticing that Cade had stopped stirring the mixture. He was looking a little pale.

‘Um. You okay there, bud?’ She prodded him gently in the arm.

He shook himself, as though he was awakening from a particularly worrying daydream. ‘What? Oh, yes. Fine, perfectly fine. I just need more flour. And, erm, butter. And probably eggs too. And probably - oh, rats.’

‘Rats?’ Vola scratched her head. ‘I didn’t know you could make rat cake.’

‘Oh please, don’t be facetious, Vol,’ Cade huffed. He hopped down from his seat and paced around in a little circle. ‘I’m really not in the mood. I’m going to have to go out and get more ingredients, aren’t I? Oh no, I really haven’t thought this through. Damn, damn…’ He slapped his leg as though it was briefly on fire before, in his characteristic whirlwind of energy, he jabbed a finger in the air. ‘That’s it,’ he decided. ‘I’m going out. I’ll get double the ingredients, come back, wash out the bowl, start the recipe again - and by Yondalla’s braid! I’ll probably be too late to catch him. I’ve ruined the whole day, haven’t I? Vola, what am I going to do? Everything’s ruined, isn’t it? What am I to do?!’

Living with Cade these past few weeks had been an adventure. For someone who barely reached her kneecap, the little guy seemed to be filled to overflowing with more emotional twists and turns than a Rubik’s cube with a bad sense of direction. He’d just gone from being uproariously ecstatic to the deepest, wailing depths of inconsolable despair in a few minutes, and here she was still trying to pretend that she knew what facetious meant.

‘Um,’ she said. ‘Do you want me to… help? At all? I mean, I could just go and… I dunno, buy you some more stuff to make your cake with or something?’

Cade’s whole face lit up, his misery melting away in seconds. ‘Right, I’ll need another bag of all-purpose flour, some unsalted butter, another carton of eggs… and maybe another bag of sugar, just to be on the safe side. White, granulated,’ he clarified, as though she didn’t know what sugar was. ‘I’ve got enough of the other ingredients. Thank you, Vol, you’re a peach!’

‘Yeah, I guess I’m not too bad,’ Vola grinned. At least running errands was better than watching some dudes throwing cheese down a hill all day.

#writing #fiction #my ocs #orcs #halflings #oc: vola #oc: cade

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