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renegadewangs · 3 years

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Van Zieks - the Examination, part 2

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I'm outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I've missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I'm using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what's said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn't matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

It’s time to take a close look at Episode 3, The Runaway Room!

Episode 3: The Runaway Room.

We're skipping the first two cases, as they have no relevance to Barok van Zieks, and starting off here.

So Ryu is tossed into the deep. The Lord Chief Justice tells him that he’s basically the defendant’s only hope; if he doesn’t at least try to fight in court, McGilded will lose the trial and die for sure. (HAH… Good one, Stronghart.) So Ryu falls for this would-be motivational speech and heads for the courthouse where he finds out why McGilded doesn’t have a defense attorney to begin with; it’s because of the prosecution. No one dares to go up against Lord Barok van Zieks, also known as the Reaper of the Old Bailey, because all who he prosecutes are damned. This should sound familiar to anyone who’s played an Ace Attorney game before. ‘The prosecution has never been defeated before’ is the implication, which would initially lead us to believe Van Zieks is another one of those prodigies. Sure enough, Susato points out he must be very talented, to which McGilded replies that Van Zieks is not talented, rather, he’s cursed. This sets the mood even further. With words like “Reaper” and “curse” being tossed around, we’re sooner reminded of a prosecutor like Simon Blackquill, who was a convicted murderer wielding psychological manipulation techniques. Either way, with the grim atmosphere set, Ryu is ushered into the courtroom before he can ask any more questions.

As a sidenote, McGilded really scored some negative points with this remark:

Feels a bit softened compared to how fan translations tackled that line, but a nasty jab all the same.

So anyway, entering the courtroom we get our first look at Van Zieks and if the foreshadowing in the Defendant Antechamber wasn’t already bad enough, he honors his eerie reputation.

So far, he’s meeting the requirements then. He’s intimidating and as a wealthy white man, he’s perfectly juxtaposed to Ryu, the rookie from another country. Meanwhile, the first micro-aggression of this trial is actually uttered by the judge:

Which also makes narrative sense. Ryu’s more practical goal isn’t to win the prosecution’s trust. Heck, he could get through any trial just fine with Van Zieks’s dislike. No, what he needs is to win over the judge and the members of the jury. For them to also hold prejudice but put that aside in order to side with the truth is another important end-game here. So let’s continue. Van Zieks also has something to say here:

Initially, the remark about Ryu’s eyes might read as a typical racist jab towards someone from the East, but he is in fact referring to the way Ryu’s eyes are ‘swimming’ when he’s nervous, as evidenced by the next lines. “They shroud your fear, your doubt, your trepidation… They run wild, clinging to some phantom notion of courage.” Van Zieks is saying that while Ryu puts up a brave front, his swimming eyes betray just how nervous and unsure of his cause he really is. So really, he’s targeting the fact that Ryu is new to the courts. He did, however, make a point of tossing the word “Nipponese” in there when he didn’t need to, drawing attention to Ryu’s race in a derogatory fashion.

After the jurors are introduced, something else of interest happens. The judge points out that Van Zieks hasn’t been seen in the courtroom in a number of years. The judge had assumed that Van Zieks had renounced his fame, to which he replies with the following:

This is a very telling line. We learn several things. Firstly, Van Zieks had retired, and secondly, he doesn’t seem to think too highly of his title of Reaper. If he did, he would have gloated. To describe his reputation as infamy implies negative associations with this ‘curse’ that McGilded spoke of. Putting these two things together, one might conclude he retired because of this curse. When asked why he’s returned to the courts, he says that he’ll leave that to the judge’s imagination. So there’s hints of a backstory already being tossed in before the trial’s even properly kicked off.

Which it does now. So the opening statement happens as always and witnesses are brought in, but once it’s done Ryu interjects to say that he doesn’t understand the circumstances. ‘How could the witnesses have seen the inside of a moving carriage’? It shocks the entire courtroom and Van Zieks is the one to speak:

“-But you’re here in London yourself. Are you really so ignorant about our omnibuses? Tell me, my Nipponese friend… Have you even travelled in an omnibus?”

I have to be honest, I struggled to pinpoint just how I felt about these remarks. Sure, I can overanalyze this, looking at how the words “I’d read-” imply he doesn’t know the following sentiment to be true and therefore doesn’t feel confident enough to say something like “I knew-”... But it doesn’t change that he’s being scummy here. In a roundabout way, he’s still saying Japan is far less civilised than Britain and that Ryu is extra ignorant for not knowing about omnibuses when he’s in London. So basically, he gets scumbag points for this. But then there’s…:

Which is just a basic jab at Ryu’s intelligence. It’s the sort of remark we’d get from every single prosecutor. I think even Klavier would say this sort of line with a smile on his face.

But definitely more scumbag points here, because this was a direct attack in more ways than one. Particularly the word “stray” was uncalled for. CEO of Racism, indeed. Something very interesting happens when the knife gets pulled into the story halfway into the first cross-examination, though. When Ryu asks about it, Van Zieks replies with this:

He’s… actually being civil? (I doublechecked with Scarlet Study, and they are in agreement on the timid nature of this line, translating “yes, Counsel” as “Quite so”.) Instead, Van Zieks turns his attention to the fact that there’s an M on the sheath, directing all his offensive attitude towards McGilded. It gets even more curious when the last juror refuses to cast a guilty verdict, instead talking about what a good man she believes McGilded to be. Van Zieks says:

So he’s not only frustrated with McGilded now, he’s frustrated with the people of London for not knowing what sort of person McGilded really is. Van Zieks reveals he’s a dirty money lender who gained his fortune through corrupt means. He even takes the time to inform Ryu of this with the words “Your client is a shylock, sir!” Edit: I feel a need to address this: shylock is a word with antisemitic roots. It originally came from a Shakespeare play involving a very bad stereotype. It later evolved to have a more broad meaning basically synonymous to loan shark and I think that’s the context the localization means to use it in. There’s absolutely no indication of McGilded’s religious beliefs and even if there were, I highly doubt the localization would use that sort of slur. Still, it’s a very unfortunate choice of words and is sure to accidentally sour Van Zieks even more with some players.

With that, the last juror votes, the scale tips towards Guilty and Van Zieks assumes the trial to be over. He thanks the jurors for their work. Unfortunately, once Susato brings up the Summation Examination, Van Zieks gets very frustrated again. This happens:

IIII don’t know what to do with this line. On first glance, I didn’t think much of it and was even willing to consider it was a compliment. Then I thought it must’ve been passive aggressive somehow; that it’s the sort of thing he wouldn’t believe until he’d seen it with his own eyes. A friend directed me to the notion that it might be referencing a stereotype that ‘Eastern women are fierce’ because they were associated with, well, certain ‘paid services’. I don’t think I need to explain, I’m sure you understand what I mean. And if indeed that’s what Barok is insinuating, that’s a new low I never thought he’d reach. However, when you’ve finished the games and know that Barok was friends with a married Japanese man, it’s entirely possible that he’s remembering a story once told to him by Genshin Asogi. So this is either a bittersweet reminiscence or the most scumbag association he ever could’ve made, but I’m not sure we can ever prove which it is. Edit: As another option, it’s possible he’s referring to the Yamato Nadeshiko stereotype, if indeed it already held the ‘touch of iron’ aspect to it back in 1900. He proceeds to toast his hallowed chalice to “the enigmatic East” and to be honest, I’ve once again got nothing. All I know is that he once again drew attention to the defense’s race when he didn’t need to, so… Scumbag point. As a sidenote, in regards to the wine… I don’t count this as a humanizing trait. The same applies to the leg slam. These are animations meant to add some more lighthearted air and breathe more life into Van Zieks, so he doesn’t just stand there like a statue. They’re just quirks meant to have him stand out from other characters. So yeah, fun as the wine and leg slam animations are, they don’t count in the redemption requirements. Anyway, Van Zieks mocks the age of Susato’s book, saying that judging by its bindings it must be fifty years old. Considering the context of the conversation, this isn’t out of bounds. The defense is using ‘outdated’ information on the law, so he points that out. Any prosecutor would’ve done it like this. Simon Blackquill likely would’ve offered to shred that outdated tome to bits for Susato. Van Zieks does toss in a “Hmph, typical Nipponese” later though, which earns him one more scumbag point. Van Zieks continues to dismiss the Summation Examination, but the judge overrules him and allows it. Law is law, after all! And this is what I meant in my previous post when I said it’s satisfying to see Ryu use actual British law against Van Zieks. Ryu is using a perfectly legitimate technique to win the jurors over, and as Susato tells him, he can only do it by turning the jurors against one another with facts. He can’t appeal to them, he can only have them see sense. Which is difficult, because some jurors are more prejudiced than others:

… Yeah. Uh. Calling Ryu a “Dark Jinx” is pretty awful. Scumbag points for Juror No. 1! Meanwhile, Juror No. 4 keeps us updated on Barok’s actions throughout this trial:

Wow. Typical prosecutor behavior, though. Regardless, Ryu manages to win them all over in the end. With enough of the scales set back to not-guilty, the trial is allowed to continue, which leads to this:

Bye, hallowed chalice. A fun animation to keep things fresh and show us that the trial is about to take a turn. Once again, nothing new. We’ve seen prosecutors lose their patience before. What does interest me, though, is that Barok doesn’t direct physical frustration towards the defense. Remember: Franziska snaps a whip at Phoenix, Godot throws coffee at his head, Blackquill sends a hawk to attack the defense or uses that aijutsu slicing move, Nahyuta throws restricting beads… These were all direct physical attacks. Van Zieks, much like Edgeworth and Klavier, directs his frustration more inward and as a result he destroys his own property.

He succeeds in intimidating Ryu, though. Van Zieks explains that he kept silent, as is the norm during Examination Summation, but makes it clear that he considers it a charade all the same.

Van Zieks has been a pretty good gentleman towards the jury up until now, speaking to them politely despite that one remark about having their head in the clouds. Now that he’s seeing them ‘buy into Ryu’s stories’, as one might describe it, he’s getting frustrated with them. Maybe he’s even frustrated they’re choosing the defense’s side over his own.

He removes his cloak, entering what he says to be the next round of their ‘battle’. More typical prosecutor behavior, this. I’m not sure there’s an underlying thought to this, other than to indicate to the audience that ‘things have gotten serious’. When the next bit of testimony is going on, I noticed something odd. Both Fairplay and Furst testify to having seen blood on McGilded’s hands, to which Van Zieks says:

“... Reported that there was no trace of blood on Mr. McGilded’s gloved hands.” So in a way, by establishing this fact, he’s helping the defense and going against what the witnesses are saying. It doesn’t help the prosecution in any way at all.

The trial continues on, with Van Zieks uttering things like “My Nipponese friend” and “my learned friend from the East” and lord knows what else… I suppose to soften the harshness of the original wording a bit and make Van Zieks just a bit less dislikable? Edit: Tumblr user @beevean has pointed out that “my learned friend” is an actual term used in courts of law. There’s a tradition (also employed in British courts of law) that when addressing either the court or the judge, a barrister refers to the opposing counsel using the respectful term, "my learned friend". Of course, it can be said with an air of passive aggression and pretending to be respectful to the court while shamelessly disrespecting it is something Barok has always done, so the addition of “my learned friend” to the localization text is amazingly in-character. Then of course we have:

This is both a scumbag remark and foreshadowing. Naturally, those playing the game for the first time won’t recognize it as the latter and therefore take it as nothing more than a harsh blow. Things spiral even further out of control when he starts talking about how people who claim the island nations of the Far East have a learning and culture of their own use those terms ill-advisedly. He also uses the words “artless backwater” and really, this is the low point of the trial right here when it comes to prejudice. Van Zieks is just plain lashing out with these sort of jabs.

Eventually, McGilded is dragged onto the witness stand to testify about whether or not there was another passenger aboard the omnibus. McGilded admits that there was, and Van Zieks snaps at him some more for using convenient excuses. Ryu is forgotten here for a moment. The whole smoke bomb thing happens, Van Zieks confers with McGilded and Gina in his own chambers, then the trial resumes. McGilded testifies, then Gina testifies… The jury votes not-guilty, buying into McGilded’s story about protecting a poor young pickpocket and Van Zieks loses it. He slams his heel down on the bench, pointing out that this is why he doesn’t like the jury system; because emotions are ruling where evidence and facts ought to be paramount. He points out while the cubbyhole Gina had been hiding in was empty now, it had been full of the coachman’s belongings during the police investigation. Someone tampered with the omnibus. This is where things get interesting, because Van Zieks addresses Ryu:

He’s giving Ryu the benefit of the doubt here. He’s offering an option for Ryu to be truthful about this matter. And that’s curious, because any defense attorney would naturally say what’s best for his client- or so it’s assumed. It puts Ryu in a difficult position for sure, but for some reason Van Zieks put the question forward anyway. The game responds as follows:

For the sake of argument, I attempted all three options. So when Ryu says he didn’t look, Van Zieks says: “Hm… Perhaps I credited you with too much intelligence.”

So when feigning ignorance, Van Zieks is kind of a scumbag about it. He is correct in his expectation that any attorney worth his badge would thoroughly examine the details of the evidence, but he didn’t need to be such a jerk about it. Now, when outright lying and saying it was empty, Van Zieks instead says:

The lines are very similar, which is an interesting note. It adds a feel of these responses being 'rehearsed', in a way. Just a default for him to fall back to. But the real kicker comes when Ryu tells the truth and says it wasn’t empty. Van Zieks is actually speechless at first with no more than a “...!” Clearly, he wasn’t expecting Ryu to respond like this. Everyone in court is baffled, McGilded gets angry… Van Zieks is a bit rattled now.

“Your task is to defend the man in the stand. Why would you say something to compromise his position?”

So really, it seems as if Van Zieks had only ever offered the question to Ryu with pessimistic intentions. He too had assumed there was only one answer the defense could give and was prepared for just that with his silly little wine analogies, only to be shocked when Ryu defies his expectations. Ryu confesses that he’s not entirely sure on where he stands in the matter, to which Van Zieks replies with “... Interesting.”

So now the jury members are doubting themselves again, with some offering guilty verdicts. Van Zieks decides to honor the ‘Scales of Justice’ once more now that they’re back in his favor, like the hypocrite he is. Gina testifies, Ryu points out an inconsistency, Van Zieks takes that opportunity to turn the tables back in his favor by implying Gina is a liar… He passive aggressively thanks Ryu for saving him considerable trouble and whatnot with some more “my learned Nipponese friend” remarks in there… Ryu turns the tables once more by insisting the victim came into the omnibus through the skylight, Van Zieks demands evidence and points out that furthermore, if indeed such a thing had happened, the witnesses on the roof would’ve seen it. McGilded hops into the conversation to imply that the witnesses themselves were the killers, which sends the court into a frenzy. Both Van Zieks and the judge shift the responsibility of the accusation towards Ryu, even though he never said a word to directly accuse the witnesses. Kind of a douchey move. Barok even states that Ryu’s ‘command of the English tongue must be wanting’, since

Yeahhh, that's pretty unfair. McGilded was the one who dropped that implication. However, since the judge basically accuses Ryu of the same thing, it’s a narrative choice to warn Ryu he needs to anticipate where his reasoning will lead him. Fairplay and Furst testify, pandemonium ensues. McGilded eventually gets what he wants when it’s revealed the skylight can open and there’s blood in there. Van Zieks once again turns his attention to McGilded:

He knows McGilded is at the root of all this tomfoolery and evidence manipulation. McGilded is the real enemy here, in Van Zieks’s eyes. The conversation shows this by having Van Zieks point out that he’s well aware of McGilded’s involvement in dubious matters and that evidence is often ‘adapted’ to suit this guy’s stories. And now, once again, he turns his attention to Ryu. Once again, he’s giving the defense the benefit of the doubt:

The game gives you the illusion of choice here. If you choose to say it’s ‘out of the question’ that the evidence was tampered with, Ryu will refuse to say it out loud. If you say it’s entirely possible, Ryu will admit to that.

This is probably baffling to Van Zieks. It would’ve been so easy for Ryu to insist the tampering couldn’t have happened, but he doesn’t. The game won’t even let him. No matter what you choose, Van Zieks is clued in on the fact that Ryu doesn’t condone the deceit that McGilded is resorting to. But it gets even better, because a short time later, we get:

Another option to either draw attention to forgery, or to feign ignorance. Once again, I chose both options for argument’s sake, but having Ryu say he has no idea doesn’t get us anywhere. Susato will instead object to say it for him. With “I have an inkling”, Ryu says it himself. Van Zieks once again confesses, in his own words, that he’s caught off guard.

Ryu clarifies that he thinks the blood stain inside the omnibus is decisive evidence, but he can’t say for certain whether it’s genuine. McGilded loses it and by this point, is outright branding Van Zieks an enemy. Since the player at this point doesn't know whether McGilded is guilty or not, it leaves Van Zieks in a bit of narrative limbo. One might think: 'if the prosecutor is so intent on taking down a murderer, shouldn't we be on his side? Is he perhaps not as bad as he seems?' Unfortunately, McGilded points out that recollection and memories don’t matter, only evidence does. And… Well.

Which means they can’t rule on a guilty verdict and will have to let McGilded go. Van Zieks admits that he has no more witnesses or evidence to present. He’s out of options. As a formality, the judge asks the defense’s closing statement and we get one last option. Do we believe him to be guilty or not-guilty? When claiming he’s innocent, Van Zieks says:

It seems he means “abject” in the sense of “without pride/respect/dignity for oneself”, which… You know, is fair. By this point it’s very clear that McGilded is guilty, and since Ryu has already admitted that the evidence may be forged, insisting otherwise is indeed pretty spineless. Scumbag points to Van Zieks for continuing to draw attention to the fact that Ryu is from Japan, though.

Let’s instead just admit that we can’t say for certain McGilded is innocent. Unfortunately, we don’t see Van Zieks react to this, which is a bummer because this could’ve been very telling. The judge questions Ryu’s sanity (no joke) and McGilded laughs because it doesn’t matter; it was just a formality anyway. The judge scolds Van Zieks, saying that his case was flawed and it was his job to keep the evidence secure. Instead of objecting, Van Zieks just outright takes the blame for this and apologizes. Very interesting reaction, here. He stops pointing the finger to McGilded, he doesn’t attempt to accuse anyone else… He just admits his performance was flawed. Ryu tries to interject here:

(A badly-timed screenshot if I’ve ever seen one.) Ryu is making an attempt here to defend Van Zieks, the guy who has built up like 20 scumbag points by now. Ryu sincerely doesn’t hold a grudge against him. That’s very interesting. It doesn’t matter, though. The judge won’t hear of it, Ryu thinks it’s unfair, Van Zieks warns McGilded that this isn’t over and then we get the not-guilty verdict.

Hurray??? Profit??? It’s a victory that’s bound to leave the player feeling conflicted and jarred.

But after all’s said and done, we get one last cutscene to establish just how ominous Van Zieks really is. The omnibus is on fire, someone is inside and we know McGilded went into the courtroom earlier to investigate the omnibus in question. So really, by putting two and two together we can already guess what’s going on here. Van Zieks approaches the scene and watches silently.

It’s a good reminder to us that every defendant he prosecutes is ‘damned’ and he’s called the Reaper for a reason. Really puts the finishing touch on the eerie undertones of his character.

All in all, a pretty typical first time against a new prosecutor. Now I just want to draw attention to the fact that the first time we face Van Zieks in court… he’s actually on the right side of the courtroom and Ryu is not. Van Zieks presumably specifically returned to the court after those five years to target McGilded, as he knows about this guy’s shady reputation when it comes to ‘adapting’ evidence. Barok is 'cursed' in such a way that every defendant he faces is damned. So long as he stands as the prosecutor, McGilded can’t get away with his crimes. No matter how much forgery is done, the Reaper will go after McGilded and it seems Van Zieks was banking on this happening.

He likely also expected Ryu to have been bought off by McGilded; to say whatever’s convenient for his case. Turns out, Ryu is actually a man of integrity who’s invested in the truth and near the end of the trial, Barok has seen evidence of this. So what will happen next? We’ll have to play The Clouded Kokoro and find out! Stay tuned!

#dgs #dgs spoilers #tgaa #tgaa spoilers #barok van zieks

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draken-rotzi · 3 years

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Bug Man x Reader Part One*

Read on AO3

SO, wanted to write something of this topic bc we all need some more Musical!BJ in our lives, it’s a nice comfort ngl, I enjoyed writing it and hope you do too c:

(Got carried away so here's the first half while I edit the second one in the meantime, it takes a bit to get to the main part we all want to read forgive mE it's better in th next one believeme)

I'd love some feedback since I haven't written anything since 2019 ;v; some wordings might seem odd since my brain speaks spanish first english second

Summary; Old boring university life and a broken but hopeful heart meet the supernatural and whacky demon/ghost with the most, reader-chan needs to get out from a toxic relationship and what's a better help than a magic dead man? Cutting ties might seem easier when someone else arrives and flips your world upside down with no warning.

Mostly fluff, bits of angst l8r

Female reader, but tried to not give any other specifics to the character themselves, OCs appear

It was a fresh autumn afternoon, birds still chirped before migrating to warmer areas for the winter, the wind was cold but nice, not yet freezing but enough for people to wear light coats. You sit on a school desk, a class about taxes and fees, you drift off a bit looking at the window while half-listening.

You lived in a medium but popular city, it was a great place, with nice, kind people for the most part, huge malls, restaurants and lots of places to go out with friends or alone.

...

"Miss ___? Care to answer this equation here for the class?" The teacher asks, a tall, slender woman that radiated authority, it made some students shiver in times like this with a direct question.

"Oh? Yeah- sure miss Adams" You replied, while trying not to look confused since you just missed the topic, hopefully you remembered from the last lesson by the time you walked up to the blackboard and took the marker to write.

...

After class, you were walking with your friends to the cafeteria next to the main exit to wait for an uber to arrive; your side job as a freelance wasn't good enough yet to afford a car, but it helped pay the bills and to have enough for a bit more more than the basic needs.

Your two best friends at college were Itai and Rob. Itai was a funny dude, with a darker tone on his skin, not so tall and full of charisma. Rob was a bit more collected, but still a lot of fun to be around, being the voice of reason for you three most of the time, emphasis in most, because sometimes he got carried away too.

"Man I hate that class, I don't understand a thing! Why do we even need math?" Itai tells the group, sounding annoyed as usual, he was a simple guy, but simple guys need a degree too, to secure a better job.

"Well if you paid attention instead of eating that cold baguette in class you won't be that confused my man" Rob replies, laughing a bit at the end

"At least you weren't asked to do math in front of the class" You sigh, putting down your backpack and sitting on a table next to the building's exit, looking at your phone to know how much time was left for the driver to arrive, around 10 minutes.

"Yeah everyone felt so bad for you, but hey, if you’ll be daydreaming at least look at the front instead of the window next time, it might help you" Rob said while opening a bottle of apple juice, his favorite, he wouldn't drink any other thing, he was probably 60% apple juice after years of drinking it that often.

A few minutes passed by, the three friends chatting about the day's events, their plans for the weekend, and how to get the next assignment done. A figure appeared behind you putting a hand on your shoulders.

"Well hello ladies!" A man chirped, you turned around laughing softly

"Hey yourself!" you replied "Already off?"

"Yeah I've got the last hour free so I'm gonna head out to Kris' place, we'll play some games and work on that big project I told you the other day"

"Great, have fun! You say hi to Kris from me yeah?"

"Sure thing, see you later!" He says with a squeeze of his hand on your shoulder, then a quick pat on the head, turning around to leave.

"Bye, take care Nick!" you say as the man walks out of the cafeteria's door waving a hand.

Silence lingers for a bit until Itai breaks it

"Hey so, you're still going out with him?" He says with a crooked smile and a nervous look, Rob has a similar expression

"Yeeeah... it's been okay for some time now, you know? Hah" You look down for a second, pondering "Maybe this time is the good run?" Uncertainty fills the question, but you still smile to your friends.

Nikolas wasn't the model boyfriend, at least not for your friends; he was full of sweet words, hugs and kisses, only in private places though. When it came to the campus he treated you just like any other friend.

There was a small reason, according to him, he wanted to wait a bit more to make it public, get to know each other better, just to be certain from both sides.

That was the excuse a year ago.

It wasn't like he was out and flirting with other people, not at all, but one could expect to be treated like a love partner after so much time and moments together, you’ve gone to the movies, to dinner, to each other's houses, hell your families knew you two were dating, it just wasn't more than the bare minimum from him, seemed more like a thing someone does if they have free time, not make time for that thing, the thing being the relationship.

It seemed to be only a problem of neglect and apathy, probably, though you were so dumbly in love with him at first, you have been hoping and asking for a change since the relationship escalated to more than just holding hands and light kisses.

"I don't think anything's gonna change, he's been stalling for a whole year now" Itai mumbled, looking at Rob, he nodded in agreement

"Yeah, just dump him already, you deserve way better, you give him everything you got and he just throws the leftovers at you."

"I guess, but we're going out this weekend! You know he doesn't like going out often"

"With you" Rob adds

You hesitate a reply, it was true, most of the times you asked him to go out for a change, he was either too busy or decided to change the event the same day, turning it into a make out session in his house every time. Even though you saw each other 2 days every week, you have seen him go out with his friends more often, on actual enrichment outside activities.

"I know..." you sigh " I'll think about it, I'll try to talk with him about it next time”

Both of your friends let out a small groan of annoyance, they knew you weren't gonna do it, or that he'll just brush it off as always, between the lines of 'oh you're overreacting'

"Ah my ride's here!" You got up from the table and grabbed your backpack, tossing it over one shoulder.

"See he can't even give you a lift to your place!" Itai teased, they knew how you felt about the whole situation, but joking around sometimes made it a bit less bitter.

"Ha-ha, you know we live in opposite ends of the city! Besides none of you give me a ride either" you said while sticking a tongue out on your way outside the cafeteria

"Yeah because you live at the ends of the earth for some weird reason!" Rob joked back

Everyone said their quick goodbyes, and after a calm ride back home you remembered something just as you were locking the door, tossing your backpack into the living room’s couch you walked over to your room.

You flopped onto the bed, looking at your phone you opened some pending messages on the family group chat, apparently a distant relative of yours had died, and the family was gonna hold a small funeral tomorrow morning on the local cemetery, you didn’t enjoy those kind of events since you’d get really emotional, but since it was something really small, no more than 20 people, it was private and most likely no strangers would see you cry over someone you barely knew.

Tomorrow was saturday so it was okay to spend one free morning humoring your family.

After some mindless browsing on your phone, it was already 12:30am, you haven’t even got off your sneakers since you got home, you did a quick self-cleanup in the bathroom, tossing today’s clothes to the side to change into an oversized shirt with no pants as a makeup pijamas, it got a bit warmer in the afternoon so you wanted to enjoy wearing something light before winter fully arrived, getting under the sheets and you were out fast, maybe from all the overthinking of what’d tomorrow might bring, you’ve forgotten what are funerals like.

But there was certainly no way you’d know what would happen at all the next day

...

The event was simple, thankfully there was not much crying, seemed like everyone accepted already what had happened, some kind of illness you heard, at least they weren’t suffering anymore and they’ve come to terms with everyone close to them, that was nice you thought, it sure felt a bit heavy in there, as usual for funerals. After the ceremony, the family offered a barbeque in the departed’s honor to bright up the mood a bit; right at the cementery, maybe it was cheaper than renting a place for it.

Free tasty food was something only an idiot would decline, so you spent some time doing small talk with the relatives you knew best, but still you mostly just listened and ate in silence.

You saw a glimpse of color and movement out of the corner of your eye, since everyone was wearing dark tones it stood out, turning your head there was just an empty plastic table with some half-full plates and glasses, still, you felt a shiver up your spine, it was probably the weather.

When you looked back at your phone's clock it was already 6 pm, guess dad jokes and food made time fly, you said your goodbyes and condolences to everyone and headed out, you were still at the cemetery, so you had to call a ride back home, the driver dropped you near a convenience store just around the corner of your apartment, since you needed to buy a snack for dinner, on sundays you usually had takeout, so no need to worry much about it right now.

_______________________________________________________

“I know I didn’t imagine anything, that breather saw me at the cemetery! we even locked eyes for a second! It may work this time, just gotta get closer while they're alone”

_______________________________________________________

…

Walking down the street, humming a bit to some music and a bag of snacks in hand, dusk started to set, some stars could be seen and the sky was a beautiful fuchsia tone with oranges and purples mixed in the clouds. On instinct, you took your phone out of your jeans pocket to take a picture of the cute sky.

Just as you took a couple of pictures, to make sure at least one was good to share, something caught your attention out of the corner of your eye again

You felt a shiver like a cold wind out of nowhere, similar as to when a car drives a bit too close to someone on winter, but there was not even one driving car on the street.

"Oof, should get back now, it's getting colder" picking up the peace to get home faster-

A piece of paper slapped you in the face

“EW- wind trash” you muttered while grabbing what seemed to be a flyer, and it flew indeed.

You naturally took a closer look at it when you took it into your hands and out of your face, it was a very faded print, with an image of an… insect? man? holding a hammer over a small house and people, you chuckled, it was a funny irony cartoon, a bug crushing people.

Half of the flyer was unreadable because of some liquid or dirt, already dry but you couldn’t read what was supposed to be, written under the drawing was the end of an ad;

“Ghostly services one name away!

RESIDENTIAL - INDUSTRIAL - COMMERCIAL

Call BETELGEUSE

BETELGEUSE

BETELGEUSE!”

“Betelgeuse? ...Like that one star?” There was that shiver again, Halloween was a week ago, so this kind of paper seemed normal to be hanging around with the wind.

As you walked down the street, some lights started flickering, the cold wind seemed stronger and the sky was a deep dark purple now, strange, it was supposed to be clear dark blue by now, fall nights came quickly this time of the year, still it didn't feel like the usual night. You were just around the corner of your street when the closest light bulb exploded and zapped with a loud 'CRASH', making you stop for a second cowering from the shards

"What the-!? No one told me we'd be getting winter thunderstorms sooner what the eff" muttering swears you made a run to your apartment, scurrying for the door keys in the process, lights kept flashing and the wind made windows sing a high 'oooo' noise, you have seen this kind of weather before but no one would like to be outside when it happened, nervously and quickly you finally fit the key in the lock and opened the door, hurrying inside and closing it behind, a loud bang thundered through the silent room, the unexpected storm slamming against the walls and windows, you left the lights on before going out.

After a minute it seemed to calm down, wind turning into a breeze and the sky now it's usual black, no stars in the sky.

You let out a sigh and walked to the counter to drop your keys, the phone and your purse, you had to make sure all the windows were closed for the night, luckily it was Saturday, so no need to go out tomorrow on that crazy weather.

Windows secured, you changed into your winter pajamas, a gray pair of pants with a pattern of a cat on toast and eggs, with a pastel blue loose shirt. Making your way to the kitchen you decided a light snack would be enough for tonight, after that run and emotion on the way back home you had no energy to cook a proper dinner, not even microwave, it was also too late for it anyways you thought.

You put the snack bowl and a cup of water on the kitchen counter, looking to grab your phone. You noticed you still had the dirty flyer, forgot to drop it between the commotion maybe?

Placing it aside and unlocking your phone screen, you opened the ‘best friend's’ chat group

You. 'Hey guys, did you get any of that weird winter storm action today after school?'

Rob. 'Nah, it was a clear sky for me'

Itai. 'Same, also I was asleep all afternoon'

You. 'Strange, I got caught on this whirlwind on my way back home from the store, just my luck I guess >:('

Both of the boys. 'Lol yea'

Putting the phone down and chomping on some of the snacks, you thought about the events, it was indeed a clear sky earlier, only a couple of common clouds you took pictures of before it. You grabbed the phone again, quickly to see if any of the photos looked good.

"Pleasepleaseplease" you muttered in excitement, it was a very cute view, hopefully one picture captured it nicely.

And they did, a couple looked stunning, you smiled, thinking at least it was worth getting your hair all messed up by the wind, you were about to delete one picture it since it was blurry when you noticed a different kind of blur, it was gray with splashes of green in the corner, similar to what you saw at the funeral.

"There was nothing green on the other pictures, was it?" you looked through the other photos and they were pretty normal, full of pink, purple and blue from the sunset.

You looked back at the flyer

"Betelgeuse, betelgeuse, betelgeuse huh" You said in a playful tone, grabbing the torn paper from the counter, you felt a shiver, a strong one this time, well that was the opposite of a calming experience, but still the word felt strange when you said it, it wasn't like you hadn't said before, Orion was a popular constellation, and the Betelgeuse star was on it; but this time the air inside had a tense feeling.

All the lights went off after a second "Now a blackout? What's with today ugh" picking up your phone to use as a flashlight, after a couple of seconds before you could turn it on, all the lights came back again, but you almost had a heart attack when you saw someone standing in the center of the living room, enveloped in a green mist.

"FUCK wh- WHO THE FUCK-" you stuttered before turning around and grabbing the closest thing to use as a weapon, a wooden spoon used for beating eggs this morning "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHO ARE YOU? GET OUT!"

The figure was a man, taller than you, dressed in a striped black and white suit, dark hair with green tints at the end, a wicked smile plastered on his face, he took a look around, then back to you, endless chills went down your spine when you met his eyes, you could feel the tense aura from before growing stronger, anticipating, colder.

"Well who might I be? You should know, you called my name baby! Glad to make some business with you tonight!" He said as he extended a hand and walked, floated? quickly towards a paralized you, frozen in place, you only managed to put the spoon up in self defense from whomever this man could be, the lights were out for just a few seconds, was he inside the apartment all this time?

"S-stop right there you!" tried to threaten the man with the wooden tool, he didn't seem to notice nor care, wrapping an arm around your shoulders, then placing a sloppy kiss in your face, petrified, you shivered and gripped the spoon harder, he felt oddly cold.

...Did he just kiss you? Who does he think he is??

"No no, no stopping now! We just got started cakes, and now that you said my name three times, I can finally interact with you and everything here in the world of the living! Gotta say thanks it's been real boring being invisible for so long lemme tell ya-"

*WHACK*

You hit the man in the head with the wooden spoon as hard as you could.

...the spoon broke.

The man's smile grew wider

#hope it's o k a y #I'll reblob this tomorrow with tags it's 2am help me #fanfic #fanfiction #beetlejuice #betelgeuse #beetlejuice x reader #beetlejuice x you #musical beetlejuice #draft #female reader #could be both Blum or Alex I love them both sm #or any other that u seem fit #I need a name for this jhfdsdfj #is 'whack' the correct sound?#sorry for the cliff #might edit later

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fancytrinkets · 3 years

Text

writing tag game

Thank you for tagging me @johaeryslavellan!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

What's your total Ao3 wordcount?

246,241

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The top 4 are Good Omens fic followed by one Dragon Age 2 fic from years ago:

The Angel Line (humor) (Aziraphale/Crowley)

The Naked Truth (humor) (Aziraphale/Crowley)

Obliviate (romance, bittersweet, happy ending) (Aziraphale/Crowley)

The Last Battle (humor) (Aziraphale/Crowley)

In Good Hands (humor) (FHawke/Varric)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I didn’t used to respond to every comment back when I started posting, but now I reply to everything. I just love the whole commenting process. I like talking about the world I’m writing in with other people who love it, too. I am always SO EXCITED to see the (1) notification for my ao3 inbox. And it is unbearably wonderful to see a (2), (3), or more at a time. I’ve noticed I’m usually equally excited if it’s a comment on my fic or a reply to a comment I’ve left on someone else’s fic. (Sometimes I experience a mix of appreciation and disappointment when it’s a new comment for me if I’m expecting a reply back from another writer about their fic. That’s such a strange feeling and I wonder sometimes if other people get that, too.)

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, I don’t really do angst. And probably that’s not what people want from me anyway, judging by how many of my top fics are humorous.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I mean they all have some degree of happy ending, so I’m not sure how to measure them against each other. For some of them, the happy ending is also a ‘happy ending’ if you know what I mean..

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

I don’t. Unless you count the silly stories my friends and I wrote for each other in high school? We definitely had some X-Files, Lord of the Rings, vampire universes intersecting with each other, but I can’t really remember a lot of that because I was 15 then and now I am 40.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I haven’t. I’m very glad about that.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh, yes I do. It’s the loving, vanilla kind mostly. I am willing to read more adventurously than I’m interested in writing.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. I mean I hope! If I have, I haven’t realized it!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! A bunch of my Good Omens fic has been translated into German and Russian, which is so cool. I love that people translate fics. I can’t read either of those languages, so I can’t personally vouch for how the translations turned out in terms of mood and tone and pacing with the word choices used, but that’s part of the beauty of being in fandom spaces where everyone is coming in with their own talents to share and develop. Translation is an art that needs to be practiced and no two translators will approach a work the same way.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not, though it was something I was interested in — and seriously considering — with a wonderful, talented Good Omens writing friend before I kind of lost all my steam for Good Omens writing.

What's your all time favourite ship?

Whatever ship I’m into at any give time. So that means right now it’s Dorian/MTrevelyan from Dragon Age, but who knows what it’s going to be in 5 or 10 years...

What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Oh, I have a Good Omens fic set in 1885 that stalled out because I was doing too much research and not enough writing. I’m not sure if I want to finish it, though. I just put a lot of outlining and drafting time into it. And then I just lost momentum. I doubt I’ll ever come back to that and I’m okay with it.

What are your writing strengths?

I’m good at dialogue. I also think I’m good at keeping an eye on the pacing at the scene level — speeding things up when I need to, slowing things down when it’s called for. And I am REALLY good at editing. I don’t hang onto stuff that doesn’t fit just because I like it. I have removed thousands and thousands of words of writing I really love just because it’s not quite where things need to go. I find that fun. I always save what I cut and sometimes reuse it later.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes I really struggle with character voice. While dialogue is a strength in general, that same thing can be really tough when I’m not hearing the voice of certain characters the way I’d like to. I also think a potential weakness is how I don’t like putting characters through deeply traumatic experiences. I like caretaking and treating the characters I write with gentleness. It’s deeply enjoyable for me, though perhaps it’s not always what makes a story satisfying.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don’t do it. My native language is English and my two learned languages —Spanish and French — are so long abandoned that it would be difficult to get any of it back. So I tend not to include other languages because I don’t have that expertise. When I’m reading a fic in English — because that’s all I can read well — I always appreciate footnotes with translations for the parts in a different language. I don’t tend to have the sustained focus to go back, copy-paste, and Google translate everything. So anything that isn’t translated in a footnote is just content I miss. That’s totally fine if the writer isn’t writing it for me — if they want to add extra layers of meaning for multilingual people. But if the writer wants everyone to know, then please, yes, put the footnote in!

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files with my friends in high school, but while there was an internet back then, none of us had connected computers, so these were just stories we wrote for each other.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

I don’t know if I can pick one! I like most of what I write even years later, but I don’t know how to stack them against each other. Some are serious while others are funny, and even cracky — some stick close to canon, while some are deeply transformative and weird. They all feel so different to me.

Right now I am really enjoying my Dragon Age Inquisition work-in-progress, Bold Indeed, a Trevelyan/Dorian romance that deals with: love, friendship, loss, gentleness, justice, what we owe each other (yes, I thinking of you, Chidi from The Good Place), what it means to become a ‘good’ murderer as part of your job, how easy it can be to fit within authoritarian structures, how difficult it can be to push against and overturn an established order, the inadequacy of kindness — but also the potentially transformative power of kindness. And all of that is tucked into the story of a mature and gentle romance between two people who are each going through a process of personal growth and change. Anyway, it’s a weird writing project, but I love it despite my occasional anxieties about whether I am a deeply bad person (hah, yes, I know how that sounds, but I also feel it seriously sometimes).

#memes #writing tag game #dragon age fanfiction #good omens fanfiction #my writing

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asherranceoftheheart · 4 years

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My Housemate Might Be the Antichrist? - Drabble Series #1

Summary: A series of little drabbles on the sitcom AU where Jack's a weird bastard who grew up with Anti as his only example of social manners, Chase Brody as the fussing mom friend and the only seal of the apocalypse, Stacy Anderson as an upcoming lawyer who has a tendency for violence and swindling other people, Anti who is Anti, and all the others who are watching the chaos that is that household and wondering how the fuck it hasn't collapsed yet. Character/s: Chase Brody, Antisepticeye, Stacy Anderson, Jack McLoughlin, mentions of the other egos Pairing/s: None, Chase Brody/Vacation/Advil Warning/s: None, Soft(?)Anti, Some Horror Cliches like blood on mirror but for comedic effect Genre/s: Humor, Fluff, Friendship Note: It would probably be easier to follow the entire thing if you read it from AO3 since it’d be in one link. But that’s up to you dear readers! (Archive Of Our Own Edition)

“So get this,” Jack didn’t even look up from his phone when his roommate burst into his room. “I think my room is haunted.”

“Dude we already talked about this,” Jack said with a flat tone that spoke of how many times they’ve talked about this exact topic. “I am not possessed. You are not possessed. None of us are possessed.”

“Tell that to the guy who looks like you but with green hair, completely black eyes, and a slit throat standing at the end of my bed at three in the morning while creepily smiling at me and I hear some unknown demonic language being whispered around me,” Chase whined and dropped his entire body on top of Jack’s stomach.

The older man grunted and half-heartedly shoved at the other who was now childishly pouting. Jack rolled his eyes at the pout and knocked his fist against Chase’s head lightly.

“You are exactly like a long lost annoying little brother,” Jack told his housemate dryly. “Besides, I told you. It’s just Anti, the whatever he is who’s been following me since childhood. He’s just playing a little sleep paralysis prank on you. That’s all.”

Chase turned his head to stare at him dubiously with those pretty baby blues and Jack couldn’t resist flicking him on his forehead. The younger man yelped and slapped his offending hand away with a glare while rubbing the reddening spot in the middle of his forehead sullenly.

“You say that as if it’s completely normal to have someone like Anti following you around.” Chase shot back while Jack shrugged nonchalantly because it is normal for him.

“Look on the bright side, Anti likes you. If he didn’t you’d have ran out of our shared room a long time ago when we were roommates for college.” Jack patted his head and ruffled his hair in a pacifying manner. Chase just sulkily slumped down on top of him and pressed his cheek against the soft cover of his bed.

“I thought you were pranking me and I was staying out of complete spite.” Chase bluntly said, looking him dead in the eyes.

Jack just patted his head like he was a cute little puppy.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

There was a weird guy wearing a cat mask and a cliché magician’s cape standing in front of their door. Jack had been playing Kingdom Hearts 3 in the living room when somebody rang the doorbell to their house. Originally, he was going to let Anti answer it for him but then he remembered Stacy’s threat about killing him in his sleep if they get another phone call about a possible serial killer in the house.

“Good afternoon sir,” at least the odd stranger seemed rather polite even though he kept staring at Anti who was looming behind him like an off-brand Slenderman. “I don’t know how to put this reasonably but… are you aware that an evil creature has been following you?”

Ah. This was one of those situations.

“We don’t accept solicitations,” Jack gave the man the friendly smile that he learned from Chase.

Apparently, the smile that he grew up with after learning it from Anti belonged more to that of a horror movie’s villain.

Chase tried to bring it up gently to him by saying it’s rather unnerving while Stacy just outright said to his and Anti’s face that people would rather take the stairs than ride in the same elevator with him if he kept that creepy smile up.

As it is, he was already closing the door on the weird man’s shocked and outraged face. Hah. That one’s a pretty funny face. He could hear Anti snickering behind him.

“Wait—!” The man tried to stop him from closing the door but Jack was unrelenting.

“Sorry,” he apologized without a single shred of remorse or guilt in his entire existence.

The door was shut with a loud click.

Jack flipped the lock for extra measure and briefly wondered if he had closed the backdoor.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Stacy emerged from her bedroom, her hair unkempt and flying all over the place, her eyes ringed with dark shadows from lack of sleep, and her body yearning for that sweet, delicious caffeine. The woman had been up all night for the past weeks reviewing for her law board exam in an almost panicked frenzy. If it hadn’t been for Chase occasionally forcing her to go the fuck to sleep, she was pretty sure she would’ve dropped dead by the first week of unending readings and memorizing that she had been doing. She could already smell that blessed nectar of the gods being brewed in the kitchen and she could hear Chase humming a cute lil song while no doubt shaking that bubble butt around while he’s cooking breakfast for all of them.

“Hey boys,” the sleepless woman grunted as she slipped into the dining room and sat down on the nearest seat. “How’re things going for you guys?”

“Anti threatened to kill me last night because I ate the last pack of cheetos.” Chase said as he exited the kitchen to place a mug full of that heavenly black as her soul coffee in front of her.

“Just add that to the millions of baseless threats that he’s given you for the past six years.” Stacy dismissed his words with a wave before she took a sip of that scalding coffee with a happy moan. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live without your coffee, Chaser.”

Chase just patted her head as a wordless ‘you’re welcome’ before placing a breakfast plate in front of Jack whose face was completely smushed against the table while he’s completely passed out. He flicked his ear and smirked when the older man jolted up awake with a bewildered shine on his normally calm face before Jack realized that there was food in front of him.

“Rise and shine, Jackaboy,” Chase ruffled Jack’s hair, chuckling at the disgruntled grunt he received. “Good morning to you too, Creepy Bastard number one.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chase woke up to the sound of his alarm blaring through his room. He was half-tempted to push the snooze button but the consequences of having a cranky household—especially this household—is too much of a headache to even consider facing. He lazily rolled out of his bed, kicking away the blankets that were entangled around his limbs and landed on the floor with a soft thump.

The sleepy man fumbled for his way to his own bathroom and flicked the light on. He blinked at the red that covered his face mirror and sighed.

DON’T FORGET THAT YOU HAVE A 10 AM APPOINTMENT WITH YOUR THERAPIST TODAY.

“I promise I won’t Anti,” Chase mumbled as the bloody letters began to fade away now that its message has been delivered and understood. “Thanks for the daily reminders, buddy. I just wish you won’t do the blood schtick. Well, at least you clean them up yourself now. So great job on that!”

He knew that the creature was watching him and could feel the smug self-satisfied aura that was practically oozing out of the demon. Chase internally thanked all of the useful advice he read from all of the parenting books he bought from the bookstore that mentioned Positive Affirmation of good deeds is effective in helping the lessons stick. It took a few weeks of providing positive rewards such as giving Anti his favorite snacks, and giving him some leeways on the lighter chaotic actions for him to start making progress.

Who knew that parenting techniques are great at teaching ancient demons on how to be more civilized people?

#writersofjack #jacksepticeye #chase brody #antisepticeye #stacy anderson #jack mcloughlin #marvin the magnificent #soft anti #soft!anti

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dropsofletters · 5 years

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it’s a match!

title: it’s a match! pairing: johnny seo/reader genre: tinder!au/photographer!au summary: ten has a slight obsession with his newest dating app: tinder. it is only convenient that he gets his single friends into it. johnny, personally, thinks of it as a way to release stress and get a good laugh, but when one of his tinder matches ends up being one of his clients, things suddenly change for the two of them. type: fluff note: thank you to si-chengs here on tumblr (goddamn tumblr and not letting me tag people dAMN) for editing this picture and helping me with my fic’s header. you’re the real mvp, ily<3 all credits for this edit go to her!

It’s when Johnny Seo gets bored that his best friend gets the worst of ideas.

Dongyoung, the third part of their group of friends, is more intelligent and less chill than he is, so he always says no to Ten’s ideas, but Johnny finds that having just that slightest bit of newness in life isn’t so wrong after all. It is a Sunday night and the fan of his apartment is blowing the papers of the notebook he is supposed to be reading for some presentation he has at work, but instead, he is lost in his phone trying to find a new app to download. Sure, social media is fine—a great distraction method to keep him scrolling and scrolling, watching videos of food he wants to eat, writing direct messages to the friends he can’t see personally anymore and of course, going into the deepest parts of the web that shows things that he would like to un-see. Maybe, in a good day, he gets a good cat video. But it is a Sunday, a boring one at that, and as he keeps scrolling through Instagram all he sees are the same set of pictures. Food. Pictures of his cousins. Old funny pictures.

A whiff of a cologne that is too sweet for anyone’s liking, but extremely expensive, indicates the entrance of Ten. Johnny does not know what his roommate was doing previously, he feels like Ten told him, but his mind can’t quite wrap around it. With an elongated groan as he throws his head back on the sofa’s headrest, he sees that Ten is drying his hair with a towel, shirt disregarded somewhere, new pants highlighting his waist and he, altogether, looks put together and…better than he does when at home.

Not only that, but Ten is smiling at his phone. He does smile often, of course, a machine of jokes and a lot of teasing, but Ten very rarely has that cheesy smile. The type of smile he gives to the people he wants to sleep with, or go out on a date with in a special occasion. His lips quirk up a little bit less, his cheeks flush a pretty shade of pink and he quirks one of his eyebrows, almost as if in awe, the excitement and thrill of flirting getting the best of him. “What are you doing?” Johnny asks, looking down at his basketball shorts to see a mustard stain at the very edge. Fuck, he had eaten a burger earlier and somehow, he has a stain now.

“Talking to my Tinder match.”

Tinder, Johnny recognizes the name of the app, and he would have smiled if only he wasn’t so bored. He remembers the night when Ten first mentioned it, saying that he had the hook-up of his life thanks to a Tinder match, and he did not even have to talk all that much. Soon after, Dongyoung had visited them and Ten had somehow convinced Dongyoung to create an account. It didn’t last long, considering Ten had tried to explain the ‘art of being a seductive man without sending dick-pics’ and Dongyoung immediately took his phone away from the man and deleted the app.

Dating apps are not his thing. Dongyoung and dating sounds impossible, too, he is just…Kim Dongyoung. In Johnny’s eyes, he is a single mother that loves watching reality shows and listening to pop songs.

Johnny doesn’t care. Yet, here he is—bored and curious, entertained by the sight of Ten being happy, ready for his night out. “Oh,” He says first before sighing. “Is Tinder fun?”

His black haired roommate looks up from his phone, locks it and puts it inside his pants before rummaging through the small pile of clothes he has in the living room from the laundry he just did that morning. He is just too tired to put it in his closet, or rather, too busy. “Yeah, I guess, for lazy people who are just too tired to look for someone or…people who don’t know how to look for someone.” Ten clicks his tongue when he finds just the shirt he wants, pulling the fabric of the sweater over his body, speaking through the action. “Not for someone like you. You actually look like you can get dates.”

Johnny tilts his head to one side, then the other. “I can…and I do…” His confidence doesn’t falter, and Ten shrugs his shoulders, but before his roommate could get too far away, he stretches his hand to grip Ten’s wrist. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t create an ironic Tinder account. Just for the laughs, you know.”

Whether Ten thinks about it for a second or two, or not, is not noticeable. The motion he does to get beside Johnny on the couch is quick, taking Johnny’s phone from his hands and immediately downloading the app. It is as if he only wanted to have more of his friends getting into the world of online dating, and maybe it is a really good choice, just like how it can be a bad one. “Yeah, that’s what I said and now I can’t get out of it.”

“That’s because you don’t like putting a lot of effort into relationships.”

His friend huffs at that. “That’s right…” He confesses, moving his fingers across the screen as he searches for a set of pictures. “I don’t want to hit it up with a selfie first, it’d look like you don’t have any friends—oh, maybe not one of the professional pictures you have either, you’d look like a catfish.” Johnny’s cheek is pressed against the sofa, looking at Ten’s doings with little to no interest. All he wants to do is annoy some people, not particularly get some classes from a self-proclaimed love master. The warmth of the room is more palpable by the closeness of her friend and the scent of his cologne is giving him a headache. “I think this picture of you is perfect.”

Johnny looks at that one picture he had taken driving a fake car in some arcade and he smiles. It shows his personality, taking himself seriously when he is funny, but also living his life like he doesn’t care. The picture would give the thought of someone who doesn’t care about what people around him think. “Oh, oh, can we add one of those descriptions people have on Tinder?”

“You kind of have to.” Ten mumbles and then he picks a few other pictures randomly before clearing his throat. “What do you want in your bio?” Before Johnny could respond, Ten speaks over him. It is a habit of his, to always think he knows everything, and to add a little bit of mischief to everything he does. “I think something like ‘Johnny, knows two languages and can speak the language of love’ would be pretty ironic.”

Johnny pushes his plump lips up, rosy like buds and a little bit chapped. Instead of working on his Tinder profile, he should be hydrating himself and probably preparing dinner. “Too lame for me,” He says. “I am thinking more of ‘this is a picture of me driving, and I can drive you crazy.’”

“And you call my idea lame?” Ten questions, squinting his eyes with the action before shrugging his shoulders. It is not like he cares all that much about Johnny’s active dating lifestyle. “Okay, so…this is a picture of me driving. I know how to drive a car and…” The shorter man starts typing on the screen before that part is completed. “Anything else?” Johnny shakes his head, a lazy smile plastered on his face when Ten adds a few other bits of information before delivering his phone back.

“Is that all?” The taller asks and Ten licks his lips before nodding his head. He doesn’t say much, simply asks if he looks alright, something that Johnny confirms just before diving in the complexities of Tinder.

If the story is ever told from someone’s point of view other than his, it might sound extremely biased, but Johnny did exactly what would be considered wrong in Tinder: swiping right for everyone just to play around. Not in the sense of hook-ups, or maybe yes, but after he actually has some fun with it. All he wants to do is confuse people, and that is what he does. Whenever someone sends him a message, he responds with the most obnoxious and teasing of texts, pretending to be different types of stupid people with every person.

Really, he came up with a variety of characters. The conceited rich kid that thinks he’s better than everyone else. The guy who is into questionable shit. That one guy that can’t spell things correctly and probably ends up in some Instagram page, or YouTube video. Johnny has the time of his life, barely realizing that Ten goes out with a wave of his hand and a smile that speaks cheekiness. Everything that rolls through Johnny’s mind is making the dull night into something better.

Then, his eyes settle on a person that had matched him, realizing that that one brain-cell that keeps him making fun of people in the Tinder app suddenly becomes aware of what it is. A dating app, perhaps not the best of creations to some, but he could use it for what it really is. He sees the woman in the picture, dark lipstick coating her lips, eyelashes thick with mascara and a pouty look in her picture that she took of herself that had Johnny looking at the rest of the pictures she had displayed. Gorgeous body, deserving of all the praise in the world with how she makes his heart race in the matter of seconds, biting his bottom lip as he ponders, wonders, questions what to say because he doesn’t really want to ruin this opportunity.

The good thing about Johnny is that he knows he is funny, and he uses that to his advantage, so with an opening joke he starts the conversation. Only a few seconds pass by and he receives a thoughtful emotion before a small: “Sorry, didn’t understand the joke, hah.” shows up on his phone. Johnny hisses to himself, trying not to cringe at his own stupidity before typing once again.

“Bad joke, my bad.” He continues. “What’s up, gorgeous?” Apparently, he wants to be as direct as he can be and that has always served him in real life. Dating apps might be a little bit different, but he can always turn things to go his way.

It takes a few minutes for her to respond, and Johnny takes that time to make himself a sandwich, swiping mayonnaise on the bread as he looks at his phone and luckily for him, she answers as quick as possible. “Doing homework. You?”

Johnny smiles to himself. A difficult one, but there is not much of a dare that can go over who Johnny Seo is, so he tries again. “Eating a sandwich. Mine are the best, I wish you could try them.” Not that she would realize it is a lie, because the bland sandwich with some chicken leftovers from earlier and mayonnaise is not really what he calls a good sandwich, but one, she did not need to know that, and two, it’s just a bad day for his will to make something good.

“Some guys would invite me out to dinner…and you invite me to have a sandwich.” A bunch of laughing emoticons follow soon after and Johnny takes a bite of his sandwich before licking his lips clean.

“Glad to stand out thanks to something, then.” Johnny replies and then, he types her name in the form of a question. “Sounds like the name of a woman who wouldn’t mind a sandwich for dinner, with some candles to make it all romantic.”

The response has him laughing as he leans back on the counter, his back a little hunched in the small space that Ten dares to call a kitchen. The apartment is nicely decorated, thanks to Ten’s money and touch when picking furniture, but the size of the apartment is made for people around Ten’s height, not exactly Johnny’s. Although, he does not consider himself all that tall. His apartment is made for tiny people, is what he likes to say. “Johnny sounds like the name of a guy who could do better. Try again.”

“I’m joking.” He says.

“I knew so.” Her response has a small laugh at the end that makes it flirty, and he can imagine her, probably trying to find something to distract her from the meticulous task. “That’s what caught my attention from your profile: your sense of humor.”

“Not my dashing good looks?”

“Yeah, those work, too.”

“So, what are we doing for our date?”

The texts come quickly, as if she has completely forgotten about the fact that she has homework to do. Perhaps an essay that is halfway done, or some project that needs too much glue and colors. All he knows is that he doesn’t really mind, but he should. “You’re already asking me out on a date?” Before Johnny can reply, she continues her text. “I like the sun and fresh juice, so that’s for you to pick.”

Luckily for Johnny, he knows a good place by the beach and it sells the best food he has tried in a while, so he sends her the name of said restaurant and much to his surprise, she recognizes it. Johnny thinks that the moon has always orbited to get to where he wants it to be, never too high, never too low, always perfect to downcast over him. Perhaps, he did it for fun—to create a Tinder account, but Johnny always gets blessed by an opportunity that he knows how to take. In this case, he has a day, an hour and a person to take care of.

All he knows is that Ten is right. No strings attached and also a place to joke around with people? Tinder might have gotten a good place in his heart, by now.

That can be shown through the midnight talk he has with her, getting to know this stranger that has a smirk on his face. Johnny is assured he will have a nice time.

Movies do tend to exaggerate things, quite obviously. Put a scriptwriter, creative but in the cliché sense that leaves people with a handful of movies that are clearly similar, with a director that has a set image on how to show things and a cameraperson, along with a producer and many other staff members that set up a good film. Most are not good, quite clearly, but it all depends on tastes. There are tropes that are overused, like how in rom-coms the meeting of two people tends to be in slow motion, with shared stares that hold interest, palms that join in a calloused touch before going into the full hug. Some kisses are lame, others are more passionate, some don’t even include kisses just to leave people hanging.

Or even worse, some thrillers paint situations like the ones he is in as the start of a never-ending set of events that leave people twisted like a pastry of sorts, but that is not the case. He is in the very public, slightly crowded restaurant, watching his phone as he sits at one of the woodened tables, the open space and the sound of the sea leaving a smile to his face, though it is not visible, but not all happiness needs to be shown like a Las Vegas sign in the middle of the night. She is not there, of course, but he remembers all the things—or most of them—she had told him in the week they had been talking for. He knows what her major is, what she works as, some of her music tastes, her favorite movie and a handful of her flirty remarks. The attraction in there, though not palpable, vivid, trembling, asking to be touched, to be marked, to be an existing occurrence of popular behalf. All they need to do is act up on it, on the promises in between cheeky sentences, and the kisses that they have yet to share.

Or not, that is the good thing about a date—you finally confirm just how real the things people said are. Johnny is good at reading people, so he thinks, not good enough to judge, but just the perfect amount of right to know what he needs to get involved in. He looks at his phone once again, reading a text that says she is on his way, but that was already fifteen minutes ago.

Not to say that Johnny is impatient, but he might be.

Awkwardly, he taps his foot against the flooring, his white t-shirt and shorts seeming good for a day at the beach, but not quite for a date. Does he care? Maybe at the depth of his thoughts, but he knows he looks good. Black hair parted in the middle, sunglasses covering his eyes in style, lips rosy thanks to chap-stick. All he needs is the title of the hot bodyguard in a movie, not that he is a good actor to start with, in his own opinion.

When he meets her, it’s not one of those slow motion moments. She doesn’t walk to him in counted steps, quite the contrary, she rushes and pushes her hair away from her face, the summery dress she is wearing leaving a little bit to the imagination, flowy and floral-y in the most perfect of ways. Johnny is awestruck, seeing her dark lipstick changed to a sweet coat of pink, eyes sparkly instead of filled with passion. Although, she is visually a goddess in disguise, Johnny can say that there is absolutely cuteness to her, one that he would have never thought she had. A messy smile when she sits down, apologizes before she can even say her greetings, and she flinches a bit when she accidentally touches his naked calves under the table with the tip of her foot. She says a lot, rushes through the words, loses that title of an Incubus as he had thought of her, and suddenly becomes the sweet, old, romantic Cupid.

She looks up from the menu splayed on the woodened table, blinks softly before releasing a smile that has Johnny returning it. There is not enough beauty he can hold, so he wants to give her back what she does to his fluttering feelings, the emotions that come with a first date. “I don’t mind. I know traffic was heavy today.” The nervousness dissipates from her face and for a moment, he realizes the flustered expression she holds is adorable enough to remember. One leg crossed over the other, she responds.

“I am sorry. I tend to ramble and…either way,” She cuts herself off before interlocking her fingers together. He knows she is studying him, from the way her eyes rake up and down his features. For a moment, she looks at his biceps, swallows hard and smiles softly. “I’m glad you’re real, Johnny, I thought you were going to be an old man that wants to have a sugar baby.”

He doesn’t know much about the terms, or he didn’t, until Ten decided to teach him the wicked ways of Tinder. Johnny is surprised, to say the least, present because he continues to be and he chuckles at the thought of a fidgety woman that stands by the restaurant looking for the man in the pictures she saw. “You’re pleased with what you see, then?”

When he thinks of it, it is a flirty comment to start the date right, to give her a big green flag that indicates he is up for a few kisses, some caresses, and whatever that leads to, but she seems flustered. Biting down on her bottom lip, she looks at the menu and trails her nail over it before pressing her palm to her face. “I, uh…you’re starting off strong, aren’t you?”

“Go hard, or go home.”

“That’s so frat boy of you.”

“You know I’m not a frat boy.”

She flutters her eyelashes, leaning her head on her palm and sighing. “Talk to me about photography and I’ll trust you on that.”

Johnny quirks an eyebrow, interested, leaning forward on his elbows and soon after, he speaks. “Alright, alright…” He repeats, trails his voice in a way that has her looking down at his lips. “But invite me to a drink first.” He feigns innocence, pressing one hand to his chest and making her chuckle.

“Passion fruit juice sounds great to you?”

Johnny widens his eyes comically. “Passion fruit?” He asks, highlighting the word in a way that has her throwing her head back in laughter. “We’re going for passion here. Whew, what a wild card we have right over here—”

She tilts her head to the side, shaking her head before licking her lips. “I’m hungry. Stop trying to make me flustered.”

Johnny says something before calling the waiter over. “I don’t think I’m trying. I know I am trying and succeeding, let me tell you.”

“Oh my God, stop!”

The perfect time comes from spending it with someone so human, the title becomes a compliment. He loves the way her eyes twinkle when she smiles, or how she likes to control her laughter at the beginning of the date until she is comfortable. All he wants to do is make her feel as gorgeous as he thinks she is, he wants to be able to sugarcoat her, show her just how interested he is, and see where that leads to.

He is absentmindedly hinting at something called a one-night stand, term widely known because of its unromantic use of something called intimate by some people. No strings attached, rules set in a game that a lot of people take part of nowadays. There is this one friend, a photographer as well but a much more well-known one, that had given him a better explanation of what he thought was a one-night stand. A night to stand someone, to be and not to be at the same time, to become what has no name and understand it. Johnny knows it might be too fast, and if it doesn’t happen, he won’t be mad—he had a good date, a nice talk and a lot of laughter in only one afternoon, but he wouldn’t be angry if she told him she was interested in such thing.

Pink and orange, orange and pink, made for one another when put together in a sunset. The breeze is soft against their skins, her hands fidgety in front of her body, his eyes constantly looking at her—staring, even, because he doesn’t want to forget just how beautiful she is. Or maybe, he knows just how flustered he is making her. Johnny pushes some hair away from his face as he speaks. “…And yeah, my friend Ten owns this beach house, which is insane.”

“And you’re taking me there?”

“Let’s just pretend for a few hours that I am this rich, magnate guy that promises you all the diamond rings in the world.” Johnny comments, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and leading her to the entrance of Ten’s getaway place. Just like everything he owns, it is nicely decorated but this beach house is a lot less used. Johnny just had to give him some pictures for an advertisement he was making on his Instagram account and he got the keys to the house once a year. “I had to take pictures of him for some clothing line that wanted to sponsor him just to get the keys.”

She smiles at that, watching as he opens the door with neat movements. “Should I feel honored that you brought me here, then?”

“You should. I always say no to Ten because he is very picky with his pictures, but I did it because I wanted you to look at this.” Just by that moment, he opens the door to the beach house and a gasp leaves her lips, only to cover them soon after. Indeed, Ten’s house is minimalistic but perfectly put in place with shades of gray and charcoal black, with a few doors and a few dots of white in decorations here and there to give some contrast. It is clean enough to look like a dollhouse. “Someone comes here to clean it every three days. I don’t know why he doesn’t live here. It would be the dream, but he’s too much of a city guy.”

“I have always loved the beach.” She says. “This is…wow, you actually took some pictures just to take me here?”

“Yep.” Johnny closes the door before tossing the keys on the coffee table. She spends her time looking around the place, bringing a smile to his face with how precious she looks when seeing things for the first time. Her expressions are, indeed, one of the best he has ever seen. “I bought some movies and snacks,” He starts as he opens a drawer on the table that holds the TV before shaking the bag of chips on one of his hands, holding the movie with the other. “You don’t have anything else to do after this, right?”

“Don’t think so.” She replies, watching as Johnny starts putting up the movie for them to watch. It is probably a comedy movie, only to bring some joy to their date—more than how amazing it had been—and with a soft gush of a breath, she plops down on the couch. He feels her staring, her eyes raking up and down his back, one good look at his bottom and then, back again at the back of his head. “Uh…I know this is not the time to say this, but…I kind of, I mean—I had never gone out on a Tinder date, and I know I sounded way flirtier than I am, so…I hope I didn’t make things awkward?”

Johnny chuckles from his spot, picking up the remote and turning on the TV before rushing to her side. One arm splayed around her shoulders and his eyes looking into hers are the response she gets before she speaks. Genuine, kind, flirty. “You’re doing great, sweetie.”

“…I have never had a date of mine quoting Kris Jenner.” Though a chuckle gives away just how funny she finds him and Johnny grins back.

“I’m feeling very special.”

He would not necessarily say that he likes to corrupt people, because he is a nice guy—and pretty much the best friend a person he could find, but there is something that makes him feel excited of seeing a side of her that no one else expects to see. She is a goddess from the moment someone sees her, but she doesn’t control thunder or the sea, her weapon is as strong as a giggle, the gleam behind her eyes, something that shows just how she views life, and Johnny finds himself thinking about those things throughout the movie.

One moment is all it takes to share a kiss, just like how one second is enough to break the doings of an entire date, but Johnny has always known how to take his chances and only thirty minutes later, he does what he had been planning all night. His lips press to her, tasting a bit like the salty chips they just had, swollen from the spiciness and making her sigh against them when she rests her hands over his chest. Suddenly, it makes sense, it feels right, everything seems like that one book with five-hundred pages that ends in the most fulfilling way.

His hands are at her waist, the ring he decided to wear seeping its coldness through the fabric of her dress. He wants to tease, needs to smile when pulling away briefly before diving in once again. He is aware of what he is doing, how she pushes her body forward to be met by his chest, the way her hands cup his jaw to bring him to one side just to deepen the kiss. It tastes like the strings that are not tied, like the sun and the moon meeting at the hour of the sunset, but only for a brief moment before they have to let go.

It is not a surprise that she runs his fingers through his hair and he begins to lay her down slowly on the couch, placing his hands on the back of her thighs before speaking against her lips. His eyes are half closed, his black hair made a mess and the gloss she had reapplied is smeared across his lips. “Are you alright with this?”

She looks over to the side, biting her bottom lip and trailing her hands underneath his shirt to touch his skin. “I want you.”

Johnny smirks at that, leaning forward to kiss her lips and bite down on her bottom one to receive a soft breath. “I like how that sounds.” He stands up with his hands on the back of her thighs, bringing her up with him and she squeals at the action, making him smile when she wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his slender waist. “W-What?” He asks in between chuckles and she joins in the laughter.

“Are you sure you can hold me up?” She questions and Johnny nods his head, feeling as she rests her head on his shoulder.

“Let me be romantic, all romance movies have this moment.” The sentence makes her laugh as he lays down on the bed quickly, his elbow and forearm resting on one side of her head and the other reaching for her waist as he kisses her once again, dreamy but not quite, passionate but with enough amount of comfort. Johnny is one hell of a man, she discovers that night, eager to make her feel like the protagonist of a romance movie.

Only, that movies don’t last more than three hours and after a while, she has to go back with the silent promise of never seeing each other again.

“You slept with someone you met on Tinder?!”

Groups of friends should be able to confide in one another, but she doesn’t trust most of her friends. The shrilling scream that leaves her friend’s lips make her cling to the edge of the table from the restaurant she is having dinner at, and she looks up with the most blank expression she can muster. She has not told anyone, not even her closest friend that is at the table, it is a secret—or was, naturally—kept to herself. In retrospect, she thinks her sex life should never be put out there, much less does she have to talk about which apps she uses to get dates, or how far those dates go. Then again, the surprise in her friend’s tone is to be expected, because she had never slept with someone so quickly before.

But then Johnny came along, and he wasn’t the typical flirty boy that covered everything in a coat of pretty pale shades to indicate more than it really was. Johnny was transparent, enough to let her know from the beginning that he obviously wanted something to do with her, and not only that, but he also lived up to the expectations she had for him. It is not something that she would say out loud, but his presence and sense of humor, along with his overall nice personality, was what had given her the push to sleep with him. Be damned social concepts of purity and respect, if she wanted him and he wanted her, there was nothing wrong with that.

The problem is that her friends do not need to know, and her Tinder account is long forgotten after that encounter. The least she wants is to have her friends knowing that she had gotten bored and created a Tinder account, and actually put it to use to get ‘dicked down’, as some would say. She takes a sip of her water, presses her lips together to swallow before sighing. “That’s nonsense. You know I would never create a Tinder account. I’m not like that.”

Not that there is anything wrong with it, but she can’t seem to accept it. It brings her some kind of embarrassment, perhaps because she has a conception of how her friends react to deals like the ones she is in right now. Hyori, the friend that had spoken on the first place, pouts as she sits back down to take a long sip of her Soju. “B-But…Daniel told us that you had a Tinder profile.”

Daniel is not there, so she might as well lie. Or not. “…I said I’m not the type to do it, not that I didn’t do it.”

Caught in her own lie, thanks to Hyori and Daniel, she tries to hide her own lies behind a spoonful of food. “So you had sex with someone you barely even knew?!”

The other eyes in the room settle upon her and all that she can seem to think about is hide the embarrassment that she knows shows through her face and mainly, come up with any excuse at that given time. “Uh…no…that’s—that’s none of your business, Hyori.”

But her friend persists. “Ooh, someone did the Devil’s Old Tango.”

She cringes at the sound of Hyori’s tone, lowering herself on her seat and eating more. Throughout her life, she thinks she has been a little bit selective with the people she ends up dating, or going out on dates with. It is not exactly that she has not dated enough, because she has, but she thinks only a few people are worth her time. Is it stupid that most people have lowered their standards because someone is not willing to try anymore? It is. She thinks she is worthy of some trying, of someone who is able to dive in completely, not keep one foot out of the water just in case. And Johnny was that to her, he put the cards on the table and showed which game he wanted to play. It only so happened that her mind had the option to decide between two things: sleeping with Johnny and taking her chance, or simply forgetting about it. She insisted on the first one, and she was pleasantly surprised. “Stop.”

One of her friends also asks Hyori to stop, but the woman sighs with a happy smile on her face. “How was he?”

“Hyori, I won’t talk about it—”

“Show me a picture of him.”

The second most serious person at the table, Choonhe, takes Hyori by the arm and pulls her to the side. “Hey, leave her alone.” With one touch to her cheeks with the back of her hand, she feels how hot her skin is. A part of her thinks that her main problem with talking about Johnny Seo is that she doesn’t really want to make anything public. Johnny is that one secret she likes to keep to herself, because it is hers in a way—like that one song she likes enough to only listen to it from time to time. It is a nice memory, a flutter of a flower she doesn’t get to see often, and it is her will to keep it a secret. “By the way, does anyone want to order more hot wings? I’m still hungry.”

Now that the attention is off her, she can start losing herself in her thoughts. It is stupid, how she simply kept Johnny’s number in her phone but she decided to delete the app. Tinder was a way of spending her time at first, but Johnny caught her attention—for once, he was not creepy, and he was a little bit more like her type. It would be stupid of her to try with someone else, knowing that Johnny had already put her expectations too high…and she doesn’t think she is ready for another one-night stand.

Sometimes, she ponders if he thinks about her, too.

But it is unlikely, people like him, who think of hook ups as a better way of loving normally don’t miss people, much less do they think about them twice. Although, the world is a tiny place and maybe, just less likely than other chances, she will get to meet up with Johnny once again.

Him, made to make her blush, to enchant her, to be the only one living in her brain for the time being.

Her, surprised by the fact that Johnny Seo is incomparable in some way. Even better than some of her past relationships, who tried a little too hard, but Johnny got her wrapped around his little finger with just one date. A few texts. Of course, a million smiles thrown her way.

“Hey, hey!” Hyori calls out from her spot, patting her friend on the arm various times. “You’re blushing, sis. Tell me all about it!”

That’s when she knows Johnny is someone she can’t take out of her brain so easily.

“Jaeho! Look up here!”

Dongyoung has a type of patience that Johnny wishes to have. It shows in Johnny’s work; a photographer whom had once dreamed of taking pictures for magazines like Vogue, or even going as far of being a concert photographer, but he ended up taking pictures of whoever goes to the store he works at. Dongyoung is not particularly a photographer, per say, but Johnny needed someone that helped him with people when he was trying to come up with the perfect picture, and while adults did not need that much attention, kids did. At this point, Johnny knows that Dongyoung is excellent at making babies look into the camera and smile.

Maybe, it is because Dongyoung is holding a teddy bear on top of Johnny’s head and he calls Jaeho’s name cutely, voice a little bit higher, a wide smile on his face, looking a lot less intimidating than Johnny, a person who gets overly frustrated when he can’t take the perfect picture. He does not say it often, but he is thankful of Dongyoung’s doings and how excellent he is with clients.

Jaeho looks up and smiles at the camera, making grabby hands at the teddy bear and Johnny can take the picture with the perfect layout that makes it look professional. That is the best part of his job, turning the store into something incredibly creative, not even leaving to do so. However, as the shutter goes off and he continues to take pictures of the baby, the sound of the front door opening catches his attention but he is too busy to take his gaze away from his camera. “Dongyoung, could you go see who’s out there?”

With a grumble, Dongyoung puts the teddy bear down, saying a small: “On my way.”

Jaeho starts crying immediately, and his parents—two young yet tired looking ones—don’t seem to do anything more than shush him. Johnny puts his camera down, biting on his bottom lip before picking up the teddy bear once again. “Look, look!” He says, waving the teddy bear on one hand and making Jaeho shut his mouth immediately, staring at Johnny with glossy eyes and puffy cheeks. The tall man balances the teddy bear on his shoulder, pressing his cheek against it before holding his camera. “Gimme a smile, come on Jae!”

Dongyoung comes waltzing inside the room once again, smiling widely and taking the toy from Johnny’s shoulder before wiggling it in the air. “You’ll be so happy.”

Johnny grumbles. “Why?”

“Because there’s another baby coming for a photoshoot.”

Not that Johnny hates kids or babies altogether, but there is something that makes him feel fidgety when he takes longer than he should in just one part of his work. With a curt nod, he continues taking pictures, finishing his job with a set of squads to get the perfect angle. Once the couple are gone, Johnny waves happily and then lets out a sigh. He can only pray that the next kid is not this annoying. “Ask for the payment first and then, let them in.”

“Gee, say please at least.”

“Dude, please.”

“That’s better.”

The fact that Johnny has a funny life would, could and will always be a statement. In this case, the moment he fixes his camera, prepares another layout and cracks his knuckles to start working at the entrance of Dongyoung. However, the clients are following soon after him, a set of three women—two adults, and the baby, approximately a one-year-old. Johnny does not think much of the first woman, but the second one has him widening his eyes for a second before a smile appears across his face.

Navy blue is the sweater that covers her frame, cropped, enough to show the waist he got tired of holding during their night together—or not, it’s an exaggeration—. Her legs do look amazing, but what is more interesting is her smile. If smiles could heal the world, hers would be enough to make a book out of the universe. He doesn’t say much, holds his camera and waits until she realizes, but she is too busy holding what he thinks is not her daughter…

A daughter never came into the conversation.

Is that her daughter?

“Good morning. I am here to take some pictures of my nie—” Almost as in cue, she stops talking when she looks at Johnny. The Johnny Seo, that one guy she slept with only three months prior to that moment and that she never talked to ever again. She wishes it would have happened, but conversations always fell short. He was busy, so was she and then, they never really tried. Her sister looks at her, squinting her eyes before clearing her throat.

“That’s my daughter. I want some pink background…since it matches her white dress, and just anything cute and bubbly!” Overly excited she is, and a little bit put off by the way her sister is ogling the photographer, but not that she knows anything about that. Johnny licks his lips, tries to push back his smile before nodding his head.

“Yeah, sure,” Johnny kneels down to prepare the layout and from far away, he swears he hears his one-night stand mumbling something to her sister. He doesn’t say much, just watches from the corner of his eyes as she suddenly gives her niece to her sister and crosses her arms over her chest. Flustered, much more when he catches her staring at the curve of his ass.

Caught on the act. And Johnny is proud of it.

“I, uh, I think I’m going to wait in the car.” She starts but her sister cuts her off.

“No, stay with me.” Whiny she is and that makes her shut her mouth for a second, watching Johnny, catching a glance of Dongyoung that is aware of the tension in the room for some unknown reason and she really wants to get out of there, the photographer can already sense it, but there is some happiness within him just to get to see her again. He fixes his camera, raises his eyebrows and soon after, he’s speaking again.

“Put your daughter down on that little arrangement, on the chair if you want…” He trails his voice, watching as the little baby looks at him out of interest. She’s curious, although a smile does not creep up her face yet.

Dongyoung immediately gets to work, moving his arms around and earning a big toothy grin from the child in front of him. “That’s it, a big smile! She seems sweet.”

The mother, with her arms crossed and a smile on her face, responds: “She is a ray of sunshine, to say the least.”

Johnny bites back the idea of responding ‘maybe, it is in the family’, because the least he wants to sound like at that very moment is like a flirt. He takes a few pictures, investing himself in his work until he feels someone getting closer to him, short steps welcoming the warmth of someone that stands by his side as he does his work. “H-Hi.” is all she can manage to say, or all she thinks about, really. Johnny doesn’t have to look to imagine her flustered expression, the way her lips let out the tiniest of mumbles to talk to him. Dongyoung is invested in a conversation with her sister and he has time to talk to her. “Huh…I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I’m a photographer.”

“I thought there were plenty in the city.”

Johnny smiles, biting his bottom lip and snapping his fingers to get the baby to look at him, holding a toy in the shades of beige and pink that could bring some depth to the picture. “Hug the plushie. Yes, that’s it!” He encourages the one-year-old and with one hand, he gives her a thumbs up before taking a picture. “None like me, I can assure you that.” He promises with a grin that has her smiling shyly at him. “How has it been for you these past three…months? Has it been three months since…you know?”

“It has.” She confirms. “I am on break currently, just…enjoying it.” Johnny nods his head, whispering the word ‘nice’ as he concentrates on his work. “What about you?”

“Taking pictures.” Johnny says the most obvious of answers and then, he looks at her from the corner of his eye. “Would you like some?”

“Take a mental picture first.” She replies cheekily and Johnny puts his camera down after taking the amount of pictures he was hired for.

“Oh, I have plenty.” Those words have her smile faltering slightly before growing in size, cheeks growing fuller with the way her eyes creak at the sound of his voice. His eyes rake up and down her body for a second, barely perceivable and soon after, he calls Dongyoung’s name. “Hey, we’re done here.”

“Joh—Johnny, we’re cool, right?” She asks, making the man in question look over his shoulder to finally stand face to face with the woman he grew fond of in one night, then kind of forgot about it, and one glance at her three months after brought back all those memories. The way they said their names to one another, the fondness, the kisses…no one would even dare to believe they had been lovers, but they had. Different in so many ways, yet fitting.

He shrugs his shoulders. “We are. Very much cool with one another.”

She nods. “Right.”

“Why?” He asks, voice low as he traces the outline of his big camera. “Do I still make you…nervous?”

Her eyes widen, she tries to hide her hands in the pockets of her jeans as a way of shielding herself. “Uh, ah…no.”

Johnny smirks, memories of the night they spent together filling his mind when he crosses his arms over his chest. “You sure?”

“Shut up.” She mumbles before looking over to where her sister is standing, holding her daughter in her arms. “Uh…I think I have to leave.”

“You’re always the one to leave.” Johnny is reminiscent of the night she had to leave, saying that she could not stay any longer because she had to drive back to the city to get ready for the class she had the next day. College is difficult, much more if you have to weight a job on top of that. “But I’ll take it—I’ll be abandoned again.”

She hisses. “Sorry.” It’s a whispered apology with one hand that touches his bicep, trotting over to where her sister is before waving at Johnny over her shoulder, leaving the store with a giggling little girl by her side.

Johnny smiles, because one glance at her is enough to revive the fire that was once there. Dongyoung, on the other hand, sees the glistening brown eyes of the man before raising an eyebrow. “Oh no,” He whines. “Don’t tell you had something with that one.”

With two fingers sliding across his lips as a way of showing that they are sealed before tossing the imaginary key to the side, he gives a response. “My lips are sealed.”

“…Oh my God, Johnny!”

And he wishes he can see her again, but for now, they are a little secret kept from reality.

Texting someone after a long time of not being in touch is the most difficult, if not headache-inducing, action someone could ever make. Nice, but wrong at the same time. Johnny thinks that triple texting is okay, but he finds himself out of words when he texts the woman he had met in his workplace only a month prior to that day. He had slept with her, sure, there was some kind of connection in between the two, or just some distance he needs to cut, trace and keep at that. Whether they are so close it is scary or so far away that they are basically strangers, he doesn’t know, but Johnny finally has a free Saturday and a new restaurant to try out, thanks to Ten’s advice and now, he needs someone to go with.

It is impressive, how she replies almost a few minutes later and he has a confirmation. It is as if the idea of a one-night stand doesn’t imprint in his brain. Johnny thinks one-night stands can last two nights, they can have a continuation, a sequel, some sequels are really good too—but at the same time, he knows that he is wrong. The title of a single man (ready to mingle or not) does not tie down to him, and he would like to be proud of that title if only he was not so…thrilled to go out on this date.

But Thai food is better with someone he actually enjoys talking to, and while the sex was incredible, her voice and her train of thought is what brings him back to a second date.

Is he fidgety? Not really, but he does try to look a bit less beach-y than he did on their last date. He may have her on a pedestal, for he is waiting outside of the restaurant only for her, ignoring the glances of people who cared about other’s lives more than theirs. Dressed to his own image of fashionable, with a denim jacket big enough to fit someone else inside and a rosiness to his lips thanks to the cold. White, denim and black, the fabrics and colors that match him that night and a smile that has yet to appear, but it will come with the woman he is waiting for.

The night is not painted in color rings, expensive dresses or even faux smiles. It feels genuine when she gets over to where he is, in a rush, like always, and wearing a shade of lip-gloss that makes him want to kiss her just at that moment. “Sorry I’m late. I am so stupid, my boss kept me back for some finishing touches and you know how he gets—” When she looks at him, she realizes that Johnny doesn’t mind, because fifteen minutes can’t hurt anyone.

Yet, Johnny is good with a pout, much more when it’s thrown her way. “Don’t know. I feel like that apology is half-assed.”

“Uh…it’s not.” She adds, bottom lip stuck in between her teeth and Johnny opens his arms slightly.

“Come here and show me just how sorry you are.”

She looks to the sides, widening her eyes and bringing her hands to rest on top of his chest as he brings her closer by the waist. “Joh—Oh my God, Johnny, don’t be so…shit.” She cusses, not knowing exactly how to describe him or what he makes her feel, but the man only gives her a smile and an eyebrow raise, one that she takes as a sign to finally give in. “Fine. A little peck is good for you?”

He doesn’t answer verbally, but the scent of his cologne surrounds her and his lips are pressing down to hers in the matter of seconds. Enough of a response to take her breath away. Anyone watching would believe that they are a couple, two birds starting to meet one another, creating peace at the sky, not minding the wind or the sun that will once be the rotten ending. When he pulls away, his hand is holding the back of her neck and his smile is enough to light up the world on fire. “Give me a hundred more pecks and we’ll be even.”

“Ah, shut up.” She pushes at his chest before grabbing his hand on hers, a wild card for what he expected from her, and with a little smile thrown over her shoulder, they enter the Thai restaurant. “You’re one for bringing me to good restaurants. What’s so good about this one?”

Johnny looks at her, lost in his thoughts, pondering if the only thing he wants to do is her, or spend his time with the woman that had captured his attention. There’s a thick line between sex and a crush—heck, they might mix but they should not, at least in the concept of flings. “My friend, Ten, told me it was good.”

“I’m starting to think this friend Ten is the mastermind behind our dates.”

“It’s all me, baby. I’m just stealing the rich boy lifestyle.” Johnny jokes and she lets out a chuckle, taking a seat by one of the tables. The decorations are not what he is interested in, although he takes in a lot of wood and rustic decorations, but his eyes are trained on the way she moves her hair away from her face, takes the menu that a waitress brings over before stealing a good glance at him over it. “Do I have something on my face?”

Flustered but with a smile, she looks down at the written menu. “No…”

“What are you looking at, if that’s what you’re doing?” Johnny asks, licking his bottom lip and ignoring her gaze when she finally stops looking at her menu.

“N-Nothing.”

Johnny nods his head, adding in a sing-song tune: “If you say so—”

“I’m…” There’s something deep within her that she doesn’t say, and Johnny has a smile on his face, so tranquil and sweet that she feels like her heart could explode right at that moment. There are words that are left untold, stories that have no developing, and people who never try, and maybe she is all three at once. “Nothing.” It’s how she finishes it before patting his hand over the table. “What are you going to eat?”

Inside Johnny’s head, he feels like he had already planned their second encounter. He wishes he expected it to be like the first, with a nice date and then enough attraction to finish it off properly, but there he is, having bites of Thai food as they talk about their lives and how they have been developing. She says she wants to change her job, try to do something else and stop working for the same people that have taken her in for the past few years. Johnny confirms that he thinks the same, and while taking pictures with Dongyoung has been something memorable, he wants a bigger job—somewhere where his photography skills are actually highlighted, where people would actually recognize his work in some way or another. He wants to travel the world with a camera in between his hands, see everything through a lens, but that is not what that night is about.

That night is about the realization that sure, Johnny started going out with her with the idea of sex, but there is more to her than just a body he wants for one night. It is in the way she speaks, how she reacts to him, how she makes the world a thousand times more likeable with just a smile. Now, Johnny is not one to believe movies when they claim that something from one night can turn into something else, but he can quite accept that he sees past her body whenever he goes out with her.

With only two dates, she already has him craving for more.

And it is stupid, how he finds an excuse to spend more time with her, and he says he wants to buy something sweet for her, ending up at a bakery nearby just to get her favorite pastries. As they walk around the crowded streets, trying to remember where he left his car and obviously confirming that he is going to take her home after that, thanks to her car being at the mechanic’s, Johnny realizes that he really enjoys spending time with her, and that is something that hadn’t happened since a long time ago. Past the flirting and the touchiness, there is something else. Maybe, strong. Maybe, as bland as water, but it is there. Johnny wants to call it the development of a crush, or the start of a nice friendship.

Yet, she had insisted on getting one of those lollipop rings that they used to have when they were children (“I used to take them to school because I thought they were cool,” Johnny said.), and Johnny is one to please, so as they stand near the Thai restaurant where everything started, he holds the lollipop ring in between his fingers and her hand with his free one. “Can’t believe you actually made me get one of these.”

“They were tasty in my memory. I am sure they are, still.”

“Yeah, and probably full of saliva.”

“Hey, I don’t drool that much!”

“I feel like I remember you drooling when you first looked at me.”

“I, uh, I—” She finds herself at a loss of words and soon after, she hits Johnny on his shoulder. “Stop flirting.”

“I can’t when you’re that cute!”

A gasp is heard soon after, a little bit broken at the end, and Johnny frowns at the idea of someone being surprised by their mere presence. The gasp sounded too close to not be for them. Once the two people in their date look over to the left, they realize an old—and adorable—woman is covering her mouth with her two hands, looking at the ‘couple’ with squinted eyes and a smile that creeps up her face. “Oh, my Darling! Someone’s proposing over here!” Johnny figures out that the elderly woman is at least a bit blind, squinting at the sight of a lollipop ring and Johnny putting it around his date’s finger.

His date is quick to speak up, however. “You’ve gotten it wr—”

But Johnny likes the attention, or making her flustered, so he gets on one knee in front of her while holding the lollipop ring, catching the attention of a few people who clearly are not aware that it is candy that he is ‘proposing’ with. “These past few years, honey, have been excellent with you.”

She hisses through her teeth. “Johnny,” She mumbles, eyes looking around the place to find the attention placed upon them. Can’t people just get closer so they can realize this is all Johnny’s fault?! “Get up, now.”

“Let me speak.”

“No.” She whines, but Johnny continues.

“I never thought I would have met the Bonnie to my Clyde, the Jimmy to my Sheen—” She wants to laugh at that, biting down on her bottom lip and letting a smile out. People probably think that she is smiling out of happiness, but she wants to hide at that exact moment. “So, for all these years, would you marry me?”

“…Oh my God.” She whispers before taking him by the bicep and bringing him up to his feet. “I guess. Let’s just leave.”

And the few people that had gathered are awestruck, maybe because she did not give the answer people expected, or because someone just proposed to his supposed ‘girlfriend’ with a lollipop ring, but after closing the doors to the car, Johnny lets out the biggest laugh and holds her thigh with his right hand. “That was so funny!” Johnny comments but the sight of her face shows otherwise, rolling her eyes before she feels him pressing his lips to hers sweetly, smiling throughout the process. “Come on, you know it was funny—and it wasn’t my idea, that old lady thought I was proposing.”

She chuckles, shaking her head before covering her face. “How embarrassing, Johnny!” She places her hand on top of his on her thigh before kissing the back of his hand. “You owe me one.”

“Owe you one?! I already proposed.”

“Shh, don’t talk.” Johnny nods his head before starting the car, pressing his lips together before she pinches his hand softly. “Hey, do talk. I was joking.”

“See?!”

“You’re annoying.”

That brings a smile to Johnny’s face.

With a straw in between his plush lips, taking a long sip from her canned soda, Johnny raises an eyebrow at her preposition. “Foosball?” He asks soon after, holding onto her waist to bring her close before nodding his head. “I’m in.”

Johnny doesn’t know how it happens. How the third date comes after the second, and how the second doesn’t even include something more than a few kisses in the front seat of his car. And sure, Johnny knows the world doesn’t rotate around physical attraction, but he is surprised that a Tinder match has gone as far as it does. Now it is a few weeks later, and Johnny is more than happy to be in front of her, preparing for a game of foosball as he watches her. All he needs to do is win so he can hear her pretty voice complaining about it.

But Johnny does score in the first try, and that earns a boisterous laugh from him and a scowl from her. “I give you some of my Coca Cola and you do this to me, really?” His heart aches the moment he hears those words, and it is not a bad type of ache—it makes him feel better, like a way his body has of telling him he’d do a lot of things to protect her. He particularly adores her voice, but he loves her expressions and reactions the most. “Ugh, Johnny—don’t score, don’t score—”

“Sorry, baby. Kind of have to win.” Johnny adds with a shrug of his shoulders and as they continue playing, he bites his bottom lip. “So,” He starts. “Why exactly did you accept going on a third date with me?”

He never hears it from her. They have been sexually together, they kiss whenever they feel like it and the flirting is always there, though kept a secret from those who know them personally. She knows that he likes her, but she has never been one to voice out what she exactly feels for the man whom she continues going on dates with. “…Just because.”

“Oh, really?” He asks. “You also deleted your Tinder just because?”

She looks at him, moving her arms frantically as they hear the sound of the TV going off in the background, mixed with voices from other people and a lot of noise. “…Don’t make me say it.”

“If I win, you have to say it.”

Feigning ignorance, she looks at him for a second. “Say what?”

“That you like me.” He confirms and she gasps at his words, running short on her own before responding.

“W-What…Why are you asking?” One would think that Johnny Seo would not be affected by someone acting nervous in front of him—not nervous, flustered, but he does get a little bit fidgety at the thought. It makes his heart race, to know that he has that power upon her when he feels slightly the same for her. If not completely. Her distraction is enough to have Johnny moving his hands quickly and scoring the last one out of three goals, making his date gasp as she takes her canned soda from his hands. “You are not having this, for being mean to me.”

Anyone who looked at them would think that they are a couple, as always, his hands wrapping around her waist and making her look around as he adds in a cheesy tone. “Come on, say it—”

“No.”

“It’s not like I don’t know.”

“Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

With a movement of his fingers, a chuckle leaves her lips and her hands end upon his chest, tugging him close but not really. Johnny has this kind of face that makes her feel safe, but it not fully his attractiveness and overall height that turns her into putty in front of him—it’s how he is, so lively, so chill, as if life is coated in paint and he patiently waits for the colors to dry. He knows how to have fun, just like how he takes that part out of her just to show her how beautiful life can be.

Really, it was unlike her to sleep with someone on the first date—and Johnny had changed that. He had always attracted her enough to make her take (not irrational decisions), but decisions that are very unlikely on being taken by her beforehand.

There’s always a sentence that starts a story, then there’s the first comma, the first dot, the continuation, the development…and there’s an end, but Johnny keeps adding on more paragraphs. One moment, she thinks it’s the end, the other, he’s back.

One moment, he is a one-night stand. The other, there’s something in this gaze…he, kind of, looks at her as if she means something more.

And she wants to mean something more, so she finally lets out a breath that she does not know she was holding before tilting her head to the side, blinking as if she is lost in thought, but it is more of a nervous tick. “I like you, too.”

What he does is stupid, how can’t it not be, he is the same guy that faked a proposal with a lollipop ring, but she did not expect him to throw a fist in the air before chuckling. “Hey, I finally got you to say it.”

She squints her eyes at that. “If you knew already, why ask me?”

She doesn’t get a response more than a fleeting touch to her waist, a peck on her lips and the promise of anything she wants to have for dinner. Johnny is not one to confess, but she knows it’s there, the promise of ‘perhaps, this will turn into something else’ and, she sure hopes it becomes a reality.

“Dongyoung?” Johnny asks with an empty can on his hand, watching as Dongyoung—whom is seated on the couch—jumps at the sound of his voice and hides his phone behind one of the cushions in the couch. Now, he knows Dongyoung and he can be a little bit jumpy, but he has never acted this way. “Did you eat my canned peas? I can’t find something to make for dinner and I was going to make this but—”

Dongyoung sighs out of relief, pushing the dark strands of his hair back before pressing a hand to his chest. “No, I didn’t. Jesus—”

“What are you doing? You’re super jumpy.” Johnny replies and Dongyoung widens his eyes, standing up from the couch with his phone in his back hand before replying.

“N-Nothing. I’m just going back to my room…”

But Johnny is quick, and messily into people’s business, so he takes Dongyoung’s phone from his hand, completely ignoring the male’s complaints. He unlocks his phone, knowing Dongyoung’s password like the palm of his hand before he is met by the sight of nothing more than the Tinder app. That one app that Ten tried time and time again to get Dongyoung into in the past, but somewhere along those lines of Dongyoung denying him, he had completely forgotten. “Dongyoung…you’re using Tinder?!”

“Don’t get into people’s business.” Dongyoung grumbles under his breath before taking his phone back into his hand. “I…” A look at Johnny’s smirking face lets him know that he is never going to live it down. “Listen, Ten gets to sleep around thanks to this app and you got a girlfriend. It must work for something!”

“Little Dongyoung wants to get laid.”

“N-No!”

“Aw, that’s sweet. I never thought you looked up at my relationship.”

Dongyoung rolls his eyes. “You know it wouldn’t have worked if your girlfriend wasn’t so nice.” He says and then, he clears his throat. “And Ten ate the canned peas.”

Johnny smiles at the thought of Dongyoung going through the same happenings that occurred after downloading Tinder. Maybe, Dongyoung will find the same luck as him, but for now, he really wants to call his girlfriend to get some takeout.

And maybe later, he will tell Dongyoung to take that Mariah Carey quote in his description away. No one will match him with that there.

#johnny scenarios #johnny seo #nct scenarios #nct #kpop scenarios #writing #nct fluff #johnny fluff #nct au #johnny au #tinder!au #one night stand to lovers!au #lISTEN #i loved this edit omg #hopefully it's good????#fnjakjfad i'm so excited for you guys to read this

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wroteclassicaly · 6 years

Text

Uh, what to call this? My tips on stuff? Thot tutorial? I guess I'll leave it untitled, lol. Requested by @codylangdon, just a little of me sharing my smut tips or my methods when I get stuck writing.

I'm honored you asked, honestly. I hope what I share is okay? I'm a basic messy bitch, hah! <3 So without further ado, I present my tips & my methods :

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~ How to smut ~

- My main rule is realism. You have to be realistic. Yes, this is fantasy, but part of what that entails is keeping it realistic, so the reader is more connected. If it's overboard, tacky, it takes the reader out of the headspace they're seeking. If you write for Harry Potter, AHS, then obviously they're more prone to being expanded. But you still keep those worlds as realistic as you can.

Ex: Hermione is a witch, but she is also a human woman. Harry is a wizard, but also a man. You want to write within that world exactly how it is, so the reader can feel as if they're there, without being distracted if it's too much.

The sex itself. It's fantasy, yes, but you also need to be realistic on the human body. You cannot have a cock hit your cervix with pleasure. I can't stress the word realistic / realism enough! Don't overdo it by overriding facts.

- Research. RESEARCH! I can't stress this enough. Especially writing sex. Yes, magic sex, ritual sex, those are fantasy. Fiction is fantasy, but that's no excuse to get sloppy and ridiculous. If you don't know something, read about it, look it up, watch scenes in a show or movie, read articles.

For example, I use Kama Sutra sex positions, men's GQ, Cosmopolitan articles, other stuff as research material. If I don't understand a kink, a position, a mechanic, or a sex toy? I look it up. Realism checks in here again. Anything you don't have firsthand experience with, RESEARCH or seek advice from a friend who does.

- There's no general way to write smut. Each writer is different, because each person is. Even their readers might be. I think of what I want, how I'm feeling, what my readers want, and I put myself into the headspace of that world. With a good playlist and a free spirit, you mostly just write out your fantasies.

I suggest writing when you're turned on. That produces the sharpest pieces. ;) I come at writing my smut how I write anything that goes with it, and everything else : I just get into it. I can edit and make sense of it later. Usually when I let my inhibitions go, that's when I write my best stuff.

- Have kinks, prompts, imagines, kink hour, drabbles, mini paragraphs to post. You don't have to shell out full fics 24/7. And challenge your readers to send you those things. Fic asks, reader requests, all IMPORTANT. Your readers are just as much a part of things as you, even bringing ideas to your attention.

It's rewarding for both sides. And it keeps your inspiration high and your blog active.

- Know your own limits and what is appropriate. Common sense for that. Don't write stuff that isn't right. You know what isn't.

- Have fun! And remember, you CAN be a serious author if you just write erotica or mostly that. It's just as much valuable as anything else. Don't let anyone shame your thirst. I'm a virgin and I love this shit. So.... :)

~ Now, when I get stuck?? ~

Coming off a nine year block with barely any writing, well, not as much as I'd like, this is a writer's heaviest subject. One of them anyways. There's no real way to cure this. Sometimes it's a matter of waiting, BUT, there are ways you can help inspire and push yourself.

- Have a playlist. The climax of a song, the lyrics of one, it can all of a sudden tug the biggest line of inspiration, a sentence, idea, paragraph, anything. Music is key.

- Take writing sprints or prompts. Do mini ideas. You aren't obligated to overdo it. Anything you create is something.

- Set down a few times a day, take breaks in between if you feel like you're pushing too hard. Do it in intervals so you don't burn out. Editing isn't priority right now. Even if it's a mess, just go with the flow. That often produces some magical shit.

Shit being good. Grand, even.

- Watch a movie or a tv show for whatever fandom you're in. Something that inspires what you are writing, even original stories. Ex : I watch Michael scenes to hear his voice, relish in his presence to really throw myself back in. This includes love scenes.

- If real life is affecting you, CHANNEL it. Readers take this to heart so much. Write it into the story or wherever you need to.

- Know when to give yourself breaks. And don't beat yourself up. Go at your own pace.

- Daydream. That is fuel to the fire.

- Always have something nearby to write ideas down. A napkin, anything you can see clearly on.

- Look around you. Ideas form when you least expect them. Sometimes your surroundings provide that.

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If I can think of more, then I'll add later, but yeah, that's about it. I'm not an expert by any means. These are the things I do that have helped. I hope they help anyone who reads this and writes or wants to write. Don't be afraid to go for it! <3 - Kristen

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boobachu · 5 years

Text

The T.C. rambles while watching a force awakes

Re-watching star wars 7 to see if out of the 3D headache IMAX theatre, if it’s any better.

I still hate parody Han Solo guy, like he reminds me of post-Black Knight Sonic the Hedgehog. Just really unfunny and trying way too hard to be hip and internet savvy or something.

I don’t think anything will change my opinion that he shoulda been a bit character.

I’ve decided to commentate the whole fucking movie so read on if you dare.

Rey’s making space bread. It’s very gross.

I doubt anything will change my opinion that she’s the best star wars character.

Oh God BB-8

HBomberguy ruined BB-8 for me. Whenever I see him all I hear is

L I T T L E W H I T E C U C K - B A L L L L L L

I guess Rey doesn’t like him either, I forgot this part.

I wish they got rid of the Dorito Destroyer.

Oh boy Darth Helmet is interrogating Lone Star.

Kylo Ren has the stupidest helmet.

There’s subtitles on this so I learned the guy’s name is Poe

RRRAAAAAAAAAAAA

Like Kylo Ren is really badass in the first half I remember this, like he stops a God damn laser blast.

Would you sell BB-8 for 60 meals?

Oh hey

Ugh what’s his name... the storm trooper’s gonna take Poe outta here.

You need a pilot. LOL

I guess Poe is alright, just his first impression was very dumb.

Oh snap it’s hooked down. What kinda name is Hux that’s stupid.

Ha hah shootin’ em down just like Annie in ep 1.

Get fucked command center.

Why do they still have Twin Ion Engine fighters?

I guess we still drive cars so eh...

Ah his name is Finn now, I guess he is a clone? or something?

Maybe they have multiple types of clones. I wonder if they still use Jango Fett...

Fucking proton torpedos!!!

Ah yeah I forgot Finn just wants to GTFO

Trailer shot. Nice.

Oh wait I can turn off subtitles. Good that was disorienting me.

And Poe dies... a great fake-out you thought parody han solo was a protag, but no this is the story of Finn, the storm trooper defecting from nazi hell-space to find his own life on Jakku or wherever.

He keeps Poe’s jacket for cover, very poetic. HAH

POE-ETIC God why did I hate this movie again?

If there’s a Kylo Ren, where is Kylo Stimpy?

Oh God Finn no don’t ugh drank the slop water ugh no why ugh

Finn goes to save Rey cuz white knight trope. Rey can handle herself like a ‘90s chick. Hey she’s a pit chick she’s got a staff.

RUN FINN RUN

Rey fuck taser what

Finn’s having a lousy life.

Poor basketball’s friend died. I feel like the story is rushing.

Like I expected more of a build-up not “SPIT OUT THE EXPOSITION FUCKIN”

Ah, storm troopers...

Rey doesn’t want your cooties, Finn.

Fucking TIE fighters fuck

Is Finn dead? No he just nappin’

Everything exploding!

THE GARBAGE’LL DO

God damn Millenium cheeseburger.

I can do this I can do this

HOW DO YOU FLY A CHEESEBURGER

Fucking karma’s a cheeseburger, that’s what you get for callin’ the SS you loser

The action scenes are choice

Ah Dorito ruins.

Oh I remember this part just

TIE DOWN

oh no Finn down

here it comes

G E T R E A D Y

fucking engine exhaust TIOGHT

HARD RIGHT

WOOOOOO

Takin’ the shot yeah

Space

CHUCK A SHIT

ohp

Kylo is Mado

NERD RAGE

AAAAAAAAAA

Kylo is such a 12 year old in 2003.

GIRL?! THERE WAS A WOM?!?!?!?!? XDDD fucking loser

pweese BB-8 help I dunno what I do

fucking lighter thumbs up

Damn Finn what a nerd. “Got a boyfriends? a boyfriend?”

oh no they got garbage dayed

come on Rey gas them gas them all

oh great it’s Han Solo and Chewie

oh wait he used to be Han Solo

What is he now Han Oriana? Whatever Leia’s last name was I never could spell it.

Damn buncha everything happens

Oh great it’s big eyed billy joe armstrong and his O-nauts

WE WUNT OR MUNEY BAEK NAU

oh boy more losers.

It’s all over for Solo.

Ah shit just unleashed things.

There goes the neighborhood just fucking angry meatballs of death AND HE FEEDS THAT DUDE TO IT

oh shit it quiet

Rey is allalone...

Fucking Finn I turn my head a sexond and the meatball caught him.

Get to da cheeseborger

“I never ask that question until after I’ve done it”

Just lightspeed dashed I swear he looks like british billie joe armstrong.

Damn giant fish thing on planet deadly pokeball.

Who is supreme leader he is stupid ugly stupid.

Oh his dad’s Han Solo wow way to blow it spoiler alert fucking why didn’t they save that for the end who wrote this crap oh he was a hologram.

Damn babuy chewie

Ah the new hope plot.

I dunno they twist it enough to make it feel fresh so eh.

Ah a planet of islands... the scenery reminds me of ep 2

“Did you just call me ‘Solo’?”

Women always figure out the truth, always.

There needs to be a han solo inspirational poster that says that.

A job? The fabled... job? You offer job?

Rey has a home? I thought she was just a wayfarer.

Don’t stare “At what?” any of it XDDDDD

Yeah this story feels like it’s going too fast like what’s going on.

HAAAN S O L O

Wait she’s hot for Chewbakka?

Man this band sucks.

Oh great fucking droid nark NARK

Weird lady narks NARKS EVERYTHWIER

Oh boy Darth Helmet is brooding.

Fucking Darth Vader. Kylo Ren is such a fanfiction.

Like, the idea of a warrior of light choosing darkness is something you seldom see done, but... eh... I guess? IRL kids no like most nazis are privilidged and a decade ago would be seen as nerds.

what’s this

what are you doing

The eyes of a man who wants to run

Finn need go bye-bye

Oh wait storm troopers are stolen, not bred. That’s worse like

Finn is really shiny there who does his makeup?

Rey sure didn’t care he was a storm trooper LOL

The screams... they becon me...

Finally a fresh feeling scene.

WHAT’S IN DA BOX

fucking lightsaber

T R I G G E R E D

Is she clairvoyant? I dond’t remember this part.

Is this special edition?

FUTURE

I like specs. She cool.

FUCK D A FORCE

Oh boy nazis

Fucking screamy bitch XDDD

FIST UP why are the nazis doing the fist up this is upsetting.

PEW

How does the laser split up into shit and what is this planet?

Like this is supposed to be dramatic but... you literally don’t know any of those people or any of those planets. This should have been episode 8 or 9 after establishing those planets.

W H A T A W A S T E

oH BOY Finn got da lightsabah

BEASTS

There goes that dump, way to go Rey it’s your fault I guess BLANKS

Way to kill that soldier

MURDER SPREE

Oh boy Kylo Ren, what a hoot that guy.

wait is this the part?

Han Solo so has the force like if his force3 ghost isn’t in the movie

YOU HAAAVE ONE

Han Solo what a goof

TRAITOR

M E L E E B A T T L E

Fucking just like in Empire except it’s not Yoda hallucination probably.

Caughted

THE RESISTIES

The x-wing is still the coolest thing like Sonic knew that.

Damn Finn calm down it’s just a pilot.

Rey is in weird jungle o no

She just got godlike and Ren is gonna break that killstreak

MELEE OP

Fucking using cheater force

Kylo you sound like such a dork

That cross saber is still stupid where’s the minorah saber

Nooo Rey!!!

C’mon Finn melee them

fucking lightsaber the whole first order you can do it

just

throw it at the ship

just

throw

and the bad guys win

C-3P0 you mother fucker

Changed your hair

Same Jacket

I can’t believe Carrie Fisher is dead.

The resisties are kinda boring looking.

Oh look it’s Poe, he’s alive somehow.

Maybe the second time I’ll get the good explanation.

Oh no, there’s no good explanation he just wasn’t there.

L A A A A A A A A A A M M M E.

Okay we’re past a new hope kinda in empire strikes back territory and the ending is the last jedi. Like I totally get people being upset that this is basically the original trilogy in a nutshell.

Damn dead R2-D2

Wait C-3P0 has a red arm why

I wonder how many parents relate to Han and Leia because their son turned into a nazi.

Fucking Snoke. What kinda name is that. Solid Snoke.

Was Kylo Ren just staring at Rey’s unconscious body for the past hour?

I’m sorry he’s just not intimidating he looks like a cheap halloween darth vader

Then the dramatic reveal like remember when Darth Vader was so disfigured from burning alive?

Kylo’s just ugly. Like that’s it that’s the reveal. Kylo is ugly.

Rey/Kylo is like whenever a 4chan boy tries to hit on a hot youtube girl like your face just melds into the chair to escape his grasp like a cat that doesn’t want to be pet.

I dunno this scene is just so stupid cuz they both look dorky like this is happening at otakon

You. You’re afraid... that you will never be as strong as Darth Vader

BITCH GOT TOOOLLLLLLD

Kylo has a huge nose. Like he’s Lois Griffin triangle sandwitch nose

I like how Rey tries to Luke Skywalker the storm trooper and he’s like “Serious?”

LOL fucking just left

T A N T R U M T I M E

and the storm troopers just turn around LOL

Okay I love this weapon like, it’s a combination of the star crusher and a vaccum cleaner from Luigi’s mansion. It destroys the star, but in the way that it uses it to destroy things.

“So it’s big”

Disable the shields... there better be Ewoks on that planet.

Seriously, what does Poe add to the story after the escape?

Damn leila and han... dum

Hey a woman stormtrooper, like just a white gal. I didn’t notice that.

Damn lightspeed their way in.

Hooooh what a landing.

...Han Solo...

That‘s not how the force works!!!

LOL

Finn just wants Rey. I can see why people would think he’s horny for her since that boyfriend line, but that was the last horny thing he said.

Fucking mad with Power, calm down Finn then again we all wanna tell off our boss.

Rey is gonna escappeeeee damn hang on the side of the wall is that a switch what

Rey just climbing that wall like a monkey.

S H I E L D S D O W N

Fucking Han... is there a trash compactor? You dirty bastard

And here comes the interesting part of Jedi Returns SHOOTY TIME

A T T A C K T H E S C P H I N C T E R (that’s how you spell it right)

Oh I love the sun thing like, it’s a great way of showing the timer without a clock.

Oh look it’s Rey, go on and almost get shot to death

H U G

Escape now, hug later.

The cinematography is good I like the dog fights.

LET”S BLOW SHIT UP

I dunno this just really isn’t dramatic at all

Placing bombs, just like in Jedi.

Here comes Kylo

At least he keeps the mask on, like too many movies rely on faces.

oh light’s almost gone.

M A H B O Y

Ah the stupid part

Wait is his name Finn too?

Like this woulda been way more dramatic if you didn’t know Kylo was Han’s boy.

There’s no music making this awkward and gut-wrenching which you don’t see modern mvoies do.

I’m being torn apart ;w;

What a bitch

Knowing what happens these lines are hilarious

Will you help me

L I G H T S O U T

red

STAB, STAB, STAB~

AHHHHHH HOOO HOO HOO HOOOIIEEEEE

I dunno like, you’d think Han Solo being stabbed to death with his son would feel more heavy but that was just... nothing.

A S P L O D E

Fucking Kylo TEEF

Night time, being chased by a crazy dork in the woods.

oh here it comes

TRAILER FUEL

YEUR A MUNSTAH

REY DOWN

C’mon Finn

TRAAAIIITOOORRRR

MORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAT

Fucking melee battle

Just fueled by the rage of his fallen friend, the desparation of the sun dissolving he fights for his life against a wounded lunatic.

Okay so maybe that cross saber has a use.

FINN DOWN

grabby time

oh no

REY GRABBED THE SABER

ROUND TWO, DARTH LOSER

This is unbearably xcool

Time to shoot the hole... like in new hope.

This ending is just all three original endinds with new stuff

30 seconds

SNEAKED IN SHOOT EM UP WOOOOOOOO

JUST LIKE ANNIE IN EP 1

only cooler

KA BLOOOOIIEEEE

fuckin’ A

this battle is just like in empire strikes back

fucking planet’s falling apart so it’s better

A tempting offer

Who wants kylo ren to be a teacher like he’d be like a nun

W 0 0 T

it’s the comeback

don’t give the hero a dramatic pause to focus

B E A T D O W N

the struggle is real

K-O

Take that loser

there seems to be something between us, Ren

Welp the planet is collapsing woo

Finn don’t you die, Poe is a loser you’re cool Finn

Ah it’s Chewie in the Churger

oh yeah han died like I thought it was han but no he died XDDDDD

GTFO

Here comes the sun doot de doo doot~

Epic

Now for the final scene of congrats.

“Sorry General, your boyfriend was stabbed by his son and then the planet exploded”

H U G

Poor Chewie.

Fucking Artoo what are you doing here.

Like, this shoulda been episode 8 here, it feels like it shoulda ended with han’s funeral and the map was the start of the next movie aunno.

And Finn’s tale of a freedom slave blowing up the nazi death planet comes to a close.

Wait is she leaving?

I thought there was a funeral.

Nothing?

Not even an F?

Yeah then se see’s Luke’s hairy ass and it ends so awkwardly like this movie felt like two movies and THIS SHOULDA BEEN IN THE SEQUEL WHAT

Whoever wrote this is an idiot, whoever directed is even worse.

ANyways my conclusion is that the movie isn’t horrible, but... I dunno it’s about as bad as ep2 tho that movie’s crime was being boring, this one was too much story crammed into a short period and ruined opportunities.

I might watch ep 8 but I just am not invested like

HAN SOLO DYING MEANT NOTHING

Like fucking handing him a lightsaber what kinda ending is that

R O G U E O N E W A S B E T T E R.

The end.

#Star Wars #Well that was fun writing down #Might do that more often tho WHO READ THIS? Like if you read this I hope you were entertained

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inazuma-eleven-translations · 6 years

Text

Walker July 13th 2018 Summary

Summary/ Recap of Inazuma Walker July 13th 2018

WARNING! Halfway through there are spoilers for episode 15.

Mo says Hino’s hair looks like Nosaka’s. Okay. Hino says to call him Nosaka shachou.

Fan’s question: Kazemaru and Gouenji making plans to go and watch the nationals together has been on their mind all day and they can’t stop thinking about how the two arranged it. Basically, why those two?

Hino says it’s cause they’re old friends. The fan is very interested in how they made arrangements. Hino is not too interested.

Mo comments fans are interested in things Hino is not too interested in a lot.

Then Mo’s like - well, it’s because they’re both members of the Enforcement committee etc. and Hino’s like, oh yeah. That’s what I meant to say.

Mo adds, they wanted to check out the new talent at nationals.

...Hino refers to Kageyama as Kage-chan…

MO HAS ALSO STARTED TO REFER TO KAGEYAMA AS KAGE-CHAN. STOP THIS.

Next question: If Kami no Aqua tastes kinda like grape juice, what does God Bull taste like? Kinda like Apple juice? Orange juice?

According to Mo - HAH she wants to say it tastes like Red Bull, but isn’t sure if she can. Well, she says it doesn’t taste like fruit, but more like overflowing energy in her opinion.

Hino says it’s a taste he can’t describe.

Mo says there’s a teeny tiny chance they might collaborate to make real Red Bull, and asks fans what it should taste like.

Next question: At Inazuma Fest 2018, are all vending machines going to be selling God Bull?

Hino: Well, no.

Mo says no in a nicer way.

Last question: God Bull’s CM was so cute! Thank you, Hino Shachou! I’d be so happy if you made interesting goods/ products to match sponsors.

Hino says they too focused on God Bull.

Mo says it’s a good idea, like - Hakuren’s sponsor is the white rabbit manjuu, which would be delicious if they were real, but then she’s like… Making Kidou Construction come true would be difficult.

They talk about collaboration with real companies for the sponsors using the characters.

Recap of episode 15:

Hino: I’m terribly sorry to fans of Zeus, since it was a really short match.

YES, YOU APOLOGIZE!!!

He says they should have shown a longer match, but apparently the true motive wasn’t to show Zeus, and that’s why it was so short. Mo mentions at least in the games Raimon can have a proper match against Zeus. Hino says he’ll keep that in mind.

Raimon VS Zeus

They fly a lot. Hino says it’s more like the Olympics. Mo doesn’t remember flying in the Olympics. They compare the Nintendo Olympic Mario game thing.

ARISU! Hino calls him Heruse-kun/ Perseus. Hino calls him cool. The next generation. Tenkuu no Yaiba.

Aphrodi - God Knows Impact. He’s called beautiful.

Hades is the other new first year, who tried his best. Brown-haired Captain comments that he’s young. Hino’s like, dude you’re both middle school kids.

Hino comments on the new goalkeeper. He seems more focused on this guy than aRISU. Mo asks is it okay for him to dye his hair blonde in school. Apparently kids at Zeus are encouraged to ‘become like Gods’ in their appearance and heart.

I’m still salty about Raimon, so I’m skipping anything about them.

Hino says if Sasuke loses weight and dyes his hair blond he will become Gouenji.

Mo comments Aphrodi reacted well to the loss. ‘It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, what’s important if what you can obtain even from a loss’.

Mo asks for more Zeus in the games. Hino says it’s difficult with so many schools. Mo brings up in the past Raimon were the only main characters, but this time there is many.

OKUNO OKUNO OKUNO OKUNO. I mean, Outei. Mo says the atmosphere is kinda bad. Even though they got 3 goals, the coach says they need at least 10, and it’s a lot of stress on these kids.

Mo asks if a move like Death Crater is really okay. Well, she thinks it’s cool.

Next we have Nishi’s Gay Shield, I mean - Ouke no Tate (Royal Shield). Mo says it’s cool. Nishi’s flashback. They comment this flashback is very Showa-style (era before current Heisei… Umm… Like, 90s? Early 2000s? EDIT: late 1920s to 1989 apparently - THANK YOU). He says Nishi was an elementary school kid here - WOW. What elementary school?!

Nishi went to save this girl but thought the fire made it impossible but Nosaka ran in. Mo says he cute. Okay. They comment on the burn on his back coming from this fire.

Next Nishi and Nosaka talk. Hino says Nosaka had difficult circumstances.

Next Nosaka uses his Grid Omega tactic. He seems pretty fired up.

Seeing Seishou defeated like this, viewers heart’s hurt.

Nosaka stuff, eh, if you watch the subs there’s nothing that needs explaining.

Takemi and Akane-chan are here. The Ares program doesn’t let them read manga, meet people etc… Hino says they were raised in a virtual reality world. He’s joking?

Nosaka has brain tumour, jesus I thought this was a kid’s show.

So Outei kids couldn’t play with toys/ meet people they want - OH MY GOD OKUNO YOU POOR BABY

So Asuto has spied on both Haizaki and Nosaka.

ZEUS

Heruse-kun is referred to by Perseus, and Haeno-kun is referred to as Hades. Mo says looking at them, you wouldn’t think they would lose. Hino says the current Raimon is song. Mo like, yeah cause they the main characters… According to Hino Ares is the protagonist. Zeus had grown a lot in their hearts and come very far.

Episode 16 - No long CM. Keyword is Atsuya the Bear Killer. Nae-chan will also appear, a rare girl player. Hino forgets Norika exists for a split second.

Info about new licenses and cards - Nosaka’s. If I buy that can I get Okuno’s.

Something about new app you can connect with Eleven Band.

If you buy 3000 worth of Inazuma goods from Takara Tomy you get limited edition Nosaka license.

Last is about live performance of opening and closing.

Now for the best part about the episode:

#inazuma walker

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emmastudies · 7 years

Note

i'm having so much trouble concentrating on my paper it's like i know i have to do it but i just cant get myself to actually DO IT i dont know what's wrong with me, not even studyblr is keeping me motivated anymore look i know im probably just wasting your time by sending you this message but i dont know who else to talk to and you're my favorite studyblr so yeah i'm sorry i just dont know what to do im so stressed out i want to have a decent output but im so afraid i'll fail :(

Hellooo my love! First of all, thank you so much! That means a lot :-) I’ll start with some words of encouragement and say you can absolutely do it, even if it is smaller pieces. I’ll list a few things that help me concentrate, yet get motivated:

draft it - I have started drafting every essay/assessment/task I do because it helps sooo much. It gives me an idea what they markers are looking for, what I should and want to include. I’m able to roughly plan out the structure and what needs to be added or researched. It also means I can come back it again and again for reference. I always feel having a draft makes the process less daunting since I’ve already got an idea - I’m not starting from scratch.

break it down (dance wise, obviously) - once you’ve got that plan, you can mark out the key areas you need to do. For example, an introduction! When I’m typing up an assessment, I tend to write out the key headers so I have an easy to work with the list. If I add mini bullet point ideas from my draft, that usually helps with the cohesion of the work.

do small sections - recently I’ve been using my pomodoro session tracker printable in conjunction with my Forest app. It has been so good for keeping me on track and recording my progress. Even though I take breaks (both long and short), it keeps me coming back which is the key thing. I try to work in 20-30 minute sessions. Usually, I can hold my attention for that time then I do something else for a couple of minutes.

skip bits - sometimes you’ll be working strongly and then hit a wall. You go blank and have no idea what to write next or just blatantly don’t want too. In these instances, just move on. Write in a reminder such as [come back to this: remember to mention Jones (2012) theory on ... and compare to Smith (2004)]. This way you can keep going and don’t have to interrupt your flow. Definitely a good way to not let the time pressure yet stress stop you from working.

listen to music - generally I’d recommend soft music without lyrics but honestly listening to my regular playlist is so motivating for me. I’ll sometimes have a good jam for a few minutes or just have it in the background. I’ve managed to learn how to be able to focus well whilst listening to it so it actually helps me. Especially with essay writing - I type to the music so I think and type faster hah!

think about getting it done - the sooner you’re done, the more time you have to edit. One of the worst things is completing a task, reading it over and thinking “man, this is shit” but not having time to go back and edit. The earlier you finish, the earlier you can go in and make those changes to ensure it really is good work! I will always use grammarly.com to check things over but sometimes will send it to a friend. In a group chat I have with a couple of friends, we usually proofread each others stuff even though I’m doing communications, another is doing business and another is doing psychology!

I hope this helps! Best of luck with everything xx

#ask #question #questions #q

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jjnonken · 4 years

Photo

Right. So.

I can log into their website and add my car to my “garage”. Cutesy. What if I have another vehicle that’s not a Lexus? Can I add that? Because I’m pretty sure my real garage doesn’t really give a fuck what I put into it. This is a special “garage” that only allows Lexus inside it.

Please don’t do that. Stop trying so hard to engage my sentimentalism. Don’t try to manipulate my emotions. Don’t make me hate my car, I just bought it.

Why is there a picture of a 2020 RX on this page? You lost all your photos of other years? Or are you dangling it in front of me to try to convince me that, against all evidence, I can suddenly afford a brand new model of this car?

There’s a reason I bought a 2014, and it wasn’t because I had piles of money. Here you go again, trying to manipulate me. Put a picture of my car on there, or something generic like your logo. But you won’t upsell me quite so easily, and when people try to manipulate me, it just pisses me off. Witness the fact that I’ve already spent four paragraphs ranting about how you’re trying to manipulate me.

So now you’re pushing your mobile app on me. On one hand, this particular car probably can’t be controlled much from the app; it doesn’t have all the nifty extras. That’s a shame, and I’d have liked to have those extras, but a) it was the right car at the right time and b) not having them probably saved me some money. So I’m OK merely having a luxury SUV with keyless entry, one-button start, garage door opener, compass, sound system, lots of leg room, more than enough engine power, Automatic Everything, comfort and convenience. On the other hand, the app apparently will do things like track when I need to do regular maintenance. I’m notoriously neglectful of my cars, and I’d like to keep this one for a while, so I want to change that. Having a proactive reminder system on my phone should help. Having a reminder on your web site that requires me to log into it first? Not so much.

So I installed your app. The first thing I noticed is that it is apparently in no way connected to my account on the web site. For all that is holy, why the fuck not? That doesn’t make sense.

So I created an account using the same credentials. (Password security advice rant deleted.) I checked the box that says “KEEP ME LOGGED IN” (all-caps theirs) and clicked Register or Sign In or whatever. So now I’m signed in. I paste the VIN into the field for a VIN and click next, decline to bother with the optional nickname (I really only own one Lexus RX 350 at this time, I think I’ll be able to tell it apart from my bicycle) and click Next or OK or Go or whatever.

See the last screenshot. If you can’t read it, it says “Provided VIN already associated to a different OEM customer”.

OK, so somebody else used to own this car, registered it with your app, and then sold the car to me. (Presumably not on the same day, but the sequence is the same.) Actually, they sold it to a dealer, who then sold it to me. And it’s also possible that the first owner registered it, sold it on, and the second owner never bothered or was unable to register it, and so the sequence has extra steps in it that I’m missing. Either way, it seems that Toyota is unable to grasp a concept, so I’ll try to explain it here.

Dear Toyota slash Lexus: Some time after people buy a vehicle, they may sell it and buy an upgrade. Usually the car they sell is still drive-able, so somebody with a lesser budget will purchase the now-used vehicle and drive it around for a while. Often cars will change hands multiple times before their lives are over.

That means that there’s a chance that whomever registered the car via the app may, at some point, no longer be the owner. That, in turn, means that there’s a good chance the new owner will want to use your app.

That is the case here: I’m the third owner of record of this vehicle, and I’d like to register it via the app. In fact, I’d rather not have what is now a third party to have control of my car via their phone.

Sorry, what’s that? It turns out you do understand this concept. Oh, I’m sorry, I was applying Hanlon’s Razor, which says that I should never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence, and was assuming this was incompetence.

Because the other choice is that you’re doing this on purpose. And I cannot imagine any reason that you would do this on purpose except to allow prior owners to steal my car or gain access to its contents, and That. Is. A. Lawsuit. Waiting. To. Happen.

So, which is it? A company full of people too stupid to understand this concept, or going out of their way to screw over anybody who can’t afford to buy a new car from you? Because I actually can think of one other answer, which is that you just don’t give a fuck about your customers and you’re too lazy to do it right.

I did look for an option to claim the car. Do you know that Ford had my old Taurus registered under a previous owner as well? Not an app, this was before that was A Thing, but it was on their website. And they had a way for me to claim the car as my own, built right into their website. I no longer own that Taurus, so it’s no longer an issue, but I remember being pleased that I was able to do that.

So, what. Did Ford hire all the smart people, and leave you the morons? Just wondering.

No matter what the answer is, this isn’t a good look for a company making luxury cars: too stupid to understand a simple concept; too greedy; too lazy and not giving a fuck.

So... what will it take to get the previous owner out of my car?

Ah, here’s their instructional video. I wonder if that will help? Hah hah.

One more complaint. You know that “Keep me signed in” box? Doesn’t work. If I hit the Back key, it returns me to that screen, and I have no choice but to go through the login procedure again (or quit the app. Hobson’s Choice, I guess).

As for whether I got the correct VIN: I’ve recorded the VIN in my password manager and pasted it directly from there. If I have it wrong, I have it definitively wrong. But in either case, there was no typo. I’ll check the VIN again but I’m pretty sure I’ve got it right. [edit] I checked, like, three times. It’s correct.

#lexus #hanlon's razor #lexus app #hobson's choice

0 notes

comicteaparty · 5 years

Text

April 18th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on April 18th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya by Reimena Yee; Edited by Atla Hrafney.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya by Reimena Yee; Edited by Atla Hrafney~! (https://reimenayee.com/the-carpet-merchant-of-konstantiniyya/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

my favorite scene is definitely the one where zeynel sneaks off in the middle of the night after eating the cat to go pray. i love this scene for how emotionally raw it is. like this is somewhat being stripped and presented at their most desperate and vulnerable, and every part of the scene shows that. while at the same time, it has a good balance of feeling sort of mystical and expressing zeynel's faith through the choice in visuals and how many of the panels are composed together.

another of my favorite scenes is the end of volume 2 where certain ppl kick the bucket. it too was a powerful scene in terms of emotion and vulnerability, and another moment where i truly felt like the character in question was being their truest selves without the layers that ppl build up to protect themselves. not to mention i appreciate the bittersweetness of how it played out and how kindness kind of won in the end.

mathtans

Heeeey there. So, I kinda screwed this one up. Because normally when I reach the navigation page, I hit "FIRST". Aaaand... yeah, that wasn't the Carpet story. There's apparently a whole lot of other stories that come first. I was very confused, and this was a busy week. I figured it out half an hour ago and am reading now.

RebelVampire

oh dear. thats a lot worse than i was assuming too cause i knew the other comic was interspersed between the first and second volume. but now im glad i was vague in that last answer XD

mathtans

I was surprised it had been running since 2013 and then I noticed the artist had said they started it in 2016 in their kickstarter and derp. So I'll just kinda thumbs up stuff as I spot it.

reimena

If it makes it easier; here are the ebook versions of Volume I and II

Vol I: https://reimenayee.itch.io/the-carpet-merchant-voli Vol II: https://reimenayee.itch.io/the-carpet-merchant-volii

mathtans

Oh, hello author. Thanks.

(And now I must go tend to the wee one.)

RebelVampire

let's see then in the meantime. i loved the first scene where we see zeynel plying his trade and selling a carpet. like the scene immediately paints a picture for the visuals and draws you in with them. and the visuals are consistently beautiful throughout the comic.

but by contrast, i also appreciate the scene later on in the second volume where Mora wtfs Zeynel just taking the insults and Zeynel explains how its part of the job etc. etc. It was interesting to see this other take on his job and that not everything about selling carpets is all that fun and even if youre a cool vampire, sometimes you gotta swallow your pride and accept customers being dumbasses.

mathtans

Back-ish. Oh yes, the visuals are amazing. Not just the carpet patterns either. Even the sheep were different.

Lots of neat cultural stuff too.

RebelVampire

what i appreciate i think is the character of the backgrounds. cause a lot of them have what im going to describe as this splash effect. and while it may not always have anything to do with whats in the main panels and is mostly there to not be white space, i feel they always add great atmosphere to each individual page.

yeah i really adored the culture stuff. this is definitely not a heavily featured culture in comics so it was super interesting to get to see it.

though i also appreciate later zeynel's ability to just kind of meld into different cultures. cause it really gives the opportunity to compare, contrast, and appreciate

one thing i also want to say in regards to culture is that i also appreciate that the comic balances having unique culture features while still telling a story that is really universal to anybody. so you dont need to have some deep specific connection to the culture in order to appreciate the story in its fullest

QUESTION 2. One of the comic’s central themes is related to stories and story-telling. Overall, what do you personally think the comic is saying about the importance of stories in our lives? Of the fables that were juxtaposed to the main narrative, which one captured your imagination the most? How did you feel it related to what we were seeing in the story? In what ways did you see stories affect the lives of the characters within the story? Additionally, what did you make of Zeynel’s explanation about each carpet having a story within it? How do you think this applies to the works we see in our own lives? In total, how has the comic changed the way you see stories and how they shape our lives?

mathtans

Okay, little one's settled back in the crib, more fully back now.

Yeah, the story seems universal (from what I've gathered so far, with the two families). So it's more a bonus, the phrases and references and things.

RebelVampire

ill tackle the second question first. my favorite fable juxtaposed to the main narrative was Karagoz and Hacivat. there were a lot of reasons this juxtaposition really worked for me. first off, its premise of being a show that zeynel was watching i think somewhat helped build a feeling of nostalgia. like because the show was in the past, it helps illustrate how far away zeynel is from that. however, i think it further helps set up the idea of culture clashing. and predictively shows that both sides kind of have a negative and specific view of the opposing culture. so when these come up in the story, they help paint a particular perspective regarding them. and kind of force us as the readers to recognize that both sides have their biases as zeynel adjusts to life in different places.

mathtans

I know the feeling of being a better listener than talking about oneself. (Just as I'm reading, not sure if that necessarily relates to the stories idea.)

RebelVampire

in terms of the importance of stories, i feel like the comic was overall trying to say that stories help us connect to the world around us. and i kind of think this is represented with young zeynel. cause he sucks at talking about himself, but tells and listens to stories to connect with others. and this is how he bonds with people, learns about the world, and somehow down the line eventually learns about himself.

reimena

I do have thoughts of the intention behind the Karagoz and Hacivat scene, but I'll wait until everyone's done typing! (unless you want it now)

RebelVampire

you may go ahead since math definitely wouldnt be close to that one. participate as you would like

mathtans

I agree with what Rebel said, both about the bonding and learning through stories, and about the do your thing and don't wait for me, I'm a slow reader in general.

reimena

Haha I'm just lurking (doing other things while keeping this discord open). Only dropping in when necessary. (I appreciate all of the discussion though! <3)

mathtans

There's some really good non-dialogue panelling as Zeynel is opening himself up to the merchant life.

reimena

With the Karagoz and Hacivat story, it was meant to act as first, a parallel to Zeynel and Mora (with Zeynel being Hacivat, and Mora being Karagoz). Second, a subversion of the Other. Since Vol II is a jab at Orientalism, I thought it would be fun to have characters who are normally seen as "Other" to call out the Western world as their "Other".

Muslims both in the past and the present have always been constructed as monstrous or barbaric in Europe. Very rarely in a visual medium's critique of Orientalism do I see the opposite. Especially in the context of the era the comic is set in.

RebelVampire

i definitely appreciate the subversion of the "Other" then if it was intentional

reimena

Which explains the European wooden puppets at the end. The costumes, the white facepaint and blush, and the 3D construction of the design. Those are European. And they look rather jarring and out of place in a book that's mostly visually Ottoman.

mathtans

I was a little worried about how Zeynel's parents would react to his independence. It felt spot-on in the end, in particular the embrace and such, I'm glad he managed it. (Then fainting, hah.)

RebelVampire

this is true, their design really is odd compared to the rest and it did make me wtf for a moment admittedly. but i also definitely thought it made sense in the context

zeynel's parents reaction surprised the heck out of me, but probably in the good way

usually when you have overbearing parents, you expect them to be stubborn and not able to be persuaded. and yet here they were not and i thought that was a nice variety.

mathtans

Yeah, I was wondering about that, but the conditional acceptance worked for me.

Oh, well, the next sequence is a kick to the heart for me.

reimena

That's because they really love Zeynel. It's more overprotectiveness than being stubborn

mathtans

Speaking as someone with infertility issues in the family, ouch. Captured well though.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Though much of the comic is about stories, there is also a lot of focus given to defining ourselves and achieving our dreams. Between Zeynel and Ayşe, which character’s struggle with their future path did you identify with most? What about it made it compelling? What do you think the comic shows and says about the way we define ourselves and pursue our dreams as it relates to others? Further, the narrative somewhat creates an identity crisis for Zeynel when he becomes a djinni/vampire. What part of his transformation did you find most compelling in his reaction towards it? What do you think we can learn from the comic in regards to moments like this where who we are changes? Is there anything else you’d like to mention in regards to identity and the comic?

i think i identified most with zeynel in regards to the future path struggle. cause ive been there with zeynel where you dont know what to do. and then you encounter ppl like Ayşe who just are 100% of what they want to do. and it can be an intimidating experience that makes you feel more lost sometimes, which i do think at first kind of happened. mostly cause zeynel really opened up and laid everything bare after some pressuring and i think its because Ayşe caused those emotions to reverberate more strongly than ever.

mathtans

Yeah, I've never really been clear on where I'm going, but I'm highly organized in the moment. Then there's those times when I know where I'm going (start a family) and reality just kicks you from behind and says you need to adapt those plans.

RebelVampire

yeah. but ultimately what i found about zeynel's struggle was how we were shown how he overcame it. in that he found something interesting that he was good at and decided to give it a try against all he was taught. but that it was something he did with those around him supporting him. and i think in a large way this is part of what the comic shows about defining ourselves. that in essence we are defined somewhat by the people around us, such as how zeynel's parents picked his career or how Ayşe herself was defined by her family's occupation. but at the same time changing how we see ourselves is made a lot easier when those around us who originally helped define us support explorations into other areas.

mathtans

Yeah, Zeynel also got a lot better at talking about himself. (I'm at the part where he heads off, runs into a guy and is suddenly telling him all about himself and carpets.)

RebelVampire

its easier to talk about yourself when youre proud of what you do

i really enjoyed how zeynel's vampire situation kind of goes through a lot of the stages of grief. though not all with zeynel either. cause i think denial hit Ayşe a lot, lot harder. but i think it played out really well because of that since his reaction felt extremely realistic.

and i love how hard they tried to make it work before hitting that acceptance stage

but all together i think the comic shows us that sometimes we do change, its sad, but we have to accept it cause no matter how hard we may try to make something work, the reality is it doesnt always

mathtans

I'm at the transformation part. That's rough. Some stuff you can just write off, but then reality hits you once again... and yeah, I agree Rebel, reality can be at odds with what we want or believe.

Interesting how the tavern guy, while being a jerk, still had an element of sympathy to him, what with his history.

RebelVampire

i felt bad for tavern guy. cause he was definitely a jerk, but at the same time all i can think of is how this poor guy will be found and no one will know who the murderer was. and maybe therell be a vague description of some out of town dude showing up. but then nothing cause this isnt modern day and its not like they have forensics or security survellaince footage.

mathtans

Yeah. Though I guess he did kinda want death, just earlier when he was with the sultan... his reality didn't work out either.

RebelVampire

it certainly did not.

i like to think tavern dude was the showcase of what happens when you choose to define yourself with anger and revenge

mathtans

Perhaps he wanted to beat someone up and figured an out-of-towner was better than someone who might have relatives nearby.

The night imagery when he goes back home is very effective

RebelVampire

that is probably true cause that scene made me marvel about how if you killed for self defense, the best course of action probably is to just run the heck away. cause like, who are you going to tell? and what is the liklihood those you tell are going to believe you that it was self defense? cause if i was like some town guard and some out-of-towner said to me "nah dude it was totally self defense" i might be like "idk man that sounds suspicious"

QUESTION 4. Much of the second volume focuses on the character of Mora and Zeynel’s affect on him. Overall, what is your opinion on Mora? Do you feel Zeynel handled the situation correctly, or would you have done it differently? Why do you think Zeynel had the affect he did on Mora? Do you feel Mora’s regrets at the end redeemed him, or do you feel that he had done too much damage by this point? Do you think Zeynel was sincere in saying that he would try and start forgiving Mora at the end? In essence, what do you think Zeynel and Mora’s story together says about good and bad people? Additionally, what is your take away in regards to the themes of redemption and forgiveness? What in the comic made you feel this way?

i love mora because he is a conflicted, murderous teddy bear who got dealt the worst hand in life.

and i think zeynel handled the situation 100% correctly. because i think that played into a large reason why he has an affect on mora. cause i think its relevant to even the scene where we first see mora. in that mora is flat out just not used to kindness. and that she be shown kindness reminds mora that not everyone are the people who were awful to him in his past.

mathtans

I don't think I'll get that far. Ayse is taking this better than I thought she would.

RebelVampire

honestly i didnt know what to expect for how Ayşe would take it. i was legit as nervous as zeynel about it. cause this is an unbelievable situation where you have to ask a person to 1) believe youre now a supernatural creature and 2) be okay with the fact that you sorta murdered someone, even if out of self defense

but i enjoyed i didnt know what to expect

cause it helped put me in zeynel's shoes

mathtans

Yeah, I kinda thought she'd let him go and try to find a cure or something. But in the story she told, I guess she still needs him as a constant in her life.

It's kind of regressed Zeynel back to the point where he's not sure who he is any more, or what he wants. Before it was his family affecting him, now it's this inner demon.

RebelVampire

since you wont be to that volume i wont dwell on it, but i do want to finish the last set of questions off by saying i do feel mora earned his redemption in a sense. not in the lets all forgiveness sort of way, but in the sense he finally took a satisfying step in the right direction since he acknowledged everything he had done to that point was wrong. but with mora and zeynel, i think the story is saying bad and good people are still people. and that bad people are often bad for reasons and that while we dont have to forgive them, theres a degree to which we should still show them some human decency. and that if said bad person is trying to redeem themselves, its good to encourage it even if to us personally they cant be redeemed.

mathtans

Definitely address your questions, they seem like good ones.

RebelVampire

i think thats a good way to look at the transformation. that hes regressed. cause its definitely an identity crisis

like even without the vampire thing i doubt zeynel would have labeled himself as someone capable of murder

so that in itself is a holy crap moment

mathtans

He never knew what he was capable of until it was thrust onto him.

Something I've noticed narratively is the use of flashback. We started with the little blurb on the boat... then to the carpet selling... then back again 25 years. (There was something similar in the very first story too, the one I started reading accidentally.)

RebelVampire

yeah and tbh i think thats kind of within the comic as well regarding identity. that as much as we can come to define ourselves, we may still be missing portions of that definition if we never test ourselves in certain ways and find out what were actually capable of in certain situation.

mathtans

I always hesitate a bit with that style, like I wonder if it's really necessary, but I thought it worked well in terms of how the 25 years got kind of "fast forwarded" through the relationship to bring us to the present rather than jumping back. That was good.

(No idea if that narrative idea happens again.)

That's a good way of putting it, Rebel. Not only missing portions from testing but if other people are needed to bring those things into focus for us.

RebelVampire

yeah the use of flashback is interesting. though i think i most appreciate the first flashback transition from the boat to zeynel's successful merchant life. cause i think the boat really set up some great expectations. so when you see zeynel all happy selling a carpet youre like "hey werent you just eating a rat on a boat how did that come about."

mathtans

I'm not sure I made the link that fast, I just thought they were related or something.

RebelVampire

well even related i still think it sets up ominous tone for future events. so eh.

mathtans

I'm reminded of a conversation earlier today with colleagues, of when someone gets old and feels like maybe it's just their time and isn't necessarily proactive about health and stuff. But others may need that person to still be around. So they make an effort for that reason.

This two-panel style between Zeynel and Ayse is pretty effective.

RebelVampire

i think thats true to whats happening in the story for sure. cause as confident as Ayşe is, i dont think she wouldve accomplished her goals without zeynel. and tbf we dont really see them have that many friends who arent family and working for them. so they probably a close knit group

one thing i want to say at that end is that this comic really made me want to learn how to make carpets so i too can have beautiful carpets on my floor

mathtans

It's like, there's so much emotion here, it needs space to breathe.

I think there was a tutorial panel somewhere in there.

(For making carpets.)

RebelVampire

there was and id be lying if i said i didnt legitimately studied it for a bit

but then i gave up

and felt Ayşe's pain

mathtans

Made it to #300. Rough stuff. Very emotional.

You'll just have to weave your stories in the meantime, Rebel.

RebelVampire

this chat was missing a pun

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Reimena Yee and Atla Hrafney, as well, for making The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Reimena Yee’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://reimenayee.com/the-carpet-merchant-of-konstantiniyya/

Pledge for a Hard Copy: https://unbound.com/books/the-carpet-merchant-voli/

Reimena’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/reimenayee

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