#here’s to 24 being a little less sucky

[theamazingannie]

I turn 24 tomorrow so here’s the list I’ve compiled of songs that mention being 23 that make me not hate the idea of being 24:

right where you left me by Taylor Swift “she’s still 23 inside her fantasy” along with “did you hear about the girl who lives in delusion?”

What’s My Age Again? by Blink-182 “nobody likes you when you’re 23”

Late to the Party by Emei “21 without a Grammy or degree// too bad that’s sad maybe at 23” (spoiler alert: not doing so well at 23 either; in fact, I’m doing worse)

23 by Chase Atlantic-this whole song is depressing

I’m convinced there are no happy songs about being 23, so if anyone has any songs about being 24 that are a little more hopeful, I’d love to hear them

[captain-grammar]

LOTRO has been down for almost 24 hours.

While mass outages like this are extremely rare (I think the last huge outage was a few years ago; game worlds were offline for a day, maybe two, but there were ongoing issues with the world chat and store for about a week afterwards) there have been ongoing issues with the game for some time. Niggles, small login issues that were rectified fairly swiftly, patch fixes here and there in addition weekly maintenance... But with the changes they're making and the expansions in-game, I wonder what work is being done in terms of "infrastructure" and server stability, and whether we can expect to see more of this in the future? I hope not.

Of course, this happening over a holiday weekend is awful, and I fully credit those working on fixing the issue who are potentially away from their loved ones when they may much prefer to be spending time with them. Having to deal with less-than-savory social media and forum posts from people who may have wanted to spend a little down time in-game can't be helping. But I've also been seeing posts from newer players who have been seeing these changes and updates and errors happening frequently, confused wondering if this is the norm and losing faith...

I don't know whether more transparency is needed or not. It's a sucky situation all over.

[that-one-weeb-buts-its-the-main]

Being Eddie Munson's Brother

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reader: Male| Eddie Munson- Brotherly Platonic | Past realtions to Billy who's like. Coopute :(

Type: headcannons + Drabbles

A/n: This is Part one, part 2? It will indeed come out, but this is coming out first then part 2 of Dustin sister headcannons then part 2 of this series the next day

Warnings: bad dreams, the feeling of guilt, swearing

✧▬ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬ ▬✧

You and Eddie, always hand in hand, brother and brother

He was your older brother a year or two older than you

and because he kept failing: which you could honestly care less about, you ended up as Seniors in Highschool together

it was an understatement to say that you loved each other

Like said before you're hand in hand stuck like glue

He knows quite frankly everything about you, and you the same

He even knows about you being *cough* pansexual *cough*

You guys talk about it openly;

"I think I identify as what they call Rosboy too."

"Are you changing your name? Still Y/n the man that likes all?" Eddie asked looking through a magazine.

"No, I don't think so."

"Cool because you're always gonna be a little shit to me." He spoke looking over at Y/n with a smile, "no matter who you end up. My little shit."

That's your brother for you, no matter what name he calls you: Shit disturbed, shorty, a hole, he'll always care for you

So when you get a secret boyfriend he's all like " >:0 You didn't tell me"

Then it turns out to be Billy and he's like ">:)" because now he can tease you now that he knows

You've managed to stay away from the Upside down crap, which is weird

Eddie's there to comfort you when you get a phone call about Billy dying in a mall fire

He'd stay up all night with you: because he knows you'd do the same.

It takes time, but he gets you through it and DOSENT let you drink or even touch Weed while you're in a lower-than-low state

He'll let you have a cig or two but that's about it

He keeps you as away from anything bad as possible.

He'll pull you to school, make theatricals at lunch

Give you his pudding

Anything to see that smile again.

And with time it helps

Big Brother is always looking out for the little brother

But then the dreams start,

"Hello? Eddie?" Y/n asked walking down a path he's barefoot, "Eddie? Are you there?"

There's a man standing in a field just above knee-high grass, dressed in white.

"I drew you another picture!"

"Very nice, what is it?"

"A corpse lily in the book, its eats the bad people that want to hurt you."

"That's very sweet of you. I will put it with the others you have made for me."

"Hello?" Y/n called.

The man turned towards him, "What right do you have being here? Like you couldn't help him, you know this was happening, this is your fault. You could have saved him."

He'd come too close for comfort as Y/n took a step back: "Sir I don't-Y/n paused running into someone's chest.

He turned around quickly, "Oh shit...Oh, shit.."

"I'm surprised you even still remember me," Billy spoke walking forward, "You knew, you could help, You. Could have saved me!"

"no. No. no. " Y/n argued as Billy grabbed his arm, "Get off me!"

"This could have saved me!" He argued lifting Y/n's arm up, exposing the wrist showing the number 001, "The damn science experiment! The freak! I gave you everything and you didn't even try!"

"y/n! Y/n!"

It was like a yank back into reality, it went dark as Y/n fell off the couch.

"Holy shit! Are you okay!" Eddie asked, "You were screaming! And in a cold sweat! And holy shit you're nose is bleeding! Are you okay!?"

You just hugged him, he holding you tight.

But you try and tell him your alright

And he finds it so sucky, you were doing so much better too

But he'll help you again

Ooo maybe not ya know with suddenly becoming a murder suspect while you were out doing something late one night

You were actually working at a 24-hour store when it happened and had gone home just to see the place packed with Police.

"What the hell..." Y/n spoke rushing forward.

"Kid- Kid stop!"

"I live here!"

Then cops were on you and they informed you on everything.

You've known Chrissy actually, helped her with some bloody noses in the past, and helped her with a breakdown in the hall like close friends that just stayed apart from each other,

You fought them actually: arguing about how Eddie would never EVER hurt anyone

They asked about hellfire and you simply said: "The nerds? that have nobody strength at all, you think they killed Chrissy?"

"Look Y/n, we...know...about you and Billy, and we know that this could be hard for you-"

How DARE they bring Billy into this!? You left in anger to go find him.

You're only option was to go to his friends house.

Dustin was the best bet but he wasnt there

So you went to Mike: who was out of town.

Lucas? You didnt really like how Lucas turned on his friends

Max wasnt home either

So you called you're friendly LGTBQ friend

Robin

"What!? We're busy!"

"Robin"

"Oh. Y/n." She spoke, "Wait Y/N!"

"Yes! Yes! Listen-"

"Come down to family video! Now!"

"What!?"

"Just! Hurry!"

You did as told, rushing off with your leather strapped metal roller skates

God you were so glad Eddie found those at a thrift store.

It took time but you got there.

"Took you long enough!" Robin argued.

"Y/n!"

"Yeah hi dustin!" Y/n waved.

"Who is this!?" Steve argued joining the conversation.

"Woah...who are you?" Y/n spoke memorized.

"Hey! Munson!" Robin argued.

"Hi! Sorry!" Y/n defended, "Im kinda busy!"

"Who's Reefer Rick!?" Dustin cut in.

"How do you know about Reefer Rick!?" Y/n defended.

"Do you know where he lives?!" Dustin argued.

"Well Yeah but-"

"Drive us! We'll explain on the way!"

Now your driving to Reefer Rick's house as there explaining everything to you

Like everything

Even Eleven

And they point out a tattoo she has, and you're swear your gonna break down crying

"Hey! Hey! Are you okay?" Steve argued, "You're nose."

"I-I'm fine." Y/n argued wipping his nose.

"Are you sure?"

"Im fine!"

"Dude you're bleeding!"

"I SAID IM FINE!"

"WOAH WOAH LIGHT POLE!"

Y/n hurried to hit the gas, quickly avoiding the falling post.

You swear your going insane

But you calm down and contuine to drive, leadingt them to Ricks

You dont find Eddie at first, but then you guys go in the back

Ooop Steve almost getting stabbed with a broken bottle.

"Eddie-"

"Y/n. Oh jesus."

Y/n quickly hugged him.

"Y/n. I don't. Man. Im so..."

"I know. I know." Y/n spoke, pulling away, "You've always gotten my back. So I got yours this time."

He nodded the two hugging tightly again.

You felt so bad about what Eddie was going through.

You're one of the only people able to calm him down.

and it quite frankly is true

While the others went to go and pick up some food for him you stayed with him

He's jumpy, 100% Every little thing makes him tick, makes him move

Its devastating to watch him unravel

"You know I just ran..." Eddie spoke up, "I left her there...in that trailer... I left her there with...with that thing."

"Eddie it's not your fault-"

"It's not that it's my fault! I know I didn't lift her up and kill her! I know!" He argued, then sighed, stressed out: "I...ran...must be great to have a freak and a coward as a brother."

"Coward or Freak, you're the best brother I'd want." Y/n told him sitting besides him, "me and you against the world right?"

That made him feel better, not entirely; but it pulled at his heartstrings,

You'd do anything for each other

As you guys waited for the return you both end up falling asleep hidden in the boat like old times

You wake up, it's dark outside and you're all stiff.

"Eddie? Eddie, wake up." Y/n protested, but Eddie snored as Y/n sighed getting out of the boat cracking his arms and letting them loose once again.

"Y/n."

Y/n paused looking around as laughing was heard outside.

"No! No! Watch it!"

Y/n walked towards the window, where he saw it, himself and Billy playfighting in the shallows of the water, Billy picking him up laughter filled the air. The same little boy with them and the same man dressed in white. Y/n walked out of the large shed, it looked so joyous. The whole thing was so lively and warm.

"Beautiful isn't it,"

Y/n looked over the man in white coming toward him, "Such an innocent time. Hm?"

Y/n watched as he grabbed his arm, "It's okay. It's okay."

Y/n was silent as he lifted his arm up, the man's touch familiar to him pulling his sleeve back, wrist connecting, both sharing the number 001, "I remember if we didn't have the same number you a wouldn't participate. Ah...you wanted to be so much like me...don't you remember me? Brother."

"Let me go."

Y/n pulled away, just to be grabbed, "You know you're power. Why don't you use it!?" He argued

"Let me Go." Y/n defended.

"Why couldn't you save me!" Billy shouted, he now replaced the man in white.

"Plesse! Billy! I love you! Im sorry! Im sorry!" Y/n cried.

"You want me to go away!? You want me to go! Then you make me go!"

Y/n cried, this wasnt Billy, "No! No! I don't do that! Go away! Go away!"

"Make me!" He shouted, "You could be saving your friends! But no! You're a coward! A pussy! They're going to be six feet deep just like me!-"

"Go away! Go away! Go away!" He screamed, "Go away!"

"Then make me!"

"I curse you! I curse you! I curse you!" Y/n screeched falling to his knees and closing his eyes, covering his head with his arms, ir felt like water filled his lungs, and it was hard to breathe.

"Y/n! Y/n!"

Y/n was pulled from the lake, "Jesus H. Christ!" Eddie spoke.

"What the hells been your problem lately!? Shit your bleeding again!"

He takes you inside

He's so worried for you

Could this thing that got chrissy...get you too?

But while you barely pulled out the water and intk the shed the group comes back.

"Holy shit what happened?" Robin asked rushing over Y/n crying in Eddie's arms.

"I found him in the lake. His nose. It keeps bleeding. And he's wondering off." Eddie started to ramble, "and he's been having these nights where he can't even sleep and he's scarred and I- I can't loose him!-"

"You found him in the lake?" Steve asked crouching down, "I was a lisecned life gaurd. Let me just look him over."

Steve grabbed Y/n's wrist flipping it over to start checking his pulse

"Holy. Shit." Steve spoke looking down at his wrist.

"What?" Dustin asked.

"This look familiar to any of you?" Steve asked.

"That's like El's tattoo." Max spoke.

"He's like El." Dustin spoke.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

for the fluff list, Blupjeans and 24!!!

[Image ID: Another ask, this time from @tentatively-positive-3, that says "#24 blupjeans?" END ID]

24. “I know you might not think so, but you look really good right now.”

((general/fluff prompts - accepting!!))

--

Barry had his backpack over one shoulder as he pushed open the door to his and Lup's quarters. The lights were dim and the blinds were shut and there was Lup, piled under a few blankets and drawing something in a journal Lucretia had given her last year. Barry's mood- it doesn't dampen, but he softens, seeing Lup like this. He shut the door gently and placed his bag next to it, before going to sit next to her.

The journal is more of a sketchbook if they were being honest. He and Lup both had dozens of journals filled with scientific findings, or just thoughts and feelings. This one doesn't have any lines on the page, and Lup was going at it with her pencil. A lot of it Barry couldn't decipher, which was concerning, but Lup was decent at drawing on a good day.

"You okay, babe?" he asked, leaning over just a bit more to get a better look at the drawings. It looked like her, over and over and over again, different each time. "What'cha drawing?"

Lup didn't say anything for a bit, her pencil paused. She rolls over onto her back and looks up at him.

"The people on this plane are dickwads," she said and Barry nodded sympathetically.

In terms of local friendliness, they were okay, but only if you looked how they wanted you to look. Unluckily for the crew, none of them matched the standards of beauty met here. The inhabitants of this world looked like gods on earth, having almost an ethereal beauty to them.

Their rejection didn't hit too hard for Barry, who already knew he was kind of plain-looking and had grown used to it. Davenport and Merle couldn't really care less, though Davenport was peeved by the fact they were not allowed into the cities. Lucretia seemed to be taking it okay, and Magnus had been offended for a bit, but Barry honestly couldn't tell if he was pretending or not.

Taako was... fine, after a few days. Insulted, of course, because if there was one thing Taako prided himself on, it was how he looked. They expected Lup to bounce back just the same, but...

It wasn't just a beauty thing, for Lup.

"I know you might not think so," Barry said gently, "but you look really good right now.”

Lup cracked a smile, but it faded after a few seconds.

"You know that's not the problem, babe," she said.

"I know," Barry said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I dunno," Lup said, looking at the journal. "I... feel like I'm being stupid. It's not like- they're not saying I'm not a woman, they're saying we're not people, because we look so bad. But my brain is like "oh, they don't perceive you how you want to be perceived? Dysphoiraaaaa tiiiime." It fucking sucks, Bar, I hate it."

"It sounds sucky," Barry said genuinely. "I'm here for- for whatever I can do to help, Lup, I promise. Is drawing helpful?"

"The other option is finding something to blow up, so yeah, I guess," she said, turning back on her side towards the journal. "Usually when I draw myself I'm like- normal, right?" She flips back a few pages and points at a self-portrait. It was a little abstract, but beautiful nonetheless. "Good, right?"

"Yeah," Barry said.

She turned back to the page she was on and pointed at one of the various Lup's she had done. This one was messy, scribbled, and smudged. It only had one arm, and half a face, and looked, frankly, exhausted.

"That's how I feel, I guess," she said, pushing it towards him. "Metaphorically, 'cus I got my arms and my face, but it doesn't- I don't feel whole. I feel- not great. Uncomfortable, maybe. I mean there's a reason it's called dysphoria, so."

"Yeah," Barry said again, thumbing at the page. There was another sketchy Lup in the corner, rolled into a tight ball, just kinda laying there. And another about midpage, looking like she was falling through the air and desperately trying to catch herself on something. And another, hunched over, and another, pulling at her face, looking uncomfortable.

And another, and another, and another. There was barely any un-doodled on space.

"We could probably find something to blow up," Barry said after a moment of silence. "This distraction obviously isn't working, though I do like the art. It's very... it gets across your point very well. But, uh, we could definitely find something for you to blow up if you want. And then we can come back and cuddle, if you also want that."

Lup made a noise of consideration and then nodded.

"Alright," she said, sitting up a bit. "I can get down with that plan."

[cripplemagic-arc]

NSFT headcanons 

(caution: k!nk stuff ahead) (ps: i am not sorry for how long this is. disabled people deserve sex lives and deserve to feel sexy. so if that makes you uncomfortable, you may leave.)

ALSO BIG WARNING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DYSPHORIA AROUND TERMS USED DURING INTIMACY, BOTH IN REGARD TO GENDER AND BODY PARTS. There is discussion of what jay likes and dislikes being called so read with caution if this sort of subject triggers you.

First off: as mentioned in another post, Jay is demisexual. This means that they require a deep emotional bond and understanding with someone before being willing to have sex with said person. Yes it’s partially trauma fueled and that’s okay. They’ve worked on trauma for years and its still how they feel. 

THAT BEING SAID! Within a relationship where sex is an option, Jay can lean towards hypersexual. Again, trauma fueled. Trauma fucks with a person in sucky ways. Jay often has to balance a desire for sex and physical intimacy with what their body can allow them to do on any given day. Their preferences tend to reflect their solutions or compromises for such issues. 

Jay also tends to require less of an emotional bond with androgynous/femme presenting people over masc presenting people. AGAIN! TRAUMA! *jazz hands* This is not to say they are a lesbian or won’t be with masc presenting people at all. However they tend to enjoy more T4T (trans for trans) type stuff when possible.  

here’s where the cut is required. Please be aware that k!nk is something that they engage in as a trans disabled person. 

Jay is a k!nky person. Disabled people are in and belong in k!nk spaces. Some of the things they like are as follows:

Overstimulation/forced orgasms - they engage in/ask for this rarely. More often than not it is when they initiate things that they’re open to doing it. Requires a lot of fucking trust for them to even talk about it. So far two people they have ships with are able to engage in it with them. They enjoy it paired with being blindfolded, as a trade of sensory experiences.

restraints/shibari - NOTE: JAY IS HYPERMOBILE AND MUST USE MORE FLEXIBLE RESTRAINTS AND TIES AS TO NOT DAMAGE THEIR SKIN AND JOINTS. That being said, they eat this shit up. Especially shibari. Softer ropes are necessary for it. Leather/suede/softer cuffs as well as fabric is good for arms and legs, and spreader bars can be used if the partner makes sure that their hips aren’t dislocated.

oral fixation - jay has one. enough said. fingers in the mouth, dick in the mouth, so on so forth. 

cockwarming - they have adhd, they can’t sit still most of the time. It’s a fun challenge for them, no matter if its a strap or the real thing. 

BDSM/power dynamics - they are a sub, and a brat. they like acting out for attention but tend to settle down quickly. . . most of the time. full time 24/7 dynamics aren’t necessarily their thing though. It takes a special person to get that. frankly no one’s really hit that mark.

collars - more of a turn on, being collared. But they love it. It’s part of their sub mindset. 

royalty kink - so uhmmm. . . essentially they like the idea of 1. being treated like royalty and 2. roleplay scenarios that involve things like princes and princesses or royalty and their knights, things like that.

dressing up - aka letting their partner decide what they wear. usually only around the house though. 

not necessarily sexual but! BODY PAINTING. painting on someone’s skin. enough said.

there’s something really empowering for them about being eaten out or fucked in their wheelchair. totally upfront about it when the time comes, not to mention being in their chair often gives them more joint support.

misc. stuff.

They accept ‘good boy’ a lot more than ‘good girl.’ Before things get to that point they will let their partner know what they’re feeling, as it changes from situation to situation.

pet names are a huge point of happiness for them. mainly things like ‘little otter,’ ( Mainly used by Matthew from @cxmemeetmymonsters​ ) ‘little bird’ ( something they reclaimed after years of trauma work due to elias using the same and similar terms) ‘good boy,’ ‘my boy,’ ‘my prince,’ similar things.

when it comes to talking about their genitalia, they’ve never been on HRT or anything that would give them a tdick as it’s just not something they’ve wanted to do. they’re fine with the usual terms for what they have as an afab person. 

[yeochikin]

late night snacks. | j. yunho

a/n: i needed to like.. write something due to having some type of writer’s block the past few days kjddkf but here’s the full fic, if you have seen the teaser ehe. this is lowkey sucky but at the same time i like it and that’s what matters pfft. hope you enjoyed reading this! ✨💖

"y/n."

a soft groan left your lips before you shifted on the bed, just to face the other side. the creasing of your brows slowly softened up once you started to fall back to sleep, muscles relaxing once again until...

"y/n."

cue another groan coming from you, your eyelids slowly fluttered open. due to the sleepiness still in them, you could only make out a shadowy figure in front of you, which caused you to sit up awake to scream in alarm until a large hand quickly covered your lips.

"calm down, calm down. it's just me, yunho!" said male reassured.

heart still thumping rapidly against your chest, you swear that you can almost feel it jump out of your chest. it took you a few more seconds to finally calm down while your roommate watched you with concerned eyes. 

"you scared me, yunho. what do you want?" you asked with a hand on your chest, patting it gently to calm your heart as you sat up while rubbing the sleepiness away from your eyes.

though relieved it wasn’t some random intruder about to kidnap you, you glowered down at the tall male who managed to look so tiny just kneeling down next to your bed. yunho, who could see the slight annoyance painted over your visage, quickly spoke up before you would snap at him for disturbing your sleep in the little hours of night.

“come with me, let’s go to the convenience store.” he declared.

“jeong yunho!”

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

you don't even know how it happened. one moment, you were in your bed, and now suddenly, you are dressed in your most comfortable hoodie and leggings, seated on the barstool of the convenience store overlooking the nearly empty street, the window in front of you acting as a barrier between the inside of the store and the outside.

“an ice cream sandwich of choice for our lady.”

the sudden image of the said frozen treat appeared in your line of vision made you look up at your roommate who was grinning down at you despite you glaring daggers at him from the rude awakening earlier. yet, you grumbled a low ‘thanks’ and took the ice cream sandwich as yunho took his seat next to you.

you won’t lie, it was difficult to stay mad at the male seated beside you. 

yunho had always been the cheerful one in your friendship and somehow would pack a lot of energy with him, frequently bouncing in place due to his excited nature. of course, it would be unrealistic to say that he's all smiles 24/7. it is a little harder to approach him whenever he is in a bad mood, and it was not because he looked scary. rather, his face would be devoid of any emotion, holding a poker face, and looking as if something was in his train of thoughts. sometimes yunho would even zone out whenever he's in the middle of a conversation with someone, especially with you. 

just as easy to tell he is in a bad mood, yunho is never good at lying. whenever he is feeling guilty of something, his eyes would be looking everywhere, and even if he did look straight at you, the way his eyes would twitch and occasionally widen ever so slightly would give it all away. just like how you had caught him trying to hide the fact that he spilled your paint water all over the floor. the poor potted plant was somehow labelled as the guilty one for ‘pushing the paint water due to its huge ass leaves.’ yunho’s words, not yours.

at the memory, you couldn't help but to let out a chortle underneath your breath, immediately catching yunho’s attention as he curiously looked over at you. you merely waved a hand in a dismissive manner upon catching the inquisitive look on his face yet, the male merely urged you to tell him. 

“i was just trying to remember how i got the nickname ‘pup’ for you.” you merely stated, taking a small bite out of the ice cream sandwich and hummed approvingly at the sweet taste washing over your tastebuds.

“easy, you called me that as soon as you saw how i reminded you of a golden retriever during the first day of meeting.” the male grinned, nudging his upper arm against your shoulder. 

upon hearing those words, you couldn’t help but to smile at the memory. 

your eyes read over the address in the text you received, double checking to make sure you were in the right place and not some random stranger’s house. though, fingers crossed this house is the last one you needed to visit. you had been driving from place to place according to the flyers looking for a vacant place to stay since your time in the dorm is almost up so you needed to move out, and you needed a place to stay in, fast. but of course, the places you’ve been to were either near a shady place, or the vacant spot has already been filled. it is safe to say that you are almost on the verge of giving up.

with a deep breath heaving out of your lips, you lifted a hand up to ring the doorbell, patiently waiting for someone to open the door as soon as you heard the slight thumping of footsteps scrambling around from the inside. taking your time, you glanced around the place.

the place wasn’t that big but it sure looked like it could fit both you and your potential roommate. it was a huge bonus point that the place is located near your university as well, you probably won’t even need to drive considering how it’s just ten minutes away or so. you could deal with that. plus, the place is much more welcoming than the couple of places you’ve been to. it was when the sound of the door unlocking along with it being swung open managed to catch your attention and pry you away from your thoughts, wanting to greet the person. 

your words somehow died in your throat once your irises were met with a beautiful shade of dark brown. yet you only noticed them later on since your eyes were instantly caught on the peachy toned strands of hair, albeit a little messily. in front of you, stood a boy, a very tall boy, dressed in a simple brown sweatshirt with black sweatpants. 

“um.. can i help you?” he spoke, his voice rather deep yet it held some type of gentleness in them. 

you mentally cursed yourself from staring at him before clearing your throat to speak, holding up your phone to show the text you had received earlier. 

“i was the one who texted you about um.. the roommate thing?” you said, unintentionally making your sentence sound like a question instead of an answer, while the taller male looked at the text. 

as if realising what you meant, his features brightened up with how his lips curled themselves into a huge dream, his cheekbones rising due to the bright smile he held. if you were being honest here, he looked like an excited puppy. at first, you felt nervous as you never had a male roommate before but the grin on his features managed to make you feel less nervous as you immediately sensed his friendly aura surrounding him.

“oh, yes, yes! you must be y/n l/n, i’m yunho, jeong yunho!” he introduced, immediately ushering you into his place. 

once in, your curious eyes wandered yet again while yunho showed you around his place, a mini house tour if you will. the interior design of his apartment was simple yet somehow it added a bit of his… personality? pictures hung on the walls of the doorway of what you assumed to be his family and friends, most of the pictures you see are of the same eight people in them, yunho included. you also noticed the few little details around his place, especially the little dog shaped clock hanging on the wall of his living room.

“and this room can be yours! i used to have a roommate living with me but he had to move out of town.” he said, opening the door of the said room. 

you peered in and went inside once yunho stepped aside so you could have a better look. true to his word, the room was rather empty. the only things present in the room were a single bed just near the window, a closet, and of course, a dresser with a decently sized mirror. you noted the slight dust blanketing the closet and dresser, a clear indication that the room hasn’t been used in quite a while now. but you didn’t care, nothing a few hours of cleaning the room up couldn’t do. 

while you were looking around, yunho on the other hand fidgeted quietly in his place, long digits playing against the sleeves of his sweatshirt. it has been quite a while since he had a roommate, the months of living without a roommate made the extroverted male a tad lonely and more often than not, bored, of not having anyone to hang out with whenever he is required to stay in the house. so many thoughts ran through his mind, already creating some type of reassurance that it will be okay with whatever choice you choose later on. besides, it’s not like it will be the end of the world if you didn’t choose to be his roo-

“so when can i move in?” 

what?

yunho’s eyes widened, surprised at the sudden statement you had said, blinking a few times as if he had heard wrong. seeing his surprised expression, you couldn’t help but to think whether you were being too bold for immediately making up your mind. reaching a hand up, you rubbed the back of your nape.

“i.. i guess it’s too soon, huh?” 

snapping back into reality, the peachy haired boy immediately shook his head and waved his hands frantically in the air to reassure you that it wasn’t the case at all. despite being surprised, he couldn’t hide the jovial look painted over his visage, slightly bouncing in place as he could feel the excitement and happiness in him just overflowing his entire being.

“no! you can move in as soon as you are ready, you can even move in right now!” yunho grinned, eyes twinkling.

his actions only made you realise a low chortle. the male might look intimidating at a glance due to his height but to you? you have made the conclusion that he looked like a golden retriever who still thinks he is a puppy. and that was enough to make you coo internally at him, finding it endearing.

“calm down, pup! i still haven’t got most of my things.” you chuckled but it died off as soon as yunho casted a confused look towards you.

thinking you must have said the wrong thing once again, you tilted your head. “what?”

“you called me ‘pup’.” he said, blinking a few times with wide eyes. 

groaning at yourself internally, you could feel heat rushing through your cheeks from the unintentional slip up, mumbling a string of apologies. you expected yunho to grow awkward upon hearing the nickname, thinking it might have weirded him out now. the last thing you want right now is a tense atmosphere with your own (potential) roommate. 

instead, you were met with yunho’s smile yet again as soon as you looked up, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. 

“hey, calm down. i have been told that i resemble a puppy often, so it’s fine! i like it anyway.” he winked and laughed, an attempt to lighten the mood around the two of you.

and from there, the two of you started to bond. thanks to yunho, you were able to move most of your things inside the vacant room, now slowly being filled with your own things and added a lil bit of your personal touch by painting on the wall with your own creativity. whenever you started to paint and decorate your room, yunho would always linger around your doorway or even in your room, offering all the help he could.

sometimes, you would even let the male paint whatever he wanted on your walls. it took you a while to reassure him, though. poor guy was worried he might ruin all the pretty doodles you had painted on your wall. but of course, you didn’t care. when you mentioned how his own doodles would make it special, you could see how his irises brightened though still unsure. with much contemplation, the peach haired boy agreed. before you know it, your walls were filled with little doodles of dogs, courtesy of yunho, along with your favourite flowers. 

from then on, the two of you instantly formed a tight bond. you would also always spend every sunday doodling on empty pages of your sketchbooks, teaching yunho how to paint, yunho teaching you how to dance (since you saw him practice a piece one time when you got home from class), or going to a random store to buy a few things to decorate your rooms.

“sunflower?” yunho nudged you, causing you to blink repeatedly from your little trip to memory lane. 

just like how you would call him ‘pup’, yunho had decided to name you in different types of flowers, though more often than not, he had been calling you sunflower instead of random ones. you switched your gaze from the empty street to the puppy-like eyes of the male next to you, smiling at him as a silent way of telling him he had your attention.

“tomorrow’s sunday, well, technically today is sunday. you know that, right?” he smiled down, crumbling up the plastic wrapper of his own treat he had earlier. 

“of course! what’s up?” you replied, leaning your cheek on the palm of your hand as you stared up at your roommate.

“i was thinking, you wanna finally get started to find more art supplies? i’ve noticed that you’ve run out of pain and i could really use the time to take my mind off of dance classes for now.” he offered, mirroring your own actions.

you couldn’t help but to giggle at the sight of his cheek all squished against his hand, reaching your own hand to poke his cheekbone with a faint nod of your head. 

“sounds good to me. though, let’s go home and sleep first, mm? unless you want us looking like zombies in the streets, pup.” you joked, standing up from your seat to throw away the crumpled wrapper of your ice cream sandwich, yunho following suit.

“sleep sounds good. let’s go home, sunflower.” 

and with that, the two of you walked out of the convenience store side by side, talking about some of the events that the both of you failed to mention during the past week. 

[gwoongi]

wordless pt.3

jeon jeongguk / reader genre: hitman (john wick au), sugar daddy au, angst rating: mature words: 3.5k warnings: toxic relationships, non graphic sex a/n: im sleepy but hey im also rly glad bts made a statement about the blm movement :D

Sometimes, saying “I love you” is inappropriate, and given your circumstances, you think it might send Jeongguk over the edge if he hears them again.

Parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five

(21) Sharing your umbrella with them in the rain.

“Yeah, I did, I submitted it on Thursday. What do you mean, did it get a good mark, it’s only Monday.” As you near the front windows of the building, you sigh and stare at the gloomy clouds presented behind the glass. Korea is cold and wet and dark today. “Fuck, rain. Anyway, I’ll call you later, Eunji, okay?”

Eunji agrees and hangs up the phone before you get the chance to, and you’re left in the cool shadow of the largest cloud in the sky. From nine until eleven, you have a morning class on Monday; today, due to request from at least five students confused by the essay title that was due on Friday evening, the class ran for an additional hour and a half, all of the subject material covered with a general extension for the following Fri. Typical, as you rushed it to hand it in before submission.

“Not going home, Y/N?”

You suck your top teeth with disappointment, “Not yet, Professor, I need to make a call.”

The slim professor arrives at your elbow, “Boyfriend?”

“Not really,” you confess. You glance at your phone and find Jeongguk’s number, “but he owes me a few favours here and there, it won’t hurt to bring an umbrella or something.”

“Good luck,” she laughs. She doesn’t offer her umbrella, despite it being tucked under her armpit, and her car is parked in sight close to the windows. At that, she leaves and you send Jeongguk a quick text message. If he’s working presently, the text will annoy him less than a call.

Raining! I’m stuck, can you send some to come and get me?

Jeongguk must be in office, because his reply is speedy. Forget your subway card again?

I never ask for anything, would it hurt you to send someone to get me?

He doesn’t reply for five minutes, and then, Uni, right?

It takes at least fifteen minutes before a vehicle pulls up across the small car-park; it’s a black car, shiny and wet and loud, and you bristle at its entry. Quickly, you hug your coat closer around your body and when you glance back up towards the window, you’re surprised to see Jeongguk himself briskly crossing the lot with an umbrella over his head.

“I’m here to pick up a Y/N L/N, you seen her?” he asks when he reaches the door, smiling as you haul it open and stare at him with happy surprise. “You did not dress for the weather.”

“The app said it would be cloudy,” you huff.

“Baby, it’s January, what did you expect,” Jeongguk sighs, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and bringing you closer to his body. Like this, he walks alongside you towards the car and for a moment, he glances around the complex out the corner of his eye. This University isn’t the dog's bollocks, because as much as he’s willing to help fund you at University, he can’t pay for you to be smarter. You’re pretty happy where you are, not being at a big-name University but doing the exact same degree anyways. He’s happy that you’re happy, but if it were him, he’d probably redecorate the front.

(22) Listening to them while they vent.

When Jeongguk vents, he doesn’t just vent. He never sits you down in front of him and lets it all out, nor does he slink away to therapy, or whining over the phone, or sleepy pillow talk where everything feels safer when you’re seconds away from falling asleep.

Instead, Jeongguk fucks away his problems, and as he does it, you tend to get an earful.

“And,” he grunts, one slap, one thrust, “I fucked it up.” One more. “All of it.” Another groan, a deeper push, “Fuck!”

You like to let him get it all out, and on the plus side, you get what you need which is to relieve the pressure of wanting in your stomach. It’s better when he’s angry, better for both of you, and he’s full of apologies when he’s finished, as if he was yelling at you and not at himself.

“Last time I ever work with Taehyung,” he spits. “Fuck. Ugh.”

You’ll ask him about it later.

(23) Taking a picture together to print and hang later.

One night, you’re over at Jeongguk’s. It’s not unusual that you’re here, especially when you’re here so often that his house feels like your own. From the bathroom, the shower runs loudly and Jeongguk sings, mostly to himself, in the water, meanwhile you dance around his kitchen making tea and bringing it to the bedroom where he’ll come in later when he’s done.

His room is golden and warm, and the curtains are drawn but the thin netting softens the sunset outside. You circle around the end of Jeongguk’s bed and set his cup on the bedside table on his side, closest to the window, when you notice something new sitting in a frame by the lamp. Okay, you’ll bite.

You put down both mugs and in exchange pick up the frame. Something warm bubbles inside your stomach as you look down at the frame; the picture, you’ve never seen before, but it’s of you. You remember the photo being taken in Colmar, the time that Jeongguk came to see you to satisfy his own boredom and need. Never did you imagine it would be a photo he’d print, let alone put in a frame next to his bed. It’s a pretty photo, too, with the river behind you and the sun on your skin, your hair only slightly in your face.

Not a perfect photo, but a pretty one. Jeongguk must like it enough to have printed it.

The shower cuts off in the bathroom and you move quickly, protecting an image of innocence as you put the frame back where it once was, and pick up your mug and place it on your bedside table. You’ve placed Jeongguk’s mug so that he could take it both ways. Maybe he’ll think you didn’t see the frame, or maybe he’ll know you did. He must have put it there for a reason, you think, and then you stop thinking when Jeongguk opens the bathroom door and enters the bedroom.

(24) Tracing your names together in the sand.

Jeongguk had a call from Hawaii. It was brief, and you imagine not very pleasant, but he had to go nonetheless. Jeongguk sure as hell wasn’t going to go to Hawaii without you, no matter how dangerous that might be for him. He told you with two hours notice to pack up your shit and meet him at his place. The plane took off three hours later, and Hawaii here you come.

He never liked to be late, or behind schedule, and so the job that needed to be done was done in a record breaking speed. Like always, he’d have some time to kill before needing to flee to avoid the authorities, and when Jeongguk heads back home after the deed is done, he steps into an empty room and his skin runs cold.

“Y/N?” he calls, to no response. He sets down his things and moves around the suite, his eyes darting to every area.

There is a moment where Jeongguk fears for the worst and out of instinct grabs the gun tucked into his belt. He pulls it out in the bedroom but pauses when out of the corner of his eye, he sees a person standing on the beach just outside the window. Jeongguk pauses.

Outside, the sun is warm and burning orange, sinking down into the pretty waves. You could get used to Hawaii, maybe, if you failed at journalism at the end of your degree, or if Jeongguk hurt your feelings enough that you felt living in Korea itself would be too painful to endure.

“Y/N!”

You turn over your shoulder, noticing Jeongguk stepping down from the dunes. He’s still in his suit, a black fit that makes him look slender and tall and absolutely stunning. His hair is still wild and wet and there’s blood on the inside of his blazer, a red that contrasts the white of his shirt. You won’t mention it, because he probably knows already.

“Hey,” you call back.

“It’s- it’s not safe for you to be out here on your own,” he explains, finally by your side. “Fuck, I was worried you’d been kidnapped, or something.”

“Oh, sorry,” you reply. “The sunset was just too pretty.”

Jeongguk sighs with his hands on his hips. “Yeah, it is. Hawaii does sunsets better than Korea, that’s for sure.”

Jeongguk stands next to you and says nothing for a few seconds. The sunset is indeed gorgeous, like something ripped out of a painting from a gallery somewhere fancy and famous. You hum quietly, and jump slightly to the left to grab a large stick off the sand. Jeongguk has to stop himself from smiling as you pick it up, like a kid who pretends the stick is a sword.

“I used to write rude things in the sand for the people in planes who flew past, every single time we went on vacation when I was a kid,” you announce.

Jeongguk laughs, “You were some kid, huh?”

“Maybe you killed the wrong one,” you think, and Jeongguk frowns.

“Can you not bring that up all the time?” You look at him and he frowns deeper, “I know you’re happy about it and stuff, but like...not my proudest moment. Makes me feel sucky.”

“Oh,” you answer. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Just a joke.”

He shrugs, “I know. But still.”

You stab the sand with the stick. “I thought maybe it was like, fitting?”

Jeongguk lifts his head to the sky and closes his eyes. “Can’t we have a trip where we just pretend to be in love or something so I don’t feel so shit about the reason why we came here?”

That shuts you up for a moment, and you turn fully to face him as he continues to stare at the sky.

“Like Colmar, maybe,” you press, and he looks down.

“Yeah.”

It sits there for a bit, like you’re genuinely contemplating it, but then you straighten with a little huff and turn to him.

“Seems fair,” you agree.

Jeongguk almost exhales a sigh of relief and he smiles, genuinely, and follows you across the beach. The tide is a little out, the sand damp where the sea once was and like children, you embrace the fun that’s waiting to be had on the shores. Chasing the waves, running from them, staring at cute crabs that scurry across the sand and laughing at the cute kids that drop their ice creams in the water.

Jeongguk takes the stick gently from your hand and points it towards the white sand, pressing the tip against the grains. You smile against his arm as you bend to see what he draws; the stick drags across the sand and outlines a J, and the first initial of your name. Oh, you think, as he closes them inside a heart and stands back to admire his work.

It’s cute, childishly cute, and he looks proud. Jeongguk beams at you for approval and you smile back, happy.

“Photo,” you say and Jeongguk drops to a crouch near the design and poses with the stick. This photo is cute, probably cuter than the one from Colmar. Jeongguk even lets you keep it.

(25) Wearing clothes in their favourite colour.

Jeongguk’s favourite colour was white, and he loved the way a white shirt or a white coat or any white accessory would look on you. Sadistically he’d love you in the white clothes he ruins, seeing you wrap your body in a white shirt dressed with blood. White was his muse, a colour of purity and innocence. Although he always wore black for work, he had to have an admiration for the colour of white, standard paper or milk white.

Jeongguk knows that your favourite colour is green. He can tell by the amount of green plants around your apartment, and the green blankets and pillows and mugs and the unusual amount of green clothing items you have in your wardrobe. He even remembers the tie you bought him once, a Slytherin green that he actually really likes despite his Hogwarts house being Ravenclaw.

You’ve never actually seen him wear the tie, not until today when Jeongguk makes a quick stop by your apartment as he heads back to the office. He steps inside with a brown bag filled with bagels and he kisses your forehead by the front door and hands them to you. You see the tie and smile; Jeongguk sure as hell looks great in your favourite colour.

(26) Doing a chore for them that you know they aren’t fond of.

You’re lucky that you never really came across Elio, never once when you were at Jeongguk’s home. You had assumed that Elio was sleeping, or elsewhere on days you visited or nights you slept over. To your surprise and perhaps horror, you discovered that Elio had been there all along, just disinterested in coming out to see you from the few rooms that Jeongguk converted into his own personal habitat.

“You just had him here all this time?” you screech quietly, running back into the bedroom after seeing Elio on the couch. “What the fuck.”

“He’s harmless,” Jeongguk shrugs. “He’s not interested in a human diet right now.”

“Right now? That’s not comforting,” you reply. “I’m happy to go through all your shitty paperwork for you, it’s something I actually enjoy, but can you please go out and get them for me?”

Jeongguk cocks his head to the side, “why, can’t find them?”

“They’re in the living room, on the table,” you explain, peering back out, “but Elio’s on the couch.”

He laughs, rising, “He’s not gonna even touch you.”

“He might.”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that!”

“No, but he doesn’t hurt me, so he won’t hurt you.”

You gape. “What? He’s your pet, of course he won’t hurt you. He trusts you. He doesn’t even know me.”

Jeongguk sighs loudly and ruffles your hair as he crosses your path. “Whatever. You’re such a fuckin pussy,” then he kisses your neck and heads out into the living room. You quiver by the doorway as he moves without a flinch towards Elio.

The giant cat picks his head up off the couch and yawns in Jeongguk’s direction, his tail swooshing prettily over the side of the couch. His black fur blends into the blanket he lies on and as he blinks slowly, Jeongguk reaches to pet his head and behind his ears. Elio basks in the love, pressing his head further into Jeongguk’s palm, oddly dog-like. Jeongguk spends a few more moments with his beloved exotic and then finally, like he’s reluctant to, picks up the large and messy stack of papers and then walks back towards the bedroom with a smug expression. Elio’s head falls back to sleep.

“Touch me, check I’m still alive after my dangerous encounter,” Jeongguk says, bringing the papers into the room and dropping them on the bed.

“Shut up,” you huff.

(27) Leaving a plate of food in the microwave for when they have a late shift.

A call from Eunji at eight in the evening destroys all the plans you had set in place. Jeongguk had been called to meet with one of the founders of the South Korean Continental, and wouldn’t be back until around nine. You had prepped an entire meal, sitting ready on the side for when he got home.

“I’m sorry, I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t absolutely important,” Eunji apologises, sounding flustered on the line, “I just. I didn’t know who else to call. I went back to the library, I think I got rid of him, but he was definitely following me from the restaurant. Fuck, Y/N, it was so scary.”

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m glad you called me,” you assure her, already putting your shoes on, “I can’t believe he showed up again. Didn’t he get put in jail?”

Eunji hums like she’s not convinced, “Out on bail, eighty kay.”

“Fuck. Do you, uh,” you start, thinking of if it’s okay to say, “want me to call someone else?” Jeongguk?

Eunji is one of the only people alive who knows about Jeongguk. She had been your best friend since you were seven, and was one of the only people who remained by your side after Jeongguk had your brother executed, and after you decided to become Jeongguk’s little play thing for a few weeks until he lost control and kept you around. Eunji’s no stranger to his antics, and if you warped the story a little, Jeongguk would have no issues with sorting the problem at hand.

“No, no, don’t,” Eunji begs. “He’ll take it too far. People will point fingers at me. Can you just come and get me?”

“Of course,” you tell her. “We’ll go back to mine, I can see Jeongguk whenever.”

Eunji exhales in relief, “I love you, you know that? You’re the best friend ever.”

You hang up a few minutes later and stare sadly at the meal. But it can’t be helped. Jeongguk’s bailed on you a thousand times for his colleagues. He wouldn’t mind, after a few hours of thinking about it. You sigh with repent and move the food towards the microwave.

Rescuing Eunji. Call me, I can come back tomorrow. Please eat.

Jeongguk finds the note when he gets home and scrunches it into a ball in the bin.

He eats alone, in silence, the other side of the table still prepped for another person.

(28) Sharing a drink with them from the same straw.

“Enjoy the movie!”

“Thanks.”

Jeongguk takes the two tickets from the vender and steers you towards the corridor that leads to the rooms. On this rare occasion, Jeongguk has decided to court you. Quite literally, Jeongguk had called you up and asked if you wanted to go on a date, or something, because he was bored and liked you most, and he knows there’s a movie you’ve been wanting to see.

“Are you sure you wanna watch it with me?” you ask him, even though he’s already got the tickets and is walking next to you.

“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“I just didn’t think you were a cinema kind of person,” you confess.

Jeongguk hums, “To be honest, I’m not. But this movie looks good, and you wanna see it, and how often do we do things that you wanna do?”

It’s true.

The cinema room is dark and empty, since you’re both early to begin with. As always, it’s a little bit sticky and smelly, and Jeongguk pushes you towards the back row because it is inarguably the best place to sit in the cinema. You set down the large drink in between you both, two straws poking out in each of your directions.

“It’s great this movie is showing here,” you say quietly.

“Yeah, well the LGBT plus movement is really popular now, people are a lot more accepting of it,” Jeongguk states. “I mean, look at how well The Handmaiden did.”

You nod, “great movie.”

“It is,” he agrees. A few minutes later and the lights dim significantly, the movie is probably about to start. Jeongguk leans to the left a little and sips from the drink.

(29) Tucking their hair behind their ear to help them get it out of their face.

Uni’s tough, nobody said it wasn’t. Jeongguk doesn’t really understand this, since he never went to University. He brings a mug of tea from the kitchen to his bedroom where you’re sitting cross-legged staring at a laptop, setting it to the side and sitting just behind you but to your side, watching you closely.

“You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what,” you mutter dimly.

“Overworking yourself,” Jeongguk replies, “I can see your brain fucking pulsing against your skull.”

You sigh loudly. “I can’t do this. Why did I enroll in University? I should have just put it all away after high school and become a trophy wife.”

Jeongguk’s brows furrow. “You can still be a trophy wife, you’ll just be a smart one.”

You look at him. “I’m not smart enough for this.”

For a while, Jeongguk doesn’t say anything, and he just sits listening to you. As you vent, and open up about how hard it is to do this damn degree, Jeongguk watches your face and your body and uses his fingers to gently tuck the hair that falls in front of your face behind your ear. The passion that pours out of you when you’re frustrated is an unspoken beauty that you’re not even aware of, and Jeongguk eats it up.

He does what he can to put you at ease, because things he says in encouragement are things you already know anyway. Like all humans, all you need is a little bit of love, and Jeongguk’s happy to give it if it means you’re happy with him.

(30) Helping scratch that itch on their back they can’t reach.

“Can’t reach. Baby, scratch my back for me?”

You cringe away from the TV, “what the fuck am I? Your maid?”

“Please?”

You sigh. “Where’s it itching?”

“Thanks, you’re the best.”

“You don’t pay me enough for this.”

“I don’t pay you at all.”

Sigh. “Exactly.”

[wonderland-in-bloom]

leona w/ spoiled, female lion s/o

anon asked: Could I get some headcanons of Leona with a female lion reader who's pretty much a spoiled brat please and thank you!!!

wwwwww im really in a leona mood rn (i changed my phone wallpaper to him omg bucin sorry more indonesian terms) 

♡

you’re a female lion in one of the higher castes and social standing as your father is one of the most trusted officials to the royal family

with this, you’re a little spoiled as all your life, you’ve just been hearing compliments 24/7, all that kind of jazz

you’ve been to the palace often, and you’re actually childhood best friends with the current king, farena, and second prince, leona

you’d mostly spend time with leona however and truth be told, you both hated each other when you first met

you’d tease him a lot and honestly he hated you for it, but he teased you a lot too and you hated him for it. just a reciprocated hatred.

one day you were ‘playing around’ with leona (more like you were doing things and he just sat there) and you tried to climb on top of a tree when a branch snapped and caused you to fall

leona caught you in his arms (like the charming boi he is) and this is when you started having feelings for him

you didn’t like this so you started to visit the royal palace less

leona always wondered when you came back, despite all of your bickering, you two had some fun moments together

then came the year in which you two were first years, surprisingly both enrolling in night raven college

when you saw him at the entrance ceremony you both had wide eyes and ears twitching “LEONA?!” “(Y/N)?!” 

he had to admit, you were so beautiful and had grown a lot since he last saw you

of course you were both in savanaclaw and you avoided each other all year 

you had to admit, you missed him, but being the super spoiled brat and tsundere bih you were, you chose to ignore it

instead you always went up to him and teased him like you used to

he really didn’t want to deal with you and he just decided to kabedon you out of nowhere and whisper in your ear “shut up”

he left you a flustered mess and you were complaining 25/8

ofc with your tsundere-y, spoiled-y personality, you didn’t have any friends and leona took note of this

out of the blue, he started sitting next to you in classes

“you look so pathetic” he huffed but he was smirking

this made you smile. your first friend was now your first friend again

you weren’t used to flying as you’ve never done something like that before

there was a little slip-up one day which caused you falling off your broom

instead of a hard impact, you were caught in leona’s arms, and this reminded you of that small incident you both had when you were younger

“dejavu?” “kinda.” you both chuckled

OH NO HERE COMES THE BLUSHING, BUTTERFLIES, AND ALL THE SIGNS OF FALLING IN LOVE

when you two landed on the ground, you literally jumped away from him “t-thanks for saving me. b-but it’s not like i expect you to do this every time for me okay? i can protect myself!” and you ran away with a tsundere blush

leona admitted, he really missed you, and pretty sure he was in love with you no matter how sucky your tsundere, spoiled personality can be :))

♡

cute :p i might be a tsundere irl lowkey highkey lol. wbuuuuu

love, a♕

[thecrenellations]

Return of the Thief Notes, Part One: The Book of Pheris, Volume I

Notes from my first read, October 2020. (Part Two | Part Three | TaT)

Contents:  "So, so, so” watch, Costis watch, swearing, trashing the king’s attendants, being objectively wrong, boundless enthusiasm and love 

I promise I’ve had more developed thoughts since these often incoherent ones, but I’ve enjoyed having these notes to refer to - for sentimental reasons and for  entertainment, so here they are, for others who enjoy liveblogs and/or being whisked back in time to their first read of this wonderful book.

Format: Page number. My thoughts (Context?)

Dedication, Table of Contents, Exordium:

There it is – to Sounis

Exordium – vocab #1

Interregnum?!? Alyta?

Pheris!!!

Yeah I love him from the first page

MOIRA

MOCKING COMMENTS HELP! Gen lives!

A new level of unreliable narrator

Moira, messages of Gods, Pheris, messages of __

Wtf is going on in this study? A zoo?

high king vs great king vs annux?

okie dokie dude

Chapter 1

1. Susa – Costis

2. Infirmity – who gets to be hero/tell story (I started reading right after the book launch, in which mwt spent some time talking about her writing influences and decisions connect to this question - Pheris isn’t her first disabled protagonist and storyteller, of course, but it was lovely to meet him properly directly after hearing her talk about it. Book launch foreshadowing part 1...)

Melisande?

Is this why he wasn’t taught to read?

3. Always the summer

Bees!

4. Hunting cat… hm…

Ok … shrine … 😬

5. Once again we start with a disaster or having to flee

Which Eugenides precipitated

Bite!

Little monster :(

6. Falling…

:(

7. :( :( :(

His purpose? D:

8. YIKES

Chapter 2

9. Hello there! (Gen!)

Massive chair?

10. CRACKED WATER JUG (amphora motif???)

11. Triangle from seal!

Gen that’s rude to Pheris :( (“He will fit in very well with my attendants”)

Wait. This must have happened before ACoK! (nope)

12. :(

Xikander … never made an impression before

How old is Pheris? (lol)

13. Philologos come thru!

Royal closet reappears!

14. Hello weird secondhand scene!

He is Eugenides

Marina…

15. Petrus? GALEN? OH SHIT! 

Is this why Galen was called? (nope)

16. Hell yea Petrus

Miras’ golden balls oh no

All these previously unnamed sucky attendants!

17. Ula – goddess of hearth and healing

Ok … Galen … or a god? Eugenides????? (why did these options occur to me before Mr. Shows Up At Your Bedside At Night himself)

18. Finally the attendant floor plans I crave + hunting scenes!

19. EXCUSE ME he slept through Sounis + Eddis wedding!!!

Again – high king!

20. So Ion is beautiful … hmm.

Yeah … Sejanus has facets. I like it.

21. Clearly no one would know what king would do … lol

Don’t mind me just sorting the attendants on a spectrum of awfulness!!!

22. SO SO SO – ION!!!!!

How many fucking attendants are there and how many are on my hit list!

Is “the necessaries” bathrooms or like … him stealing? (just the bathrooms ... the Gen-Pheris parallels were really getting to me at this point)

:(

23. OH MY GOD THE UNIFIED CREST

Also … frogs. Frogs.

24. Big day for Gen huh

Definitely an aura of Something as he writes about Gen

25. HELLO EVERYONE

26. Sorry Kamet, Pheris does the physical descriptions better. They’re beautiful

I’m blacking out at Eddis and Sounis

27. Jesus Christ. The bear.

Cousin time!

Under the table is the new up on the roof!

Uh… twin imagery ….

Gen’s feet!

Jesus. The matching

28. Cleon … wtf? A cousin?

A trial for Sophos?

Show! Us! Sophos’s! Shoes!

29. If u throw things out the air shaft you might hit the king

Was it a chicken?

Lol nvm the guy at night is Gen. That is … very sweet

- Showing up at night

- Accent

- Complaining about Petrus

- Swearing

- One hand

I am judging Costis and Sophos for not describing the paneling in Gen’s room!

Chapter 3

30. Was it a chicken?

An earring huh, good hand huh

31. Literally screaming “NO!” at Gen. Don’t joke about dying! I am killed by Gen on annux day. This is. My boy. Yes he is perfect. Yes he will refuse to get up. I love him. I died on page 31

Philologos is still the best of them

32. Dancing bear indeed

Always the powdered gold

Ruby!!!!! <3

Aww a smile!!! <3

Pheris he likes you!

33. They both love invisibility and lost it … I cry

Erupt like the sacred mountain excuse me!

OR WORSE return to bed! Lol

34. He’s Eugenides when he’s talking to Attolia

Ouch hero talk

! from Irene!

My queen!

Hey Phresine!

They way we do <3 he’s hating it but he’s so comfortable with her

Sister and bro mention! C’mon!

I love them

EYEBROW

35. Honestly that’s a yes (“I have no idea what you mean, my queen”)

It’s so cute they hang out in the morning … like how long was it even since they’ve seen each other lol

:( tough walk for Pheris

Is it prophecy time?

Lol how long does this construction take?!

Also … she’s pregnant, huh? but no one knows (nope)

Is befriending someone weaponized as a prank count for Gen’s enemies to friends list?

Also SHOW ME the magus. I know he’s here!

36. Pheris excuse me, why not recreate this!

Lol cast off language of history indeed

Feel the thrum of the goddess!

EXCUSE ME… a minor goddess? Mystery goddess? Or Philia?

Oh Gen

37. Well, Gen, someone is having a worse day than you.

Damn, how far we come.

Aww Sounis, babe, I love you and so does Gen

[drawing of the four of them sitting in a row]

38. Artadorus???? Pomegranate?

39. HEIRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A friend! Also lol. Two smiles, for Pheris and Heiro..

40. Yesss Melheret joke in action.

Costis has left tho right?

Jesus, Melheret

SHE GAVE HIM A HORSE (I COULD NOT DEAL with this entire conversation, but then again I could not deal with this whole book.)

41. I love them all so much

“on that horse, you will look like a king” I can’t with her sense of humor

He sure did say that

I feel like I’m missing something with the fight on foot thing … remembering battles?

Helen called him Gen!

Sophos stop talking about yourself and bringing apricots into everything lol

Lol these bystanders don’t know how lucky they are. Nor does Pheris, yet

42. She’s protecting him

Also … Gen … you didn’t want to be a soldier.

43. Guards have capes

2 startled men … hm …

Oh Gen. The fucking brutal echoes…

44. :( :( :(

Gen tell your wife you’re sick!

The attendants are so dumb

45. So, so, so :(

Tell who? Petrus?

Wink!

Yes?

46. Bleeding! Salt! Lemon! Heck no! What is he, a piece of meat?

Oranges?

47. “savoring each bite as if it were my last” ... Same … but with this book

Hmm… Alyta! Goddess of the gentle rain! (despite this “hmm,” I did not put the pieces together)

48. Oh no Teleus! And someone?

Aw he realized <3 lemon water

49. Gen eat your broth lol

50. I love them.

Ion’s really trying to make up for what he did that one time

51. Without the approval of the great goddess HAHAHA

I love them. Cousin time! Growl?

Idk whether or not to be reassured, Gen.

Wow Cleon I do not like that. Also didn’t he die? (...)

Comma (“I am not, Eddis”)

Go smack him!

52. Gen I love you.

Helen I love you.

He’s so bad at self care but I love him

Chapter 4

55. love that our narrator just disappears and reappears

56. Attolia’s brother’s bedroom? Yikes. Ominous. A detail in a story we’ve already gotten, different every time <3

57. fucking attendants. 3 good ones. Medander you were beneath Costis’s notice before but I hate you. Costis didn’t have time for you or Xikos or Xikander and nor do I

58. interesting pawn talk!!!

59. <3 Pheris :(

The Gen comparisons though

:( :( :( :(

60. flamboyance <3

Cemphora bush

Bees

61. I love him

62. I love them

Also lol “Your majesty?”

63. Name … hm … (“I have deliberately omitted [my tutor’s] name here”)

64. more twin imagery I swear

WAIT … it was his birthday! Not just Annux day?!! Gen was born in late summer???

Attendant list thank you

65. laying it all out there, huh … (that one Gen quote)

Lol they’re the same but Pheris likes horses

66. Insellia! Hello nice to meet you

67. Gen that’s mean. (“He is hardly even half of one.”)

68. Coleus leves???

“I am Eugenides.” <3

Gen why

69. Gold cups???? Hmmmmm. Also lioness. Def invoking Costis. (they’re probably not the cups, but STILL)

Earth….

70. Moira! Hi!!! Rainbow shawl!

Like a rabbit!

Pester!

I’m … very sad he uses his Attolian accent with Helen

71. Aaah so good

Mortals

Moira knows another messenger?

Does he think he can’t die in battle?

72. hmm are they WRANGLING?! (Galen and Petrus and my Fire and Hemlock word association)

Kill that pastry Irene I love you

morning training with his … guard? (Is that the whole guard or a guard? Costis senses tingling once again.)

73. Oh gen.

Ouch! (“to send people to their deaths and not risk my own is contemptible”)

Is she implying he’s paying Therespides?

74. Interesting Cleon plan. So many doubles

OUCH. (“Only if he comes back from the dead.” I assumed Lader had died in the war; it’s a different ouch now. I love that they both accidentally say things to each other that poke old wounds, and it’s not a big deal but it’s also not dismissed! Their relationship has come so far, and I love them so much.)

75. Verimius – Lavia – Celia??? Somebody is queer in there!

A GUARD

This scene confuses me. Xortix? Layteres? Aris! but dice thing is less political … so maybe? (just wait....)

76. So many reasons to hate Medander

Hey Costis! You exist! KoA happened!

Gen is just … still so uncomfortable and miserable. He chose, he has people, but still.

RIP Clopius also WHAT

77. Lol Hilarion’s grand statements

78. Yorn Fordad Hello!

Luxurious mustache

The mighty Pents?

Besin Quedue – she’s coming 4 you watch out

79. RIP Baron Hippias

Chapter 5

80. Spring! Plays! Cenna!

81. Oh dear

Oh dear

At least they said he was pretty

83. ?!? :( wine

Uh oh. Stockpiling

85. What even.

AAAAAAAAAH COSTIS

86. Omg Irene. Hissing. I love her.

Also … Gen’s the viper

Also this scene was written by Pheris.

Damn.

87. oh no.

What better man

She fucking quoted Howl. I love them.

Also, bees (this scene killed me)

90. Falling?

Oh shit

Also … Juridius and Pheris, Susa and Costis (comparing demands for information)

93. oh my god (IT’S THE WINDOW SCENE)

Oh my god

Uh

94. She! Called! Him! Gen!

I love this and it scares me

Lol Chloe

Irene you learned from her though

95. D:

96. :(

97. water stuff

98. what the heck

OH NO (Quedue scene)

Hm

100. yikes

Omg

Wow.

102. yikes yikes YIKES

103. a blade has protruded from his chest (tbt to The Thief)

jesus

106. shit

Did Gen hit him?

108. lol Phresine

109. lol

I want genuinely every character’s reaction to this shit

Chapter 6

111. what the heck Gen.

112. like a god [crown doodle]

114. Perma?

116. Gen. Gen. Gen. Do not.

117. AAAA (god intervention)

122. Juridius to Dite

124. bye Iolanthe and Ileia! Tell us about Caeta and Silla.

125. did not expect so much Ion

Chapter 7

127. Fryst god of winter

She laughed!

They’re so married

128. OH SHIT (Costis ship is sighted and I remember what’s about to happen next)

Interesting timing

He rode the horse home?

131. Beauty and good, beauty and kind

134. The gods’ goodwill

Keep them safe <3

135. Is that his MOM?!! Wtf (it was!)

Pheris steal those earrings!!!

RING! SMASH BOX!

137. AMPHORA EARRINGS (and flowers)

138. I love Phresine

139. Why do I feel like all the game birds are pigeons

140. meanwhile Gen’s been hanging out with Kamet. Shit. I cannot.

WELCOME HOME BOYS!

HELL YEAH KAMET ATTEND THOSE MEETINGS!

RELIUS COME THRU

141. lethium soup! The reversal

Safe for you

142. of course he knew <3

143. Kamet time! I love him. We get to see Kamet!!!

Also … echo of Gen’s notes on Mede

145. very handsome. … gaycostis vindication (referring to @costis’s url at the time and this post. Little did I know what else was to come in the next chapter and then a few months later with the adaptation news...)

Do you know who I am?

Chapter 8

147. Of course he’s a cartographer

A favorite huh

148. of course she didn’t tell us his age!

149. the angsty window staring I crave

Music!

151. adventure, huh

I do have a soft spot for Melheret

152. concerned about amphora gift

153. Glad they can be well and united in spite!! (Gen and Melheret)

154. Pheris loves math and I love him

155. Hello Teleus. Hello olives

Lol Relius is not into math

156. pigeons. Inkpot!

157. yeah honestly. He tortures people. He was NOT tortured by the king

159. lol (“I have noted the elective nature of certain behaviors” ... I love Relius and Pheris.)

160. The Invitation! I <3 it

161. EXCUSE ME WHO

Legarus!

FOLKS HERE WE ARE (I cannot overstate how wonderful it was to read this page. I did not know who the poem was from, and “Someone loves me very much, even with all my faults” is even sweeter to reread, but it’s just ... his confidence is so different from the tentative consideration of a new philosophy of trust and love we see in KoA. And there is subtextual queerness in the books before this one, some more apparent and some more subtle (and what is obvious to one reader may be subtle or invisible to another, in these books especially), and there is the attendant love triangle a few chapters back, but HERE - here, Pheris acknowledges the real feeling and love in Legarus’s disastrous relationship and tells us directly that his lover was a man, here he seamlessly makes it clear how bi and poly Relius is, and he quietly ties these relationships and realities to his growing understanding of the world. It’s not subtext. And there’s a lot more to come, but this page really hit me, and sort of promised the “more to come” while assuring me that what had come before, more subtly, was there. I used to have heteronormative readings of both these books and myself, and when Thick as Thieves brought them crashing back into my heart after years away, I knew better about myself, and I saw that - or the possibility of that reading -  reflected in the new book, and it was such a good surprise. It meant a lot, and this page meant a lot, and that is why I’m writing a small essay to accompany this note.) 

Lol wow

162. Where are you traveling, man (this question remains)

163. Fuck you, Orutus

164. Stole an inkpot!

165. the map!!! (Kamet’s)

166. I love them!

167. The Math Master hmm

Am I an oracle (Nope! :) )

[squeiky]

Honestly papyrus and sans are the #1 deltarune teasers.

From the door... To papyruses little Easter "egg". Tp the gaster connections :/

(ps: papyrus is way more connected to gaster than sans is. )

Then the "dont forget" <- take it literally friends you seriously want to remember small tib bits in both games.

The sans wink in deltarune.. The fact that they seem...wary of the player. In fact, they talk directly to us. And even add sound effects! How kind.

Reminds me of lancers mp3. Its a cute sound effect.

Tbh, they remind me of those kids tv shows.

You know? Where they are talking someone and look directly at YOU, and go "can you find this?" Or "what should i do?" Or "what do you think?"

Like.. Elmo, or dora the exlporer. Or something.

I could go off on papyruses flying ability, or sans timestopping, time manipulating.. Just a bunch of things about time tbh. Or papyruses... Strange music in his room, or his apperent blasters, pr the fact that he looks similar to gaster....

(i messed with both gaster/mysteryman and papyruses sprite a bit. I just flipped papyrus's default face, ontop of gasters. I guess they are just 2 eggs. Beacuse they seriously have that egg shape apperance. So we have 2 eggy bois and i love it.)

Okay i dont want to go to much on papyruses frequent wall breaking which is like 24/7 and how he knows about alphys... Or the fact that she works in a laboratory... Or how the bone brothers barely know anything about the other, and how it was pointed out by the shopkeeper that she cant tell if they are related or not..

( someone said the shopkeeper has a sister soo..)

Or how similar sans is to lancer... Or how similar he is to literally everything in deltarune. Actually he's so connected to deltarune, you cant even see him die. He supposedly gets "tired" and runs away, exactly how with the nightners.

(Personally i dont think he died. He has an arrange of sound effects,( papyrus included) such as drums and what not.)

He bleeds like the nightners. According to lancer they have a blood bucket, and someone to clean up the "blood" (i think they do, i forgot their name) and how apperently know about blood to the extent of how it works, and know how to use it as a joke and not freak out. (I.e. That one kid and noelle) to the loint of having a janitor to clean it up. And sans is the only undertale character to bleed, and walk away. Seeing as monsters IMMEDIATELY dust after being brought to 0 hp. And not bleed to death, as sans does. Which sucks alot but oh well. the ICE-E crossword, that only exists in deltarune.. That sans has in undertale.

And the connects with papyrus is more undertale related/ gaster related than deltarune related.

So mabye i was wrong and sans is more of a hint for deltarune + lancer (from his bike, to prankster personailty, to clothes, to his ENTIRE HOME.)

(the castle is filled with those forever smiles that sans has. Which is funny cause that castle is in shambles and is obviously has a terrible king in charge, and its really depressing how lancer's dad was nice, but not anymore. But yeah KEEP SMILING YA SACK O POTATOES.)

(To the benches that sans has in the fundraiser)

OH OH OH ! AND THE FACT THAT PAPYRUS REFERS TO UNDERTALE AS "HIS GAME!" AND CONNECTION WITH TOBY FOX (and possibly the temmies) AND WITH GASTER POSSIBLY BEING APPART IN DELTARUNE THATS VERY VERY INTRESTING IS IT NOT?

I mean what do you think?

Though i dont understand the "you hear a trousle of bones" in deltarune. And sans says "my little brother"..

Like how old are you sans that it conerns me. You even befriended toriel, which personally sounds awsome.

(People draw kris as if he would hate that, but kris is such a prankster, he and sans would be besties like-)

Also how young exactly is papyrus here? Asriel is obviously younger than papyrus in undertale, by using him as a ruler, papyrus and sans shouldn't be so..... Young? Adult age atleast not..babybones.

Unless papyrus indeed does the trick that goner kid did, and just doesn't exist in deltarune, due to his connection with gaster and his connection to undertale.

Unless im wrong, and asriel was just born before papyrus and sans came to snowdin, which might mean he would be older but... UGH THIS IS CONFUSING BUT THERE SHOULDN'T BE BABYBONES PAPYRUS ANYWHERE BEACUSE EVERYONE IS THE RESPECTIVE AGE OF UNDERTALE, INCLUDING ASRIEL AS DUE TO HIS CONSTANT RESETS HE'S PROBABLY ALOT OLDER THAN WE REALISE!!!!!!!!

And that papyrus cannot be connected to sans, unless toby says so.

Otherwise papyrus cant exist in deltarune, and sans has another brother or something.

Also undertale papyrus and sans are alot.more diffrent than you realise.

Actually their roles where reversed at a time! Cool huh?

Papyrus is seen being pretty depressed, while somewhere, i cant remeber where, but it is said that sans wans't always this lazy.

Which means....

ROLE REVERSION!!! Cool right?

Before you OFFICALLY MEET papyrus and sans, sans is constantly trying to cheer papyrus up with jokes

(terrible pun are normally a thing of inexperience. Unless on purpose. But he has a joke book. Most likely papyrus's book beacuse of the constant puns papyrus makes, that are really good! Papyrus is the only one who has a book shelf, so probably the quatum physics is his too. As he needs SOMETHING FOR THAT FREAKING BRIDGE. And why would you need a book if you already know all the jokes? :/ also im pretty sure either he recites it for toriel (which hes not aware is toriel) or its for papyrus. Either one makes sense. Even both)

Anyways sans was alot more hopeful and papyrus was a lot LESS hopefull. Only by meeting you, the PLAYER err... Human! He regains his hope back!

Sans is also homesick. Undertale isn't his home, he doesn't feel happy with going to the surface either.

Deltarune is the only place he truely seems at home, happy, joyfull. And even owns a...

Bar!! :DDD probably got handed it thx to grillby!

And has a freind named alphys who is just as nerdy as she was before. But now a nerdy teacher~

(WHICH CAN RELATE! I HAVE SO MANY NERDY TEACHERS IN MY SCHOOL LMAO ITS AWSOME, I GET TO TALK ABOUT ANIME LIKE-)

And not some depressed scientist with an anxiety and peer pressure.

Like no wonder he's homesick.

No wonder papyrus feels a bit "down lately." He gets the sucky version.

I guess when your suck in a strange place, a different home you lose alot of hope, rather than gain some.

Or hp. What ever you want to say. Hp= HoPe ? Sure why not i guess.

I mean, im trying to write my goddamn comic, and its gonna be hard to keep all my notes conistent.

Cause just rewatched their whole introduction and im like-

GODDAMIT PAPYRUS DO YOU NEED A HUG? FRISK MOVE, MAKE THIS GUY HAPPY. YES! THAT CONVERSATION ALSO FILLS ME WITH DETERMINATIOM! I CANT BELIEVE ITS CALLED THE "BOX ROAD" THANKS TO 1 FRICKING BOX.

YES SANS CHEER UP YOUR SUPPOSED BROTHER WITH DESPERATE JOKES AND FUNNY COMEDY AND POSSIBLE SOUND EFFECTS.

YES PAPYRUS SMILE, YES PAPYRUS GET MAD AND MARCH OFF LAUGHING HAPPILY WITH THAT ONE BACKBONE PUN.

PAPYRUS NO DONT GO BACK TO BEING Sad- goddammit he left my screen AND HES BAck... Aww... :(

What? Yes sans? He's been feeling down lately? Seeing me could cheer him up?

AWWWWwWwWWWwWwww thats so SWEEETTTTT

THANK YOU FOR TALKING TO ME DIRECTLY LIKE YOU SHOULD BTW. AS IM NOT FRISK, I AM A REAL HUMAN, USING FRISK AS A VESSEL AS I TOWER FROM ABOVE. AND YES I DO SEE YOUR FACE PAPYRUS FROM THE DIALOUGE BOX AND YOU LOOK AMAZING.

*Papyrus realises he doesn't have ears

[Facepalms]

*theres.just a bunch of makeup and sludge on the floor.

[Covers face]

*why does he even carry that?

[Peaks a little and whispers]

"Its always important to carry makeup on. You never know when you need it. Like now."

*papyrus nods his head thoughfully.

[forestwater87]

Would you want Gwen and David to become a couple at the end of CampCamp? And adopt Max as well? Cuz' I do...

Gwenvid becoming canon is one of those things I simultaneously love and feel is unnecessary. The show will never let it be as pure and fluffy (or emo) as the fans will make it, anyway, and there is no force on earth that will stop me from shipping this ship with every ounce of my shriveled little heart, so I’m kinda ambivalent on the whole thing. (Besides, I know at least one of the showrunners is not at all into it, so I don’t see it happening no matter how much we may want it to. As long as they keep giving us little ship nuggets we can read way too much into, I’ll be good.)

Also I’m not convinced CC is the kind of show that needs an end, so “at the end” is one of those things that … eh, whatever. It’s an endless summer existing outside of time. Does it ever have to end, as long as they keep having new ideas?

As for the other part of this question … oh, boy. Anon, you did not ask me to go the fuck off on this question, but I gotta because I’ve been holding all this inside for literal years, and I don’t even care that this will make me hemorrhage followers because I’ve been very good and very quiet about it for a long-ass time and I just gotta –

I fucking hate Dad//vid.

And you know? I didn’t used to. My feelings, much like those regarding Cute Waitress, went from “how cute!” to “eh, not my thing but whatever,” and now we’ve circled all the way around to my entire soul lighting on rage-fire every time it’s mentioned, and just … I hate it so much … it’s just …

I feel like this deserves an explanation. And I think the people who’ve already blocked me or whatever aren’t going to read it, so let’s put it under a cut just for the sake of scrolling. But here’s the cliffs notes version:

1. It’s #NotAllDad//vid. There are some iterations of it I don’t hate, and even quite like.

2. David adopting Max, as a general concept, blows. There are exceptions – see #1 – but 99 times out of 100 I hate it with all of my hate. (The short reasons why: David is baby and Forest has Issues, it’s kiiiiinda racist?, and it’s lazy, boring, and way overdone.) 

3. The fandom will not fucking chill about it – at the expense of all other explorations of David and Max’s relationship. And that makes me highkey annoyed.

That being said, anyone who’s worried my blog will become a cesspool of dad//vid hate, please don’t be concerned. This is like lancing a boil of something (I’m bad at metaphors). All the garbage pours out in one massive textblock, and then I go back to being more or less chill about the whole thing. We’re dealing with years of repression here. Shit’s gonna be a lot more intense than it needs to be, and then we’ll settle back down to our regularly-scheduled CC fluff times.

I’m hoping this doesn’t make the fandom hate me forever … but given #3 up there, I’m pretty dang scared it will.

(And hey, I don’t want Cute Waitress to explode in a pit of fire and snakes anymore, so maybe my opinion on dad//vid will change eventually too. Always hold out hope, right?) 

1. #NotAllDad//vid

Like I said, I didn’t used to totally despise the whole Dad//vid thing. Like, I love the idea of David having been a counselor for so long that he just has ingrained Dad Instincts (see S4E14 for the most recent example of this). David as the Dad Friend? Good shit. David as the mother/father hen of his little cabal of campers? Very good shit. Nonliteral interpretations of dad//vid are usually really cute and fun and have some solid basis in canon, and I’m all about it.

Even some of the more literal David-adopts-Max AUs aren’t … the worst. Some of my friends have written versions of it that are original or at least were at the time and really compelling, and usually they found a way of skirting past the majority of the issues in #2. It can be done well.

It just … usually … isn’t.

And for that we gotta see #2.

2. David-Adopts-Max Sucks as a Concept

There is nothing good about the idea of David adopting Max, at least based on what we’ve currently seen in canon. 

(Yes, I am aware that I should couch statements like that with “in my opinion” and “with exceptions” and the like, but that’s a lot of work for this and a bunch of the stuff I’m gonna say in a second, so please just assume for the purposes of everything I put on this blog that it’s in my opinion. I’m not out here dropping Cold Hard Facts about Camp Camp of all things; I’m just spewing my feelings. 

I have lots of feelings.)

I don’t really have a cute little opening segment for this, so let’s skip the hors d’oeuvres and hop right into the meat of it:

David is Way Too Young to be a Father (According to Forest, Who Has Massive Emotional Baggage About These Things)

David is 24 goddamn years old. You know who shouldn’t be put in constant legal charge of a 10-year-old? Someone who is only 14 years older than him. If he’d had Max the old-fashioned way he would be too young to go on 16 and Pregnant. 

That is too fucking young.

I know that some people become parents that young, and even younger. I’m not saying your experiences are bad or invalid. I’m just saying, from the standpoint of being 26, that if one of my two-years-younger friends told me they were adopting a kid they knew from work, I would tell them they were fucking bonkers and to hand that child over to a grown-up immediately. This is especially true of David, who has remarkable emotional maturity but is also mentally about 8 years old. Gwen is the adult at that camp, and David is such a baby. 

Please don’t give the baby a baby.

Also, I’m terrified of having children. I never plan to, I’ve only recently accepted the fact that I don’t have to (grew up religious; it was kinda a whole thing), and get knee-jerk defensive over the idea of anyone my age or younger having children. It freaks me out, and that’s not a good or right emotional reaction to have but it’s mine, and I lowkey panic every time I think of David having children because if he should have a child at 24 then I’m already late.

Yes, I get the feeling that I’m running behind. For something I don’t actually want, ever. In comparison to a fictional character. Whose fatherhood decisions are not even remotely canon.

TL;DR I have issues and my other arguments are decidedly more valid than this one

So How About That Racism, Huh?

I know this has been a matter of some debate in the CC fandom for a while now … but you know what? It’s not nearly enough of a debate. People should absolutely be talking more about the potential problematique aspects of having a way too young white kid take a child from his immigrant parents on some pretty shoddy evidence (which I’ll address in the next section). There’s some White Savior stuff going on there, some negatively-stereotyping-poc-and-immigrant parents going on there … I’m not saying these should completely disqualify any dad//vid AUs or speculation or anything, but it should absolutely be much more of a conversation than it currently is.

(This is why one of the few David-adopts-Max concepts I like is one in which his parents have died. Not only is it more interesting – again, see the next bit – but it neatly sidesteps some potential gross stereotyping, and that’s just always rad.)

I feel like the common counterargument to this is that there are not-great parents of color and not-great immigrant parents IRL, so wouldn’t it be dishonest not to portray that in fiction as well? 

I mean … I dunno. 

I’m not here to tell anyone how to write the One Pure Dad//vid AU or anything. But I will say that I don’t think most people in love with this concept have done anything resembling due diligence in considering how best to sensitively portray the complicated familial, racial, and other implications of this particular AU or concept.

Besides, it’s not real life. It’s fiction, which means any decisions are being made deliberately. It’s a choice to depict Max’s parents as abusive and neglectful monsters who immigrated to America to give their son a better life but that’s for the next section, and it’s not inherently a bad choice, but it’s one that should be made thoughtfully, with an eye to the history of negative stereotypes that already run rampant in fiction. That’s just part of the writing process, and not one that should be shunted aside because it’s more work and less dramatic than creating the biggest of big bads for David to make grand speeches at and/or punch in the face.

Just Not Very Interesting (And Done to Death)

Regarding the overdone thing: Reading a David-adopts-Max AU most of the time is just like reading every other David-adopts-Max AU; I’m pretty sure I could put all these fics on transparencies, overlay them on top of one another, and still have a legible story because they differ so little.

Now to be clear: This – along with the rest of my points in this section – are about personal taste. Some people love reading the same story over and over again, and it brings immense comfort to them. That’s okay, and you shouldn’t feel bad about reading (or writing) these stories and not wanting to break your back trying to find a new angle for it. Cringe culture is canceled, and my personal tastes should not dictate the fandom. You do you.

That being said, I’m also allowed to be so bored by almost all of these fics that I nearly fall asleep scrolling the AO3 feed.

And the frustrating thing is, it would take so little to make it different. All it would take is asking: what if it wasn’t that simple? What if his parents aren’t all bad? What if they’re trying their best, but aren’t able for whatever reason to care for Max the way he needs to be? (I’m thinking Deja’s mom from This Is Us, for a cool example.) What if they later come to regret whatever behavior is making them so sucky, and reconcile in some fashion with their son? What if David and/or Max have fundamentally misread the situation, due to being on the outside and a kid, respectively, and it turns out his parents are actually making the best decisions they can in this situation and David doesn’t need to literally become Max’s dad, but integrates into the family in another way? (Seriously, even “what if they’re dead instead of evil?” would blow my mind in terms of originality. It’s been done, but not nearly enough.)

So that’s the overdone thing out of the way. What about lazy and boring?

It just seems to me that, based on the evidence we’ve been given in the show, there are infinitely more nuanced and creative alternatives to “Max’s parents are canonically abusive and neglectful and deserve to have their child ripped away from them by the guy who sees him at his job like 2-3 months out of the year.” I, in fact, refuse to believe Max’s parents are bad people based on the current evidence, and won’t do so unless canon forces me to see no other option.

Because as of right now, I just don’t buy it.

Didn’t show up to Parents’ Day: Well, we know they immigrated from India to escape “menial labor” (S1E4), and we know capitalism stomps all over the kind of people stuck doing menial labor, so what if they were unable to get away from work or they’d be fired? Hell, what if they couldn’t afford it for whatever reason – car broke down, they don’t have a phone or were out of data, they got hurt or sick or something came up that was interpreted by a small child as a lack of interest because he’s been shown that he doesn’t fully understand either adults’ motivations (all of S1) or the complexities of living in adult society, though he thinks he does (S1E4)?

Didn’t give him an activity: What if their grasp of English isn’t great? It’s a damn hard language to learn, and I sure as hell couldn’t pick up a second language if I was working to the bone to support my family. I’m exhausted trying to get through my 5 minutes of French on Duolingo, and I have a relatively cushy job and the benefit of an owl harassing me every few hours. Maybe they looked at the absurd camp activities and assumed they were misreading something, so they handed it over to their son (who is clearly fluent) to pick something he likes. Maybe they wanted to give him some responsibility and a sense of autonomy in deciding what he wanted to do for the summer, and he was so annoyed at being sent off to camp that he refused to do it and interpreted their hands-off nature as not caring. Maybe they were tired and just told him to pick something and it’s as simple as that, because parents are allowed to be exhausted sometimes. Just strikes me as pretty bizarre that they’d bother sending their son to a summer camp (and those things aren’t cheap, even one as not-awesome as Camp Campbell) but not be invested enough to give him the activity. Saving all year to scrape together enough money for a summer camp, sure, but filling out one line on a piece of paper? Pfft, who has time for that bullshit? 

(I recognize that assuming they’re poor based on a single line about “menial labor” might seem like a bit of a stretch to some people. But honestly, to me it’s no more of a stretch than assuming that they hate or don’t care about their son, or any of the other wild theories thrown around about Max’s parents all the dang time. At least this one is relatively new.) 

Sent him a sweatshirt and a short note: Again, maybe their written English isn’t great. Some people are better at a spoken language than a written one. Or maybe they didn’t have enough time to write a long note, or they knew Max wouldn’t read it (he doesn’t seem like the type to be all that into long emotional letters). Regardless, they knew to send him something he’d like that would likely be worn down by constant wear at camp. And sweatshirts aren’t cheap. Neither is mailing a package. Just seems like a surprising amount of effort to go to if they don’t care about or love him.

Sent him to Camp Campbell for the summer: Let’s say they’re poor, based on the evidence we have. It makes sense to assume that they work relatively “unskilled” jobs, or are in school, or both. Because those jobs don’t offer benefits or a lot of money, we can also reasonably assume that they either work multiple jobs, long hours, or both. They probably don’t have family in the area or even the country, and it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect neighbors or friends to take their son in all day, every day, all summer so he’s not home alone while they’re at work (especially considering he’s not all that easy to get along with). He’s familiar with the city (S3E11), so we can assume he’s grown up in an urban environment, which means he’s probably to some extent a latchkey kid. Sending him to a summer camp would get him out of the city, around people his own age, where he’d be supervised and kept busy while his parents are at work until school starts. Camps are expensive, but I imagine Camp Campbell might be the best they can afford, and they’d assume it’s better than him sitting in an empty apartment all day.

Max’s insistence they don’t care: He’s … ten years old. Not only has he made it clear that he assumes the worst of most people, including adults, but it’s also relatively common for kids whose parents worked a lot while they were growing up to interpret that busyness as a lack of interest in them. It’s hard to understand things like expenses or financial security as a kid and view it as “my parents are never around and so they don’t love me.” Hopefully when he’s older he’d appreciate everything they’ve sacrificed for him, but at 10 years old it’s expected he’d feel neglected.

I’m just saying, maybe a borderline emotionally unstable child isn’t the most reliable source, is all.

This isn’t rock solid, I realize; I’ve made a lot of leaps of logic and assumptions extrapolating from what we’ve been given. But I don’t see it as any less plausible than his parents hating him or whatever the prevailing fan theories are, and more importantly: it’s a fuck of a lot more interesting (yes, yes, in my opinion). I think adding nuance and sympathy to Max’s parents will always end up more interesting than “good David vs evil parents.”

Of course, we’re in a bit of a limbo since we don’t know necessarily where RT is going to take this. There is every chance they’re going to drop the bomb that Max’s parents are literally as bad as everyone has made them out to be – and worse. Maybe they’re actually Xemug. Fuck if I know. And if that happens, I’m gonna call it out for being the cheapest and least-interesting of the possible options. Bad, lazy writing that pits pure good against pure evil is always gonna suck, even if it comes from the writers of one of my favorite shows.

I really, really hope they don’t go with that (to finally, I guess, answer Anon’s question fully). And I’m pretty forgiving when it comes to things people hate CC for: Dolph doesn’t bother me, most of the problematic episodes don’t bother me (that pee one is still pretty rough though), but if they go the “Max’s parents are the devil and that is why Max is the way he is” route, I’m gonna … well, just be so profoundly disappointed that the showrunners could’ve done something interesting and decided instead to go for the lowest-hanging fruit, that’s all.

FINALLY:

3. This Fucking Fandom

So here’s the thing. Dad//vid is unique among the “ships” in the fandom in that it is deliberately placed as “the anti-Max//vid.” And I understand why that was done, and I appreciate it holding up that particular vanguard; max//vid has no place in dad//vid, and vice versa. 

But the problem with dad//vid being set up as the not-max//vid is that everything that isn’t dad//vid is suddenly viewed as “max//vid-lite.” Even when that makes literally zero sense.

See, even when I was briefly into dad//vid in its very literal “David adopts Max from Max’s evil parents” form, what I was really drawn to was the idea of David being Max’s older brother. Back when the fandom was like 100 fics on AO3, I had started planning out this long plot involving David taking on a brotherly role to this kid I thought really needed one. Admittedly I’m just a sucker for sibling relationships, but from the beginning I’ve been all about this brotherly bond, and so when a popular artist came up with the term “bro//vid” and it started gaining traction, I was all over that noise. There was finally a version of this relationship that wasn’t either “Max and David fucking” or “David literally adopts Max and becomes his literal father,” and I couldn’t be more excited.

And then … I found out that apparently “bro//vid” was becoming synonymous with “max//vid but secretly.” And … man, it really sucked to suddenly be treated like I was supporting pedophilia because I didn’t like the idea of David-adopts-Max as much as the whole big brother thing. I can’t even imagine how much it must suck if your favorite iteration of Max and David is something along the lines of mentor/friendship, without some sort of buffer of “well they’re basically (or literally) related.” Because if “these two as brothers” is max//vid-lite, then I can’t fucking imagine what that would be called.

And even when it’s not specifically about max//vid, it just keeps cropping up. I posted about the Season 4 premiere and expressed how much I saw a cute, brotherly relationship between David and Max, and someone immediately replied saying that they thought it was more like father-son. Which … yeah, fine, I don’t care if you see it like father-son, go nuts, but I am getting really sick of the fact that father-son is the only acceptable “ship” and everything must lean in that direction, no exceptions. (I know, it’s not a ship technically, but I don’t know what else to call it. Don’t read anything weird into me calling it that.)

I don’t think “please just let me enjoy these two and their relationship dynamic without making it pedophilia or insisting David adopt Max from his terrible evil parents” is that tough an ask. 

Or at least, it really shouldn’t be. But somehow it … kind of is.

And that sucks.

(Also, I hate the whole “Max is David’s favorite camper” thing. It’s not technically tied to dad//vid, but it does often come hand-in-hand with that and it just irks me to no end. If David has such blatant favorites, he is terrible at his job and kind of a douchebag. I think he gravitates towards the camper(s) who need attention the most, because he likes feeling like he’s made a difference, but I don’t think David would just straight-up pick a favorite like that, not when he has a full camp of kids who need him. Just saying.)

[elsmaster]

In today’s episode of “Elina blogs on Tumblr because no one’s here anymore, so it’s almost like I’m just writing stuff for myself, except I kinda like the idea of having an audience for my Personal Journey™”:

I have been unemployed for approximately a year and four months (minus the few months of weird office hell I endured in Jan-Mar). Last year, around this time, I was an absolute wreck of a person; I was intolerable, I snapped at people about the most insignificant things, I felt like a waste of air and space and I just, generally, sucked. I’m not saying life sucked, even though it kinda did, because the mainly sucky thing in my life was me. The circumstances played a role, but in general, I was awful, and I didn’t even realise it. It took far too many panic attacks in one week and me crying on a bus for no apparent reason to shake me up a bit, and send me on a quest to find my inner peace. Que serene harp music. 

I obviously still don’t have a job but I feel like I suck a little bit less now. It’s one of those things where you’re not sure if anyone else can tell, but you sure as hell notice it yourself. I currently feel slightly more together than I have in years. I feel like I have at least a gentle grasp on what I want out of life, and honestly that’s kind of a big thing. 

I’ve recently realised that it’s taken me ridiculously long to grow out of the “awkward early twenties” phase, where you try so hard to be something and someone you’re not, that you build up an entire fake persona and fake life around the idea of what you think you should be. I hate my arrogant, pseudo-intellectual past self. I wish she’d fucked off a lot sooner. I wish I’d fallen apart sooner so that I could’ve found this current, weirdly enlightened kind of peace of mind way earlier. 

I sound like I’ve found some weird higher understanding of Life and Everything. I haven’t. I just feel like I’ve finally calmed the fuck down. I’ve realised that if I start panicking about things, it’s my body telling me I’m doing something wrong. I’ve realised that I am not perfect, in any way, shape or form. I’ve realised that I’m an absolute mess, and to be less of a mess, and to deal with life as it is, I really need to be able to forgive myself for not being perfect. 

It’s small changes in the way I think: 

If I start spiraling and latch onto an idea, be it good or bad, I have to give myself 24 hours. If it still feels like a pressing issue, I have to give myself a week. If it’s still a thing, I can do something about it. 

If I feel like I suck and can’t do anything right, I remind myself that finished is better than perfect. 

If I start comparing myself to others, or if I come up with absurd ideas of what I should be or do, I just ask “why”, and keep asking “why” until I figure out what it is that’s actually bothering me. 

If I wake up feeling jumpy, I’ll have tea instead of coffee. 

It’s ridiculous how much little things like this help, but they really do, at least for me. 

I’ve always been really keen to be in control of my own well-being, and in the past year I’ve realised that sometimes it means asking for help. Sometimes it means admitting you don’t have the capacity to deal with things yourself, and you have to let someone else help you. 

I don’t know if saying I’ve gotten rid of my arrogance actually makes me sound more arrogant, but if it does, well. Tough. It feels really good to admit you don’t know things, and that you can’t control things. It feels good to know you are already doing your best to control the things you can control, and that you’re constantly learning new ways to be and feel better. 

I feel better. I feel imperfect, but somehow, that’s better than most things I’ve felt in my life. 

[http-dizzy]

Video Store (Teen! Richie Tozier x Reader) Part One

i do not own It or any of the characters or anything, just my writing 

word count: 1,255

warnings: some sad stuff i guess? swearing 

a/n: REQUESTS ARE OPEN please i need some material 

       The junior year of high school was your bitch. You were going to do everything in your power to make it yours. After the traumatic summer that plagued you and your friends, It was going to be the year everything started to get better. Of course the countless sleepless nights brought upon by the pennywise incidents had not faded away, you and the others began to block the memories out as if it was all a bad dream.They didn’t discuss it much; brushing it off their shoulders. However, you knew everyone was thinking. They didn’t think about it as a singular thought at once, no, but that idea, the thought was always there. You knew it was their during long periods of silence between the losers club, whether it was all of them or just you and another. Present in the mind at all times. The trauma of the horror the group went through together was to great to forget, but enough to scar everyone to the point where they at least try to, but in the end, fail miserably. But like i said, this was the year everything was starting to get better. 

        You began working at your mom’s friend Jim’s video store after school three times a week. It became one of your favorite past times. It was never really busy and half the time your cousin, beverly, stopped in the hang out with you. Those hours you spent there were your favorite, not wanting to return to the isolation of your small house. Your mother was always away on business or with her boyfriend, leaving you by yourself for days, weeks, even a month sometimes. It had been like this for years. Originally living in Chicago, you moved here after your father passed away in the fifth grade, leaving you with just your mom. Your mother, however figured she’d move back to her childhood home where there was at least some family left, even though she wasn’t on greatest terms with her brother. She was at least grateful you had beverly, someone else of blood relation that you could rely on besides her. And it worked, to the point you barely had a relationship with your mom. She came home for three days at the most and she’d leave.

          On the brightside, your house became a popular hangout spot for the losers for tiny gatherings and parties where’d you all get drunk with cheap beer and pink floyd’s lyrics seeping through the house out of the speaker of the record player. Polaroids would scatter the table, soon to be neatly placed in a scrapbook kept up in your bedroom. It was always a good time. Beverly would stay over for days on end sometimes, keeping you company while simultaneously trying to escape her dad. That was until he croaked and my mom gained custody of her. Then she officially became roommates  She was your best friend, and you were hers. She had become your only true family and the losers club your makeshift one.

        It was an October thursday. Overcast and  miserable outside, you sat with your feet propped up on the counter of the video store dreading the long walk home you’d have to endure in an hour after shop closes. Distracting yourself from the boredom, you focused in on a small tv that rested on the counter. A highlight to the movie store was the unlimited amount of hours of free movies all the time 24/7. Movies were amazing. A highlight to the boredom of the world. The emptiness of the video store broke once the familiar bell of the door being opened rang. 

“Whats up, Molly Ringwald”

“I swear to god, you sound more and like Richie everyday,” Beverly Laughed, taking a seat next to you behind the counter, “Whatcha watchin’?”

 “‘Sixteen Candles’ ironically. It’s really pretty good though. Definitely has entertained me.” you replied and she nodded as her ginger hair bounced with her head as she looked at the screen

“The video store so dead for such a sucky day. Id expect a lot more people to come and get a vhs”

“Right. I dont care, less people to deal with. Where’s the boys at anyways?”“Up to no good I bet,” a snicker erupted from both of you in agreeance, “they’re probably teasing Eddie or running around town doing something.”

The boys were always up to something. Whether it was pushing each other from the quarry edge or running around the drive in.  They all become so close through the years, as well as Beverly and I partaking  in it the rambunctious endeavors. 

“Speaking of the boys..” She began, “I-”

“..am getting married to Bill and you want me to be the maid of honor? Aw what can i say Bev, that’s so sweet- Ow!” You cut her off until she rammed her fist into your arm.

“So i heard from a little bird that maybe Richie has a thing for you” The words escaped her lips as a smile formed across her features. You easy going aurora faded into a more serious-shocked persona as your cheeks became redder than the roses growing in the garden next door. “As if..” you stammered, your wide eyes going to your hands in your lap. 

“All of us can tell you like each other, you’ve liked each other for like ever, (y/n)” She almost coed, trying to convince you of what you described as an absurd idea. You had developed a crush on him that grew over time. From his brain, to his heart and his stupid yet charming sense of humor, you began to fall for the silly teen. Puberty didn’t help with your girly crush, for Richie had in a sense, glowed up. He had gotten a lot taller, and his fashion sense seemed to resemble Duckie Dale from ‘Pretty in Pink.’ Richie was the closest to (y/n) of all the rest of the guys in the group. Every since the chance encounter at the drug store when Ben was attacked by Henry Bowers, they began to talk more and even eventually hang out together. Leading to constant trips to the arcade where he teaches you to play street fighter and walking to the corner to get cokes and candy. Besides Beverly, Richie played an important part in her life. Not only did she like the raven haired boy, he was her best friend along with Bev. 

 “It seems like you two are the only ones who don’t know you like each other” she continued “I dont know bev..-” that was until you were cut off by the front door bell ring and a familiar face showed.

 “Speak of the devil!” Beverly whisper yelled to you as the tables turned and you were the one smacking you hand into her arm. Richie showed through the door and a wide grin appeared across his face.

 “Hey ladies” he attempted a smooth entrance, sliding into the counter leaning in. Beverly shot up from the seat next to you and confusion drew all over your face as you stared up at her. “I gotta go, i’m not feeling so good,” She lied miserably, “I’ll see you at home (y/n)! Nice to see you Richie!” She exited quickly almost throwing herself out of the door, leaving just the two of you. “Whats up, Richie” you attempted to cooly but to you dismay your face heated up to the noticeable red 

“What are you doing tonight? I want to take you out.”

part 2????

[viccovid]

Vic press conference 30/08/2021

you can watch the presser yourself here 52 of the new local cases were linked to current outbreaks, with 21 under investigation. 24 were in isolation throughout their infectious period. of the active cases, 800 were acquired locally and 5 internationally.

vaccination is still considered key for our state's recovery from the pandemic.

26702 vaccines were administered by state-run clinics, a 20% increase from last weekend. Victoria is almost halfway to the premier's 1 Million Vaccine campaign. there's a strong demand for the Pfizer vaccine, to the point where there are no more appointments available through state-run clinics

GPs and pharmacies are about to open up to offer the Pfizer vaccine! see your GP to book.

Astra-Zeneca is still available, but no one wants it, it's recommended for 60+ (or 18+ through your GP with informed consent)

testing is, as usual, going well.

there are 49 people in the hospital being treated, 15 of those in intensive care, with 11 of the 15 on a ventilator. :( Kylie, who works at Western Health, a hospital in the western suburbs, came to speak about the covid response. she works with a group that helps prevent 100s of admissions into intensive care. she explains that there's an incredible amount of stress on healthcare workers, with workers coming home after 12hr shifts, go to incredible lengths to sanitise before seeing their families, terrified of infecting their loved ones. she's seen nurses and healthcare workers visibly hurt from the PPE they wear to protect themselves and others, and what they don't understand is that there are young, fit Aussies being taken into ICU. these are senior nurses, not new, and Kylie's asking everyone; if you haven't been vaccinated yet, please book in. keep yourself safe, keep your family safe, keep your community safe, trust the science, and get vaccinated. (I'm gonna take a sec, seriously, go watch her speech, my heart hurts for them)

okay! back to the calming voice of whatsisface. of the local cases; 20 are linked to existing cases, with the original cases having no known source. 9 are linked to the Shepparton outbreak 5 to the My Centre childcare setting 5 to al-taqwa 3 to the city of Hobsons bay outbreak 2 to Glenroy west primary 2 linked to the sunshine hospital emergency department's household contacts 2 linked to the chemist warehouse in hoppers crossing and some others. keep up to date with exposure sites here

there are now more than 16 thousand close contacts and 20 thousand secondary contacts.

the locations of significant new cases are as follows; 7 Brimbank 15 Hobsons Bay 18 Hume 14 Wyndham 9 Shepparton

active case ages:

170 are 0-9 124 are 10-19 167 are 20-29 150 are 30-39

in terms of Shepparton, they suck. all cases have been linked. less sucky.

in short; stay home, check the exposure sites, and where's Dan???? Kylie's back! she's been asked, if the outbreak in NSW was to be replicated here, what would happen? (I say, we'd be screwed start buying your tombstones now, but Kylie's a little more optimistic) she says that it's possible for our ICU's to be overwhelmed. Delta is more contagious. it's possible our healthcare would struggle to keep up. there's not enough staff, not enough beds, and not enough anything to keep up. Kylie is confident that Western Health would be able to support a fair amount. she was then asked how people saying "open up" makes her feel, and she says terrified. she feels for everyone affected, but it'll horribly affect the communities health badly. experienced ICU nurses have gone to her in tears. it's overwhelming. the general community, especially the ones saying we need to "just open up" don't understand what's it's like in the hospitals. the patients differ this outbreak, with the patients being younger, and more people requiring ventilators. Kylie explains that we're lucky to have the vaccines, and while it is new, it is safe. it's better for everyone to get vaccinated.

she says the people protesting covid laws scares her, especially considering the flow-on into the hospitals. it's not a conspiracy.

I'd just like to say that Kylie must have incredible control over her use of language, I would've told the reporters to fuck off. or that I think the protestors are fucking idiots. vaccination good. outbreak bad. everyone else is doing better than us.

the current govt. response is to get the numbers as low as humanely possible. locking down LGAs is on the table. (I think it's a good idea) idiot reporter asks: wHy CaNt We LeT vAcCiNaTeD pEoPlE oUt Of LoCkDoWn?!? simply, VACCINATED PEOPLE CAN STILL CATCH AND TRANSMIT COVID???? IT STOPS DEATHS AND LESSENS HOSPITALISATIONS, LOWERING THE STRAIN ON OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM??? get your head out of your ass??? govt. dude was more put together. it's possible. but not yet, soon maybe. when the numbers are lower. "doubly vaxxed" curfew MAY be lifted. playgrounds MAY be opened.

no hard promises. these reporters are idiots. just to finish off: follow the rules, get vaccinated, and if you have questions flick em over and I'll get to them :)

[renegade-is-in-my-blood]

Let’s think about something else than the uncertainty of this sucky situation we found ourselves in and let me tell you something more about my recent trip to Coral Beach in Egypt. It’s gonna be long, but it’s not like we all have something else to do now right?

It hits differently to reminiscent about my last travel when travel is forbidden now. It was literally last minute trip in every sense possible, and if I knew it was the last time I’m traveling in a long time I won’t make any difference anyway cuz my vacation in Egypt was awesome.

I spend February 2020 in Egypt. It was a last-minute trip to a Coral beach Hurghada resort we found through a Czech travel agency. This hotel had beautiful photos online, just like any other Egypt resort. What made us choose this one was the great number of positive reviews on TripAdvisor.

It came as a bit of a surprise for us to find out, that the animation team and other staff asked us to leave a positive comment on the said website. Nothing wrong with that, sure.

What was shocking for me was that the income of people working there depends on the number of mentions in such positive reviews. No wonder there are so many reviews of the resort.

You can’t blame people for demanding reviews in order to secure themselves financially, but it does bring a question of credibility of those reviews.

So let’s keep it 100% real with name-calling and pointing fingers even if some feelings might get hurt.

Here is my Coral Beach Hurghada Resort review and what I learned about Egyptian men.

Don’t worry it’s been really cool.

We arrived early in the morning at around 7 am local time. First things first, we checked in, signed some paper with our names written incorrectly and even our nationality was messed up. No one mentioned that throughout the whole duration of our trip. So I guess it doesn’t matter who’s name is checked in.

Shortly after checking in, we were told that our room would be ready in like 3-4 hours. That sucked.

But as we were 2 young white girls smiling at everyone, we got our room right after breakfast and a short walk around the resort. And that was just the first of our privileges.

Coral beach Hurghada resort is huge as fuck.

The hotel beach itself is 1,2km long and all along this line are shops, bars, swimming pools, diving centers, camel rides, jeep rides, doctor, pharmacy, supermarket, spa center, tennis courts, gardens and more.

All of the guests stay at this cute little bungalows. I guess all of them look different from the inside, but we realized that on our last day when one lady was complaining that all of her furniture was old and smelled bad.

We were completely satisfied with our room. Each of us had a queen size bed and that was the only thing we actually used in our room besides the bathroom.

The bathroom was large with a bathtub but with just a shower curtain, so the water was all around the floor after every shower we took. We didn’t have any hotel shampoo or shower gel for like the first 3 days. After the third day the guy who was cleaning our room and didn’t speak English at all, but greeted us so kindly every time he saw us anyway, ran after my friend and gave her plenty of shampoos.

Besides that, we had a tv in our room we never used or a telephone that rang just once on our last day to woke us up to catch our plane home.

Each room had its own fridge with a daily supply of drinking water, or even safe we never used. We had a huge wardrobe even though I was dumping most of my clothes on a chair.

Each bungalow had its own terrace with a spectacular view oversea.

Our bungalow was like 5 minutes walk from the beach. 3 minutes to the closest pool where we spend most of our time. 4 minutes to the main building with reception, wifi and dining room where food was served. Pretty good I would say considering the general size of the resort.

I guess we made a good first impression on a reception guy that gave us this room.

Our first impression was spectacular.

I am judging this holiday as a 24 years old single girl in a resort full of male staff with an enormous obsession with European women. Clearly, my experience could not be compared to the experience of a family staying in a Coral Beach or a couple staying at the resort.

From the first moment, we stepped to the resort everyone was incredibly friendly. Everyone was saying hi to us and making small talk.

People being nice is not something I am used to. And I know it’s what they’re supposed to do, to be nice do their guests and flirt with girls but it still felt great.

Since day one everyone tried to lure us to their shop to “just talk” meaning “please buy something”. From time to time we actually went in, just to see what happens and felt super guilty for not buying anything. Nevertheless, the whole shopping is an experience on its own when Egyptians are involved.

Egyptians are incredible salesmen. Sometimes it’s too much. Some of them are too pushy, too into it and you feel cornered and lash out and it’s justified. They all know they stepped out of the line there and back out.

Even if it takes some convincing in the end they understand NO means NO.

Our usual day looked like this:

We would wake up around 8:30 and go to the breakfast that’s been serving from 7 am till 10 am. All of the all-inclusive food was served in a buffet form and there were a shit ton of options to choose from no matter your diet preferences.

Meat, dairy, vegetables, pastry, sweets. Toasts, donuts, pancakes, cereal, sausages, eggs, cheese, salads…

For me, breakfast was the best out of the 3 meals just because of my love for breakfast food.

Let’s move on to the breakfast drinks.

On the other side of the massive dining room were juice stands and coffee makers, but we very rarely went to those. All around to room were waiters ready to make all of your wishes come true. Literally. There would be 3-4 guys walking up to us every other minute asking if everything was ok, if we needed anything if we wanted something to drink or just general small talk.

That’s where we met Mohamed.

23 years old Egyptian eager to befriend us and he did. He was so easygoing with his simple English, always joking around or just making funny faces to brighten our day. We were looking forward to seeing him every morning and lunch and when we didn’t we were actually worried. He grew on me because he was so innocent or at least he played that role really well.

Mohamed didn’t seem like he was used to flirting with the guests a lot. Every time he would see us talking with some other waiter or laughing with someone else you could see his hurt puppy eyes. Later on, he would question us on how many guys we were talking to at the resort because a lot of guys were talking about us. He was horrified when he found out we flirted back with almost everyone and trust me, there was a LOT of them.

Me and my friends took it as an easy holiday flirt, but once shit got serious we had to end things very clearly.

And oh boy did things get serious.

After breakfast, we would change to swimsuits and head to either pool or beach.

Let’s dissect the pool first.

The main pool that was closest to the reception was where the animation program occurr 2 times a day. It was a standard preheated pool, what we really appreciated on some windy days, with a shallow kids section and deeper swimming section. Our favorite part of the pool was the bar.

This bar served both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, coffee, ice cream and snacks in a form of some pastry with cheese or ham. Besides that, there was a water tank where you could pour drinking water yourself.

At this particular bar worked Ahmed and Mustafa and I have a lot to say about those two.

Let’s start with a story of me and Mustafa.

Mustafa was this Egyptian waiter who spoke quite ok English and knew a few Czech words. One word he used on me a lot and it was “milacik” simply translated as a sweetheart. I was like ok, cheesy but it’s a vacation. He would joke around, make our drinks, a lot of drinks to be precise, and make compliments to me quite a lot. Nothing wrong with that, great confidence boost. I just wish he was not staring at my boobs that much but who could blame him, lol.

On one occasion when he was making drinks and compliments he would actually formally introduce himself. He then continued with a confession that he really likes me, I’m just his type, he doesn’t want to waste any more time and would like to ask me out for dinner tomorrow evening.

I started to feel like he might not be joking around anymore, but hell I was SURE he was saying the same line to every other girl at the bar. So with a little too much drinks in me, I didn’t give him a straight answer just joked around and flirted some more.

That led him on even more and he stepped up his game. He told me how serious he is about at every possible occasion. Once he started throwing around restaurants and his time schedule I realized he’s not joking and I felt so guilty for leading him on.

Now I was facing a tough decision.

How do I say no without crushing his ego?

I hate turning guys down. You could never guess the outcome and I might just have a terrible personal experience but it’s just a really scary thing to do.

So I said something along with “no thank you” and he was all like, “ok I accept and I won’t bother you again“.

Perfect reaction but I was so prematurely relieved.

Not a couple minutes later he was bugging me again. He was telling nearby guests to convince me to go out with him, that I am his sweetheart, even shit like he wants to marry me and they are invited to our wedding and just genuine peer pressure. Surely we all laughed, but that didn’t seem like he’s not bothering me at all.

By the end of the night, I said no a couple of more times and each time with less and less smile, fuck being polite.

The next day he would say how sad he is every time he saw me. How heartbroken he is that he can’t make a drink for me. Slowly over the remaining days of our stay at Coral beach, Mustafa would ignore me and my friend, refuse to do drink for us or even look our direction.

Talk about a fragile men’s ego.

So that’s when Mustafas co-worked Ahmed stepped up and started making drinks for us. From the beginning, he was all laughs and compliments as well.

A couple of days in he asked my friend for a selfie and that was a straight no.

We were well aware that Egyptian boys tend to take photos with white Europeans, post it on a specific website and brag about banging them. That was not going to be us.

Ahmed tried to ask for a photo couple of more times and after refusal, he followed the same steps as Mustafa. Ignoring us and refusing to make drinks for us.

To be fair it wasn’t that bad.

Every time we lost one guy, 3 would come our way eager to flirt with us.

Some would keep it PG13. Like Hasan from the beach bar. Hasan definitely made the best cocktails of them all, spoke the best English and was the kindest of them all. He always looked way better than the rest with his fancy belts, rings, and branded t-shirts. The way he spoke to us screamed: “I have a girlfriend I love very much but I like talking to interesting people and I love my job”.

Coral Beach has one of the prettiest beaches I ever saw. Maybe it was the lack of people in February or the constant cleaning of the workers, but it was just amazing. There was easy access to the sea, with some bigger stones around but nothing terrible. It was a beautiful bay where tourists boats would anchor, surrounded by half islands with Beach chairs and umbrellas all over.

Judging by the name of the resort Coral beach, it’s pretty obvious the resort has access to the beautiful corals and I talked more about that in my Snorkeling in Coral Beach was no Fun.

We would chill at the beach and every 15 minutes we would say “Hello” “Good and you” “No Thanks” “You too” at a bypasser trying to sell us something.

There was this guy I forgot the name of already who would do smoothies and fresh juices and who would flirt with us shamelessly.

One day he brought me flowers and that was the day I had to stop giving him so much attention.

Animators would keep us entertained for the whole day. Me and my friend were perfect guests and attend every animation program they would offer.

In the morning we would do stretching. Usually with a group of people but more often than not, we would be the only ones there.

After a couple of minutes of drinking at the bar, we would do belly dancing with a sexy scarf in front of every hotel guest and making it worth their stares. Another activity we would attend would be fitness in the water, something like aerobics, darts, volleyball, ping-pong, Zumba, billiard and our favorite activity yoga. Yoga would be the last activity of the day and even though we tried to drink in moderation doing yoga drunk as fuck is such fun.

Let me tell you about an animator named Mina.

We came to know him when we were looking for a place where yoga was starting and since that, we were inseparable. Mina was super fun and easy to talk to, he spoke perfect English, he was local so he told us a lot about Hurghada in general or about the Egyptian culture. He would check on us every couple hours and with him, it didn’t feel like just small talk.  We became friends.

Until the moment he followed us on Instagram, messaged my friend and confessed his genuine interest in her. Everything was fun and games. He wouldn’t acknowledge his cheesy and cheeky messages he sends her on the internet in real life which was weird. He became super eager and pushy so she had to put an end to it.

Guys, if you think your pick up lines are not discussed in a girls group chats you are terribly mistaken. In this case, we would sit on a couch and try to formulate the breakup text in a most gentle form.

Just like with Mustafa he was like “no worries, I want you to enjoy your vacation“, but since that text, we lost him as a friend. Since the text he would just smile at us from afar, wave, be super polite but keeping a distance, doing small talk but always hurrying somewhere and that really sucked. We could see the hurt in his eyes and that sucked even more cuz we missed his energy. Always smiling, always vibing. We missed that.

It sucks he had to catch feelings.

By the evening time of our daily routine, we would pack out things and head to our bungalow to take a shower and prepare for dinner and night programs. We would always come into the freshly cleaned bungalow.

There was this one time we locked ourselves out and it’s quite a ridiculous story.

So it was our last day at the Coral beach and we would do some souvenir shopping. We went to this small jewelry shop at the beach and there was this cool old guy who would tell us stories about his son studying medicine in Russia. He sold oriental bracelets and we picked a couple of them to give to our friends and family.

As we were not carrying money with us all day we headed to our bungalow and from afar we noticed our bungalow door was open. Once we got closer we realized the guy I mentioned before, the one who didn’t speak English but always smiled and watched us from afar, was cleaning our room as we were about to enter it.

We tried to explain to him that it would be just a minute but it was pretty useless so we just grabbed the money and headed out.

But my friend needed to use a bathroom.

The electricity in the bungalows worked only when the key was stuck in the wall port so that’s what I did.

Stucked the key in the wall.

Once we were ready we just headed back and left the door open as the guy was waiting for us to leave so he could finish up his cleaning.

Key stuck firmly in the wall.

In like 4 hours we were getting back and desperately throwing everything out of our beach bags to find our missing key. The reality hit us pretty quickly so we lowered our heads and headed to the reception to explain the situation.

The receptionist was super cute and I have never had a guy listen to me so intensely and having such captivating eyes. That eye contact still gives me chills when I remember it.

So I explained how we got locked out and his first reaction was “well done” with a smirk and that cracked me up. Cutiepie continued to ask some more questions, more of a personal nature and complimenting my English before he made a few phone calls. After a couple of minutes, we headed back to wait for our rescue that was supposed to be in front of our apartment in 5 minutes.

15 minutes later we were getting cold and frustrated without any help in sight.

We were supposed to be packing for our morning flight and we had a very busy schedule of saying goodbye to all of our new friends.

25 minutes later a guy comes by and asks if we need help.

I explain the situation and ask if he’s the one we’ve been waiting for.

The Egyptian guy just smiles and picks up his phone and types something in. Suddenly he points his phone and me and I see the google translator app so I start talking, so the guy can understand me. Once we’re on the same page he just smiles and says “no problem” and that’s when the golf car comes in carrying 2 other guys.

Once again I explain the situation and one of our saviors victoriously picks up the key and goes for it.

Few embarrassing seconds later we find out he took the wrong key. He turns to me and my friend with a crooked smile and says: “one moment” and starts up the golf car again and disappears in the distance.

So we sat back to the cold stairs in front of our bungalow and curse our luck.

Another 10 crushing minutes later the guys bring back the right key and open up our door.

My one big regret is the fact I didn’t meet my receptionist prince sooner. We exchanged a few more glances and smiles that night but sadly, that was it.

Dinner at Coral Beach was always exquisite.

There were a couple of “normal” dishes along with the special themed ones. For example the seafood theme, Indian food, Japanese cuisine, grill and many more. The dinner time would be the most crowded in the dining hall but once again, we had our friends taking care of us.

There was this big tall guy whose name I forgot, mainly because he had eyes for my friend only. He would stop her by and confess his attraction to her one day and didn’t stop trying to get her, till the end of our last day there. Every time he would ask us for our drinks preferences for the night he would ask my friend only and be gone by the time I open my mouth.

Thankfully he would bring me the same drink my friend ordered every time so that was cool.

After dinner, we would sit in the lounge to catch wifi, post some photos on Instagram, message home that we’re safe but mostly drink cocktails and chat with animators.

Around 9 pm the program would start and all of the guests would gather up and watch the show. There was an acrobat show, live singer, fire show, belly dancer, fakir show, dance show, and many more. Some better than the other but it was always a nice distraction.

After the show, the animators and the guests would head out of the resort for disco and I have a few things to say about that as well.

We were 2 young girls on our own in Hurghada.

I’m not into a disco but even if I were, my trust issues have trust issues and there is no way in hell I would leave a secure resort and leave with a people I just met and go to a disco in a foreign country in the middle of the night.

But every single day most of the animators would try and convince us to come with them. It was super annoying. They would brag about it at every chance they got.

Everything clicked in place once we found out they work on commission. They have to bring as many people to the disco, sell them the tickets and they get to keep like a 1$ out of the sale. A day’s work for 1$ per person and there were not many people in Egypt in February.

After like 4 days they realize they are not going to convince us to pay 15$ to leave the resort.

Sure it’s holidays and I’m young but I have my limits.

Once the whole animation team realized we don’t trust them the big boss stepped up.

The boss of the animation team Mohamed was this big guy who was the only unfriendly and rude person we met through this whole holiday. He wouldn’t smile at us even if his life depends on it. Not once did he say hi to us first. He would walk around with his head up high, just watching us, never approaching and even his stares were deadly like we did something horrible to him.

So suddenly, one night he comes up to us and tells us, with a straight face, that we can trust him cuz he’s been doing this for 8 years. He told us we’ll be safe and he’s willing to take us there for free.

If a stranger approaches me, begs me to trust him and offers my free ride to some disco club in a foreign town, I have no reason not to trust him, right?

I know I need to start trusting people, but that was not the day.

Safe to say Mohamed disliked us even more after this nigh.

Let me tell you about our dentist friend.

Among one of the shops around the Coral beach area was the fashion boutique owned by an Egyptian guy we befriended but never learned his name. He was different from the rest of the Egyptians because he studied in the Czech republic just as we did.

His approach was more European. If you want something form his shop, he’s not gonna lure you in, you come at your own free will.

We would sit in his shop, drink date tea and talk about anything. The saddest part was that even when he finished up his studies, he’s a legitimate dentist and would earn a fortune by working in his field of study he just can’t. He never got a visa to work abroad so he sells clothes in Hurghada. He keeps applying for a visa every chance he gets for over 10 years and his hope is so inspiring.

Our dentist friend would teach us Arabic phrases we needed the most. Phrases like: “That’s enough boy”, “Can I get a drink?” or “I’m not your sweetheart”.

One day we actually left the resort with a bunch of hotel people and hotel guards to visit Hurghada downtown.

It was terrible.

The trip was free and took part at around noon. We met this sweet Czech ladies who could be our mums but they were really cool mums so we convinced them to take this trip with us.

Us and around 5 more residents were placed into this old, rusty, smelly minibus and headed out. It took us around 20 minutes on a hot stinky bus to get to our final destination and I started to realize what an adventurous trip this was going to be.

I was fascinated by the Hurghada traffic in general. No road lines. No signs. Everyone keeps honking all the time.

Just go for it. No one cares.

We were told to hide our hotel all-inclusive bracelets we were carrying on, so no one could follow us back. That was the first hint that things would get freaky.

We got a map of where we can go and where not to go and we got like hour and a half to shop around the Hurghada city.

No pedestrians crossing whatsoever and when a group of 4 females steps to the end of the road preparing to run across it to the other side, at least 3 cars stop by offering to take them wherever.

We couldn’t get a minute alone. From every single shop, men would come up to our faces and corner us, block our way and try to convince us to come to their shop. Some would catcall from afar and some would even go as far as actually touching you and dragging you in. They would try to push you their products like cigarettes directly to your hands. One guy would keep asking how much euros was in his hands and there were just so many of them.

That was one scary hour.

We visited some shops but more importantly, we were looking forward to our ride back home.

All of the city was super dirty, smelly, all you could hear was the honking of the cars. It was terrible.

Needless to say, we never met any Egyptian woman out there.

In general, we had a great time. There were plenty more guys trying to shot their shot by ridiculously blocking our way or whistling like a pair of teenagers. Those are the ones that didn’t get a second glance.

I was taken by the honesty and easy approach of the Egyptians.

Who the hell say exactly what they’re thinking? Where are the mind games? Manipulation? Misleading hints?

I just wish European men would take the same approach.

I like you. Do you like me?

It’s that easy and even as it came as a shock to me at first, it was so refreshing.

If I get to describe Egyptian men I one word it would be loving.

Sure, I know it was their job description to be nice to the guests but I believe there is just so much a person can pretend. Fake it till you make it.

The whole “life is too short so love with all your heart” approach is so inspiring yet intimidating.  It felt like a different world out there.

At the same time, how can someone be so open to love?

How can you jump from person to person and fall for someone new every time?

Getting hurt over and over again and still continue to try.

Is that courageous or crazy? That’s not up to me to judge.

All I can say is that no place made me feel so seen, so appreciated and relaxed as Coral Beach did.

I really hope all of the people I met there are safe and once this whole mess is done I’ll be more than happy to return to Coral Beach. We would all need a little of the love Egyptians provide.

Coral Beach Hurghada Resort and the Truth about Egyptian Men Let's think about something else than the uncertainty of this sucky situation we found ourselves in and let me tell you something more about my recent trip to Coral Beach in Egypt.