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lordeemailarchive · 2 years

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A FINGER POINTING AT THE MOON

(24/05/2022) (Solar Institute Bulletin No. 14) (From Leeds)

5 minutes post show, taking it all off

Bonjourrrrrrrr to all the cuties in my e address book!!!!!!! It’s been two weeks and two days since the final curtain fell in the U.S. Feels both like ages ago and yesterday. I lay around in Santa Barbara for a few days after everyone went back, complete solitude feeling bizarro after five weeks of bus life, walking along the beach deep in thought about you. I can’t get over how generous and loving and supportive an audience you were each night. I’ve honestly never had such a good touring experience. I met Annie-B for a drink in New York and she kept talking about what she called the chanting, all of you singing every word of every song with me, it isn’t normal, all my colleagues whose first tour with us it is are in disbelief like, they really know EVERY word. You do. I’m so lucky to have you. Thankyou for coming — I’ll come again as soon as you’ll have me.

Some of Lauren’s pics from the last couple days — our first outdoor SP show 🌙😮‍💨

In the break, my priority was to rest. Two nasty sicknesses in two weeks and a gross wet cough hanging around, had to dry it out, get better for you. I didn’t fully rest, if I’m honest, there’s a fire lit under me at the moment, did some secret things in NY and LA for a week or so before getting to London last week. I get fucked by the jet lag coming this way every time, so I decided to be nice to myself for a change and fly a week early. I got in at midday, sun shining, arrived at the hotel feeling nauseous and corpse-adjacent, but I grabbed a sugar free Red Bull (it makes no sense to me that caffeine-wise I cannot drink so much as a strong black tea yet a RB gives me jitterless wings, deeply off brand but leaning in) and got on the move, walking fast, music in my ears, feeling this fizz of excitement growing being back in London finally after 3 (!!) years. I honestly had one of the best afternoons I’ve had all year, just walking with music loud in my headphones, the same thing I’ve been doing since I was a teen, still feeling as good as it ever did. Spent days like this, blissing out on the very specific UK energy of people in pubs, people playing football or sprawling out in the parks, a boy flying past me on a bike screaming “YASS METHOD ACTING” at dusk on a Wednesday, smoked mackerel salad at Cafe Deco. So happy to be stepping over British gobs of spit once more.

Jetlagged but joyful in london, a little magic trip out of town, before that 3 days in NY, bought this Balenciaga shirt what do u think

Me in Paris…. The ORIGINAL ‘can u reach me?’ queen

I’m feeling really good, really open. Possibility all around. Puuuumped for Europe. Can’t believe I’ll be seeing you all again, so special coming to your cities, each one so different and offering us so much in the way of food, art, language. Gonna try to sightsee as much as I can.I think you’re gonna fall in love with Marlon. If you haven’t heard his music before, start with Come To Me, Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore, his new song My Boy, Dark Child, and Vampire Again. Few tickets left for these shows.

THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE…………….IN VERY EXCITING NEWS WE ARE COMING TO MEXICO IN OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our shows are in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, and it would mean the world to me if you came!!! I adore playing in Mexico, and I’m so happy this is happening…. Think I’m gonna add some special mx-only setlist moments… watch this space… The tickets go onsale Monday May 30 at 11am your time, and the presale code is strangeairlines Reading Fleur Jaeggy’s Sweet Days Of Discipline, Ernaux’s A Girl’s Story, Saunders’ A Swim In a Pond In the Rain, which I bought when it came out and didn’t get round to but a friend is currently reading it and inspired me to get it out. Lauren gave me Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith which I’m hyped to hit next. VERY happy that Elif Batuman has released Either/Or, the follow-up to The Idiot, which you may remember me recommending previously. Suitcase is basically full of books at this point. I’m loving Kendrick. I cannot get over the most popular and influential artist in modern music displaying a working nervous system, admitting mistakes, trying to process intergenerational trauma and prejudice. I love the way the album opens, the pace and heat of the first few songs, and later Count Me Out, the build and strings in Auntie Diaries … special.

Checking in on my SCsWWtS… Look at Katia’s sunshine caprese, and Connor’s focaccia. SP as food is really a zone of great delight to me— always send these to Ophelia.

Check out Alexander’s server who is a DEAD RINGER FOR ME?????

Love seeing Seth’s merch on the beach — please send me pics of merch in nature this summer, I really love seeing it. Should add that i forgot to pack a cap on this trip and am wearing this cap every fucking day, kind of embarrassing, if you have an old cap you are parting with and think i’d like send me an email hahaha

Ash’s gorgeous tattoo, and a sliver of her Melo one above.

DEVON CAME TO ELEVEN SHOWS ON THE U.S. RUN, THAT MUST BE SOME KIND OF RECORD, THANKYOU DEVON I AM NOT WORTHY!!! Alright, that’s all for now….. Leaving you with a paragraph from this brilliant New Yorker essay on parenting by Jia that’s staying with me: “The work demanded creativity and intuition: spending a day alone with my infant daughter reminded me of shepherding a friend through a first-time acid trip, continually gauging whether she needed to look at a flower, or listen to music, or sob for ten minutes, or be alone in the dark.” Can’t wait to be shepherding each other again in a few days. Loving you, always, forever, L xxxxxxx

(source: received this email)

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honey-and-strawberry · 3 years

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Move in day: 1 (part 1 of Ponytails & Overnights)

An ot7 MX (non idol) x OC university au series.

Warnings: little bit of swearing. Self esteem issues, but gets very wholesome.

Character profiles

Series opening song: Breathe For You by Monsta X

❗️Hyun-Jae❗️

This must be the address. The house looks bigger than the pictures! I hope the inside is just as nice as the outside. The landlord’s garden in the yard is well kept, I wonder if they grow their own vegetables in the greenhouse. I should’ve waited till Hyungwon was free, so he could help me move in right away. It’s ok, he’ll be here soon. He lives in the house next door anyway.

I go to the front door and punch in the code for the lock that was sent to me by email. The decor is very homey, definitely done with love and time. I’m welcomed by a sweet older woman, who was tending to her indoor plants.

“Wang Mi-Ja?” I ask, hoping it was the landlord. She cheerfully nods.

“Please, call me Mimi” she introduces herself. I bow while she puts down her watering can.

“You must be Chae Hyun-Jae, I didn’t expect you to come early” she gestures to the stairs.

“Oh, I’m sorry” I apologize.

“No, don’t be sorry, hearing what Hyungwon says about you, I should’ve known you would be punctual” she grins, leading us up the stairs. She knows that Hyungwon is my brother?

“Hyungwon talks about me?” I worry.

“All good, sweetie. He told me about your application right after you sent it” Mimi unlocks the upstairs door. I hope him talking about me wasn’t the deciding factor in accepting me.

Touring around the apartment, I am so impressed by the space! Fully furnished. Updated appliances. An actual walk in shower next to a deep tub in the bathroom. There is a small dry-erase board by the front door that has a list of house rules.

No boys staying overnight.

Clean after yourself.

Don��t be too loud.

I get to my bedroom and it’s definitely better than the pictures Hyungwon sent me. I could see myself living here.

“Remember, you’re the first one here, the rest of the girls are moving in soon. Ji-Eun should be coming in later today, she will be staying in the first bedroom to the right. I left envelopes for everyone that has keys and facility numbers” Mimi informs.

“Thank you so much, you took wonderful care of the place” I compliment.

“Thank you, if you need me, I’ll be downstairs” she nods before exiting the apartment. This is so much better than my last place! Even if my roommates aren’t the best, I’m still going to enjoy this! Speaking of the roommates, who are these girls? Checking out the envelopes on the dining table, it seems like Mimi addressed them with the girls' names. Cecily Bradford, Phoebe Adler, Park So-Yi, and Lee Ji-Eun. Two Americans I see. This is going to be new, but nothing I can’t handle. I plop on the couch to get a feel for the living room. Wrapping myself in the soft throw blanket, I finally get the sense of “home”. The silence is cleansing. Yes, I grew up in a silent household, but at least this silence isn’t brewed by passive aggressive tension.

Brought a suitcase to my bedroom to slowly unpack. Filling up my dresser and closet before I start the rest of my room. There’s a knock on the front door, it must be Hyungwon.

I greet him at the door, his arms are full of food.

“Since today is your move-in day, I’m treating you to lunch” Hyungwon greets. That’s very sweet of him. It’s not unlike him to treat me to food, but I didn’t expect this much!

“Aw, thank you”. We set the table and enjoy the menagerie of delicious food.

“When do the rest of the girls come in?” Hyungwon pauses from eating.

“Ji-Eun is coming in today, everyone else I don’t know” I shrug.

“Are you and the boys excited to have new neighbors?”.

“Seeing pretty girls everyday sounds nice, but you’re living next door so I’m shit out of luck” he teases.

“Eh!” I exclaim, smacking his arm. He laughs like a mischievous child.

“I could catch someone's eye” I pout.

“Yeah, someone is going to wonder why this animal escaped the zoo” he cackles. “Come on, you make it easy”. I stick my tongue out at him.

“Tell me about your roommates. You told me their names before, but do you like them?” I wonder, changing the subject.

“They’re all great, closest things I could have for brothers” he nods.

“Then why don’t you talk about them more to me?”.

“I don’t know what I could say. They’re all so different, but we all get along so well”.

“I hope it’ll be the same way with me and the girls” I sigh.

“Doubt it. The last group of girls that lived here got into so many fights, some of the guys had to step in to stop them from hurting each other” he leans back. Oh shit, there’s no way! What could’ve prompted that fight? Why haven’t they moved out if they keep fighting?

“Did Mimi do anything about it?” I wonder.

“She gave them warnings, but nothing more than that. She didn’t know how violent they got, she only heard the yells” he shrugs. “I hope for your sake those girls can’t fight”.

“Oh stop, we’re not going to be like that” I shush him.

“Says you and you haven’t even met your roommates yet” he laughs.

“I have a room to myself, if things start getting nasty, I’ll just stay in my room” I compromise.

“That way if someone gets stabbed, you can perform first aid” he jokes. Ha ha, I get it, it’s because I’m a nursing student, how cute. Smartass. I roll my eyes.

“Whatever ever happened to that scholarship you applied for?” Hyungwon changes the subject. My taste turn sour. I didn’t want to be reminded of it, but I guess the truth has to come out.

“I didn’t get it. I asked the department head and they told me I was supposed to get it, but someone came in at the last minute and got it” I confess. Always second place. Every single time.

“Damn, how many times have you applied for it?” he continues. My skin begins to crawl. Please stop talking about it, I already felt the shame, I don’t want to see the disappointment in him. God help me if he tells my parents.

“Every semester for the past four years” I mumble, slouching in defeat.

“Well screw them. That’s the problem with those scholarships, they only see what the application says, they don’t know who the actual person is” he groans. Seeing his frustration worries me. He must be so disappointed that I didn’t get it.

“You’re not upset with me?” I avoid eye contact.

“Why would I? They’re the ones that messed up. You did your best and they failed to see that” he scoffs. That’s a better response than I’d hope for. If only our parents were that considerate.

“Hey” he nods at me. I look up from my bowl.

“Don’t let that stupid scholarship let you down. You’re a great student and even better nurse” he points at me. Although he can be a smartass, he still can find a way to make me feel better about myself.

“What boxes did you already bring in?” Hyungwon changed the subject.

“Just clothes. I didn’t bring my school supplies or kitchenware out of the car yet”.

“I’ll bring them in” Hyungwon insists before throwing his trash away. I put the rest of the food in the fridge, saving the leftovers for dinner. Hyungwon exits the apartment, heading to my car parked just outside. There’s a knock on the front door. Hyungwon? He doesn’t need to knock unless the door has accidentally locked behind him. I open the door and I see what seems to be a model from a magazine, grinning cheek to cheek.

“Hyun-Jae?” this gorgeous stranger asks.

“Ji-Eun?” my eyes widen.

🦋Ji-Eun🦋

This is the place! This place is so much closer to campus, only a short bus ride away! And with the price of rent, I can’t beat this. According to the landlord, a roommate should already be there. The interior reminds me of my grandmother’s house. It definitely smells like my grandmother, the classic choking perfume smell. A very distinct contrast from the exterior, a modern lively chic. Looking at the emails of information, the apartment is in the north staircase. The south staircase is for the boys. A group of men live here? Weird, but it's nice that the landlord is providing affordable housing to students, she must be making bank.

I knock on the door to the apartment, hoping she’s home. The door opens and I’m welcomed by a natural beauty. Her hair is up in a cute loose bun, complimenting her comfortable outfit of a print t-shirt and jeans. I feel a little overdressed for this occasion, wearing a dress and flats.

“Hyun-Jae?” I ask, hoping it’s her.

“Ji-Eun?”.

I cheer with glee. I always had good luck with roommates and I’m sure it’s going to be the same here.

I switch my shoes to my slippers and run around the living space, leaving my suitcase by the door. She’s obviously taken back by my behavior.

“I’m sorry, I’m just so excited” I apologize. I’m a bit more cheerful than the average person, everyone has a different attitude about it.

“It’s ok, I just didn’t expect you to be so...energetic” she hesitates.

“Don’t worry, just give me a minute and the adrenaline will wear off” I joke. There’s nothing wrong with being energized over a new chapter in your life. Getting closer to my goals is something to celebrate, right? I’m getting closer to finishing my second degree, a new environment will give me the final push to succeeding.

“Let me show you around” he smiles. The tour was brief, but I love the space! The furniture looks comfy, the energy in just the living room feels fresh. I take my suitcase to my bedroom. I can pick the bed?! A perk of being here early! I pick the bed by the window to enjoy the view.

“Do you know about the other girls?” I ask.

“I know their names, but that’s it. We’re going to have two American roommates I guess” she sighs. Two Americans? I had an American roommate before. Nice girl, had a hard time adapting.

“That sounds fun. It’s always cool to learn new things from them. A past roommate showed me how she made sandwiches and it changed my world” I keep to the bright side.

“You had roommates before?” she smiles.

“I have, very lovely girls. Have you had roommates before?” I nod.

“This is my first time with roommates. I’m excited that you all are going to be the firsts” she laughs. This girl is very sweet, but seems uptight. She’s probably just nervous, if her not having roommates before is true, then I totally understand the anxious feeling. I’m going to try to make this transition as fluid as possible for her. I wish I had that help when I was first on my own, the least I can do is do that for her.

“We’re lucky to have you”.

“Did you eat?” I add. She nods.

“Do you mind if I go grab some groceries for us till the rest of the girls come?” I gesture to the door.

“You don’t have to do that” she nervously laughs.

“I’m not going to get a lot, it’s ok” I insist. I mostly just want to see how close the store is to here.

“Let me grab my wallet and give you some money” she rushes to her room. I would be fine if I paid for it, but since it’s food for us, I don’t see why not split it. She gives me some cash and tells me to grab some freezer dumplings and dipping sauce. Simple enough. I was probably just going to grab some ramen and drinks.

Opening the front door, I bump right into someone holding a stack of large boxes. The boxes were tall enough I couldn’t see who’s behind them. Thankfully, the boxes aren’t knocked over.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going” a man’s voice groans.

“I’m so sorry!” I apologize, grabbing the other side of the boxes in case I knocked him off balance. I see a head pop over the side of the pillar of boxes. He’s very tall, I thought it was just the boxes that were tall! His eyes widen as if he saw a ghost. He’s pretty cute for a guy who just yelled at me. His lips look divine. His black hair looks long enough to put into a man bun.

“You’re not Hyun-Jae” he states. He must know her, lucky girl.

“Correct, I’m Ji-Eun” I introduce myself with a laugh. He bashfully smiles, pushing his bread cheeks out, making me want to pinch them.

“I’m Hyungwon” he chuckles. The mystery pole of a man has a name. He has such a cute little laugh. Very few laughs I’ve heard in my life are as contagious as his.

“I’m sorry for yelling, I thought you were my sister” he apologizes. That solves how he knows her.

“I’m sorry for bumping into you, come in” I move out of the way.

“It’s ok, you can go ahead” he moves away from the door.

“I was in your way, you go first” I justify for him to go first.

“Ladies first” he rebuttals. Checkmate huh? He turned quite charming rather quickly, hasn’t he?

“What a gentleman” I smirk at him. I walk past him and he’s broader than a pole. Why do I get the sense I’ve seen him somewhere before? I easily could’ve seen him at the store or something, but he’s the kind of man I would remember, right? He bites his lip, restraining himself from saying something, I assume something cutely foolish.

“I hope to see you later” I boldly mention. He raises his eyebrows in surprise. Is he surprised I want to see him?

“You will” he turns confident, giving me a wink.

#monsta x #monsta x fanfic #monsta x scenarios #monsta x imagines #monsta x fluff #monsta x university au #monsta x x oc #monsta x hyungwon #chae hyungwon

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divinity-infinity · 3 years

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MAG π: Gallery

Statement of Josh Wheeler, regarding an art gallery.

Inspired by this post by @sexchangelingcastiel, I wrote my own original statement about it!

Content warnings: large spaces, disassociating

See this also on ao3! Link is in the source

I don't understand abstract art, nor the people who appreciate it. They're just color and lines and shapes all randomly splotched onto something and called "art". A child could make some random paint splatters on paper and to me it would look the same as those abstract artworks hung up in galleries. I don't see how people could look at one of those splotches of color and lines and call it art and see some deeper meaning in them. They just don't make any sense!

Or maybe it's just me. I've always had trouble looking into the deeper, hidden details in art or poetry or writing, to me it's just at that. No metaphor for this, no symbolism for that. Trying to look further into something just confuses me. Besides, it's not like I'm going to be an art curator or art historian or literature analyst, so why should I bother reading into things?

But I had to go to that weird abstract modern art gallery. Not my fault. A close friend, Spencer, wanted to go and apparently I was the only one in our friend group who had a schedule clear for the day.

I wasn't planning on doing anything that day and was bored out of my skull but I really didn't want to go. However, as a Good Friend, and perhaps to see if This Time I could finally see into art and figure out the meanings of them, and maybe to get to spend some time with him, I went.

It was a small building. A collection of abstract art from various artists all over, curated by Mx. Halley Hiraishi, some painter they know that's apparently slightly known in the world of art, mostly digital art. Not that I'm undermining his artist abilities, I really just don't know them due to lack of ~artistic knowledge~.

Anyway we went inside and were greeted by Halley Hiraishi themself. He even offered to tour us around the gallery themself. Of course Spencer obliged. They asked us to call him Hiraeth.

He gave us a bit of information about things we looked at for a bit, typical art gallery stuff. I couldn't really get into their explanations having no knowledge of art appreciation or anything, but Spencer seemed to be really interested and listened intently.

I found myself wandering around the room a bit while Spencer and Hiraeth had a lively conversation about the meaning of some sculpture made out of old book paper, something about how the book supposedly contain supernatural power and someone repurposed the book into a sculpture to nullify its effects and to represent how humanity is ever evolving and trash can be art or whatever.

They didn't seem to notice me not-paying attention and I instead looked idly at the different displays. I made sure though to turn back every so often just so I wouldn't get separated from my friend and our guide.

I don't know why but the paintings with their swirls and spirals and patterns, they sort of had a kind of hypnotizing effect about them. Like they were those optical illusions designed to trick the eye. I couldn't stop looking at them.

When I did pry my eyes off of the displays, I realized that Spencer and Hiraeth were no longer in the room. I must've gone into another room without realizing it.

I turned back to where I came, but got into yet another room. In this place the sculptures and paintings seemed slightly bigger somehow, and figured maybe they just sorted the different areas by size.

Still, I tried to go to other areas of the place, that I just knew led back to the entrance, only to lead right into another room. All while the paintings and sculptures and art, and even the room, seemed to grow bigger. I realized that I was in fact lost, which shouldn't even make sense considering the small size of the building.

I didn't know how long I've wandered in those ever increasing rooms and art, but at one point I was in a room so large, like the floor area of a mall at least. The paintings were massive, bigger than murals! My mind just spun thinking about how Hiraishi could have even painted or sculpted or collected such things.

I figured I shouldn't go anywhere else if the rooms were only going to get larger, so I sat down and tried to think of what to do, or maybe to tell myself that I must be dreaming, this wasn't real.

It shouldn't even make sense, I mean for a small building it shouldn't have been able to fit all those rooms that got increasingly larger. All while I was just walking on the same floor! I wanted to think that for some reason there was this shrinking illusion that was supposed to be some performance art that made you think you were shrinking, but no, the doors were still sized for me to fit in, for a human to fit in, and the windows-- yes! The windows! I thought at that point that I could maybe climb through the window and get out.

But as I went to look out the window, all I could see was the cityscape, so miniscule it could be compared to that of a map. I couldn't jump off a height that high, and even so, from what I know I was walking along the first floor all this time! How would I end up so high up? And even then the building was about four stories high at most! There shouldn't be a reason for a four story building to have the fourth floor at this height!

I didn't know how long I was in that room. It was just me staring at the tiny details of the painting now in front of me, getting lost in those splotches of paint that didn't make sense. I thought that if Spencer were with me he'd probably say something like, "we're just the size of a small spot of paint and the bigger picture is so massive. From this perspective it almost seems like a comparison to how small life is and how unimportant things are; they're always part of a grander picture. How unimportant a detail is from our tiny perspective. It didn't matter, how small we all are, how insignificant as a small speck in a place of art."

I would've been surprised that for the first time my mind tried to look at a detail and gave it a meaning, but during that time all I could think about was how much I missed Spencer.

He would've enjoyed trying to insert and shove metaphors into every single bit, trying to give meaning and identity to something so abstract and meaningless, if they were there but me? I hated every second of it, couldn't stand the place and its little metaphors and abstractions that messed with my head.

I tried to go through the door I once came through and once again in the hope that I would finally end up back in the small space of the building I once entered, only to end up in a room whose size was so huge I couldn't fully comprehend its size. I felt like the size of an ant in a large, human sized room.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell in frustration and so I did. Didn't even make an impact; the room absorbed it in. The room was nothing but a void of paintings.

And then I saw it, out of the corner of my eye, a figure stepping into a yellow door out of sight! It even seemed like it was Hiraeth who went in there, and I would've followed except...the door seemed to be part of a painting, a massive one that's also been left to dry. The crisp and clear image of the door seemed to be out of place for an abstract, but I saw it! Someone used that door! I went up to the painting in question...and tried to touch it.

At first all my hand felt was the thick acrylic paint. Yellow and black - the handle was painted black - but then I felt something metallic underneath that felt like an actual door handle - so it wasn't an illusion! - I turned the handle and felt the door open up slightly and in my desperation to just get out of the place I flung myself there. I felt myself collide with a wall of paint but I just had the strongest feeling it would get me out of that void.

And it did. Next thing I know I was being woken up by Spencer and Hiraeth looking over at me worriedly. I was sitting near the painting I think I went through, now normal sized and untouched. I want to believe it was just some dream, that perhaps I fell asleep and collapsed, but here's the thing - I was mostly covered in still wet acrylic paint.

While Spencer seemed a bit perplexed as to how I got covered in paint, Hiraeth seemed to be unfazed by it and simply offered a tip that acrylic can wash out of clothes as long as it's still wet. I was still a bit confused by it all and simply did what I was told.

At some point a few days later I tried to explain what happened. He apologized for giving me a rough time but I really didn't care. He seemed to have a good time there and I told him that that's what mattered.

Anyway, about the whole experience thing. While we both had a conversation that we ultimately chalked up to a dream, we still couldn't explain the paint thing, and so he suggested I go here, tell my story for maybe an investigation or whatever you guys do with stories. I just want to get it all behind me.

#tma #the magnus pod #the magnus archives #the vast #the spiral

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virmillion · 5 years

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Ibytm - T minus 3 seconds

Masterpost - Previous Chapter - Next Chapter - ao3

Words: 3,645

Logan startles out of his reverie, quickly minimizing the (decidedly-not-work related) tabs on his computer screen as he turns to face whoever just poked him.

Roman.

Oh, joy. This should be fun.

“Whatcha doin’ there, mate?” Roman asks, draping himself over Logan’s shoulder.

“I’m not your mate, pal,” Logan replies. He opens his tabs back up, now secure in knowing it’s not Joy or Katie-Lee snooping on him— Miss Katie-Lee, he corrects himself.

“I’m not your pal, mate.” Roman grins and points at one of the tabs, tracing his finger along the headline. “Best local community colleges? What, a master’s isn’t good enough for you? Polly wanna get a doctorate, Polly wannna outshine all his free-yahnds?”

“I will pay you literal money to never do that accent again.” Logan clicks away to a less conspicuous screen as an intern skulks by, presumably on their way back from a delivery to Mx. Oatmeal. It’s painfully rare that Logan gets to see anyone new without going out of his way to hunt them down, but that rarity doesn’t mean he isn’t wary of the grapevine running through the honorary fifth floor. “I tried to get Virgil to look into local colleges, see if any interest him at all—for a number of reasons, none of which he was keen to hear, mind you. Anyway, that was a couple weeks ago now, and he hasn’t mentioned it since. I’ve been looking into it on his behalf, and I think he could do pretty well going for an art history degree, since he already likes working those tours at the museum, and—”

“And you’ve just decided all this for him?”

“Well, no, but I know what his interests are, and—”

“And you don’t want to afford him the chance to broaden his horizons?”

And there we go with the horizons again. Will anyone ever let Logan talk for more than five seconds without an interruption? Logan balls his hands into fists under his desk, digging his nails into his palms. He bites the inside of his cheek as he tries to grit out a response without literally snarling.

“Shockingly enough, broadening your horizons isn’t the only motivation for people to have a purpose.” He closes all the tabs and puts his screen to sleep, scowling. “Whatever. It’s not like it matters, anyway. Virgil’s made it pretty damn clear that he’s not interested. I’m just pulling my own leg at this point.”

Roman says nothing, still sprawled across Logan’s shoulders. The silence weighs heavy in the air for a moment, two, before Logan shoves back his chair and cracks his neck, knocking skulls with Roman. “I’m going on my fifteen,” Logan says sharply.

He shoulder-checks Roman as he stands, knocking him back a few feet on his way to the break room. You know, the one cramped with the likes of Miss Katie-Lee and Mr. Jolenta and everyone else who holds sway over whether Logan gets paid enough to keep himself alive. He fights down a growl and slinks toward the back of the room, where only a broken coffeepot dares make a home.

“Hey, Sanders, taking an early break for once? Or a break at all, really.” The owner of the new voice deposits herself at the seat across from Logan, who moves aside the dish of candies to hide his hand playing with his phone under the table. Reaching for a candy, Cassidy grins brightly. “So! How about my promotion, huh? Can’t believe me interpreting Joy’s chicken scratch is what got me noticed.” Logan nods with a faint smile. “What, too important to make conversation? Come on, stop thinking about work, yeah? Breaks are supposed to be fun times!”

“Work is fun.” It’s Logan’s instinctual response—always has been, probably always will be—but the certainty isn’t really there anymore.

“So’s wearing socks that are so small they slip off your heel when you’re running through a rainstorm.” Cassidy cocks her head to the side and smiles wider. “Oh, sorry, thought we were telling lies no one believes.”

“Work is fun.” Logan’s voice sounds even less confident now than it did before, which he hopes Cassidy doesn’t notice with the distraction of Roman taking a seat at his side. Logan is about five seconds away from socking Roman in the arm for intruding on a conversation that wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place, but Roman’s bicep is saved by Miss Katie-Lee striding purposefully across the room. She exchanges some furtive whispers with Roman, too quiet for Logan to hear, as Cassidy picks back up on the conversation that, again, was never supposed to exist to begin with.

“Hey, y’member that moon meeting Gazebo was on about?” she asks, her voice low and conspiratorial. “I heard he was actually planning—”

“Cassidy!” Miss Katie-Lee hisses, drawing a sharp line across her throat. “Tsst! Don’t!”

Cassidy blinks and shakes her head, as artless as if she were wiping an etch-a-sketch. “Right. So! How about that coffeepot, right? I mean, it’s been broken for, like, ages, wouldn’t a top tech-having organization be able to fix that, or at least replace it or something?”

Logan elects to ignore the suspicious conversation turn and how Cassidy just referred to NASA as a ‘top tech-having organization.’ He writes it off in his head as being a weird social nuance he’s not keyed into, and makes a mental note to ask Virgil about it later. Certainly an easier conversation to have than one about colleges. As if Virgil would ever let him entertain that kind of discussion again.

He furrows his brow at what looks like a fist hovering in front of his face, but it’s just Cassidy snapping her fingers. “Hey, Lo, puh tuh tut? Y’in there? Anything of consequence to contribute to the conversation?”

“I would hardly call it a conversation,” Logan mumbles into the fingers propping up his chin. He stretches behind himself for the countertop and grabs the broken coffeepot, eager to keep busy doing literally anything that will distract him from this inane polite chitchat. The whole point of going on his break was to get away from Roman, and now he’s stuck sitting by two new people as well as Roman. He starts unscrewing the main panel on the machine’s upper facade.

“Alright, fair play, fair play. Conversations do normally involve more than one person talking.”

“Thanks for the dictionary update. I’ll call Merriam, you find Webster.”

Cassidy may or may not attempt a response, but Logan neither notices nor cares, too focused on the coffeepot. The only thing to finally draw his attention away from the sputtering machine that definitely didn’t just scald his entire left hand is a rapid and insistent smattering on his arm. He glances over to see Roman slapping him gently, his eyes desperate.

“We need to talk,” he grits out, angling his head toward the door. Miss Katie-Lee takes a sudden and hurried leave, acting for all the world as if she hadn’t just been chittering with Roman. “Not in here. But, like, now.”

“I’m good,” Logan replies at full volume. Cassidy gives him a weird look, which he readily ignores.

“Logan.”

“Is good in here, thank you very much.”

“Logan will get his rear in gear right this second, or Roman will cause him serious bodily harm.”

“Logan is good in here.”

Roman sighs loudly, clearly trying to get the point across that I tried to warn you with only a series of nonverbal huffs. Following that, he smacks Logan across the face. Like, hard.

“What in the f—!”

“Now.”

Logan screws his face up tight and clenches his hands like claws to his skull before shoving his chair back, startling Cassidy. He plasters a manic smile on his face, more baring his teeth than anything else. “Fine. Fine? Fine. You wanna talk? Let’s go talk, jackweed. Fine. Whatever. Fine.”

“I had to get your attention somehow,” Roman pleads, tripping over his feet to keep up as Logan all but storms out of the room.

“And clearly you’ve gotten it, so what the hell do you want to do with it?” Logan steps into the stairwell and barely waits for Roman to clear the doorframe before he slams it shut. “If it’s that important, you can sum it up in fifteen seconds, because that’s how long you have before I go downstairs and report you to HR.”

“What’s with the sudden attitude, sassafras?”

“Feigning memory loss at your physical assault on me? An unorthodox way to spend your first two seconds, I’ll admit. Thirteen left, and do try not to waste them.”

“If you would just get over—”

“That’s two more on the clock. Running it down to the wire, huh? That your strategy? Draw me in with the intrigue? Seven seconds. Make it quick.”

Roman swallows a huge breath (for which he definitely doesn’t have the time) and groans. “Gazebo’s request went through.”

“I don’t—what?” The fifteen seconds are certainly up by now, but Logan doesn’t make a move for the door. Neither does Roman.

“For the wormhole to Neptune. Well, the moon coverup for it, anyway. He got the grant, he got the funding, Katie-Lee just told me about it. It’s gone through, go no-go set out, mission initiated, however you want to phrase it, it’s happening. He’s starting up the mission. Like, starting it up soon.”

“Yeah? Good for him. Should be exciting.” Logan folds his arms, and whether that’s to keep from screaming or to keep from throwing the door open and running away from the conversation and from reality, well, he isn’t entirely sure. Maybe a bit of both.

“Logan, surely you realize what this means?”

“Probably not, if how squeaky your voice sounds is any indication. It’s just a grant. Nothing’s going to be officially in progress this early, so what’s your deal?”

Roman groans again, doing an impressive mimicry of Logan clawing at his own face. He slaps his hands down to his thighs and grips the fabric in clenched fists, kneading the material like an agitated cat. “It means it’s gone through. It means Gazebo is going to launch a crew off the planet in a literal fiery explosion. Logan, it means that you could be going into space.”

Logan blinks. “I fail to understand how this could be a bad thing. Not to mention, I mean, it’s not like he’s even asked me yet.”

“That’s what Katie-Lee was talking about,” Roman groans, exasperated. “She wanted me to give you a chance to talk to Virgil, to tell you that you don’t have to—”

“Hey, fell’s,” a new (and not entirely welcome) voice says as the door cracks open. Logan’s eyes dart to the entrance, where Mr. Jolenta peeks his head into the stairwell. Truly a rare sight to see—Mr. Jolenta is infamous for making himself scarce to the public eye. More of a figurehead as being Mx. Oatmeal’s boss than an actual name found in casual conversations. “Y’got a min’te?”

That’s the other thing, by the way. Mr. Jolenta is far more interested in saving time with removing syllables than expediting the process by speaking with full words. Probably saw a particular episode of The Office too many times.

“Absolutely, we’ve got sev’ral min’tes!” Roman exclaims, far more panicky-excited than he ought to be. “Right, Logan? We’ve got, like, so many minutes. Pretty much every minute, in fact, I mean, we actually—”

“Lead the way,” Logan interrupts, stepping toward the door. Roman bites his lips and nods, following him out of the stairwell. All the way up to Director Gazebo’s office, they walk in silent step like militia on a suicide mission. Mr. Jolenta flashes a wide smile and makes himself scarce once more as the director beckons them in.

“Space, Logan,” Roman murmurs, reaching for the door handle. “Logan, space. Space, Logan. Logan, space.”

“I believe all present company has seen Parks and Rec, but thank you for the refresher course.” Logan places his hand over Roman’s, feeling the warmth against his palm as he pushes it down on the handle. “I still don’t get why you were so frazzled about this.”

“Oh, like you’re one to talk.” Roman winces as the door hinges squeal in protest, apparently unused to being closed for so long. Open door policy and what have you. “Going off on me out of nowhere every time I mention broadening your—”

Roman cuts himself off as they step into the office, staring in shock at what awaits. Something straight out of a detective movie. A detective mystery movie. An overzealous detective mystery movie. An overzealous detective mystery movie about a franchise that went under fifty seconds after its inception. Something like that. “Horizons,” Roman finally breaths as Logan’s eyes catch on the director, who kneels in the middle of a mess of papers and binders and files and sticky notes, all connected with tape and string and— is that one of those sticky hand toys?

“Ah, good, good, you’re here!” The director staggers to his feet, pushing stray hairs back from his face and pulling taut the skin on his forehead. “I trust you’re both doing well? Families good? Good. Great, even! So I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here, although I suspect the state of affairs may clue you in somewhat. Uh, I, erm, I actually meant to get it in some semblance of working order and presentability before you arrived, but that Jolenta is certainly adamant about punctuality—or pre-punctuality, as the case may be. To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is to be excused, isn’t that always the way?” The director claps sharply twice in front of his face, as if snapping himself out of his own head. “I have some thrilling news.

“I think I’ve found just the ticket for creating and stabilizing a wormhole of a decent enough size and make to support exotic matter like, well, like a rocket. And humans. Live ones, at that! I haven’t passed as much along yet, but I did get the go-ahead for the exterior premise of a trip to the moon, as well as clearance for a max four person crew. We’ve got the extra cargo space in that fifth seat, anyway, and we’re gonna need it for an extended trip to Neptune.” The director is now grinning like a little kid at his birthday party that just smashed a piñata to smithereens. “So! You two in?”

“I don’t—in on what?” Logan doesn’t trust himself to give a concrete answer, uncertain whether he’s totally on par with what the director is asking. Uncertain whether he’s totally on par with what his own instinctive answer would be. He can feel Roman staring daggers at him, definitely not answering the question, but Logan doesn’t dare turn his head.

“The trip to Neptune! Well, to the moon, on paper, but ideally Neptune. Mission Neptune! The Neptune Shebang!”

“I didn’t give him that nickname,” Roman whispers. Logan doesn’t move.

“So? Are you in or are you in?”

“I don’t know that that’s the kind of question I can give an up-and-down answer to out of nowhere,” Roman says. Logan remains silent. “I mean, I told you as much already, right? I’d need to talk about it with my family first, my friends, you know? There’s no way I can make a knee-jerk decision like this.” Logan says nothing.

“I mean, I can give you the night to decide, think it over, but I’d really rather get started sooner than later, and if you don’t agree, we can always go with a three man crew, use the extra space for more cargo storage. There’ll be paths around your not coming along, but—”

“Wait, you don’t have any other potential candidates on deck?” Roman shakes his head in disbelief, his question saving Logan from having to give his own answer just yet. “You have a maximum of four people you want on board, and if anyone ducks out, you cull the size of the crew? Isn’t there, like, a due process you’re supposed to follow? You can’t just assume the exact crew you went in with is the one that’ll go on the mission.”

The director glances to the side, mumbling, “I can if that’s the crew that convinced HQ to give me the grant.” Refocusing his gaze on Logan, he speaks louder. “Logan, what do you think?”

“Nope, hang on, back it up.” Roman does a quick round of jazz hands, still shaking his head. “You signed us up for this death trip—and told other people about it, to boot—and you didn’t even ask us if we’d be on board.”

“I would hardly call it a death trip, and you already said you were interested back at that initial meeting, so it’s not like it’s completely out of the blue for me to—”

“How soon do you need an answer?” Logan cuts in. The question, much more concrete than a general disbelief about possible dangers to which he did not consent, seems to slice through the tension well enough. At the very least, it breaks Roman’s increasingly furious staring competition with the director.

“Well, ah, now, ideally, would be a great time for you to go ahead and give me that answer, actually.” The director glances around his feet and laughs lightly. “I mean, I guess my current situation might not plant a whole lot of faith in your mind, but you said it yourself, remember? How you’ve always wanted to go into space? This is your big chance, Logan! There might not be another, and all that work you’ve done will have been for nothing.”

“That’s all well and good, but I don’t—” Logan hesitates, cocking his head to the side. “Wait, what do you mean for nothing, that there might not be another? It’s not as if you’ll only plan one mission in my lifetime. There’s even rumors of another moon mission—a legitimate one, by the sound of it—just a couple years out, anyway.”

“Well, yes, but I slotted you in myself for this one. I can’t promise I’ll be so generous in my selection with the next.”

“But that’s not fair.” The words leak from Logan’s lips of their own accord, and he wonders whether Virgil feels this childish when he says them. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Roman shifting his weight.

“You can’t just give him one day to decide something so important, regardless of how he’s felt and answered in the past.” Logan chooses to ignore how Roman says nothing of his own decision and history.

“See, that’s just the thing,” the director replies coolly. “I can and I did. I’m not saying you have to answer right this second, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt your chances.”

“Chances?” Roman sputters. “What do you mean, chances? You basically already admitted that we’re the only ones you want for this mission. Chances of knocking the crew down a size, maybe.”

“Shall I take that as a yes or no from you, then?”

Logan whips his head around to Roman, feeling his own jaw straining to drop. This is the whole point of working here, of rising through the ranks, is this one chance for Roman to get into space, to do all the things to which Logan has always aspired, to broaden his horizons like he always has, so long as he just says—

“No.”

Okay, now Logan’s jaw actually does drop. He snaps it shut before anyone can notice.

“Duly noted. Sad to hear it, but I won’t force you.” The director nods and looks to Logan, who’s stunned into silence. “Logan? How about yourself?”

“I, um—”

“You don’t have to answer anything right this second,” Roman says. “You’re allowed to talk it over with Virgil, and with your dads, and with everyone else who you think deserves to weigh in on it. You don’t have to lay your whole life on the line right now.”

“I wouldn’t call it laying your life on the line,” the director says sharply. “Simple question, yes or no. You can always change your mind later, but if you choose not to accept my offer and later have second thoughts, I cannot promise the mission—or a later vacancy—will be waiting for you.”

Logan wonders whether it’s possible to literally drown in his own fear. It certainly feels like it. Someone should do a study on that, see if it’s a feasible way to go out.

“Logan Sanders. Mission to Neptune. Yes or no?”

Logan swallows his terror and calls up Virgil’s face in his mind, picturing it in front of a television screen, picturing it watch him launch into space, picturing it in a fitful sleep, waiting for Logan to make it safely home, safely into his arms. Then he pictures it smiling, pictures it touring colleges as Logan tours the universe, pictures it beaming with pride as Logan collapses into a reassuring hug, back from the farthest reaches of the solar system, dozens of worlds crumbling in the wake of their embrace as the moon shines bright overhead, just a little less vibrant than it used to be. He holds that image close, wrapping it like a shield around his heart, and refocuses on the feeling of Roman’s hand on his shoulder, refocuses on the director staring at him, that same question hanging heavy in the air between them.

Logan Sanders, yes or no? Mission to Neptune, yes or no? Live your lifelong dream, yes or no? Leave behind everything you’ve ever known, yes or no? Achieve the only thing you’ve ever been truly certain of wanting, valued above all else for as long as you can remember, yes or no?

“Yes.”

#labhwrites #mine #i'll bring you the moon #ibytm

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seouledbysisi · 5 years

Text

A Time Like No Other

Chapter 7

Misun

“What in the world are you talking about, Nori?” Misun exclaimed with laughter. She figured this was a plot to try and get close to Joohoney one hunnit.

Nori sighed loudly. “Stop laughing at me! I'm being serious right now!”

“If this is a scheme to get close to Monsta X I'm going to slap you through the phone, Nori!” Misun rolled her eyes a bit.

Nori gasped. “How dare you think I'd pull this just to get Jooheon. I'm a little hurt by this!”

Misun shook her head. “What is it then?” She was beginning to become a bit frustrated.

“Okay, so you know Ktown Entertainment?” Nori asked.

Misun simply nodded. “Yeah, the management company in South Korea, right?”

“Yes, well Miranda said that she received a email from the president.”

Misun cocked an eyebrow up. “For what?”

Nori took a deep breath. She knew Misun was going to freak out just as she did when she first got the news. “He wants to sign us and sponsor our show!”

“WHAT?” Misun yelled a bit too loud because the other patrons in the ice cream shop all turned and looked at her. She mouthed 'sorry' and grabbed her things and left out. She couldn't control her excitement.

“Yeah so next week he wants to meet with us and see if we can get a contract drawn up.” Nori explained.

Misun was still in shock. “So you mean to tell me that all of this hard work hasn't been for nothing?”

“We've been discovered, like for real for real! He even wants us to experiment with singing, modeling and acting. He believes in our work.” Nori kept talking.

“I can't believe this. Is he coming to us or what?”

Nori shook her head. “No he's really busy so we'll have to fly in for a few days and see what happens. Is that okay with you?”

“Okay? Girl it's totally wonderful! This is our dream.” Misun answered. As they were talking she was pulling up in front of their apartment building. “I'm heading up so we'll finish this conversation when I get inside.” She told her and ended the FaceTime call.

As Misun opened the door Nori flew into her arms with tears in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yes I'm just so happy. We're getting somewhere finally!” Nori wiped her tears from her cheeks.

Misun walked with her over to the living room couch and plopped down. “Don't be too excited we might not like what he has for us!” Misun jokingly said to her best friend.

Nori slapped her leg. “No negativity! Positive vibes only!”

“Okay okay I'm sorry. I wonder what living there will be like.” Misun thought out loud.

Nori looked up at her. “It'll be great, especially if you stop being stubborn and let Shownu shower you in love.”

Misun pushed her off away. “Don't play with me! He's strictly business. Nothing more and nothing less. I don't know why you think we're destined to be together.”

“I was getting power couple vibes from y'all. Excuse me for being a fan!” Nori chuckled.

“So me pushing him away was 'power couple' vibes? You have a weird outlook on love!” Misun turned the channel on the TV.

Nori grabbed the remote and muted the TV. “Don't give up on love just because you and Chris didn't work out.”

“I'm not giving up on love but lets face it I'm hella busy, do I really have time for a relationship?”

Nori just looked at her for a moment. She knew that her best friend had a habit of engulfing herself in work to avoid falling in love. She had been hurt in relationships a few times that she unintentionally strayed away when things were becoming too serious for her comfort. “Everyone is busy in one way or another but they make time for what really matters to them. I'm not saying that you have to end up with Shownu, I just don't want you to push away every guy that shows you attention. Every guy isn't going to hurt you. Like Chris for instance, he just wanted to love you.”

Misun looked away. She knew Nori was right but she really wasn't ready to settle into another relationship, especially one that probably wouldn't work out anyway. “You're saying some really good stuff but we both know Chris wasn't right for me. I need someone who understands and respects my hustle when it comes to work. I will never apologize for working this hard and making my dreams come true and I need someone who can accept that.”

“Oh I know he wasn't right for you. I knew that when y'all decided to be more than friends I just never said anything.” Nori laughed a bit. “I just think you need someone to match your work ethic and it'll all fall into place.”

“You knew? You just let me waste my time with this relationship. Since we're talking about them though, why haven't you contacted Jooheon?” Misun asked. Nori was always pressuring her to talk to Shownu but she hadn't even made an effort with Jooheon.

Nori smirked. “Don't worry he's still on my radar. I gotta make him miss me though and then I'll shoot my shot!”

Misun giggled a bit. “I hate to admit it but sadly I think that'll work on him.”

“Oh don't worry, he's right in the palm of my hands.”

“I like the way you think. You expel confidence!” Misun complimented.

Nori cocked her head to the side. “i really hope we end up running into them again. Wouldn't that be cool?”

“I doubt that'll happen again. We got super lucky in L.A. Luck has probably run out for us by now.”

“Maybe not though. I mean first we run into MX out of nowhere, now we're setting up a meeting with a huge entertainment company in South Korea. The only thing missing is my engagement ring from Jooheon!” Nori laughed out loud.

Misun shook her head. “ I need you to pipe down little missy! Let's get through this meeting and then we can talk about luck.”

A week later in South Korea

The ladies walk into the apartment that the president of Ktown Entertainment rented out for them for the week. It was beautiful. They began to look all around. Their apartment back in the states had absolutely nothing on this beauty. Yes, their apartment was nice but it looked like rubbish compared to this one.

“Can you imagine living like this everyday?” Misun asked as she continued to admire the apartment.

Nori shook her head. “I'd feel like a queen everyday.”

“You are already a queen, everyday!” Misun gave her quick wink.

“You always know just what to say, I don't think I could've chose a better best friend than you!”

Misun gave her a hug. “Don’t worry they don’t come better than me!”

Nori rolled her eyes playfully. “So I'm hungry, can we wash airplane off of us and grab some food please? Nori asked.

Misun chuckled. “I was just about to ask you the same thing. Give me 45 minutes and I'll meet you back in here!”

They both got showered and changed into something more appropriate for going out.

Misun outfit:

Nori outfit:

Monsta X

The guys had been stuck in the dorm resting so they decided to go out and do some shopping on their last off day before they had to get back to touring.

Wonho went straight for the muscle shirts. “Which color?” He asked the guys.

“Why don't you get all four? You know you want to.” Minhyuk joked with him.

“I mean why have all the muscles if you're not going to show them off? Besides monbebes love it.” Wonho replied.

Shownu and Jooheon went to a different part of the store. They were looking at the jeans. “You seem better today.”

“I'm taking your advice. I was being crazy over a woman that doesn't even like me. Like she literally made it known that she didn't like me. I don't know why I kept trying to be nice. I sorta feel stupid.” Shownu told him with an awkward smile.

Jooheon patted his back. “It's called playing hard to get, hyung.”

“More like impossible to get.” Shownu said as he grabbed the pair of jeans that he was planning on buying. He and Jooheon also grabbed some shoes and caps.

The other guys found them in the store and they checked out.

“Is that your stomach, Hyungwon?” Kihyun asked.

Hyungwon became a little embarrassed. “I'm hungry. I haven't eaten today!”

“Lets go to the food court then.” Shownu told them and they headed in that direction.

They all grabbed food at the different restaurants and sat down together.

“I can't lie we needed this break. I love touring but it's tiring sometimes.” Hyungwon stated.

Minhyuk nodded. “Yeah but seeing all of our beautiful fans all around the world makes it worth it. They spend all this time supporting us so it's refreshing to actually meet them and give the same energy back.”

“Yeah. Talking to them always has me on edge for some reason.” Shownu replies.

The guys all laugh. “Is that why you don't talk much?”

“I don't know. My conversation skills aren't the best I guess.” He replied with laughter.

They all shook their heads at him. “As long as we've been doing this you would think that you'd be a pro at talking by now.” Kihyun added with laughter.

Shownu simply shrugged and zoned out.

The guys followed his gaze. They couldn't tell what he was looking at.

Changkyun waved his hand in front of Shownu's face. “Earth to Shownu! Hello?”

A few moments later Shownu snapped out of it. “What?” He asked them as they were all staring at him as if something was wrong.

“You were out of it just then, dude!” Hyungwon told him.

Shownu shook his head and looked around the area as if he was searching for something.

“Bro, what's with you?” Jooheon asked him.

Shownu chuckled a little. “Y'all are gonna think it's crazy so never mind.”

Wonho simply shrugged.

Kihyun raised an eyebrow. “What is it, Shownu? We won't think it's crazy!”

“I just thought I saw Misun and Nori. That's all but I'm sure it wasn't them.” Shownu explained.

Jooheon stood up and looked around. “Where? Lets go find them!”

Minhyuk jerked him back down in his seat. “Those girls are not here. He was daydreaming!”

“Now I know for a fact that you're in love. You having illusions of them and everything.” Changkyun added with laughter.

Shownu waved him off. “I'm definitely not in love. It just looked like them but they're in the states. Maybe I am going crazy.”

“Yeah crazy in love!” Changkyun continued teasing with him.

The guys all laughed in unison.

Misun & Nori

Misun took in a deep breath as she smelled the food that was illuminating from the food court in the mall that they had decided to stop in after they ate. “This food is making me hungry all over again!”

Nori giggled. “We literally just ate like 20 minutes ago. Just chill.”

“I know. I'm just saying it smells really delicious. Remind me to grab a to go plate. I can always eat it later on.” Misun said with a huge smile.

“I got you, now come on so we can shop a little. Maybe I'll find something to wear for our meeting tomorrow.” Nori told her as she dragged her into a clothing store.

“You didn't bring anything to wear for the meeting?” Misun's eyes widened.

“Of course! But I may find something better here. You never know.” Nori replied.

Misun simply rolled her eyes. Her bestie loved to shop so who was she to stop her. After all, this was Seoul and whose to say they would ever be back after this. This meeting could change their lives and it would determine the next step in their career. May as well take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.

#monsta x #shownu #hyungwon #minhyuk #wonho #kihyun #jooheon #changkyun #im #fanfic #kpop #kpop idols #stories #monbebe

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mx-requests-forum · 6 years

Text

[Fulfilled] Wasted Confidence

Prompt: MX is having a party after a concert or something and kiho both get really drunk and hardcore make out in front of everyone. the next morning, neither of them remember what happened but everyone else does :o kiho are a little shy and awkward around each other for a bit after that but then they end up alone together again and confess their feelings

Fulfilled by Moderator M~

Sorry for the delay in getting this fic written! I hope the requestor still enjoys this regardless! <3

Words: 3606

AO3 Link

Done in conjunction with the MBB Req Spot~

Knocking back his third can of beer, Hoseok starts beginning to feel the blissful release of tension that he’d been so desperately craving all day. They were back at the dorm after the Seoul concert for their 2nd world tour and having one of their (now annual) world tour celebratory drinking parties. Hoseok normally doesn’t drink, but after what happened tonight, he needed something to help him forget.

“Hyung, pass me the lime,” Kihyun drunkenly called out from across the room, and Hoseok crunched up the beer can in his fist, setting it down onto the table with a shaky hand. Kihyun… The whole reason why Hoseok was drinking tonight. During their concert, Kihyun portrayed a sexiness and charm that Hoseok found himself much too enamored with; needy, romantic thoughts clawing into his consciousness and making it damn near impossible to focus on his performance. Hoseok had a bit of a secret- he was sort of crushing on his bandmate, and times like this made him glad that he was particularly susceptible to alcohol. He didn’t drink much, and already he was able to focus on something other than Kihyun.

“Hyung, you okay?” Kihyun asked when Hoseok neither acknowledged him nor got him the slice of lime he was after. Hyunwoo ended up passing him the lime when Hoseok barely so much as blinked in his direction, but Kihyun was still curious. Hoseok normally wasn’t like this- he never downed so much alcohol so quickly… he looked dark, brooding, like he was stewing on something serious. Kihyun thought he looked pretty sexy like this, but still wanted to know what was going on.

Snapping out of his trance, Hoseok’s eyes dart up into Kihyun’s, and he’s suddenly bombarded with memories of his presence on the stage earlier. How deathly attractive Kihyun looked with purple hair, how his body moved and grinded with the rhythm, how he would appeal to the crowd in any way he could think of. Hoseok felt his whole body get warmer, and he took in how Kihyun was looking at him right now. His hair was still styled from the concert, but he was in casual clothes, the thin, oversized white shirt hanging off his tight body attractively.

“Kihyun… you wanna know something?” Hoseok asked, unable to stop his drunken ramblings before they happened. He felt warm, much too warm, and the pleasant fuzziness was blurring his vision, making Kihyun seem more like a dream than reality. “You looked really hot during the concert tonight,” he complimented, shuffling around for another can of beer with painstakingly slow motions. He knew he probably shouldn’t be saying something like that, especially when all of their other bandmates were around, but he couldn’t help it. Kihyun was so fucking sexy.

“Thank you,” Kihyun replied in a soft voice, his face heating up. The rational part of Kihyun’s mind was telling him that it was just the beer talking, but the hopeful and drunken part of him wondered if maybe Hoseok was harboring similar attraction to him. Kihyun had kind of assumed that his crush was one-sided, but… He winced as Hoseok bumped a little too hard into the table, not even flinching despite the loud, resounding bang that filled the air. Naw, Hoseok was totally drunk right now.

“I’m serious Kihyunnie,” Hoseok drawled out, drawing out the final syllable for no less than 5 whole seconds, finally having gotten another can of beer. Kihyun chuckled a bit, quirking an eyebrow in interest. Sure, Hoseok was probably not in his right mind right now, but Kihyun wasn’t hardly sober either. He’d been shooting tequila for the past 30 minutes and his inhibitions were pretty much out the window at this point.

“Then what was it about me that was so hot, hyung?” Kihyun prompted with a flirty tone, almost masochistically. He knew Hoseok couldn’t possibly be interested in him, but in his current state, he couldn’t really think of the downsides. The other members looked on at the interaction with curious gazes, some chuckling and others looking a little disappointed. Hoseok hummed thoughtfully, his beer forgotten as he looked into Kihyun’s face. Kihyun’s eyes were half-lidded, something mischievous sparkling in them. His shirt kept slipping lower off his shoulder too, exposing his pretty collar bone and slender arm. Hoseok swallowed thickly.

“Your body, your face, your mannerisms,” Hoseok answered in one fast exhale, his expression totally honest. Kihyun blinked a few times, biting his lip gently as he pondered how to reply. “Your lips,” Hoseok continued, and when Kihyun tried meeting his eyes, he realized that Hoseok was solely staring at his lips, watching the way Kihyun absently bit his lower lip. Oh…

“You must really think I’m hot then, huh?” Kihyun asked cheekily, licking his lips and watching Hoseok’s eyes follow the motion. “You must think I’m irresistible,” Kihyun half-asked, half-said, his tongue licking at the corner of his mouth a little bit more lewdly. He giggled after doing so, but he was starting to get slightly aroused just by doing this. Hoseok was staring at him like a starving dog at a plate of meat. Kihyun purposefully dropped his shoulder a bit lower, feeling his shirt slip off his arm a few more inches. Hoseok groaned, and completely forgot about every other person in the room as he watched Kihyun’s overt sensuality. His tongue was so pretty and shining slightly in the light, Hoseok wanted to lean forward and kiss him so bad he was already starting to move towards him.

“Yes,” Hoseok answered, his voice heavy with implication and lust. Kihyun shivered, his eyes darting down to the table as he processed Hoseok’s statement. He grabbed his pre-filled shot glass and took it quickly, not even flinching at the intense burning sensation as it travelled down his throat. He could hear some giggles from the side, but they didn’t matter. He barely had the mental capacity to deal with Hoseok, let alone anyone else. And the booze gave him confidence, gave him the nerve to say the next few words that left his mouth.

“Then what are you waiting for? Come here,” Kihyun slurred out, waggling his finger in a beckoning motion. Hoseok blinked a few times in confusion, trying to figure out what the fuck was happening. Kihyun’s finger was… what did that mean again? He wanted him to come closer? Okay, he could do that. Lurching his body forward, Hoseok wobbled unsteadily towards the other man, making the short distance seem like a long trek with how slowly he was moving. Eventually, he sat down right next to the boy, blinking a few times and inhaling slowly as he tried to regain his balance.

“I think you’re pretty fuckin’ sexy,” Kihyun confessed, his pretty lips parting as he got closer to Hoseok. “And you think I’m hot,” he continued, almost totally closing the distance between them. The air around them turned hotter, and Hoseok swallowed nervously, his eyes staring at Kihyun’s lips exclusively, watching his mouth form the next words with a racing heart. “So let’s just make out,” he offered, and Hoseok didn’t need any other encouragement, his lips crashing against Kihyun’s like a force of nature.

Breath catching in his throat, Kihyun slowly moves his lips against Hoseok’s, shocked that Hoseok actually was kissing him right now and didn’t immediately recoil at the offer. He hears Hoseok groan a bit, his voice cracking slightly from the strain of the concert earlier. Cheeks flooding with color at the sound, Kihyun deepens the kiss, his hand reaching out to grip Hoseok’s shoulder for support. Hoseok’s tongue rubs against his still sealed lips, and a muffled moan escapes Kihyun’s mouth, mind going crazy from the influx of sensations. Hoseok was really kissing him right now, that was his tongue swiping across Kihyun’s lips.

Opening his mouth, Kihyun moans desperately as Hoseok’s tongue swipes across his own, the harsh flavor of beer and something else, something distinctly Hoseok flooding his senses. He wanted more, so he delved his tongue into Hoseok’s mouth, his other hand cupping Hoseok’s chin and angling it better. Kihyun could hear noises, probably from their bandmates around him, but he didn’t give a shit about anything else. Hoseok’s tongue felt so good, so smooth as it works its way into his mouth, Kihyun was addicted already.

With the haze of drunkenness still clogging his senses, Hoseok was on cloud nine. The only thing that existed was Kihyun, who was currently kissing him so passionately that he couldn’t even consider the fact that alcohol might be altering his judgement. Kihyun’s body was so warm but so far away still, so Hoseok reached out and grabbed him, pulling him closer until he could feel Kihyun’s chest against his. His tongue rubbed against Kihyun’s, and he moaned, finding it increasingly harder to think straight.

Body wracked with the desire to get even closer to Kihyun, Hoseok leans closer to him, pushing his body against his and pulling him closer simultaneously, their lips still intertwined. With the motion, Kihyun loses balance, and Hoseok falls against him, the two now laying on the floor totally flush against each other. They finally part lips, mouths parted in laborious breathing as they stare into each other’s eyes. Suddenly, reality comes crashing back full force, and neither know what to do with themselves.

The next thing Kihyun sees is the sight of Changkyun, shaking him awake with desperate motions. Eyes cracking open in frustration, Kihyun rubs the back of his head, wondering why his skull was pounding so much this early in the morning, and why the fuck the sun was so goddamn bright.

“Hyung, you need to get up already and talk to Hoseok-hyung,” Changkyun said, his expression turning into a small pout. Kihyun flops his head onto his pillow, his eyes squeezing shut as confusion fills his mind.

“Why the fuck do I need to talk to hyung?” Kihyun groggily asked. He couldn’t fathom why this was of such dire importance that Kihyun had to be woken up when he was clearly sporting a rather severe hangover. He couldn’t remember what all he drank last night, but judging by this pain, it had to have been more than just the tequila he’d vowed on solely consuming.

Changkyun sighed heavily before answering. “Hyung has been a wreck all morning and can’t remember why. You need to tell him how you feel,” Changkyun said, and at that, Kihyun’s attention was fully piqued. He sat up in his bed, giving Changkyun a steadying look.

“…What do you mean by ‘how I feel’?” Kihyun repeated, his heart-race increasing. He could feel vague, hazy memories start to surface but shoved them down, still praying that maybe it was all just some dream.

“Hyung… y’all tongued each other in front of all of us last night,” Changkyun revealed, and Kihyun felt his heart stop. “I’ve known for a while that you both have been harboring feelings, but didn’t think it would lead to that so soon…” Changkyun continued, but his words were totally lost on Kihyun, who was still reeling from the impact of the words Changkyun had said prior. Groaning in embarrassment, Kihyun flops his body back onto the bed, bringing the sheet up to his face and covering his flushed cheeks.

“Fuck,” he cursed out, his mind flooding with memories of the night before. He remembered it now- the passion, the intensity, the pleasure. If he focused on it, he could feel Hoseok’s tongue inside his mouth, could practically taste him on his lips. It was electric and sensual, and even though at the moment he saw it as sexy, Kihyun realized that it couldn’t have been completely consensual given how drunk Hoseok was at the time. Hoseok probably would hate Kihyun for it if he realized how he took advantage of him…

“I can’t tell him,” Kihyun says in a soft voice. He remembered what happened after their kiss- Hoseok had left the room. He was tired, said he was going to pass out early. Kihyun drank then, too, downing his mixed feelings in a myriad of different liquors. He drowned it all in laughter in dumb drinking games with his bandmates, trying to play it cool, but even then, he knew it wasn’t totally right.

“Fine, then I’ll tell him. But you two need to talk,” Changkyun said, shrugging a bit as he exited the room. He’d been tiptoeing around Hoseok all morning, unsure of what to do with him, but after Kihyun had been AWOL for hours- it was time he ended it. Walking into the kitchen, Changkyun breathes a sigh of relief when he notices that Hoseok is the only other occupant of the room.

“Hyung, I need to tell you what happened last night,” Changkyun declared, and Hoseok turned around quickly, his eyes wide. He couldn’t exactly remember when he went to bed last night, and hadn’t drank in quite a while, so the memories of the night before were fuzzy at best. All Hoseok knew was that he felt weirdly guilty and embarrassed, and whenever he mentioned it to the others, everyone started acting strange around him. It only heightened his suspicions, and he desperately wanted to know what actually transpired last night.

“You and Kihyun-hyung made out in front of everyone,” Changkyun said, finally spilling the beans. Now everyone knew what happened, and they could figure out the rest themselves. Watching the horrified reaction spread on Hoseok’s face, Changkyun winced a bit, briefly wondering if he should’ve just kept his mouth shut.

“That was… real?” Hoseok murmured out, mostly to himself. Memories were flashing in front of his eyes, visions of Kihyun’s sexy body writhing against him, of Kihyun’s tongue grazing against the roof of his mouth… when he woke up, he had those same visions, but assumed they were a beer-induced wet-dream or something. Now knowing that it was all real, Hoseok couldn’t even figure out how to shut his dropped jaw.

“Yeah, it was. I think you and hyung should talk about it,” Changkyun suggested, praying that at least one of his two hyungs would be responsible and talk about his feelings. When Hoseok shakes his head vigorously, Changkyun practically watches his hopes fall.

“I don’t know what to say,” Hoseok replies in a shaking voice, panic starting to set in. Fuck, Kihyun probably knew how much he enjoyed that- Kihyun just did it as a joke, right? There was no way he actually had feelings for him, they were both drunk and tensions were high. Kihyun probably thought he was disgusting. Feeling tears well in his eyes, Hoseok willed them away, shaking his head again. “Thanks for telling me, Kkungie, but I… I can’t say anything to him right now,” Hoseok concluded, and then walked away, grabbing his keys from the counter and walking towards the front door.

Changkyun stood frozen, watching his hyung leave with wide eyes, disappointment flashing in his expression. If they’d actually talk, maybe they’d realize they had the same feelings for each other… Shaking his head, Changkyun started walking back to his room, hoping that his hyungs would figure out their relationship soon.

Sadly for Changkyun and the other members of Monsta X, the two avoided each other all day, and when they were forced to be in the same room or car together, they ignored each other completely. It was tense, and awkward, and honestly- everyone just kind of wanted it to be over with already, including Hoseok and Kihyun themselves… but neither had the nerve or courage to actually do something about it, not yet. Both went to bed that night feeling regretful and icky, but the next morning promised new beginnings for them both.

Stretching his arms far above his head, Hoseok groaned pleasantly as he slowly gained consciousness, happy to have been able to sleep well that night despite how bad he felt when he went to bed. He’d been able to sleep on the events that had transpired a night ago, and was now seeing it all in a more rational light. He was drunk off his ass, sure, and definitely did some things he regretted, and he definitely needed to apologize to Kihyun, he still believed this. But, something about Kihyun’s attitude in response to it was a lot clearer to him now. Kihyun was so into the kiss, and judging by how nervous he seemed around Hoseok yesterday, it only made sense for him to be interested in Hoseok, at least a little.

With this in mind, Hoseok gets out of bed, walking towards the living room in nothing more than a pair of pajama pants. Just like most mornings, when Hoseok approached the couch in the common area, Kihyun was already sitting there peacefully, eating a bowl of cereal. Upon closer inspection, Kihyun wasn’t even wearing pants, just an oversized tee and his bare legs on full display. Hoseok’s heart jumped into his throat, his cheeks tingeing a shade of pink just at the cute appearance of his friend.

“Good morning,” Hoseok managed to greet without stumbling over his words, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch and trying to act casual. Kihyun looked over at him thoughtfully, immediately seeing the change in his hyung’s demeanor. Something had changed over the night, something big.

“Morning,” Kihyun replied, but he couldn’t help but feel a little wary about the suddenly improved communication between them. Clearly Hoseok had come to some kind of decision about their relationship, but whether it was what Kihyun wanted or not was unknown as of yet.

“I… I need to apologize about the other night, I should know better and not let my drinking get out of hand like that,” Hoseok said, pursing his lips. Kihyun seemed a bit surprised by that admission, clearly not what he was expecting to hear. Nodding, Kihyun moves to sit closer to Hoseok, rubbing his knee comfortingly.

“It’s okay, hyung. I’ll do better to keep you in check in the future,” Kihyun replied, smiling a bit. Hoseok took a steadying breath, and then continued his confession.

“That isn’t all, though. I did some stupid things, I hit on you a bit too much and it escalated pretty far,” Hoseok continued, licking his lips as he looked over at Kihyun. Just at the allusion to their, rather intense, make out session, Kihyun feels his body react, and he bites his lip.

“You were pretty plastered though, it’s okay,” Kihyun said, waving his hand in dismissal, hoping to ease any of Hoseok’s worries- he couldn’t quite tell where Hoseok was going with this, but if anything, it was Kihyun’s fault, not Hoseok’s.

“I know but… I actually have feelings for you, and that’s what makes all of this kinda fucked up,” Hoseok finally admits in a hushed voice, his eyes staring intimately into Kihyun’s. He felt bubbling, nervous tension threaten to eat him from the inside, but he ignored it, desperate to hear Kihyun’s reply.

“…I have feelings for you too,” Kihyun responds after a few tense seconds of shocked silence, his chest physically hurting from how fast his heart was racing. Was this really happening right now? Hoseok wasn’t mad at him, didn’t think he was taking advantage of him? He had feelings for him too? In disbelief, Kihyun stares down at the floor, his mind working hard to crack the mystery. Across from him, Hoseok’s bright, genuinely happy smile overcomes his face immediately.

“You really mean that?” Hoseok asked, and Kihyun nodded, his eyes flashing back to Hoseok’s face and heart melting at the adorable sight. Hoseok looked so relieved by his confession, so joyous. “Then what we did the other night, we can do it again?” Hoseok asked, not even thinking about how quickly they’d be jumping into things if he were to pick up from where they left off last time.

“Hah, yes, if that’s what you want, too,” Kihyun answered, his cheeks dusting red and eyes nervously flickering back to the floor when Hoseok’s excitement gave him too much second-hand embarrassment.

“Can I kiss you?” Hoseok asked, his voice a little softer, a little more timid. Kihyun was a bit startled by the question, but if it meant making up for their drunken first kiss, then he wanted to. Damn, he really wanted to.

“Yes,” Kihyun responded, his breath catching in his throat as he leans forward, the warm rays of early morning sunshine peeking through the window and haloing them both in a pure, honest light. The miscommunication was over, the weird situation had come to a perfect conclusion. Kihyun closed the gap between them, pressing his lips against Hoseok’s for their real first kiss. Hoseok reciprocated, and they held it for a few seconds, just reveling in the innocent, pure gesture.

Parting after what felt like eons, but what they both realistically knew was only a few seconds, Kihyun smiles at Hoseok, chuckling a bit at his cute expression and flushed cheeks. Just as he’s about to say something, a voice interrupts them.

“That’s sweet and all, but no more making out in front of us all, okay?” Changkyun’s voice sounds from the doorway, and Hoseok spins around, looking in that direction to see the rest of the members all groggily peeking through the doorway, small smiles on their faces. Chuckling, Hoseok runs a hand through his hair, his eyes darting over to gauge Kihyun’s reaction. Watching the embarrassed flush cover his bandmate’s face, Hoseok can’t help but want to watch him get all flustered again.

“No promises~” <3

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seigyokus · 6 years

Text

Producer Letter #14

Same old 80% translation, 20% paraphrase mix as usual. Hit the jump to read more!

To everyone supporting Idolish Seven,

This marks the first producer letter of 2018! We have just finished releasing Part 3 in the game, and episode 15 marks the end of our regular airing schedule for the TV anime. (TL Note: no fear, the anime's not over yet! more on this later)

The Idolish Seven Exhibit has been open for about half a year following our second anniversary, and the exhibit closed yesterday. We are very happy that we were able to tour various cities with everyone's help, and we thank everyone for your support!

There is currently an event going on at VR ZONE called "PRISM NIGHT", hi-resolution versions of our music* are available at SONY, and our idols will be acting as the advertising representatives for JR Tokai Tours's "OFF/Journey Campaign!"

We are happy that our talents are getting so much work, and we truly feel as if we've taken a step towards the future we envision for our project.

PRISM NIGHT　 SONY Hi-res Audio JR Tokai Tours　

*TL Note: not sure if this encompasses the entire i7 discography but a side note, "hi-res audio" refers to .flac files aka God Tier Lossless A+++ Sound Quality, whereas most tracks available for digital download are in mp3 or m4a format, which are great but not fully lossless! I actually can't watch the video rn because I'm a fool and forgot my earbuds but I believe that is what's going on!

Today, we'd like to talk about the following topics...

【The Project as a Whole】

◆ Part 3

Thank you for walking alongside our idols all the way from April 27th, 2017 through Chapter 20!

We've received continuous support ever since we started releasing Part 3, and we are truly happy we were able to deliver all of Part 3 to everyone without fail.

Part 3 is a turning point within the work, as we've stated in previous producer letters, and the characters have undergone various changes as they confronted hardships and advanced forward within the story.

It took a long time to deliver all of Part 3, and we'd like to thank you for your patience from the bottom of our hearts. Although it took a long time, we've gleaned equal amounts of confidence and were able to present a lot of stories and carefully craft the songs as a result.

We hope to continue crafting this project with the utmost care, and we thank you for your continued support.

◆ The Anime

Looking back, we spent about a year working on the anime script with TROYCA. As for the anime series composition, the last episode of the anime’s regular broadcast aired yesterday with episode 15.

The image of Director Bessho declaring, "Let's do a good job on episode 15*, and make episodes 16 and 17 one episode!" still firmly remains in my memory. While I cannot go into great detail as some of you may not have watched episode 15 yet, we firmly believe that viewers will be able to enjoy episodes 16+17 precisely because of everything that has happened thus far and because of everything that we have built up through episode 15.

We hope you keep watching until the end!

Episode 16・17 will be broadcast during the following dates and times (JST):

TOKYO MX　2018/5/19 Saturday, 19:30～ KBS Kyoto　2018/5/22 Tuesday, 23:00～ Sun TV　2018/5/22 Tuesday, late night 1:30～ TV Aichi　2018/5/20 Sunday, scheduled for late night broadcast TV Hokkaido　2018/5/19 Saturday, scheduled for late night broadcast TVQ Kyushu Broadcast　2018/5/20 Sunday, late night 3:35～ BS11　2018/5/24 Thursday, late night 1:30～

※ In the case that any changes are made to the broadcasting schedule, please check the TV anime's official site or the official Twitter for the anime.

Volumes 1 and 2 of the Blu-ray/DVD are currently on sale as well!

◆ 1st LIVE 『Road To Infinity」

We announced this concert back in January of this year, and holding this concert is one of our many dreams regarding this project.

It has been in planning for two years now, and it is thanks to the anime production committee that we are able to have our idols take such a grand stage. Not just that, we are truly overjoyed that we have the opportunity to have all three groups (IDOLiSH7, TRIGGER, Re:vale) perform live together.

We have one more important announcement to make regarding the concert!

People who have cleared a certain requiremnet in-game will be given the opportunity to enter the lottery for concert tickets. We will be revealing more details on this soon.

The campaign start time, requirements, and specific website for this campaign can be found via "In-game Announcements" and we plan on releasing this soon. Please remember to log into your game, and we hope you look forward to it!

◆ Fan Thanksgiiving Event* *TL Note: kanshasai for anyone used to the romaji form

We started holding these events back in 2017, and this time we'll be holding Volume 3 of "Kimi to Motto ×2 Ai wo Kataranai to!"

Additionally, we will be holding live viewing sessions for Vol. 3, and we hope to have tons of fans enjoying the event in real-time!

Live Viewing Ticket Reservation Time Period April 7th, Saturday, 12：00 (JST) - April 22nd, Sunday, 23：59 (JST)

More details can be found here at the official site!

◆ Music

How is everyone enjoying the songs from the anime?

We've included tons of surprises so all fans, both new and old, can enjoy the anime!

We would be delighted if people became more interested in the world of Idolish Seven because of the songs that adorn the franchise!

Additionally, the BGM for each scene from the TV anime will be included in the OST, "SOUND OF RAiNBOW" (on sale April 25th, 2018)!

There are two comprehensive CDs filled with songs, so we hope you purchase it!

Furthermore, "Nanatsuiro REALiZE" by IDOLiSH7, the last unlockable song from Part 3 of the game story, will be on sale on June 20th, 2018.

We have also started on the "12 SONGS GIFT" series of birthday songs for each idol, and we thank everyone for the high praise it has received.

We hope everyone continues to enjoy this series as we show more sides to each idol, and we will be doing our best to ensure this.

◆ Music Videos

The full version of the music video MAPPA produced for us has been released, and we hope everyone watches it!

Additionally, TRIGGER's newest music video, "DIAMOND FUSION," will also be released soon.

We hope to continue to create more videos for everyone's enjoyment, so please look forward to it.

"Nanatsuiro REALiZE" marks the 7th installment in the Idolish Seven Music Video Animation Project. We hope to deliver more to everyone and try a different format from YouTube, so we hope everyone looks forward to it!

◆ Comicalization & Novelization

We will soon be finishing up the comicalization of "Banri Ikkuu!"

"Senko Fuma" and "Hyakusai Mukyuu" will also be released for a limited time only on Hakusensha Novels, and we also intend on comicalizing these parts as well.

We thank you for your continued support!

【About the Game】

We hope everyone is enjoying the game alongside the anime!

We have tons of new songs, events, and scouts prepared. The anime's finale will be airing soon, and we hope everyone will enjoy it!

【Future Game Adjustments & Additions】

◆ Events

As we mentioned in the previous Producer Letter, we are focusing up on making the game easier to understand. For example, clearing up which items are necessary for helping your idols grow and where to get them, what the requirements are for moving an idol to the Waiting Room, etc.

As we approach the two and a half year mark, we hope to make game functions and each type of event easier to understand, and improve upon each.

With regards to this topic, we will be giving more details through each subsequent update, in-game announcements, and the official twitter rather than here in this letter.

◆ Questions, Comments, or Concerns about the Game In the case that you would like to express your opinion to the staff, please contact us through the official site.

Thank you for reading all the way through this letter!

I'm sure some of you may be thinking, "You didn't answer my question!!"

But in response to that, there's one thing we'd like to promise you:

We guarantee that we will deliver only the best to you!

Last but not least, we would like to thank all of our hardworking staff, and we hope to continue working with everyone.

Let's all watch the anime! And let's all play Ainana!

TL Notes/comments:

I, too, would like to thank everyone for reading this far too! I am a day later than I would’ve liked for putting this out, so thank you for guys your patience.

As for other translation stuff, 9.5 will be posted later today and Chapter 10 is currently in the works! Now that Part 3 is over, I can finally catch up without fear of the next part dropping! Woohoo!!!!

As always, if you see any mistakes/mistranslations/etc, do not hesitate to drop me an ask! I don’t check tumblr chat messages as often, so if you’d like to bring something to my immediate attention, the best avenue to do that is via askbox!

Once more, thank you for reading!

#idolish7 #アイドリッシュセブン #news #translation

82 notes · View notes

accursedblessing · 2 years

Text

COB, what a timecapsule.

For me, this was a wonderful amazing magical Punk Rock collective social experiment in 2014.

that Started in (&ranged from)

san francisco, all the way to the edge of north washington.

(almost to canada, but no) Featuring two collective music projects that helped each other play.

Hamartia & Sounjaneer.

butttt really it was for Hamartia

~ Mx. Williams birth child, via their network and amazing musician skills.

Which I had absolutely no idea or concept of, back then.

I simply had my lil project, a dream, 100% belief fuel, and a Magical Not-so-hippie

Pirate Van, called *The Vanguarden*

how Beautiful is that??

it is Magnificant.

COB diy;

was an affinity, and Is an Idea still today,

that fucking happened, **We** Existed!!

It was an ineffable, unfathomable rollercoaster for all involved, i yam sure.

although, i can only speak for myself now,

as I've lost touch with most of everyone involved.

(and others, who i cant possibly name, had lost contact with me)

COB;

happened back before I could speak,

before i had access to my own brain,

before I realized... well what I know now.

thanks school!

let alone~ my absolute terrible stage presence and no nothing songwriting balogna...whatever.

**get to the point** **uh which, and where do i begin** whatever!

This happened Back~when i was truly a "Lost boi".

At the time, I truly felt saved by this Journey.

I am not lost, Anymore.

#prollycusIamBlind

#finders

& I was not Alone.

As loners, Misfits, punks, crusty kids, you name it. we were Us, Ourselves, As-is.

& We preffered that.

We held on tight as hell, to our common Thread and it was anything but "Dreamy" or "Ideal".

Yet, it was Us.

We trailblazed in Togetherness, and improvised each moment.

broke as shit too, couldnt even afford gas or food , So we asked for help.

Our Purpose was The Music, and The Collective. Working in ~some kind of harmony.

Honestly, we did what we could to survive and keep playing shows.

Smoking cigs and chugging coffee.

Ouch paying for that still...

Okay!

All Age shows were still a thing. & That was our goal to continue.

All ages and sober events !!

Which I am an even firmer believer in today.

Alas, what does sober mean to you?

To me;

It is Willingness, Being Alert, Agile, Lazy when need be, completely useless other moments.. Response-Able-ish,

In The Flow. & above all else,

Coherent. Driven. Alive.

Its all too iron that most " Venues "

hosted Us at bars~ at times,

Truly I give thanks to all imvolved

and a big fat thanks

to the tenacity of Mx. Williams and their vision of Hamartia.

(I personally didnt have any god damn clue) what was happening and for some forsaken reason, call it a curse.. I like the sound of that! ummm...

i just didn't care~ for the first time.

it was the only thing that felt Real, in a world full of smoke and mirrors.

**again, i cant emphasize this enough:

these are just my solo thoughts and feelings, in a myriad of shared experiences... over the course of thirty *ish*

shows~ over the course of a month and a half, across mostly the PNW.

**welpdy dooda**

Anyway,

I Do Indeed, still remember the Conquest of babylon Slam poem that wrote me, in 2012, that sparked a movement... i never could have never predicted.

This one poem kept me going, and everyone engaged. but yeah Im not me Without you!

Well,

The truth is;

because i could never have done it

On my own .

So, whatever, longest story everr... shortenedish..

because i am writing a full novel about this one tour.... ahem before i die. wink wink.

Anywhosville!!

Ya, so we cried, laughed, got Fucking pissed and hurt at each other. **again, my feelings** still... back then and has not since.

I want this to be a Love Letter of a final Post.

Saying above all Thank You!! You the participant, You the Friend, You the Dreamer, and You the Hopeful. You the unknown, you the Lost.

I love you, I carry you in my heart.

For~ a better World.

So, Again,

thank you to all who participated.

Due to the Pandemic and a very real head injury I am still recovering from, that occured in Feburary of 2021.

It is Now~

time for real closure, on this time capsule and these precious memories.

Especially, while we all continue to celebrate and mourn the lives of those loved ones who have ascended beyond this earthly realm...

since Covid has Plagued Us all.

We are Strong, We Exist. We will Never Give In to The Madness that is Corporate Enslavement.

We Represent an Idea Of Freedom.

That is Never Lost.

Come What May &

May We Meet Again.

💌🙈🙉🙊💌

Sending All

The

Love & Light

To all those still figuring,

still deciding,

and all who don't get the chance out there, to keep Surviving,

to find their purpose paths.

& Those who Are,

I hope, pray, and Wish to the Cosmos & Beyond.

That You Reading this,

and all those who cant,

That Your wildest Fucking dreams come true.

Now!!

With love,

Always & All Ways

Sir Lady Alex.

aka Alex Forester

aka Alexandra Stevenson *ewww legal names*

p.s this was the most wild and heart breaking tour of my life. no regrets!

it was for the music and in the name of Love.

😊🤟💛

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micromanfever · 6 years

Text

AK Las Luchas interviews Bandido

http://ak-lasluchas.com/

Interview Bandido

https://youtu.be/G5WGj7JZkOA

Date released: JULY 2018

A K Las Luchas

[Intro]

From where and who is El Bandido?

Bandido: He is an originary from Torreon Coahilla. He is a Lagunero with all his heart. Santos Laguna, we are the champs. For sure.

I from the north. El Bandido was born 2 years ago and was the completely new idea coming from the man behind this mask. This mask/gimmick is an idea that came from the promoters at Lucha Libre Elite. They gave me an opportunity to utilize this character.

and really I loved the idea. The colors and the costume really spoke to me. From there on, I imagined a million things and have tried to accomplish them one at a time.

Oh wow. How cool. Right now you were telling you are coming from la comarca lagunera (region in Mexico) and there has been a great number of wrestlers coming from your land to here.

Bandido: Why yes, the people that are coming in are trying to better themselves and win. We have so much perseverance, consistency and discipline that we accomplish it. Right now where were at is a house the is home to all laguna wrestlers that arrive here. Ultimo Guerrero's gym. He is my teacher. My senpai. I think he's an inspiration to many and mine as well. I am grateful for the chance he gave me when I asked for it.

So Bandido, how was your childhood? Were you bullied or were you the one doing the bullying? How was it there?

Bandido: My friends all say that I was the leader. That I was the one bossing everyone around. Telling them what to do. But I loved to be around the football at all times. I was happy with my ball. I would get out of school. Come home to get my ball and go out to round up all my friends and go play. My friends and I would be out for hours playing futbol.

So how were you as a player. You were good at it?

Bandido: Well, yeah. I would play goalkeeper all the time. But that must have been because I was so good. That doesn't mean I was bad or anyone that plays the position is bad at playing.

So how about schooling?

Bandido: In school I was not the best student. Somewhat dense. I felt that sports were my thing since I was very little. I was training at various football academies because I wanted to become a pro player. But destiny and masks have crossed my path.

So if you wanted to be a footballer, how did you end up in wrestling? When did you get pulled in by the magic of wrestling?

Bandido: Every year back home on December 25 or January 1 or even the 6th or 7th there would be visits from all the wrestlers that lived in CD MX from there. So every year they would put on a show. That became a tradtion year after year. So we would go to those shows then. At 3 or 4 I started to go thanks to my father. It was always futbol and wrestling for me growing up. Up until wrestling finally became my world and left futbol.

Did you ever think about getting in the ring then?

Bandido: I did imagine getting in the ring then but, not at the magnitude that I'm doing it right now. Not at the pace I'm doing it. I think its out of this world.

When did you decide you should start training?

Bandido: Well, my brother started training wrestling with the neighbor kids and one day I go along. It was at the arean. Stuka was there giving class. I change and put on my stuff. I train. Stuka asked me afterwards if I had already trained. I told him, "no, never". I was 15 at the time. Stuka asked me how the movements came out so well for me.

How was I able to do things first try? he asked. Well the thing was that I danced as well and my body was fit for that. As well as wrestling around with my brother. I would always wrestle with him when we would go to shows. And would stop when one of us would come out crying. So Stuka asked me to keep training one day. To always show up and train, that he would help me out.

And when was that first opportunity for you? Did you debut there or here in CD MX?

Bandido: No, I debuted at Gomez Palacios Durango. It was on a show for the penitentiary inmates on a Fathers Day. We went to put on a free show. I was not making anything at the time. It was the best moment of my life. If I could live that day over again, I wish I could.

How was it when your family found out you were going to be a wrestler? Were they supportive?

Bandido: When I started training, my father was working in the US. I have a cousin wrestler. Who is Magia Blanca. He comes from a wrestling family. He started training at a much younger age. I tried to start training at 10 with him, but couldn't. My father put the condition on me that if I could do 10 pushups I would be allowed to go train with my cousin. We were at the shop where he worked.

I remember I was trying to do it. I was doing up to 7 and my body couldn't go anymore. I couldn't come back up. So I was not allowed to go train. He told me better luck next time.

Now when he wasn't around, I decided to give it all and do the training. Not miss my chance.

So you debuted there and you were on your way of being a wrestler. When your father comes back and finds out you are now a wrestler. What happened?

Bandido: He didn't know when he was away about this. But knew when he arrived. He knew I was a wrestler and working. I was to work a show at the bull ring. Maginifico was to be there. There were 3 Magnificos. I was Magnifico 2. Magia Blanca was Magnifico 1. Everyone knew who we were there. That we picked our path and father accepted it.

So before you were a wrestler what were you doing?

Bandido: Before becoming a wrestler...the situation in Torreon were not ideal for me and my family. Everyone in my family is a jeweler. They all know the profession. I worked in that shop since I was a kid. I used to make shirts. I used to sell lollipops. I was the only boy in the neighborhood that rode their sister's bike. I had a little pink bike with a basket. I would drive that thing everywhere. Everyone would give me looks but I was happy driving around town on it.

When you arrive here (CD MX) what do you do?

Bandido: My cousin Magia Blanca came here before me. He was here a year already. I asked him to help me out. To try myself out and find out if I'm really cut out for this. He gave me the ok to come over but asked that I talk to Ultimo Guerrero first about it. So I did. He came to Torreon. The Pink Arena for a show. We met and exchanged a couple words.

After my match I asked him if I could head over to CD MX with his help and try out. He told me to call him when I would be heading out. I went on my path at age 18 to try to find out what I was going to do.

What did you do when you got here?

When I got here. I got on the metro with my giant suitcases and like a good Mexican, I get lost there. It was really early like 8 AM. You know us wrestlers are accustomed to waking at noon or later. So this was like early morning for me. I was so tired. I called my cousin that I had arrived and to help guide me there. He was like, "fool, I already told you how to get here, now call me when your almost here!". So I tried and finally came around after hours of being lost. I got here at the gym at around 3 PM. There was nobody there. The gym was closed at the time, but Ultimo Guerrero still had rooms he was renting out.

I came to get a room and look for the dream. I didn't want to get a job because I wanted to concentrate on the dream. I started training immediately.

So we know how it all turned out. You are successful now but has there ever been a time where you wanted to throw in the towel and go home?

Bandido: Of course. A lot of times I wanted to and I've questioned myself along the way. I can say now that all the sacrifices are worth what I have now. Just looking at the mask. I get that feeling. It's all been worth it. First thing is to leave the family at home. I always go hang out with them when I'm home. I always try to make time for them. But also it can be too much to handle. Like not having any money to eat. That hurts. You have to accept what you have. And you miss the comfort and motivate yourself to really go after what you think you can achieve. What you really want.

Yes, you measure yourself up. So that all happens. Now you get to wrestle at Arena Mexico.

Bandido: Yes, I arrive and start training with Ultimo Guerrero. From a select group of wrestlers we were picked to train and start our journey to becoming a star at Arena Mexico. I think it was very gratifying there. I felt like we were really making progress there with my cousin. That we were going to break through. But its like a wheel of fortune being there. You would get good news and be really happy. But get hit with something bad and that would really make you doubt yourself. And want to go home and forget it all.

Now you are fortunate to have lived what you have lived and now are a success. You have traveled to work and have even won a belt. Tell us more

Bandido: There is a story. To train at the gym you had to pass this test of conditioning. To see if you are worthy to train there. And its not out of ordinary to see wrestlers show up and train there like Black Warrior, Hijo Del Santo, Ricky Marvin. One day we were all training and one day Hijo Del Santo shows up and demands to train with us. I couldn't believe it. I felt like a kid again to have him in front of me. It was a pleasure to help him out training and help him recover from injury at the time.

One time after training he made it obvious that he was observing me and watching how I performed. One of the trainers was talking about Hijo del Santo getting a tour of shows in London.

That a guy training who was to be on that show had gotten injured and that I was to take his spot. The trainer let me know and Hijo del Santo asked me personally. He asked for my paperwork and said that he would work on getting me my travel to go. What ended up was that Ultimo Guerrero joked that I had to stay and train. But it was incredible to go and be the first time I got to work outside.

So how was it to work in Japan? How did you communicate?

Bandido: Yes, that was a time where it was difficult because I was not aware of the culture or customs there. Japan is a very out of this world place. There values and technology is incomparable. I think the communication is not a problem. They know English as a second language. So to every foreigner that goes, they speak to them in English. They are friendly people and very respectful. And when I went to London 2 more times, I got back and thought that I should learn English. To be in another country I need to learn that skill. I learned some basic English to say that I'm hungry or thirsty. Now I'm trying to learn Japanese. In order to communicate better.

Recently we saw you publish a photo with a bucket full of money after a match. Tell us about that?

Bandido: That's what happened. The fans rewarded us with money after the match. Its the biggest compliment fans can give. I was grateful for achieving this. We filled 3 1-liter buckets with money. I watch that match and it brings back good memories for me.

WE saw you post pictures of a belt. What and where is it from?

Bandido: Yes, you did, it was the cruiser-weight title from The Crash. I faced Laredo Kid. He's an old wolf. As well as Desmond Xavier. He is an old face that I've worked with in Japan. That was crucial in winning the match.

Where do you want to go?

Bandido: The goal is the same. I want to be successful. I think I've been successful here in Mexico. Now with London and Japan. I would love to show what I can do now in the US. Show them what real Mexican talent can achieve. I really want to test my fate with the biggest wrestling company in the world. That is where I have my sights set. I want to try to become a success there.

We are sure you will achieve this. You are very disciplined and hard working enough to accomplish this.

Word association

Love - Love Childhood - Love Dreams - Wrestling Super Hero - Father Pain - Family Teacher - Ultimo Guerrero Fear - Death Sacrifices - Tears Hate - Never Wrestling - Love Resentment - Never Mask - Life Family - Everything Ring - Respect Happy - Wrestling Peace - Family Mexico - Heart

Sends a message to the viewers to motivate them that dreams are achievable.

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nutellarchives · 2 years

Text

What Happened in November!

IT'S DECEMBER ALREADY! So here I am, writing a monthly (not really because I sometime skip or forgot.. sowwy) summary of what happened last month, which is November! Keep Reading to know what happened to my boring life last month.

So... aside from November as a month of Pre-hell (because this month, December, is officially Finals month, meaning a lot of stuff needs to be accomplished in Uni! ;_; ) where I did a lot of academic related stuff, I did other stuff that will keep me sane of course although they are not a lot because ya girl prioritizes uni even if its sad.. Anyway here we go with the list!

Hyouka

After years(?), I finally was able to watch this anime.. well I did started watching it before, maybe the first few episodes, then forgot to continue and forgot what happened. So I did re watch some first few episodes then stopped at the 6th episode because I watched this in a whim and it was late so I had to stop to rest obviously because academic responsibilities ehem. So I really like the art, of course since one of my favorite anime Kyoukai no Kanata, was from the same studio which is KyoAni. Then I find the setting appealing, which is the school.. maybe I just miss going to an actual school to study, or the school anime is just so cool. But I think this anime haven't given that wow factor for me, at least not yet. I don't find the plot interesting, (or I've just became picky with plots) it's cute because it is set in a school and the dynamic of the relationship between the characters are refreshing but other than that, that's it. I hope last half will become more interesting and engaging.

MONTEEN DAY

On the 19th of November, it was supposed to be just watching Rush Hour MV, since it's Monsta X's comeback, but I've decided to do a MONSTA X MV MARATHON it was worth it though! It took me at least 2 hours (or more) before finally reaching the Rush Hour MV. It was a really good mv! Monsta X never fails. Though honestly I'm not used to seeing them only 5 even if they promoted Gambler as 5, I suddenly miss nunu bear. Anyways, the MV is lit and I had to watch it like thrice for it to fully understand and sink in. I love their visuals and their vocals and dancing. Every member stand out I love it so much when that happens. Unfortunately, this is the first comeback that I wasn't able to buy an album (because it's been a year since I've cut off of allowance since its pandemic).

After the MX MV Marathon, I binged SEVENTEEN's Power of Love Concert! I missed them so much, I suddenly want to attend their concert in the future and be part of the VIP section. I felt their love through their performances and I became nostalgic because I was able to attend their first 2 world tours but not the last one (Ode to You) due to the Pandemic. I miss being a carat to be honest but I guess I'm in the age where I need to prioritize first some stuff and set aside the fangirling. But genuinely, this experience is memorable. I even waved my Caratbongs (yes with an s I have both versions), while I watch the concert performances.

I concluded that day a very memorable and a healing one.

Reading "The Hating Game" not a review

This is the very first adult book that I've read and OMG I cannot believe I just read that!

So brief take on the synopsis, this book is about Lucy and Joshua, who are assistants to the CEOs in their company, which is a joint company. Then they hate each other to death. Their tables are facing each other and they would insult and bother each other during their work. Btw, have I mentioned this is a romance book? No? Well yeah it is.. and it is spicy. I won't be elaborating a lot of deets since it will be a spoiler and this should be read blindly!

I just wanna say, aside from the spicy scenes, the relationship of the two was wholesome, we get to see their characters (especially Lucy's) struggle and their relationship develop. I won't recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a plot driven with a meaningful message and stuff, no honey, this book is a romance book focusing on two different people and their inner struggles and their lovey dovey moments so if you just want a quick read that doesn't require the brain that much plus wholesome romance with spicy stuff then GO FOR IT!

I absolutely love this book but I can't say it's part of my favorites because since it's an adult book (and I just am used to reading YA), I felt uncomfy with some of the spicy parts, as if I'm violating something but not really(but yeah you get it). I rated it 5 in Goodreads nonetheless..

Bringing Eula Lawrence Home a very long story time

This actually won't be that long because I have a requirement due later but EULA IS HOME :">. I guess I really like Cryo women, from Ganyu to Eula to Shenhe, I just love them. I was able to get Ganyu last January and she was an unplanned pull, then we have Eula here... This is her rerun btw because I wasn't able to pull her (the first time she was released) on my main because I was waiting for another character and I just got Zhongli on my alt account (you can just google the banner timelines in Genshin Impact). Then her rerun was a surprise! I really like her appearance and when I first saw her I was in love with her design and her voice, regardless of her being a claymore user. So when her rerun was announced I was devastated because I just pulled for Childe! Though I was able to save for the next soft pity. During the release of her rerun, I pulled.. nothing. After 4 consecutive days, I pulled single per single and ya girl can't just wait to get her even if I'm 50/50. Surprise? I lost and I got Mona for the 3rd time with 87 pulls yes EIGHTY SEVEN. It was my unluckiest banner, because usually the hardest pity I get to encounter is 81. So.. I hope this won't happen again, not with the character that I really want. Then suddenly I remember I have an America server account (yes that's the third), and I created that account because my friend had an America server account and I want to coop with her there but I chose my alt Asia account and became active there instead.

Then I just did some quest in the America account to try if I can get Eula.. I built my pity there.. around 60 plus due to updates and redeemed codes and I had one fate available. I wished and IT WAS GOLD I freaked out and waited for the silhouette to appear and tada ITS EULA!

Honestly it was a struggle obtaining her and being part of the F2PBTW Squad because you had to freaking open 3 accounts just to obtain characters you want. Getting Eula is worth it tho! I hope I can pull her plus Shenhe on my main too, but it will take a while since Eula just got her rerun and Shenhe is just a newly released character.

Someday my Cryo Collection will be complete..

Cryo Checklist: those who are in italicized are the character that I own

Kaeya, Chongyun, Qiqi, Ganyu, Diona, Rosaria, Eula, Aloy, Ayaka, (Upcoming) Shenhe

So after that long post, Congrats you've made it this far! There is another event that happened but I will make a separate post on that because for sure it will be long, it will make this post longer.

Here is my November Playlist~

Got me in Chains - Monsta X

Luna - Oneus

The Boys - Girls' Generation

Black Mirror - Oneus

Same mind, Same dream, Same night - SEVENTEEN

That's all! Gotta bounce since I still need to do a lot of reqs. Thanks for stopping by~

p.s. what a cute artem chibi art xD

- ella

#seventeen #monsta x #the hating game #genshin #genshin impact #eula

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eledge5075gdelreece · 3 years

Text

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b0blegum · 6 years

Note

Breaking up with MX

Why a sad scenario :(

Shownu

Nothing would made you two to finally decided to breaking up other than the busy schedules you both had. He was always going on tour everytime you had free time from work and vice versa. He asked for a break first, because he never wanted to break up with you, but for the sake of both of you, you told him it’s better to break up. But being the soft-boyfriend Shownu he always was, he still sent you cute good morning or goodnight texts and told you to not overworked yourself– but this time, without too much of emoticons.

Wonho

It upsets him that you wanted a break-up. Everyone knows he loves you above anything else and that he suffered after you said you needed some times alone. All members would sent texts to you, saying that he loved you too much that he was now not in the mood to do everything.

Minhyuk

It was the day he saw you giggling with Changkyun at the company’s lobby. Both you and Changkyun was talking about the silly things Minhyuk did at the practice earlier and it was so funny that you ended up laying your hand on Changkyun’s arm, hitting him while you were laughing, but Minhyuk saw that as you flirting with him. Without bother to come to you he changed his attitude and always avoided you ever since until you asked what happened and he said he wanted a break up. You did explain to him what happened that day, but Minhyuk just wouldn’t listen and it frustrates you even more.

Kihyun

He wasn’t the type that would get jealous to boys you’re closed with, except to one guy– your ex you still keep in touch with. It was the day when you came late to your date night because your ex was coming to town for three days only and that he only got tonight to meet. Kihyun was damn mad that he blurted a curse word that shocked you because as long as you dated him, he never even once said anything rude to you. Right at that time, you felt really offended by his word that you asked for a break up, without waiting for his answer, you left him and went straight home, crying. Right after that, Kihyun realised he has done something really wrong towards you that sent him to texts you apologize messages and came to your apartment immediately, waiting overnight in front of your door until morning came.

Hyungwon

He told you before you dated that he knows and closed with lots of girls and asked you to understand his relationships with them and you were actually fine with it until one day you read an article about him having drinks with a girl– lastly known as a member of a rookie group. It drove you insane and made you immediately texted him that you wanted a break up. He was confused and called you too many times. Ignoring him, he finally sent you lots of messages asking what was the problem until he found out by himself about the article. He tried his best to explain to you that later, he found out that the girl framed him to made people looking up her name to make her famous.

“Please, forgive me. I will never cheat on you even if the sexiest girl in this world stripped in front of me or the cutest girl in this world did an aegyo for me. I will always have my eyes on you, baby.”

Jooheon

This fluffy boy would be in a bad mood the whole day after you said you wanted a break up because you felt that he paid too much attention to his work a lot more than to you. When the night came and it was the time for him to finally could touch his bed, he would text you messages.

“Come on, baby. You know how much i love you and that i never wanted to break up. Both you and work are equally important to me and you knew that comeback is just around the corner. I beg you, please, please don’t break up with me, baby. I’m begging you.”

I.M

He will be on his phone all the time after he finished up his last concert of the tour. Other members would asked him about his long face and that he chose to stayed in the hotel room while they went out drinking.

“Changkyun, what is it?” Kihyun would came to him after everyone left his room.

“It’s (y/n). She wanted a break up.” He messed his hair and threw his phone away. “I don’t want that. I really love her.” He rubbed his face before he jumped out of bed, walked clumsily to where his luggage laid and began packing all his stuffs.

“Yah! What are you doing?” Kihyun tried to stopped him.

“I’m leaving tonight.” Changkyun answered shortly.

“It’s in the middle of the night, you crazy!”

“Yes, i am crazy. I am crazily in love with her that i don’t want to lose her.”

Hell, i hope this is not too long for a reaction(?) and i hope you like this.

Please do send stuffs like this because this is my first time doing this and it’s really f u n.

#monsta x #shownu #wonho #minhyuk #kihyun #hyungwon #jooheon #changkyun #i.m #monsta x scenarios #monsta x imagines

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gdwessel · 4 years

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World Tag Leage 2019 Night 4 - 11/19/2019; Lion’s Break: Project 2 Ticketing Info; Rush Claims Dragon Lee Returning To NJPW Soon

The World Tag League continued today. The show was not live on NJPWWorld but will likely be posted on tape delay, probably tomorrow as there is no event tomorrow.

- 11/19/2019, Fukushima Big Palette

World Tag League 2019: Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] & Karl Fredericks d. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (Goto > Kojima, GTR, 11:39)

World Tag League 2019: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare d. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi (Tanahashi > Nakanishi, High Fly Flow, 10:37)

World Tag League 2019: Juice Robinson & David Finlay Jr. d. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma (Robinson > Honma, Pulp Friction, 11:49)

World Tag League 2019: Shingo Takagi & Terrible [Los Ingobernables] d. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club] (Takagi > Owens, Made In Japan, 9:28)

World Tag League 2019: Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Colt Cabana [FREE] d. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (Cabana > YOSHI-HASHI, Superman Pin, 10:02)

Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Jay White & Gedo [Bullet Club] (BUSHI > Gedo, MX, 11:51)

World Tag League 2019: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] d. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi [SZKG] (Tonga > Taichi, Schoolboy, 11:31)

World Tag League 2019: EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] d. Jeff Cobb [ROH] & Mikey Nicholls [CHAOS] (SANADA > Nicholls, Magic Killer, 13:06)

Shingo & Terrible get on the board. Safe to say Nagata & Nakanishi will NOT be winning this year’s tournament. GOD & EVIL/SANADA return to the tournament and both get wins. With their win, Yano/Cabana shoot to the top of the table on head-to-head against Ishii/YOSHI-HASHI.

Current standings:

Yano/Cabana: 6pts (3W 0D 1L) Ishii/YOSHI-HASHI: 6pts (3W 0D 1L) FinJuice: 6pts (3W 0D 1L) EVIL/SANADA: 4pts (2W 0D 0L) KENTA/Yujiro: 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Cobb/Nicholls: 4pts (2W 0D 2L) GBH: 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Goto/Fredericks: 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Sabre/Taichi: 4pts (2W 0D 2L) TanaHenare: 4pts (2W 0D 2L) TenKoji: 4pts (2W 0D 2L) GOD: 2pts (1W 0D 1L) Suzuki/Archer: 2pts (1W 0D 2L) Fale/Owens: 2pts (1W 0D 3L) Shingo/Terrible: 2pts (1W 0D 3L) Nagata/Nakanishi: 0pts (0W 0D 4L)

NJPW has released the ticketin info for Lion’s Break: Project 2, and as with last year’s event, it’s more or less free in standing room, if you already have a badge for CharaExpo. If you want seating, well, it’s a little more convoluted this year:

・How to watch Lion’s Break Project 2 Seating ticket: Any customer that spends $30 or more on merchandise at the NJPW merchandise booths can get either one Lion’s Break Project 2 seating ticket or one NJPW M&G ticket ※1. Amount must be spent in a single transaction. Purchases totaling under $30 will not receive a ticket ※2. Any customers who purchase over $60 in merchandise get their choice of two tickets(e.g. 1 seating ticket & 1 M&G ticket; 2 seating tickets; 2 M&G tickets).

The standing room area is open to anyone!

※CharaExpo USA 2019 admission ticket is required for this event. 　Details about CharaExpo USA 2019: https://www.charaexpo-usa.com/

So you have to buy merch, and have a CharaExpo badge, if you want to sit down at the shows.

There are some rumblings going around that Dragon Lee may be in NJPW sooner than later. Currently he is unsigned anywhere, following his firing in September from CMLL, which is how he is able to work both ROH’s Final Battle PPV, and challenge Kenny Omega in AAA coming up. But from a report from friend of the blog/show TheCubsFan...

There was also an Arena Neza show last night. Rush talked with the press after his match, making the point that he’s happy being his own boss now and big things are happening. He talked about forming a new group in Ring of Honor, something that’s been teased for months. In his last words before leaving, Rush mentions one of his brothers is going to NJPW soon. Mistico was left off the FantasticaMania tour, so this is obvious. The NJPW people surely talked to both CMLL and Dragon Lee while they were in town to work out what’s next, though probably not at the same time. Rush dropping that hint right now suggests those talks went fairly well. I’d expect Dragon Lee and Hiromu Takahashi will be in the same ring as each other once again in January (though the actual match may wait to February.) It is unclear if NJPW is running their Honor Rising co-promoted tour with Ring of Honor in February, but Dragon Lee sliding over to those shows instead of FantasticaMania would probably help all parties.

The NJPW officials being in Mexico were of course due to the special ceremony that CMLL threw for Tiger Hattori on Friday at Arena Mexico. For the moment, it would have appeared that NJPW was more willing to work with CMLL then Dragon Lee, but NJPW were also very high on Dragon Lee, even crowning him IWGP Juniorheavyweight Champion at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden. Who knows if any of this will pan out. But with Hiromu Takahashi being back, to not have Dragon Lee return now would be nothing short of cruel.

The tour takes a day off tomorrow, but returns to action on Thursday.

- 11/21/2019, Yamanashi Aimesse

World Tag League 2019: Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi v. Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] & Karl Fredericks

World Tag League 2019: Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima

World Tag League 2019: Jeff Cobb [ROH] & Mikey Nicholls [CHAOS] v. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer [SZKG]

World Tag League 2019: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare v. Juice Robinson & David Finlay Jr.

World Tag League 2019: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] v. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Jay White & Gedo [Bullet Club]

World Tag League 2019: EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

World Tag League 2019: Shingo Takagi & Terrible [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi [SZKG]

#NJPW #new japan pro wrestling #world tag league #njwtl #lion's break #new japan pro wrestling of america #njoa #Bushiroad #CharaExpo #dragon lee #rush #hiromu takahashi

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junker-town · 4 years

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See you soon, Hannah Roberts

How one of Team USA’s potential breakout Olympic stars is handling the wait.

Luscious green trees surround the outdoor skatepark and grandstands at the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Chengdu, China. Freestyle BMX star Hannah Roberts — atop her pink bike, rocking a black full-face helmet — drops in and pedals hard toward a spine ramp. As she launches off the ramp, Roberts begins a 360-degree spin. In the middle of her rotation, she uses the handlebars to whip the bike around separate from her body, becoming the first woman to land a 360 tailwhip in competition.

The historic trick, thrown down on her sport’s biggest stage, epitomized Roberts’ young career. She has never stopped building to bigger and better things.

Rather than give the crowd a fist pump, or take a breather to soak in the momentous occasion, Roberts immediately hits a vert ramp and busts a flair — a backflip with a simultaneous 180-degree turn.

The year before, she took a disappointing third in the event, behind fellow Americans Perris Benegas and Angie Marino. On Nov. 10, 2019, Roberts avenged the loss, winning her second world championship at just 18 years old with a score of 90.0 out of 100.

After wiping away tears, she stood above the rest on the podium, smiling as she accepted a gold medal and a stuffed panda with a leaf in its mouth. She wore UCI’s iconic rainbow jersey, bestowed upon world champions of every cycling discipline since the 1920s.

Just one week earlier, she had won her fourth straight FISE World Cups Series, which also held its final event in Chengdu. Roberts left no question whether she was the best women’s freestyle BMXer in the world.

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“I wanted to have the rainbow jersey going into the Olympic year,” Roberts says. “It was more for myself. I put so much work in, and I was so focused on showing that I wasn’t going to take second or third again. I wanted that year to be all about me, so I threw down some of my bigger tricks.”

Her mother Betty made the trip to Chengdu to watch, after she and Roberts had spent half a year apart. In order to train for the world championships, Roberts effectively emancipated herself from her mother and father in June 2019 while she was still 17.

She moved in with long-time medical trainer Trish Bare Grounds and Trish’s 18-year-old daughter, Olivia, 750 miles away in Holly Springs, North Carolina. As she moved, she changed her diet. More importantly, she strictly budgeted her modest income. Being a teenage action sports prodigy with international acclaim isn’t as lucrative as one might think.

There was no giant check waiting at the podium in Chengdu to signify the €10,000 in prize money she earned, but the win was huge for Roberts. Just four months prior, she wasn’t sure she could sustain her freestyle BMX career into her mid-twenties unless the sport became more financially stable.

The World Championships are one of the few annual competitions to award equal prizes to men and women. By comparison, when she won the final contest of the world series, the Men’s Elite winner took home €8,000 while Roberts received €1,500.

And though Roberts’ accomplishments show how far women’s freestyle BMX has come in recent years in terms of talent and viability, they are also a reminder of the wage and sponsorship gap that persists between male and female athletes. As impressive as Roberts and her peers have been, the most famous annual extreme sports event, the X Games, still won’t let them compete.

The now-postponed summer Olympics were supposed to be a launch pad for the sport and for Roberts. The games drew an estimated 3.6 billion viewers for the Rio Games in 2016. Freestyle BMX will be an event for the first time ever in Tokyo, and Roberts is the clear favorite to take home gold.

“Women are the future of our sport,” says Nina Buitrago, a pioneer of women’s BMX who continues to be one of the sports biggest advocates. “They’re very marketable, and it’s a big thing that BMX has needed for a long time. It’s just incredible that with something like the Olympics, it’s catapulted all of us in to try to progress more and just own our journey.”

Roberts is ready to lead the charge; unfortunately, there’s only so much she can control. She did everything right heading into the 2020 games — kept herself afloat financially, trained relentlessly, won everything she needed to and then some.

But she couldn’t predict the coronavirus pandemic that has put her Olympic dreams, and those of countless others, on hold until 2021 at the earliest. Roberts is used to addressing her problems through sheer willpower. Being forced to wait, a budding star without a showcase, has been an entirely different challenge.

In South Bend, Indiana, around the back of an old brick chocolate factory, past a chain-link gate and barbed-wire fence, and at the other end of a parking lot with cracked concrete, sits an old mattress factory-turned-world-class skatepark. The indoor park known as “The Kitchen” is closed most weekdays, but on an unusually warm Monday afternoon in February, the front door is unlocked. Roberts is home for the first time in more than six months to enjoy her formative skatepark.

That evening, she will ride with three boys between the ages of 11 and 14 who she has mentored for years. Roberts was invited to the park for a private session for them and their parents. She practically had no choice — she happened to be in town, and they were blowing up her phone all day begging to celebrate.

The official Team USA Instagram account posted a photo of Roberts earlier that afternoon announcing she was the first American to ever qualify for the Olympics in freestyle BMX.

View this post on Instagram

WATCH OUT, 18-year-old @hannah_roberts_bmx is the first American to qualify for the Olympics in BMX freestyle ‼️

A post shared by Team USA (@teamusa) on Feb 3, 2020 at 9:33am PST

“They’re supposed to be in school,” Roberts says, “but they were on their phones during the day and took screenshots, sent it to me and asked, ‘Did you see this?’ The first three times I told them ‘no,’ but finally, I just responded, ‘Do you want to ride tonight?’”

For hours, Roberts and her young pupils film each other on their phones while they attempt high-flying tricks into a large yellow foam pit and eat slices of greasy pizza. She’s proud of how they have improved under her tutelage. Their parents comment on how much she has inspired them. Roberts also expects this will be one of her last carefree runs before she transitions to a training regimen suitable for an Olympic athlete. She sits and soaks in nostalgia from her surroundings instead of sending her own tricks into the foam pit.

“The last four years of me living here, I rode with every one of these kids almost every day,” Roberts says. “I’d pick them up from their house if they needed a ride or I’d take them to a skatepark. If I wanted to make a day trip to Ohio just to ride something different, they were always in my car going with me.”

According to her mother, Roberts is at her happiest when she’s working with kids, though she still fits within a broad definition of “adolescent” herself.

“[Hannah] was the first girl I saw do a tailwhip. Once she has a trick, she can just do it. It’s not like it’s luck.” - Nina Buitrago, freestyle BMX pioneer

Roberts grew up in the 4,000-person town of Buchanan, Michigan, a few miles north of the Indiana state border and a 20-minute drive from South Bend. Decades ago, Buchanan’s rolling terrain gave birth to RedBud MX, one of America’s signature motocross tracks and now an annual stop for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. In the fall of 2018, the track even hosted Motocross of Nations, which is billed as the “Olympics of motocross,” drawing riders from all over the world.

The fact Buchanan produced a world-renowned extreme sports athlete like Roberts isn’t a surprise. But Roberts is unique because her success never came on a dirt bike. If not for her father’s disapproval, Roberts might have given motocross a real shot, but the closest she ever came was working a taco stand at RedBud MX during her summers.

Her passion for BMX was passed on from her older cousin, Brett “Mad Dog” Banasiewicz, once an up-and-comer on the Dew Tour. In 2012, as a shaggy black-haired 17-year-old, he won his first Dew Tour park event in Ocean City, Maryland. The following week, his professional career came to a devastating end. During a practice session, he landed on his head while attempting a 720° and wearing an uncertified helmet. He temporarily lost the use of his left arm, and his motor and speech skills will never fully recover.

“It was horrible. To me, he was gonna be the next Dave Mirra,” says Daniel Dhers, one of the most decorated BMX riders of all-time. “He just learned how to compete. He had all these tricks that he’d worked on for years. He had the looks, and he could talk, and was funny. If he were riding today? He’d be the guy in the Olympics, for sure. That would be crazy because then it would be him and Hannah.”

Via Hannah Roberts

Roberts herself has suffered numerous broken bones, but fear of suffering an injury like Banasiewicz doesn’t hold her back.

“You can take all the safety precautions in the world, but it still could happen,” Roberts says. “Brett fell on a trick that he’d mastered, that he’d been doing forever. It was five seconds and everything changed.”

Before the injury, a 16-year-old Banasiewicz self-funded and, with the help of his friend Glenn Salyers, designed The Kitchen. They equipped it with enormous ramps, foam pits, and “resi” ramps, which are covered in foam and a thick sheet of black rubber. By the time she was riding at nine years old, Roberts had access to one of the nation’s premier skateparks.

Swiss-American freestyle rider Nikita Ducarroz, five years Roberts’ senior and a likely qualifier for the 2020 Olympics for Switzerland, remembers trekking to The Kitchen from her Southern California home for a competition as a teenager. She almost froze at the magnitude of its jumps.

“The ramps at The Kitchen are huge,” Ducarroz says. “I remember going there, and I couldn’t even cruise the boxes and [Hannah’s] doing tricks over them.”

By middle school, Roberts was already performing tricks that seasoned veterans with sponsorships had never seen.

“She was the first girl I saw do a tailwhip,” Buitrago says. “Once she has a trick, she can just do it. It’s not like it’s luck.”

But as much as The Kitchen spurred Roberts’ BMX education, she eventually realized she had to leave it behind.

For years, Roberts believed members of her inner circle credited The Kitchen for too much of her success, disregarding her work ethic and determination. And she could only spend so much time mentoring other young BMXers without sacrificing her own progress.

“I love riding with the locals,” Roberts says. “I love helping them, but it comes to a point where, in every session, if you’re focusing on other people riding, which I love to do, your riding starts to fall.”

Roberts gave up her passion for mentoring, at least temporarily, to better her career. She had felt the pain of losing the 2018 World Championships and the rainbow jersey. She never wants to let that happen again.

Holly Springs — a pine tree- and strip mall-filled landscape similar to every other suburb in the Raleigh, N.C., metropolitan area — has quickly become the new mecca of freestyle BMX. That’s largely thanks to Dhers, who owns the massive indoor-outdoor skatepark known as the Daniel Dhers Action Sports Complex. Dhers, 35, is a five-time X Games gold medalist originally from Venezuela.

From the front, the DDASC looks like an office building or outlet store, industrial gray brick and dark windows covering the outside. The inside doesn’t look like what a typical sports fan might expect from an Olympic training facility. Plywood and two-by-fours are the predominant decor. But the 37,000-square-foot complex is considered one of the largest and best family-oriented, year-round skating and biking facilities in the world.

After spending her entire life in the Midwest, Roberts moved to Holly Springs to train at the DDASC because, unlike most other Olympic athletes, the best BMX riders like to train side-by-side, pushing each other.

The park officially opens to the public every weekday from 3 to 8 p.m. Dhers and the other pros do most of their riding in the morning to avoid crowds of young kids on scooters, but they often make exceptions on Tuesday evenings.

Recently, Roberts was joined by two other women riders: Ducarroz and Benegas, the winner of the 2018 World Championships. Roberts and Benegas are teammates and rivals. Their tug-of-war relationship only intensified after both became near-locks to qualify for the Olympics.

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“It’s very competitive now,” Roberts says. “We call it winning practice, which makes no sense because it’s practice, but everybody wants to win.”

The male riders include Dhers, Marin Ranteš of Croatia, American Justin Dowell and Australian Brand Loupos. All have finished on the podium at major UCI and FISE BMX events over the last two years.

During training sessions at the DDASC, each rider takes turns dropping in from the deck and riding for 30 to 40 seconds at a time, watching each other and offering criticism and encouragement. On one run, Roberts lands a tailwhip onto resi with relative ease. She then rides around the skatepark to pick up speed and hits the same ramp, performing a 360° tuck no-hander in which, while letting go of the bike, she leans her stomach against the handlebars before grabbing them again and landing.

Much of her competition would be thrilled with this short run, but Roberts is just getting started.

“Backflip bar spins over spines is her warm-up trick in sessions,” Ducarroz says.

Unfortunately, the sport of freestyle BMX hasn’t progressed as quickly as its athletes.

Freestyle BMX has been around since the mid-1970s, but didn’t achieve international prominence until the late 90s and early 2000s, after the X Games were started. Yet, to this day, women BMXers aren’t allowed to vie for a medal in the competition.

Instead, the most that X Games organizers have been willing to give them is an unpaid demonstration, the first of which occurred in 2014. For 10 years before that, X Games offered a girls BMX clinic. The riders hope that, one day, women’s freestyle BMX will have its own competition, similar to what women’s skateboarding and snowboarding have enjoyed for years.

It’s a big risk, especially the year before the Olympics, to ride at an event where you won’t make money ... [The X Games] are just a big slap in the face” - Hannah Roberts

“We’ve been working on this relationship with X Games for so long,” Buitrago says. “I feel like we’re so close, but they just were like, ‘Well, we’re just going to offer you another demo again.’ The deal that we made was [that] women are down to do the demo, so long as every year we’re working towards having an actual contest.”

But everyone has their limits. In 2018, when she was16, Roberts became the first prominent female rider to bail on the X Games, deciding her skills were worth more than a free hotel room and limited exposure. Some of the other professional riders protested her decision, saying it wasn’t best for the sport, but her mind was made up.

The following year, the entire women’s class agreed to boycott the event.

“It’s a big risk, especially the year before the Olympics, to ride at an event where you won’t make money,” Roberts says. “We barely get a crowd. They have it at like 9 or 10 a.m., so nobody’s really there. No events are going on. It’s just a big slap in the face.

“People should really open their eyes and realize that the class [of women] is growing. That people are getting better and it will take time for us to be on the same level as the men just because of the support. It’s hard to make [BMX] a career.”

Roberts learned from a young age that practice, more than exposure, would propel her career.

At the DDASC, Dhers is the unofficial coach of the group. He periodically pulls riders aside for extra one-on-one attention while they train. When Roberts first moved to Holly Springs, her day-to-day riding was inconsistent. One day, she might push herself beyond her limits, risking injury and wearing herself out. The next, she’d spend too much time on her phone or drinking an energy drink. Dhers and the other pros helped her change her mentality by pushing her to take a more mindful, calculated approach to practicing new tricks.

Now she’s deliberate about how much time she spends sending a trick to the foam pit, only moving to resi once she feels she’s ready, then moving to a wooden ramp when the trick is nearly perfect.

“I used to just send things [on a wooden ramp] and then go back on resi and then go back in the foam and work on them, which was a terrible idea,” Roberts says.

Her new mentality has paid real dividends. For instance, on a six-week training trip she took to Australia after her victory at the World Championships, Roberts learned more than two dozen new tricks, including what she called five or six “big tricks.” During that time, she traveled throughout the country, staying with Australian rider Natalya Diehm.

Roberts knew she had to evolve. She noticed other women catching up to her, and the number of competitors increasing exponentially. She’s stubborn according to those who know her well. She got to the top of her profession as a teenager, after all, even before she got to Holly Springs.

According to Dhers, Roberts’ persistent ‘send-it mentality’ came from her Kitchen days, riding massive ramps with no one to tell her she shouldn’t. On ramps that size, riders must possess a certain degree of fearlessness to commit to a trick. It was there she learned a fundamental lesson of the sport.

“If you baby it, you die,” Dhers says. “You don’t make it.”

Getty Images

The Covid-19 pandemic first hit the freestyle BMX world Feb. 22 when FISE and the UCI canceled the World Cup event scheduled for May in Pu Yang, China. A few weeks later, a second World Cup event in Hiroshima was postponed indefinitely. After a period of insisting the games would be held as scheduled, the International Olympic Committee finally announced on March 24 the postponement of the Tokyo Games until 2021.

In the days following the news, Roberts spent more time in her bedroom than at the DDASC, moving back and forth from her bed, to playing video games, to her desk to email Team USA and other sponsors.

Focusing on a few companies at a time, she figured out which of her sponsorships were most impacted. The Milk Processor Education Program, the group behind the “Got Milk?” campaign, adjusted their contract with Roberts, but her contracted sponsorships within the BMX industry — Tioga, Alienation, Hyper Bike and Snafu — were still intact.

“It’s still just a little frustrating going through all the emails and making sure that we’re all on the same page and we all know what’s happening, who’s getting paid when and what is expected of me,” Roberts says.

Perhaps the biggest frustration was the notion that all the hard work she’d been putting in towards the Olympics — the stringent riding schedule, changes to her diet, dedication to the gym — wouldn’t pay off like she had planned.

“I was happy that the committee put in the consideration for athletes’ health,” Roberts says, “but it’s also disappointing and nerve-wracking because you have to keep the Olympic mindset for the next year and deal with all the same stuff over again.”

Thankfully, Roberts will not have to requalify. She will represent Team USA at the Olympics in 2021. And she’s still training.

Because of the pandemic, skateparks all across the country are closed to the public, including the DDASC. But all the pros agreed that if they only saw each other, and had all groceries and food delivered, that they could continue to practice together. Dhers turned the upper deck of the skatepark into a mini gym, equipped with dumbbells, a pull-up bar and two plastic trash cans attached at opposite ends of a workout bar.

Roberts still rides for three to four hours a day with the group, but she works out at home in the afternoons using exercise bands. She also tries to get up at 6 a.m. every morning for cardio and stretching. The UCI rainbow jersey hanging in her bedroom closet helps keep her focused.

“When I don’t feel like riding in the morning or when I don’t feel like getting up and going to the session or the workout, I look at it and it gives me that extra motivation,” Roberts says. “It’s like, ‘I don’t want to lose this again.’”

This should have been the year when Roberts’ profile skyrocketed. Through no fault of her own, 2020 feels like a step back, a disheartening tumble after a redemptive 2019. Still, it’s difficult to know how much an Olympic gold medal would elevate her career.

“CNN could pick it up and then boom, she’s a famous superstar, or no one could pick it up and then nothing ever happens,” Dhers says. “How many Olympic gold medalists are there for the women in other sports and no one knows they exist?”

Roberts doesn’t seem to be banking on superstardom, at least. For now, she’s being frugal, saving almost every dime from her contest winnings.

Certainly, the more visible Roberts is, the more popular she and the sport can become. For years, Roberts has been considered a leader in freestyle BMX because of her strong example. That ‘send-it mentality,’ again.

“One thing I’ve learned is that when you see a woman do something, you’re like, ‘oh, my gosh, it’s possible,’” Buitrago says. “For whatever reason, you see guys do the same trick but when you see a woman do [a trick] that you haven’t ever seen them do before, you’re like, ‘Oh, my God. Yes.’”

But Roberts doesn’t focus much on the stakes, only on how she’s pushing herself at any point in time. Others may see unlimited potential, and an opportunity for fame and possibly fortune, but her goals are intrinsic.

“I don’t necessarily want to be the best woman BMX rider,” Roberts says. “I would rather just be a good or great BMX rider, in general, rather than having the woman or the man label on it.

“I just do whatever I think is possible and if it works out, it works out. And if not, try it again.”

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privateplates4u · 4 years

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Ferrari 488 GTB is the 2017 Motor Trend Best Driver’s Car

When a car is as good as the Ferrari 458 Italia that won Best Driver’s Car in 2011, you don’t need to change much. Ferrari did anyway, and it produced the even more impressive 488 GTB. Although much of the front half of the car has been reused, it’s all been tweaked. The new bodywork has been designed with slavish devotion to aerodynamics, and the 488 features both an electronically controlled drag-reduction system in the rear diffuser and a Formula 1–inspired blown diffuser in the rear bodywork. The new 3.9-liter twin-turbo V-8 makes a staggering 661 hp and 561 lb-ft of torque and carefully controls boost levels at lower engine speeds to keep the turbos spooled and the acceleration linear. The second-gen Side Slip Control vehicle dynamics system now controls the adaptive dampers, the traction control, the stability control, and the electronically controlled limited-slip differential. The seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, your only choice, receives new ratios and shifts quicker. The rear suspension, meanwhile, is wider than ever. It’s Best Driver’s Car week! Don’t miss the incredible story of how we chose the 2017 Best Driver’s Car right here, and stay tuned for the World’s Greatest Drag Race, coming soon. With 661 horsepower and only 3,412 pounds of carbon fiber to move, the 488 GTB screams to 60 mph in just 2.7 seconds and past the quarter mile in a stunning 10.6 seconds at 135.2 mph. Let it loose on the figure eight, and it’ll post a 22.6-second lap time at 0.99 average g. In steady-state cornering on the skidpad, it’ll pull 1.02 g. Stopping from 60 mph takes just 94 feet. We Say “Wow. That’s a super car. Ferrari proves here and now why it’s the gold standard. The speed is absolutely incredible. It’s so incredibly powerful and yet so linear. It’s a force of nature, like being picked up by a tornado. There’s zero turbo lag. Even still, it’s easily modulated. The ESC is magic. I see the light blinking, but I have no idea what it’s doing. Completely invisible. I know from the figure eight it’ll snap sideways left to its own, but not in Race mode. The handling is perfect. It flows like whitewater rapids through the corners. The weight transfer is just enough to make you feel like you’re pushing it (you’re not, really), the grip is unending, and yet it’s so light and responsive. The steering is fantastic. You think. It goes. You almost don’t have to think. Instinct happens, and the car responds. My only complaint is the brakes. They’re very strong, but they feel very wooden to me. If you need to scrub a lot of speed, you need to stand on them like you’re trying to break the pedal off.” – Scott Evans “Holy crap. How can a car this powerful be this easy to drive? It has the most horsepower in this group, and it takes some bravery to floor it for the first time. This thing has limits way beyond what I’m capable of, but that doesn’t make it any less fun at lower limits. This is a car that makes you feel like a superhero. Part of that is in how usable every single one of its 661 horsepower is. True to exotic form, responses are heightened everywhere but not dramatically so. The steering is quick with no dead spot at center—just a consistent flow of alacrity lock to lock. The transmission is even more telepathic than Porsche’s PDK, intuitively anticipating all upshifts and downshifts. “The drive up 198 was literally a blur. I was going so fast. Only after I rounded the last corner coming down 198 did I realize I had been holding my breath.” – Derek Powell Read about other 2017 Best Driver’s Car contenders: Porsche 911 Turbo S Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE Porsche 718 Cayman S Lexus LC 500 Mercedes-AMG GT R Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Aston Martin DB11 Nissan GT-R NISMO Mazda MX-5 Miata RF McLaren 570GT “I got a couple of instances of bump steer, but otherwise it was glued to the ground. The steering is very lively and requires constant attention (this car needs me), if only to keep it pointed where I want to go, but it does go there with obedience and authority. The engine is brilliant … everywhere in the rev range, and the brakes were unflappable and the soundtrack was intoxicating. This is one of those cars, one of those drives, one of those moments that will forever be seared into my synapses as an epic moment—when all that is good in the world was heightened/bristling for the 4.2 miles up and then down the hill. A true deus ex machina experience that I will add to four other ones in my life.” – Chris Walton “This is what every teenager’s fantasy is when they think of Ferrari. Sometimes in the past, Ferraris have been more about image and beauty and grace and style, but the performance has been just OK. The 488 is razor sharp, blisteringly quick, and finely tuned. The engine note is simply animalistic. This fulfills the complete list of needs, from extreme exotic to dauntless touring car. On Highway 198 it immediately became clear there is only one true supercar in this batch. There is immortality in its forgiveness in going at least 10 mph quicker around corners than its nearest competitors. How you can wad up this car is unknowable. Downhill, the brakes seem like they were a bit softer than I would assume a really fast Ferrari would have, but you get used to them. Besides if you grab a shorter gear, the engine braking is phenomenal.” – Mark Rechtin “This is one that forces you to keep both hands on the wheel and your foot on the gas (or brake) at all times—no fancy lane following/departure stuff. In that sense, at the most basic level of car control, it demands that your full attention. But that doesn’t mean it’s hard to drive—it’s effortless at very high speeds, completely poised yet responsive. A flat attitude and fingertip control while cornering at speeds 10-15-mph faster than other vehicles is difficult to achieve—as is the same, if not greater confidence heading down 198 as up. Only this 488 and the 911 Turbo S gave me that exhilarating feeling of invincibility (I had no issues with the brakes), and I only give the 488 the nod over the Turbo S because the V-8 twin turbo wail at WOT sounds more lurvly.” – Ed Loh “Faster than everything else by 10 mph, at least, in every situation. Blazing speed. In love with it? No. Not as satisfying to drive as some of the others, even in Race mode. But in terms of athleticism, a benchmark. As Randy said, it’s more like a Moto GP bike than a car. Also, I did not trust the brakes. “I understand the intoxication of the 488. It’s an out-and-out supercar that within 3 seconds of behind-the-wheel time, you’re able to confidently take to your limit. Perhaps that’s really what makes a Best Driver’s Car: a machine that not only makes you confident, but one that does so almost instantly.” – Jonny Lieberman Randy Says “Whoa, that’s a thrill. Entering a corner, the front is very strong and turns in really hard. And then through the middle of the corner, I think the stability controls are doing things. I found that if I went to an early maintenance throttle, it didn’t like that. It would create quite a bit of understeer, and I’d be pushing enough that I couldn’t go to power. So I realized the best strategy was to stay off the power longer and let it get turned more for a really late apex, so I could straighten up and just shoot down that next straightaway because it gains speed with amazing rapidity. “Its engine is absolutely a delight. It’s so fantastic. There’s no turbo lag on the track, it just feels like a very powerful engine with a fat torque curve, and it’s not very picky about the shift point because the torque curve is so fat. “I felt what I think was like traction control or stability control coming in, and it was very smooth. It allowed a lot of slip angle in the tire, and that got to be quite a lot of fun. Especially the last time I went out, when I kind of figured it out. Things were all happening so fast. This was a car where it was not easy to go fast in right away because it took so much getting used to. “I was not real happy with the brakes. I didn’t get that initial bite, you know, not like the Corvette. You know good old GM? It’s just so good at designing brakes right now. With the Ferrari, I had to push really hard, and after a point pushing harder didn’t cause the brakes to be better, they made them worse. A couple times I started thinking about explaining to these guys how I got in the wall, and I think I was braking early enough. I really was. But there was not a linear relationship between pedal pressure and brake force. And there was not a lot of bite. It took a lot of pedal effort, and it didn’t get a lot better as you pushed harder. So I found myself having to brake what felt early, like real early. “The car is relatively soft to me. It feels compliant, and if I still had a lot of weight on the nose when I turned, I could feel it roll. It wasn’t terrible but it rolled in there. It would rotate, the rear would move out a little bit, but it was best to let it do that and not go to throttle. Have the entry speed, slow hands, a little bit of brake maybe or at least off-throttle, and be patient and get it pointed way down at the late apex because then when you go it was amazing how it just pinned me back in the seat. It just felt so good, like if you could take the seatbelt right out of the car then it wouldn’t matter while your accelerating because you’re pinned to the seat. It feels really, really good. The engine is an absolute home run—it’s just unbelievable.” 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT Mid-engine, RWD ENGINE TYPE Twin-turbo 90-deg V-8, alum block/heads VALVETRAIN DOHC, 4 valves/cyl DISPLACEMENT 238.1 cu in/3,902 cc COMPRESSION RATIO 9.4:1 POWER (SAE NET) 661 hp @ 8,000 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 561 lb-ft @ 3,000 rpm REDLINE 8,000 rpm WEIGHT TO POWER 5.2 lb/hp TRANSMISSION 7-speed twin-clutch auto AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO 4.38:1/2.81:1 SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR Control arms, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar STEERING RATIO 11.9:1 TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK 1.9 BRAKES, F; R 15.7-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc; 14.2-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc, ABS WHEELS, F;R 9.0 x 20-in; 11.0 x 20-in, forged aluminum TIRES, F;R 245/35R20 91Y; 305/30R20 103Y Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 K1 (Tread 180) DIMENSIONS WHEELBASE 104.3 in TRACK, F/R 66.1/64.8 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 179.8 x 76.9 x 47.8 in TURNING CIRCLE 38.7 ft CURB WEIGHT 3,412 lb WEIGHT DIST, F/R 41/59% SEATING CAPACITY 2 HEADROOM, F/R n.a./— in LEGROOM, F/R n.a./— in SHOULDER ROOM, F/R n.a./— in CARGO VOLUME 8.1 cu ft TEST DATA ACCELERATION TO MPH 0-30 1.2 sec 0-40 1.7 0-50 2.2 0-60 2.7 0-70 3.4 0-80 4.2 0-90 5.0 0-100 6.0 0-100-0 9.7 PASSING, 45-65 MPH 1.2 QUARTER MILE 10.6 sec @ 135.2 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 94 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 1.02 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 22.6 sec @ 0.99 g (avg) 2.2-MI ROAD COURSE LAP 1:31.68 sec TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH 1,600 rpm CONSUMER INFO BASE PRICE $249,150 PRICE AS TESTED $365,793 STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL Yes/Yes AIRBAGS 4: Dual front, front side/head BASIC WARRANTY 3 yrs/Unlimited miles POWERTRAIN WARRANTY 3 yrs/Unlimited miles ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE 3 yrs/Unlimited miles FUEL CAPACITY 20.6 gal EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON 15/22/18 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 225/153 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 1.11 lb/mile RECOMMENDED FUEL Unleaded premium The post Ferrari 488 GTB is the 2017 Motor Trend Best Driver’s Car appeared first on Motor Trend.

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