#and she has plenty of friends in a similar boat to that

[oddlykilledghosts]

Ahhhhhh can i request one for jj?? Don't you think we need more jj in this world? 'Cause i think we do <3

Kook!reader asks jj if he needs help cleaning their boat (because she has a crush on him obviously), he harshly dismisses her but she looks upset so he breaks his harsh exterior and fluff fluff fluff

Need Any Help? - JJ Maybank x reader

Summary: You, having a crush on JJ, want to be around him. What better than a day when his boat shows up broken down on your side of the island?

author’s note: so sorry for my requests coming so late! I hope you still enjoy it!

Also I know almost nothing about boats so if you do, please ignore all of my inaccurate information

Word Count: 1.5k

Pairings: JJ Maybank x kook!reader

The sun was blazing against your skin as you lingered around your dock. You were wearing jean shorts and your favorite bikini, having left any resemblance of a shirt back at your house at the shore. Sweat bubbled against your skin, leaving a sort of dewy look against your arms and chest. Lately the weather had been nice, but a little too hot for your taste. And yet your parents still wanted you to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. It was here now that you were trying to tan, but you had put your shorts back on after getting bored, and also after a few passing boats had gone by. You were looking at your phone, trying to figure out whether or not to text Topper to pick you up in his new boat. He had bragged about it the days before, and while you weren’t necessarily a boat person, it would be better than sitting alone any longer. Yes, you were bored enough to talk to Topper, who you never really bonded with that much. But your best friend Sarah was dating him, and that meant you spent a lot of time together whether you liked to or not. But he had nice boats, and you did like a boat ride. 

It was getting to be around that time that you were ready to summon your best friend and her boyfriend when a familiar boat pulled up close to your dock. It had written on the side in white paint the words HMS Pogue. You didn’t think the boy noticed you as he tied up his boat across from you, smoke slowly piling up from the engine. But you knew him. It was JJ Maybank, a pogue from The Cut. You knew him well. Your heart thudded against your chest, not knowing whether or not to announce your presence. Pogues and kooks didn’t always mix, and they both tended to make each other angry. You also happened to have, oh, just a tiny little insignificant crush on him. 

But because you have a brain, and didn’t want to scare him, you said, “Hey.” And started walking toward the end of the dock where he presides. You forgot about the fact that you weren’t wearing a shirt, but since it was summer and you were in your hometown of the Outer Banks, you didn’t think it mattered much. 

He looked up at you momentarily, seemingly unconvinced you were of importance as he started struggling to see what was wrong with his boat. “Hey.” He said, not really caring that he was the one at your dock and he was interrupting you and not the other way around. 

You didn’t really have anything else to do, but suddenly you were alone with JJ Maybank. Yes, JJ Maybank was ignoring you. But it was progress. You scooted yourself to the end of your dock and let your legs dangle off the end. You hoped your tan would cover up your blush, as this move made the proximity between the two of you much smaller. “Do you need any help?” You asked innocently, your voice soft and shy. 

“Not really.” He said without looking at you. His fingers were working on something in the engine but you couldn't see what it was. His hands worked fast and nimble, like he had done this many times.

“Well, how many times has your boat broken down like this?” You asked, trying to insert yourself into the situation in a hope to help. Your dad had plenty of extra parts or engines that could easily replace JJ’s faulty one, but you didn’t want to say it outright as it could sound similar to a Topper brag. 

“Really, Y/N, it’s none of your business.” JJ’s voice was gruff, seemingly frustrated. At the very least, you were just glad he remembered your name. You’d met on a few occasions, and you had fallen fast for his smile and his stupidity at parties, but you never really knew if he remembered you. 

“Well we have some extra-”

“Just fuck off, Y/N, I don’t need a Kook to try and tell me what I’m doing.”

A stab to your heart, you sat stunned for a moment while JJ went back to work. Rarely had you expected JJ, of all people, to talk to you that way. You got that he had a rough boy exterior but you could expect this from Rafe…not from a boy you had some silly crush on. Because that’s what it felt like now. Silly and limp and meaningless. The blush on your cheeks reddened, crawling down to your neck. 

You started to get up, but suddenly your legs felt like jelly, all numb in the knees. The nerves traveled down your legs causing you to slip and fall straight into the water. With nothing to hold onto, you fell with brunt force into the ocean. At first you were stunned again, then embarrassed, and when you reached the top of the water there was an arm reaching for you from above the depths. You took it happily, as the air from your lungs had been pushed out when you landed in the water. When you reached the surface you took gulping breaths like you had never experienced it before, climbing onto JJ’s boat and positioning yourself as far away as possible from the boy.

“I don’t have a towel to give you if that’s what you’re waiting for.” He said without looking at you again, however you noticed the sleeve of his shirt was now wet from when he pulled you from the water.

“Oh shut it, JJ.” You were formed into a little ball, your arms holding your knees to your chest. You used to be afraid of the ocean as a little kid and as embarrassing as this whole thing was for you, you just wanted to go cry in your room like you were eight again like when Rafe had called you mean names growing up.

“Oh, she remembers my name.”

When you didn’t respond, it was then that JJ looked at you. Your hair wet against your cheeks, droplets of water collected on your arm as the sun shone down on his boat. You looked utterly pathetic and upset, and he knew he was the cause of it. He turned away from the engine and crawled over to you, sitting next to you at the edge of the boat. 

JJ adjusted his hat, one that you had seen him wear many times and put his arm close enough to touch yours. “The engine’s been giving me trouble for a while. That’s what you were asking right?”

You nodded, not wanting him to see how much his comments had hurt you.

“Well, you see. John B- do you know John B?” You nodded again. “Well John B’s dad gave me this engine and if I get rid of it, or get another. It’s just not the same. So I fix it, every now and again.”

You put your chin on your knee and turned your cheek to look at JJ, “That’s stupid.” You say, but it made you smile that he cared so much about it. 

“Yeah well, I’m a stupid guy.” JJ furrows his eyebrows, like there was something deeper to his words. You knew what people thought of him, that he was a little reckless and carefree. But it didn’t make him stupid. 

You let go of your knees, still in a puddle of water that you brought onto the boat. “It’s going to crap out on you one day.”

“I think that day is today.” JJ looks at you, his eyes stop at yours for a few seconds before looking away. You never noticed before but JJ rarely looked at you harshly, he rarely looked at you at all. 

“Why do you do that?” You ask. 

“Do what?” He says that edge back in his voice, as if you’re accusing him of something heinous. 

“You don’t look at me.” You grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. “Just look at me.”

He turned his head and your heart stopped short, “Well, you look pathetic.”

“Just what every girl wants to hear.”

“No I mean, you do. You fell into the water and that was-”

“Embarrassing.”

“Yes.” His adam's apple bobbed up and down while he swallowed, “But you also look gorgeous sitting there, and I’m trying to keep my cool.”

“Your cool? Man, I just-” You stopped yourself, not wanting to give away any bit of how much you had been crushing on this boy. “Thanks for helping me out of the water.”

“Couldn’t let you drown.”

“I wouldn’t have drowned.”

JJ smirked and squinted his eyes at you, “Never knew Kooks could swim.”

You scoffed, “You’re just making up bullshit at this point.”

“Maybe I am.” His hands were centimeters from yours. If you just nudged your pinky your hands would be touching. You sat for a second looking at them too long when JJ moved his hand over yours. His skin was hot like a furnace but it even felt nice in the warm weather. 

“Let me help fix it, we have spare parts.” You said, and when you turned your head up and away from your hands JJ was already looking at you.

“We could give that a try.”

[thesummerestsolstice]

Headcanon Crafts for Everyone I Missed Last Time:

Idril: a sculptor. She worked with every kind of stone imaginable, and often went looking for new material in Gondolin’s mines with Maeglin. (Look my Maeglin head canons are complicated but they should get to be friends the narrative has hurt them too much already) She actually preferred not to make elvish figures, instead focusing on strangely beautiful stone landscapes and various animal-like figures. She was actually responsible for Middle-Earth’s version of the gargoyle, having carved several to stand guard over Gondolin. Several elves swore that the statues moved, but she never addressed those rumors. She also liked to paint her work with bright colors, which would’ve been seen as odd back in Valinor, but fit right in in First Age Middle-Earth.

Maeglin: a smith, but his craft was more in-line with Avarin practice than Noldor practice; with much less focus on the idea of making gems and heavier focus on understanding natural geology and the properties of various gems and metals. He knew the mines of Gondolin better than anyone, and wrote plenty about the the earth under the earth. His work also had fairly significant Dwarfish influences. He liked to make mechanically complex pieces, with moving parts or even some internal gear work.

Finduilas: a hunter. Her and her father were both nature people, just in very different ways. She was silent, with all the grace of a dancer, and quick enough to outrun most of what she hunted. She preferred to go after more aggressive animals– wild boar, wolves, bears, even wargs– and leave the deer and rabbits be. She was born in Beleriand, and had never met the Valar, but sometimes, privately, offered up prayers to Orome. She liked to imagine she could’ve been in his hunt, if things had turned out a bit differently.

Celebrimbor: a smith, in the very traditional Noldor sense. Gemworker, specialized in jewelry, made various famously beautiful pieces, etc. Was never quite happy sticking to hairpins and necklaces. Longed to try his hand at imbuing his work with real power, but always talked himself out of it. A whole binder of concepts for works of power sat locked away in a chest in his workshop for centuries. He never talked to anyone about it. He was as ashamed of his feelings for his craft as he was of his feelings for his family. By the end of his life, he’d made peace with only one of those things.

Earendil: a mariner? Alright, he was definitely a mariner, and he loved the ship life– he even built a few boats of his own, in a similar fantastic style to Turgon’s architecture– but he also had a longstanding fascination with the natural world, and filled volumes and volumes of journals with information on various plants, animals, and minerals. But natural lore isn’t a recognized Noldor craft, since it involves learning but doesn’t really produce tangible results. Still, it was a passion he got from afternoons spent learning about geology with “Uncle Mole,” and one he shared with Elrond. Researching the beauty and wonder of nature gave Earendil something to do with his immortal life, and was a big part of the reason Elrond chose to be immortal at all.

Gil-Galad: a king. No, really, he’d been the high-king of the Noldor since he was a child, and hadn’t really had time for trivialities like “finding a life purpose” or “having fun.” He was too busy learning how to stay alive in late stage Beleriand (read: hell) and learning to rule the least cooperative group of elves imaginable. He wanted to be a painter, and while he found enough practice time to get good at his chosen craft; because of how long detailed paintings can take, he almost never had time to actually make anything. He tried not to let it bother him too much. He didn’t always succeed at that.

Elrond: in a bit of a weird spot. Elrond is most associated with lore and healing; but, as discussed, “lore” isn’t considered a craft. And, well. Healing had to be Elrond’s craft, right? He’d been doing it since he was seven, and just about the only person in Amon Ereb who could still use healing powers. And it was good work, and it was rewarding, even if it often left him feeling so burned out and worried that he forgot to eat or sleep. It took him a long time to admit to himself that healing for him was what fighting was to many other elves: a necessity. Truth be told, he’d rather be gardener, working with the earth to create a place of peace and beauty. Also, Elrond is basically a nature spirit. So. It was something he began to explore in the peace of the early Second Age. He found that his Ainuric powers had all sorts of interesting effects on plant life. He also learned how to breed new varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Still, he never really considered that it could be a proper craft for him. At least, not until he first saw the valley that would one day become Rivendell.

Headcanon Crafts for Finwe and his Children, the House of Feanor, the House of Fingolfin, and the House of Finarfin.

[dreamofmysoul-tsc]

James and Matthew headcanons because TLH is over (;-;) and I adore them and miss them everyday

Matthew calls James "darling" because he knows it "annoys" James but mostly because he adores Jamie (I mentioned this in a previous list of headcanons but y'all will hear it again because I love it)

Harry Styles' cover of Juice by Lizzo is how I imagine Matthew's voice to sound

Matthew tries to convince James to be more adventurous with his fashion choices,,,it never works tho

James rarely cries; Matthew can probably count on one hand how many times he's seen his parabatai cry, but when he does, it breaks Matthew's heart into a million little pieces and he inevitably will start sobbing as well

If they lived in modern times and had cell phones, Matthew would absolutely send James a million pictures of things he sees and people he meets on his voyage. It wouldn't be cool landmarks tho, or like pretty scenery, no, it'd be like photos of a rat he saw stealing a donut, him almost falling into the canals in Venice because he stood up too fast on the boat, Oscar chasing a flock of swans, etc

James, Matthew, and Tom all gather at the Lightwood family tomb on Kit's birthday and the anniversary of his death. They bring lemon tarts to share, though they rarely ever eat one themselves, and talk to him about how much the world is changing, how Kit would've been so excited to learn that the mundanes invented airplanes and televisions and they'd even share with him the scientific contributions Grace has continued to share with Nephilim society (i refuse to believe she stopped being a woman in STEM after she figured out the fire messages)

Matthew is the only person allowed to cut James' hair

they both suck ass at cooking but sometimes James will attempt baking cookies or muffins for everyone; Matthew "helps," and by help I mean he sits on the counter and critiques James' technique until James inevitably throws flour at Matthew's very expensive and one of a kind waistcoat how dare you James

I will die on this hill because I've imagined James like this since his first introduction in The Bane Chronicles: his eyes glow, ok. Not like, very noticeably, but if it's very dark in the room his eyes will let off this iridescent glow kinda like the scales of a fish when they shift in and out of the light. People who don't know James very well or are seeing it for the first time can find it a little unnerving but Matthew never once felt afraid. He likes to call them his own personal north stars ✨✨

James and Matthew will share books back and forth. One will read and annotate it and then give it to the other who does the same. They love seeing each other's little notes as they read

Where Matthew is bright colors and expensive jewels, James tends to stick to the same four colors (black, white, navy, and gold) Occasionally Matthew will convince him to wear heavy gold rings inlaid with precious gems or a dashing emerald waistcoat embroidered in gold because "it will look absolutely lovely on you, Jamie" (and of course it does, in fact, look lovely on him)

They of course have that bestie telepathy that I think most people have with their best friend; when you witness something ridiculous and just give them The Look and they know exactly what you're thinking? Yeah, that's definitely resulted in plenty of instances of James and Matthew bursting into laughter for seemingly no reason while everyone looks on in confusion

Similar to James rarely crying, James doesn't strike me as someone who laughs often. That isn't to say he's unhappy, I just think he only laughs when he genuinely finds something funny. James doesn't do pity laughs, ok, if you say something ridiculous he'll just look at you like ._. Matthew made it his personal mission since they met at the Academy to make James laugh at least once a day. Like a full, unbidden, genuine laugh. Matthew could probably write a 10 page essay on how much he loves James' laugh, how to make him laugh, what never fails to make him laugh, etc

Matthew's love language is physical touch (we all saw him clutching onto James' wrist for dear life throughout this series right?); James' is acts of service.

Whenever Matthew has bad days, days where he struggles to be kind to himself, days when it's difficult for him to feel present, he tends to ask for James. James takes this as the blessing that it is, seeing as a younger Matthew would've bottled it up until it boiled over, and spends all day with him. Sometimes they sit in silence, Matthew simply needing to feel grounded with James' presence; other times, James will read to him, tidy his flat, fix that wobbly table leg Matthew keeps putting off (James is surprisingly handy) and on the really bad days James will hold him, rests his cheek against Matthew's head and reminds him of all the reasons he loves him, why he chose to become his parabatai, and that nothing Matthew could ever ask of James could ever be a burden

James gets Oscar a new collar with a matching doggy bowtie every year on his adoption day; Matthew obviously keeps every collar and switches them out so Oscar can feel like a dapper little gentleman

Anyways I adore these two and I'm still manifesting a Matthew short story collection because no amount of James and Matthew parabatai content will ever be enough

[ironladders]

so i had a thought about ashrah and syzoth and i really dont know how to feel about it so i want your input. and keep in mind i am still new to MK lore and dont understand the ins and outs of it like most other people do. but i read that in past timelines at least, demons of the netherrealm were dead bodies reanimated by quan chi. so i was wondering, how do you feel about the idea of ashrah having been syzoths wife in her past life, probably unbeknownst to her. does it make sense, the implications of it, etc.

hi sorry i was in figure drawing when i got this ask & that class lasts 6 hours 🫠 art school was a mistake

anyways: this is so good and yet evil oh my god??????? it probably wouldn't work in canon unless stuff got retconned, but the implications here are so interesting to me regardless and you could do so much stuff character-wise (especially for ashrah) with this concept.....

first off, don't worry about not knowing extensive details about mk lore. it's bound to be confusing for someone new to the franchise, and even then plenty of us who've been here for a while don't entirely know what's going on either. i had to look up half the shit i mention in this post just to make sure i'm not off by a bunch

syzoth would have the biggest mental breakdown ever if this were a thing. poor guy can't catch a break

this would be a lot for ashrah, if she were to find out or otherwise put the pieces together. i mean, her whole thing is wanting to be fully human, and yet in this idea, she's not aware that she once already was human. that would be absolutely wild and 100% turn her entire world upside-down if she were to ever find out that truth.

the angst in this idea would go crazy. I LOVE IT. i think that syzoth would be reluctant to get close in any way with ashrah (at least initially) because, even if he doesn't know about how some demons are dead people brought back to life, ashrah physically resembling + sounding like his dead wife would mess with his head SO much.

poor ashrah, too; she's trying to learn what it means to be human and make friends with all these new people, and everyone in the good-guys group seems to be willing to be open with her--except for syzoth. and she has zero clue why. of course, because of their similar pasts and common struggles, they'd probably be drawn to each other anyways, but it'd be 10x more depressing than in canon

i imagine in this concept, shang killed her and then gave her corpse to quan chi. i don't think shang tsung would've given syzoth's family the dignity of dying in the living forest, tbh, i personally believe he dragged them off somewhere far away to die (which is also how i imagine syzoth went so long without knowing they were dead in the first place. easier to keep him in the dark about his family's fate if he's not aware of where they are). alternatively, ashrah could be put in a similar boat to old-timeline hanzo, who was a vengeful spirit of the netherrealm after being killed by bi-han, and then continuously manipulated by quan chi. i guess she would have to be somehow turned from a spectre to a demon, but i'm sure they can figure it out with magic lmfao

you're sort of right about the reanimated/reincarnation thing, it just doesn't apply to every type of demon. (more lore explanation under the cut bc i rambled a lot and it got a bit long oops) (if you read up on all this already and this information is useless to you i sincerely apologize in advance)

the lots of different demon types in mortal kombat: imps, oni, the enenera, cambions, and other miscellaneous ones. iirc there was also gonna be another class called "elder demons" (like elder gods but not really???? i guess???) in an older game but that was scrapped.

there’s technically a difference between the oni and other demons, because quan chi in the old timeline was an oni before he turned into a demon after mastering sorcery. so i guess oni are like… lower than demons??? or something?????? i’m not actually sure what the difference is between the two tbh 😓

we know that the enenra are created from the souls of slain mortals, so they'd be an example of an undead person coming back as a demon, as mentioned in this very sad scenario. the only enenra that we've actually met in canon is smoke, who was explained to be one after dying as a child via his mk9 ending

it's really fucked up lol, some cult kidnapped & sacrificed him when he just a kid

so that would be one example of how in this au/scenario/thing, ashrah could've had a human life once and not be aware of it. this tracks pretty well with mk9 smoke not remembering his previous life or death, until his early memories came back to him after so long.

the only issue is that smoke was reborn as an enenra right after he was killed, and after he took out his revenge on the cultists, he woke back up in his human body with no memories of his previous life. so i assume this would apply to any other enenra: they die, come back and do their thing, then go back to their original bodies right where they died with no memories of their old lives. they don't minecraft respawn in the netherrealm, which is where ashrah is from. but if pre-death ashrah in this au was dragged to the netherrealm and then killed, then brought back as a demon that's further manipulated by quan chi's dark magic, i guess it could work?????

(speaking of the enenra: in one of his mk1 intros with ashrah, smoke mentions dreaming of the enenra. so either tomas already died in this new timeline & just isn't aware of it, OR he's gonna kick the bucket soon and come back as an enenra. either way, we should probably prepare his funeral in advance lmfao).

there have also been demons that aren’t enenra, but are still dead people reincarnated by quan chi, as you mentioned. they're really obscure characters -- i had to look them up to make sure i wasn't making this up in my head lmfao -- but in the show mortal kombat: conquest there's siann, mika, and sora. they're undead corpses of the netherrealm that were brought back to life as demons via quan chi's magic

they lived they served cunt they died

from my understanding (i haven't watched mk:c, i just read their wiki page) they were basically being forced to work for quan chi otherwise he threatened take away their living forms, which sucks. also mika might have a crush on quan chi….. for some reason???

the difference between these three and the enenra, though, is that they seem to actually be aware that they're undead lol. but maybe that's just because quan chi keeps threatening them with being corpses again if they don't follow his orders (again, haven't watched mk:c). who knows! their wiki page isn’t that long and doesn’t give me much info so i don’t have much to go off of 🤷🏻‍♂️

ashrah in mk1 does have a canonical demon type; she mentions that her and her sisters are cambions in an intro with kitana, hence how sareena can seamlessly change between her human-ish and demon form. i don’t thiiiink cambions are “reborn”/undead the same way the enenra would be? in irl folklore “cambion” is used to refer to either a changeling — which makes sense given sareena — or a demon-human hybrid. i really doubt ashrah’s the latter, though, so i suppose she just... spawned into existence as a cambion one day. or maybe she has demon parents running around somewhere. idk bro

i guess what i’m trying to tie together here is that in the “ashrah is a reborn dead person but doesnt know it and unfortunately said dead person is syzoth’s dead wife” nightmare scenario you’ve presented to my inbox, it could go a few ways:

she’s an enenra

same situation as the mk:c girls

hanzo-esque situation (although he's not a demon so. idk)

the second one is probably more in line with what you're thinking of, except that unlike the mk:c girls, ashrah would be kept in the dark that she's a reanimated corpse of a human woman.

and, i said this earlier, but i'll say it again: this would be a wild twist for ashrah character-wise. imagine: she’s fighting for her absolution, fighting to be a human and rid herself of her demonic nature, and then it turns out all along that at one point, there was a time ashrah was human. she had a human life and appearance once, and it was all ripped from her one day and she had no idea. even if her previous life wasn’t related to syzoth or anyone else on the roster, that would still suck. but on the other hand, i think it would give her even more incentive to purify her soul & finally kill quan chi. she'd be hurt, angry, want vengeance for the human woman she once was. the woman that was wrongfully murdered for a sorcerer's selfish gains. the possibilities are endless!!!

i dunno what else to put here or how to end this off, but i've got so many thoughts now... oughh

[sophieinwonderland]

Hi Sophie, my headmate wants to know herself better, I mean how she came to life, what the process behind this is, how it's possible and,you know, why the brain made it possible for it to happen. If you have any recources we'll be really happy to see it, bye!

Do you mean like, herself specifically, or the brain as a whole?

I'm not sure what the best way is to recover information about your own creation.

But personally, I was in a similar boat when I was first create, and I had a curiosity about why the brain did what it did, and how this was possible. I read a lot about psychology. r/tulpas had plenty of sources for papers about tulpamancy. I then followed the citations from there to find other papers that were related.

And I didn't stop just at what we typically gets put under the plural umbrella, but also delved further into self-consciousness of hallucinatory agents in psychotic disorders, into reports of people communing with gods and spirits, and other similar phenomena.

All of which led me to developing this theory a couple years ago:

I've been meaning to update this for a while because since then, I've found a lot more sources that I think support my theory even better. But that's what I came up with after my research back then.

If she wants to research plurality herself, I have a collection of papers relating to plurality on this page:

In my opinion, the research showing the agency of "imaginary friends" has always been the most interesting. To me, it suggests plurality is something natural to humans in childhood, and that singlethood may in fact be somewhat sociogenic.

Also, for a more individual understanding of where headmates come from, you may also be interested in Foundations post, where I break down three categories of psychological headmates I've observed based on their pre-existing autobiographical memories at the time they're created.

Hope these can help. I wish her luck on her road to self-discovery! 💖

[immobiliter]

@orchideae sent: "Fontainians sure are something else. Do you know what they celebrate today?" The heels of her boots tapped against the wooden boards of the Alcor perhaps a little too loudly when she finally boarded, the grin kept tightly lodged behind closed lips that instead, lingered in a smile of both judgement or growing gaiety. But only slightly so. Claiming her spot aside the ship's captain, the box she'd held in hand seemed almost too intentionally held on display, rested on the railing as it was, a temptation to any of curious nature. Heart-shaped, enveloped in a wrapping paper so vibrantly golden that even Ningguang would surely grow envious of it, and tied with about three different vibrantly colored ribbons of which one was even sparkling radiantly due to the sun hung overhead. "It's the day of love. They've been leading up to it for days now, the city's been impossible to navigate." The box was turned from one side to the other a time or two, as if a moment was taken to scrutinize its design. "But I think I managed well enough." A little nod in the distance showed a much smaller boat slowly approaching them, one pretty obviously at full capacity, drowning the two individuals on it amidst all the bags and boxes around them. "There's some in there for your crew, too, and— oh, before I forget, careful with the containers on top, I may have stopped by the Hotel Debord to pick up some local delicacies for a feast tonight." And just then, Yelan held out the box in offer, accompanied by a wink of relative sly nature, and a chuckle she could no longer contain. "Happy Valentine's day, captain Beidou." She would have a field day with this every year, from this day forward.

(As for the gifts? There's numerous boxes in there holding all kinds of delicacies for the crew, but most of it is for Beidou, of course. The same delicacies for her and then some, there's also numerous packages containing trinkets for in her hair that are typical of Fontaine even if the color scheme is lightly off, because sorry Beidou, Fontaine likes its blues! There's also a larger, but thinner box in which she will find a beautifully intricate Fontainian dress in her trademark red [Yelan may have insisted on the color], with a note on top that says: 'Do you think this will outdo hers? Don't keep her waiting', because if you don't think she doesn't tease Beidou about Ning ESPECIALLY after seeing Ning in that specific dress once? Yeah, okay. But the main present is hidden within a gorgeous mahogany box that has Beidou's initial carved into its top in relatively decorative calligraphy, and there's golden accents lining it throughout. Inside of the box is the gift: a beautifully adorned gun, lined even more intricately than the box itself with the same accent colors, and if you look at the handle, it has Beidou's initial engraved into it in a similar fashion, along with engravings of vicious waves along the gun's barrel, and if you really look at the details [Yelan is a woman of detail, come on]— you might even see a recognizable ship. And lastly, is the note, which is simpler than any of the gifts: 'Happy birthday, Beidou.')

       “ The day of love? ” Beidou's brow arched as Yelan joined her on the Alcor's quarterdeck, a map of the sea connecting Romaritime Harbour with Yilong Wharf spread open on the table in front of her. She'd been learning all sorts of things about their northern neighbours over the past few months — and though she'd taken particular interest herself in the unique quality of the water in Fontaine, and the geography of the huge waterfall that lifted the nation above sea level, she'd learned plenty about the culture from the aforementioned friend and esteemed colleague beside her. She should be flattered, really, that the Fontainians had picked her own special day of the year to celebrate love in all its forms, though she hoped the trend wouldn't spread to Liyue and truly overshadow it. At least there, the day still belonged to her and her alone. The heart-shaped box placed in front of her quickly piqued Beidou's curiosity. “ And you've forsaken your so-called Duke to spend it with me? ” After that, there was no way that Beidou couldn't tease Yelan, just a little.

       Though she quickly regretted her flippancy at the nod over Yelan's shoulder to the shallow waters over the railing, where a small dinghy approached the Alcor completely overloaded with crates and bags. Her eyes went wide, and before she knew it her boots had carried her over to the railing itself, watching as the poor sailors on it attempted to secure the craft to the hull of her ship so that they could begin unloading. Any hesitation one might have gauged in their captain's demeanour vanished as quickly as it appeared. “ Have it taken below, Juza, and see to it that anything personally addressed — ” she cast a pointed look in Yelan's direction, “ is taken to my cabin. ”

       As always, Juza and the rest of the crew sprung into action, and Beidou's attention once again swung back to her friend. “ Seriously, Yelan, there was no need to go to all this trouble on my account. I don't even know what to say. Thank you. ” Sure, the Alcor never forgot their captain's birthday, but Beidou was always grateful no matter how small the gifts she received. Members of the Crux were paid fairly, but she never expected their income to go towards luxurious gifts for her. This was something new. She smiled, and slightly clasped Yelan's shoulder. “ This feast'll be one to remember. ”

       Little did she know that this feast would be the perfect opportunity to test-run the dress that would soon find its way to her living quarters.

[mclennonlgbt]

Hi

I am not sure where I am going with this but I really wanted to share my thoughts. I have been down a Mclennon rabbit hole recently.

I have run a Larry blog (Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson) for nearly 10 years. I have been aware of the John and Paul thing for a while but it was watching Get Back for the second time I was like blimey this is really dark. Larry have spoken separately about watching it!

There has been a lot of controversy around Larry for as long as it has been a thing. I’m not here to convince you of that but my thoughts assume that Larry are indeed together.

Larry have shared their admiration of the Beatles since the beginning I have several posts about this on my blog. I always linked Larry’s interest to the Beatles because they are one the greatest bands ever! But now knowing they have watch Get Back too it feels different.

John and Paul’s relationship never found the right time, there is so much regret and nostalgia for Paul and John and it’s like they never got their chance. I wonder if there is an empathetic feeling for Larry that they have about Mclennon. That sadness Mclennon have about missing the boat. India? It seems that Paul cemented with Linda and Paul with Yoko after as a nail in the coffin to any potential romantic future which is really sad! I wonder if this is something that Larry talk about and relate to.

There have been so many romantic relationships born out bands, most recently Paramore and historically fleetwood mac, abba and sonic youth! It’s a thing. It seems likely one can fall for someone you’re in a band with. Mutual respect, admiration, close proximity and heaps of time together. It’s pretty intense!

Anyway I think Larry are still together. I think Mclennon were together in the way they could at the time. I think Mclennon appears to have ended when the Beatles ended with Paul loving John and John loving Paul until the end! I think Larry get this and that’s pretty cool to me.

Thanks for reading my off load. I just wanted to say this and wasn’t sure who to say it too.

Thanks 😊

Hi!

I don't listen to 1D so I'm not settled in Larry but I have a friend who is a fan of both band and the couple. She sees plenty of similarities in Harry/Louis and John/Paul relationship, for example: "A lot of fans have noticed that there is something between Louis and Harry, and I really think you can see it. There is a theory that their manager wouldn't let them have this relationship because what people will think so he found girlfriends to both of them (honestly Louis was closer to Harry than he is now to his girlfriend and his girlfriend is closer to Lou's dog). Well, 1D broke up so in public people didn't see them together, but their songs very much indicate that they are written for each other". Sounds similar lol. I'm excited that Harry and Louis watched Get back! IMO it's very likely for them to identify with McLennon.

I really like your reflection on people who fell in love while being in the same band. IMO there are many reasons: being together almost all the time (recording, concerts), watching the other person in both comfortable and difficult situations, and creating together that really connects people.

Apart from the examples you mentioned, there were other relationships / infatuations in music bands. IIrc, @mostarkey writes about The Rolling Stones and Keith having crush on Charlie. Also, at least a few people on Tumblr believe there was a gay relationship in The Monkees, but I don't remember between which members.

And I think this is the best summary:

[rmwb-fanfics]

Ten Lines Tag Game

Thank you, @ginnyw-potter for tagging me!

I've only been writing fic since May 2022, and most of what I've written isn't posted. Luckily for me, I have exactly eleven projects, five of which are public.

Rules: Share the first ten lines of your ten most recent fics and then tag ten people. (Guys I do not know ten people) If you have written less than ten, don't be shy - share anyway!

‘Hey mum… I was wondering if I could invite someone over tonight…’  (From "Ginny's Secret", a Harry never went to Hogwarts One Shot where he meets the family.)

The Hogwarts grounds were devoid of people. Rubble was scattered all over, occasionally accompanied by the corpse of some fallen friend or foe.  (From A Short Life Full of Long Years - An ongoing post-war hinny soul bond story. read it bitches.)

Ron Weasley sat in the third chair from the aisle in the front row of the ceremony. (From a 30k-ish word one-shot I've been picking away at all year. Slytherin Harry and Ginny. Let me know if anyone is interested.)

The Resistance is dead. Since the Battle of Crait, the dreaded First Order has continued to expand its reach throughout the Galaxy. (From the opening crawl of my Star Wars Episode IX rewrite, The Hollow Empire. In which Hux becomes a legitimate threat, and the sequel trilogy ends on more of a cliffhanger, similar to the finale of Attack of the Clones.)

Neville grinned at the scarlet red letter in his hands. He'd never thought he'd learn the charms required to create a howler, but this seemed like a worthy cause. (From my 2022 Hogwarts Express Challenge submission, Neville's Cleanup.)

Over a hill in Devon, down in a shallow river valley, stands a house like none other around it. (From A Snowflake's Perspective - probably one of the best things I've ever written.)

‘Do you want to go on a walk?’  (A WIP One-shot of Harry raising Teddy on a boat, alone, traveling the world until Teddy wants to see a Quidditch game, in which Hinny ensues. Again, let me know if anyone is interested.)

The sun rose slowly over Devon. Residents of the seaside to the south would have enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. (From the fic I wrote for Ginny's birthday, which I've got plenty of requests to continue, I'll be back.)

Harry James Potter, age twelve, was beginning to wonder how he got into these situations.  (Literally, just a one-shot where Harry and Ginny are soul-bound at the end of CoS, and she has to come live with him at the Dursleys. I will probably never post this, but I think it's funny and they're young enough to just be friends so it was kind of cute to have Harry in a summer-long sleepover.)

Harry Potter felt like shit. (You know, for a 432,245-word fic, with sprawling character arcs and multiple plotlines, you'd think the opening line wouldn't be so brain-dead. Sigh. At least in the rewritten version, which I am unlikely to publish, Regretfully Uncaring opens with:) Harry Potter stumbled out of the Forbidden Forest in a blind panic. So, yeah, most of what I've written isn't out there, and I feel like it's probably cheating to even show the unpublished stuff, but most of what I write isn't published... so, I don't know. I am tagging... I don't really knowww.... Um, Sorry, @curse-04, I know you've already been tagged but like, you're the only one I know alright. @startanewdream, because I love Come Morning Light and because you reblog Hunger Games stuff and I fucking love Hunger Games stuff. @fizzyginfizz, OBVIOUSLY because Quidditch is for Losers is like, the best fic of the year... I DON'T KNOW ENOUGH PEOPLE. Ummmm, @matrixaffiliate. You've written some excellent fic. That is all I feel comfortable tagging because everyone else is really big.

[kuronekonerochan]

Random Hanadan/BoF Shitpost

After hearing that Love in Flames of War, a republican era cdrama had Hana Yori Dango/Boys Over Flowers/ Meteor Garden/ F4 vibes... but eventually failed to deliver on that front I rambled at @dangermousie​ that, actually, we SHOULD have a Hanadan version of every genre of cdrama.

 No...wait...I’m joking...but also not. My reasoning for this is solid:

 1) No matter what you thing of Hanadan and all it’s objectively toxic and dated glory, you can’t deny it is a hallmark in the history of shoujo manga/anime/asian drama/ live action adaptation/remake pumping machine. It paved the way for all the ItaKiss, Fated to Love You, etc...and it is still to this day a nostalgia magnet for an easy cash grab with each remake (also the latest one might be the best lol).

 2) *Surrender by Cheaptricks plays in the background, talks in “there is no war in ba sing se” mode* There are no new ideas in media. Everything is a sequel, prequel, remake, reboot, retelling, soft reboot, parody, homage, the same thing over and over again but call it by another name (it’s still a rose, yeah Shakespeare, you’re a genius, congrats!).

 3) Let’s face it. Dramaland is going through the lowest of lows. Cdramas are bad and boring, Kdramas are scarce and boring and Jdramas are 10 ep cute little intros to the story you really wanna see that’s about to begin...at the end of ep10, last episode, no 2nd season. So, they might as well try Every Hanadan Set Everywhere all at Once.

 So, without further ado, introducing...every genre of Cdrama Hanadan (with crazy plot eggs for some and none for others bc I say so):

Starting with contemporary…

1)      Reverse hanadan where the fl is a rich asshole and the ml a poor little meow meow

2)      Time loop hanadan

3)      Modern Fantasy hanadan (sort of like the beginning of Bulgasal but more petty and less angsty lol)

4)      Transmigration low budget web drama romcom hanadan

5)      *barfs* modern office corporate romance hanadan

6)      *barfs again* gaming hanadan

7)      Sports hanadan (aka if HanaKimi wasn’t genderbender or cute but toxic instead)

8)      Coming of Age/ Youth to Adult Married life Hanadan 

Syke! Too late! There is already an OG classic toxic Hanadan of this Genre, it’s called Itazura na Kiss (and it’s my guilty pleasure, my personal hanadan lol)

9)      Ice sports hanadan....yesss...get gory with the bullying with ice skating blades muahahaha. The red card locks her on the ice rink and they oil the railings/plexiglass around it so she can't even climb out and she nearly freezes to death. They rope her to the back of a zamboni and drag her through the ice. While she is trapped on the ice rink, they rig a bucket of water to fall over her so she freezes faster.

Now for the period dramas…

10)   Republican Era hanadan

They could use the boat scene ending from the finale of the anime as a convenient plotpoint to escape the republican era without dying in the republican turmoil. "Oh, they just reunited dramatically on a boat post amnesia and went abroad together and missed all the political fatal shit and lived happily ever after. Their kids returned to China and lived happily under the great CCP rule (/s)!

11)   Palace hanadan

It’s hanadan meets legend of Ruyi where he is the Crown Prince but the Empress Dowager holds all the power and on some humiliation move has him take a barbarian slave as a concubine...and the red card is that it's open season on her from every noble or regular consort of his harem and his friends in the court...all is fair the only rule is she cannot be murdered, everything else is fair game. So she is beating to the brink of death, poisoned daily with agonizing pills only to be given antidotes at the last minute, drowned, flayed, etc.

12)   Wuxia hanadan. Similar. Dude is the leader of the jianghu, declares her a demon bc she offended him and has all the pretentious righteous sects go after her with agonizing Gus pushed on her body, plenty of chains, kebab her in multiple ways with stakes in torture chambers to cast out the evil.

13)   BL Wuxia hanadan. (this one is just here by popular demand. Mine. No, I will not elaborate on that).

14)   And at last…my personal favorite….drum rolls… Xianxia hanadan (here is the plot):

She spilled peach wine on his cloud robes once by accident before the Great Heaven's Ceremony so he scribed her name carelessly on the stone of the doomed as petty revenge hoping she'd get some bad karma. But at the time the Demon Overlord was fighting the Lord of Fate and the Dijun on Kunlun and as they made their final strike the demon overlord turned into a cloud of heavy miasma that swirled away swiftly for miles and landed on the stone of the doomed. Hence, for the next 10.000 years the calamities and heavenly tribulations of every god were transferred into the unlucky FL.

In the first 300 years, the gods were unsure of what was happening, but soon word spread of a small menial demigoddess who seemed to be getting an abnormal amount of calamities and trials and yet never ascended into a higher level god. But other gods were getting past their fated tribulations dates without experiencing the event itself but still ascending afterwards. Soon this bizarre phenomenon was being gossiped throughout all the heavenly realms and the gods were rushing to get their hands on every magical item capable of moving forward their tribulation dates... After all, who knew how long this free meal would last? So it follows that our female lead spent the next 10.000 overbooked from torturing calamity to the next without a break or a reward.

Our cloud cloaked protagonist came to learn of this business about 500 years into it. It was not his intention for the karmic payback to be that harsh...but then again it was his best cloud vest that the annoying, insignificant little demigoddess had ruined...and if the consequences had been that rough, who was he to question the Great Design. He soon forgot all about it, surely none of that pesky matter would come back to bother him...

10.000 later: Our fuming fl finally had enough...after experiencing every form of dismemberment as a human, for eons, though she didn't collect an ounce of heavenly grace to ascend to higher goddess....she sure damn well accumulated enough yin to form a monumental grudge...and she would use all of that energy into one single punch for a certain cloud clothed god that would send him so high the gods would finally know what lies above the heavenly realm...not that he'd get the opportunity to tell the tale.

Congrats! you made it to the end of my loooong ass ramble. 

Here’s some Ice Cream...

[noctis-tempore]

HAPPY PRIDE!! I’ve made ocs based off of a random dynamic I talked about to @artemislosthunter and so i wrote about them! <333

Dynamic:

Mermaid/Siren Oc: I don’t think I experience romantic love like most humans do…

Aromantic human, sipping their coffee: Neither do I

‘Seriously you haven’t gotten a crush before? Even though you literally help people get with their crushes? That’s just strange no offense Rem…’

‘We need to get you a date! No I mean like a romantic date. You seriously haven’t been on a date before?’

‘You just haven’t found the right person for you! There’s gotta be someone out there, I’ll help you score a guy.’

‘You know you spend so much time matchmaking other people, why not yourself? I think you need a boyfriend or hell, a girlfriend! Just someone!’

Remi’s heard it all before. The romantic fling, the whole falling in so deeply in love situation. But she couldn’t get the experience, no matter how much people tried to get her to. She just wasn’t interested. It’s not that she had no love to give. 

She had plenty. Just not the kind most seem to yearn for.

Remi spent the majority of her high school days helping her friends get with their crushes. She loved to help people get together! Seeing her friends and other people happy with the people that they loved, it always gave her a warm feeling. But she never had the desire to want what they had.

*There has to be something wrong with me���just has to. Maybe they are right. Maybe I haven’t found the right person yet. What if I’m broken.* Those kinds of thoughts used to fill her mind a lot during the time. But as she grew older, she gradually realized that there was nothing wrong with her at all. Romance can be for many, just not for her. And she was perfectly content with that. She wasn’t broken, never was, she was just Remi. 

Mizu sat next to Remi, his head resting on his hand. There was something bothering him. He couldn’t get it off his mind. “Rem darling? Can I ask you something?” He said, swirling his drink around with a straw.

“Yeah what’s up Mizu?” Remi hummed, unwrapping a lollipop. Mizu sighed, taking a sip of his iced drink.

“So as a siren, you understand that my whole deal is I seduce people and then eat them because…food you know?” Mizu asked.

“Yep yep!” Remi plopped the lollipop in her mouth. “That’s kind of hard to forget.” She laughed.

He chuckled, “Well that’s true but you know since I’m blending in as a human, I thought I would perhaps gain more…humane feelings?”

“Expand on ‘humane feelings’ sir, we have a lot of them and so do you.”

Mizu sighed, staring at his drink. “Romance. Don’t get me wrong, many sirens can and do have romance and everything but I never….never felt it. And I just thought, perhaps the reason why I don’t feel romance was because of my blood.” He explained. “Sirens have different morals than humans, we have a different way of doing things but that didn’t stop other sirens from falling in love. So I thought it stopped me.”

Remi listened intently. Though they were a different species, his experience sounded familiar to her.

“Does that make sense? I don’t know if I’m making sense. I thought if I surrounded myself with humans then maybe that would…I don’t know, open a new world for me. Because humans seem to fall in love so easily. But I’ve got nothing. I can’t feel romantic attraction.” He rambled on, one hand playing with the ends of his hair while the other held his cup. “Does that make me…broken?”

Remi took the lollipop out of her mouth, a small sigh escaped from her lips but she smiled. “Nope. It just means you’re in a similar boat as me.” Mizu paused, wait does she mean she felt the same way?

“Pardon?”

“I don’t feel romantic attraction too. It’s not weird, it’s not strange, and it definitely doesn’t make you broken. It just means romance isn’t for you. And that’s okay!” She grinned before biting her lollipop. Mizu momentarily looked at her weirdly for biting the lollipop but he shook his head.

“So…that’s not taboo?” Mizu asked slowly.

She shook her head, “Nah, you’re chill. Some people will say it’s weird, people will say you’re heartless, people will say you haven’t found the one.” She threw the lollipop stick into the trash. “But not having romantic attraction doesn’t make you heartless or weird. They act like you have no love left, when that’s not true at all. They always think romantic love is the only kind of love out there.”

“Also if not liking anyone like that makes you heartless, what does that make ruthless murderers who had like wives or husbands or spouses who ended up dead?” She huffed. “Anyways! What I’m trying to say is that you’re not broken, you’re perfectly okay. And most of all, you’re not alone.” She ruffled his hair.

Mizu looked at her, he felt like he wanted to cry on the spot. His eyes were teary and he couldn’t say anything. *Acceptance* He was accepted. He wasn’t alone. He wasn’t ridiculed. Remi noticed and panicked, she grabbed nearby napkins and held his face.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t cry it’s okay!” She reassured, wiping his tears away. “We’re alright, look at me.” She said with a gentle smile. “Come on, you don’t wanna ruin your makeup right?”

He closed his eyes and laughed while shaking his head. “Apologies, I just was surprised by your words. Haven’t really felt accepted like that in a long time.” He said, grabbing the napkin and dabbing his eyes. “You’re a really good friend Remi. I’m incredibly grateful.” Mizu smiled.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got your back.” She hugged him tightly. There was that warm feeling that bloomed into their chests. The feeling of acceptance, the feeling of reassurance, the feeling of love that you share with your friends.

[papillon82fluttersby]

Famous Five Art Nostalgia #LC09

Introductory post

Introduction to ‘Les Cinq’

Les Cinq font de la brocante / Les Cinq et la statue inca – The Famous Five and the Inca God

Original publication date: 1975 (France), 1983 (UK)

(Original cover by Jean Sidobre, 1975)

In this book, the Five discover the joys of antiquing!

~~~~~~

Plot summary:

(Disclaimer: All provided translations are my own.)

George is joined by her cousins for their customary summer holidays at Kirrin Cottage. After a ‘boring’ week spent sunbathing, swimming, picnicking, biking, boating and enjoying Joanna’s delicious cooking, George is lamenting the lack of mystery to solve. In the course of their outings, the children have made a new friend called Bastien, who’s an antique dealer recently installed in the village.

(Happy greetings!)

[TRANSLATION: George: Here they come! Here they come! Timmy: Woof, woof! Julian: Hello, Timmy! George: Hurry up, there’s a nice snack waiting for us!]

(George is booooooored 😩😩😩😩😩😩)

[TRANSLATION: Narrator: That first meeting was followed by many others. Bastien, with his southern gab and cheerfulness, won the children over. But after a week, George was showing signs of impatience. George: The Famous Five are all together and there's not a single mystery on the horizon! Julian: Come on, George, the holidays have barely begun!]

One day, Bastien receives a life-size wooden statue that he assumes was sent by his associate, Alain, despite there not being any message indicating its origin. The statue, which is the effigy of a Bolivian god, is hollow and amplifies the voice of anyone who slips inside it. The children have fun with it and call it Tocotoc*. [*Note: ‘Tocotoc’ is a play-on-words on different levels: it sounds like what children might imagine a pre-Colombian Central American name would be; it’s similar to the written form of the sound someone makes when knocking on wood (‘toc-toc’); and it’s similar sounding to the French phrasing “en toc”, which is used to describe an object that is fake and cheap.]

Despite its ‘wow’ factor, which brings in many customers to Bastien’s shop out of curiosity, the statue is bulky, not particularly valuable, and not very likely to find a buyer. And yet, a couple of days later, a Spanish man offers a large sum to Bastien for the statue. Bastien is a bit taken aback by this offer, and ultimately refuses because the statue is actually useful to him in bringing customers to the shop.

(A strange offer)

[TRANSLATION: Bastien: All things considered, I’d rather not part with Tocotoc just yet. When I get back to Paris after the holidays, I’m sure I’ll find a buyer! Narrator: A few days later... Bastien: I’m not in the mood to be messed with today... George: What happened? Bastien: I had a visit from a stranger. He wanted Tocotoc. I told him it wasn't for sale. I thought the man was going to take it by force!]

A few days later, another man makes a huge offer for the statue, and Bastien refuses again. The Five feel that there is more to the statue than meets the eye. The two men, who are obviously in cahoots, finally find a ruse to get Bastien away from the shop, steal the statue and load it into a van. Fortunately for our protagonists, George had been left at the shop, and she manages to slip into the van undetected. When the thieves stop off at a café, George takes her chance and tries to drive the van away.

(Thinky thoughts outside the café)

[TRANSLATION: George (thinking): What if I went into that café and publicly accused Luis and Antoine? George (second panel): No one would believe me and the two thieves would have plenty of time to get away!...]

But due to her poor driving abilities (she’s 11, and has only ever driven her parents’ car in and out of the garage), she soon loses control of the vehicle and crashes into a tree, fortunately at low speed. The various onlookers think that she has either stolen the van or run away from home and they call the police, who in turn call Bastien and George’s father who both clear up the situation. On the way home, Bastien asks the Kirrins to please keep the statue, fearing that the thieves might come back to the shop for it.

The thieves indeed do not get deterred and make another (failed) attempt to steal the statue at Kirrin Cottage. Intrigued by their persistence, the Five examine the statue more closely and discover that a solid gold disc adorned with precious stones was hidden inside its chest piece.

(Seconds away from discovering the golden disc hidden in the statue)

[TRANSLATION: Narrator: After George's parents have gone to bed, the Five head to the shed. George: Let’s take a closer look at Tocotoc. Anne: Why insist on stealing it? Dick: It's not even made of precious wood. Narrator: To get a better look at the statue, the children decide to lay it on the ground. Suddenly, Tim spots a mouse! … Julian: Look out! Tim!!!]

The thieves try their luck again and finally make away with the statue – not realising that the golden disc is no longer inside.

The Five would like to know where the statue originally came from, but Bastien threw the packaging away long ago. Our investigators are stumped until Bastien receives a new package containing five statuettes from Bolivia. A closer examination reveals that the statuettes are hollow and filled with precious stones. The children conclude that these antiques are used to smuggle gold and jewels from South America to Europe. The address on the box shows that the intended recipient was not Bastien in Kernach (which is the French equivalent to Kirrin village), but another antique shop in Fernach, a small village located 3 km (2 miles) away. Having thus found the thieves’ headquarters, the Five go on a reconnaissance mission to see whom they are facing. They do find the remains of the statue, which has been cut to pieces by the bandits searching for the golden disc. RIP Tocotoc. 😢

Meanwhile, Bastien receives a threatening letter demanding that he bring the golden disc and the five statuettes to a certain location on the beach that night, or else. Bastien agrees to the rendezvous and calls the police, hoping that the bandits will be arrested, but the policemen think that Bastien’s call is a hoax and they don’t come. Furious that Bastien did not bring the golden disc and the jewels, the bandits kidnap him and take him to a yacht anchored in the bay. The Five, who had been waiting nearby, approach the yacht in their own boat and are able to eavesdrop on the bandits. George puts together a plan and sends Julian and Dick swimming to Kirrin Island, instructing them to hide and wait inside the castle.

George then buys time by putting on an act for the bandits, eventually “confessing” to having found the disc and hidden it on the island. She lures two of the villains into the dungeons and, together with Julian and Dick, they lock the bandits inside.

(A daring plan!)

[TRANSLATION: George: We discovered the dungeons at the bottom of this shaft. That's where we buried the golden disc. Thief: Go ahead! George: Mr Kopak should have come with us! Thief: Move along instead of talking!]

Julian, Dick and George then head for the yacht to capture the third bandit (Mr Kopak, the gang leader) and rescue Bastien, Anne and Timmy, but the yacht has disappeared!

On the yacht, Kopak had finally realised that he had been tricked and was planning to go to the shore with Bastien to recover the gold and jewels. As he angrily holds Bastien at gunpoint, Anne gets the jump on him with Timmy’s help and grabs the gun herself. The bandit is tied up. After reuniting with George and the boys, they all go to the police.

As a reward for recovering the stolen jewels, the La Paz museum in Bolivia sends the children a reproduction of Tocotoc, which they set in the garden at Kirrin Cottage.

~~~~~~

Cover art through the ages:

(Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list; sometimes the dates are difficult to pinpoint; and I have purposefully not included editions that re-used similar cover art, with differences only in layout and font style.)

(Cover art by Jean Sidobre, Hachette, 1977 – minor layout changes compared to the original 1975 version)

(Paul Gillon, Hachette, 1995 – sneaking onboard the yatch)

(Frédéric Rébéna, Hachette, 2012, with a title change – this statue is A LOT more gilded that I’ve been led to believe from the text 😶)

(Auren, Hachette, 2023 – Tocotoc has turned ferocious, grrrr! 😬)

~~~~~~

Thanks for reading!

[pashterlengkap]

Marine scientist leads shark expeditions in drag & performs shows on research boats

A drag queen who loves marine science has found a creative way to combine her two passions through a conservation project called “Drag ‘n Tag.” Miss Toto’s annual Drag ‘n Tag boat expeditions involve shark-tagging, fundraising, and drag performances. She conceived of the idea with her friend Jake, a scientist, and the Miami marine organization Field School helped make their dream a reality. Related: LGBTQ+ bar turns to GoFundMe to keep doors open & gets an outpouring of support They faced issues with permits, but the community pulled through for them.  “In the morning, we’ll go out to whatever destination that we’re going to, and it usually is me and two or three other drag performers, drag kings, drag queens, whoever I’m able to ask,” Miss Toto told Attitude. She explained that the team then briefs guests on “the science behind all the research that we’re doing, because the data collection aspect actually is being used for science.” Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Then, while waiting for sharks, it’s time for the drag shows. And if it wasn’t enough to combine drag and marine research, the money from the trips also goes to Florida’s Pride Lines organization to benefit LGBTQ+ youth. Miss Toto hopes her love of the sea can inspire other marginalized folks with similar interests. “Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a marine scientist, but I just never saw Black people in this space. And I never saw out queer people in this space. So, I was like, ‘This is not for me.’ But if you can see me and then find something relatable in that hopefully can inspire you to keep pushing in science, keep being loud and being yourself, and being expressive about who you are.” In an Instagram post celebrating 2023’s Drag ‘n Tag, Miss Toto called it her “favorite event to ever exist.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by MISS TOTO CLERMONT DION ♡ (@themisstoto) Now living in Chicago, Miss Toto can’t go on as many boating expeditions as she wishes she could, but she still dreams of a future in which drag and marine science go hand in hand. “Maybe one day down the road I will fall back on my science career and my master’s, but my ultimate goal is to be able to do a Steve Irwin-type show with wildlife and sharks, but with me as a drag queen.” Her goal is to continue to infuse queerness into the space. “It can be hard for queer people in this field,” Catherine Macdonald, Field School director, told Scientific American last year. “Plenty of them are very quiet about it. We want to create welcoming spaces for visual queerness.” Miss Toto added, “Marine science, and especially shark science, is a very white male path. So showing that there are people of color, there are women [and] there are queer people is important.” http://dlvr.it/T3CX12

[more-than-a-princess]

Continued from here for @litoredeem!

It was kind of him, Sonia thought, to play along with her whims. Though, beyond protecting her life, that was what Riku was hired for. Except this time, Sonia's whims were entirely focused on his appeal and benefit. Not that she greatly opposed a beach day: it was rather like having a small holiday. Once that would unfortunately end sooner than she'd like, but that made it all too similar to a week or two spent in St. Tropez, or Cannes, or Capri.

Just as well: it wasn't anything like her extravagant beach holidays at home, but it seemed to bring peace to him. For once, he didn't look so stone-faced: he actually looked content, which was close enough to happy for Sonia. "Yes you, of course," She smiled, pushing her hair out of her face in order to keep the wind from blowing it back in. "You are the one between the two of us who had a childhood by the sea. Mine was surrounded by mountains, lakes, rivers, and plenty of green hills. At least when there wasn't snow on them. But no beaches to be found."

It stood to question then, if Riku was asked to accompany her to Novoselic, how much he'd enjoy it there. The climate, for one: not only a lack of beach but summer was only three months out of the year, and it didn't get terribly hot to boot. Nothing like the heat and humidity of a Japanese summer. Breezy weather, rain, and snow were much more prominent: excellent for that multitude of green hills, but not so much ifone preferred the tropics.

"I am not sure about that, I can imagine all sorts of things," Sonia retorted as she, with her sandals in one hand and her tote bag in the other, stepped into the surf in her bare feet. She shivered: she hadn't expected it to be so cold, but it wasn't unpleasantly so. Just a surprise, and a refreshing one at that. "Have you, for example, ever cut a watermelon with a sword whilst blindfolded like they do in the anime?" She asked, wiggling her toes in the water and clumpy, wet sand. It felt nice all the same. "Or built a large fire and told stories deep into the night? Both of those sound like great fun!"

But Riku seemed to have other plans, ones that made Sonia's eyes light up as she stepped out of the water and back onto dry sand, to see where he was pointing. "I have not been in a rowboat!" She exclaimed, far too eager to tell him that they were against the rules with a big smile on her face. "My family always deemed them far too unsafe for me, like motorcycles and roller coasters are. Though I would very much like to experience all of them! There was a park, near my old high school, that in the spring and summer they would have similar boats with oars, or grandiose boats shaped like swans or some such thing that you pedaled, rather like a bicycle. I remember during the cherry blossom season I wanted to try them, but I was determined to row and pedal myself! My friends or lovers at the time, well, they did not have much faith in my abilities to keep the boats afloat and moving along on my own so we never tried them. I wonder, then, if it would be the most awful thing to capsize."

If anything, it was a rowboat, not a ship lost at sea in a violent storm. They'd probably just need towels and a warm drink after. And besides, she doubted Riku would hold the same scruples. At least if she asked nicely, he'd likely let her row for a bit. And she wouldn't take no for an answer this time, or give him a chance to talk his way out of it. "Come on," She said, taking his hand in hers, beginning to lead him towards the boats. "Let us inquire how we may go about renting one! And you could tell me about the places you've rowed to at home. Perhaps Okinawa has caves or lagoons of some sort to explore?" It wasn't the sort of boat one took for travels, but for a day's, or a couple hours at least, excursion? It looked ideal, and far more exciting than going laps around and across a pond.

"I have never used oars, but there shall be a first time for many things!" Would she be taking their lives into her hands? Possibly. But certainly it was worth it, for the smile on her face.

[sunmarketing]

Best of South Island New Zealand

In this episode: The FAQ is: How do those from other nations view American travelers? The destination is New Zealand, South Island. The lesson learned is: getting ripped of while traveling.

and the tip is to listen to other podcasts about travel, besides this one from Dr Mary Travelbest, of course. 

  FAQ : How do others view American travelers?

  The answer is a bit uncomfortable to even ask but realistic. To those in foreign countries, they may look at Americans in a negative light, mostly because they only know what they see in the news media. America has the “World Series” in baseball, but it’s all teams from the USA and Canada. Being the greatest nation in the world may not serve the needs of people in other countries, so remember that you are a representative of your home nation, wherever you go. Overall, New Zealand was one country that really liked American travelers.

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/09/15/us-image-plummets-internationally-as-most-say-country-has-handled-coronavirus-badly/

Best of Independent Destination- New Zealand’s South Island

My friend Jenny Latto, from near Auckland, New Zealand is traveling inside of her country due to the pandemic and she’s enjoying it more than ever since the tourists are almost all Kiwis these days. She’s going to travel with a few friends to the South Island for a holiday, and a Multisport race. The team does running, cycling, kayaking, and more.

Check the South Island map of New Zealand and how green it is. One city you may have heard of is Christchurch, where there was a big earthquake and a massacre. Christchurch is hotter than Auckland since it’s not surrounded by water.

When I visited New Zealand, I flew Air New Zealand and loved the service from start to finish. I flew all over the country and it was easy to get around, and lovely to see all the sheep. Once you can travel there, be sure to give yourself time to know the people as well as the beauty there.

  If I had limited time in New Zealand, I would visit the Milford Sound, not far from Queenstown on the western side of the south island. One of my worldly traveled friends told me he thinks it’s the best part of the earth. In many ways, this area has similar sights to Norway. The boat trip through the fjords was somewhat magical to me. The waterfalls are stunning. There’s plenty more to see, so look in the show notes.

  Franz Josef Glacier is where you can see the glacier firsthand and upclose. I started as a passenger in a plane on land, and minutes later I was ended up walking on the glacier.

Franz Josef Glacier is one of the steepest glaciers in New Zealand, descending from its origins high in the Southern Alps deep into the lush native rainforest of Westland's National Park. It also moves faster than your average glacier. This creates some truly incredible features in the glacier such as ice caves, tunnels and crevasses; all of which are constantly changing and evolving so no two days are ever the same.

   https://www.franzjosefglacier.com/

  Ride a chairlift above town in Queenstown

https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/

  https://www.milford-sound.co.nz/about/

  Be sure to listen to the North Island episode of New Zealand, too.

Today’s Lesson learned-Getting ripped off while traveling.

When did I get ripped off? I almost never get taken when I’m traveling. Most people have been especially nice and thoughtful to me. However, here’s what happened to my friend, a very seasoned traveler. She was walking in a large downtown city, a construction zone, so the sidewalk was narrow. It was nighttime, and someone walked up to her, asked her a question, and then physically took her entire backpack and ran away with it. That’s the kind of story that sounds made up but it wasn’t. So if you’re ever in an area that may seem to be trouble, make sure that you have an escape. If you are wearing a hidden money belt, that’s the safest you can be.

Today’s Travel Advice- Listen to other travel podcasts

You have a choice when it comes to other podcasts. We hope you listen to the following, The Globetrotter Lounge with Lisette, which is an interview format with inspiring women guests who have traveled and shared their stories. Or what about listening to the history of New York through the podcast, Bowery Boys, or even listening to The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Aussie Amanda Kendle, who talks about practical and useful tips from other travelers? 

https://www.notaballerina.com/podcastmenu

Check out this Dr Travelbest episode!

[fijineer]

Dinner with Laisa on Friday got a bit outta hand. She picked me up and took me to her private lounge. It’s a low key office/chill space up Princes road. Very cool downstairs lounge and bar, offices in the middle, board room on the top floor. Warehousing out the back. Plenty of beer, wine and good yarns. We went to Tikos for dinner. Nice to check out the floating restaurant finally. It’s pretty nice but very expensive - gotta try these things.

The 6am wake up to climb Mt Korobaba with Julia was a shock. Definitely still had a fair bit on board. Mind you, did my best to sober up before be, probably why I woke up at 3am with Netflix still going. Found the entry to the track. It’s by the old cement works near Medraukutu Bridge. Majority of it is just like a normal hike in the jungle. The last part is incredibly steep and more of a jungle gym than a hiking track. Beautiful views at the top! We had Brekky at Ginger Cafe afterwards, got my uprising festival ticket, and checked out a few cars. No land cruisers unfortunately ha!! I really need to let that idea go….

Napped and chilled for a couple hours. Drinks with Courtney down at the yacht club in the afternoon sun. Absolutely stunning. Mulled the boat idea over a bit more. Went to Paradiso for dinner and a couple more drinks. Always a good laugh.

Lazy Sunday morning. Chilled, had lunch at Grace kitchen. Played golf. The course isn’t fantastic but it isn’t terrible. Similar to the Waitaks but flat. Waitaks is probably nicer actually. Ran into a guy I met at the Drua game, Chris Saili, who is a Samoan kiwi guy. Laughed and joked. He was still there when I finished so had a few beers with him and his friends. Good to meet some more people. Met the club captain and his son too. Really friendly people.

Gas leak at the office Monday morning so plenty of time outside. Also noticed that a lot of “house plants” in New Zealand actually thrive in the outdoors here. Very cool! Went around a few of the bridge sites yesterday (Wednesday) with Christine from FRA. Awesome to see some more of the island around Suva/Nausori

[drivergender81]

Minecraft Server Stats: These Numbers Are Real

Board video games were still performed with the person sitting next to you, not nearly with associates in one other metropolis or country. Whenever you assume you've got found out the subsequent step, click on the airplane icon to fly to the subsequent city and continue unraveling the mystery. But it’s the crudest ageism to think that solely the younger can benefit from this brave new world. On the minecraft download page, you'll be able to obtain a Vanilla (normal) Minecraft server for Home windows, Mac, and (I think) Linux. You get as much as 4GHz included in standard services and as much as 5GHz on premium. At its most primary, which means setting hourly alarms in your telephone to make you stand up and stretch. As a result of it could be a much better day, and it can make you are feeling 10 occasions better than something on the planet has for a long time. The mod improves your storage capability by many folds, a necessary for the occasions while you aren’t planning to come back back to your base for some time.

Customer help instances are not a difficulty usually. Give your neighbours a name, as many streets and villages are setting up WhatsApp groups. Watch field units at the same time as mates or family, and talk about it stay on WhatsApp. So at the same time as alternatives to see pals (in person) dwindle, you needn’t be lonely. Or push the boat out with an adventure sport similar to Sea of Thieves: you band collectively in groups of 4 and sail a pirate ship (one particular person mans the sails, one other the cannons and so forth). I used to be fortunate enough to sit down with Fernando Blanco Director of marketing, to try the sport out for myself. My 70-year-outdated good friend across the street was extraordinarily touched when new neighbours two doorways down pushed a observe through her letterbox offering to assist in any approach she wanted. In any case, isn’t mining imaginary diamonds and chopping down blocky timber extra fun with buddies?

This mod provides more animals to Minecraft, a few of that are tamable. My mate Ali, who builds video games, recommends this as an effective way to attach family, irrespective of the place they are. Everyone knows those who make you are feeling better reasonably than worse - so chat to those that elevate your spirits and keep away from doom-mongers. Purple Stone Engineering is a complicated idea of Minecraft that’ll make you scratch your head earlier than you can grasp the concept. Make sure that you’ve bought access to a smartphone and know the way to use WhatsApp; then start a multi-generational family group and encourage everyone to publish a bit of stories every day. I’ve been a science and expertise reporter for greater than 35 years, and in that point I’ve witnessed nothing wanting a revolution in the tech we use to attach to each other. Fourth, it is suggested when beginning out to make use of a server internet hosting service operating Debian 9 or Ubuntu 18.04. Both options provide secure. Then again, there may be the chance of choosing a Creative-centered server. There is one thing very comforting about that.

But there are plenty of other choices, too. https://wickedfrise.com/ Game builders are required to obtain the Roblox Studio extension to create games for the platform. Earlier this year, Roblox raised $150 million from venture capital traders including Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the company at $four billion. 10 billion visits during the primary half of 2020, while one other widespread game, Piggy, hit almost 5 billion visits. Sort out the basics first. First released in 2011, Minecraft is a sandbox survival recreation created by Swedish developer Markus Pearson. Minecraft inventor Markus Persson claims he's 'never felt extra remoted' since promoting his company Mojang AB to Microsoft for £1.5billion. A mod that is exclusive to the Minecraft 1.12.2, JurassiCraft adds dinosaurs to the sport! And regardless that I was testing the game out on a personal media server, I nonetheless stumbled into some ingenious creations (in addition to just a few really infuriating ones). It does not require a minimal age to sign up for its services, unlike many other gaming and social media platforms. And so a really worrying spring begins, as coronavirus empties our work and social diaries and some of us face the troublesome prospect of long periods at residence. HOW DOES IT WORK?