#not even an exaggeration btw i Have Not Slept

[masatos-wig]

at a family gathering rn but all im thinkin abt it is how much i wanna just be home and spam bg3 for another 16hrs o(-(

[breedbun]

` ` and here he is, the love of my life. ` ` - me, probably.

warnings; none, this is part 1! :)

desc; hi guys!!!! this is self indulgent because it was my birthday at the end of last month so i deserve to write about my favourite icy blue man!! js a sweet preschool teacher reader, who adores children and teaches english, science, and art. kaeya, just dropping klee off.. in turn, wants to put kids in reader!.. i mean, reader did say he liked the idea of having kids. (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ too bad y'all gotta wait!! *winky wink*

(edits/notes; 00:59 — 13:59 — 14:17 (i slept) this is inspired by an oc of mine btw i felt like being silly )

These past few weeks, you've been tasked with caring for the "terrorist of Mondstadt" by Acting Grandmaster Jean herself — Klee. As bad as people exaggerated her to be, you knew Klee absolutely loves you, even tolerating the fact you disallow her to bomb random things. You don't know why she loves you so much, but you're obviously not complaining at all, hah..

In the daycare you manage, you tuck Klee in for nap time, and ruffle her fluffy blonde hair gently. You let out a sigh of relief, because finally getting Klee to actually sleep was one hell of a task. Your fingers slide behind your waist, wrapping around the apron knot you tied. You grabbed two loose fabrics sticking out, and pulled on it hard. Once you tightened your apron, it was now time to prepare the snacks for the children once they woke up.. and then the activities, as well as outdoor free play. You've sure got a lot on your plate, but you're the true miracle of this daycare.. you're the only one who can herd every kid under control within minutes.

You sped up, walking past small mattresses with sleepy children, to a few large boxes at the back of the room, grabbing the one on top. Spinning on your heel, you struggled slightly to maintain both balance and speed as you rushed out the nap room. Closing the door with your foot, you then speed-walked to the many colourful tables and chairs with scribbles here and there. Opening the box, you start distributing all the snacks, and you can hear a few of your colleagues behind you scurrying over, attempting to aid you.

Everything took a while to prepare, but within nap time, you thankfully had at least 15 minutes left to relax. Usually it'd be 5 minutes or less, but you've got more hands today due to the new interns. Of course, you sat down in a short chair as you reached for your already half empty water bottle.

Though there were a few hiccups throughout the rest of the afternoon till the evening, you made it through the day with happy children and happy parents as always! You personally escorted Klee to the unlocked childproof gate, told her to grab her bag and stuff from her allocated tray. While you waited for her to pack some things, you glanced over at the parents in curiosity. Besides the loud giggling and chattering currently filling the room, you find a strangely familiar figure standing not so far from you. Blue hair, eye patch, tanned skin.. Right! That's Kaeya, the Calvary Captain. He had quite the reputation, both good and bad.. though, you've worked with him during your previous job, and you briefly know what type of person he is. Your thoughts are interrupted by Klee's tackle against your legs, and you nearly fall over, if not for the counter you held onto beside. You simply place your free hand on Klee's head, laughing as you try to find balance.

"Klee, is that your uncle Kaeya?" You speak endearingly, as you look up from her and up to that blue-haired man. Kaeya seemed to make eye contact with you, and you look away for the sake of your dignity. Sure, he was handsome, but you don't think he's into guys.. He's pretty popular among the ladies, too.

Klee ran over to Kaeya, babbling about her day while you follow behind slowly. Kaeya seemed almost surprised, but he had a smile on his face as he knelt down to listen to Klee with full attention on her. His gaze shifted to you every so often, you could tell, but you quietly walked away and hid yourself behind the counter. He watches you momentarily, before Klee starts dragging him away. Kaeya finally takes his eyes off you, and his mind swirls with you while he attempts to keep his mind on bringing Kee home.

What a strange man, what a charming man. Blue hair, an eye patch, and pretty eyes. You swore you saw a vision too.

@breedbun • kaeya's no.1 fan+husband fr

[i2sunric]

SCENT OF YOU — k.yudai

wc: 1.4k

warnings: MINORS DNI! established relationship, bf! yudai x gf! you, i called him ‘kei’ just because, fingering, pussy eating, orgasm, caring bf kei, tired university student you, pet names (princess, baby) | not proofread

summary: since you’ve been locked into your room for two days, busy studying, kei wants you to rest and relax, giving you the best head and fingering of your life

[ hana’s space ] ; ok HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN’S HANDS??!:!/!:!/! istg he could slap me and i would ask him to do it again so here it’s a smut where he fingers y/n duh. btw i think i improved with my writing ☝️🤓

“hey.” you could hear a faint voice coming from the door of your room, turning around you noticed your boyfriend’s figure standing there, shoulder resting on the jamb of the door with a frown “hi baby.” you give him a weak smile

“i thought you were dead” he commented and you chuckled “you’re exaggerating.” but he did not want to joke

you had been locked in your room for two days, studying and panicking because of your finals. university life was draining you and you were exhausted, but the fear of failure wouldn’t let you sleep in peace

kei walked over to you, placing his hands on his hips and staring at your desk, the three cans of red bull and several coffee cups turned his frown into a worried expression “have you even slept?” he questioned but he probably already knew the answer

“barely.” you hissed, clenching the hold on your pen. he sighed “you need rest.” and he was right, you definitely needed rest but you just couldn’t, your mind wouldn’t let you.

it was the first time you disappeared in your room, your boyfriend only seeing you when you went to the bathroom or if he randomly checked up on you; never actually bothering you and your studies.

because kei understood, he always did.

but this time it seemed like he was extremely concerned about you, not having seen you for more than one day made him go crazy. he was so dependent of you, and you loved it.

“i know… but—“ kei placed a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it lightly “no buts.” he nagged, his head slowly moving closer to your ear, whispering “you need to rest and you will rest.” before placing small kisses on your jaw.

you shivered, a part of you tried to snap out of the thoughts forming on your brain while the other one wanted to let you be held, loved, and taken care of from kei.

“yudai..” you breathed, his lips moving to kiss your neck, you tilted your head so he could have free access to it; your hand going to pat his head “please baby i need to study.” actually, not even you believed those words coming out of your mouth

kei shook his head, raising up and turning your chair so you were facing him. he caressed your cheek with his thumb and moved a string of hair behind your ear. he took his time to stare at your face with his two doe eyes, giving you a faint smile.

with no words exchanged, both of your heads starting getting closer until your lips crashed together. one of kei’s hand cupped your cheek while the other was on the back of the chair, helping to balance his weight. it was a slow and passionate kiss, you didn’t pull away even when you felt a loss of air.

it was kei who broke the kiss, giving you another cheeky smile of his before he caressed your face again “i want you to relax now, will you let me help you?” he asked and you were sure he had something magical inside his eyes because you found yourself nodding even before he finished his sentence

with a chuckle, he took your hand and guided you to your bed “lay down, princess.” he said, letting you lie and put yourself into a comfortable position.

you unconsciously smiled at him, wrapping your arms around his neck when he started kissing you again, this time more passionately.

his hands wandered all around your body, feeling you who he longed for two infinite days, the scent you had — despite it being mixed with coffee and sweat — was so sweet and familiar it almost resulted as intoxicating; koga yudai was addicted to it.

kei got up from your frail figure, his hand moving from your waist to your hips, teasing the waist of the pants, glaring you. you nodded your head, smiling, giving him permission to remove them and so he did, throwing the clothes somewhere unknown

he let his hands wander on your bare thighs, making you have goosebumps. his hand then reached for your already wet panties and touched your clothes core, making you whine in complain. he scoffed “does my baby want more?” and you nodded frenetically, the thoughts of him fucking into you at full speed made your vision blur

as if you two were connected, kei shook his head and smiled “we aren’t going to do what you think, princess.” you raised an eyebrow “why?”

“your body is too tired,” his reason was right “just trust me on this, ok?” you obediently nodded and entrusted him

he slowly removed your panties, leaving them at the same fate or your pants.

“mh~” you hummed when you felt the cold air of the room hitting your aching core, making it clench around nothing. you looked at kei with pleading eyes, mentally begging for him to actually do something about it.

he smirked satisfied and let his tongue do its job, basically having a whole making out session with your pussy. you let out small whimpers, your mind already too blank and high up on clouds to form any thoughts. seemed like all the anxiety you felt was sucked out. his tongue slipped inside of you while his thumb circled around your clit, sending you shivers and making you tremble; if it wasn’t for kei pinning you down with his arms you would’ve surely moved your hips around.

your hand went to grasp on kei’s hair, pulling it and making him moan, the vibration sending shivers all through your body. the only sounds in the room were the echoes of your pretty moans and the wet noises kei was making.

kei loved when you were vocal during sex, it made him have a sense of possession and busted his ego to hundred percent, the thought of being the only one able to make you scream that way was enough to turn him on.

he pulled away, earning a complaining whine from you who opened your eyes again to glance down at him. he gave you a light smirk, one of his fingers spreading your juices all over your folds while he licked his lips, still feeling the taste of you on his tongue.

you moaned softly, the sensation of his cold fingers on your core was so good “don’t worry princess, i will make sure to let you feel good.” he whispered, placing a went kiss on your lips while his finger slid inside of you. you clenched around it, moaning.

“fuck baby, you’re so tight as always.” he groaned, lightly kissing your neck before moving up from you, giving his all attention to your pussy.

he thrusted in a few more times before inserting another one, his boney fingers moving inside of you, tickling the sponge wall and hitting your sweet spot, making you almost close your legs in pleasure “f-feels so good..” you shut your eyes and threw your head back, hands gripping the sheets

“you’re so pretty like this.” he commented and your body unconsciously shivered, his skills sensing you already so close to your limit “i-i’m so close.” you breathed, biting your lower lip to prevent yourself from moaning too loud, but kei did not like it, he didn’t like the way your perfect lips bled, so he shushed you with his own lips, the speed of his fingers increasing until you clenched around him, reaching your euphoria and releasing with a big gasp which died in his mouth.

kei pulled away from your lips and sat straight, removing slowly the fingers from inside of you and licking them clean with a loud ‘bop’, smiling “you taste so fucking good.” he complimented and you couldn’t help but blush

“i love you so much.” you say, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him closer to you until his head was buried on your chest “thank you.”

kei smiled, lovingly caressing your waist “i love you too baby.”

and like that, tiredness took over your body, you closed your eyes which became too heavy and fell asleep as kei whispered soft words into your ears.

you never felt as loved as when you were with him.

[mad-scientist-showdown]

so maybe donnie propaganda has been emphasizing his war criminal tendencies a little too much in explaining why he fits the mad/evil scientist character. but. my god he loves his family so much it’s so obvious in canon that it’s easy for us to not mention it to others bc it just seems so ‘of course he does’ for us but I get why people who’ve never seen rise would just think ‘bro why’s he trying to kill his family all the time he doesn’t really sound like a good person’ SO:

a large portion of all his inventions are made in an attempt to keep his family safe and/or happy. his bed decked out in guns and lasers was so when any of his family members slept in it, they’d know for certain they’d be safe and nothing could hurt them. He made portable escape pods that could be easily carried around in a collapsed form and deployed to eject anyone from a bad situation easily (this saved Leo’s life). Even the stuff that caused conflict/hurt his family were made with good (if misguided) intentions, like making his bros smarter or the gifts that were made to encourage them to act ‘safer’ in battle (stop Leo from joking around in combat, have Raph plan ahead, don’t let Mikey crash into things)

also if you’ve ever had a sibling you can’t say you also wouldn’t make a death machine after they eat/drink the last of something you wanted. realistic sibling behavior fr fr

Yeah don't worry, I at least fully get that his actions that show him "not caring for his family" are exaggerated for the comedy and not to be taken like, at face value. We see that all the time in fiction, especially cartoons, it sounds really ridiculous to me to actually have a problem with a character because of that, and especially in the mad scientist tournament where we celebrate it anyway.

It's also not great when people confuse low empathy for "not giving a shit" and then villanize it and equate it with "bad person" :/ trust me I am familiar with this. Btw even if he was actually what he is accused of I would still support him, even more <3

Also I have siblings so can confirm. Realistic sibling behavior fr fr

[whispereons]

You don't understand how much your sagau save me. Like, I've been in burn out for so long that I forget when was the last time I was giggling so hard and need to stay silent to not wake anyone in my family. I'm literally punching the walls right now. I know that started reading AU at 11pm sounds like a bad idea, but do I care?? Of course not. Your writing is a miracle and I will eat this whole feast and sleep like a toddler the moment I finished reading all your works.

On the other hand, I'm feeling rather sad because I found your account just now, like, how the hell I've been missing out so much?? And have I talked about the effort you put into your works?? I can't stop reading it again and again because of how interesting it is, and everytime the chapter reach the end, it always managed to make me hooked and make me eager to read the next chapter. I like how you write the characters, the narration, and how it's not even once make me feel bored (which is rare), your choice of words, literally how you managed to keep the story going without putting to much words or unnecessary actions that can make reader lose its spark when they read.

Im literally writing this while having headache and started to hear some damn hallucinations by how sleep deprived am I but your writing, oh my god, I know I sound exaggerating but if Shakespeare managed to reincarnated into this world, you would put him in so much shame that he will crawl back to his grave.

Btw I forget what I'm supposed to write. Oh yeah your sagau is so delicious and I can't wait to finished them ASAP. Please take care of your health, your writing is so good that it's make me hungry for more (please don't feel pressured about this, I swear I'm normal about your works and will wait no matter how long you finished it), and have a nice day and may your dream is filled with warmth every night.

I finally get to answer this one! I originally read the first half in class while I was on break and BRO I WAS ABOUT TO CRY

Like everything you're saying that you love about my writing was bombarding me. It's such a nice feeling thank you so much! That comparison to Shakespeare was wild, pretty sure writing was his day job while I took like 2 English classes in my whole college course.

I really hope you slept Anon, headaches and hallucinations are crazy. Again thank you!!! I hope you liked the new chapter <3

[loulines]

The downside of therapy.

Triggers.

I've been doing better than I thought for a while. I could see some progress in some aspects, even if other aspects didn't change or got worse. But I believe there will be time for everything.

But yesterday I had another appointment, and I completely did not expect it to focus on the topic that was brought up. I mean... I did know that it would come up eventually but I was expecting the talk to go about stuff like my childhood or something.

And because of my imposter syndrome, I often believed I actually faked being triggered most of the time. But yeah no, yesterday proved to me that the things I claimed to be triggering me are indeed causing damage to my mental health upon mentioning.

Why am I writing this, btw? Simple, because I don't want to bother any of my friends in particular with this. And making it public makes me carefully pick my words so that's good.

Obviously for personal reasons I can't say what the trigger is about. But I spent half of my session talking about it because 1) I thought I needed to eventually and 2) because I love self-sabotaging myself and this is still unfortunately a form of mental s*lf-h*rm. And 3) I thought it wouldn't trigger me that much anymore because a lot of months have passed and see the impostor syndrome paragraph.

I started screaming in the car on my way home to release the anger. The last time I screamed in the car was right before my life crashed and burned. It's like poetry, it rhymes.

When I got home, all of my energy left me and I passed out before 9pm. I slept terribly because of the heatwave and because my mind was running. And when I woke up, I still felt triggered.

And now it's evening, and I'm trying not to lose my mind.

By now I know it will pass eventually. I'll be fine. My first therapy sessions were similar, I would usually feel like shit for the rest of the day but then I would notice some progress.

But I'm really close to spiraling. My old insecurities are back, the voice that I've managed to shut down for a few months is back and it's reminding me of the terrible reality in the worst, the most exaggerated way possible.

Several months ago I would've ended up with a mental breakdown that always aimed to burn everything behind me. Today I'm just letting myself cry and feel miserable while trying my hardest to stay rational. Because I know it will pass.

This is hard as fuck. But I will be fine.

[moondragon618]

@stemms Hi I thought you might like this :)

I had a dream abt that two c!Tommys idea you had lol. It was a little different in my dream though- I remember I was a post-prison break Tommy and there was another slightly younger Tommy. I think he was either disc war era or maybe like mid-exile based on how he was around c!Dream? I'm inclined to go with disc war though bc he didn't really seem scared at all. Also c!Dream was definitely kidnapping us btw lmao but the other Tommy didn't seem to realize that's what was happening. Then at one point c!Dream started talking to the other Tommy in that soft, sickeningly sweet tone he uses and I just went off on him, I think I said something like "Fuck you, I'm not gonna let you fucking exile us again, Dream!!!", and then I started fighting him and yelling at the other Tommy to fucking run. And then I woke up after that L.

Anyway now I'm thinking about Tommy from the end of the server meeting himself from the beginning of the server, seeing this version of himself that hasn't gone through literal hell and back several times over yet, and deciding that he needs to protect him from Dream at all costs. There is one problem though- Dream is the one who figured out how to drag himself and Tommy back to the past in the first place and he is determined to have both Tommys all to himself. Because imagine just how fun it would be to use his Tommy's own past self against him :)

I imagine Dream would not let his Tommy out of his sight, so there wouldn't be a whole lot he could do to protect his past self. Dream would easily be able to gain past Tommy's trust since Tommy already looked up to him at that point and considered him a friend. As for present Tommy? Well, past Tommy is already clearly unsettled by seeing his future self looking like that- covered in scars, looking like he hasn't slept in forever, constantly angry and snapping at Dream, going on about how terrible Dream is with a desperation that borders on hysteria and generally seeming less than stable- so it's not hard for Dream to feed him a twisted and exaggerated version of every mistake his Tommy ever made and convince past Tommy that he's just trying to protect him from becoming that :) When past Tommy asks why he still keeps him around? Well, Dream wants to help him too, it's just going to be a lot harder and will take some time :)

So now you have Tommy helplessly watching in horror as his past self falls into Dream's trap, desperate to protect past Tommy from ending up like him, while Dream uses that exact same reasoning to manipulate him. When he acts up too much, Dream takes him aside and reminds him that he hasn't even hurt past Tommy yet, and makes it clear that it won't stay that way if he doesn't behave :) Meanwhile, past Tommy isn't completely oblivious- he gets the sense that there's something very off about his future self and Dream, but he's kind of scared to say anything. And Dream hasn't even done anything bad yet, he's just been really fucking clingy.

That is, until he eventually stumbles upon Dream standing over his future self with an axe, the slightly older Tommy cowering in fear and pleading for mercy :)

Dream is okay with this though- now he can switch things up, try and convince past Tommy that this is necessary to help his future self, and see how far that can go :) He would already have them pretty isolated at this point (aka he takes them to what would have been Logstedshire) and he knows neither of them would leave the other behind, so the possibilities are endless :) :) :)

[mcx7demonbros]

Catholic!MC summoned to the Vatican (II)

Ft: Catholic!MC, Pope Gregory XVII, the Cardinals, the Demons and several side characters

Warning: mention of Catholicism

In the previous episode, after learning that you took part in the exchange program in Devildom, which the Church didn’t approve, the Pope summoned you to the Vatican. Out of obedience, you went to Rome.

PART II (part 1 here)

At the Devildom,

“We must go save MC now, or those geezers would burn them at stake.” Mammon shouted

“Yeah, just like in the anime ‘I was reincarnated as a progressive doctor, the Church condemned me as a heretic, and they tried to burn me at stake, still trying btw. But I escaped and I will bring Enlightenment to this backward world. And I will avenge millions killed by the Church.’ If we don’t do something, MC will join those millions of people.”

“Calm down! The Catholic Church hasn’t executed anyone for a very long time already, and they aren’t likely to do it again due to today’s standards. And where do you get the ‘millions executed by the Church’? You know it’s not true, right. It was our tactic to exaggerate the execution and smear their good name.” Satan was the one who calmed his brothers down

“*sigh* What did Barbatos say, Diavolo?”

“Don’t worry, Lucifer, not only they won’t harm MC, but Barbatos also saw a positive possibility.”

“Do we have permission to go see MC?”

“Yes, but you have to be careful. Vatican is where demons are weakest in Human Realm.”

“Alright, understood.”

Rome - Fiumicino International Airport (or Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport)

Your plane landed at the airport precisely at noon. While you were turning around because you didn’t know what to do next, a priest came to meet you.

“Child, you must be MC?”

“Yes, Father. You are…?”

“Call me Padre Domenico, that’s Father Dominic in English, if you find that easier to pronoun.”

“Nice to meet you, Padre.” you shook hand with the priest

“Nice to meet you too, child. Follow me.” he smiled at you.

Padre Domenico led you to a black car, which took you to the Vatican City.

“Buona sera, Padre!”

“Buona sera.” Padre Domenico greeted two officials passing by

“Here. This will be your room. Wait for the Holy Father’s summon. It would be tomorrow afternoon at latest. If you don’t know Italian well, don’t be troubled, most people here know English or French.” the priest left you alone to settle in

“Ah, I forgot, the meals are served in the cafeteria.” Padre Domenico startled you before leaving for good.

After a few hours, it was clear that the meeting would be the next day, so you just ate dinner and went to bed.

💙💛🧡💚💘❤️💜

You felt something…many things snuggling into you.

“Grr…those geezers…the bed is too small. Can’t they buy a bigger one?”

“Get out, Mammon. I should be the one snuggle next to MC.”

“No, it should be me.”

“Oi oi, you guys are too noisy, MC will wake up.”

You opened your eyes and saw the Brothers, who fighting for the two positions next to you in bed, even though the bed was only for one person.

“MC, sorry for waking you up.”

“It’s alright, Beel.” you rubbed your eye ”Is it ok for you to be here. After all, this is the Vatican, the Holy See.”

“Of couse, it’s alright. After all, THE Great Mammon is here to protect you from those old geezers.”

“I…I…I’m here for you too, MC.”

“Don’t forget us.”

“*sigh*… alright, but please use transformation magic to turn into small objects or animal. I can’t sleep like this, the bed’s too small for all of us.”

In the end, all six of them agreed with your solution. Mammon transformed into a golden ring which you put on your ring finger. Levi turned into a small snake and then coiled around at your feet. Satan turned into a cat and laid by your side. Asmo turned into a smal rabbit and slept beside your pillow. Beel turned into a stuffed bear and slept beside your pillow, but on the other side. Belphie transformed into a cow pillow and you embraced it to sleep.

Unknown to you all, Padre Domenico was outside your room eavesdropping.

“Eavesdropping is a bad thing, is it not?”

Padre turned around and saw the mighty Avatar of Pride in demon form.

“Lucifer”

“Padre Domenico Ricci, the Pope’s Secretary and Vatican’s former Chief Exorcist.”

“My mission is to examine MC’s character and report to the Holy Father, who needs the information to prepare for the meeting tomorrow.” Padre Domenico gave an explanation to his action.

“I warn you, if you’re trying to harm MC…”

“And I can assure you we don’t intend to harm a child of the Church.” Padre made a sign of the Cross, which forced Lucifer to back away. Padre calmly walked away.

MY MASTERLIST

[mydemonsdrivealimo]

omg wait i have ocd too and would love to hear more about jensen's obsessive compulsive habits (and how it effects his relationship with bryce?)

omfg i love this yall really ask the Best questions here (this is going to be a long ass answer btw)

(also starting with the fact that i actually have ocd it isnt just bs)(yes im gonna have to say this every time)

one of his biggest obsessions is around food, and its also one of the biggest things he works through in therapy. a lot of the time its things being undercooked, contaminated, expired, spontaneous allergies, etc etc. he often wont eat because of it or he has to wait until he can make something himself so he can see everything that goes into it. this is the only one that bryce really directly interacts with, and after jensen explains it to him, hes more than willing to list all the ingredients and let jensen supervise while hes cooking. after a few years jensen is comfortable with bryce cooking for him without the extra precautions

a few of the more specific ones:

guilt for declining an invitation to go out with friends because he feels like some disaster will happen and everyone will die. this one isnt all the time, but when it does happen in can be pretty bad. he wont stop playing different scenarios over until they get home or call him or something. a lot of tragedies and such in the news can fuel this one, so he tries to stay up to date with everything going on but doesnt watch it and reads it instead so he can't visualize it as easily (this is one that i do and its helped a lot)

needing to remember everything, especially what people say and their speech patterns. any exaggerations of a word or people repeating specific words, he needs to remember every little detail of it and it can stress him out a lot if he doesnt. with tv shows or movies he feels like he needs to rememeber everyhing that happens or it wont make sense later. its not as bad with something he can replay, but speeches and other announcements are things he is consistently obsessing over

with that being said, not remembering things is also a huge obsession of his. he is constantly worried that hes forgetting things or that he wont remember something really important, or that he misremembered something

balance is one of the ones that only shows up ocassionally, but it fucking sucks when it does. taking even amount of steps to get somewhere, lifting the same amount of weight with each arm, tapping something the same amount of times with each hand. this one tends to flare up when he hasn't slept (insomnia) and it can make getting through work very difficult

for a really long time, illness anxiety was really bad for him and taking any medications was similar to his issues with food. becoming a doctor has actually relieved this one, and if he does worry about it, he can rationalize his way through most of the thoughts so it's nowhere near as bad anymore

jensen also deals with a lot of violent intrusive thoughts, especially being around hospital equipment. usually just "what if i stabbed this needled into my leg as hard as i could" or "what would happen if the defibrillator was turned all the way up." these are definitely the ones he doesn't share or talk about. his compulsions with them are not harmful, but obviously if patients found out he was thinking hey what if i murdred you, they might not trust him. with that being said though, it does make him much more meticulous with his actions and more aware of what hes actually doing

also, jensen does have meds for his ocd, but he really dislikes the prescription hes on. it doesnt work how he wants it to, and makes him feel really uncomfortable so he doesnt take it all the time when hes supposed to. eventually he will get on a better prescription, but as of right now he avoids taking it when he can

most of it doesnt impact his relationship with bryce beyond what it would with anyone else, and, though it takes him a while, he does tell bryce about most of it (even the violent intrusive thoughts, but that one takes a long time). bryce really tries to help with the food one as often as he can, which include making dinner when jensen doesnt have the energy to because he knows he wont eat otherwise. hes always very supportive of jensen going to therapy and anything else he needs to do to work through it, and helps whenever he can

[buckybarnesss]

i have the hottest of hot takes about himym and i’m sure no one wants to hear it. especially people who hate ted and have made him the “villain”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

yes this is a comedy. yes everyone’s traits are exaggerated. yes the narrative framing device is that future!ted is telling these stories so there’s a possibility of bias.

at the same time though we know we’re shown things ted isn’t telling the kids about and that what we are presented with is what we have to go off of in terms of characterization. 

and yes i’m only in mid-season 5 in my rewatch and i know someone out there will say this is a bad faith reading but i’m really trying not to do so. all the characters are flawed people. i just think this is an interesting take.

i think it’s pretty accepted that barney has narcissistic personality disorder. i posit that barney is pretty obsessed with ted and is dependent on him for validation for multiple reasons. more so than he is on the others even. when they originally met barney was using him to try out a story. he targeted ted as someone to manipulate. that didn’t necessary change. the focus of that manipulation just changed.

(btw ted is obsessed right back but that’s a different post).

when barney and robin originally slept together she was in a vulnerable place and that’s barney’s forte. he preys upon vulnerable woman except robin isn’t just some woman he can throw in his discard pile. she’s become part of his friend group and he caught some feelings (because barney does have feelings).

i think barney’s original interest in robin is two fold. 

1. he sees a reflection of himself in her because he’s a narcist and she gets him in ways that the others don’t. during their first attempt at a relationship he often thinks she’ll be cool with things she obviously isn’t because he’s only focusing on the parts of himself he sees in her.

2. barney is often shown as competing for both ted’s time/attention and also to prove he’s better than ted because barney is hella insecure in ways ted isn’t. getting with robin is the ultimate thumb the nose at ted. 

this is not to say barney doesn’t have genuine feelings. he does and they often make him deeply uncomfortable and he sometimes uses them as a weapon to manipulate a situation. 

anyway. i just think it’s interesting to look at. 

[mallowstep]

the nature of folklore

today, i want to talk about the nature of folklore.

we're not divorced from it in the modern day by any means: the nature of folklore is that it is always there.

after all, how many times have you heard that if your roommate dies, you get an a? or listened eagerly to someone's tale of an impossible encounter with an impossible stranger?

folklore is omnipresent. it is woven into us.

that said, we don't have a ton of folklore via stories, oral history, and songs anymore. if i could singlehandedly change that, i would. i grew up telling stories, keeping the history of my family in vignettes i taught to my brother, making up comforting fables for my younger cousins when they couldn't sleep.

my mother sang me lullabies, amazing grace, you are my sunshine, tula tula, melodies i can no longer name but would recognize in a heartbeat.

i went to a summer camp where you were never too old for a bedtime story, where the greatest reward, even for a pack of sixteen year olds, desperately vieing for independence, was to hear another story. i can still tell you the story of the invisible prince, of how such and such and so and so met and married, recount the little prince or hatchet or my side of the mountain in impeccable detail.

unfortunately, i am but one voice, and i don't think i really want to change us back. let culture progress, it is the way of the world.

but i have so many stories for cats. trust me, i have about 20 drafts sitting of stories for these murder cats. but i want to take a moment to talk about how folklore works, what it does, and why it's important.

[3.7k words. 20 minute read. section headers, minimal formatting changes.]

oral history: a written explanation

i'm feeling a bit punny.

anyway, i'm not qualified to talk about oral history. what i am qualfied to do is talk about the broadest sense of it.

oral history is not an accurate way of keeping records. stories change, people forget things, the tales become exaggerated and tweaked.

but...it's not the worst way. it's a real, sincere, history.

for example, in my full moon, it's unlikely that one individual really mastermined this plan. especially not the same individual who sorted out some other important part of skyclan business, which in it of itself is a tall-tale.

realistically, the clans realized they had an error, decided on when they would meet, and just went with it.

but briarleap is one of skyclan's heroes. she's not the only one: rushfoot and dovestar are also important heroes. she fills a particular type of archetype: she's the young hero, who sees the world more clearly than those around her and comes up with a solution.

so it makes sense to assign her to the problems which are clever and had no obvious solution. she's not really a trickster archetype, but she is clever, young, and has no real power within the clan.

in other words, she's a ya novel protagonist.

likewise, the yet-unwritten story of briarleap and swallowpaw definitely didn't happen as it's told. that's just a nice box to put it in, a nice cover for an important lesson: mark unstable branches.

all the clans probably have a similar version of briarleap's story. i can't tell you for sure who the equivalent is, because i don't know, but it's worth remembering that almost none of these cats existed.

i think riverclan's will be a cat named briarstream.

you see what i mean, they're both named briar- because briarleap belongs to no cat. they just have a suffix that corresponds with common clan names.

now, i can't speak for anyone else, but in come back to you one by one, by solacefruit, there's a cautionary tale about catching koi. we get this line:

The koi were left alone because the tall folk loved them. That was the truth of the story. The real truth, not Linnetleaf’s version.

that confirms it, the story is a warning that's been polished into something kinder and more forgiving. (i highly recommend come back to you one by one btw.)

that's how oral history works.

it's not good for having a factual understanding of historical events, but...that's not really the point.

shared stories

another thing is, a lot of clans share the same stories.

i already talked about briarleap/stream/??? for the other clans, but it's more than just that.

every clan is going to claim that they have the right, correct story, that the other clans don't tell it well, etc., but with the exception of clan specific stories, that's not generally true.

okay this is hard to explain bc i'm still drafting/editing a lot of what i'm talking about right now and full moon is kind of a boring story for this. so i'm going to use the story of the long night, because that's the closest to finished and most likely to have been published by the time i finish this.

cw: the long night is a story that involves infanticide and cannibalism. i'm not graphic about it, but it's featured very heavily. we move into discussion at "STORY COMPLETE," and i move on entirely at "SAFE"

okay, so to summarize very briefly, the long night is a story about the seasons and about queen madness. it's one piece of clan creation mythos.

basically, before there were seasons, the night and day just took turns. during the night, everyone slept, but during the day, everything woke. one night, the night doesn't end. i'm telling the thunderclan version, because that's the version i'm working on, but this is a tale from before there were clans, so while every clan says their version is universal, it's definitely not.

there's a queen, slateflower, who has six kits (pigeonkit, harekit, fallowkit, dewkit, ripplekit, and muddykit), who are very young. her mate, silvershadow, has been hunting for her, because there was no clan to provide.

he's able to catch a small amount of prey, but as the night goes on, slateflower just doesn't have enough milk. she knows her kits are going to starve, so she picks the weakest one, kills it, and eats it. when silvershadow returns and asks what happens, she says that muddykit died and she buried her. this repeats itself until only pigeonkit and harekit are left.

silvershadow fails to catch anything, so he comes back, and sees slateflower try to decide who's weaker. he realizes what's happening, takes harekit from slateflower so she doesn't have to decide, and brings the kit into a clearing. he begs the moon to end the night so he can feed his family again.

it takes him a couple times, and he also is searching for another nursing queen. he finds a queen named flamepuddle, who also had a litter of six kits (silentkit, webkit, wildkit, dustykit, beetlekit, and talonkit), as well as taking in the kits of her sister, echofur, (heatherkit, redkit, goldkit, leafkit, cricketkit, and graykit), and right now, only redkit, leafkit, talonkit, goldkit, and cricketkit had survived. (the rest, and her sister, died of starvation.)

flamepuddle agrees to take in harekit, and the night eventually ends.

silvershadow decides that he, flamepuddle, and slateflower will live together. this isn't a thunderclan origin story, mind, just the beginning of collective cat behavior. but one of the reasons it is a distinctly thunderclan edition is because the implication is that later on, the other clans are all splinter groups.

there's also an implication that such large litters used to be more common, à la how in the bible, people used to be more fertile.

so anyway, because all cats are said to be descendents of these nine cats (silvershadow, flamepuddle, slateflower, redkit, talonkit, goldkit, cricketkit, harekit, and pigeonkit — leafkit dies later on), it's said they all carry the trauma of the long night and queens, feeling unsafe, will choose the strongest of their litter.

STORY COMPLETE

so.

in thunderclan's telling, flamepuddle and silvershadow are made to be the heroes, and slateflower is the villain. notice that slate is a windclan name, and the kits who die don't have very thunderclan prefixes. the implication is that this is because the other clans are weaker.

in a riverclan telling, instead of flamepuddle and slateflower, we might have puddlefeather and tallsong, and the kits who survive might be fallowkit and dewkit.

in skyclan, we might have mothpetal and nightstep, with surviving kits echokit and maplekit.

and so on. silvershadow usually keeps his name, tho. or at least half of it.

the 10th cat who dies is also variable. in thunderclan, it's another kit. slateflower is understood to not have intended her actions. in shadowclan, it's the slateflower analogy who dies. in riverclan, silvershadow dies and puddlefeather and tallsong have to work together.

so we always have the same story, but the details of it change, and there's a lot about the clan in that.

it might even be that the reason puddlefeather is able to keep five out of twelve kits alive is because she can fish for herself. tallsong can't.

and this is a story that's supposed to be universal, before the time of clans.

imagine how differnt briarleap and briarstream are. no, seriously, i don't have it in me to do five versions of every folk tale i write, so y'all have to live with one.

anyway, i could go on here, but wow, this section is...much longer than i meant as it is whoops.

SAFE

morals, protagonists, and antagonists

i'm not going to lie, i'm somewhat exhausted from the last section.

basically, the "protagonists" are often the ones who make mistakes. this is because that's a common theme for parables. you want the protagonist, who listeners relate to, to understand the mistakes and learn from them.

there's almost always a moral in these stories. they're not told just to entertain. they're ritualistic, nigh religious, tied in deeply with their culture.

finally, when an opposing clan is needed, (a) the clan telling the story is nearly always in the right, and (b) it tends to shift to whoever the clan is most antagonistic with.

a lot of my stories are shadowclan v skyclan because they have the strongest story-telling development and i don't have any aus planned for shadowclan and (old) skyclan, but i really like what i've developed for them.

in the case a friendly clan is needed, that also tends to shift, but it's less likely to change. it's significantly more likely to change if they're fighting with the clan in the tale.

for this reason, clans tend to be allies with cross territory clans in stories. you're just less likely to fight with someone who's territory you're across from, and you get fun flanking if you gang up on someone in the middle.

characters and archetypes

so i mentioned how briarleap is a certain kind of archetype, and that's pretty common in folklore. you've got your tricksters, witches, wise elders, w/e. i could do a bunch of research into folklore and find a canonized list but i'm approximately 90% sure it's going to tell me it varies by culture so. instead of doing that, i'm going to talk through some of the character archetypes i've been using.

please keep in mind that this is highly suspect to change. also, i'm referring to a lot of cats in my lore posts, so i'm sorry, because if you don't keep up with that, you might be a little bit lost. if you want to check out my folklore, it's here. maybe one day i'll make a kit simulation list that gives them to you in the order a kit would be told them.

the young warrior — characters like briarleap. smart, creative, and willing to speak up when something is wrong. they're who young kits should aspire to be. they're the most common protagonist in stories for young kits, and they're one of the only protagonists for stories with a "good" lead.

cassandra — prophetic characters who struggle to act on their prophecies. goosefeather types. they're cautionary tales, warnings about who not to be, because these are true seers who failed. sometimes, it is framed as the clan being wrong (e.g., berrymoon's main story is about this), but usually it's because the character said too much/too little, at the wrong time, etc.

impulsive apprentice — another warning. characters like swallowpaw. their actions are usually not actually wrong, but they end up being wrong with hindsight. they're tragic characters, and their warnings are usually about the rules established because of them, rather than not being like them.

wise leader/deputy — it's exactly what it sounds like lmao. usually, this is going to be the deputy more than the leader, because the deputy is a far more relatable position than the leader. these are your rushfoots and lilytails, deputies who make quick decisions on the behalf of their clan.

foolish/selfish warrior — warriors who take actions selfishly, which wrap back around to hurt themselves. these are the "protagonists" of the tales about feeding elders and kits first, and so on. they're actually the most common protagonist in stories over all. it's kind of a wide category, including everything from slateflower from "the long night" to lightningcall from "full moon." you know, a queen who only escaped the dark forest because it didn't exist, and a tom whose "mistake" was not showing up to a deputy meeting he was physically unable to attend.

there are, naturally, many more archetypes. there are archetypes for every role in the clan, often many. there's probably some amount of symbolism in the names — perhaps "-leap" is a skyclan indicator of a young warrior, etc., but at least right now, i'm not interested in that. i have more fun naming characters than worrying about the symbolism behind it, because i'm trying to also provide an understanding of clanlife, and that requires bending the rules.

(i mean, for what it's worth, this is true of many things. "the long night" as thrushpelt tells it is not the full version. usually, you wouldn't separate it from "the four seasons," but also, he glazes over the infanticide and cannibalism because he's talking to, like, four-year-olds, explaining how their mother had inherited a trait from slateflower.)

overall, though, i think these five are enough to give you an idea of what the archetypes look like.

interestingly, i also want to call attention to the fact that there's no specific trickster archetype. i mean, there is, because it's (a) one of the most common, and (b) it needs to exist for what i'm about to say, but it doesn't properly count.

see, cats are good at being sneaky and smart and clever. you know this if you have a cat.

clan cats also have to be good at following rules.

so basically every protagonist and antagonist in a story is some permutation of the trickster. the young warrior is the trickster but with less pointless trickery. the impulsive apprentice is probably the closest to straight-up trickster, but there's usually no associated deception. etc.

but in general, all cats should be clever and smart and finding new solutions, so there isn't a specific trickster.

names and times

on a related note, one that's significantly harder to demonstrate, the names of cats get repeated a lot.

in the real world, this is because the names are approximately 75% generated and 25% tweaked, and i have a bias towards certain names.

in the context of lore and worldbuilding, and why i'm not doublechecking against my database of every cat i've ever mentioned, this is because, well, it should make sense for certain elders to tell multiple stories, or, logically, for a kit to grow into a warrior grow into an elder and tell a story.

i mean, dovestar's nine lives are a huge part of skyclan, because each life is supposed to demonstrate some fundamental principle, and they're told over the nine moons of a kit's life (again, cats count kits' lives from the season before they're born for the purpose of holy nine, and from their actual birth for every other purpose, which is how brokenstar got around the warrior code fun fact), so yeah, i'll probably have some repetition in there.

likewise, there's no timeline for these. we don't know what happens when at all, except that the cats telling a story are younger than the cats in the story, and any "book cats" are younger than any other mentioned cat.

(that last point is because exactly one story is told by thrushpelt.)

so anyway, really hazy times and names because...that's how things go m8.

impact of the great journey

so as you can imagine, the great journey is a pretty big deal.

first of all, we're running out of cats who can remember the forest. in thunderclan, according to moonkitti, who i trust in this, birchfall is the youngest cat who can remember it. so considering birchfall could have great grandchildren in the next book or two, i'd say that we're pretty much done with cats who lived there.

even among the other cats, squirrelflight was an apprentice, and she went on the first journey, so there's that. cloudtail and brightheart won't be around for much longer, and graystripe might be immortal, but if he isn't, he'll be gone soon too.

i mean, i know there are non-thunderclan cats, but do you know their names? do you?

yeah. that's what i thought.

anyway, my point is, right now, in canon time, all of the stories are set in the forest. but like, that's kind of not helpful.

who knows, there's probably a story about sunningrocks that just doesn't make sense anymore.

i don't know for sure how the great journey impacts the folklore. this is because there's not an easy way for me to write it. my elders' den stuff is specifically set before tbp, so i don't have to think about adding in the villains of tbp.

why only tbp? because we have 3 wonderful, fantastic, folklore worthy villains. in tnp, we have the journey, in po3, we have interpersonal drama, in oots, we have rehashings of old villains, in dotc nothing matters, in avos, we have weird fuzziness i don't really remember what happened after darktail tbh, and tbc is ongoing. but wait! i hear you saying, what about hawkfrost? and darktail himself? and... no. shut up. they don't matter. just. they're not. they don't. they're not lore villains is what i'm saying very poorly. they're not the kind of villains who inspire lore. maaaaybe darktail? but he was far too recent for folklore.

anyway.

i'm sure in all of the po3 stuff i have on the horizon, i'll explore this more. dovefeather lore is in the awkward middle ground — everything is from the perspective of cats who never knew the old forest, but pretty much everyone older than them does, so it's unlikely anything substantive has changed.

but i have a lot of po3 extended universe plans that might dip in to this?

but for spitballing purposes, what probably happens is that most stories are just reskinned.

things like stories about sunningrocks are going to be repurposed. maybe about that weird strip of territory that they fought over? i'm not sure.

some stories will get to stay in the old forest, like the battle with bloodclan. and some stories will fade out, just as they always do. but for the most part, once the elders didn't live in the forest, they're just going to start plopping stories in the lake.

also, the great journey itself is 100% already folklore. i don't have to do that part, canon actually does it for me. kits are constantly being told about the great journey, or apprentices are telling us they were told about it, or someone is having a weird dream sequence that involves it.

the great journey is a major part of folklore, and that's cool. maybe if i run out of old stories, i'll do some post-canon elders' den stuff. we'll see, i'm definitely not feeling it right now, but that could change.

speaking of great...

this is a minor thing, but like, what's up with all the greats?

the great journey, okay, yeah, sure, makes sense.

and then we have the great battle.

also legit. it had been a while.

and then...the great storm?

look, i understand the storm in bramblestar's storm was a big deal. i have a lot of thoughts about bramblestar's storm as a book and this isn't that. but...

can we compare how many cats died in the great journey and the great battle? and we lost, like, three cats in the great storm

don't get me wrong, i sobbed like a baby when briarlight died.

oh hold on i lied that wasn't this book. never mind never mind.

i just, like, it's very strange IMO to have this great being a thing. or at least, i don't now, i guess it's evolution of culutre?

bluh okay i'm hungry and i do not focus well so i'm going to finish up but just. great. interesting.

conclusion

folklore is a topic i'm really interested in, and i try really hard to think through the consequences of, well, everything i can.

i'm definitely missing a lot of details — specifically, i scratched out my plans for a specific creation myth — but i like the general shape of the lore i'm building up.

[unbotheredkid]

Late post? Haha. Well, we were busy that day. Woke up at 6am, me, my brothers and my nephews ‘who btw slept in my room the night before that’ 🥰. Looked out for our mom downstairs to greet her Happy Mother’s day wherein she was already busy gardening (with my sister). Then came kuya marvin & Kimmers (brother and sister in law). Don’t ask me where Jairus was, he’s not a morning person.

Anyways. It was Mother’s day. Yes. We usually go out of town to celebrate it, but this year we just had a simple appreciation day for our mom, ate bona, and Kim. We had a boodle-fight-kind-of lunch all together, in one long table. My God, this may be a normal thing for other families, but not - for us. We don’t live in the same roof. And we don’t have daily conversations.

Basically, elder siblings have their own families. Me - I’m always away. Studying(ows). Working. then our youngest- has his own world. We rarely talk to each other. SPECIALLY on a CALM tone. We were always BLAH BLAH BLAH , WAAAAAH, UGRRHHHHH, and AHSKlMZNZBSL. So I hope you get all the exaggeration of this post when you’ve already heard my normal voice.

You know, as I grow up, I couldn’t help but understand my mom more and more. Understanding her is surely a challenge. But once you got her point, you’ll love her. Just like other people, I think there were times when we have petty fights when we were a teenager. Even until now actually. Pero sya na yung pinagsasabihan ko ngayon. Lol. Adolescent period makes all parents “kontrabida” in a way.

I am so proud that she has raised me the way that you guys all know me. I am so happy that she’s becoming more of a friend to me lately when I don’t want to talk to anybody, and when I just choose to stay in my room the whole day. I became a responsible daughter when I seriously thought I couldn’t. I had to give up an 8 hour sleep during weekends because that’s my only “office” time in our family business.

Okay now I don’t know how to end this greeting 😂

[champagnediva]

If you want to drive in Santo Domingo  “Don’t” . Nerves of steel is an understatement, at least for me.

Red lights ! oblivious. Lanes !! only a suggestion. Imagine you open a room full of crazies and distribute driving licences, cars and motorcycles  and just say “go out there and drive, Don’t Worry about the rules , there are none” I know you think I’m exaggerating or being funny, NOT!!!.  Utter chaos. Although I must say I didn’t see any bodies on the road so I suppose there must be a method to their madness . Anyway that was my experience . Aside from the driving part  it was a good experience. They do have a good transit system ,so if you are not a daredevil maybe you could travel by train or Taxi , lots of people use Uber ( Orange cars). Renting a car is cheap but by the time you add insurance it becomes a bit expensive. Another thing which I think needs mentioning is safety, driving around in Santo Domingo, I was told not to keep my window down, I guess driving my convertible is out of the question 😦 .

Santo Domingo random street photos

train station

  Drove around Santo Domingo a bit. fascinating electrical work. How the heck to they figure this out?

  The casino next to The Sheraton.

The first night we spent at the Sheraton Santo Domingo on the Malecon. Star quality hotel ,very welcoming staff. I always prefer to eat local but we decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant with friends ( not a big fan of hotel food). Can’t say I was disappointed, the ceviche was pretty delicious.

Shrimp Cocktail

Cevice

 A good night sleep on BTW was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in, at a hotel.

Breakfast , then off we went to las Terrenas. The purpose of my trip was to go check out the possibilities of buying a property.

On the road keep the speed limit ,radar is everywhere ready to catch you. If you are stopped , they just want money. Of Course  we were stopped, they somehow know when you are a tourist. I was told that most people just pay and go, and I did notice that they didn’t really want to give us a ticket. We could have just paid and left but instead we pretended we did not understand  Spanish or what they were saying, frustrated the crap out of them, after 15 minutes of frustrations, no ticket, no payola. The words “La Prensa” (my Press pass ) got us on our way. Guess they didn’t want a write up. LOL .

We finally arrived in las Terrenas after more than 2 hours of driving from Santo Domingo.The tolls from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas are about 25.00 Usd or about 1200 Pesos. Make sure you have Pesos , they don’t accept USD.

Las Terrenas

A resort town on the Samaná Peninsula, in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic.  A beautiful safe town inhabited  by lots of  European retirees. I found it quite interesting that in most place I went in town, most people spoke French,of course English and Spanish . 

    The French bakery and of course the local Cigar shop.

  Graffiti in las terrenas

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  LODGING: Residencia El  Balata

A very unique property about 2 km from the beach, you can actually walk to the beach. very Original in design  , natural woodwork . The owner is very friendly and very accommodating. English, French and Italian are spoken.  Of course Spanish .

its the perfect spot , quiet and very relaxing . The property gives you the feeling of really being away from civilization.They have a large parking and  no problems with Wi-Fi. We did not opt for the breakfast but they serve a wonderful breakfast for an additional $5.00  and for an additional $10.00 you can request AC, we didn’t need it, as the temperature was quite comfortable with the windows open and the ceiling fan. Our room was very clean , modern , large and comfortable. The wood theme was carried throughout the rooms and the entire  property. The prices are quite affordable. There is also a 3 legged Rottweiler , who is very shy.

On my  next visit to las Terrenas I will definitely stay there again and highly recommend it..

What would a beach town be without beach bars and restaurants?.We took a liking to MOJITOS specially for their Mojito Happy Hour. This is a Cuban restaurant owned by Carlos  he is originally from Cuba and travels back and forth. you can also get dinner there.

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Most people seem to prefer Motorcycles and  ATVs as a mode of transportation. This makes the center of town a bit noisy.

But my favorite for prices and food,is the retaurant  Le Tre Caravelle a convivial little spot for Italian food. The decor might throw you off a bit , as it looks more like seafood than Italian,but dont let that sway you, the food is fabulous, and at 0.50 pesos for $1.00  you can have a lovely inexpensive little vacay.

Whale Watching in Samana

we booked a trip with whale Samana with Marine biologist  Kim Beddall In Samana Bay. One of the top 10 places in the world  to watch whales. The humpback whales comes every year  to give birth in Samana Bay making them, honorary citizens of the Dominican republic.

  The sea was really rough , I was being thrown around like a beach ball  , my friends were like “What the heck? ‘they laugh at me since I seemed to have been the only one  flying around. Thank god they gave out  sea bands  for sea sickness ,usually I travel with my own, but forgot them on this trip. Unfortunatly and before knowing that  they were going to distribute sea bands I was given a Dramamine pill ( hate to take those ) since I become sort of a useless zombi for the entire day. Oh Well.)

after ge got back to  santo Domingo we still had one more night so we checked into the Crown Plaza Hotel . I would have prefered an older hotel in the  colonial zone but the one we wanted was full. Anyway can’t go wrong with the crown plaza.

One more drive around the city to visit and take pictures before heading to the airport.

The Colonial zone is definitely worth a visit. The rum museum Museo Del Ron Y La Cana is fabulous, we got yo taste the various flavored and top of the line aged rums. They even had cilantro flavored rum. I bought a bottle of pineapple rum but had to leave it behind ( no checked baggage )  NO charge for the visit. Unfortunately my trip was very short ,I would have liked to spend a little more time to take pictures in the colonial zone and learn a bit more history.

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As you walk down Calle El conde ,The first commercial street in the New World and a popular pedestrian shopping area, 10 blocks long and cuts right through the Colonial city. The cobblestone road is lined with restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops and also street art vendors selling colorful paintings. There are plenty of historic sights along the way , starting at Calle El Conde’s entrance at Parque Independencia, onto the Parque Colón and first cathedral, to its edge at Calle Las Damas. 

The home ofDiego Colon

At the beginning of every block there is a  Munecas Limé .

You maybe wondering why the dolls have no face?. In the 1980’s s sculptor Liliana Mera Limé (hence the name) created these faceless dolls. The are called munecas Limé. They represent a people of diverse  ancestral blend from the native Quisqueyanos, the Africans, and the Spanish Conquistadores. The dolls, have no faces so as not to show preference to one branch of their ancestral lineage (i.e.. discriminating against the black or native american ancestry). Great souvenir to take back or to collect. they are found everywhere.

      Unfortunately my trip was very short ,I would have liked to spend a little more time to take pictures in the colonial zone and learn a bit more history. Next time.

One last little note about tipping;

Another interesting Tidbit . On all  bills , restaurant and other purchases , there is a fee added of 10%  P/Legal and a service charge of 18 % which they call a tip. You are actually paying an additional fee on your bill of 28% ( You are still expected to  tip). Its was very confusing when i first got my first bill in the restaurant. thinking the tip was included. I understand that the wages are very low so even if you give an extra 10%.

I hope that you found this to be interesting and It encourages you to take a little trip. I would really appreciate your comments and recommendations.

        Nerves of steel, Dominican driving.It’s more than that. If you want to drive in Santo Domingo  "Don't" . Nerves of steel is an understatement, at least for me.

[purple-moonlights-blog]

STRAY KIDS 10th MEMBER AU

Hello there loves 🌸

This shorter Scenario is more like a squeal to MOVING IN, I guess? Well, I intended it to be but it’s not really, to be honest. Anyway, as always feel free to send in your requests and ideas or whatever you guys have on your mind! I hope you all had a good day!! :) xx 

☾☼

btw. coming at you with my awful titles

▸ Check out the Profile HERE

▸ Request for the AU HERE

▸ MASTERLIST

Words: 872

Warnings: Swearing ⎮ As always weird grammar and spelling mistakes, English is not my native language⎮

Summary: Stray Kids not washing up their dirty dishes, Nova still being awkward around Chan and Felix doing something too ?? idk 

II. IV.〈DIRTY DISHES〉

(gif not mine)

„This is disgusting,“ Nova said to herself, as she frowned that the dirty dishes, that have been pilling up for the past days. Since nobody in the dorm seemed to feel responsible to do the dishes and instead of immediately washing up if they use something, the dishes were carelessly dumped in the sink and never looked back at. 

Nova was guilty of doing that too. As Stray Kids have been working hard for their debut, understandably nobody wanted to do the cleaning in the dorm after hour-long practice. None of them got more than five hours of sleep a day, despite the physical exhausting dance practice. Chan slept even less than the rest of them, always working into the early morning. Nova admired his dedication and it also made her realized that she needs to put a lot more work into this if she wanted to prove herself to be worth debuting in Stray Kids. She thought, compared to the others, she is still lacking in many areas.  

Nova was neither obsessed with cleaning nor super organized - in fact, keeping her things organized was really not her strongest point, especially her Universities stuff - however, the sight of the pile of dirty dishes and the light smell coming from the food residues made her gag. 

„This is disgusting,“ she repeated, shaking her head.

„What’s disgusting?“ Felix stepped into the kitchen, his hair messily since he just got out of bed. He grabbed the cereal box from the counter and opened the cupboard to look for a bowl. „There are no bowls.“ Felix declared as he looked through the other cupboards too .„Because all of them are dirty, like the rest of our dishes. It’s honestly getting disgusting.“ Nova pointed at the sink. 

„Yeah, it’s kinda nasty. We really should clean that,“ Felix said, as he eyed the dishes the in disgust. „Or,“ he continued, „we could just throw them away and buy new ones.“ He grinned, putting the cereal back and taking an apple instead.                          

„Is that what you guys do down there in Australia? Throw the dishes out of the window if they are dirty.“ Nova snorted. 

„No, we, in general, don’t use dishes at all. We just put the shrimp on the barbie all season long.“ Felix joked in an exaggerated Australian accent.

„I actually never heard an Australia saying „shrimp on the barbie“ in a serious manner!“ She laughed loudly.

 „Because we actually don’t talk like that,“ Chan spoke, who was leaning unnoticeable against the counters behind them, watching the younger two, and then making them abruptly turn around. 

„Morning mate,“ Felix said. Chan mumbled a quick morning back, took a water bottle from the fridge and he instantly drank half of it. Nova noticed that he looked extremely exhausted, more than usual, as he hadn’t slept at all. 

It was only seven in the morning and while Felix and the other younger ones had to go school, and she to an early lecture, Chan usually didn’t wake before 10 o’clock, mainly because he worked until five in the morning. 

That he was already awake seemed concerning, yet, Nova didn’t dare to ask why he’s already wake since she still felt awkward around him. 

„The dishes…“ Felix began, Nova, however, quickly interrupted him. „I will do it, it’s fine. I still have time until I have to leave for Uni.“

„Are sure about that? It’s a lot though.“ Felix asked, glazing once again at the pile in the sink. „Really, it’s okay. You and the others have to leave soon anyway,“ she said, giving him slight smile. 

Nova’s class started at 8:45 a.m., while they had to be in school at eight. It only seemed reasonable to her that she would do it.

„Ah yeah school, I almost forgot! It’s my turn to wake Hyunjin.“ Felix called out, facepalming himself, before storming out of the kitchen. 

Amused Nova looked after him,“Waking up Hyunjin is quite a task, innit?“ She quietly said, as she put the rubber gloves on and taking the first plate from the pile. 

You gotta start somewhere, she thought, sighing to herself.

„Hyunjin’s alarm is so loud that I can hear it in from the other side of the wall. And he still doesn’t wake!“ Chan laughed, grabbing a kitchen towel, intending to help her.

„Oh no, you don’t have to…“, she quickly said as she noticed it. 

„Ah what, it’s faster if we do it together,“ Chan stopped her with a wave of his hand, giving her a tired smile.

„It’s really fine, you already have done enough.“ She refused, her voice sounding harsher than she intended too. By no means, she meant to be rude. Nova solely thought that Chan, who has been working so hard for their debut and hardly getting any sleep, didn’t need to do the cleaning in the dorm too. It just seemed too much to ask for.

„Alright then,“ he finally said after an awkward silence and left the kitchen. Her anxiety creeping up as she realized that she should have apologized instead of just quietly staring at the plate in her hand like a dumbass. 

„Well shit,“ she sighed. At that moment she could have slapped herself.

[tuiyla]

do you know any instances of the glee fandom taking one joke or comment on the show a little too literally?

after that post about santana and brittany and who slept with who in the new directions, it got me thinking. bc like, I've encountered a few people who think brittany literally slept with every single guy in the school (or football team or whatever). and yeah, that was implied quite a few times, but I've always thought it was just one of the things about her you can't take seriously.

also, when she said artie was the only one who haven't called her stupid, which means santana called her that at some point. and like... she could've said that when they weren't much close I guess? but I don't think that's the proof.

anyway, I'm sure there are other examples I'm forgetting.

Oh damn Anon, do I, it happens all the time. I'm going to extend it to too seriously as well as too literally.

Let me just make this clear before I bring up my own examples. I think the core of the issue is that there are things in Glee by its very nature that you simply cannot take too seriously or the whole thing falls apart. Inconsistencies that directly contradict each other fall into that category but so dumb one-liners that prioritize comedy over character. The problem is, people's opinions on what can and cannot be taken seriously will inevitably differ. I can say, for example that you can't take it seriously when Rachel doesn't know that Cats closed a decade ago. Another person might write an essay on why this is proof that she never actually cared about musical theatre. That's a real example, btw. The point is, there will always be things I think people take a little too seriously given its context and I'm sure many would say I read way too much into certain lines.

What's interesting about your two examples is that they aren't even your traditional Brittany one-liners as one is supposed to be just a general thing about her character (having slept/made out with all the guys) and the other is treated rather seriously within its own context. I think this balance of what to take at face value and what to let fly is even trickier when it comes to Brittany, which is what I've observed as a reason she's become more divisive and generally less well-liked. She's a comedic character for a really big portion of her run, if you take too many things about her seriously of course it messes with your perception of her.

I haven't even heard the "Santana has also, therefore, called her stupid" one but I call sus on that. I have a very hard time picturing Santana straight-up calling Brittany stupid even when they didn't really know each other because then their relationship would have just gone down differently. Is it my Brittana bias, sure I'll own up to that but I don't think the line should be taken so seriously as to go against this belief. And maybe it's just my cultural background, but "every" can sometimes mean "a lot"? I'll be honest I don't remember the exact lines referencing the one with her sex life but I think Brittany says something like having made out with everyone, boys and girls. Which is obviously bull, just look at the OG 6 of the Glee Club, or Quinn, or you know, just realistically think it through. It's an exaggeration; weirdly enough a technique used often in satire. Who would have thought.

Like I said, I get that everyone draws their own lines and it's a case by case basis for every questionable line and scene. One I think should just be taken as a joke and move on is the Rachel and Cats example. Puck says some stupid shit like having had a threesome at age 9 or something, do we believe that? Do we believe half the insanities that leave Sue's mouth? And bringing it back to Brittany, I take issue with people getting way too serious about the opening scene of Sexy because I've seen where it can go. The take "Brittany doesn't know where babies come from, ergo she doesn't understand sex, ergo everyone who sleeps with her commits SA" is not something I never need to see again, thanks.

[spacesaved]

time for some romance headcanons!

first things first, let’s clear up the misconceptions about jim’s reputation.

while jim has a reputation for one-night stands, people often forget or simply don’t realize that he’s very romantic. when he wants romance, he goes all out, grand gestures & all. most people don’t know this because his reputation paints him as somebody who sleeps around & breaks hearts.

jim hasn’t actually had that many one-night stands. his reputation stemmed from a one-night stand in his academy days with someone who somehow misunderstood his intentions. he’d informed her from the start that he was not looking for a relationship, & still, she was upset that he was not very interested in maintaining a relationship with her after. suddenly, everyone at the academy was talking about jim kirk, the heartbreaker. jim kirk, the womanizer. jim kirk, the player. in reality, most often times, the most he’d do with someone is flirt with them. & if things went well, maybe they’d make out. the number of times he’s slept with someone he doesn’t know isn’t as ridiculous & exaggerated as people make it sound.

but ever since that misunderstanding, when jim does go out with the intent to sleep with someone, he makes it VERY CLEAR what he wants: sex & nothing more. he does not beat around the bush when it comes to that. the last thing he wants to do is to hurt somebody over something as natural as wanting sex.

btw, sex headcanons are over here.

now, onto the romance.

when jim is looking for romance, it’s always with somebody he already knows. his romantic orientation is demiromantic, meaning that to feel a romantic attraction to someone, he must have some emotional connection to them beforehand.

so most likely, if he has a romantic attraction to somebody, it’s a friend or someone he interacts with on a regular basis. it’s unlikely that he will feel an instant romantic attraction to somebody he’s just met, as he has not had the time to form an emotional connection with them. ( however, he can definitely feel a sexual attraction toward someone he’s never met before. )

jim has only been in a relationship once before, when he was in high school. 

a summary of jim’s one (1) relationship

it was after he’d returned from tarsus iv. he & his mother moved to a small farm in a small town where nobody knew them. where nobody knew frank & all the horrible things that had happened to jim. it was a fresh start for both of them. jim was the new guy in school, but people took a liking to him almost instantly. he went out for sports, hung out with the right crowds, & suddenly, he was popular. he wasn’t the best player on his team, but he was decent. he wasn’t the most popular kid in school, but he was well-liked. he didn’t date the head cheerleader, but he did go out with a girl on the squad for a few months. & for once, he was happy. but unfortunately  .  .  .  he panicked. 

the night he & his girlfriend had sex for the first time, she told him she loved him & he  .  .  .  well, he doesn’t remember what he did, but he knows he didn’t say it back. from what she told him later, he stared at her blankly, mouth ajar as he stammered like an idiot.  ( he may have added the ‘like an idiot’ part. she was a very nice girl, & he still feels bad for what happened. )

he tried to explain to her later that he’s never had somebody say that to him & mean it in the way she did. he tried to explain that that scared him, that he didn’t know what love felt like, but he was too late. she said that if he didn’t just know he was in love, then he wasn’t in it, & if the feeling wasn’t mutual, they should go their separate ways. he didn’t blame her at all for that. he could hardly even imagine what it must have felt like to not hear him say it back.

after they broke up, jim mostly kept to himself. he still hung out with his friends, but not as often. he didn’t go to as many parties & he didn’t pursue anyone. he decided then & there it was best that he didn’t get romantically involved unless he knew he would fall in love.

a few final words

jim has a hard time with first ‘i love you’s. if he’s the one to say it first, he’s usually okay. because by then, he’s really thought about it & known he’s felt this way for a while. but if his partner says it first, it takes him by surprise & a surprise like this tends to make him panic.

exhibit a: gaila. the nature of jim & gaila’s relationship in canon is left ambiguous, but i have my own headcanons about it. i think they were friends with benefits for a while, but gaila began to develop romantic feelings for jim. maybe jim was developing romantic feelings for her as well, but her declaration of,  “ i think i love you, ”  made him panic so hard that all he could say was,  “ that’s so weird. ”

part of why jim’s response to gaila was  “ that’s so weird ”  is because he didn’t understand WHY she would love him. after all the shit & trauma he’s been through, he thinks all he’s really good for is being a pretty face & pissing off his superiors.

but when jim finally believes it, he needs pretty constant validation & reminders.

jim vc: i know you love me but only sometimes so if you mean it you have to tell me every 2 seconds

since he always needs to hear that he’s loved, he also says it a lot to his partner. 

jim is naturally very affectionate & he will not pass up a chance for physical affection. ( the only times he holds back is when he’s on duty as captain. after all, he has a reputation to maintain. )

ultimately, when jim is in love, he’s ALL IN.