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annqbthchse · 4 years

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SGE x Cheesy Christmas Au

Except this time I actually post it :0

Camelot's hosting this fundraiser to raise funds for the castle/kingdom - it's generally a joyous occasion and one of the only nights of the year that Arthur is sober - which is why he thinks that tonight is the best night to tell Tedros that the royal court has decided that he and the Lady Sophie are to be married

Tedros is very confused because although he's made threats about getting him married before to make him learn a lesson he never took it seriously before

Both are surprised and don't take it very well - tedros decides to try to increase his confidence with a few drinks while Sophie tries to hide from her mother whose just a bit too pleased at this proposed union

Tedros just basically says fuck it and decides to confront his father

Arthur tells Tedros that he's getting older and doesn't fully trust Tedros to be able to help the kingdom and Sophie is a lovely woman of whom the people love and that will only help Tedros’ reputation as future king and make the people of Camelot feel more secure in their future leadership

It's not like Tedros hasn’t heard this from him before it just hits a little different hearing it from him sober

So Tedros, mildly confident on some alcohol makes his father an offer: He’ll give the speech at Christmas eve and show all the dignitaries that he can prove he’s capable and knows things and that he doesn’t need an arranged marriage to do that or he’ll do what he says and marry Sophie. Arthur reluctantly agrees

To then digest everything that's happened and freak out a little in private he goes into the kitchens, where a certain waitress was just taking her break

Agathas just chilling - eating some cake

Tedros can keep it together at this point - the weight of what he's just agreed to finally catching up with him and he just has to expel all his feelings about how he's the cliched family disappointment etc.

He knows that he definitely should not be talking about it but he is slightly drunk + the cute girl seems friendly enough so why the fuck not He's just talking about how his fathers right and that although he tries and wants to he doesn’t know shit about Camelots economy or political relations that much (it was easy to get out of lessons all he had to do was bring up his mother and then he could do whatever he wanted for the rest of the day)

Anyway so that's when Agatha mildly laughs while eating her cake about her, unfortunately, knows a bit about that and Tedros has a big brain moment - he’ll just get this random girl that he met barely 30mins ago to teach him things he definitely should already know

Agathas not interested until Tedros offers to pay her a very generous amount for her knowledge and suddenly she's thinking of her student loans and how this way she’ll be using her degree + he seems in desperate need of a friend or at least someone so she agrees.

Meanwhile, Sophie is also thinking of a way to get out of her marriage. Her mother would never let her back out of such a lucrative deal so the only way of it is for tedros to decline. Which from what she overheard from the very intense conversation with his father, will only happen if he can get his shit together before Christmas eve.

Although she loves him she's a little apprehensive - this is the same man who can’t play Go Fish without cheating

So, Sophies concocting all these overcomplicated scenarios in her head so she doesn’t notice when she bumps into something or rather a someone causing her brand new Sophie bumps into Nicola causing her to spill some drinks on her brand new dress

She's pissed and insists that Nicola apologies, but Nicola keeps saying although she is sorry for spilling the drinks, Sophie did bump into her which gets Sophie so unbelievably riled up and she has now decided that she hates her

Tedros thinks it would be best for them to study in an old abandoned guest house - no one else goes there -and Tedros doesn't want his father to find out because he thinks it would be very embarrassing

They study and have some delightful lighthearted banter all while Tedros is overwhelmed by the amount of information he doesn’t know

One time he makes a very bad joke but she laughs anyway and he’s friozen - he likes how real and raw it is - how it makes him feel as if he’s finally earned something and just basks in it for a while before Agatha hits him with one of her thick books to get his attention back

She starts to understand him more and more - That maybe he’s just someone trying to do his best in a very complicated situation. He wants to help and make his people and father proud it's just that if he thinks too much about it he gets stressed and makes some dumb decisions

Meanwhile every time Nicola drops Agatha she happens to run into Sophie always coming back from some shopping date or salon appointment - Sophie is pissed every single time and they have a witty back and forth banter - something that Nicola secretly gets excited for every time - it adds a little excitement to her day

During one of their very last sessions theres a very strong blizzard going on and because of that and the fact that the gas heater isn’t working they light the fire and decide that they have no other choice but to sit close together (basically cuddle) near the fire

After a few failed attempts to get back onto topic, they find a pack of cards and decide to just fuck it and play Go Fish - Tedros starts to cheat, Agatha calls him out on it and then suddenly they’re arguing and laughing and doing everything except what they're supposed to.

Suddenly Agatha's toppled on top of him and it gets very quiet. Tedros can’t help but notice how pretty her eyes are and it pains her to not run her fingers through his golden hair. They’re close enough o all one of them has to do is just lean in ...but then prince dumbass ruins it by choosing that exact moment to reveal that he’s kinda engaged to be engaged. It hurts and she’s not entirely sure why. But then they hear the sound of a car honking and Agatha gathers all her stuff while Tedros is trying to explain everything but doing a shit job

Meanwhile, Sophie has just left the palace after a particularly nasty argument with her mother in which her perfect little daughter told her to fuck the right off so she takes her car and drives off - however the snow is starting to get heavier and heavier and Sophie - royalty of course - isn’t used to driving in general but especially in these conditions accidentally crashes her car in the middle of a snowbank

Nicola is driving back from dropping Agatha when she sees Sophie stranded in the snow. Against all better judgement, she decides to pull over to offer her a ride

Sophie swiftly declines due to her pride but then remembers that she if she doesn't she may die so eventually she gets into the car

So, Nicola asks here where she wants to be dropped but that's when Sophie realises that she doesn’t have anywhere else to go so instead of returning to the palace she decides to go wherever the fuck Nicola was planning - which turns out to be her second job at her father's pub - Nics a bit hesitant to take her because it doesn't seem like her scene but Sophie refuses to leave and she thinks she there's a possibility that if she pushes her out of her car she may be arrested so she gives in and off they go on their merry way

They arrive at the pub and Sophie immediately starts to regret her decision but a few drinks later and some help from Nics very kind daily she's now having a great time - she’s swinging by tables, talking to strangers, singing out loud (and offkey) to the music - she's having genuine fun - something she hasn’t felt in god knows how long

Nicola is just watching in amusement and complete disbelief that this is the same girl who yelled at her just over a month before - she gets Sophie to sit near her while she's cleaning the bar and they have a delightful conversation about everything but also nothing

Nicola realises it's getting close to the time where she has to pick Agatha up and Sophies ready to go home

In the car they have a much deeper conversation - Nicola asks why Sophie was in the snow (a topic she had long evaded the entire night) and she finally tells her about her complicated relationship with her mother and although she loves Tedros it’s the kind of love you have for your gay younger brother and that she DEFINITELY doesn’t want to marry him

Nicola tells Sophie about her own complicated family history and why she works two jobs - she tells her about her sickly father, her greedy brothers and her dead mother

And then suddenly they arrive at the pickup place and amid all the intense emotional talk - they’re very close - a second goes by before they both lean in and start making out

Until Sophie realises what she's doing and panics and honks the horn she's now running out the car into the palace

Agatha enters the car and their both reeling from the events of the past few hours The silence eventually becomes suffocating and neither can help it - they both completely unload to each other about what just happened and fuck they realise how much they

Tedros enters Sophie's room late at night and can't stop gushing about how smart, funny and oh so pretty Agatha is and how he completely just fucked it up - why didn’t he just tell her everything from the start and they wouldn’t be in this situation

Sophie then can't help but also gush about Nicola and how pretty her eyes are and soft her skin is and how she just felt so free and in control of her own life for the very first time and that's when they both realise how whipped they are

In an attempt to forget how he may have fucked up his chance with the first girl he's ever liked he chooses to write his speech Sophie sends an invite to the royal Christmas party to Agatha with a letter explaining everything because she knows Tedros wouldn’t. Tedros does the same for Nicola

During the ball, Sophie is surprised to see Nicola there but one look at Tedros and she knows that as much as she hates it she’ll have to give him a big thanks later.

She uses Tedros’ speech as a distraction to drag her away

They end up standing in front of a huge hallway in the middle of the hallway overlooking the frozen lake and snow-covered trees

Sophie explains why she panicked - at fisrst she thought it was just a mistake with all the rufh of adreneline and everything but after talknig with Tedros she realied it wasn't a mistake but rather something that had wanted for a while but denied herself in the name of duty - At this point, they're grasping each others' hands and as they stare into each other's eyes - snow starts to fall - they glance outside, share a smile and kiss

They make it back in time to watch as Agatha and Tedros go into the palace courtyard

Tedros then gives the annual speech - and oh shit does he do so well. His speech is relevant and uses the correct terminology all while being 100% genuine and shows just how passionate, he looks so strong and determined - like a king - and everyone is in awe

Right before he’s about to finish his speech he spots her and she's giving him the proudest smile

After the speech, Tedros and his father have this big emotional talk where he's basically like “dad I don’t want to marry the lesbian” and that he doesn’t need someone else to validate his rule and competency - Arthurs just like “ok” - Tedros’s speech proved to him that he is fully capable of running the kingdom and the change he’s seen in him this past month has also proved just that

Agatha goes to congratulate him and he leads her outside - she explains why how she's there and tells him that if he just told her that from the start it would’ve been fine - he goes all moony-eyed and they start to feel the snow and it's just the perfect moment and they kiss.

#fuck im dumb omg #HERE it actually is #ok the ending may be rushed but isnt that just part of the genre at this point #sge #The School for Good and Evil #school for good and evil #Agatha of Woods Beyond #sophie of woods beyond #tedros of camelot #nicola of woods beyond #Tagatha #nicphie #my aus

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imagine-fight-write · 3 years

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RANDOM - Banana Fish Review, Vol. 1, Part Four

(This was one of my fav gifs looking for gifs of Shorter.)

*There will be pictures/gifs included tomorrow, because this is already late & loading them is taking forever, for some reason.

Haha, no, I actually prettied it up 1/5/21. Yes, I’m glorious.

No I’m actually Dio DIO in this situation, who am I kidding.

(This transition from Caesar to Dio fascinates me, by the way.) (The GIF.)

The JOJO reference is because I’ve finally finished Diamond is Unbreakable! It was fun! I enjoyed it a lot! Ready for the next part!

But back to Banana Fish.

Hope you enjoy this!

So my plans failed again. Who is surprised? (Not me.)

I apologize profusely for the gaping void of Banana Fish-ness left since last I posted.

No really. I now have an alarm set for every Wednesday.

Let’s see how this goes. News Update: Maybe next time.

Also, my internet is still blitzy & rotten, otherwise I would’ve posted this yesterday (the 15th).

Now on to the in-depth, delighted gushing - er, review, of Banana Fish!

*Also, this is part 4, and 4 is a special number for me. Because of this guy:

And I can spell his name correctly!!! (It’s Ulquiorra, from Bleach, my 1st anime fan gushing love.)

Yes, I’m strange. Moving on.

So, brief recap, since I’m not sure anyone has read Part 3, given how terrifyingly long it is. If you missed it, here’s the link:

https://imagine-fight-write.tumblr.com/post/632014616404344832/random-banana-fish-review-vol-1-part-3-my

Please love & like it & repost to the rest of the Web. I worked tremendously hard on it.

Yes it’s long, but oh, it was delightful! There was snark! Delicious food! Wine! Fabulous mustaches! Mysteries! I gushed so much!

(And snarled at the wonton waste of good breakfast food, which I will not forget & always condemn.)

*I mean, I know people who will throw up if they have breakfast in the morning. But it’s important to eat so you have energy to do things & feel good.

And Dino took a perfectly beautiful breakfast & essentially wasted it for no good reason. I was so mad.

We meet Dino Golzine, a.k.a., Ash’s worst nemesis /enemy (note, I can’t spell nemesis) and major reason for why his life sucks.

(Although society doesn’t help either. Though the police try. They really do. Except what’s his face who’s complete scum & thoughtless, but we won’t meet him til Vol. 2. Plus I don’t think he has a name?)

But yes, Dino Golzine. All around awful person, and not safe around children (or anyone, really.) He’s low-key in this scene, mostly using verbal assaults (to great effect) but just you wait. There’s a reason he’s a mob boss.

Ash snarks, to great effect, but he’s no match. Dino has all the cards and all the dice (cards & dice being metaphors for power, & how he involves awful, painful memories of Ash’s past & tries to manipulate & order him around. Brrr.)

But Ash rallies, and ultimately refuses returning to be Dino’s heir / toy.

We meet Shorter! Huzzah!

(End of recap.)

It’s clear right away Shorter & Ash are old friends. They exchange quips about Marvin. We learn Marvin holds a mean grudge, so savvy readers can guess it’ll come to play later (it does.)

Shorter’s last line is strange.

“Just don’t put me in the position of having to kill you.”

Which is kinda out of the blue. I don’t know what to make of it. It doesn’t spoil or fore-shadow anything (unless in a very confused, round-about way) because that never happens later. So I’m confused.

Ash laughs it off and goes zooming off on his motor-bike / motorcycle (not sure which).

Note, from this short scene we already learn Shorter has his own sources of information - he knows Ash went to Dino’s, fast enough to be there before their conversation ended (unless he was just lucky to be there already - why was he there?). He already knows about Ash’s talk with Marvin, with enough detail to warn Ash about Marvin’s temper & that Marvin likes him, which is a bad combination.

Shorter is smart & cares about his friends, warning Ash about Marvin.

Aren’t friends great?

Especially after meeting such a dominating if soft spoken monster like Dino?

The answer is yes.

Next, we get this hilariously great shot of Ash running up the steps to his dingy apartment (pg. 47.)

It’s reminiscent for me of a scene in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 1, when Jonathan & Dino have their epic fight in the Joestar mansion.

There’s a part where Jonathan does this epic flip up to a second floor via sword (it’s epic) & it ends with this a few-seconds-longer-than it-needs-to-be shot of his butt. You can’t miss it. I’m usually oblivious to such things & I noticed it. I laugh every single time.

Anyway, back to Banana Fish.

(The atmosphere of grunginess (it’s not a word, I meant dirty, ugly, rough) & spartan furniture is great. Just look at those walls. I adore it.

(But would never want to live there.) Ash is clearly not rich & after Dino’s rich mansion, this is a stark contrast.

Also, there are no pictures or posters on the walls (which are festooned with dirt and cracks instead.) In fact, there’s almost nothing in terms of personal effects at all.

This baffles me. I mean yes, I assume they’re all dirt poor, living in a gang & working for the mafia on the side isn’t something you do for the luxuries. But surely they’d have something.

Or maybe it has something to do with Japanese decorating aesthetics? Meaning, Japanese appear to be more spartan than Americans in terms of decor (see the book, In Praise of Shadows, for example.)

* I can’t spell aesthetics. Why do I even use that word?

The apartment just looks extremely bare compared to others I’ve seen in movies depicting this era. Is what I’m saying.

Look at those bare walls. (It hurts me.)

Thoughts? Comments on how Japanese, Americans, and Europeans differ in basic decorating styles? Comment below!

Also remember as always, Banana Fish is both set & was written in the 1980’s, well before the “modern” style we have now.

Unless - wait. There is something very important to Ash which he’s clearly hiding in the apartment he goes to, which I assume only Skip & select members know about.

So maybe this isn’t actually Ash’s main base, where he sleeps & hangs out?

Yes, that must be it.

If you’re confused, I’ll explain once we get done with this section.

Moving on.

We meet Skip!!!! (Pg.47)

Black characters (and Latino) are still, alas, extremely rare in manga, anime, & other media, so all the cheers for including Skip so early & as such an important character.

Because Skip is very important. For multiple reasons. More on that later. Also note, 1 of the gang members Ash busts earlier is also black.

Again, the dialogue is great here between Ash & Skip, establishing Ash’s trust in him. Which is no small thing.

Skip is like Shorter, (agh, both their names start with S) sweet, but also has a nose for news.

Arthur’s going to get it, hah!

There’s yet another reference to it being early.

Though there’s no specific time mentioned . . . Nope, not since Ash found the poor, dying banana fish dude.

Does Ash usually sleep in? Is he a night owl? He was wandering around at 1 in the morning last night, after all.

*Yes, technically it was early morning, but it was still dark, so bite me.

But then, he was also suspicious & keeping tabs on his 2 gang members. So, who knows.

But I’m going to guess he’s a night owl.

Ash sits on the bed, and after Skip mentions everything is good, “him, too”.

Ash gives his 1st real, genuine smile. Gentle, relieved, no hard edges. Just pure happiness & relief. It’s sweet.

(Also, I just realized the “him, too” is supposed to be a surprise / shock for the reader & I spoiled it earlier. I do apologize.)

Skip offers to get coffee but Ash declines, deciding to nap, which reminds me:

Actually, drinking coffee before you take a nap can, for some people, actually make you sleep better.

Also, short cat naps (15-30mins) can boost your energy and mood.

Naps are good for you!

I almost wondered if the comics Skip had on the table might’ve been manga, but remembered it was the 1980’s and, far as I know, manga wasn’t big the U.S. yet. Alas!

Which is funny if you think about this being in a manga.

Skip goes to leave. Ash puts his hand in his pocket and gets this intense, almost fierce expression on his face (middle panel, pg. 48).

I was absolutely baffled by this reaction for a long time, but finally figured it out. Ash’s reaction is supposed to be baffling, because what he realizes right here will be revealed in the next few pages.

Skip, concerned, asks what’s up, but Ash brushes him off and sends him off to buy coffee. (After which I sincerely hope he takes a nap, because he needs one, he’s been up all night.) Sleep is good for you!

Skip is able to buy coffee with a single coin. A single coin.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

All my tears, and curses on inflation and overpriced coffee! And Starbucks!

Anyway, we learn Arthur’s going to get it (and Skip is the best spy ever) and the scene cuts to:

Our favorite person (not) Dino Golzine, tending his orchids.

I like this. It’s a rather unique hobby for a villian. I assume to give him a refined, elegant, and exact air.

He’s interrupted by Angie & his fabulous mustache (snickers) and this delightfully comic scientist person (who might be important later? The face sameness makes it difficult to judge, & I’m too lazy to consult my other volumes, which are not close by.)

But his entrance is priceless (pg. 50). I mean seriously, please go find it if you haven’t already. It’s dramatic, with a big WHAM! & he looks so cartoonish.

I love it.

Dino tells him, essentially, “don’t disturb my orchids” and me being an non-gardner person, I wonder: is it actually true loud noises can disturb flowers?

Comment below!

Anyway, Dino quickly establishes yes, he did send Ash’s gang members to kill the poor banana fish guy who started this whole mystery, and yes, it was important.

There’s a great panel (pg. 51) of scientist dude, drawn much less comedic, the whole panel black except for a white aura around him sweating and clearly in distress.

He whispers, “It - it’s gone.”

Dino snaps to attention with a leonine look, exactly like a cat who has just spotted another cat. It’s easily my favorite picture of Dino so far, very striking.

The dialogue is brilliant and snappy, short and direct.

“What is gone? . . . You’re positive? . . . Just a small amount.”

And we get the grand reveal:

Ash, taking out a bullet shaped capsule (was the shape intentional by Yoshida?). A capsule he’d clearly taken from the dying banana fish guy. There’s a great panel on the bottom of pg. 52 of Ash’s questioning expression and a ?

He unscrews the capsule and pulls out a tiny vial.

Thinks of the address the dying banana fish guy gave him.

Ash goes into the next room, where we see the silhouette of someone sitting with a plaid blanket draped across their knees.

He expresses his first real look of vulnerability, and gives a wonderful line:

“Go see . . . Banana fish . . . He said it and died. And you say it and you might as well be dead. Who did this to you? Griff . . . Please tell me, big brother.”

Everything clicks together (almost.)

Griff /Griffin is the soldier shown way back in the very beginning. The one who left for a few minutes and came back insane and shot up his squad.

Who’s now a human vegetable.

Banana fish is clearly responsible. Somehow.

And Dino is mixed in with it (of course). Pieces are coming together, but questions still remain.

Until next time!

#random #banana fish #banana fish review #manga #ash lynx #skip #banana fish shorter #friendship #xena warrior princess #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

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stayforya · 5 years

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I DON’T KNOW IF WE CAN BE FRIENDS | PT. 1

member: hwang hyunjin

genre: college!au

words: 5.4k

summary: there were no doubts you and hyunjin would be friends for life, nothing would be able to tear you apart. except one of you.

a/n: another au based on a song, this time it’s by hollyn. i’m thinking about a part 2, this story may need one. if you think so too, please tell me <3

link to part 2

“I love you, y/n. everything about you”

you remember those words like an echo in your head

if you’re in silence, they come back

you end up thinking about it over and over again

you remember the kiss hyunjin gave you after saying that

you were lying your head on his shoulder

and his gaze, you swear, could make you fall in love a thousand times

his lips tasted like cherry and love was almost touchable when they reached yours

you and hyunjin met years ago

he was in a big part of your life

all your high school memories had him because your friendship was too strong

it’s like never wanting to be far from each other ‘cause you were never tired of each other

morning, afternoon, even some evenings you spent together

talking about anything

hanging with some friends

crying over the tests you had to do in order to find a university

the days when the sunshine was too strong and weather too hot so he bought you ice cream even if you didn’t ask

the days when the rain was pouring and the weather too cold so he’d put his jacket over your head

he’d hug you when you were at the peak of stress

he knew it calmed you down

it was the ‘once in a lifetime’ kind of thing

you didn’t believe in only one true love during life, but you knew what you had with hyunjin was definitely special

life has its own path, though

you two finally kissed, but none talked about becoming more than friends

you were enjoying each other in a new level, which everyone already suspected but for a long time it was truly only friendship

by the way you two were involving into the relationship, it would end up happening

you kissed and said things you already said to each other before

like ‘I love you’

but it sounded different

it wasn’t just a friendly ‘I love you’

it felt like dating, but you didn’t want to discuss or label the relationship

you wanted to live it

hyunjin never had any problem in giving you hugs, even when your friends kept making some jokes about you two

he never stopped touching you because of what people said

but when you two confessed

and kissed

you kinda felt like he felt more free

he touched your hair, kissed your cheeks, looked at you closer, locked his fingers in yours

whenever he had an opportunity he’d come to you, put his right hand on your neck so naturally

and kiss you

say funny or beautiful things next to your ear

laugh when you tied his hair and played with it while he worked on some math exercises

all memories

it was hard to swallow that truth

one day, exactly one week after you got your acceptance letter

hyunjin got his

but he didn’t look so happy

even though it was his dream university

you didn’t understand

“this is amazing!”, you said, giving him a hug

he hugged you back but his smile wasn’t the same

“it’s your dream uni, right?”

“yeah yeah”, he answered, “do you want to eat ice cream?”

why did he suddenly change the subject

you agreed anyways

you tried to talk about it again, but he didn’t seem like he wanted to keep the conversation

days went by, the last days of high school

everything between you two was normal

specially during the last week

he took you to the cinema

took you to an amusement park

brought you flowers

spent a lot of time with you

and in every event he created to enjoy

you thought he was about to ask to be your boyfriend

but no, you were wrong

and the last date, on Friday

he took you home, kissed your forehead

and said “I love you, y/n. everything about you”

he held the entire galaxy in his eyes

caressing your hair and looking at you

saving that moment in his memory

right there, the sunset behind you two

you kissed like it was the first and last time

the beginning and the end of something, you didn’t know how to explain

but it kinda felt like a farewell

you loved him, too

you always did, and you didn’t plan to stop

during the same night, before going to sleep

you were so immersed in feelings and thoughts

you sent him a message

saying how you felt

how good it was to be with him and how much you wanted to spend a lot of time with him

his presence was enough cause he was enough

after that, you just went to sleep

in the morning, he hadn’t replied yet

day went by, and still, he didn’t reply

on sunday he still didn’t give you any sign

on monday, when the whole class gathered at school to prepare for graduation day

hyunjin wasn’t there

everyone was asking you

and with a broken smile you answered “he couldn’t come today”

after school you finally decided to knock on his door

no one was home, not even his dog

did he suddenly turn into dust and disappear? did he go to space or something like this?

you sat in front of his house, putting your backpack aside

since his house’s wifi connected automatically on your phone, you just stayed there scrolling through your phone

waiting

30min later, a car parked

he and his mom came out of it and you stood up

as soon as he saw you, you could notice the worrying expression on his face

his mom saw you there and came immediately

“oh, hi, y/n! did you spend a lot of time waiting?”

“hi, hm no, I just got here”, you lied and gave her a smile

“do you want to come in?”

“thank you, I have to go home because it’s getting dark”

hyunjin was doing things slowly as if he wanted to avoid talking to you

when he finally closed the car’s door, coming on your direction

your heart started beating faster

you were a mix of mad, relieved and disappointed

how could you start that conversation?

“hey”, hyunjin said and it was almost a whisper

“I don’t understand what’s happening”

“I couldn’t go to school today”

“you didn’t say anything after friday night. what am I supposed to think?”

he looked at the ground, running one hand on the neck

“I’m sorry, y/n”

“hyunjin… did you… regret? if so, just tell me”

“no, I regret nothing, y/n”, in that moment he looked at you and you could see the sincerity in his eyes, “but there are so many things happening”

“so tell me! I’m your friend, remember?”

he took a deep breath

“I’m moving. the university I’m attending isn’t here so my family decided to move.”

why didn’t you think about it before?

of course after high school things change

“when?”

“we went there today to see a new place, by the end of this week I’m probably moving already”

“so that’s why?”

he didn’t understand your question

“that’s why you did it all last friday? was it your way of treating me the best you could to say goodbye afterwards?”, the words came out quickly

“y/n…”

“is that it, hyunjin?”, you were very serious

he took a while to finally say something

and you wish he didn’t

you wish he said something else

because it hurted

“yes. we won’t be able to date in this situation, I’ll be in another place and it wouldn’t be fair to you”

“did you ever ask what I think about it? I mean-”

“it wouldn’t work, y/n. it’s also a new step in our lives. maybe it’s for the best”

“would you tell me if I didn’t come all the way here, waited for you and asked? would you go there to break up with me or would you simply ignore me and move on?”

your voice didn’t show all the madness because you weren’t only mad

you were also sad and disappointed so you just kept talking fast, but not angry

he always looked in your eyes

and the fact that he wasn’t at that moment

seriously…

why was he acting so cold?

you never saw hyunjin like that before, not with you

but you knew his bodytalk well enough to know what he was feeling

he just didn’t want to show

“I’m really sorry, y/n…”, he touched your right arm

for the first time it felt different

you held his arm before he could go

“did that mean something to you?”

you both knew what ‘that’ meant

the kiss

the ‘I love you’

the moments you shared, not only as friends, but as two people who had feelings for each other

“hyunjin?”, his mom’s voice came out of nowhere

he didn’t get in so she wanted to make sure if he was still there

“I have to go”, he said

your hand let go of his arm as if it was toxic

you turned your back at him and kept walking

and walking

your steps were so firm and you felt so mad

but at the moment you got home, after a long walk

your body fell on your bed and the tears came down

silently

you’d never

ever

be friends with him again

what happened crushed it all

your friendship, your relationship

any trace of feelings should be gone

you had a lot of pictures of you two on your phone

good memories

your finger was almost deleting everything, but you’d regret

saving those moments in pictures would make you look back and feel good

in the future, maybe, not now

there was a video

of you filming the sunset and suddenly he comes running

getting closer and filling the screen with his smiley face

your voice saying “noooo” and laughing right away

dang

it hurt

you thought it would be hard to see him the next day at school because you didn’t know how to treat him

talk? ignore?

but turns out he didn’t even go

probably too busy with his ‘moving’ things

who cares

finally the other day he was there

you arrived and he was already sitting on the place you used to sit together

since those were the last days, your class just had to finish some graduation details

so you didn’t need to talk to him

mainly because he didn’t seem to care at all

you could feel his glances

but he was the one who broke up, wasn’t he?

so it wasn’t up to you run back to him

of course it hit you hard

not because of the love relationship

but the long term friendship you guys had

if you ever knew it would be ruined like this…

after graduation, all the news you had from him were by watching his instagram stories and seeing his posts

he was already living well in his new place, making some friends and taking pics of everything like he used to

you didn’t talk again

you didn’t go to say goodbye when he left, but you almost sent a message

and deleted it all before having the courage to send it

you just had to go on with your life

also, uni wouldn’t take so long to start

the next couple months were, firstly, chill and, then, busy

you needed to get ready for this new chapter of your life and you were pretty excited

you found a nice roommate

the university was huge, so different from high school

so many things happening at once

you were still trying to absorb everything

the first weeks were quite hard

you had a lot to catch up on

new subjects, new people, new life

in the end of the day you were always tired, so you just took a shower and went to sleep

just after the first three months you’d say you were 100% adjusted

finally getting to enjoy the weekends a bit lol

“are you going to the festival this weekend?”, one of your friends asked

you made a funny face

“is there a festival happening and no one is talking about it?”

“no, you’re just out of the world”, she laughed

“there’s this band coming, two of the boys are from here”, another friend said, eating one of your fries

“are they famous or something?”

“well, people really like them here but I never saw them live, so…”

“I wonder how they find time to rehearse”

“a friend of mine said they just play for fun, so they don’t rehearse a lot but they’re very good”

“they must be talented, then. are you guys going?”

“of course, some other artists will come too”

“then I’ll think about it”, you said, drinking the last sip of juice

“you know who plays too?”

“tell me”, you faked an interest to make fun of them, cause they were already making fun of you with that question

“lee minho”

your eyebrows raised in real interest

but you tried to pretend you didn’t care

too late, they noticed

“you can’t even hide it!”, they burst into laugh

“I said nothing”

“no need to say, your face showed it all”

“alright, alright”

now you had a motivation

lee minho was a handsome and smart guy from technology department

he was your senior and you met him through some TA classes he gave

everyone knew how fun he was, yet dedicated

knowing he played in a band was unexpected but it did spark more interest

that week was full for you and the only moment you had to breathe was while walking from one class to another

but on friday morning you’d finish everything and enjoy the festival with your friends at night

that’s how it went

you just put a comfortable nice clothing on and went to the field where the concerts would happen

you met your friends there, they saved a place for you

but after a while no one would be sitting anymore

everyone was gathering

when you got up to get something to eat, you met minho on the way

“oh hey”, he smiled at you

“hey”, you sure smiled brighter

he was quite shy but cool at the same time

you didn’t know how, but minho could do both pretty well

“so aren’t you playing today?”, you asked

“ah yeah yeah…”, cutie minho jumped out, “we already set everything up”

“can’t wait”

“oops, careful”, he told someone and put his hand next to your arm as if he was shielding it

you didn’t even understand what happened but by the way the guy said ‘sorry’ he was probably about to bump into you and minho noticed before

“thanks”

“where were you heading to?”

“just to find something to eat”

“can I follow you?”, his eyes. no words to describe. cool minho popped up.

“of course”

you and him were talking about some stupid stuff and laughing together while you waited in a long line to get some hot dog

when you finally got it and was about to go back to your seat, some guys stopped you two

you and minho turned around to greet them

there were two of them

one you already knew, he was also from your uni

the other guy was from another one but minho introduced him too

and when you thought there were only those who played in the band with him

you remembered there was one missing, probably

he came running

tall and handsome

nice clothes on, but a friendly smile

wait

that shirt, you knew it

you knew those sneakers too

that necklace swinging while he ran

your smile was fading

“oh, here he is”, minho said, “this is hyunjin”

never

ever

you imagined

you’d meet

him

again

like this

out of all the possibilities, why like this? how in the world was he there, at your university, friends with minho, playing in a band

you hadn’t seen him since that day

and after a while you just didn’t pay attention to his instagram updates anymore because

one: you didn’t have a lot of time

two: you were getting over

you already did, right?

but seeing him in front of you

the sunset behind him

a pinkish orange sky

the wind blowing on his face

no matter how many days, months, years

he’d still hit right in your feelings when you met him again

and the day was there

he smiled slightly, greeting you

“we know each other”

the other boys were surprised

“we studied together”, you completed

was that awkward? maybe the way you guys looked at each other

it felt like the time stopped, no joke

but you guys made it work out well

“did you come for the concert?”, the other boy asked

“yeah, can’t wait”, you opened a weird smile now that hyunjin was, like, in front of you

even when you weren’t looking at him you could feel his stare

minho made way for you and kept talking until he had to go up and you had to find your seat again

you wished them luck, not directly looking at hyunjin for more than one second

coming back to your seat, you were just wishing so hard that he didn’t notice how nervous you got

“are you okay?”, your friend asked

“for someone who was wandering around with lee minho, you should look happier”

you made fun of her

“of course I’m okay, he introduced me to his bandmates”

“oh shoot, I should have gone with you”, she said in a funny tone

the concert started some minutes later

and that festival feeling

you were really needing that

so many things to do and finally you had time to just have some fun

minho was so amazing playing and singing

your eyes should be stuck only on him

that’s what you wanted

but hyunjin was next to him, you couldn’t help but frame them both and keep staring

it felt like some kind of dream

it couldn’t be real, he couldn’t be there

there was something different about him

still, you could see the same guy you shared so many moments

the song they were playing, the sunset, everything

it made you feel some kind of feeling you couldn’t really explain into words

they sang five songs and after them there were other artists

after they got out of the stage, you saw minho far from where you were

you were trying to communicate

but hyunjin appeared right behind him and started looking at where minho was looking at

which was you

you couldn’t really concentrate on minho with hyunjin there but you focused a lot to talk to him

he said he was going to eat

and asked if you wanted to meet next to the food truck later

you consented, it was just hard because there were so many people around you

he nodded and smiled, but hyunjin…

he did the same

he knew you weren’t talking to him, still he smiled at you after you and minho smiled at each other

stupid guy

since you were having fun with your friends, you and them watched that concert and only went eat when it finished

another artist was starting a concert

but you guys went to the food place to eat something

you found minho and waved at him

“sorry we’re late”

“no problem”

hyunjin wasn’t there anymore

minho was there with just one of them

“the other boys went home already”, he said as if he could read your mind

“uh I love this song”, your friend said

the atmosphere was very romantic to be honest

even the vocalist told the crowd to find a partner and dance

you weren’t close to the stage but the song was loud, you could hear it and feel the romantic thing in the air

“do you want…?”, minho asked in a cool way, slightly pointing to the stage with his head, just to make sure you knew what he was talking about

“yes”

he was asking you to dance

you held his hand and, slowly, let yourself come closer

because that song needed a slow dance

your arms around his neck were the first step

but after a while, your head was already close to his

and he smelled so good

he danced so well

he did everything well, right?

minho was one of a kind

you guys didn’t kiss, but for a moment you almost did

because you two were just so close, enjoying the song

and right when you had the chance

the concert was over

everyone was standing to applaud

that was the last day you saw hyunjin

he posted a pic of the concert on his instagram and you looked at it for a good amount of time

until you just stopped the thoughts on your mind and kept going

there was a lot to do

months went by

what you had with minho wasn’t a relationship

but it wasn’t a friendship also

he was in a very busy moment of his undergraduate life and you understood that

since you were trying to study the most you could while you had the energy for that, on the first years of undergraduate degree

you met each other every week because of the classes you had at the same building

people were already suspicious that you guys had something

and yes, you did

you just didn’t know how to name that ‘something’

you know what

it felt just like what you had with hyunjin

it had been one year since you and hyunjin broke up

you laughed by yourself

‘break up’

“I love you, y/n. everything about you”

what a joke

minho sent you a message at the same time you were thinking about this

he wrote that the class was about to end and he’d like to see you if you had some time

you two set an hour to meet and you were already excited to see him

maybe because the thoughts of hyunjin haunting you

minho always made you feel light and happy

you took a shower and got ready to meet him

by the amount of perfume, your roommate knew you had a date

crossing the campus to meet minho at the café wasn’t even tiring, you just put some music on your earphones and walked there

maybe because you needed some glasses you couldn’t see pretty well the person walking towards you

oh one was a colleague of yours with whom you had classes together once

the other one you never saw

it was the moment of the year new people were arriving, so that’s why there were some fresh faces

then, as if it was a movie scene, one walking towards the other

it was him

his black shirt, his necklace, his bracelets, rings

so different but still the same

again, after such a long time

right when you were forgetting everything

hyunjin

you couldn’t avoid

or turn around and pretend you didn’t see him

he was right in front of you, kinda lost

you felt your feet stopping before your mind could think about why

everyone was passing by, but you two were stuck right there

what should you say?

what should he say?

did you both have anything to say?

“y/n”

your name sounded prettier coming out of his lips

“you, here?”, you heard your voice as if it wasn’t coming from you

“I’m transferring”

“you what?”, again, you said before thinking

“it’s for a year, initially. if it works, who knows…”

“sorry. hm. how are you?”

this conversation was such a mess

“fine”, he smirked, “you?”

“when did you…”

“I just arrived”

you nodded, looking around

“I didn’t know”, you said

of course you didn’t! was he supposed to tell you after not talking to each other for more than one year?

“yeah… not a lot of people know”

“this sounds… unreal”, you smiled at yourself. not a happiness smile, just a ‘can’t believe it’ smile

“my university offered this, some people from here are going to study there too, so”

“nice, yeah, nice”, you didn’t know what to say

he was biting his lips almost unnoticed, because he was a bit nervous

you didn’t know a lot of new things about of him, if anything, you knew his body language very well

“it’s good to see you again”, hyunjin said

“it’s been a long time”

“that day at the festival, sorry I couldn’t talk to you”

you nodded but changed the subject

“you play well”

“thanks”

the conversation was getting weirder

“do you know where minho is? he said he’d show me around”

“minho? do you guys still play?”

“just when we have time to meet”, he smiled running his hand through his hair

and you noticed everything

but, come on, he did too

he looked at every single movement you made

paying attention to you in a way he didn’t in a very long time

as if he didn’t want to miss the moment

he had gentle eyes

you missed that

you missed him, you just tried to forget

you didn’t solve things; you guys didn’t talk after what happened

he broke up and you had nothing to say

just let him go

“I’m about to meet him, though”

“oh”, he wanted to sound surprised but you could see how half of him knew what was going on. who didn’t notice on the festival day?

“do you want to come?”, you asked

“can I?”

you just gave him the look you always did

and kept walking, knowing he was following you

hands inside the pockets and a little smile on his face

minho was there at the café

he didn’t notice until you got through the door

his face went from happy to surprised

because he saw hyunjin

he talked to you first, giving a hug and caressing your hair

it wasn’t cringy, he knew the limits to affection in public

but hyunjin, after noticing the hug, started looking around

until minho greeted him too

“how did you find me?”, he asked

“y/n”, hyunjin answered

“sit with us, please”

you looked at minho trying to make him send hyunjin away

lol he could do that because he had his savageness

but since hyunjin just arrived, he’d be the nice friend

“what would you like to eat?”, minho asked you

since he wasn’t looking at any of you, both answered

“hm, I-”, you started

“anything is okay”, hyunjin said

you looked at him

he looked at you

minho looked at both

and giggled

“it’s on me, choose whatever you want”

you rolled eyes because of hyunjin

during the whole time, he was talking to minho

why didn’t he already leave?

you wanted some time alone

the date would be so nice if he hadn’t stepped in

here and there you said something, but you weren’t even in the mood

they talked about the band

talked about the university

and the only moment you really paid attention was when hyunjin started talking about his reasons to study there

“I felt bad because my family moved there so I could go to university”, he said

“and now, where are them?”, minho asked

“they’re planning to come live nearby now”

“so everything’s good, bro”

“yeah, they’re very good to me”

“oh, I just remembered. you two know each other, right?”

oh no minho

you didn’t have to…

“yes”, hyunjin answered

“we do”, you said

“but how? tell me”, he was interested and you had to be careful with all the words

why not let hyunjin explain

“we studied together for a long time”, he said, “but, because of university, we didn’t keep in touch”

ha ha ha he’s the funniest

you lifted one eyebrow paying attention to his narrative

“yeah, it’s been a long time”

“so maybe you could help him tomorrow, y/n?”

“help?”

“yes, he needs to find some places and I won’t be able to help him because of my exams”

ok but what about the other guys he knew? I mean, why you?

“me?”, you tried not to sound too bad

“his building is right next to yours”

oh great, amazing, splendid

“ok, I will”, you smiled to minho

since the three of you had finished eating and talking

and your date was successfully ruined by hyunjin’s presence

maybe now you could have time alone with minho

but you were wrong

“I’m sorry, guys, gotta go. I have an extra class now…”

your disappointed expression was noticed by him

he gave you another hug

“see you tomorrow?”

you nodded

hyunjin was pretending to search for something on his phone

“see you, call me anytime!”, minho said to him during the handshake

“thanks, bro, I will”

you watched him run to his appointment

wishing you had some time

it was crazy

cause hyunjin was there by your side too

and when you focused on the fact he was there, your mind became a mess

so you kept walking

and he followed you

you stopped

he stopped too

you turned around

“are you following me?”

“yes, so I can find things easily”

“if you need help, just ask”

“I need help”, he said

“ok, what”

“I have a question”

“I’m waiting”

“what’s going on between you and minho?”

after hearing that, you started walking again

and he was already by your side

“excuse me?”

“I was wondering…”

“we’re friends. very close friends.”

you knew hyunjin, he already knew what was going on, he just wanted to make sure by hearing it from you

“like we were?”

that topic was a bit hard

“no. like I am with him. it’s different”

silence for a while

“I missed you”

you couldn’t help but laugh a little

“you did?”

“I do”

“it was harsh when you ended up things, okay? you were childish”

he was listening carefully

you knew your words were supposed to hurt

“I am sorry. your friendship was… is very important to me, and I didn’t want to lose it”

“we couldn’t help but like each other in another level”

“I know but I was scared. it didn’t happen in a good moment because I’d have to leave anyway”

“before anything, we were friends. you should have told me.”

“I know. and I don’t regret anything we lived together. as friends and… as lovers”

lovers

for the first time, a name to what you guys had

so ‘lovers’ was what you and hyunjin were

for a brief moment

“I also don’t regret anything I told you. how I- I loved you”

“why are you telling me this now?”, you questioned, moved by his words

“better late than never. y/n, you are one of the reasons I am here. you changed my life in so many ways and, yes, I was childish by not knowing how to deal with my feelings”

you already have walked a lot and now you were close to the dorms

you looked at him

“I didn’t have to be one of your reasons”

“it’s not up to you to decide... you are one of them.”

his sweet face staring at you

being sincere with everything he felt

but you didn’t know if it was right to just let go of it all and start again

not as lovers, but as friends

at least friends…

even though you missed him in each and every way

his voice sounded soft and low

“I still love you. you are part of me and I can’t let go so easily. I wanted to tell you this for a long time, I wanted to say sorry and maybe try again.”

he reached out for you

“I don’t want to be a stranger to you like we have been for a very long time, hyunjin…”

“me neither. let the past be past. I want to be a friend again”

friend or lover, you wanted him

he was a part of you hard to let go, too

it could be easier

just say yes and become friends again

but the process isn’t easy like this

to start over would be complicated

it would mean you’d have to restore each other’s confidence

and take the risk of falling in love again

this risk… it was too much

he would always mess with your feelings, as a friend or a lover

and because it was hard

because you weren’t sure

because he suddenly came back and messed it up again

you had to say

“I don’t know if we can be friends”

his hopeful eyes became a bit sad

you tightened your grip on his hand before letting go

and walked back to your dorm

link to part 2

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sharkfish · 4 years

Text

ps i loved this one

(rereading bookmarks edition part 2)

(part 1)

i’ve been rereading stories from my bookmarks as a comfort thing. i’m getting real deep in there to stuff i haven’t (re)read for years, and damn do i have good taste. the ones i’ve read recently that you should, too:

(under the cut so i’m not that asshole that makes you scroll past an endless post)

Best Laid Plans by Persephoneshadow

Things are going well for Dean: he's landed the biggest design job of his architectural career and is about to get final approval on the project despite how difficult the development company, personified by Castiel Novak, has made it. It's not bad for a moody omega...except things are also going terribly for Dean because he has to get in a plane and fly to a meeting, and course ends up in heat a few hours before. Luckily, Castiel is there to help and both men discover the good that can come when nothing goes quite as intended.

i don’t know why i’m such a ho for stories where dean thinks cas hates him, but cas secretly adores him and is just a little “rusty” on his “people skills.” i’m also a ho for stories where dean is a gd skilled genius but his dumb ass still thinks his work sucks and/or anything good is due to other people instead of himself. and also, heat boning.

Confessions of a Cam Boy by MsCaptainWinchester (rons_pigwidgeon)

Dean runs a cam show to pay his way through marketing school, but he's about to start an internship that he doesn't know will change his life. Watching Dean's show is Castiel's favorite way to wind down after a stressful day at Sandover Bridge & Iron. When Cas comes to work one day and finds his favorite cam boy setting coffee on his desk, he is completely thrown. Will Dean finish his internship without knowing his favorite viewer is his new boss, or will he be able to see through Cas' non-existent poker face and figure it out?

omg poor cas is soooo awkward and dean is weirded out about how much his new boss seems to dislike him and then it’s super sexy >:)

For Science by shiphitsthefan

“Think of it like an experiment," says Dean. "You’re testing a hypothesis as to whether or not a desirable response can be achieved through the stimulation of the anus via the application of a willing volunteer’s muscular hydrostat.”

Cas raises an eyebrow. “Are you actually trying to use the scientific method to talk me into letting you lick my asshole?”

everyone is such adorable nerds in this one. it’s a fic about rimming, but it’s also about love and discovering yourself and acceptance. it explores cas’s realization through his connection with dean that he’s not straight up ace but more grey/demi - and that doesn’t mean he was “faking” being ace up until he met dean.

Friends with Benefits with Tentacles by andimeantittosting (Saylee)

Dean's never been embarrassed about his porn collection before, but that was before he found Cas holding his prized copy of Sweet Princess Asuka and the Tentacles of Pleasure. Dean finds himself sweating bullets—because this is Cas, sweet, nerdy Cas. Cas, his friend. Cas, his roommate. Cas, his—only slightly out-of-control—crush.

Cas, with his big, blue eyes and muscular arms and perpetual sex hair.

Cas, with his tentacles.

The last thing he expects is for Cas to suggest they experiment together.

there are not enough tentacle fics out there and i 100000% approve of this addition to the tag. i love that dean is out there legitimately studying porn, and the tentacles are obviously super fun, and there were parts where my heart hurt so bad, all around a damn fine fic.

Grown-Ups Making Grown-Up Choices by Carrieosity

Dean is a grown-ass man - he can take perfectly good care of himself, thank you very much. Except that sometimes the easier or more fun choices aren't always the right or best ones, and, all right, maybe thinking ahead and working the long game isn't his strongest suit. It's fine! He's fine.

When he meets Castiel, he realizes that flying by the seat of his pants may not be the best way to attract the super-serious (gorgeous, funny, genius) Alpha. Dean's shrink has been telling him he needs to start making "grown-up choices," and if that's what he has to think about in order to make Cas fall for him, then he'll give it a whirl.

i LOVE this fic (series). i feel so hard for dean feeling like he’s too old for his life to still be a mess, but i also felt sad for him that he thought he had to make all these hardcore changes - basically turn himself into a different person - to be worthy of cas’s attentions. i fucking adore cas in this, and i nearly cried just thinking about all the damn peppers they eat, and i want to read it again right now.

If I Run by Anonymous

"Dean Winchester is a red-blooded American male. He lifts all the things. He aims for functional strength. He counts his macros and makes fun of curlbros. He is not a member of the Tarahumara tribe and he will not read Born to Run, no matter how many times Sam tells him to, because Starting Strength is the only book Dean will ever fucking need."

***

Wherein a friendly competition with the mysterious ThursdaysAngel turns into a sexy selfie-trading spree that motivates Dean Winchester to train for his first marathon.

i really really love this fic and reread it pretty often tbh. it only became “anonymous” pretty recently and i’m so curious about why!! regardless, this fic is a really great time!!!

It's Always More Than Once (Before It Takes) by squeemonster

The first time it happens, it's because of boredom. Or, at least that's what Dean tells himself to justify it. Boredom and Dean Winchester are a dangerous combination, especially when you factor in beer, a raging libido, and laziness.

dean: my dudes, is it gay to do sexy stuff with your male bff? cuz i’m totally straight. but also, having sex with my male bff.

I Wanna Get Outside (Of Me) by emwebb17

Dean is a novice in the dom/sub world asked by his employer as a desperate last resort to be a sub for his recluse of a brother, Castiel. Castiel is a diagnosed OCD suffering from PTSD and agoraphobia, mysophobia, and dystychiphobia. Needless to say—he’s a mess who hasn’t stepped out of his home in literally seven years. The only times Gabriel can see traces of the way his brother used to be is when he feels in control—specifically when he has control over a sub. However, due to his idiosyncrasies and paranoia, keeping a sub around has been impossible. Enter Dean, who’s not a very traditional submissive, to try his hand at subbing for the hermit.

you know how sometimes you read a fic, and it takes ages to get yourself out of that world? even though you’re finished, you’re still right there with him? this is one of those fics. i reread it a couple weeks ago and fell asleep thinking about it last night. i cry a lot reading this one.

Living in Agony by ChasingRabbits

Dean Winchester's life is... well, it's not great. He's a gym teacher, he's in his thirties, and he can't seem to keep any part of his life straight. When the aftermath of a one-night stand goes awry, Dean is dragged kicking and screaming out of his cozy little closet and into the harsh light of reality.

Enter: Castiel Novak, the new history teacher, who knows full well that life gets crappy when you don't allow yourself to live it in the way it needs to be lived.

there aren’t a lot of stories that deal with themes of mental illness, and a lot of them read like an episode of degrassi where everything wraps up in 30min to never be discussed again. this story is honest in that there’s no easy out. there’s medication and therapy and supportive people, but that’s not always enough. it’s a story about how you don’t have to be mentally ill to be fucked up, and while people can’t fix each other, they can help each other. content note: references to a pre-story suicide attempt.

Oddly Shaped Empty by jemariel

Dean grew up thinking -- knowing -- he'd be an alpha.

Until he failed to present. As a beta, he has no mating cycle, no noticeable pheromones, none of the physical markers that are so important in a world of alphas and omegas. He's out of place. How is he supposed to navigate his relationships and find love when he doesn't fit into the neatly-defined boxes he's used to?

By the time he meets his new roommate, Castiel, he's more or less given up on finding a mate. He wears his secondary gender like a chip on his shoulder. But you never know what the future holds, who will come into your life, and how they might change it forever.....

Queer themes, finding identity, reconciling the past, and a whole lot of smut.

y’all know @jemariel is a gd genius, but i’m particularly obsessed with their fics that use abo to explore queer identify & experiences. i hold my breath reading most of this fic and also cry.

Steal my Breath by Sincestiel

“Tighter, Dean, please,” Cas urges throwing his head back to rest on Dean’s shoulder. Dean squeezes. He doesn’t know why Cas wants this or even what the appeal is, but he always comes harder when he’s struggling to breathe.

what’s on the tin. a quick lil breathplay fic that is thoroughly enjoyable.

Unsolicited by Dangerousnotbroken

In which Dean Winchester gets an unsolicited dick pic from an unknown sender which is both totally not disappointing in that it's a really nice dick pic, and incredibly disappointing in that it's clearly a downloaded picture of his favorite porn star.

There's absolutely no way it's actually this porn star sending it to him, right?

Right?

this is a destiel classic and i feel like anyone who isn’t new here has probably read it. but here’s your reminder that this is a great fic and you should (re)read it.

Wordplay by Dangerousnotbroken @dangerousnotbroken

“I don’t understand why talking dirty is such a big deal for you humans,” Cas complains, apropos of nothing.

it’s a “cas learning about sex” and also dirty talk, which are both things i’m really into!! and DNB is a genius so that’s even better.

if you enjoy these fics (and you should), please give the writer some love via kudos and/or comments. <3

ps - as always, if i didn’t tag the writer and you know their tumblr, please tag in the comments. i don’t think there’s a writer alive who wouldn’t be happy to be on a rec list. :)

#sharklist #sharkrecs

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shoemon · 4 years

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Habits I built in 2019

I spent a lot of 2019 doing what I spent a lot of my early 20s, cringing - “Self-help”. As I get close to turning 30, I have reduced my idealistic angsty self - and tried becoming a simpler, practical, efficient dreamer. The dreamer bit is important because I think there is a way to aim high, but be smart and balanced about it in terms of lifestyle.

So here are some habits I built in 2019 that were really impactful for me. I try to share what I did and the impact it had.

Podcasts

I listened to a whopping 869 minutes of podcasts this year. I consistently listened to 5 shows, all aimed at shaping my mind/brain/intelligence about how to grow myself and navigate the world better. I tend to listen to them on my daily commute to work, which is around 25-30mins one way. I started doing this as a way of productive entertainment, with some popular and well reviewed podcasts, and soon it became a habit. I was no longer listening to music but to these, every day. Podcasts were super useful for me! Not only I built habits and changed the way I thought about many things, I was able to make sense the world slightly better. I became a more efficient & stronger leader, got more control of my life. Below are the podcasts I really recommend.

Meditation

I have played with meditation many times, for almost a decade. But always ended up giving it up because it either got to “I don’t have time for it today” or it felt too much to do. In 2019, I discovered and then invested into this app called Headspace. It lets you pick simple 10 or 15 minutes meditations on a daily basis, and works wonderfully. You can pick a course, where they guide you through meditation technique that is focused on a purpose. For example, currently I’m doing a 10 session course on building Patience. I usually do it as the first thing in the morning right after I wake up, as I find it calms my mind and let’s me start my do with an achievement of some sort. I know that some people like to do it before bed, which is absolutely fine. It is important to find a time that works for you. I am also aware there are many apps out there, and honestly I tried only this and loved it.

Language learning

I have always wanted to learn languages, and I discovered Duolingo Sometime in 2019. I initially was doing it all the time, and due to this would end up skipping many days. I learnt from podcasts and books that you need to make it a habit by doing it at the same time every day! I liked that idea of starting the day by learning something new, and then started spending 3-5mins every day morning doing this. I have set a small goal of 10XP everyday and it doesn’t take me more than few minutes to do it. I do it also sometimes middle of the day as an extra. I have just above 4000XP as of now. I have been able to learn some of French and Italian through Duolingo, and I highly recommend it.

High Intensity Interval Running

I spent most of 2012-2018 with running as my main workout, with it peaking in 2016-2018 as I started running (half)marathons. After the last mumbai marathon in Jan 2019, I found myself in extreme pain. A lot of doctor visits, physiotherapy, and body science research later - I realise that just endurance training isn’t the smartest way to ensure fitness long term. I had to put on some muscle and build strength, but long distance steady runs actually inhibits muscle growth. Months of only strength training later, I discovered something known as high intensity interval training or HIIT. These are exactly what it reads like. When you do steady state cardio, your body burns glycogen stored in muscles, but during HIIT - your body burns fat, and keeps burning fat till upto 48 hours after. Read more about HIIT benefits here

What I tried out is, interval running. Same concept of HIIT but in form of running. So I’d run 20-30 seconds at my Max capacity, and then walk for 30-40 seconds. Not only is it super hard, it makes you out-of-breath and drenched in no time.

The results were great! I stopped losing muscle, and started losing more fat. I was able to get back to running without compromising on strength.

Intermittent Fasting

Essentially, this technique limits your eating in the day to only 8 hours, and just water/black coffee/tea for the rest. I have developed an amazing relationship with food after exploring this. The idea that we need 3 meals in a day, and we must eat all the time was just not working for me. I have felt so much more fresh, energetic and overall - well after I built the habit of fasting. Read more above.

This is probably my favourite discovery of 2019. I have written an entire post about this that you can read here

Please try one or more of the habits above, and let me know what you think.

#intermittent fasting #duolingo #podcasts #thehabitcoach #themindsetmentor

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yournewapartment · 6 years

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Hi, i start college again soon but I also may have 2 part time jobs (one I have but lack of hours mostly so getting another/ another 2). Do you have any tips or advice about how I can handle college, work and a personal/social life?

Managing 2 (or more!) Part Time Jobs!:

If you schedule shifts right after each other, do not forget to factor in transportation time! I’d highly recommend giving yourself at least 30min-1hr between jobs so that you can change clothes, eat, and take a brain break.

For that matter, have a transportation plan! If you’re going to be driving, make sure you factor in parking time, weather, accidents, have gas, etc. Always check traffic before you leave and make sure to call your manager if you might be late due to an accident or something on the road. If you take public transportation, factor in weather, delays, etc.

If these are on-your-feet jobs, buy gel inserts for your shoes!

Prep meals that are good for on-the-go. Meal prep whenever you have time, weekends are great for this if you can! Also always keep frozen convenience food on hand.

Keep granola bars or protein bars in your bag just in case.

Always keep extra cash on hand in case you’re running between jobs and need it for some reason.

If either job gives you a little locker or storage room, it’s a good idea to keep a few in-case-of-emergencies things there. Things like pain meds, bandaids, snacks, period products if you menstruate, face wipes, deodorant, etc. You can also keep these in your bag of course, but it’s great not to have to lug so much stuff to and from each job.

Take time for yourself! Make sure you’re eating, sleeping, relaxing, seeing friends. Don’t work 2 jobs 7 days a week, it’s not sustainable and you might hurt yourself. Take at least one shift off a week, ideally a whole day!

Try your best to do your best in both jobs. If you like one better and try much harder at that one, your other boss might notice you’re slacking and know your attention is elsewhere.

Find a time-management method that works for you! This could be– a paper planner/to-do list, google calendar, phone calendar, sticky-notes, whatever works! But use it! Schedule shifts, deadlines, meetings, personal appointments, doctor’s appointments, when you’re going to grocery shop and/or cook your meals.

Keep your eyes out for when you might be able to transition to a higher paying job so that you don’t have to work multiples!

We have lots of posts in our index on college, too!

Good luck, hope this helps!– Mimi

#2 jobs #working 2 jobs

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mr-mormons-adventures · 5 years

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Week 59!

Hey everyone! So some stuff happened this week that I'm sure you're all going to be surprised at. But I'm not gonna put it here, just so that you all have to read the rest of my email! Ha! Tuesday: Tuesday was a slow day. We didn't really have much going on in the morning, but by the afternoon we got rolling a bit more. We had a lot of old uncontacted referrals to try by, so we went and stopped by them. The reason we had so many was because the mission secretary went through our area book records and sent back to us anyone with "member" as reason we found them and changed their type to uncontacted referral. So we had a few people to find. Then in the evening we made some invitations for the special Christ-centered sacrament meeting on the 23rd of December. Then the elders in the Wentzville area came over so we could start our exchanges the next day. Wednesday: This is where things get a little crazy. We got a call from President Bateman at about 8:00 in the morning, and he asked how comfortable I was in the area. Didn't matter, because he was moving Elder Gent to a new area. We had 2 hours to get him packed and get him to the mission office 30min away. So we rushed a bit. We got there on time, then waited for my new companion to show up. My new companion is Elder Jones! He's from California, and he's been out for about 18 months now. However, we weren't even going to be able to spend the day getting to know each other, since we had already planned exchanges. I went with Elder Boyter, our district leader, for the day. Our main thing we did was we went to St. Charles, which wasn't even in our zone, to help with a big service project that the zone leaders asked us to help out with. There was a member over there who was filling a 26' semi trailer full of secondhand clothing to go to Africa. So we spent about 3 hours filling it, throwing 5 and 10lb bags of clothes forever. My back hurt a lot the next day, let me tell you. Then he took all the missionaries that helped (about 10 of us) out to eat at a local BBQ place. We got back to our area in time to make a few calls and then to go to a dinner appointment with a member family. After dinner we went to go run a short errand, then went about our normal missionary work for the night. All in all, it was a crazy night and I was glad for it to be over. Thursday: Thursday was a wild ride as well, but it wasn't nearly as bad. We spent the morning getting Elder Jones situated in his new apartment. We went to Walmart to get him some food and stuff to get set up, then came and did a few computer things to organize some more referrals we had received. After that, we had lunch, a study session together, then we went out to a zone meeting with President and Sister Bateman, which was basically our president interviews this transfer. We talked about all the usual stuff, but with a new look on things that I really enjoyed. We had dinner with a member family, then after dinner we were scheduled to go out with a member and contact some people. But, I didn't know what he looked like. And neither did Elder Jones. So we got to the church at the appointed time, but kinda awkwardly walked around the building until the member approached us and asked if we were in his ward. We laughed and apologized and told him what was going on, then we went out to contact those people. Friday: Friday was weekly planning, but it's a bit difficult to do when neither of you know the area or who was being previously taught. We went to the church to do our planning, and mostly it was looking through who had been taught most recently and setting up a ton of appointments with people, or trying to at least. We went out to eat with some other elders, then came back and did the usual device auditing and stuff. After weekly planning, we met with a returning less-active member to read some scriptures with him. Then we had the ward Christmas party, which was hilarious and awesome. We did a 12 days of Christmas song with a bunch of random stuff. The 2nd day was "two missionaries knocking" so we just knocked on our table when it was our turn. We did record it all, but it might be a bit big. I'll probably just send it to my mom and you can check her Facebook or something for it. Saturday: Saturday was a pretty fun day. Elder and Sister Erickson, a senior couple in the mission office, stopped by to drop off some copies of the Book of Mormon, since we had basically none. I also got a package from the amazing Tim! Thank you Timmy! After they left we went out to try to find some people to contact, but didn't have much success before lunch. After we had lunch and companionship study, we went and texted a bunch of people who had sent in names as referrals to our zone leaders. Between texting all of them and setting up appointments, that took us all the way to dinner. We had dinner on our own, then had an appointment with the Payne family. They had some people they wanted to give out a copy of the Book of Mormon to, so we stopped by to deliver them plus a short spiritual message. Sunday: Sunday we woke up and got ready for ward council, but we were a little bit late, because we didn't know what room it was in. So we just walked around the building until we saw someone who might know, asked them, and they directed us to the right room. That was good. Then we had our usual church services. In all of the craziness that has been the last few weeks, I totally forgot that church is gonna be two hours long next year. Weird. But exciting! Anyway, after church we met with our ward mission leader for a bit, then went out to try a few more potentials in the area. Dinner was brought to us by a member with sick kids, then after dinner we kept trying to contact potentials, and we did manage to set up an appointment with a part member family, so that will be fun! That was my week! It's been a crazy one for sure. Maybe someday after my mission I'll look back and try to see which one of my weeks was the craziest. I'm sure this one will be top 3. I hope you all are going to have a wonderful Christmas, and that you're all trying to stay warm! Love you all! Love,Elder Brown

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vibrationmachinefatloss-blog · 5 years

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Finest Cardio Workout For Easy Fat Loss - Flaws You must Avoid!

youtube

Vibration machine fat loss There are generally few negatives by pursuing this method. I will probably present to you my best cardio exercise exercises at the stop of the article, although first Let me correct many comprehension regarding cardio routines routines.

Vibration machine fat loss

In a long run, low to medium level workouts with low nutrient may not be solely ineffective, but dangerous! Intended for example imagine a lady who have is just a rookie, heavy and never arrived in the gym previous to, substantial amount of cardio exercise may easily head to a mutual in addition to muscle injuries.

: Substantial intensity workout! The very best cardiovascular system workout to shed a lot more fat

High strength cardio exercise routine has proven to be the most practical method for quick fat damage. Inside low-intensity workout, typically the body will soon adapt for you to the workout, everywhere your own personal tempo will be sturdy and your body start off to spend less energy.

With other words, you will certainly burn off less calories as well as your metabolic rate will lessen. Another problem, when you actually decrease the calorie take in drastically and start to help follow a low-intensity exercise routine, it could bring about training to much. and your physique turns in order to catabolic.

Many research has revealed often the 30-65% lower caloric intake within with these people who all keep to daily low-intensity work out! You might primarily burn the actual energy over the fat safe-keeping when after the low-intensity regimen which can burn fat, even though the High depth workout routines burn energy primarily via carbohydrate stores. The sum unhealthy calories you burn are going to be a lot greater with high power training. You can feed on more and still you might burn more fat you consume.

- How significantly cardio exercises do I have to have to get ripped

Suppose, 20 min a morning really helps to keep your blood vessels pressure low avoiding different health problems like heart problems and vascular disease, but if you act like you want to lose excess fat effectively, I might suggest to complete at least 30 minute of aerobic exercise up to five instances a week.

In the event that you train far more, right now there is a risk regarding overtraining and also injuries. In the event you do a energy training together with cardio, several times per week really should be enough. Or if a person like, you could split your personal workouts. One example is strength exercising in the morning along with small 30min cardio with the evening. Which is the ideal exercise routine, mainly because it helps you recover the particular trained muscle tissues faster by the weight training early in the day and helps you to be able to burn fat speedier.

Although if you are closely fat and you include a slower rate of metabolism, in that case you should first ensure that, how much calories an individual eat and exactly how much physical exercises you will need for you to melt away more calories, consequently you will have a calorie deficit.

It is best to start available a little workout during a period until your body get started to be given the stress in addition to adapt to typically the training, you will then little by little enhance the workload and raise the life long workouts! Your own personal metabolism will improve as well as your body start to help burn up more calories, currently you really should look rear at your eating habits and also add more calorie consumption in the event necessary.

- Benefits involving aerobic and strength teaching

By dismissing the durability training from your once a week workout routine, it's including causing money on often the table! Seriously, blending exercise workouts with weight training will allow you to maximize the actual fat burning. If anyone are searching the ideal regime for quick extra fat loss, then you definately should surely include the resistance training routines into the routine!

Having aerobic exercise, you may burn fat over the exercise routine, which will decrease once you finish your work outs, while in strength schooling you will keep lose calories after the exercise.

It actually was proven with EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). EPOC represent the total of energy, which human body needs to normalize once the workout. That energy will likely be taken from fat hard drive, whilst the glucose in the particular blood be used to match the glycogen storages.

In case we take a appearance at the EPOC valuation from aerobic work out, typically the research will show, that will you will burn up 9-30 calories after the zero, 3-3 hours of training. But if we search at the muscle building, at this time there could be even 4-7% improve in your fat burning capacity for the next 1 day after strength training. To get example, in the event you normally shed 2500 kcal, you can burn additional 100-170 fat laden calories per day!

Now you actually will probably understand the gains of cardio along with toughness training. Every exercise, whether it is strength training or aerobic, are competent for fat decline if the value is way more or as much seeing that 6 MET-units (Metabolic equivalents). 6 MET-units means in which the body's metabolism will certainly gets six times bigger during the activity.

rapid Important things about interval cardio

That is fragrantly the finest workout method this raise your metabolism to often the roof top! Interval workouts change a bit more from a frequent aerobic. Each one session may be shorter compared to a new regular routine and the actual email address details are often better.

A new regular lifting weights combined together with interval cardio exercise routine adhering to a high intensity could result the extremely substantial EPOC principles in any short time. This practice can supercharge your metabolism perhaps for two time immediately after the workouts. This suggests, that one could achieve the many times of upper metabolic charge and burn considerably more fats than by following the amount of aerobic exercise.

When you are looking intended for best ways to conduct interval cardio workouts, I will recommend to run outdoor essentially into the constant. Another good strategies to do these exercises is a drinking juices machine or the pool. The effective exercise for easy fat lose are people, the place that the most muscles usually are stimulated at the identical time during the cardiovascular exercise exercise. The same tip will has effects on to some sort of strength training.

- Sort of the best cardio work out routine

-Warm up adequately before the training. In the event that you are performing the particular exercise routine outside, spend on least a few minutes by moving in a put using slow tempo is to do a new little stretching exercises to get the feet and mid-section of the system. An individual will make sure, typically the blood can stream in the target muscle groups.

-Each interval will normally takes three or more minutes to perform.

-Increase often the tempo as very much as you can from the first 60 seconds. Your personal pulse should be 90-95%/max after a tiny. Anyone should now feel a little bit pain in your muscular tissues.

-Don't go too tricky in the new. You actually should test your power initially and then adapt it on the appropriate strain.

-Now, number of years 2 a few minutes, decrease the level in close proximity to the normal amount, simply put heart rate will probably decrease into the 60%/max.

-This was the sort of just one of my favourite period of time.

-Repeat it 3-6 moments

-At the end connected with the workout, make light source exercises with slow-moving beat like in the heat for 5 minutes.

In the event this truly feel too considerably for you, you can certainly separated the 60 just a few seconds in a 50 percent in addition to do the same having 3 minutes, so each one length will be just one. 5 minutes.

instructions Length cardio workout routine

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someonenamedshelbyposts · 5 years

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What My Schedule Looks Like

I always build myself a weekly schedule before each semester starts. For me, scheduling everything helps me keep organized and on track. I’m able to prepare and pack for the next day knowing what is ahead of me. I just finished putting together this semesters schedule and I thought I would share it with you all.

Before we start looking at my schedule, I want to emphasize some things.

1. This schedule is NOT set in stone. I frequently deviate from my schedule as things come up. For example, my schedule does not take into account doctors appointments, shopping sprees, coffee and/or ice cream runs, or spontaneous date nights with my fiancé. If you make a schedule and try to follow it 100% of the time, you will fail. Be adaptable.

2. Scheduling like I do is not always the best thing, or even possible, for everyone. If scheduling the same way I do doesn’t work for you, that’s okay. Do whatever feels best for you and fits your life.

So, let’s take a look at my schedule for this semester:

If the schedule above looks blurry or is hard to read, you can also view it here: https://imgur.com/dgaiiWy

Monday - Thursday:

These days all have roughly the same format for me. I wake up around 7:00am, get ready, and eat breakfast before heading to campus. That hour and a half is pretty loosely scheduled for me. Most days it only takes me about 15 min to get ready because I shower at night, don’t wear daily make up, and have a pixie cut that take 2 min to style. Somedays I grab a protein shake and run out the door and sometime I take the time to make myself a fresh omelet with veggies. My commute is really only 15-20min and as long as I make it to campus by 8:30a or so, then I’m happy.

I get to school several hours before my classes start for a couple of reasons. First, if I want decent parking, I have to be there before 9am. Second, I’m most productive in the mornings. I usually find a quiet spot in the library to study until classes start.

My class schedule varies day to day but once I finish classes I hit the gym before heading home. After dinner I take 30min to clean up the kitchen and do a quick whole house pick up. It’s not on the schedule but I usually take 10-15min after picking up to prep for the next day. Finally, right before bed, I take some wind down time. For me this really just means I put my laptop, iPad, phone, etc. away and get in bed. I usually read or knit until I feel tired enough to fall asleep which is almost alway before 11:00p.

The afternoons on these days have a lot of relax time scheduled. When needed, I use this as additional study time.

Friday and Saturday:

I typically sleep in 30min - 1hr on these days. I also take some extra “get ready” time in the mornings to just relax, drink tea, and enjoy the morning. After breakfast, I head to the gym for a workout.

On Friday, I come home from the gym and do the weekly cleaning things like vacuum and mop. On Saturday, I go straight from the gym to the grocery store.

After doing that days tasks, I usually study or do homework for a couple of hours. After that, my evening looks just like my weekday evenings unless the fiancé and I decide to have company over or go out.

Sunday:

Sundays look just like Friday and Saturday for me except I meal prep and clean instead of grocery shop. I also don’t do any studying on Sunday’s unless I absolutely need to.

And that’s my weekly schedule. Like I said before, I adapt a lot week to week. Some weeks I use my relax time as more study time. Sometime I use my study time as relax time. Some days I skip the gym and just go straight home after class. Some weekends I’m lazy and spend all day Saturday laying on the couch binge watching Gossip Girl and that’s okay with me. Most weeks, I follow the schedule 90% of the time but it took me a long time to learn myself and my habits well enough to put together a schedule that I would follow. The first dozen schedules I ever made for myself failed miserable either because I wasn't adaptable or I scheduled things in a way that didn’t work with my normal habits and work flow.

If you have any questions, or want to know more about my schedule or how I schedule, feel free to send me an ask!

Blog Posts Coming Up Include:

My Workout Plan

How I Meal Prep

My Study Methods

What it is Like Living on an Island

Why I’ll be an Apple Person for Life

All About My Fur-Babies

My Knitting Projects

Where I am at With Planning My Wedding

My Tips & Tricks for Staying Productive & Motivated

What it’s Like Having a Pixie Cut

#schedule #studyblr #college #university #workout

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fictionerd · 6 years

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GOOD. TO. SEE. YOU. FRIENDS!!!

Here we are! The first post of Summer Season 2018 and we’ll be covering Planet With. This series is released on Sundays and can be watched on Crunchyroll.

Okay, so let’s cover what we learn from the first two episodes of Planet With.

In episode one we’re introduced to Souya, a young amnesiac who dreams of horrifying giant draconic creature attacking a city and some one flying off to confront it. See it’s shit like this that causes dragons to have a bad reputation. Seriously I can’t believe these assholes who go around burning whatever the hell they want just because they can breath fire. If it weren’t for them dimensional travel wouldn’t be such a daunting prospect for me. I never know when some one is going to have a traumatic flashback and attack me all because some scaley clown got it into their head to “burninate” something.

Sorry, I’m digressing again. After waking up from his ptsdream Souya prepares to have a normal breakfast with his perfectly normal housemates of a large cat-person and green-haired maid.

Oh wait... My bad. See I’m used to hanging out with a Teddy-Bear whisperer with the ability to access the life’s memory of a version of herself in any given universe, an elf who ONLY exists in the metaverse of the Akashic Record, and most recently a shadow-monster who spent three months pretending to be Swole-Bear. There was also that time I tried to hang out with a copy of a video game character, but we’re not considering that canon anymore. At least not entirely for legal reasons. Oh! There’s also the British man who tears holes in dimensions to fight against “unfair fates” who I’m apparently hosting a podcast with now? My point being that to me the above image is perfectly normal. To most anyone else this is probably at least a three on the Sir Memery WTF chart.

After finishing his veggie breakfast Souya sets off for school complaining about wanting to eat some meat where he bumps into his class rep whose name he has forgotten. You’d think this is just an excuse to set up Tsundere vibes with her, but no it’s far FAR worse than that. See her name is: Kagaratamaha? [wrong buzzer] Hakatamagara? [wrong buzzer] Ta-ka-ma-ga-ha-ra? [Correct Tone]

So Nickname Pending is worried about Souya and how he doesn’t make friends at his new school. This is because she knows what it’s like to be the new kid, and has apparently never watched an anime in her life so she doesn’t quite grasp the concept of “Leave the mysterious blue-haired transfer alone”.

Side Note: This character’s introduction marks the first time I’ve ever gotten a Japanese pun without some one explaining it to me. So allow me to ruin it for you all by explaining it. She offers Souya some of her Hamburger Steak to which he replies with tears of join “Megane-sama” which she mishears as “Megami-sama” and sheepishly replies that she doesn’t think she’s a goddess before immediately realizing what he’d actually said. This leads into the reveal of her actual name which I refuse to ever use the entirety of again because I honestly don’t think the joke is that funny.

Later that day Souya’s shounen receptors begin to tingle as he picks up on the impending conflict of the story. A UFO is sighted offshore headed towards the city. When the air-force is deployed to deal with the object (Picture in header) they find themselves the victim of some strange joyous delusion and leave the object alone. it’s only when seven strange people, apparently psychics of some kind, utilize their powers to confront it is it stopped. We see one of these people enter the object through a “Weak Point” and have his own delusion.

See, his mother was killed in a fire when he was a little boy causing him to become a firefighter. The UFO hits his brain with a delusion of child him being held back from the blaze by a firefighter only for that firefighter to turn out to be adult him. Adult Firefighter Psychic dude runs into the fire, saves his mom, and the two of them walk through the cherry blossoms as he sorts through all the pent up regrets he has about not being able to save her when he was a kid. Only after we’ve conveniently gotten to know this character’s defining trauma does his squad get through to him and break the delusion, then he uses his Psychic Golem Powers to wreck the hell out of the UFO causing it and copies of it that had appeared around the world to disappear all at once. The same can be said for the Psychics who all blast off to separate places to avoid the fate of E.T. one presumes

While all this was going on Souya got a call from Ginko (That’s green-haired maid lady for those not following the series who also don’t care about spoilers). She tells Souya that he has to defeat “it”, but contrary to what everyone in the audience thinks it turns out that “it” refers to one of the Psychics and not the UFO thing. After Ex-Firefighter current world-saver exits the bushes onto a highway he encounters Souya the cat-man and Ginko. Souya is sporting a mask and being basically lead by the nose at the behest of Catman and Ginko. Now hold onto your seats because this is where shit gets REALLY weird.

Catman swallows Souya turning into a mech in the process that Souya is now piloting. They get into a fight with Firefighter dude who summons up his psychic golem thing. After fumbling around at Ginko’s direction Souya manages to pilot the Catmech to victory over Psychic Fireman and retrieves a vial of star-shaped dust that is the “source of his power”. At which point I’m lead to believe that Souya recovered his memories because he shouts at Firefighter to tell his friends that Souya is going to kick their collective asses. This is presumably because he believes them to be behind his ptsdream.

After the credits roll we see a scene where a guy I can only describe a scruffy Alder from Pokemon Gen 5 says ominously that Firefighter dude had been taken out.

So, before even watching episode two I can already hands-down predict that this guy is the Draconic asshole from Souya’s ptsdream. Not sure how everything fits together but my working theory is that Souya’s from another planet that Earth governments or some shadowy organization somehow invaded and stole something from. Souya is a sleeper agent and the “Peas” balloon things are meant to lure out those in possession of the Stolen Macguffin or whatever.

There we have Episode One. Please excuse me now while I go watch Episode Two. Well... I mean you can just keep reading by the time this goes up but... BRB!

[Approximately 30min later]

Well my theory from about two paragraphs ago is up in smoke as soon as the opening scenes of this episode roll in and further dashed upon the rocks by Ginko later in the episode. All things in their proper order.

So Torai (That’s firefighter-guy’s name btw) makes his report to dragon-man about his encounter with Soya and company. The other six Psychic warriors all make jabs at him as though he died even when he’s sitting right there in an example of a gag that is legit funny unlike Tara’s name from last episode. While we’re talking about the exposition meeting may I just say that I feel BETRAYED!

See Dragon CEO guy is as nerdy as I AM! He’s the one who found out that the enemy force is called Nebula. He called the giant abominations “Nebula Weapons” gives Soya and Company the name Nebula Soldiers, and what does he call the Psychic Golems his crew uses to fight? Psychokinetic Mega-God Photon Armor. If I didn’t know better I’d think my pops made him from the same mold as me no less. Oh, and their little world-saving club? It’s the Citizens' Safety Center Special Defense Section: "Grand Paladin". I’m in tears, people, this is a Draconid after my own heart.

So, the “Grand Paladin” peeps implement the buddy system in case they run into Soya again. Meanwhile Soya’s having a sulk because apparently Ginko and “Sensei” dragged him to Earth to be their soldier. He goes out on a walk in Iron Clogs (I’m guessing this is a joke I’m not getting). On the run he meets up with Torai who just happens to have purchased a bunch of meat buns from a convenience store. They have a conversation because Torai is a nice guy (that’s a legit nice guy not the version that’s been turned into a derogatory term by certain groups online). See Torai, while out looking for his attacker couldn’t help noticing what he thought was a middle-schooler sitting on a random bench crying and came over to see if there was anything he could do to help.

He gives Soya a bun they chat for a bit with Soya desperately trying both not to give away who he really is as well as to eat the bun because dammit he just wants some MEAT for once! All of a sudden the evacuation alarm is sounded because this wonderful abomination has appeared off shore.

Nebula really needs to consult a different artist about their designs. I personally recommend @dashfox1artwork.

Robin: Shamelessly plugging your internet friends are we dragon-boy?

Fic: If you’re not going to show up and fight keep your mouth shut Shadow-bear. I’m just doing my part to show that not all Dragons are assholes. Robin: Whatever you say.

So, the six remaining Psycho-God pilots attack the Ugly Bacon Idol and the pink-haired girl of the team, Miu, is the one to enter the core. The hallucination she sees is of her beating her friend Harumi (Pilot of the Bear-armor) at apparently a Judo competition. We find out that Miu has always just wanted to be strong, and we also learn that she IS strong being able to break through the illusion of the Nebula Weapon with relative ease and destroy the thing. It’s at this point that I should mention that a message has flashed before each of the characters who take one of these things out. In Miu’s case the message was “It’s okay to be weak”. For Torai in episode one the message was “I forgive you” presumably preying on his regrets about his mom.

After Piggy McHideous is dispatched the group separates into its pairs and as we expected Soya and Co target the pair with a member who just fought a battle, but let’s back up for a second because there’s some exposition from Ginko during the fight with the Baconator that needs addressing.

She reveals to Soya that Nebula is indeed the name of the group they work for, but there are multiple faction. Ginko and “Sensei” are with the “Pacifist Faction” whereas the Monuments to terrible design sense that have been popping up in the harbor belong to the “Sealing Faction”. Basically think of this as political parties. One wants to prevent humanity from rising up against them one day by brutally suppressing their ability to advance and keep them in a state of complacency, while the other just wants to take away any dangerous toys that humanity might come up with and hope that they can “guide” humanity onto the path of “Love” rather than “Power”.

Hmmm one group bent on maintaining their personal status quo at the cost of anyone else and another that wants to control precisely what power the general populace has access to in order to “guide” them on the “right path”? I wonder where I’ve heard that one before?

Sorry about that. The Writer is coming through me a little strongly there. Point is that Ginko is using Soya to enact social and ideological control... I MEAN to take away the magical stardust that allows the Psycho-God Pilots to do their thing... yeah. Back to the proper progress of the episode: Soya once again pilots his cat-mecha-sensei to fight against Miu and Harumi. It is a pretty fun fight, but all things must go as has been foretold. So after being on the ropes for most of the conflict Soya turns everything around at the last second with a miracle uppercut against the Bunny-god armor. As Miu is falling back to Earth Ginko appears and grabs the stardust vial away from her. Apparently Ginko can just Mary Poppins herself to wherever she pleases? They all land and Ginko’s like “That’s all for today”, but Soya’s having none of it. He’s ready to take the fight to Bear-mech too when all the other Psycho-Pilots show up including CEO Dragonface to say “Checkmate”, and that’s where our story concludes for now.

Y’know I’m coming more and more around to the opinion that we should be routing for “Grand Paladin” here rather than the lady influencing Soya or the massive, faceless organization that wants to turn us all into Proles from 1984. I mean, yeah, they do have the snake-eyed dude. They meet in what appears to be some sort of board room, and the writing seems to indicate that they’re the “Antagonists” if not the villains, but so far they don’t seem to be anything but a collection of well-intentioned if somewhat zany people. Even the big CEO-type with the intimidating presence, as was discussed earlier, is a lovable and hammy goofball.

I love any series that makes its antagonists human. Granted cartoonish villainy and even edgelordiness has its place in stories, but when you can make your antagonists and especially your villains feel human and relatable it just rings home that nobody is the villain in their own story. Everyone has reasons for what they do. They may not have excuses or justifications, but they all have reasons.

For instance, I have a reason for breaking my own rules here by reading my political views into the story.

[pauses for dramatic effect]

Yes, yes I’m sure you’re all very shocked at this revelation. I mean I was so subtle about it (/s). My reason is that when I went back and really thought about what the “Sealing” and “Pacifist” factions of Nebula stood for I (and this is really the nerd behind The Nerd speaking) couldn’t help but see parallels to some of the more distasteful extremes of Conservative and Liberal politics at work. Both sides seek to impose their morality upon others. While one does so by attempting to keep people complacent with the status quo, the other does it by appealing to the rebellious nature inherent in people and channeling it into “causes”.They use guilt and peer pressure to convince people that their way of thinking is correct and I absolutely cannot stand seeing it happen. Especially when they prey upon others using causes that need legitimate champions!

The goals of the “Pacifist” faction are arguably “good”. They are part of a group that has watched humanity evolve and they only want the best for us. They “keep their involvement to a minimum”, but at the end of the day they’re doing the same thing that the “Sealing” faction is doing. They’re enforcing their own will on humanity by taking away humanity’s means to fight against them, or anyone for that matter.

In the anime this is likely because the “Pacifist” faction is short-sighted and hasn’t stopped to consider what will happen to humanity when they take away the only weapon they have against the “Sealing” faction, but in reality? In reality groups like the “Pacifist” Faction either are themselves or contain an element that wants the people they’re disarming to become reliant upon them for what they need. They take away that person’s own weapons and replace them with their own. They dictate the rules of battle and push you to come to them for aid and defense. They accrue personal power and influence at the cost of their followers’ freedom of thought.

These are important things to think about and be on the lookout for, and it’s an issue that is very prevalent in my own life and dealings online. So those are my reasons for why I read political allegory into the factions of Planet With. Now am I justified for doing this when I so often decry others for “reading shit that isn’t there into stories”? No, of course I’m not. Or rather I’m not justified using that argument against people who dropped a show as a result of what they read into it.

I’m not going to lie. I’m inexperienced with expressing views on creative work online, and am overly sensitive to certain things. I’m just as flawed as anybody else. It’s hard for me to understand when people see “bullshit” in something that I didn’t see. It’s hard for me to accept some one calling a show (particularly one I like) “Garbage” when really it’s just not clicking with them. I know that I’ve been guilty of calling a show “Garbage” in my time, but it’s a term I hope to avoid moving forward. I want to live up to my professed belief that there is good to be found in all fiction, even the “bad” fiction. Part of that is accepting the responsibility I tell others they need to accept. To practice what I preach.

If I’m determined that the Audience has just as important a role in creating art as the Authors then I need to learn to accept the interpretations of my fellow audience members, and to feel free to express my own interpretations of things.

[stops to take a break and slide back into character]

Wow... That ended up being a lot heavier than I imagined. What a way to kick off the summer season! There’s more to come but for now I need a break, and the writer could probably use a nap.

Until next post keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon

#Anime #Planet With #Episode 1 #Episode 2 #Fictionerd #Let's Talk Anime #LTA #Robin

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dogdata · 5 years

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*TRAINING YOUR DOG ON WHERE TO 💩 POOP*

Dogs can really make a mess of a compound if u allow them to poop everywhere. If its a public compound it would definitely be a problem to you because your dog can go to a neighbor’s space and relieve himself and they won’t be happy.

You would have to start packing poops everywhere and there is also the chance that you’ll miss some poop that you might not see to pack which can transmit infection. You can also step on it and then take the shoes into the house or your car.

If your dog poops everywhere it would also not be appealing to spend time in your compound which can also be a big concern for parents and children that need to play around.

*The good thing is you can teach your dog to poop in a designated place by himself. *

The first thing you have to do is to choose a good spot for it to poop.

Choose a dog poop spot where people do not pass often or atall. Let it be by the corner also.

The area you designate should be appropriate for your dogs size. If u have a small or medium size dog the spot you designate should be appropriate for the size of your dog. A small area might be fine for a small breed dog, but larger breeds are going to need more space.

Your dog won’t want to keep peeing and pooping in a tiny area that becomes very smelly and dirty so you always have to clean it up.

Sometimes some dogs choose their own spot to poop. If this happens then you have a lesser work to do. If ur dog often returns to a particular area to relieve itself, try to make this the toilet area. Just make sure the chosen spot is realistic for use in a public compound and try to keep it neat.

You can leave one pile in the area so during training your dog would know that’s the right spot. If the area gets too soiled, your dog may look to relieve itself somewhere else.

You can also keep your dog in a temporarily fensed area in the morning to block off the area. Place your dog within the enclosed area and when it eventually poops praise him, touch him and let the dog out of the enclosure and then reward him with a treat.

One easy way to train a dog to go only in one spot is to train it to learn the go on command. Try to knw when ur dog poops. Some dog poops in the morning while some usually does it 30mins or immediately after they eat. Once you are able to figure out the time, take your dog on a leash to the spot you want or use the go command to make it go to that spot. Keep the dog in that spot until it poops. You can use a leash to make it remain there until it poops. Once it poops reward him with a treat.

You can also train your dog to poop in a particular place by locking him up in his cage. Usually when dogs want to poop they become restless. Some would make noise or spin. Once you observe this then you release him and take him to the designated spot. And reward him after he poops.

Like i said earlier always read your dog’s body language to know when it wants to poop. During the times you allow your dog to run about and play, make sure to supervise it. Keep an eye on the dog’s body language. If it tries to relieve itself in an area not designated you scream at it or call its name with an angry tone and then lead it to the designated area. Most dogs give a sign that they’re about to relieve themselves. If you observe your dog’s enough you would know. They pace or spin or sniff around. If you notice your dog engaging in any of these behaviors outside of the designated potty area, interrupt it and bring it to the right spot.

If your dog poops before you can stop it, then stop playtime and bring the pup indoors. If the dog holds it and does it and then poops in the proper area, remember to reward it.

Your dog will quickly learn that relieving itself in the right spot means it gets to play while going anywhere else brings playtime to an end.

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#dog health #dogs of tumblr #dogs #doglover

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tricraftbeer · 7 years

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While she's sleeping...

I'm laying in the dark in a hotel room in Cambridge, MD while my baby sleeps in a pack and play and my parents are banished to read in the lobby. So I guess I may as well try to write a travel and race report for IM 70.3 Raleigh before my next race this Sunday. The trip to Raleigh from LA was a comedy of errors. My lovely mom flew out a few days before we were going to leave to help me manage my bags, my bike and my baby. Thank god she did. I'd be crying on the LAX curb still if she hadn't. We got up at 4am to catch our early flight. Gloria was, of course, in the best mood out of the three of us. When planning this trip to race on the East coast for a month, I hadn't really thought about all the crap we'd need to bring. Just getting the car seat in and out of cabs, baggage check and my parents car was bad enough. Luckily, a sky cap with a giant cart helped us to the counter and the check in lady took pity on us. She brought us to the back of her counter and we didn't have to wait at all. So we got to the gate an hour before our 6:50am take off. Which was delayed. Three times. I discovered that LAX terminal five has a very nice nursing room, so Gloria stayed fed in privacy. We also walked a bunch of laps in the terminal so she could try to nap a couple times in the carrier. We finally boarded our plane about five hours after we woke up that morning. Then sat on the tarmac almost another hour. Then, we blessedly took off. Throughout all of this, Gloria was amazing. She took little cat naps, made 100s of new friends and sat happily on the tray table or a lap and watched TV. Don't tell the mommy blogs! She got a little fussy a few times, and it was a little dicey changing her giant airplane poops on the changing table that folds out above the toilet, but we made it through. We walked the aisle with her in the carrier so she'd sleep, she nursed a ton, and played some more. We got to Boston at 6:30pm-ish, 11 hours after we woke up. We had two hours to kill before our flight to Raleigh. There was a restaurant with live music and a pouch of apples, and more toys, so that took care of that. Another flight, more nursing, more pooping, more carrier sleeping, and we arrived in Raleigh at 11:30pm, 16 hours after we woke up. Or something like that. My watch told me I walked over five airport/airplane miles that day! More sky caps, more luggage toting. My dad met us at the airport and we managed to get the car seat installed and ourselves to the hotel at 12:30am. Gloria, the angel, fell asleep after only a few minutes of crying and slept til 8am. I slept fitfully for about four hours. Ugh The next day was a whirlwind of race logistics, pro meeting, and hanging out with my bro in law, Gloria's uncle Eric and aunt Mia. The race has a remote start and mandatory bike check that we couldn't have made it to. But luckily, a local shop was running a shuttle service, and they took my bike to T1 so I could have time for beer! After dinner and a bath, I put G to bed at 7. Apparently, her body thought it was a nap and she woke up raring to go at 8pm. Oops. I brought her into my bed, nursed her to sleep and let her sleep on my chest, which she never ever does. It took me the better part of two hours to delicately extricate myself and get her on her back in the bed next to me. She slept all night long. I slept fitfully another four hours. 3:30am wake-up. Race mornings are extra tight now, since I need to pump too. The last two races I shut myself in the bathroom with coffee, bagels, race clothes, and breast pump. I use the hands-free bra so I can pump while eating, drinking, applying race numbers, and (mostly) getting dressed. I've gotten good at maneuvering around the cords. Then, the pump and battery pack go in the bags that come with me. I got to the shuttle at 4:30, and left for the race start. The race is at a beautiful lake. The water temp was 82 degrees, warmer than every lap pool! I laid out my gear and brought my pump to the volunteer tent at 6am. They let me sit in a corner and eat my Bonk Breakers and pump in relative privacy. That done, my race bra and suit will finally zip up over my chest and I'm ready to go. The swim got away from me early. I lost most everybody after the first buoy. It took me half the swim to realize anyone was nearby. I found two other girls and we mostly stayed together for the second half (Hi Erin!). It felt like it took forever! And looking at my time, it pretty much did take forever. But what a difference from my last race jumping on the bike. I could feel all my extremities this time! And no body-breaking shivering! There were similarities too, in that my power meter didn't synch again. So I was riding by feel, but it felt much better. I did miss the age-group male EMJ train that so often comes roaring through the women's pro race. It was lonely without them. But, it was also nice to not have to worry about getting mixed up with them too. I was able to catch a few women, and move up a couple spots. The course was beautiful and remote. A couple times, while climbing through wooded sections, I literally heard crickets. I focused on keeping my effort smooth and manageable. I could tell it was a higher output than at Santa Rosa, mostly because I could actually feel what my muscles were doing. It was starting to heat up, and get a bit humid too. It would be a hot run. I took down all my Bonk Breaker Wolfberry, refilled the Profile Design FC25 system with water at aid stations, and took in Base Salt and Huma gels every 30mins or so. Getting off the bike I started to feel a little tired, both muscle fatigue and sleepy. But I got into a rhythm and had a good first lap. The run course, like the bike course, was consistently rolling, but with nothing steep. I was able to move up to 8th place by the turn around, which is the final money spot. I wasn't gaining on Laurel, in 7th, so I had to focus on not losing ground. My second lap was a couple minutes slower than the first, as the uphills started to feel like mountains. I concentrated on positive inner dialogue and getting Coke and water at every aid station. It was enough to pull through and keep my place. I saw Gloria waiting at the finish line with my parents and was very happy for a decent race after our long trip. She continues to amaze with her great attitude, and is an inspiration to me to stay positive! The race was wonderfully executed by the staff and enthusiastic volunteers. I really loved the scenic course, and the friendly people we met everywhere. We loved the rest of our time in Raleigh, getting some local beers and burgers to take back to the hotel for a picnic dinner. Only 8 more hours to drive until we'd be home in Delaware. Sorry Gloria!

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ash-travels-peru · 7 years

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Day 6: Organic Food Markets and Barranco

I woke up at 5:30am this morning. UGH!! I ended up using this early morning to catch up on my blog (well up to day 3 at the time hahaha!)

Bella and I surfaced out of bed at about 9am. Lima is a bit like Dubai, you can do it in a few days and admittedly, we were starting to run out of things to do (hence no rush in the mornings!). We had another awesome brekky, but all we had planned for the day was the 4pm walking tour. I ended up checking out some travel blogs about Lima that I had found whilst in Sydney, and discovered that there was an organic food market in Miraflores, only a 15min walk from our accommodation! The markets were open Monday - Saturday from 8:30am - 2:30pm. Our actual words were “Why the hell not?!”

We left our accommodation about 1:10pm. We packed our luggage before we headed out because our taxi was booked to take us to the airport the next morning at 3:30am. The markets were a long line of stalls along the footpath opposite a church. There was fresh produce, organic honey, different quinoa, black corn that looked like it had been dipped in ink, stubby carrots (that certainly wouldn’t pass the beautiful veg requirement at Sydney supermarkets) and plenty of places that sold food ready to eat! We walked up and down the line of stalls and I was graciously welcomed to photograph their produce. The tables were overflowing with such bright colours; there were huge pumpkins, mushroom stalks that looked like broccoli and cherry tomatoes that looked like the range of autumn colours. If I ever come back to Lima, I will ensure that I have access to a kitchen and I will be sure to buy some fresh fruit and veg from these markets!

We were beginning to feel a little peckish and there was a stall that sold what looked like a range of sweet and savoury breads and empanadas. We figured out after the fact that it was actually a vegan vendor. There was a significant language barrier, so there was lots of hand gestures, smiling, laughing, confused looks and pointing! After at least 5mins, we ended up with exactly what we both wanted! Once we had obtained our goods, we walked into the park behind to have our picnic feast (minus a blanket). The park was teeming with young, local families. There was even a 6th birthday party! We were the only caucasians in the park and I certainly felt like I was off the tourist path and enjoying Lima like a local. We shared an empanadas and we ordered the one that had carrot, caramelised onion and grapes inside. It melted in my mouth!! We ordered a slice of bread that looked sweet and turned out to be a really heavy panatone. Although it was pretty tasty, it certainly didn’t compare to the panatone Auntie Chiara has!! For desert, we each ordered what looked like a strawberry and (what we thought was) cacoa tart. The strawberries were so fresh, juicy and sweet, but it certainly wasn’t cocoa on the tart. It tasted more like a tahini with a bit of sesame seed oil. The pastry was lovely, but I ended up scraping most of the tahini stuff off. We ate our feast and lolled in the afternoon. The cloud cover prevented seeing the sun.

It was nearing 2:40pm and we decided to begin to head off for the 4pm tour to Barranco. We initially thought of walking, but according to google maps it was a 1hr 30min walk. There was an option to meet at Kennedy Park in MIraflores (a 20min walk) at 3:20pm and catch the bus with a guide to the meeting spot in Barranco. We opted for the latter option. We made our way through Lima to Kennedy Park. There, we met up with Rosie and Jo and met some Americans, a Brit who had been travelling for 4months and once again, I was certainly surrounded by the backpacker crowd! I only lacked a leather thong necklace with some charm on it, a few tattoos and a bandanna and I’m sure I would have been synonymous with the crowd!

The local bus ride was 1 soles. The local bus was of the general class of vehicle I described in one of my first posts in Peru...it looked like it should have been retired a solid 15 years ago. I was sitting above the wheel and it was quite the bumby ride...as in I think there was no suspension left in the vehicle whatsoever. We went over a bump and my bum left the seat, it was like a roller coaster but on four wheels and with less safety regulations. This American student started talking to us. He was a med student and working in one of the hospitals, but for this post I’ll refer to him as med student Mike. I was able to convince Mike that Bella’s boyfriend’s name was Edward and he sparkled in the sun during summer (due to sweat). So gullible! I was rather proud of my low key Twilight reference.

We made it to Barranco and it is so beautiful!!! Street art is encouraged, I walked past countless buskers playing lutes, to guitars and drums and at the end of the walking tour there was a solid busking brass ensemble (with an honorary sax player). The Barranco walking tour wasn’t as information dense as the tour of Lima City Downtown. I’m not sure if that was because I was always lagging behind the group taking photos, because we had a different guide or if this tour served as having a free navigator to get you around the suburb without the need for Google maps. Most likely, it was a combination of the three.

Barranco is bright and vibrant and sort of like the Peruvian equivalent to Newtown, but with views of the Pacific. According to the architecture and houses we walked past, Barranco was also one of, if not the most affluent suburb of Lima City. We even visited a house built by the same artist who made the sculpture of the passionate couple in the Parque del Amor. We crossed a bridge where, legend goes, that if you make it across holding your breath and thinking of a wish that it will come true. I won’t disclose what I wished for because then my near fainting spell would go to waste! As I was crossing, a group of tourists stopped dead in front of me. I did a rather un-elegant bolt to make it the final stretch across the bridge though!

We wound through the streets and there was many beautiful doors that I was able to take photos of (I’ve started an instragram for all the photos of doors I’ve taken on my travels). We visited a beautiful church that has survived most of the natural disasters in Lima without too much damage and there was a wedding on! We watched the bride enter the church. I felt sorry for her, being gawked at by tourists.

The tour finished at around 6:30pm, and super starving we went in search of food. Med student Mike and another American lady joined us for dinner, which brought some interesting discussions to our dinner conversation. Due to dietary requirements, we found both a vegetarian and vegan restaurant. We were there for a few hours, the food was good but honestly not as filling and as satisfying as I would have liked. At about 8:30pm, the six of us caught the local bus back to Kennedy Park. Under the direction of Rosie. we went to this (apparently) famous churros place called Manolo. I paid 15 soles for 6 churros sticks and a cup of molten chocolate, which was more like a custard consistency. I gave the chocolate to Bella pretty quickly (I think I’m a chocolate snob haha). We all then walked back to Kennedy Park and sat in a small and circular amphitheater that went down into the group. Med student Mike thought he was awesome and a camera buff and wanted to use my camera. He started changing all the settings and nearly broke it because he didn’t understand that you were meant to press the button in the middle of the settings wheel. He didn’t even have it in his hands for 30secs.

Bella and I ended up leaving the park at about 10pm because we were conscious that our taxi was arriving in 5.5hrs! We walked the 10mins or so back to our hotel and finished packing. Suddenly it was past 12am!!! We jumped into bed quickly and dozed off fast...ready to be awake in less than 3hrs!

#ashtravelsperu #lima #peru #mqpaceinternational

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