#german tv based for once????

[shipwhatyouwannaship]

HELP

[sagesolsticewrites]

Homecoming

John Egan finally makes it home to you

Requested by anon, based on the prompt carrying the other one in their arms

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction based off the portrayal by the actors in the Apple TV+ series. I hold nothing but respect for the real life individuals referenced within.

“They’ll be here,” Marge said from her place beside you, fussing with the hem of her dress.

She sounded as if she was trying to assure herself as much as you, but you appreciated the sentiment, bumping her shoulder and giving her an encouraging smile and nod in thanks.

Marge had introduced you to John Egan— better known as Bucky— about a week before he shipped out to England, and you had fallen head over heels for him.

Both Marge and Gale had warned you before he left that “John Egan isn’t the penpal type,” but to all of your surprise, Bucky had dutifully written you the moment he arrived on base, and the stream of letters had remained steady for nearly the entire time he’d been away.

Until one day Marge stopped receiving letters from Gale, and Bucky’s letters had stopped shortly after.

The two of you were beside yourselves with worry, until you received word that both of them had ended up as POWs in a German camp; you were both still terrified, but at least you knew they were alive.

Then came May 1945– Germany had officially surrendered, and your boys were coming home.

The flow of letters had resumed shortly after you had received word of Bucky’s capture, but it was slow and irregular despite the Red Cross’s best efforts. You hadn’t seen Bucky for nearly two years, and joy and terror were fighting for dominance in your mind at the thought of standing in front of him again.

The Army had set up you and Marge, as well as the other loved ones waiting for their soldiers to return, in a hotel near the train station where the boys would be arriving. So now here you were in the lobby, waiting anxiously for Buck and Bucky to walk through the doors.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you were only alerted to their entrance by a gasp from Marge, who promptly raced into Gale’s open and waiting arms. You, on the other hand, were frozen, scrambling to process the appearance of one John Egan as his eyes locked on you.

Frankly, it was a blur. One moment you were frozen in place, the next you were racing towards him, Bucky moving to meet you halfway, his arms curling tight around you as you collapsed against him.

“You’re here, you’re here,” was all you could say as you held him tight, a spike of worry running through you when you felt how thin he had become, but he was still warm and real and solid and here, and his voice was thick in your ear as he whispered back. “‘M here, sweetheart, ‘m home.”

He pulled away slightly— it took all of your strength not to clutch him to you again, loath to let him go after so long— and brought up a hand to caress your cheek, blue eyes simply taking you in for a moment.

His gaze kept drifting down to your bright red lips, and at your eager nod once you’d realized what he was waiting for, he swooped down to capture your lips in a long, long overdue kiss.

You couldn’t help but giggle against his lips as you heard Marge cheering at the sight of you two, and the feeling of his returning smile against your own had your heart soaring.

After several long minutes of simply holding each other, making up for lost time, you eventually joined back up with Buck and Marge, giving Gale a joyful welcome-home hug as Marge did the same with Bucky.

The hotel had arranged for a special dinner, and the plan was to head straight there once the reunions had wound down… though you had no idea how anyone could even think of dinner at a time like this.

Bucky’s thoughts seemed to be straying as well, as instead of allowing you to simply curl up next to him on the couch set where you settled with Buck and Marge, he tugged you down into his lap and wrapped his arms firmly around your waist.

Your friends headed over to the dining room before too long, Bucky assuring them that the two of you would catch up.

Those plans soon went out the window entirely, though.

Bucky’s scarred, nimble fingers began tracing patterns over your dress, making your breath hitch.

Your letters to each other had been… well, you wouldn’t want your mother reading certain sections of them, that’s for certain. But the feeling of him pressed against you, holding you tight was an experience no amount of letters could have prepared you for.

His lips brushed your ear, unspeakable implications hidden in such innocent words: “You have your own room here, don’t you, sweetheart?”

Unable to form words as his low rumble sparked heat just below your belly, you nodded, and to this day you have no idea how you didn’t simply melt into a puddle when you felt him grin against you.

His question of “Care to show me?” was met with a similar, more enthusiastic nod, and before you knew it Bucky had swept you up in his arms.

“I— Bucky!” You yelped in surprise as he carried you towards the elevators with surprising ease, “Should you be doing—?”

“What I should be doing—” your concerns for his health were brushed aside with a searing look “— is showing my girl exactly how much I’ve missed her.”

It was a good thing he was carrying you, because every bone in your body turned to jelly at that statement.

Even in the elevator he didn’t put you down, silencing every one of your protests with a kiss until your lipstick was irreparably smudged and the coarse hairs decorating his top lip were tinted a slight red.

You arrived at your floor, and he waited patiently as you unlocked the door from your place in his arms— a task that took much longer than it should have thanks to the major scattering kisses along your neck, as if he had to have his lips on you constantly now that you were more than just words on a page.

You were carried over the threshold bridal-style, and Bucky nudged the door closed with his foot so no one could see how he gently lowered you to the bed, murmuring promises of making up for lost time against your lips.

[gildedkrone]

KINKTOBER 2023 🔞

“Liebling.”

“Schnucki.”

“Schatz.”

He is a man of few words and yet, a majority of them are terms of endearment in the privacy of his office and your shared apartment when they seem to slip through his trademark iron jaw with unnatural ease.

König is a man once too large to be in his dream profession, once a man too large to be considered friend material in early education and yet, he finds himself basking in the warmth of the sun filtering through the glass windows in the apartment. The couch dips with your body pressing against him and on clockwork, a heavy arm drapes over your flank to rest at your stomach with fingertips eager to touch.

“Handsy today?”

“Always handsy for you,” he mumbles with affection and warmth touches your skin in pinpoints of pressure. The warm weather with the broken AC meant a swelteringly hot afternoon and it was decided the afternoon would be spent shirtless on the grey couch. His fingers trace circles on skin before his palms press down and glide to rest at your hips.

“What are you doing, König?”

“Just admiring my schatz, ja?”

“Admiring? You sure you are just admiring?”

He mumbles something fond in German and handsy the man moves his hand to dip below the waistband of your boxers. In the background, the TV blares with some noisy ad and you level a glare at König.

He pouts—don’t be like this—and reveals a small bottle of lube from his hands. The clear liquid is smeared all over his hands in a prelude of what’s to come. The first intrusion is cold and you gasp when he stops at a single knuckle depth.

“König, move your stupid fingers if you are going fuck me.”

“Patience. I will reward you in time.”

The man has thick fingers and at just two, it already feels full even if he whispers three or even four if you are good. His other hand draws a line up your abdomen and comes to rest at the scars on your chest.

“What pretty scars, liebling.” You both know what they are and König whispers praises. A battle scar from the toughest battle you’ve ever fought.

The second knuckle pushes past your rim and you grip on his arms becomes vice tight in response to the way he pushes them against your walls. He finds your mouth in a sloppy kiss as he continued to fuck you with his fingers on the couch. The glint in his eyes  before his fingers leave you and enter his mouth. Suckling on his fingers, like a lollipop.

“You taste so sweet and addicting.” Stringy ropes on blunt fingers and obscene sucking sounds before they enter you again, this time in three. The base of his fingers push against your rim and when they press against the spot, you are throwing your head back and taking a sharp breath.

König chuckles and presses harder and you struggle to keep your hips still. Fuck my fingers, and you are moving against his fingers while he slams his fingers into your folds. He rewards you with a harsh drag of fingertips against your tight walls.  

“König … ah!”

“Yes, just keep making those sounds. Let me hear you.”

Satisfied with the how earnestly you are gripping his hand, you yell when the fourth finger joins the fun and when he curls them while slamming them into you, you crumble into his neck and a hard moan gets your boyfriend absolutely hard beneath your ass.

“Kö, please, I need …”

“I know. Be patient, bärchen. You sound so good for me and I want more.”

“More?”

“My pretty boy, all drunk on my fingers. Does it feel good?”

“Y-yes!” You will feel your abused rim tomorrow, but now, you can’t think clearly and König flicks your lips harshly before burying his fingers to the hilt. Your cry of pleasure drowns out your consciousness and König moans when his hands are suddenly drenched in a flood of your juices.

He keeps his hand in your quivering lips greedily sucking to keep the intrusion in as you rode out the climax in waves. Eventually, you are fully wrung out and König extracts his hand when you unclench to let him out. The rush of fluids out immediately stains your boxers and you lay back into his arms.

“You look better this way, you know? All soft in my arms after a good fuck. Such a pretty boy, and all for me.”

“Sweet talker much, Kö?”

He pulls your boxers off with some wiggling of your hips and presses the ruined garment to his nose and inhales. Something digs into your ass and König tongues the stain like a man starved for water as his devious tongue slips through pink scarred lips.

“You’ve had your fun. Now, it’s my turn, liebe.”

Do not edit, reupload or translate my works without prior consent || masterlist || kinktober masterlist || with editorial input from moots cosmo and rot

[blurredcolour]

The Only Truth... | Part Two

The Only Truth I Know Is You Masterlist

John "Bucky" Egan x POW Flight Nurse!Female Reader

Once rested, Bucky proves to be a rather difficult patient, but it's nothing you can't handle. Once he's discharged, however, the man still finds a way to remain close, even when he's no longer the one in need of medical care.

Warnings: Language, Angst, Nightmares, Detailed Description of Death by Gunshot Wound, Blood, Gore, Reader Scars, Hospital Setting, POW Camp Setting, SS Officers, Mental Health Struggles, Inevitable Historical and Military Inaccuracies, Rating - 18+ ONLY.

Author’s Note: This is a work of fiction based off the portrayal by the actors in the Apple TV+ series. I hold nothing but respect for the real life individuals referenced within.

Word Count: 5001

-------------------------

April 12, 1945

The light of dawn began to filter in through the murky windows of the hospital and with Bucky once again sleeping deeply, but now with all apprehension about his ability to wake again lifted, you began to carefully shuffle about the space and take care of some duties you had neglected for the last twenty hours. Emptying a few bed pans for those too weak to move, you scrubbed them clean in the meagre washroom before beginning to work on bandage changes, blinking futilely at the bleariness in your eyes. You had made it through two patients when the doors to the hospital were unlocked and Major Chalmers filtered in with Captain Menzies, another British medical officer, clearly just released from their combine.

It had taken several weeks for you to realize that the man introduced to you as ‘Mingies’ was the same as the man whose name was written as Menzies on the charts and not some other doctor who worked mysterious hours. Both men waited for you to finish treating the rather ghastly thigh wound inflicted by one of the ubiquitous German Shepherds – miraculously still not showing signs of infection – before you washed your hands and delivered your report on Major Egan.

“Very good, Nurse. Why don’t you go rest for the morning, we’ll see you around 1300 hours.” Chalmers replied.

Exhaling with a grateful nod, you excused yourself down the hall to your ‘accommodations.’ The former exam room had been stripped of all medical equipment to leave a cot, a small wooden cubby for your meagre collection of belongings, a tiny table for you to eat your solitary meals and write your correspondence, and a rickety washstand with a chipped enamel basin and mirror split with a spider’s web of fractures hammered directly into wall above it. With no interest in anything but sleep, you sat on the cot with a heavy sigh. You pulled the six remaining pins from your hair, having misplaced four throughout the last several months and still not having your confiscated effects returned to you, and kicked off your boots before laying down to sleep for a few hours.

------------

 The next time Bucky awoke, you were nowhere to be seen. He was plunged back into a world of dull, gritty, pungent masculinity and he was admittedly bereft. The pain in his back seemed all the more acute in your absence, and though there was again a serving of broth, it was tepid at best. Perhaps he could have withstood the continuation of a grim life all painted in the same grey palette, but to have that disrupted by your presence and then have that light and color taken away? It was even worse than not having had it to begin with.

It made him all the more sullen and combative when the British doctor Chalmers informed him that he would have to remain in hospital as a patient another night rather than being permitted to find the rest of the 100th and bunk with them.

“I’m perfectly fine Doc, all rested up, can walk, talk, and piss all on my own. I don’t need to be here a minute longer – the rest of these fellas are way sicker than me.”

The surgeon narrowed his eyes in response, clearly not appreciating his directions being questioned, but Bucky had had more than his fill of taking other people’s orders. He just wanted to get the hell out of here and back to people he knew.

“One night, Major Egan, that’s all I’m asking. The only bunks for new arrivals are in tents, if you’re lucky.  In here you’re warm, dry, and have a bed that’ll feel nicer on those ribs – which are going to take four to six weeks to heal, might I add.”

Bucky was about to open his mouth to reiterate his protests when his eyes caught sight of you appearing from down the hallway, coming to standing behind Chalmers with your arms crossed and a stern look on your face. It was so utterly reminiscent of one he had received from his mother on countless occasions that he was momentarily unable to speak before clearing his throat to concede to the doctor’s request.

“Good.” Was his diplomatic reply before he turned to see you there. “Ah, Nurse, welcome back. In some irony of the universe, we’ve actually received a Red Cross shipment of supplies. Would you kindly catalogue the contents the goons have left for us and add it to our stock?”

Bucky did not miss the exasperation in your expression – it certainly did seem like a cruel joke for supplies to arrive with the end of the war surely weeks away.

“Certainly, sir.” You replied before looking to the large and very much opened and rifled-through box up against the wall essentially opposite to his cot.

Settling onto his stomach, he draped his arms across his pillow, nestling his chin atop his forearms to watch you work. “Don’t get a lot of supplies around here, do ya, angelfish?”

As you glanced toward him, he noticed you had changed your clothes, into equally threadbare ones but fresh ones all the same, and had tidied your hair. He would have taken you to a dance in Times Square looking like that. In a heartbeat.

“No, we most certainly do not, Major.” You shook your head and made a soft noise of triumph as you managed to fish out the packing list – something to compare the remaining contents to, he supposed. “Might mean we got more rations too though, corned beef and liver pate to eat desperately before they go bad.” You gave him a wry smile which he returned.

So the Germans here liked to punch holes in the cans, too. Good to know. Bucky watched as you retrieved a pencil from the central desk and began to unearth boxes of gauze and ointments and all manner of things he was only vaguely familiar with. He drowsily studied your profile, lips tugging fondly at the way you stuck your tongue out slightly in concentration, trapping it between your teeth and grunting in dismay when something you obviously were hoping for was not there. Hovering on the border between sleeping and waking, he jumped slightly as you gently nudged his shoulder, holding out two pills and his mug filled with fresh water.

“Aspirin.” You whispered and he raised an eyebrow before plucking them from your soft palm, tossing the pills into his mouth and chasing them down with a slug of cold water.

“You’re a goddess, angelfish.” He murmured, laying down his heavy head as you moved to tuck him in again.

Your soft laugh in response made him smile drowsily. “No Bucky, just a nurse. Now stop fighting it and go to sleep.”

He was yanked back into consciousness by the sound of your voice some time later, tone flat and impatient.

“Just let me finish changing his bandage, please.”

“Nein, it is lights out and you are going back to your room now schwester.” The rude, clipped reply of the SS guard had Bucky forcing himself up off his cot, gritting his teeth against the screams of protest in his frighteningly unstable ribcage.

His eyes flashed around the room before they landed on the uniformed man grabbing your elbow to usher you from the bedside of a patient and down the hall. Bucky stumbled to his feet, peering around the corner after you to watch the man shove you into the room on the left before pulling the door shut and snapping a padlock into place. Bucky narrowed his eyes, moving over to the patient you had been forced to abandon, supplies still on top of his blanket.

“I’m no nurse but I can give it a shot?” He muttered to the fellow who gave him a small shrug in return. “I’ll be back when the coast is clear, then.”

Bucky slid back into his own cot, watching the guard stomp his way out of the building before slamming the last set of doors shut, the lock snicking into place behind him before the lights all went out. Blinking against the darkness to force his eyes to adjust more quickly, he made his way down the hall, feeling his way along the rough-hewn wood of the wall and over to your door before knocking softly.

“Angelfish? You alright in there?”

“Bucky?” Came your muffled answer shortly after the sound of your footsteps approached.

“Damn they lock you up like in here like some kind of fairytale princess.”

There was a soft snort and Bucky could not help the smirk that pulled from him. “Anything I should know before I try and finish that guy’s arm?”

There was a pause before you cleared your throat and responded with, “no it’s pretty straight forward but…but if it smells anything like cheese would you mind letting me know?”

“Cheese…” He replied slowly.

“The smell of infection, Bucky.” You sounded amused and he wished more than anything he could take in your facial expression then.

“Got it. I was born in Wisconsin, raised for this.”

“And then you’re going to immediately put yourself in your cot and rest, Bucky.” You said firmly.

“You got it angelfish. You, too.”

“Night, Bucky.”

Gathering his courage and putting on a mask of cool, level-headedness, he returned to his fellow patient’s bedside, removing the old bandage and bowing his head to take a deep whiff. Thankfully, for everyone’s sake, there was definitely nothing cheese-like about it. He then bumbled about in the dark of the room, applying perhaps the ugliest bandage known to man, but a bandage nonetheless, and returned to his cot as instructed.

It was not easy to drag the blanket up over his body from behind, especially with the newly aggravated soreness from his careless activities, but Bucky managed to settle down and fall into an uneasy sleep, exhaustion still dwelling deep in his bones and sucking him under. It did not take long, however, for his dreams to be haunted once more by images of deadly accurate shots burrowing their way between Buck’s shoulder blades on the other side of that wall. Of his friend’s blond head falling into the mud just shy of the treeline, just shy of freedom. Waking with a start, he glared around the dark, unfamiliar room and looked to the floor, frowning as you were not there for him to hold onto this time.

He had not fully woken the night before, but he had sensed enough of your calming presence to return to a deeper plane of sleep. To chase away the darker voices that threatened to fill his mind. Leveraging himself to a seated position, he grabbed his blanket and shuffled his way down the hall once again in search of your soothing influence, even if there was the interfering barrier of a door. Bucky’s descent to the ground was less than graceful, his ribs protesting fiercely and as he settled on the floorboards, he was filled with a sudden doubt in his ability to rise from this position. But then he heard your voice.

------------

When Bucky had not immediately bustled back down the hall with tales of an arm wound stinking of ripe cheese, you had relaxed somewhat into your nightly routine, stripping to your long underwear for a proper night’s sleep…that did not really present itself. It was honestly not that surprising given the way you had pushed the boundaries of night and day, your body really was not sure what to make of it. You were just on the cusp of finally falling asleep when there was a commotion outside your room, the door rattling in its frame, the padlock jostling slightly.

Hearing a slightly familiar grunt, you sat up. “Bucky?” You called you softly.

“M’fine, angelfish, just sleeping out here.”

Your eyes widened and you practically leapt from the bed, crossing the room in record time. “Are you really ok? Sleeping…. on the floor?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just needed company.” He muttered from below and you slid down to lay on the floor, peering through the gap at the bottom of the door with one eye.

It was surely flush with the floor when the building was initially built, but as the hospital settled into the ground, about an inch-and-a-half had opened up below the door, allowing you to glimpse his face not far from yours.

“You had plenty of company in your comfortable cot, Bucky.” You whispered and the eye you could see flashed open, face turning to meet yours through the gap.

“Not yours, angelfish.”

“I don’t suppose I’m going to be able to convince you to go back to bed? No idea how the hell you’re going to get off this floor anyway…” You sighed, cheek pressed tightly against the floorboards to see as much of him as possible.

“I’m down for the count, I’d say.” He huffed with a poor show of playfulness.

Frowning, you looked over the visible portion of his face slowly. “You have another bad dream?”

He grunted noncommittally and averted his gaze, essentially confirming your suspicion. Sliding from your spot on the floor, you fetched your blanket and pillow before laying them down to rejoin him. “I get ‘em too. Stuck on that crashing plane and I can’t get off. Or the chute won’t open. Or I can’t…” your throat clenched, and you swallowed to clear it. “Can’t get my flight jacket off and I just burn up.” Your voice refused to come out any louder than an exhale, but you still managed to speak the last few words.

His eye slowly met yours once more though the thin opening halfway through your confessions and his brow furrowed. “Flight nurse?”

“I was, yeah. Just a kriegie nurse now, I guess.” You laughed wryly, trying to find a comfortable position on the uneven floor, the nail heads poking up into your shoulder.

There was a long pause as he seemed to weigh the pros and cons of unburdening himself to you before exhaling slowly. “I sent my best friend to his death. Least that’s what my dreams tell me. He didn’t want to run, I convinced him and then…well they almost caught him until I distracted them…”

“And got the shit kicked out of you.” You sighed, slipping into your ways of foul language on the edge of sleep, in the dark of your room.

Thankfully, by the twitch of his lips, he did not seem terribly put out by it.

“Basically.” He heaved a great sigh and you nodded, sliding your fingers under the door, as far as your knuckles would allow.

“No matter what happened, Bucky, he’s not in a place like this anymore. And that is a mercy.”

“Hmmm.” He hummed, unconvinced and you swallowed.

“What kind of man is he?” You lined up for another approach.

“Smart, too damn smart of any of this – built a radio out of a list of random junk I collected for him. He’s got the sweetest girl back home who writes him like clockwork. They were gonna get married if he got back. Was gonna be his best man.”

Taking a deep breath to summon your façade of brave optimism once again, for his sake, you nodded firmly. “When he gets home, you will be his best man.”

He looked to you hopefully, slowly sliding his fingertips to brush against yours beneath the coarse wooden bottom of the door. “Yeah?” He breathed.

“Yeah, Bucky. Yeah.” You nodded again, offering a smile, hoping it somewhat reached your eyes. “Now. Let’s try and get you some sleep.”

“Didn’t hear anything ‘bout you in that statement, angelfish.” He murmured sleepily and you hummed with drowsy laughter.

“I’m just about there, but not until you give in first.”

After a few beats of silence, you cracked your eye to check on him, pressing your lips together to smother your laugh as you caught him quickly squeezing his eye shut. It was not long, however, until his breathing evened and deepened, his mind at last surrendering to the sleep his body desperately needed. Swallowing tightly, heart throbbing slightly at the way his face softened, and the way his fingertips remained pressed stubbornly against yours as tightly as the door would allow, you tucked the pillow under your head, sliding your eyes shut to try and get some rest as well.

Despite the wildly uncomfortable position, you somehow managed to remain asleep until the next morning when Bucky began to shuffle and shift, soft noises of discomfort escaping him as he tried to find his way back to his feet.

“Roll onto your good side.” You coached through your drowsy state, and he stilled a moment before appearing to obey. “Bend your knees, then push up to sitting.”

There were still some grunts, but fewer overall, and the whole endeavour sounded a lot less like a fish flopping against the door.

“Then use the handle to pull yourself up with your good hand.” Holding your breath you waited until you saw two sock feet, firmly planted and steady on the floor, before rising on your side of the door. “Well done.”

“Still have a bit more time to sleep, angelfish.” He rumbled and you bit your lip fondly at his sleep-roughened voice.

“You, too.” You replied, pressing your forehead against the rustic wood, listening to his footsteps retreat down the hall until only silence remained.

You managed a few more hours’ sleep before the morning guard unlocked the door, delivering your morning pitcher of frigid water for your facsimile of a bath with a sliver of soap and rough wash cloth. Enjoying a breakfast of crackers and margarine, you reported for duty just as Chalmers was discharging Bucky, finding it suddenly difficult to meet his eyes in the light of day – the entire encounter in the dark feeling too intimate to recall in such a crowded, public space.

“Take care, Major Egan.” You smiled friendlily and followed Menzies out to the tent to assist with the removal of a set of sutures.

“You got it, Nurse.” He replied, the marked absence of the quirky nickname born of his inability to speak the day of his arrival halting your steps as you involuntarily glanced back over your shoulder to make sure he was really all right.

A grin slowly unfurled across his face, lighting up his exhausted features before he shot you a playful wink. You swallowed roughly as the day suddenly felt altogether too warm for your oversized sweater.

“Made ya look, angelfish.” He teased and you pressed your lips together desperately trying to smother your responding grin, conceding the fact that he had indeed made you look with a nod, before hurrying after Menzies when he barked your name from further into the canvas extension of the hospital.

Bucky’s discharge, unlike every other patient before him, did not mean that he dissolved into the general population of the camp. Somehow, he still managed to find reasons to make an appearance, dropping off bits of scrap wood to burn that he and his friends had collected to make the time pass faster, or arranging a crew of his men to deliver the hospital’s broth allotment to alleviate that burden from Chalmers and Menzies. He always appeared to be obeying his discharge orders and not hauling anything himself, at least when he arrived with his deliveries. Whether he was behaving out of sight was another question entirely.

Not only was the assistance greatly appreciated, but you found yourself looking forward to his visits as a break from the monotony of grim tasks of which your work consisted. Somehow, despite his worn-down spirit, he still managed to leave you feeling notably lifted by the time he was inevitably shooed out for getting underfoot or distracting you a little too long. Chalmers and Menzies were patient – indulgent even – but even they had their limits.

Four relatively peaceful days passed under this new routine, with no new arrivals in camp but, sadly, a few of the weaker patients in the hospital giving up the fight, until the sound of shots rang out mid-morning on the 18th. A great clamor arose among the patients indoors and the general population beyond the canvas walls of the tent, before a group of prisoners were rushing inside, Bucky at the fore, with an injured prisoner strung across their collective shoulders.

“Lay him here.” You gestured quickly to the cot you had been stripping after the death of its occupant sometime in the night, having succumb to infection and lack of food.

You did not miss the wince that crossed Bucky’s face as he maneuvered the injured man – no more than a boy, really – to lay where you had instructed. At the sight of a deep red stain, rapidly growing in circumference on the boy’s side, your eyes shot wide, and you looked to Bucky sharply.

“Find me Chalmers and Menzies immediately.” You stressed the need for expediency before turning back to begin rapidly pulling at the boy’s clothes, trying to locate the source of all that blood.

The shocking white expanse of his belly finally exposed, you found the gaping wound left by a large calibre round near his belly button, casting about frantically for your basket of fresh bandages to press against it, desperately trying to staunch the flow. What you would not give for a packet or six of sulfa right then. The pressure you put on his tender abdomen drew a yowl of pain from the boy and you frowned up at him sympathetically.

“I know, son, I know. We’re going to get this all fixed up alright?”

“Can’t b, b, believe they shot me! I just…just wanted to see the flowers poking through the fence and they just…Fucking war’s almost over anyway…” He was beginning to shiver uncontrollably, a sure sign of shock and you glanced towards the hospital doors, relieved to see Chalmers and Menzies rushing out to help.

“I’ll bet those flowers were beautiful.” You gulped as the bandage in your hand was rapidly soaked through and grabbed a few more to wipe the area clean, trying to permit the surgeons to inspect the wound itself.

No sooner would you swipe away the rapidly welling crimson fluid, than the hollow below his ribs, carved out by months of hunger, would accumulate a fresh pool of blood. There were noises of dismay before the pair of surgeons rolled the boy to check for an exit wound. They shared a dark look as there was none to be found, shaking their heads at one another. Your patient erupted into a panic, thrashing about, kicking you squarely in the thigh and knocking you back into Bucky, who thankfully stopped your rapid descent toward the muddy floor.

“I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!”

“Nurse! Hold him!” Menzies barked and began to fish around in the boy’s wound to see if he could find the bullet.

Shrieking filled the tent as you lunged forward to press down on his shoulders, trying your best to soothe him even as his shirt grew damp with his own blood, transferring to the fabric from your fingers. He was stronger than he looked, the panic only amplifying what little strength he had left, and you sent a grateful nod to Bucky as his much broader palms took over pinning the boy’s shoulders while you collected his flailing hands between yours.

“Easy now, easy. Docs are going get you right as rain, just hold still now.”

“I’m gonna die and there’s not gonna be a heaven and there’s gonna be nothing!” The boy’s wild eyes wheeled on you, fairly punching you in the gut, and you shifted his wrists to grip in one hand against your chest while the other stroked at his hair tenderly with the other.

“Come now – you’re going to be alright. Besides, I’ve met the Pope. You think they’d keep that man in his fancy house and fancy clothes for nothing?”

His lips were growing a frightening shade of white from the blood loss, the rest of him the unsettling grey pallor of imminent death, but he seemed greatly calmed by your papal revelations. His hands shifted to grip at yours and his brow furrowed earnestly, the only movements of his body now were the echoes of the desperate attempts of the surgeons below.

“I want my momma. Tell my momma that I…tell my momma…” He trailed off into a whisper, the light slowly dimming from his eyes until there was nothing, his hands going limp, and he was gone.

Swallowing brutally, you carefully shifted your fingers to his throat, checking for a pulse and turning to Chalmers and Menzies when you found none. A simple shake of your head was all it took to communicate that you had lost the boy. Chalmers let out deep, aggrieved sigh while Menzies threw down a blood-soaked bandage with a wet slap and stormed back into the hospital. Gently setting the boy’s lifeless hands across his chest, you straightened slowly, feeling Bucky eyeing you from the other side of the cot.

Something ugly was welling up inside you, desperately trying to claw its way out, and you took a step back.

“Angelfish?” Bucky’s voice was low and cautious.

Your only response was to shake your head violently before stepping clear of the end of the cot, then breaking into a run. Following in the footsteps of Menzies, the words of the Army Nurse Corps pledge rang through your mind, the words you had sworn to serve by as a Nurse.

‘I shall approach him cheerfully at all times, under any conditions I may find…I shall appear fearless in the presence of danger and quiet the fears of others to the best of my ability.’

Reaching the end of the hallway, you stared at the door to your quarters and nearly choked on the idea of facing that stuffy, windowless room. You needed air. Needed to breathe. Turning sharply to the left, you continued along past the utility room and out the backdoor into the small courtyard between the hospital and the barbed wire fence that separated the Russian side of the camp.

‘…I will remember that, upon my disposition and spirit, will in large measure depend the morale of my patients.’

The flight nurse’s creed came flooding back to you next as you sought refuge between the back of the hospital and the bowed lines of laundry, stained sheets and bandages hung in the weak April sun to dry. What a different person you had been when you had spoken those damn words at your graduation from Flight Nurse Training.

Taking short, sharp gulps of air, each inhale was used to forcefully shove down the scream that was bubbling perilously in your throat. You paced to-and-fro, bloody hands planted on your hips. Surely you looked nothing short of mad when Bucky rounded the corner of the building, using that aggravatingly soft voice again as he spoke your name, making your head snap towards him.

“You’re not supposed to be back here.” You choked out, turning from him, fixing to flee once more.

“Too bad.” He ground out as he continued coming closer, clearly intent on comforting you, but if he got too near, you were terrified you were going to shatter entirely.

“Patients aren’t supposed to see me like this.” You could barely speak, hiccoughing and shuddering breaths intersplicing your words awkwardly as your grip on your emotions began to slip through your bloody fingers.

“Not here as a patient.” He muttered and slid his arms around you, pulling you close and you buried your face into his chest to let out a wail of agony – for the man who died in front of your eyes, for the horrid situation you found yourself in.

Somehow, you managed to maintain the wherewithal not to grab at him with your filthy hands, arms sticking straight out behind him awkwardly as you squeezed his sides with your elbows, knees threatening to give out as you found yourself not having to be the strong one for the first time in quite a long time. Bucky’s grip only tightened on you, fingers curling into your shirt to hold you up patiently as you cried yourself hoarse against him. Eventually there were no more tears to cry, the self-pity and grief you had stored up over the past few months running dry. Pulling back slightly, you wiped at your face with your sleeves, accidentally exposing a portion of the angrily scarred flesh on your left forearm.

Not missing the way his eyes flicked to it immediately, you sharply pulled your cuffs down and straightened fully. “You should get out of here before some goon puts a hole in you…”

It was supposed to be a joke, but your voice wobbled threateningly in abhorrence at the thought of losing someone else today, and Bucky promptly pulled you close again.

“Easy angelfish, not gonna get myself shot now. Not after you went through all the trouble of bringing me back.”

Sniffling affectionately against him, you pulled back to meet his eyes. “Thank you, Bucky.” You patted his chest fondly. “But please don’t go around carrying any more people with those broken ribs.” You gave him a stern look, finding it difficult to deliver as he smirked with a soft laugh in return.

 With a soft sigh, you moved to return inside and assist with the clean up.

“Bucky?” You stopped and turned back to him suddenly.

“Yeah, angelfish?” He glanced over his shoulder, halfway to the other side of the building.

“What’s your first name?”

He raised an eyebrow. “John.”

Nodding slowly, you swallowed tightly. “Thank you, John.” You repeated firmly before pulling open the door and heading inside to the utility room to fill a bucket with some water to rinse out the bloody cot.

-------------------------

Read Part Three

The Only Truth I Know Is You Masterlist

Tag list: @gretagerwigsmuse, @luminouslywriting, @softspeirs, @sunny747, @storysimp, @slowsweetlove, @httpsmoon, @buckysegan, @justheretoreadthxxs, @precious-little-scoundrel

[yandere-sins]

the yandere ghost is just 💕😭. your thoughts on yandere König? 👀

Thank you ♥ Please enjoy :3 (I am also really enjoying it rn that I have the ö key on my keyboard hehehe, fuck yeah, finally the german keyboard is useful >:D)

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

♡ Lord have mercy on the poor soul trapped with and König himself. He can't go even a second without thinking of his darling stuck alone at the base (living their best life away from him), but once he's around you, he's way too awkward to do anything with you. If you were to hold out your hand invitingly to him, he'd—at most!— brush his fingertips over your palm, ready to die happily as he shudders from the sensation. Guy holds your hand once (which costs him a ton of courage), and his heart just... stops. He has to leave the room afterward, or he might lose it, sweating, cursing, pants bulging, and so, so much need inside him to go back and do it again. He wants to go back immediately, kiss you, hold you, and rub against you just once. But unless you invite him again, he'll try to be patient and not pressure you into it, even if it's (he's) so hard and kneeling in front of you, biting his lip so he doesn't beg you to tell him to come closer.

♡ Luckily, his awkwardness also means there is a way to get some peace by collecting all your courage and just randomly hug him while he's busy doing something (that he thinks you'll like, like cleaning or cooking). It'll put him into a state of shock that could potentially make or break your escape. Just kidding. You reach for his gun? You're on the ground or pinned against the wall, his arm choking you as he shouts at you to never fucking do that again. He's scared for your safety first, scary as he looms, pins, and threatens you second. König will be incredibly sorry afterward for hurting you and lashing out as he has to watch you try to breathe again once he retreats after realization sets in. He's furious—at you, at him, at the fact you could have been hurt by his negligence. So at least he leaves you alone for a while to cool off and find a solution, only returning when he's secured some sweets and gummi bears as an attempt for you two to reconcile.

♡ He's very much a beaten dog that will run to any kind of affection you give him. Ask him a question? He drops everything and stands by your side in seconds, even if it's just yes or no. He's inching closer, and you don't look at him or tell him to stop? He'll put his head in your lap and let out a giant blissful sigh. König tries to join any activity he permitted, so if you chill on the couch and watch TV, get ready to almost drop over the edge while he scoots in behind you, or have him hover over you while you do a puzzle, watching which piece you'll place next with enormous interest. He lives for not being rejected by you, and it's his ruin when you tell him to leave you alone and to go away, that you hate him, or that you'll never like him. Please balance these two things carefully, 'cause one day he'll decide to be the monster you keep trying to make him out to be. And you won't like learning just how big, bad, and needy he can be when you push him over the edge. Hint: You're just a doll (what kind depends on his mood) in his hands. Never forget that.

♡ Absolutely does not share you. Don't you dare to look at someone else, even if he has to bring you on a mission. Don't sit anywhere but his lap, never leave his side, and for the love of God, don't open your mouth to speak to anyone but him. Somehow, being with other people makes all these insecurities and anxiety go away for a while, even though when you two are back in private, he asks if you still like him the most. It's almost as if he is showing you off, but the moment someone notices you, he gets growly and visibly possessive, placing his arm around your body (slinging it over your shoulder and grabbing your side like a seatbelt), picking you up, making you straddle his thigh and face him, etc. König hates everyone and anything that looks at you, almost more than when they look at him and he feels judged. You're simply off-limits for others.

♡ He rarely threatens you with violence, but he's love bombing you to the extent that sometimes you forget you're his captive, not his actual partner. König brings you new flowers whenever the old ones wilt, asks you to dance in the kitchen with him, cooks your favorite meals regularly, and asks you out on dates (those rarely happen because "you don't know how to behave," he says, giggling. He doesn't know how to behave either, maybe you two shouldn't be out there together). He buys you things that remind him of you, and even when you have an emergency craving, he gets out at one in the morning to somehow fulfill it. König constantly tells you how much you mean to him and that you're the best thing that's ever happened in his life. If he's a little more confident in your relationship (aka, after you stopped struggling so much), you can count on many gentle touches, pats, head kisses, hugs, hand kisses, rocking you to sleep, etc. He really makes it seem like you're in a relationship.

♡ You probably made the mistake of getting a bit too friendly with him for his twisted mind to understand you were just trying to be nice. He never had that kind of connection with anyone before, and he just had to have you afterward, all to himself, or he might have lost his mind. This desperation is why he keeps you locked away, trying so desperately to sweeten the deal for you by doing everything he can to appease you. There's no one else to wait for him whenever he returns home, give his life another meaning other than killing, so he clings to you who once showed him exactly what he always wanted—an unafraid smile, a welcoming greeting, and kindness radiating off you. He can't share you for the very same reason, knowing that you could make any man go mad with your abilities to welcome them into your life.

♡ Calls you all sorts of loving names like: "Schatz" (treasure), "Liebling" (Darling), "Kleine/Kleiner/Kleines" (fem/masc/gn translates to "Little/Small one") as well as "Große/Großer" (fem/masc translates to "Big/Tall one"), "Prinz/Prinzessin/Eure Majestät" (Prince, Princess, Your Majesty).

♡ You're the only person who can make him come to a complete standstill. He's known to be hyperactive and rarely able to calm down. Still, if you are forced to hug him and let his hand run up and down your back, he's the most focused and calm soldier anyone has ever seen. He doesn't blink, doesn't flinch or move (if not to put you out of harm's way), doesn't speak—a massive silent blot in the landscape. He's able to focus on everything that's discussed, can answer questions easily without stuttering. All that and more, just because he has you like a little comfort plush. It's something his Platoon knows to appreciate and use if needed. Otherwise, they try to stay away from you as far as possible to avoid the calmness turning into terror, unlike what these soldiers have ever seen. No one wants to cross König. They leave being a ragdoll to you.

♡ On days that he comes home exhausted, his insecurities and awkwardness will just be overwritten by exhaustion, so he doesn't care what he does as long as it involves you. He'll lead your hands to where he wants to be touched, forcing you to undress him and ripping your clothes off so he can take you to the bath with him, where you two squeeze into his tub together. There's little space, but König hugs you to his chest and hides his face in your shoulder, taking deep breaths to decompress while you have the option to either ask if he wants to talk about his day or stay silent. He won't allow you to complain or struggle, shutting it down immediately. Squeezing you shut if he must. He's over it for that day. He does, however, not force but relish in it if you decide to take care of him on a whim or because you don't want to be stuck in his tight embrace. He'll let you wash the dirt and blood sticking to him off, kissing your hands reverently as if they are his lifeline keeping him grounded, thoughts off the battlefield, lets you comb his hair, massage his back, or even touch his face before he helps you dry off, wrapping you with his huge towel and carries you to bed with him. Never mind food or other necessities, König simply buries you under his body as he falls asleep partially on top of you. He's not even sorry for touching you so much in the morning. He just apologizes sleepily for drooling on you before he gets up to get some water for you two, still in his full, naked glory. He does, however, eventually realize you two slept next to each other stark-naked, and he has to recover from choking on the water he just drank while he runs to get you both clothes.

[2goldensnitches]

I know the Food Appropriation Discourse only really happens in earnest when it comes to jews but people really need to stop and think how stupid it is to expect that mizrahim and sephardim not eat the food of the countries they’ve lived in for centuries. Should we forbid goys from having bagels in return?

But as an aside, there’s no such thing as a cuisine without outside influence. Modern mexican tacos would not exist without ottoman immigrants refining them. Mexicans eat schnitzel (we call it milanesa) all the time; quesadillas wouldn’t exist without spanish influence. Mexican pastries, like churros (which originated in spain), drinks like beer (mexican beer industry was started by german and czech immigrants), pasties (english and cornish immigrants), they’re all hybrids.

Vanilla, corn, chocolate, and tomatoes (among other things) are from mexico but it’d be monumentally stupid to go after everyone claiming those ingredients as local specialties; no more madagascar vanilla, no swiss chocolate, no more italian tomato based foods?

Let’s try other cuisines: tempura would not exist in japan if it weren’t for the portuguese, and they also wouldn’t have ramen (the name lit means chinese noodles and it’s a 20th century recipe), curry (indian, introduced by british sailors), or all the french desserts promoted as kawaii. Potatoes are peruvian but they play a massive part in indian and european dishes; or all the american dishes whose origins are entirely foreign.

But we don’t actually see people getting mad unless it has to do with jews. They straightforwardly use language and rhetoric painting jews as vultures. American goys readily play into their own ignorance and only think about jews as funny new yorkers from eastern europe they see on tv who eat bagels and bad meat (the demonisation of ashkenazi cuisine also plays a large part); goys from the middle east drop the pretense of having always loved their jewish people to claim that jews who left for israel (which they also don’t want to acknowledge) eating foods like hummus and falafel is thievery.

Nowhere is ignorance and inflamed nationalism more apparent in few discussions like whether jews have the right (the right!) to eat anything at all without once again being attacked for it.

[ms-rampage]

Fluent When Upset

König x Y/n (fem-reader)

Warnings: Language

Authors note: This is my first time ACTUALLY writing König. I sort of based it off on this

I apologize for the butchered German 😂😅

You have been living in Austria for 3 years now. You and König have been together for 5 years. As time went by, and you discovered you were pregnant with a baby boy that König was absolutely excited about.

Aside from all that, you did struggle to learn the German language once you settled in, the only time you did speak it properly (or at least you think it is) when you get mad or annoyed, and König rarely to never upsetted, nor annoyed you. It only comes out when you stub your toe on the table, or when you hit your head, or when someone on a bike or scooter nearly hits you when you cross the street.

This day, you went to the store to do a little bit of grocery shopping, and you took your son with you in his stroller. He needed some fresh air after being in the house all day. König was on the fence about going with you. He went against his anxiety, and went with you two.

"You don't have to come." you tell him, while putting your jacket on, "I just need to buy a few things for dinner."

"I know, liebe, I just want to make sure you're both safe." he tells you, figetting with the bag on your sons stroller handle.

One of the few times, your husband takes off his sniper hood when he's at home and isn't expecting company. He has those tired, sad European eyes that you fell in love with. He was always worried and concerned about your well-being, even more so after having your son.

"We'll be fine, I know how you feel about crowds, and I don't want you to be uncomfortable." you reassure him.

"I know, but I know your German isn't good." he tells you with a slight hesitation in his voice, but he wasn't wrong. Your German is okay at best. You know the basics but not enough to hold onto a conversation.

"Well, you got me there." You chuckle, checking to see if your son is secure in his stroller. It was only a 10 minute walk to the store. König had never heard you speak German, maybe one or two words but never a full sentence.

After buying what you need from the store, a little grocery store that sells everything. You were always careful when crossing the street, especially when you had your infant son with you. You had the right away to cross, you had the green. König standing next to with one of the bags of groceries in his hand and the other around your waist.

Taking a few steps onto the street, some asshole decides at the very, very last second to go forward when he had the red light. A few feet away from hitting the stroller, that absolutely sent you into a verbal rage.

"Scheiße!." König exclaims, pulling the stroller back.

"Arschloch!." you yell at the driver, looking back at the other cars stopped at the light to see if there's another jackass that will do the same, then back in the direction of the car that nearly hit you and your child that is long gone now, "Siehst du uns nicht! Verdammtes arschloch!."

You both continue crossing the street while you yell at the driver who can't hear you anymore, but you just wanted to voice your opinion on drivers like them.

"Wir hatten gleich das recht, und ich schiebe einen kinderwagen!." you continue to shout as if you were a native speaker.

When you get to the other side, König is wide-eyed, mostly because of how your German is.

"Liebe, where did you learn that?." he asks, moving you to the side. Away from others walking by.

"I don't know, probably from having the TV on throughout the day. I picked up on a few phrases, and also the neighbors." you tell him, checking on your son who is asleep.

He kisses the top of your head through his hood. "I guess I did need you to come with me to the store." You joked as you two continued to walk back to your apartment. To König you German did sound broken, but hey, you were yelling at some dipshit who had zero patients for pedestrians.

[zhuzhudushu]

Lingopie — Chinese Review ★★

So I did 3 months of Lingopie (stylized as Liñgöpie) so you don't have to (unless you want to lol).

I mention a Chrome extension, the Zhongwen dictionary, quite a bit in this review. It is here, I highly recommend it (click)! It's also available for Firefox (click).

What is Lingopie?

Lingopie is an app and desktop extension/website that allows you to watch tv shows and cartoons with interactive subtitles for language learning. It currently has Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, French, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. It claims to improve your language learning by 80% (compared to Duolingo which is around 20%).

Here is their website. (click)

Pricing: (March 2024)

3 months $36

1 year $71 "on sale" (normally $144)

Lifetime $199 "on sale" (normally $663)

Please note: I have never seen these full prices. It appears that the "sale" is permanent.

My Review / TL;DR Version

Extremely disappointed both in functionality and content for Chinese. Maybe this is a good program for other languages, but for Chinese there is extremely limited content with pinyin subtitles only available for the non-Netflix shows. All the best learning features are available for non-Netflix shows, yet those tended to have significantly worse translations than Netflix. I would not recommend this product for Chinese. While it had a few good features and I enjoyed it for 6-7 episodes of one show, it then had a glitch where an entire episode was subtitled wrong, so I gave up.

See below the cut for full breakdown.

Strengths:

Has access to Netflix shows and films including some popular ones (e.g. Meteor Garden, Dear Ex, Nezha Reborn)

This is nice and I enjoyed rewatching the ones I was familiar with and getting a better grasp of listening and vocab. I appreciate that they try to incorporate kid-friendly along with more serious/adult content with animated and live action tv shows and films. I also liked that it specified if the show was from Taiwan or China, and also included shows that had some Cantonese influence (e.g. Scissor Seven)

Allows you to have English and Chinese subtitles simultaneously or alone, and you can easily click them on an off while watching.

This is pretty standard for all video/subtitle based educational apps, but it was nice to easily click them on and off in case I wanted to double check my understanding, and to compare the direct translation of the words to the full translation of the sentence.

Allows you to pause automatically after each subtitle. Can also loop subtitles over and over. There are also AI-produced explanations of grammar.

This hands down was the best part about the entire experience for me, and why I ended up using Lingopie for 3 months. While it was sometimes clunky (see below), this made singling out specific lines/words for listening practice so easy. Once I got in the groove, I was able to get through episodes fairly quickly and was starting to be able to listen and hear new words in sentences later.

Click on the words in the subtitle to make flashcard sets

This was a nice feature, but I do wish the flashcards were a bit more functional, see below. It was easy enough to use and a quick way to remind yourself of the new words you learned before you jump into the next episode.

Weaknesses:

Pinyin subtitles available on desktop only, with no pinyin subtitles for Netflix shows (as of May 2024)

This is a HUGE flaw, and I was 100% dependent on using another chrome extension for hover-over dictionary while using Lingopie. I know they are working on pinyin subtitles for Netflix and mobile, but I used this for 3 months and it still was not implemented when I ended. To me, if I have to use another app in conjunction with this one in order to fully learn, then what's the point? Especially since I watched Taiwanese and Cantonese-influenced shows with very non-standard pronunciations, comparing standard pinyin to accented productions is necessary for me. Even with the pinyin subtitles for the non-Netflix shows, it left a lot to be desire because they're tiny above the Chinese characters, and sometimes difficult to read. More than once I thought a ǒ was ō because of how tiny it was.

Not enough content, especially cartoons/beginner level

The one above and this bullet are the main reasons why I don't recommend this app for Chinese specifically. Maybe other languages are fine, but there is simply not enough content for the price. I was hoping for more beginner/lower intermediate content like children's cartoons, however there are none for Chinese. All the animated options are more teenager/adult oriented. There also weren't many light-hearted or comedy options, meaning you would have to watch a lot of serious dramas, thrillers, and violent shows if you wanted to get your money's worth. For my personal taste, I don't want to have to pause every dialogue line for an adult thriller. That would ruin my experience of the show and the suspense. For the non-Netflix options, most shows were incomplete with only 1-5 episodes available out of 10+. They also tended to be lower quality productions, with significantly worse English translations. The majority of what is available outside of Netflix are short films (~5 mins) and cooking shows (10-20 mins) which aren't bad for beginners. I personally have no interest in cooking, though lol. Essentially, there is no TRUE beginner fictional content in Chinese available.

The dictionary is... rough

Again, I was fully dependent on the Zhongwen extension. While the English subtitles themselves are good, the individual definitions of words that you hover over are definitely rough. They weren't actually that helpful for breaking down meanings of things like slang and characters' names. For example, in Scissor Seven there were quite a few animal puns, e.g. 汪星人 which is internet slang for "dog" Lingopie translated as "Woofer" which was... awkward and strange. Without the Zhongwen extension I would have had no idea what this was actually referring to. It would been nice if it functioned more like the Zhongwen extension, where it would highlight individual characters or phrases/combos depending on your mouse placement. Particularly on the non-Netflix shows, the translations even in the English subtitles were incredibly rough and at times I couldn't understand the context in either language. There was also one instance of an entire episode (Netflix) that had incorrect subtitles, I suspect subtitles from a different episode? That was the final straw for me.

It chooses whether or not to highlight single words or phrases so you have no control over your flashcards

This made the flashcards not as functional to me. Sometimes, I wanted just the specific noun/verb in the sentence, but it would make me highlight the entire sentence. Other times, I wanted a really functional phase, but it would only let me highlight the individual words. I barely used the flashcard feature because of this.

Clunky interface (Chrome & Firefox)

I can't speak for mobile or Safari because I didn't use them. Since I was relying on the Zhongwen hover-dictionary, I only used Chrome. You can only use Chrome or Safari if you want Netflix shows. Sometimes the auto-pause after each subtitle would be too early or too late, meaning I would have to actually click things pretty persistently throughout each episode. Using the spacebar to pause/unpause hardly ever worked, and using the arrow keys to flip between subtitles also never worked for me. Sometimes the hover-definitions of words would linger even after I clicked away, and would not disappear until the next subtitle appeared. This was super annoying and would block a good portion of the screen. Sometimes I would have to click things 2-3 times before it registered in both Chrome and Firefox.

Overall, I think it's a great idea, but needs some pretty major improvements in order to be worth the price.

In my opinion, if they were to add significantly more shows, including kid's cartoons, and improved their subtitles, dictionary, & interface function, it would be worth the price.

Maybe in a few years as Lingopie grows, it will be worth it. But for now, it's not. For now, it's clunky and limited. If you were to watch it for an hour a day, you would probably get through all the shows that interested in you in about 3-6 months. It wouldn't take longer than a year to go through all of the Chinese content, as of right now. So why would you pay for a year or lifetime price for that?

(divider credit here)

[squirrel-art]

Q: What do Jedi wear to the club?

A: Their lightsabers!

This is probably the most ambitious thing I’ve drawn in like, a year, which is wild bc I couldn’t even be assed to draw the background (it’s one of my own screenshots from Nar Shaddaa). 

I dunno, I just really like the idea of the psychic space monks getting to be hip normal girls once in a while! <3

Sartorial inspirations below the cut, because figuring out how I was gonna dress everyone was part of the fun teehee

Kira: Kira always struck me a little more of a tomboy, and I like the idea of Coruscanti street fashion orbiting the techwear sphere. So she gets the Kim Possible fit. I think she’d want any excuse to show off her abs \o/

Ántonia: Basically a copy of this outfit  (+leather jacket, gladiator heels, & lightsaber belt) worn by Australian model Isabelle Mathers that I found reposted to Pinterest. I wish I could link to the actual post, but I couldn’t find it on her instagram and suspect it might’ve been from a reel that’s no longer available? Apologies for my lack of journalistic integrity TuT And then her cute little mynock masquerade mask is based on this bat mask.

Savtas: Sav’s casual non-robes wear is almost exclusively jumpsuits, for both convenience and comfort, so of COURSE I put her in the successor to Mark Hamill’s gold lamé jumpsuit he wore for that German TV skit in the 80s. I’m in love with it now

Nadia: I just really wanted to put her in something cute with a lean towards 60s retro-futurism! It felt Star Wars-appropriate. Her dress is based on this fantastic little number by Gnyuki Torimaru. I also gave her Dior boots because I saw them on Pinterest & decided they were fantastic. You might also notice she’s changed the design of her face paint to match Sav’s tattoos ^_^

insert that old adage about gay friend groups always looking like they’re attending separate events

[celsmedia]

My favourite Disney movie ౨ৎ

A review written by Cel

I finally decided to write my love and thoughts about this movie after never finding enough words for it. Tangled is the first 3D animated Disney movie with a disney princess and was their animated studios' 50th movie. It is loosely based on the german fairytale "Rapunzel" by the brothers Grimm from the early 1800s. Some of Disney's previous disney princess movies had also been based on the brothers Grimm fairytales. As we can see in the animated movie we're introduced to this kingdom called Corona, this place is based on the german culture and architecture along with some characters' names. The music is written and composed by the infamous Alan Menken, whom I've admired his work for as long as I can remember, he has composed for Disney multiple times such as the soundtrack for The Little Mermaid. I officially became a fan of him earlier last year when I started watching Tangled's sequel series "Rapunzel's tangled adventure" where he had also composed the music, I definitely recommend watching it if you really enjoyed the movie. One would assume it is some type of spin-off but surprisingly it connects with all the details from the original movie.

To start off with my love for this: I was never a big fan of this movie as a little kid as I am right now. Of course I knew all the words to the songs and the storyline, but I was more of a Cinderella and Frozen kid. Even so, this movie was still on repeat on my family's TV most of my childhood and I safely assume the DVD got ruined because of how much it played.

Tangled is my favourite Disney movie and have been for a very long time. I don't remember when it really got to me, but it was always a comfort movie I could watch all the time if I felt bored or didn't have any movie choices in mind. After watching it atleast once a month (unaware of the amount of rewatches), I felt emotionally attached to it and I knew I could relate to Rapunzel. She is a witty, creative, and curious 18 yr old girl who had been trapped in a tower for most of her life without knowing the true meaning about it. My favourite relatable thing about her is the amount of hobbies she mentions in "When will my life begin?". Disney did really well showing domestic abuse and passive aggression from mother Gothel, us as the viewers already know that she's the bad guy in the story but Rapunzel doesn't which makes her relationship with her feel so natural. Her realisation is one of my favourite scenes because of the recollection of her early memories. I feel the intention of this was to help young children who watches it would maybe realise if they are actually being treated badly and neglected. Of course a young kid wouldn't pick up the bits and pieces that fast but it is easy for someone to think their treatment and relationship with their parents are natural which is the same case with Rapunzel.

Now with Rapunzel's romance that I am very fond of. If you really think about the time Rapunzel and Eugene spent together and the ending of the movie, it is quite weird how they just got married already. They met a day before her 18th birthday, he was on the run and she wanted to see the "floating lights". The fact that Eugene was canonically 26 years old in the movie which can seem pretty weird, but in the series they reveal he was 23 as he turns 26 at the end of the last season. I love how they didn't make them flirty at the start of their friendship which obviously would be natural for two strangers and especially for a girl who's never talked to another human being other than her mother. Flynn Rider, the name Eugene went by, was not happy with this trip he had to do if he wanted his satchel back. It's just wholesome to watch them progress throughout the movie and the way their feelings begins to develop. I like to think Rapunzel admired him from the start, as Eugene fell for her later on. If their relationship had a trope I would definitely say the "she fell first, but he fell harder" trope. In the sequel series, they start the story some months (i think) after Rapunzel returned to her real parents. But she and Eugene hasn't been married yet, she actually said no first because she felt insecure and was still trying to be used to her new life. Their relationship took years with complicated feelings and miscommunication which is one of the best parts of the series. Me personally would've said "yes" right away to Eugene. He is probably the most handsome and dare I say best Disney man. I mean they did put a group of women at the studio to work out his best design..

This is definitely the best animated movie among Disney for me, every scene is just satisfying to watch and it's like letting your brain rest for over an hour. They captured such beautiful moments in animation and perfected it so well with dialogue and music. One of my biggest dreams would be to watch this on a big screen with a live orchestra, and possibly Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi sing too.

I also want to address the live action of Tangled because of the current rumours about the castings. As far as I know, Disney hasn't fully confirmed that the live action is in the works and everything so far is just rumours or assumptions. Only a few days ago 1-2 articles had been found informing that Disney has reportedly casted Avantika Vandanapu and Milo Manheim as Rapunzel and Eugene. This caught a huge amount of attention and controversy on social media, and my biggest problem with this is how people actually believe it. I really thought we were past believing absolute everything we see on the internet, especially from websites we've never gotten information from. Because why would a website almost no one reads suddenly have Disney's thoughts of their cast? Worst is the people believing this and being racist about it. Avantika had never been a choice in my fancast for Rapunzel as she doesn't fit her description, but that does NOT mean she shouldn't be allowed to play her as there are plenty versions of white Rapunzels from before. The people using this casting to compare it with saying "Tiana/Moana should be played by a *white woman*" are who annoy me the most in this situation. I've had multiple arguments with different people the past couple of days because of stating how comparing those two are not fair and the inaccurate casting isn't the same difference. First of all: Tiana's appearance and storyline are based on her skin colour and culture as she's an afro-american woman from the 1920s in New Orleans. In parts of her movie her "background" even gets represented as a problem for her to achieve her dream, this movie is obviously made to represent our beautiful black people in the world. Shocked they didn't get a representation until 2009. Second: Moana is based FULLY on polynesian culture and through polynesian mythology, even her voice actor was encouraged to be a part of that. Auli'i Cravalho, her voice actor, is native Hawaiian and encourages their culture along with the music Lin Manuel Miranda wrote. At last: Comparing this rumoured Rapunzel casting to Tiana or Moana is wrong as her story isn't meant for representation of oppression and not based on her skin colour. Yes, it is loosely based on the brothers Grimm's fairytale which is German and the movie does show German details in the story but things will always change and they already are. Why not let today's children grow up with beautiful characters that can let them feel as included as every white person can with the previous characters? I can say this has never been a problem to me growing up even though none of the disney princesses looked like me, it still makes children aware of it at some point and when I realised I didn't have a disney princess that looked or was based remotely on people like ME, I began hoping Disney would make a south-east Asian princess. That's why I agree that Disney should start making new disney princess movies representing more people instead of not having an accurate casting for the character but honestly, Rapunzel's SKIN colour is not that relevant to her story at all. Anyway, my fancast for Tangled has always been Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim after watching the Zombies movies. They have great chemistry and both of them sing perfectly! I'm excited to see how this live action movie will turn out, after Halle Bailey's "The Little Mermaid" I hope it will be as amazing.

My love for Tangled is endless but to finish my review I want to thank you for reading all the way down here. If I was only allowed to watch one movie the rest of my life I might have chosen this or a 2-3 hour long just to be entertained longer. The amount of times I've watched this has made me able to recite most of the scenes and the whole film is engraved to my mind. I think if I had enough time and peace I could literally sit still and watch the movie scene by scene in my mind. Again, thank you for reading!

Written and edited by Cel

05/04/2024 Friday.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Camp Hero in Montauk Point, New York- a former military base abandoned in the 1980s, and the alleged site of sinister government experiments. Its buried sinister past was the inspiration for the show “Stranger Things.” 

Today, Camp Hero is a New York State-run public park with nearly 800 acres of wild beaches, dense forests and wetlands. But dotted around the park you will find the ruins of its past life, that we’re going to look into, today.

From its beginning, Camp Hero was built with deception in mind. It was the height of subterfuge, disguised as a fishing village to fool Nazi reconnaissance.

Concrete military buildings were painted with fake wood sidings and false windows to resemble cottages.

But Camp Hero would soon become overshadowed by whispers of something much more sinister: A series of highly top secret, government run experiments, known as the Montauk Project.

US intelligence embarked on a fiercely aggressive program to track down as many Nazi scientists and technicians as possible. Codenamed Operation Paperclip, nearly 1,600 captured Nazi scientists were secretly relocated to the US, and put to work on a wide range of  projects. (A lot of them are smiling.)

But, apparently the covert Operation Paperclip also included German scientists & doctors who worked on biological research and medical treatments, such as  the use of mescaline – a powerful psychedelic comparable to LSD. Their mission: To create a powerful new weapon that could control human minds.

A sealed entrance to Camp Hero’s alleged underground facilities. It is claimed the subterranean floors were flooded with cement once the project was shut down in the early 1980s.

Most of Camp Hero’s conspiracy theories center around the enormous 126 foot radar dish, that is perched on a windowless concrete monolith that towers over the other abandoned buildings in the park.

The giant radar would give the United Sates a 30 minute warning should the unthinkable happen.

Around New York City alone, there were 19 secret and heavily guarded Nike missile sites, part of what the US Army called a ‘Ring of Supersonic Steel.’ (An abandoned silo is pictured above.)

Nike missile control room.

But the giant radar dish had a peculiar side effect: It produced a signal as high as 425MHz, a frequency that routinely disrupted TVs and radios in the homes of  residents. It was also a frequency that was rumored to disrupt the human brain.

According to the 1992 book, The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time, the facility had 12 levels under the radar station, where psychological warfare techniques using electromagnetic radiation on homeless people and runaway teenagers, known as ‘the Montauk Boys,’  ranged from mind control to psychic abilities and even time travel.

One explorer said he discovered an underground tunnel at the end of which was a “heavy door, and it had a heavy wheel, like a bank vault.” Alongside other sealed entrances, he uncovered rooms decorated with highly psychedelic patterned wallpaper.

Most intriguingly of all, he found records of vast quantities of food being ordered to Camp Hero in the late 1980s, at a cost of $80,000 a month, years after the US Military had decommissioned the base.

Sceptics, however, should delve into the documents entered into the public record by a 1977 Congressional investigation into a CIA run project called MK- Ultra.

Approved by CIA director Allan Dulles in 1953, Project MK-Ultra conducted hundreds of experiments under the title of “Research In Behavioral Modification.” Some of the participants in the experiments were volunteers. In one study, volunteers were given LSD for a consecutive 77 days. Other experiments in ‘mind control’ would use electro-shock therapy, hypnosis and radiation.

Even more disturbing, the CIA would often drug US citizens and conduct experiments on them without their knowledge or consent. These experiments in mind control caused at least one death that we know about.

The MK-Ultra project was swiftly shut down in the wake of the Watergate scandal, and CIA director Richard Helm ordered all files to be destroyed. The gruesome project might have never come to public light were if not for 20,000 documents that were discovered in a financial records building.

When the deeds to Camp Hero were handed over from the gov’t to the New York State Dept of Parks and Recreation in 1984, they stipulated that New York State would own everything on the surface of the base (what is today the public park), but the gov’t retained ‘ownership of everything below the surface’ – indication of a larger facility lying hidden beneath…

https://www.messynessychic.com/2021/10/08/buried-secrets-of-montauks-menacing-military-camp-that-inspired-stranger-things/

[tallskinnyvanillalatte]

There's this quiz show on German tv that's about logical stuff, puzzles, riddles. No knowledge based questions but looking for patterns, understanding the logic behind it and stuff like that. I've only seen it twice now (right now I'M watching it for the third time) but I've always made it to the last question and was able to solve and explain most riddles. And apparently I'm pretty good at this and now I'm debating if I should apply for it because there's always 100 people that play in the show and the focus isn't on you as an individual person. You play for yourself but you're part of the audience and the host only interviews you like once or maybe more when you make it really far. But it's not like other quiz shows where the focus is on you and everybody is watching you. So... I'm debating lol

[zeldahime]

Highway to Pail Bonus #2

[Day 1] [Prev] [Next] @do-it-with-style-events

Bonus prompt 2: You had me at Merlot.

Keanu Hawke Harrison-Montoya, known to his friends as Halcón or Hal and to his coworkers and customers as Harry, hadn't exactly dreamed of giving wine tours in Sonoma Valley when he was a kid, but it paid okay and you met interesting people. Once some actor from like Ireland or something had been on one of his tours with his wife and oldest kid, and his sister had called him a couple days later to ask if he'd seen them, because the kid was her favorite character on the new Game of Thrones. Not exactly Johnny Depp levels of fame, but they'd been pretty nice and Brit was impressed.

Unfortunately, interesting does not always mean nice. Two of the customers on today's tour were both interesting and irritating as hell. He could tell already that by the time he got home to Pancho, he just was not going to have it in him to do date night, Wednesday or not. Maybe he'd be cool with just cuddling on the couch and watching some dumb reality TV.

The two guys were both middle-age and English and obviously loaded, but otherwise they physically were the opposite of each other in every way, like they'd been designed to be The Odd Couple in a kid's show. One looked like if the Easter Bunny was a gay professor, and the other like the former frontman in a broken-up Clash cover band who hadn't gotten a new personality yet. They argued with each other at the back of the pack like they were either: a) about to get divorced, or b) had never believed in marriage philosophically but nevertheless intended to be in one another's pockets for the next fifty years and die within five minutes of each other so they could continue arguing at the pearly gates. He would not have been surprised if one of them was an anarchist, although based on the boyfriends and girlfriends Pancho's cousins usually brought home, he figured it'd be Easter Bunny rather than Rocker. Every tight-laced looking one talked about the fine points of German philosophy and schemes they had to redistribute wealth to third-world countries and every punk-looking one introduced him to a new "Viking" rune he'd google later and find out was a Nazi symbol. (Desirée was not very good at picking boyfriends.)

It had been more than half an hour since Hal had begun this tour, and despite Easter Bunny saying several times "do be quiet, Crowley" and Rocker saying "shut up and listen, angel" just as often, neither of them had actually stopped talking that entire time. They were quiet, was the worst part, clearly trying to be polite to the other guests by keeping their conversation down, but the whispers were much more distracting than if they'd just talked at a normal conversational level and harder for Hal to call them out on.

His smile was starting to become plastic as they finally hit the first wine break and, hopefully, a break from the English couple's half-heard conversation. He poured the wine for his dozen guests and explained how wine-tasting worked for any newbies. Like he always did, he asked for the guests to first sniff the wine, see if it reminded them of anything. All but one obediently copied him, and most had the look of people who didn't smell anything in particular but didn't want to say so and look stupid; totally normal. Rocker, however, stuck his tongue into the glass, prompting Easter Bunny to nudge him and whisper "do try to act like a human, my dear," and Rocker, at a normal conversational volume, said "Merlot with notes of tea, angel, you'll like it for sure."

"Notes of tea! Very keen nose! That'll be the tannins," Hal said cheerfully, hoping to remind them that there were ten other guests plus him on this tour. "Anyone else smell anything?"

Easter Bunny at least had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. "Thank you, er," he squinted at his nametag, "Harry," presumably on behalf of Rocker, who just smirked and whispered something in what Hal thought was French. Hal assumed it was a Harry Potter joke, because it always was. He ignored them and smiled at the rest of the group.

A round of silent, politely confused faces stared back at him. "Time to taste!" he announced, modeling taking just one sip from his glass. The Englishmen, he noticed, drank their whole sample.

Christ alive. If these two were this annoying sober, he was not going to have fun dealing with them drunk.

Author's note:

I don't know a damn thing about wine, but I do know a bit about being an underpaid tour guide, and Air Conditioning would be the absolute worst. At least they'd tip well. All knowledge of wine comes from the Wikipedia article about Merlot.

Shout out to David, Georgia, and Ty Tennant in paragraph 1. Johnny Depp is mentioned because I read once that the studio had wanted to cast him as Crowley in the never-made movie, and also because he's the most famous person I didn't quite meet while living in a tourist town.

Hal is named after Keanu Reeves and Tony Hawke, and I figured he's probably about my age. Halcón is just Spanish for Hawk. I did Google to make sure it's not accidentally offensive or funny in some dialect like how Concha* can be, and some Mexican reality TV star is being called that because he's got an aquiline nose, so I think we're solid for California at the very least. If it is accidentally funny please let me know! I also liked how you could arguably get Hal from Harrison, via Harrison -> Harry -> misattribution of Harry to Henry -> Hal. Why does Hal come from Henry? Because English is weird.

*Concha means seashell and is a regular woman's name in Spain, a pastry in Mexico, and slang for vagina in Argentina.

[saphira5]

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x Ex - Military Reader Part 1

"I always had problems with the Psych evaluation, I feel like they are always after me. I just didn't understand why only me, Ghost should be on psych mandator leave not me. HE DUG HIMSELF OUT OF A GRAVE WITH HIS FALLEN COMRADES JAW."

"Mr. Garrick", Kyle looks at the psychiatrist.

"Did you hear what I said", Kyle looks around the room not making eye contact with the Psychiatrist. The room was very basic, inspiration pictures hang on the walls. Fake plants on his desk and a shelf with a bunch of books.

"I want to you to foster a puppy; you need to focus on other things beside the military".

Kyle looks at the Psychiatrist "You don't have hobbies and you don't leave the base when you are granted leave for a couple of weeks. The miliary is all you think about Mr. Garrick, the other Task Force members have hobbies and go places when on leave. I know you feel like you are getting singled out, but you must understand, the military won't always be your top priory".

Kyle looks at him and just nods, Kyle stands up from the couch and picks up the papers with the list of things Kyle needs to do to get the all clear to return to active duty.

Kyle opens the door and begins making his way to the apartment the military had provided for him. Well, the apartment Laswell had provided for him. Since he can't return to base, Kyle was walking and looking at the papers and the notes the shrink had wrote.

He looks up and sees he had arrived at the apartment door; Kyle was a bit shocked.

"How did I get here, I only been to this place once". Kyle digs in his pocket and pulls out the keys, he unlocks the door, and he steps inside, Kyle heads straight to the table. He puts the keys and the papers down and heads to lock the door.

Once Kyle locked it, he sighed really loud.

Kyle then makes his way to the table; Kyle pulls out the chair and sits down. Kyle looks through the papers thoroughly, when he looked up the sun wasn't beaming through the curtains, noting but pitch-black outside.

Kyle puts down the papers and heads to the bedroom, the apartment only had a couch and a tv, a table with only one chair. A bedroom with a queen size bed and a nightstand with a lamp. Nothing hangs on the wall, Kyle puts his phone on the nightstand, he then stripes, left in only his boxers, Kyle lays on the bed, thinking and thinking until he fell asleep.

When Kyle woke up, he went to grab his phone from the nightstand.

When he turns in it on, Kyle blinks a couple of times, trying to adjust to the screen light. Once he does the time reads 4:00am, Kyle puts the phone back on the nightstand.

Kyle just lays on the bed, staring at the wall, nothing in his mind.

Kyle then looks right and sees some light picking out from the curtain. Kyle grabs his phone again and looks at the time. 7:00 am, Kyle gets up slowly from the bed, he stretches then heads to the restroom.

Kyle brushes his teeth, then heads to the nightstand to grab some cloths. Kyle puts on a blue shirt, then blue jeans, Kyle puts his phone in his pocket.

He then makes his way to the living room, when he puts on his socks and shoes. He grabs the keys from the table, he was about to head out, when he forgot the card. Money for the puppy and the items needed for the puppy. Everything was provided for Kyle, so he could focus on "recovering".

Once he had the card Kyle then makes his way to the animal shelter.

It took Kyle about an hour or two because he wasn't allowed to drive. Psych orders, Kyle thought about a taxi but didn't want to wait for one to come down the street.

Once Kyle arrived, he was led to a couple of kennels full of puppies. Kyle looked at each and every one, then he saw a puppy in the back of the kennel hiding. He told the lady, she went in and picked up the puppy. It was a German Shepard puppy; it was a big puppy.

The lady passes the puppy to Kyle, he took the puppy, the puppy waged his tail a bit.

Kyle smiles a bit, "I will take him", Kyle got lead to the front to get the papers sorted out. Once Kyle was done, he was walking with Thomas in his arms. The lady said he had only been there a day, her volunteers tried to cheer him up, when one of them showed him Thomas the tank engine.

He began waging his tail, so they named him Thomas.

Kyle begins walking to the pet store to pick up some items for Thomas. Luckly there was one a couple of streets down from his temporary apartment.

Kyle walked in and smelled something strange, he had never smelled something like it. Kyle cringed a bit, Kyle walked to the kibble section, passing fish tanks, and cages with hamsters and Guinea pigs. Kyle was a bit overwhelmed, so many options and different needs.

Some were made for puppies with sensitive stomachs and sensitive skin.

Thomas started barking and wagging his tail, Kyle looks right and sees y/n. Kyle walks over to y/n, Thomas begins wagging his tail even harder, so hard that it hurts. Y/n could see Kyle walking over in your Peripheral vision. Y/n turns and sees Kyle and the young German Shepard puppy standing a foot away from y/n.

"Hello, I was wondering if you could help me pick some things for Thomas". Y/n smiles at Kyle "of course, he is quite a big puppy. Thomas will need a large breed puppy kibble".

Kyle looks at y/n puzzled; y/n chuckles a bit.

"He is your first", Kyle nods, "let me go get a chart, you're going to need it". Y/n walks to the front and gets the biggest kart. Y/n then walks back to Kyle and Thomas. "Alright, let's get started, um", "Kyle", y/n nods, "y/n".

You walk over to the puppy section and grabs a 27.5 Ib bag of large breed Kibble. Y/n loads it in the kart then looks at Kyle, he looks a bit shocked.

"He will grow very large, my dog when he was a puppy ate a lot. I would have to come and pick up another bag in less than a month". Y/n nods, "alright, chew toys are a must, unless you want your table and couch to be replaced". Y/n, Kyle and Thomas walk to the toys, "let's see".

Y/n grabs a cow squeak toy and shows Thomas, Thomas isn't interested, y/n then grabs a Kong toy. Thomas tries to grab it out of y/n hand. Y/n puts it in the kart, y/n then grabs a rope, before y/n showed Thomas, he begins barking.

Y/n puts it in front of Thomas, he grabs it, y/n tries to put it in the kart. But Thomas isn't letting go, y/n just let's Thomas have it.

Y/n looks at Kyle "Oh well, you probably won't need a bed. You will need a bowl for food and water. A measuring cup to feed the exact amount given on the back of the kibble bag. A brush because he will be sheading, a collar and leash. Also does he have his shots". "He does, I had got him from the animal shelter".

Y/n hums, "you are going to need to take him to the vet. Thomas will need a lot of shots, to keep him from getting sick. Also don't let him walk on the ground, only in your apartment. You don't want him getting Parvo, it can kill Thomas. When you take Thomas to the vet, ask them if he well be ok to walk on the ground. Also don't let him touch anything at the vet. There could be something on the ground or the chairs".

Kyle nods at y/n, "alright let's get the rest of the stuff".

Y/n tells Kyle a bunch of things about how to train Thomas, what to watch out for. Y/n explained to Kyle that Thomas could be food aggressive because he is from an animal shelter.

Y/n told Kyle about y/n experience with y/n dog, how he was food aggressive and ate very fast, so fast he threw up his food.

Y/n asked the vet what to do, and the vet said to train him that no one is going to steal his food also to buy a slow feeder. Over time y/n taught him not to be food aggressive and the slow feeder helps him eat slow.

It took about an hour to get everything Kyle needed for Thomas, once y/n done you had helped Kyle outside. Y/n begin walking to the parking lot, "Thanks for the help, y/n". You stop and turn to Kyle "do you have a ride", "no".

"I can take you home, if you want. Because you won't be able to carry all this stuff".

Kyle nods, y/n walks to y/n truck, an old chevy, with pilling red paint, the windows that have to be cranked to go up and down. Y/n unlocks the door, Kyle puts Thomas inside the truck, y/n rolls the window down a bit for Thomas. Kyle then shuts the door and helps y/n load the bags in the back of the truck. Once y/n was done, y/n had walked the kart back inside the store.

Y/n then walks back to the truck, y/n gets in and starts the truck.

Kyle gives y/n his address, y/n begins driving to Kyle's apartment. Once y/n arrived, you both got off, Thomas in Kyle's arms. "I will be back; I am going to put him inside". Y/n nods, Kyle walks up the stairs and opens his door, y/n starts to unload the bags.

Then y/n sees Kyle coming down the stairs, he grabs some bags and begins making his way upstairs. Y/n is right behind him, y/n doesn't enter his apartment, because something felt wrong. Y/n gently places the bags near the door, Kyle comes walking to the front door. "Are you ok, Kyle", he just nods, y/n hums.

Y/n digs into y/n pocket, y/n pulls out a pen and pencil.

"Well, here is the vet's number and mine of you need any help with Thomas", Kyle looks at the paper then at y/n, a frown on his face.

"I won't need it", then y/n hears a crash.

"Kyle grabs the paper from y/n hands, "thank you", y/n nods. Kyle picks up the rest of the stuff and closes the door. Y/n stands there for a bit, then y/n heads down the stairs and to y/n truck. Y/n started the truck and heads on home, y/n had stopped at a red light when it hit y/n.

Y/n finally knew why you felt something was wrong.

Kyle had reminded y/n of yourself, when y/n was in the military. Y/n lived and breathed everything military, y/n didn't make time or cared for any other things. Until y/n got out of the military, y/n had finally seen how much y/n relied on the military.

The military provided food, shelter and work, y/n tried to work but it never worked out, y/n didn't know how to cook, or what to do with so much free time.

Y/n had tried reading, drawing, yoga, meditating, etc.

It took y/n a while to be ok, without y/n dog y/n won't have survived being out of the military. Y/n looks up and sees the light turn green, y/n drives on, y/n arrives at your house. Y/n turns of the truck, y/n gets out and closes the door, y/n locks it. Y/n was making your way to the front door when y/n hears Gordon barking.

"IT'S ME BUDDY", the barking stopped, y/n begins putting the key in the door when y/n hears a crash inside, y/n rushes to the window and sees Grodon, he had ripped the blinds off the window, he is on the couch barking and wagging his tail.

Y/n unlocks the door and Gordon comes running to y/n, he jumps up on his hind legs.

Y/n is 6 feet tall; Gordon is a bit taller than y/n when he is standing on his hind legs. Y/n helps him down, Gordan then begins smelling y/n. Gordon can smell Kyle and Thomas. Y/n closes the front door and lock it. Y/n walked to the broken blinds, y/n grabbed the broken blinds, when y/n hears the phone.

Y/n walks to the phone with broken blind in y/n hands, you pick up the phone, "hello", "Hello, y/n I need your help, Thomas is going crazy". "I am on the way", y/n puts the broken blinds near the trash can, then y/n walks to the front door, y/n opens it. Y/n then turns and looks at Gordon.

"Want to go on a ride", Gordan begins barking and wagging his tail.

Y/n opens the door fully and Gordan runs to the truck, y/n looks the front door and heads to the truck. Y/n opens the driver side door, Gordon hopes in. Y/n then gets in and starts the truck, y/n arrives at Kyle's apartment, y/n gets off and Gordan follows y/n.

You make y/n way upstairs, Gordan right behind y/n.

You hear cursing and crashing, y/n knocks on the door. A few seconds later the door opens, Kyle looks terrible, he is all bewildered. "He can't seat still for a moment", y/n looks at Gordan, "teach Thomas some manners", Gordan moves Kyle out of the way and enters his apartment.

Kyle looks at y/n scared, "Gordan will guide Thomas, he is a puppy after all. Thomas's parents should have been teaching him how act, the does and don'ts". Kyle nods, "come in", y/n nods and walks inside, y/n sees the couch has scratches and chew marks. The table has chunks missing form it. Y/n doesn't see the Thomas or Gordan, then y/n hears a cry.

Thomas comes running from a room to the living room with his tail in between his legs. He runs straight past y/n, Gordan walks out of the room and to y/n, you turn and see Kyle caring Thomas. He has a frown on his face, "it seems scary Kyle, but Thomas isn't hurt.

If he doesn't learn know he will be difficult when he gets older and 100 pounds".

Kyle slowly puts down Thomas, Kyle keeps his eyes on Gordon the whole time. Thomas runs back to the room and comes back to the living room with a rope toy.

Thomas gives it to Gordon, and Gordan picks it up and begins swinging it around, then Thomas grabs the other side of the rope, the begin playing dug of war. Y/n looks at Kyle, his frown disappeared, but his lips were in a thin line. Thomas leads Gordon to the other room, Gordon follows, "don't break anything, Gordon. You lost?".

"What", Kyle looks at y/n strangely.

"You remind me of myself, when I lived and breath military. When I got out it was hell. I would rather be in a fire fight then stay another day at home doing nothing".

Kyle looks away, "I understand all too well Kyle, I always felt the shrink was going after me until I left the military. I had so much trouble dealing with so much free time. I tired many things to keep me occupied. Yoga, reading, Legos, planting, and fishing".

Kyle looks at y/n, you see a single tear fall from left eye.

"There is nothing to be ashamed about Kyle, if you need help, I am here". "Thank you, y/n it means a lot. I need to complete a list to be able to return to duty. But I want to find some hobbies or something I can do on my off time". Y/n smiles at Kyle, "well you had found the right person for that".

Kyle walks over to the couch and sits down, "please, sit", y/n walks over and sits next to Kyle. "What do you do in the military? Also, what do you like to do when at the base?", y/n looks at Kyle.

"I am on a team, the 1-4-1. I like talking to my captain, he is like a father to me. When at the base, me and Soap loving playing pranks on Ghost. I really like looking at the scenery when on missions". Y/n smiles suddenly disappears then reappears.

"That's great! Kyle, you should try hiking and rocking climbing. It's really fun, maybe you should even try bird watching, it reminds me of watching everything through a sniper rifle scope". A knock on the door stops y/n from continuing with other activities Kyle should try. Thomas comes running, barking at the door, Gordon walks over to Thomas.

Gordon does the same as Thomas, "that's enough", Gordon stops barking, but Thomas is still barking. Gordon correct Thomas, he stops barking and walks over to Kyle. Thomas jumps on the couch, and he stands on his hind leg and puts his paws on Kyle's chest.

They person knock again, but a little louder. "Mind if I answer it", "go head Kyle, this is your place after all". Kyle smiles at y/n he then gets up from the couch with Thomas in his arms. Kyle opens the door and steps outside but leaves a crack in the door.

"Hello Kyle, I wanted to check and see how you are doing".

"That voice sounds so familiar", Gordon then goes running to the door, he opens it with his snot, y/n then hears a yelp. "Gordon, what are you doing here". Y/n stands up and goes to the door. Y/n opens it and sees John Price, y/n frowns at him. Y/n looks at Kyle, "I am going to get going Kyle, call me if you need anything".

Kyle nods at y/n, y/n doesn't look at Price, y/n picks up Gordon, he begins crying, y/n makes you way downstairs.

Y/n opens the passenger door and puts Gordon inside.

Y/n opens the driver side door. Y/n hops in and starts the truck, y/n drives away. Gordon was still crying, y/n park in y/n driveway. Y/n looks at Gordon, but he doesn't look at y/n. "You just don't understand Gordon, on how much his and the 1-4-1 betrayal hurt".

Y/n opens the driver's door, you leave it open for Gordon. Then y/n heads inside, you open the door and close it. Y/n bends down and unlocks the dog door for Gordon. Y/n heads upstairs, you walk into y/n bedroom. Y/n lays down and stares at the ceiling, "y/n didn't know how long y/n had been tied to a chair.

The only thing y/n heard was the drop of water from an old pipe.

The room had only a chair, it was placed in front of y/n. Y/n would watch the drop of water fall over and over. When the door opens, y/n sees John Price and Ms. Laswell step inside, Ms. Laswell closes the door.

Price walks over to y/n and punches y/n in the face.

Y/n heads turns a bit, y/n looks at price with a neutral expression. Ms. Laswell walks over and sits in front of y/n. "Why did you do it?", y/n puts your head back. Y/n sighs heavily, "they will get what they wanted", "who will get what? what is it they will get!". Y/n looks at Laswell then at John Price. "They will get victory", Price and Laswell left, y/n had stayed tied for days maybe months.

Questions after questions, torture after torture, Task Force 141 tired anything to make y/n talk. Y/n brothers, friend and family have turned on y/n. When the door opens again, y/n prepares for another round of torture. Y/n sees Price, Laswell, Soap and Ghost enter; Ghost closes the door. Y/n looks up and sees sad expression on Price, Laswell's and Soaps face.

Y/n begins laughing hard, when y/n stopped you spoke "now you see, they framed me. They won the battle and the war; they are showing their power and strength, that they can make the military crumble in their wake". Y/n breaks out of rope and begins walking to the door, y/n is limping and holding y/n dislocated arm.

Y/n opens it and y/n heads home, the Task Force and the military tried to talk to y/n. The Military even tried to threaten y/n, they tried to take y/n retirement money, but they didn't understand what had meaning to you. Everything y/n loved was gone, y/n comrades, Task Force 141 was no longer y/n family.

But y/n couldn't understand, they knew you inside and out, or so y/n thought.

After a couple of years all have given up on finding out the truth.

Y/n wanted to leave the military for Gordon; due to Gordon being so huge he messed up his hip but with time it healed. Gordon was y/n K9 in the 1-4-1 but had to retire because once y/n was considered a traitor they locked Gordon up. Y/n read the report before y/n left the miliary. When people tried to feed him, he would bite them, he would growl and bark when someone entered through the door. Over time he forgave the 141, they would come to y/n house, once a week and try to ask for forgiveness, for over a year.

Y/n couldn't forget or forgive, y/n couldn't trust anyone ever again.

Y/n then hears something for downstairs, y/n gets up and walks downstairs. Y/n walks to the ringing phone, y/n picks up the phone. "Hello", "Hello y/n, it me Kyle", "I know what you want Kyle, and it isn't happening. Fuck off Price, don't drag Kyle down with you".

Y/n hangs up the phone.

Post 9/29/23

[goodqueenaly]

I thought Queen Victoria's older half-sister Feodora possibly marrying King George IV was just made-up for the TV show "Victoria" but that's not totally true? Within the episode it's a major source of resentment by Feodora (Kate Fleetwood) towards her family and in particular her little half-sister (Jenna Coleman) which seems like dramatic license, but the actual mini-courtship seems to based on some reality and it went far enough with The Princess Sophia being a promoter of it?

I don’t have much interest in watching the show and can’t speak to it as an adaptation of real-world events, but Victoria made a passing reference to this potential engagement in her 1872 memoir. Reminiscing about visiting George IV in 1826, as a little girl of seven, she remarked that “[t]he King paid great attention to my Sister, and some people fancied he might marry her”. Personally, I doubt whether George IV would have really been interested in marrying again (given the utter disaster of his first marriage), much less to a 19-year-old some 45 years his junior, especially when he was in pretty poor health, in the last years of his life, and already had a long-term mistress. (Nor did George IV need to guarantee the succession, given that he had a ready heir presumptive in his brother William, as well as four nieces and nephews by 1826, Victoria included.)

Nevertheless, the mere threat of Feodora marrying someone rich and powerful, even if not the King, seems to have motivated the Duchess of Kent and Sir John Conroy to wed Feodora to someone distant and powerless. Indeed, Conroy bluntly reminded the Duchess that “[i]t is necessary for your and the Pss. Victoria’s interest that it [i.e Feodora’s marriage] should take place”, because “the interest you ought to have over [Victoria] will be endangered if she sees an older sister not so alive to it as she should be” (adding ominously that “once your authority is lost over the Princess V. you will never regain it”). The solution, for the Duchess and Conroy, was Prince Ernest of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, ruler of a tiny German toy kingdom with very little money (certainly by princely standards).

[sugdenlovesdingle]

Since Hollywood is on strike (take down the greedy studio bastards!) and I saw a post calling people to check out non-American media - let's start a rec list!

as far as I know these are on Netflix (I don't have any other streaming subscriptions at the moment so I can't rec anything from the others) and might be available online *elsewhere* with a little internet magic.

La casa de papel (also known as Money Heist) A group of criminals are robbing the Spanish Mint - chaos ensues. I think everyone and their grandmother has seen this by now but still. I loved this show - I stayed up until stupid o'clock because i HAD to know what was going to happen next and how they were going to get out of the shit they'd gotten themselves into. 5 seasons. La casa de las flores (also known as House of flowers) Think telenovelas/soap operas. It's unhinged, it's funny, it's a little queer (mlm and wlw). Long lost children, affairs, Big Family Secrets, drag queens - what more could you ask for?? 3 seasons, a special episode (la case de las flores el funeral), and a film (la casa de las flores la pelicula)

Anne+ (film + 1 of 2 seasons tv show - it originated as a webseries so the episodes are pretty short but Netflix deleted the second season) The life and loves of Anne - a queer millennial living in Amsterdam.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga Queer (wlw) Bollywood film. A friend recced it to me once. I had never watched a Bollywood film in my life, didn't know anything about the genre, but still enjoyed it. It's a drama. Don't go into this thinking it's the Hindi version of the L word though or you will be disappointed.

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan Another queer (mlm) bollywood film my friend recced me. It's a little more "blatant" than the one I mentioned before (this one is from 2020, the other 2019) and it's more of a comedy This one is not on Netlfix - it used to be on Amazon prime but I don't know if it still is. I found it *elsewhere* though with better subtitles than on amazon.

Kalifat This is a Swedish show about a young girl getting pulled into the world of extremist Islam, a young mother who already is in the kalifat (and wants to leave) and a (female) journalist trying to help her. It's intense but really good - and kind of scary how easy it is fall down an extremist internet rabbit hole.

Meskina Dutch romantic comedy about a Dutch/Moroccan woman in her 30s who is still single and her family play matchmaker. Featuring one of the funniest women in the Netherlands (Soundos el Ahmadi - who is also a stand up comedian and her shows are on netflix too)

Isi & Ossi German romantic comedy film about a rich girl who wants to go to culinary school but her father won't let her, so she pretends to be in a relationship with a poor guy who is also a boxer to piss off her parents.

Family business Completely unhinged French comedy series about a guy who turns his family's butchershop into a shop that sells weed - because he heard weed was about to be legalised in France. Really funny - 3 seasons.

Lupin French crime/heist show - but from the POV of the thief. Based on/inspired by the Arsène Lupin books. With Omar Sy. IT'S SO GOOD! 2 seasons, season 3 coming in October.

Dirty Lines Dutch (kind of) comedy about a woman who takes a job at a sex phone line.

reblog and add your own!