#me fighting literally the most basic enemies: struggling and failing to block on time and crying and pissing and etc

[verygayandverytired]

i fucking hate playing as viola but the strider fights with her have been really awesome

[sometimeinjoon]

Slip

3.5k

01 - 02 - 03

Once a year, on your birthday, a veil between worlds open.

This year, they tell you they need to take you back soon, even though you were clear on that being four years into the future, still.

Your guardian steps out and tells you he’s staying a few nights so he could tutor you back into practicing magic like you did in the other dimension, but all you’re really doing is making out.

The people in the portal always just hand over gifts. Lots of them. Your adoptive parents, currently posing as humans, explained the situation at hand quite well: you were a queen-to-be being threatened by multiple enemies, so your people shove you into a different dimension until you’re strong enough to come back and rule. Oh, and kill all those motherfuckers once you return, too.

The chimera were human as human can be, minus the part where they practiced magic. The people in this dimension missed out on it, so really, this is the most ideal place to put their princess. Nothing can harm you here, for nothing is powerful enough. And if by any chance something does pose harm, they’re ready to fight for you.

The old guest room in your mother’s house is where the portal appears, and today, as much as you’d want to spend all your birthday festivities there, you’re due to stay with your dad during the weekends. Your chimera parents are laughably “divorced”, and they’re adamant about following that order since it would be a violation of royal command, apparently. Their files were specific and were set straight when they were briefed into pretending to be your parents. So here you are, all with fake last names, two different houses a 20 minute drive apart, them being divorced, all that. You’re supposed to be home schooled, but you’re really just home. Watching, reading, doing whatever it is you wanted. They said that when the time came, that time being your 30th birthday, you would be given a crash course training, and you’re going to be able to get back all your abilities from that one time thing. So really, that means you’re going to be dilly-dallying about until that time rolled around.

You excitedly open the bedroom door into the new dimension, all set up and ready for your party. It was a short and sweet celebration, but it sufficed. You saw familiar faces, and all of them treated you no less than the royalty that you are. Lots of food, lots of presents, lots of happy birthday, we wish you the best your highness. Once the whole thing was over it had only been 2 hours, and back into this world you go. It was precaution, so that you’re never in their realm long enough for the enemy to catch on.

As you bid farewell to everyone, your guardian accompanies you in crossing over, like he always does. He carries most of your gifts and books and this time, it’s no different, except, no gifts were around you when you left as they’ve apparently been poofed up into your dad’s house.

“The gifts are different this year,” he smiles. You thought back on the previous years, when they would present you with an iPhone that’s a generation advanced from the one currently being released, and a bunch of other luxurious material things.

“Different, like they’re actually valuables this time?” you jokingly ask, and he nods.

“Yes, since we’re taking you back soon, your training must begin soon as well,” he answers, and you fall silent. There must have been some sort of mistake, because you’ve turned 26 today, and they’re taking you back four years early? As fun as it was to be literally just lazing around, it scared you that you were supposed to learn everything you needed in a short period of time. What if you didn’t? What if you couldn’t kill the evil motherfuckers? What if you fail the people that have treated you like the savior they were expecting you to be?

Namjoon explains that you’ve got nothing to worry about, and that there was no mistake. It’s just that humans require vague time estimates, and 30 is the value they gave. He says you’re ready, and that he will be your personal trainer and guide throughout the entire thing.

As soon as you get to your dad’s house he smiles at Namjoon and sends you off into your room like he’s been here a million times before. Any normal father would have chased Namjoon down the block with a cleaver before he’s allowed a step up the stairs, much less into your room, but your father is not a normal father. He isn’t your father at all, but you’ve grown to love him to be.

Namjoon closes the door behind him once you get upstairs, the gifts already poised and arranged around waiting for you in your bedroom that’s apparently been renovated. Then, you notice the usual gifts: a TV, some fast food, movies, a new game console, and a bunch of other normal teenager things. They were accompanied by a very small amount of crystals and potions and books sitting by your table. You’ve figured that they still wanted to give you the usual gifts along with your relics, so you let it slide and instead just admire the brand new room you have.

“Do you like it?” Namjoon asks, looking around. The chimera redecorated while your party was going on to make it more suitable for training, Namjoon explains, and you’re left laughing a little.

“I love it, but I don’t understand how this room has been renovated to be more equipped for training! What’s a 40-inch TV got to do with anything?” You ask, and Namjoon waves you off, saying something about things coming together later.

You walls are painted a deep blue color and your curtains were now heavier and thicker. The bed was gigantic and soft as you sat down on it, pillows crowding the top half. The TV was directly in front of it, and really, holy shit, how was this room supposed to be for training?

Namjoon notices your frown and furrows his brows a little. “The bed will fit us as it is, but would you like it larger?” he asks. You stare at him a little and he’s very clueless as to why.

“The bed will fit us?” you repeat and he nods, and then he realizes your confusion as he hasn’t mentioned the fact that he’s staying over for a week for your training. And here, he’s staying here, in your house. In your room.

“Does dad know? I mean, you can magic up the guest bedroom to be your room, right? I’ll go ask dad if you can stay—,” you trail, but before you can reach the door Namjoon holds your arm and laughs.

“Your father knows about this whole thing, my lady. You do not need consent for me to be in here,” he reassures you, but you were terribly far from reassured. He says it’s part of the training for him to be in the same room as you, and you press no further. He’s your guardian, and he will do you no harm! Sure, he’s really hot and you might get flustered later on tonight, but your en suite bathroom is accessible enough to relieve yourself should you need to. Princess and all, you’re still a 26 year old accustomed to the human way, and the human way is that you get a little bothered when attractive guys are around you in the evening with no possibility of your parents trying to intervene.

Oh my god, princess, stop it, you think to yourself. In your daze, Namjoon just stood in front of you the whole time, patiently waiting for you to say something. He asks you if you’re alright and you nod at him, smiling.

The studying commences a little later, the sun barely starting to set when you started, but the room was almost pitch black without the lights because of the curtains the chimera have chosen for you. Namjoon’s running you through the basics, things you’ve read in your own time, and you’re not really listening to him. No, you were just staring at him like a woman deprived. You looked so funny and weird looking at him with just sheer desire in your eyes, and the funniest part? He’s already noticed, he’s just not saying anything.

“You know, you’re going to bore a hole through my face if you keep looking at me like that,” he says finally breaking the silence. You’re immediately flustered and you try to avoid his gaze, but he turns fully to face you, foregoing the lecture and instead starts staring at you as well. His cheek rests against his hand and he sighs after a few seconds.

“Quit it,” you say, face already burning hot. He blows air out of his nose in some form of a chuckle and leans in closer to you.

“Why? You wouldn’t have stopped if I didn’t call you out on it,” he says, face so so close to yours. You should be appalled that he’s acting this way towards you, but your mind is spinning and you can’t really form cohesive words right now. You couldn’t mouth the fuck off you wanted to playfully reply and the longer it took for you to try and compose yourself well enough to respond to Namjoon, the closer he got. He’s smiling wide, extremely white teeth staring straight at you. You want to wince at the sight.

He cups your cheek with his hand and with the other, conjures up some purple dust and taps it onto your lips.

“That should do it,” he smiles, content, and then he kisses you.

His lips were soft and as much as you wanted to brand your first kiss as innocent, this was far from it. Namjoon was hungry and you struggled to keep up with his intensity, both his hands now holding your face. You return his kisses willingly, and it takes about ten slow seconds of just plain making out before memories start to flood back into your head.

You’re now even more overwhelmed than you were about the kiss, and Namjoon holds you down firmly so you couldn’t move backwards. Breathing becomes difficult at this point, but you simply cannot break away from the kiss, not now, not while you’re remembering. It almost feels like Namjoon was trying to choke you out of breath, but he kept moving his lips against yours and now you’re overwhelmed with all the flashbacks, near passing out, and horny. What a whammy.

Then your dad walks in on the intense make out session and alas, the kiss is broken.

He sets the McDonald’s takeaway on the table and continuously swears to himself. He apologizes for disturbing, and explains that he did not expect that to happen until about the third day and so he did not bother knocking. He leaves in a panic and locks the door before he clicks it closed behind him.

“Did it work?” Namjoon asks, searching your eyes.  You don’t know what that’s supposed to mean so you don’t answer. Namjoon continues to try and talk to you, ignoring your obvious embarrassment over what had just happened, but he snaps you out of your trance when he softly says, “baby?”

You’re jostled upright from your slouched position on your seat. He sighs  heavily.

“That means the memories did not complete. Not when you’re surprised I called you baby,” he attempts a laugh, but he shakes his head instead.

“Sorry?” you say, and he smiles earnestly at you. It’s not your fault, really. Namjoon scolds himself about locking doors while you try to process just what the fuck was going on.

Namjoon’s a special someone, you’ve gathered that much. He was in every single one of the memory snippets you got, and he’s for sure important and dear to you in the other dimension if he kissed you like that so comfortably, so quickly. You’re not sure what to do and so you kiss his cheek as he thinks to himself, since hey, he’s probably your boyrfriend, and you’re exhilarated by that. He then smiles, and kisses your lips back. 

“Well, that made this whole thing harder, but you’re probably not going to be complaining about extended training,” he says, reaching for your dinner your dad brought upstairs at a bad time.

“Training? That was training?” you ask, again, confused. Namjoon nods, and smirks. The audacity, you thought. How dare he smirk at you after he’s just choke-kissed you.

“Yes, baby. We’re going to be doing a lot more kissing than we first needed to now.”

Wait, hold the fuck up. Kissing? Your training involves a lot of kissing? What in the fresh hell? It’s not like you wouldn’t want to kiss Namjoon repeatedly with the door locked, but you’re supposed to prepare to rule a whole kingdom and take down bad guys and you’re supposed to learn how to by kissing?

Namjoon holds your thigh and rubs his nose on your temple as he chows down on the burger he’s holding and asks you to do the same, and you comply. A comfortable silence ensues as dinner passes, but your mind quickly wandered off into what the rest of the night would be like now that you’ve been briefed on what was about to go down.

“We can do it one of two ways,” Namjoon starts, standing up from his chair by the desk. “We can do it slowly, or just smack it all down all at once.” he sits on the edge of the bed.

“I’m going to need you to explain,” you answer, turning your seat around to face him.

“I did a spell a while ago, and that was really the main procedure. It’s supposed to flood memories back very very quickly, granted the kiss remained a kiss until the process was over,” he clasps his hands together. “However, the kiss was broken. And we can’t use the powder again.”

The powder, yes, the purple sugary thing. You ask him why and he says it reacts to oxygen, something this realm has so so much of. You can’t use the powder until about a week later, as it’s left in your system.

And so now, you’re left with a choice of just continuously making out in sessions over the next few days, or having sex once every day to speed up the process a little bit.

You’re so surprised by how Namjoon said your options, and wow, what the hell? Is this a thing for your kind? Sex? Random casual frequent sex? You begin to wonder if Namjoon really was anyone special, or if it was just completely normal to kiss and fuck whoever. He reassures  you that he’s indeed someone special, but he’d rather let the memories explain as he’s not sure how you’d take things given that basic information scares the shit out of you.

He then proceeds to explain that chimera are, as you already knew, demons. Your lineage is from the god of lust, and so memories transfer via intimate touch. He repeats that they’re still basically human, just rearing from a lustful demon, and so partners and loyalty are very much a thing and that random necessary sex is nothing you should be concerned about. Only a person’s partner can have an effect on them, hence why Namjoon is the only one that can help you, and only he can give you back your powers.

You fall silent, and things aren’t really that hard to understand, it’s just that, what do you do? Fuck him now, or fuck him later? The kiss already got you going, so do you run the full marathon already?

No, you won’t, because that would shorten the amount of time before you’re “ready” and “fully recovered”, so you tell him you’d rather kiss. Actually, what you said was let’s fuck later, but hey, same thought. Namjoon nods and smiles approvingly.

The night is then taken slowly, you settling onto the bed cuddling into his side as you watch trash TV. It was around 9 pm when your dad knocks on your locked door. Namjoon goes to open it for him and oh dear, your dad shows up with alcohol and condoms. Namjoon laughs and takes them, and your dad says whatever you need, just ring him and he’ll be downstairs.

This is needlessly so fucking awkward, but it’s only because you’ve pretended to be human for so long. For your dad, it’s absolutely normal.

Namjoon sets the condoms down by the bedside table and he pops open a beer. He offers you one but you decline.

“Baby I know it’s weird and it seems urgent with how things are going, but trust me, we can take things as slow as you want, yeah?” He says, taking a sip from his can. “And the room’s sound proofed, if you’re worried about that too,” he smirks, and you smack his arm.

With the room being mentioned, you piece together the specific interior decoration going on. It was optimized for training, of course! It looks like a wonderful place to fuck. Dark, spacious, lots of room. In between the fucks you could chill out and play PS4 or watch TV.

After a little bit of thinking, you free yourself from Namjoon’s hold and take a sip out of his beer can. You set it down beside the condoms and straddle him, his hands welcoming you, setting themselves on your waist. You give him a quick peck and he chases after your lips once you pull away, but you don’t let him catch up.

“I want to remember a little bit more tonight,” you breathe, and he nods, taking your lips in his, a little softer than earlier. His hands snake up your sides as the kiss progresses, until one of them reach for your boob and you lean into his touch. Your hips start grinding down on him subconsciously, and then the tongue and the biting commences.

He’s aggressive with how he kisses, but he massages your breasts like they’re made of gelatin and  he could crush them if he went too hard. He’s starting to moan when a memory sparks up in your head and you press into his lips harder. He moans a little louder and you grind down on him a little more urgently and there you have it, a vivid memory.

You pull away a little breathless and he smiles when he asks you what you got. You realize how much slower this process is versus when it’s aided by the powder, but you’re happy you’ve recalled that Namjoon was not merely your boyfriend, no, he’s your soulmate. The one you’re destined to be, well, fucking for eternity as your descent demands. Better than being a descendant of the god of wrath, right? How do soulmates work for them? Do they hurt each other every chance they get? Those thoughts make you immediately grateful to be under the deadly sin that requires most intimacy.

“I don’t remember your tits being so big,” Namjoon says, interrupting your thinking. He reaches for the two and starts toying with them. “But then again, the last time I touched them was so long ago.”

Being immortal in the other realm had its perks, sure, but that meant you stopped growing at a certain age, and your age was 23. Having you transfer into a different dimension made you age beyond that, and luckily for you, that meant your boobs growing a lot bigger than they were.

“Change into your pajamas and get this bra off, babe,” he says, and you oblige. As soon as you get off of him, he realizes he’s so fucking hard that changing into his own pajamas were a struggle as they just tented right on his dick. As much as he wants to take it slow like you do, he’s gonna have a hard time keeping it in his pants.

[bo-sin-limite]

Berlin - political epicenter of the 20th century

Berlin was not always the most relaxed place to spend your time, but in the 20th century it was definitely one of the most exciting - It’s political relevance as the political stage for three World Wars is hard to match. Today it is like a huge outdoor museum - to itself. 

The Germany we know today is very young: 

In the 19th century there was no single Germany. Instead it consisted of a multitude of principalities loosely bound together as members of the German Confederation. The Germany we know today was forged into a national kingdom for a war against France in 1871 by the Prussian political strategist and first Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck. 

-German Chancellor and political strategist Otto von Bismarck-

Now the man wasn’t exactly a pacifist, but is still hailed today as the genius architect of dynamic non-attack and mutual assistance treaties with the other powers to keep Germany out of trouble in a very unstable Europe. The basic idea, much like the nuclear proliferation that followed, was to render the potential costs of aggression against Germany so high as to prevent anyone from attacking at all, thereby assuring peace. 

Sadly in 1914, when the Austrian king’s successor was assassinated by rebels in Serbia, the network of treaties did not only fail to keep the peace, but backfired colossally. It triggered a chain reaction of allegiances, turning a bilateral political conflict into World War I. 

As German and French soldiers dug trenches at the border and tried to push through each other with all sorts of new military equipment (like machine guns and poison gas), the death toll is estimated at around 20 million making it one of the most lethal conflicts in world history.

-German and French fighting in trenches at Verdun during WW I-

The war ended in 1918 with Germany’s surrender, and so did the German kingdom. 

It made way for the first German democracy, the Republic of Weimar. Sadly the next two decades were very difficult economically. The victors of WW I were rather pissed and made Germany sign the treaty of Versailles, demanding high reparation payments and economic limitations. German politicans found a smart way out by just printing lots of money. Sadly by 1923 this resulted in hyperinflation, a trauma that sits so deep that even a hundred years later Germany remains obsessed with the Euro's currency stability. The global economic crisis of 1929 resulted in recession and unemployment.

The German people became so desperate for change, for hope, for pride, that Hitler became chancellor and soon the Nazis came to power. Unfortunately they were very quick to disassemble the institutions and safeguards of the young democracy, installing a dictatorship called the Third Reich in 1933. There is an excellent exhibition on this process called Topographie des Terrors close to Checkpoint Charlie. 

Hitler invested heavily in the German military and - by marching into Poland - effectively began WW II in 1939. He invaded most of Europe at lightnig speed (“Blitzkrieg”). With highly advanced military technology like tanks, fighter planes and submarines, and no remorse, the Nazis had soon occupied most of Europe.

-Highly motivated German soldiers in the Third Reich-

Nazi Germany entered into alliances with fascist Italy, Japan and initially even Russia, but ultimately ended up in a two-front war against Allied forces (mainly Americans & English) in the West and the Soviet Union in the East.

-The third Reich swiftly invaded most of Europe, ultimately overstretching into a 2-front war against the Soviet-Union in the East and American/British forces in the West-

Hitler’s lasting reputation as pure evil is not so much the result of his mad ambition or his ignorance for the 10s of millions who died in the war, but of the holocaust: A campaign to destroy people of Jewish descent and other groups at industrial scale. More than 6 million people were annihilated based on an inhumane racist pseudo-science of genetic purity/ “social darwinism”.

Hitler's ambition was to build a Nazi world empire - its capital “Germania” was to be Berlin. The war only ended in 1945, with American and Soviet troops simultaneously rolling into the capital. Other than debris and corpses there wasn’t much left.

-The Gedächtniskirche in destroyed Berlin after WW II-

Nonetheless for the next half century Berlin would play another prominent role - it became the European stage for the cold war. With the Nazis defeated and the former European colonial powers gone, the two remaining superpowers each sought to install a new world order. The US opted for capitalism (branding it “freedom”) society, while the Soviet Union propagated communism (branding it “equality”).

-The US-Soviet propaganda battle for peoples’ hearts and minds-

The ensuing struggle for world domination would divide the world in two and shape governments, technology and thinking for the next half-century. The opening scene was post-war Berlin.

-Stand-off between American and Soviet tanks at Checkpoint Charlie-

Each side embraced their chunk of postwar Germany and rebuilt their former enemy with money, resources, training and political support in an effort to show that their economic system could build the cooler Germany.

The Soviets held the Eastern sector while the American, British and French sectors soon merged into “West-Berlin”. The latter was in an awkward geography, as the entire city of Berlin was afloat in Soviet-controlled East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR for short).

-Post-war Germany was divided into the Western American-controlled Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD) and the Soviet-controlled Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) in the East. - Source: Wikimedia / Alexrk2, CC BY-SA 3.0.

In 1948 the Soviets attempted to starve out the Americans. They used their control of the land routes to cut the power lines, and block roads and railways leaving West-Berlin completely isolated - no people or shipment could enter by land or sea. 

This set a stage for the Americans to show their commitment to “a democratic Europe”. They promptly decided to launch the largest aerial logistics operation the world had ever seen: With the “Luftbrücke” (Berlin air lift), the US and British air force supplied the 2.2 million people of West-Berlin by air freight! They transported more than 2 million tons of supplies into West-Berlin: Food, medicine, gasoline even coal for heating and power! To achieve this, a supply plane would land EVERY 3 MINUTES.

-In the Luftbrücke a plane would land every 3 minutes to supply West-Berlin-

Still today the Germans thankfully remember the American Douglas C-47 planes - dubbed “Rosinenbomber” (raisin bomber). The receiving Tempelhof airport today is a beautiful park where people go for a run or have a barbie. The gigantic airport building had been constructed by the Nazis to look like an eagle from above. You can also look inside on a tour.   

Following the famous “Marshall plan” the Americans invested heavily in reconstructing the infrastructure and economy in West Germany. This success attracted many Germans from the Soviet zone to come to the American sector and legally travel on into West-Germany. Desperate to stop this massive drain of human resources, in 1961 the Soviets built a radical, but effective anti-emigration policy: The Berlin wall.

-Berlin wall death-strip-

-Map of the inner-German wall surrounding West-Berlin Source: Wikimedia / Sansculotte. 05/2004 A. Darmochwal-

For almost 40 years to come, the wall encircled and isolated West Berlin, heavily guarded. When I see tourists today taking selfies at the Brandenburg gate, it’s hard to imagine they are saying cheese in the former death-strip - before 1989 they would have been shot on sight. It’s hard to imagine living in a city split in two, but in many places you can still see remnants of the wall (famously the East-side gallery or the Berliner Mauer memorial).

-Brandenburg Gate sealed off during cold war versus today-

This history is so powerful and recent that as you walk through Berlin, you can literally experience the major political twists that shaped the 20th century. 

Since the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1989 the political architecture has changed completely. The world is no longer divided in two. West- and East-Germany were reunified with their joint capital in Berlin: Nearly all the major political institutions have moved here from sleepy West-German Bonn and following a city-wide reconstruction boom, they have received new architecture - an elegant example of this being the house of parliament Reichstag. 

This new Germany is deeply integrated politically and economically into the European Union (EU). The founding idea was to have a common control of war-critical resources (coal and steel) and that close economic partners would have much more to lose than to gain from war. From this rather narrow idea of war-avoidance, the EU has developed into a strong federation. It has been swift and eager to include countries across Eastern Europe into their midst, now spanning 27 member states. For all its petty criticism, the EU has maintained a war-free period of 75 years...longer than Europe has seen in many centuries. But even with the deep EU integration, most policy is not decided in Brussels, but rather by the various heads of state. One of the most decisive pro-European forces in the last 15 years has been legendary German chancellor Angela Merkel, right here in Berlin. 

I highly recommend a visit to the Deutsches Historisches Museum. It offers a wrap-up of European history by asking “What is a border?” For me this was an eye-opener: the exhibit shows how many borders are purely political demarcations and how dynamically they can change. It helps to grasp the unbelievable number of conflicts and resulting changes in borders in Europe  as a map of changing colors in time reel. Furthermore the museum offers an excellent selection of historic objects and historic explanations to understand German history, from the middle-ages through both World Wars to today. Depending on your interest and endurance, you can dive in for anytime between 2 and 10 hours.  

Also, for a glimpse into life in the East-German Democratic Republic, check out the DDR museum.