#people saw this and kept believing they are straight for 5 more years

[kairiscorner]

married life. — kento nanami x spouse!reader (part 1)

summary: he'd give up his old habits and more just to see you smile, be with you for a little longer, and make you the happiest person in the whole damn world; he's your husband for that very reason. pairing: nanami kento x spouse!gn!reader genre: tooth-rotting fluff !! content warnings: mentions of slight alcoholism author's note: i saw that fanart of nanami that i reblogged and my mind just came up with all kinds of shit for him. i loved him for 6 months straight, I WANNA GET BACK THERE, LET ME LOVE HIM FOR 6 MONTHS MORE !!

kento nanami comes home from his dead-end, nowhere 9 to 5 job, exhausted and in need of rest. about a year ago, all he had to comfort him was a bottle of pricey wine that he indulged in every end of the month or so, not minding it was nearing its expiry date. he only had store-bought bread and whatever melodramatic soap opera was on TV to entertain him.

kento nanami was indeed, lonely; he was well aware of his own loneliness and needed nobody to point that out for him. it always made him feel worse whenever anybody would say how handsome he is or he's not getting any younger and that he has to settle down at some point.

kento nanami was never the jealous type, though whenever he'd hear word about a coworker of his or whoever getting married and being invited to the ceremony, he'd always feel a kind of pang in his heart, knowing he could never have that kind of life.

kento nanami had given up all hope of finding the right person, none of the people he had met recently were anything he felt connected to (or could even start a conversation with).

kento nanami used to clutch his wine bottle at night, hiccuping in a drunken state as the dialogue from the characters on the late night soap opera on TV was fading from his senses and sleep had come to finally take him away.

kento nanami however, gets woken up in the middle of the night to the feeling of warm hands on both sides of his face; hearing a soft, gentle voice call his name as he grumbles and groans.

kento nanami hears a giggle ring throughout his ears as he's being helped up by soft hands. "kento... if you were that tired, you could've asked for my help, love." you chided him gently as he hummed in confusion.

kento nanami sighed as he tried to stand up. "my... spouse isn't gonna like... that you're helping my drunk self off the couch... right now..." he said as he nearly staggered, but you aided him up as you nearly carried him up the stairs. "they don't want to see... me drinking anymore... but i can't help it, i miss them... too much, the alcohol... it brings me closer to them, lets me stay with them a little... little longer in my dreams..." he mumbled.

kento nanami began to tear up lightly as he kept mumbling and muttering about how much he loves his spouse, how much they saved him from a lifetime of loneliness he already accepted was going to be his life. "i can't believe that... that i... i was saved from... growing old all by myself... a miserable, meaningless life... a life without them by them... and i pull this stunt on them after... promising i'd be better... it didn't make me feel any better, it made me feel sadder." he confessed to you as you got him up to your shared bedroom and laid him down on the bed.

kento nanami sobbed as he kept going on and on about his beloved spouse, how he wants to be better and that they've looked forward to the day when he could spend one evening without him being passed out on the couch from the habit he had yet to get rid of him drinking himself to sleep before he got married.

kento nanami felt loving hands stroke his hair and shush him, kissing his temples as he tried to say sorry to his spouse. "please stop kissing and holding me... my spouse'll be sad... i wanna see them so bad..." he whispered as you chuckled. "kento, i am your spouse." you tell him as you felt over his ring finger, the two of you wearing the rings you both slid on each other on the day of your wedding.

kento nanami blinked his tears away in realization, and his face scrunched up even more as he began to sob harder. he wrapped his arms around your waist and cried into your shoulder, apologizing that he should've squared up, he shouldn't have let you down, but you shushed him and told him with a comforting voice that it was okay. "it's hard to get out of a habit, love... i know that. i'm not angry, i'm not disappointed... i'll stay with you forever, kento, you don't need to keep that in your dreams. i'll always be with you." you promised him as you kissed the top of his head, with him thanking you and kissing your cheeks, his tears wetting them as he muttered how in love he is with you, how he'll work on this starting tomorrow, but for now... all he wants to do is hold you in his arms and sleep with you, just lay here on the bed with you in his arms and with his heart beating in harmony with yours.

[elizais]

meeting dazai in the port mafia

summary: you and dazai as teens falling for eachother, the demon prodigy and the quietest member of the port mafia. pm!dazai x fem!reader warnings: port mafia activities

you had been in the mafia since you could remember. one member who has since been 'dismissed' had found you when you could still show your age on your fingers, taking you in for your strong ability. he was never seen again after a couple years, now it was the jobs of executives kouyou and hirotsu to keep an eye over you. so now, as a 14 year old who has known nothing but being the youngest, this was your lifestyle.

somehow, you always kept your quiet and kind demeanor. anyone seeing you shopping in the city would assume you had a family in a nice house, had no clue what torturing a man looks like and had school 5 days a week. when mori mentioned that there was someone your age named dazai, you didn't think anything of it. the last person "your age" was 6 years older than you and didn't last for long. little did you know you and him were only a couple months apart.

so, on a normal day of delivering paperwork between higher-ups, kouyou called for you and said "y/n. you will be going for a mission in a week's time. nothing you haven't done before but just be aware of it coming up. mori will talk to you soon, i believe."

that's when you met him. dazai. a boy who actually was, your age! now knowing of the mission, you put together why mori mentioned him. a tall boy dressed in run of the mill port mafia attire. you met each other after mori called you to his office regarding the mission. "l/n, this is dazai. dazai, this is l/n." you both shook hands and you visibly shuddered, feeling.. different? mori let out a small laugh seeing your reaction - you being unaware of dazai's ability caused the feeling that shot through you as he momentarily cut your ability off.

"oh. yes, dazai's ability is "No Longer Human", so he nullifies abilities by touching them." the boss explained. "oh, that's useful but it feels incredibly odd." you said quietly in dazai's direction with a polite smile. "yeah, your ability is..?" you opened your mouth to respond but mori noticed the awkwardness that accompanied your shy nature and explained your ability briefly. dazai simply nodded whilst listening.

afterwards, mori explained that your job next week was a simple one. to sneak into an office building in the city outskirts (using your innocent looks and attitudes) and dazai accompanying you for 1, if the guards catch on and 2, to get to know one another for future jobs. mori claimed "your ability is well trained enough now to be more than what you are told to do by kouyou and hirotsu as they are far too soft for you." and with that, he sent you and osamu away.

"l/n?" dazai asked as you made the walk from one side of HQ to the other. "yes?" "how long have you been here? i have been here for almost a year and never got the chance to see you around." dazai quickly asked, you saw him looking at you whilst asking through your peripheral vision, but you looked straight ahead. "the better part of a decade, i think. i can name most people here but they took me in for my ability and as bait in a lot of missions. i stay with higher ups when i don't have anything to do." dazai listened to your answer and simply hummed in response. you had many questions, about his past, the bandages, how he is already climbing the ranks, why he joined.. but you didn't voice one. any of those questions were almost guaranteed to have unpleasant answers.

soon enough, the day came, the driver took you up until a 10 minute walk away. you were dressed in the casual clothing that rarely got used from being in such an organisation. but you could tell you had more experience in this way of dressing than your new partner as you had to kindly explain that most city 15 year olds don't dress in a suit and tie for work in the mafia to dazai. confused, he decided to just buy something and get changed after getting out the car. now, the average civilian could never guess two mafiosos were amongst them!

the task itself was nothing out of the blue, but your quick banter throughout the couple hours sneaking around an office that mori refused to tell you what exactly for did entertain you. dazai would never admit it but he wished that this outing would never end. coaxing you out of your shy shell to get you to the point of doing snide impressions of the other members (especially mori).

but, you both laughed a little too loud and someone ran down the corridor to the room you were in. this had never happened to you before. without a word, his bandaged hand grabbed your lower arm and dragged the both of you into the long, empty cupboard beneath the countertops. thankfully, you both knew they were empty since you checked those previously for the box you two were looking for.

just as you both were cross-legged facing each other, holding your breath to not breathe too loud, surprised the beating of your hearts didn't give yourselves away, 2 men stormed in. "I know I heard two kids in here!" a gruff voice spoke, "I swear to god, we have work to do." the other responded. they exited just as quickly as they came. dazai peaked his head out, bumping his head doing so which resulted in a giggle from you. he smiled whilst rubbing his head where it hit and gave you a nod - silently saying that the both of you could leave.

as you carried on searching the room, mori called dazai's phone - informing him that they should both leave as new information came in. subsequently making this excursion pointless. neither of you felt that it was a waste of time though, whilst sneaking back out and making your way to the pick up spot, you both allowed your bodies to walk a little bit closer than before.

"hey, daz-" you asked, slightly more confident than you usually are before getting cut off with "please, it's osamu". osamu informed you with a small smile as you corrected yourself. "well,, osamu. please use y/n."

hiii, idk how to feel ab this one but i love seeing pm!dazai things so i felt that i should contribute 💕 

[militarymenrbomb]

Found another story:

24 Straight with a gf of 6 years and somehow ended up with a sugar daddy

Sorry this is a really long story everyone!!

I wouldn't consider myself straight anymore but I sure did about 6 months ago. Bisexual would be the best way to explain it now!

6 months ago I wouldn't of thought of hooking up with another person , let alone a guy. I considered myself pretty straight past the little phase when i was 15 of wanting just about anyone to suck my cock and watched some gay porn a few times..

I'm in a happy relationship with a great girl but we are just finishing school and don't have a lot of money. We both live at home and are trying to save to buy a house together but it's almost impossible nowadays for young people. I took up a second job at a restaurant my family friend owns just on nights being a bartender!

The tips are great usually and I found myself saving some money but we were easily years away from the goals we had even with the second job!

One night I had an older man come in that had to be about my dad's age and he sat at the bar for hours talking to me whenever he had the chance about his business he used to own or about his ex wife and kids and I listened like a bartender does, he told me that after his wife left him he decided to start getting with younger girls and guys that needed money. I was kind of taken back by his comment and didn't have much to say and made up some reason to help another customer. It was pretty awkward honestly.

At the end of the night he gave me a 100$ tip which was amazing and I was very thankful and thanked him a few times. He looked at me and said there's alot more if you really want it and slid his number over on a piece of paper and walked away. I crumpled it up and threw it in the trash and finished my night that was about to end.

As we were cleaning up and leaving , I did the trash and saw the number.

I was curious how much money he was talking about, and what he really wanted from me.. I took the number and texted him asking what he wanted out of curiousity.

I texted him "hey it's Jay from the bar" and he answered back "Oh hello, you're taking up my offer then?" I answered back asking what he wanted.

He said to come over when I'm off, he will be naked and he just wants to cum all over my chest, no touching. For 1000$. "Simple" in his words..

I couldn't believe he'd pay 1000$ for that... I honestly thought it was so weird but figured it was a pretty harmless way to make 1000$ blinded by the money and agreed.

I went to his house pretty nervously and reluctantly, I almost left about 4 times before knocking on his door.

He was there naked and jacking off already and said to take my shirt off and anything else that I didn't want cum all over. I was feeling very very weird and felt kinda trapped in this now..

I was going to see my gf after so I couldn't have cum on my stuff. So I took everything off but my underwear which seemed to excite him..

He got me to kneel infront of him and tell him about my girlfriend which led to me telling him I've never been with a guy in my life. He was clearly very excited by that and came quickly all over my chest. I've never seen so much cum in my life and I just stared from my knees while his cock kept cumming ..

He leaned over and handed me ten 100$ bills and said "that's just the starting pay ya know"

I took it , cleaned up quickly and got dressed.. thanked him and went home feeling pretty shitty and sure I wouldnt do it again..

After the fact in about 2 weeks I couldn't believe I had 1000$ for a 5 minute stop home.. and started thinking if I let him do that every little bit we could buy a house in no time... so i texted him again...

Asked if he wanted to do it again to which he responded "Every stop you go up a level, 2000$ and you're naked this time and I want to see some pictures of your girlfriend while I make myself cum"

I didn't know what to say, but again convinced myself it was a pretty easy step up for 2 grand and now I didn't have to do it two more times, just this 1 more time! I went and did it , completely naked and showed him a few naked pictures of my girlfriend, he came hard and I left with 2 grand telling myself never again.

2 weeks later... again somehow now curious what level 3 would be to make 3k... at this rate I realized by level 4 I would of saved more money in this period then in a year. So I said to myself let's see what level 3 is.

I texted him again and asked what level 3 was , he responded with a "oh hey again... level 3 is you naked, jacking me off to pictures of your girlfriend, 5k this time for that."

I didn't want to jack him off honestly and ignored him for a few days thinking about it. Money clearly was my weak spot and I reluctantly agreed again and went to do it. I went in and got naked handed him my phone of pictures and grabbed his what must've been 8" cock and started to jack it off with both my hands like I would like it to make him cum hopefully fast. He loved every second of what must've been about 5 minutes of my jacking him off for him to release all over me. This time it hit my face and I was really grossed out and taken back by it which made him laugh?... kinda pissed me off and I took my envelope of money and left pretty upset with myself.

I now had 8k in 2 months and I didn't need anymore money that quickly. I was done and ashamed of myself but the money did make me feel alot better.

I told my girlfriend I won it at the casino with my friends and we realized we were only 10k away from our goal!!

Looking back, I sometimes wish I never heard we were 10k away..

Because now my brains trying to find quick ways to make 10k! And we all know now where my mind instantly went to. Level 4...

".... what's level 4...."

"Knew you'd be back 😉"

"What is level 4?!"

"Level 4 is you sucking my cock."

"10k if you try to swallow my cum"

I got up and headed over. I didn't give a fuck anymore, just suck this guys cock, make 10k and it's all fucking over with. I'll never make the money I did this fast ever again.

I walked in, got naked and on my knees and just went to town on his cock. I didn't want to over think it and went at it like ripping off a bandaid.

I was about 2 minutes in and realized ripping a bandaid is done once you do it.. sucking cock doesn't work that way.

I looked up and he was smirking at me and telling me I was a good boy, and I was amazing at sucking dick for a "newbie"... he grabbed my hair and just sat back and enjoyed.

I kept sucking his cock to his comments of being a good boy and slut and I fucking liked it kinda.

I was enjoying sucking his cock ? I started to eagerly suck faster and want him to cum which he did, all in my mouth...

He held the back of my head and grunted loudly shooting shot after shot which I just tried to keep swallowing..

When he was done I just sat in my kneeled position kinda horny, kinda embarrassed..

He said "good slut, I'm fucking you next, text me tomorrow when youre ready!"

I got up.. agreed and got dressed and left.. I went home put the money away and just took a shower to think... I jacked off to the idea of him fucking me and texted him like he asked without a thought.

I went over to his house the next day and he made me suck his dick again, which I happily did. He sat down and told me to ride his cock and give him my virgin ass... he poured lube all over and I listened. I slowly put it in which hurt alot honestly and felt pretty terrible. He didn't care and moaned and enjoyed all of it.. even me hurting I think honestly..

The terrible pain lasted 5 minutes maybe even 10 and I was having a horrible time and questioned my whole life I think until it didn't hurt.

This man fucked my ass for an hour and made me cum harder then anything in my life. (I can tell a full story about our sex later)

I left with 0$ that night. Didn't even ask for the money.

I have gone back, 3 to 4 times a week to suck this man's cock and get fucked by him for free everytime for the last 4 months.

I seriously think I'd pay him if he said no.

I'm his fucking slut now and I don't understand it.

I can't stop going back, I can't stop doing it and I seriously am considering breaking up with my girlfriend and just being his little boy which he keeps asking me to do...

Still honestly can't believe this is happening.

[akirawrites24]

The Phantom thieves+Akechi meeting a young teen (11-13) Reader who is persona user and was hare longer then the phantom Thieves (before Ren came to Tokyo month or two) HC pls

Your wish is my command

Fandom: Persona 5

________

To be honest, none of them really saw it coming. Except Akechi maybe, as he had access to the metaverse when he was 15. Someone younger wouldn't surprise him in the slightest truly.

The other thieves, though, were a little bit in shock. Ryuji kept asking questions, making you very uncomfortable as you were a lot younger than them. Perhaps a year younger than Futaba and Sumire?

They basically forced you to surrender your phone so they would believe you. And yep, the app was there. Ren thought that it might be because Yaldabaoth chose you first instead of Akechi, but you really just happened to enter the Metaverse because Akechi wasn't aware of his surroundings the first time he entered, dragging you with him.

Of course you didn't awaken to your persona until you realized you had been done dirty. Your awakening happened in the real world instead of the metaverse because you weren't in the Metaverse when you realized it.

Ann suggested to teach you about all the stuff as you never really went back in the Metaverse unless you were scared or annoyed by people.

Yusuke went straight to the point and asked you what you thought of the beauty of Mementos, what made Makoto shut him up and actually made the others back down for a bit.

Futaba however was a bit more energetic and confused as to why she didn't pick up your readings when they explored the Metaverse. Sumire had to calm her down and apologized to you.

Ren was just wondering why you couldn't join the Phantom Thieves (Makoto says you are to young)

Then you have Haru who was thinking the same as Futaba and kinda saw you as a threat because it's not the first time someone lied to them about the metaverse

[just-anka]

1000 km in 21 days, self supported ✅️

Those numbers have been my focus for quite some time now. Early this year, I was looking for a big endurance goal. This one had been floating around for some time. It seemed like a cool idea - taking something I love and have done a lot of, namely long distance hiking ("thru hiking") to a bit of an extreme, make it a challenge. It never felt entirely possible - it requires averaging 47.6 km a day, which is technically an ultramarathon every day for three weeks straight, although walking not running, but with a backpack. Plus, that includes town/resupply days, days with harder terrain, bad weather days... It seemed crazy until I did that three day test hike in Scotland in the spring. After that, it still seemed crazy, I just thought that maybe I could do it anyway. But I couldn't possibly have imagined back then what the actual thing would be like. I'm proud of the numbers, but I'm more proud of what it took to get there.

In these three weeks, I saw everything from the lowest lows to the highest highs. So many times, I thought the goal was out of reach for good. There was one specific moment, 13 days in, where I realised I wasn't going to give up. After that, I kept going even when it felt impossible, when I couldn't, when I thought I knew for sure the goal was out of reach. So many days finished after 11 pm, 15 or 16 hours after I started walking. Days on end with wet feet, hours without a single stop because the mosquitos were eating me alive, knee deep bogs, and on one occasion, around midnight, finding myself on top of a sheer cliff instead of the trail. Then again, there were days when I still felt incredible 40 km and 1,500m of elevation gain into the day, days when I couldn't believe the views and wildlife (spot the reindeer!), that time I crested a pass at 11 pm to see a whole new mountain skyline spread out before me, the entire sky on fire in sunset colours; the feeling of getting to a cabin just as a downpour starts and making dinner while the wind whips the windows with rain.

Nothing could have prepared me for the terrain, all above the arctic circle. At lower elevations, it was unlike anything I've ever seen before, swampy forests full of mosquitos and overgrown trails; and high up, rocky mountains, often crossing massive boulder fields for hours at a time. Pictures 5 and 6 are both "the trail". Picture 9 kind of sums up some sections of the hike: trail? Yes. No. Maybe, if you're lucky. And then again, other days held miles and miles of perfect single track. I'm not sure anything will ever live up to the feeling of crossing five mountain passes in a single day, of leaving one mountain range and climbing into the next one in the span of a few hours, of hiking deep into the night under the midnight sun, of seeing the distance I just traversed with my own feet since I woke up this morning on a map. I definitely could have picked an easier trail for this whole endeavour, but I wanted to do the thing that inspired me most, and despite cursing the trail many, many times, I'm glad I ended up where I did. I did most of these miles on the Nordkallotruta/Nordkallotleden/Kallotireiti/Arctic Trail, and it was challenging but beautiful and altogether worth it.

Another less happy result of my high mileage was that I left behind anyone I met within a few hours at most, in a rather quiet place to begin with. Nevertheless I crossed paths with some incredible people, and thankfully had a lot of emotional support from some of my favourite humans back home, haha (extra shout out to Ben for keeping me on my feet as usual).

Altogether, this was certainly the hardest (physical) thing I've ever done, but it was also an incredible experience, and one I'm going to remember for a long time.

[aissa-snapped]

Vikings and Hairstylists

Summary:You get the opportunity to work on the set of Vikings. But when you meet your celebrity crush, how will you react? Will anything happen between you two?

A/N This was so exicitng for me to write. I hope yall will enjoy this as much as I did.

Word count:8795

You couldn`t believe it. You got the job! This was so unbelievable, that you kept repeating the memory of how it went down.

You were fresh out of Beauty School, looking for a job. Ever since you started watching hair braiding tutorials on youtube, which was a few years back, you found a new passion for hair. You watched every hair video, hair routine, hair products reviews there was on the internet, and you couldn`t wait to one day become a famous hairstylist, specializing in braids and giving people the hair of their dreams.

With that in mind, you were trying to gather your thoughts and come up with a strategic plan that could allow you to launch a career in this field. Maybe I should ask around at salons to take me in as an assistant. That would give me a good start. You thought. Many people started off as just that, hairstylist assistants. But that was not to be looked down upon, for it was the best way to practice and learn more tricks.

You were getting tired, and decided to just let the idea rest at the back of your head, and switched to scrolling through Instagram. It was as if the Gods were guiding you towards your path, because it was at that very moment that you opened the app, that you saw something that was a clear sign of the Higher Beings listening to your cries.

`` FELLOW VIKINGS FANS, WE ARE ANNOUNCING SOMETHING VERY EXCITING. WE ARE OFFERING OUR FANS A CHANCE TO COME ON SET AND WORK WITH THE AMAZING VIKINGS TEAM. WE ARE HAVING 5 OPEN SPOTS FOR NEW HAIRSTYLISTS, TO COME AND WORK CLOSELY WITH OUR CAST. REQUIREMENTS: -A DIPLOMA THAT LEGALLY ALLOWS THE PERSON TO WORK AS A Hairstylist and -A PORTOFOLIO OF PREVIOUS HAIRSTYLES DONE ON VARIOUS TYPES OF HAIR ( LONG, SHORT, CURLY,STRAIGHT) SEND US YOUR PORTOFOLIO TO OUR E-MAIL, ALONG WTH A VIDEO OF YOURSELF DOING AN INTRICATE BRAID (YOU CAN USE A REAL PERSON OR A MANNEQUIN) WE WILL SEND AN E-MAIL TO THE 5 LUCKY PEOPLE WHO WON THE CONTEST.

It was utterly shocking. Mouth agape, you re-read the announcement at least ten times, before finally squealing in happiness. You were a HUGE fan of the TV series Viking, hence you were trembling, and with shaky hands, you closed your phone, taking deep breaths in and out to calm yourself.

Moments later, with a clear head, you re-read the requirements, and frowned at the one year experience requirement. Your beauty school lasted exactly one year, and you had to also help at the salon you were studying at, so you wondered if that can count as experience. As for the portofolio, you had done some amazing hairstyles on your models, and, thank the Gods, you were now more than ever grateful for the fact that youve had this inclination towards braids, because half of your phones gallery was full with photos of you doing all sorts of braid variations on your friends. You even took inspiration from the show, and tried to recreate one of the most complex braids on your models. So your portofolio was pretty solid.

It had been days after you sent the requested things to the Vikings e-mail, and you couldnt sit still for not even one second. You kept checking your e-mail, your Instagram dms every hour, fidgeting with your phone all day long. You told your family and closest friend about this of course, and they were all very happy you found this opportunity, tho you could tell by their eyes that they felt sympathy for you, knowing you`d never get selected out of all thousands of fans out there.

And you, too, started to believe it slowly, after each day passed away without any feedback from the Vikings team. So you decided you wouldn`t sulk around, and you started enjoying your free time by meeting up with your girlfriends and forgetting you even submitted the e-mail.

Until one day, when it was late and you checked your e-mail for a confirmation code for an app, that you saw another e-mail had been sent, and when you saw who was it from, you almost threw your phone up to the ceiling, almost smashing it in excitement. The Vikings team had written back to you, expressing their amazement and eagerness to have you as a new member of their team.

And now you were on a plane, on your way to Dublin, to start working on the set of Vikings. This was still so surreal, you had to hold back giggles and excitement, not wanting to look like a maniac to the other people around. Oh, if only they knew where you were going.

Once youve landed and got your baggage, you were met with a large crowd of people, each standing and waiting for someone. You glanced around the crowd, until you noticed a man in a black, fancy suit and a woman standing next to him, holding a big sign with your name on it. You rolled your baggage over there, greeting both of them politely. '' Hello there. I am Emily. And this is Kevin, one of the drivers. We will take you to the hotel now, and in the meantime, I will explain to you briefly tomorrows schedule.'' She smiled kindly, putting a hand on your back and guiding you towards the exit, while Kevin took the baggage for you, carrying it towards the car.

The ride was about twenty five minutes, enough for Emily to give you a rundown of how everything works around there. Tomorrow, you were going to be picked up by the same driver at around 5 am, and then taken to the set. You were going to meet Shaila, the main stylist, who will guide you and show you what you have to do. It seemed easy enough, only, you couldn`t believe you were going to meet the actors you were only used to seeing on TV. You were especially nervous to meet Alex, who plays Ivar. Emily also explained how the filming of season 5 was beginning officially tomorrow, and that you would witness first hand how the magic happens.

Once you reached the hotel, you glanced at the name. Conrad Dublin. 5 Stars. Damn It looked extremely luxurious. You were dearly hoping you wouldn`t be the one paying for the stay.

Emily helped you check in, while Kevin brought in your luggage.

'' This is yours.'' She handed you a keycard, with the numbers 203 on it. '' Today is your free day. As its only 3 in the afternoon, you can feel free to explore the area. The center is less than a kilometer away. Theres tons of pubs around here, stores, supermarkets. The company will take care of your bills for the room. Unfortunately, we do not offer an included breakfast pack with the stay, but seeing you are on set more than half a day, we have a buffet there, so you don't have to worry about that. my suggestion, don't stay up too late. Go to sleep earlier, and don't forget, be out here before 5. Other than that…'' She trailed off, seemingly trying to think if she told you everything you needed to know. '' Well, I guess that`s it. Feel free to explore the city. Bye.'' She waved and left with Kevin.

You went to your room, plopping down on your bed. It was a small hotel room, but honestly who cared? It was so luxurious, and so well kept, you were at first afraid to touch anything. You inhaled the fresh smell of the sheets, sighing in contentment.

You wondered, were you the only one staying at the hotel? Or were there other cast/crew members?

You took a nice cold shower, trying to get off that travel dirt off of you. You got out of the shower all energized, ready to go for a little stroll. Changing in a simple oversized shirt, with a David Bowie picture on it, and comfy sweatpants, you grabbed your phone, placing your keycard inside your phonecase and took the elevator down to the lobby.

Taking a brisk walk, you took every second to glance at various buildings, appreciating the infrastructure. As Emily said, there were tons of pubs, and in your 10 minute walk, you saw at least 5. You loved the Dublin atmosphere. For a capital city, it wasnt as crowded or as loud as you would have guessed. Or maybe that was just because you werent necessarily in a touristic area.

You decided to turn back around, after 30 minutes of walking, deciding this was enough walking. On your way back home, you stopped at a supermarket, called Fresh and bought some junk food that would get you going until the next day.

You finally reached your hotel room, plopping onto the bed yet again and turned on the TV, for some background noise. You opened your bag of chips, along with you store bought coffee, and started snacking, while texting your family, letting them know you got to the hotel all safely. When it was around 10 pm, you decided you should listen to Emily, and go to sleep.

You were rudely snapped out of your deep sleep by your alarm, ringing insistently. With a grunt, you quickly turned it off, and after a few seconds of staying motionless, you rolled out of bed with a long sigh. You brushed your teeth, washed your face with some cold water, to get the puffiness out of your eyes to go down, and then went straight to the pre-established clothes you decided on wearing the previous night. You weren`t aware of any dresscodes, so you decided not to overdress, nor underdress. So your final decision was a pair of clean, simple jeans, a plain white shirt, and a pair of green converse. You hoped this would suffice. Grabbing your handy-dandy backpack, packed with your essentials, you headed towards the exit of the building.

It was really chilly outside. The sun wasn't even up yet, and well, considering it was still 4 50 am, it wasn't a shocker. Down at the lobby, you couldn't see anybody. Not even the receptionist.

A couple of chuckles were heard behind you, and you turned to see a group of 4 girls coming up to you.

'' Hey… You don't happen to be the new hairstylist…for you-know what, do you?'' A blonde girl asked.

You were wondering if thee girls were the other 4 contestants that won. '' For… The.. Show you mean?'' You asked directly. The other 3 girls giggled, and the blonde one smiled. '' Yeah. That`s what I meant. I had to make sure you're not just a random person. You see, we signed some papers, that forbid us to tell other people where we actually work.''

'' Oh..really?''

'' Yeah. Anyway, I am Aurora. The ginger one is Phoebe, that one is Amalia and Cassie.'' She presented, pointing to a curly haired girl, with ginger hair, respectively two brunettes, one with long hair, Cassie and the short haired brunette Amalia.

'' Yn.'' You replied timidly, slightly intimidated by how beautiful these girls were.

You 5 started chatting, asking each other basic questions, such as how and why you got into this field, for how long, and other personal ones, until you were interrupted by the arrival of Kevin, who waited patiently and silently for you all to climb into his vehicle. He greeted you all with a short mornin and then remained silent throughout the whole car ride, that was fortunately filled with the conversations struck by the girls.

Half an hour later, you came to a stop, somewhere far from the city, on a hill, that looked pretty much like it was in the middle of nowhere. But at a second glace, you notice, you were in some form of parking, for there were many cars around the place, scattered messily over a mile, and tons of trailers at a walking distance. You girls were guided by Kevin through a little gate, who was guarded by a security man, and after checking your ID`s, you were told to go find trailer number 13.

You felt your nerves resurfacing. You were actually here. On the set of one of the most streamed shows. Luckily, you werent completely alone, as you had the new found girls by your side. You all found the trailer, and by public demand, you were chosen to be the one to knock on the door. Shakily, you used your knuckles to hit the door two times, hoping someone inside heard it. After you all heard a faintcome in`, you opened the door and stepped into the trailer, with the rest of the girls following you.

Once inside, you noticed three typical hair stations you'd see at any salon, with a mirror each, and pictures of the actors with the hair on. At last, you glanced at the far end of the trailer, bent down, a woman. She quickly stood up, and that's when you finally glanced over her frame. She was a woman in her mid 40s, with a chubbier figure, mid length hair, with some blonde highlights all over. She looked very kind, like a mother that would bake you cookies every day.

'' `Ello girls. I'm Shaila. The main hairstylist. '' She shook hands with every girl, listening in return for each of their names.

'' Right. So let's get straight to it. This is the first week of filming season 5. We have an awful lot of new characters, and old ones that need an upgrade. Today is Monday. We don't usually film on Mondays. We test new hairstyles, see what works, what doesnt. We prepare for the shooting days. Michael told me about the contest. Ever since I told him we need more stylists, he's been doing the most to gather some new ones. The thing is girls,'' at this, she was giving you all a nervous look. '' This week you 5 will be on probation. That means, by the end of week, we will announce which one of you will be staying here permanently. I know the announcement said 5 people will be working here, but truth is, in the meantime, we have found 4 other stylists that are more familiar with working on a movie/TV show set. But, we are in need of one more. So you have until Friday to do your best, impress us and we will decide who will get the post.'' She finished, studying each girl independently. There was a dull silence.

You glanced at Aurora, next to you, but she was looking down. Shaila was waiting for someone to ask a question, but after a few moments, she took the silence as a que to speak again.

'' Alright. So each one of you will be working closely to one of the other main stylist. I am now going to tell you who is going in which trailer.'' She then proceeded to assign each girl to a separate trailer. '' You Yn, will be working in this trailer with me. Alright… Now-'' she glanced at her watch.

'' Oh dear, we need to hurry. It`s 5:30. The cast will be here any minute. You girls go ahead. We will see each other at lunch. '' She shooed them off, shutting the door behind them. Once you were left alone with Shaila, she turned around and grinned at you.

''So… Yn. Beautiful name. Unique. Here let me show you.'' She pointed at each seat. '' In this trailer, we work always on the same three people. Look here.'' Glancing at her pointy finger, you followed it and saw there were several pictures with whom you recognized as the Ragnarsons, with the focus on their hair, from different angles.

'' We mainly work on Ubbe, Hvitserk and Ivar`s character here…'' She trailed off. '' You know who they are I assume?'' You nodded quickly.

'' My colleague, Peter, works alongside me. And you see, Ivars hair was, so far, short. So there wasnt much to do. But as for this season, we are going to change his hairstyle, because his hair has grown out some more and we have more options. You see, as characters evolve, so does their hair. So we were in need of someone new to work with us. Because without a third stylist here, it would be too difficult for us two to finish their hair on time.''

With widened eyes, you looked at her, amazed that you will be meeting one of your favorite characters in a few. You nodded along with everything Shaila was saying, to show her you were paying attention.

Soon enough, Peter joined you two. He was a rather tall scrawny man, short gingered hair and a slight beard coming through. He was super funny, and very energetic, for the fact that it was this early in the morning. But that could`ve also been an added factor from the coffee in his hand.

You were getting more nervous by the minute, knowing the three main characters of the show would be walking in at any given moment. Peter and Shaila were conversing casually, not the least bit worried or nervous, as you were. Which was understandable. They`ve been here for quite a long time.

Lacing at your smartwatch, you felt your heart jolting, when you heard faint masculine voices, fastly approaching the trailer. Now, more than ever, you felt as if your heart would jump right out of your body. With a loud creak, the trailer`s door was forcefully opened, in stepping the boisterous boys. You first saw a bearded man, with his sides shaved, and a base cap on, greeting Shaila and Peter. Second, you saw a young man with quite longer hair than the first one, holding a beer in his hand, and laughing obnoxiously loud at someone behind him. And then, you saw… Him.

Your celebrity crush, the most handsome man youve ever set eyes on. He was talking in a language you couldnt comprehend. Must be Danish. Sporting a simple black shirt, and grey sweatpants, hair in an improvised man bun, he stepped into the trailer last, shutting the door loudly behind him.

The boys all struck up a conversation with Shaila, while each going to their assigned chairs. It was only after another minute, and Shaila mentioning there`s someone else in the trailer, that they all glanced at you, through their respective mirrors.

You made yourself look as small as possible, for it was under their gazes that you felt like a little mouse in a wolf`s den, if that makes sense. They all smiled at you, and one by one, got up from their seats and lined up to greet and shake hands with you.

'' Jordan Patrick. Nice to meet you.'' The bearded man presented himself, giving you a firm handshake. You could hear a very strong Australian accent from him. '' Yn.'' You said quietly, hoping he won't make you repeat it. '' Marco.'' The second man seemed to have a little smirk on his face, and took it a step further and kissed the back of your hand.

You blushed furiously, even forgetting to say your name back. Last, but not least, Alex approached you. '' Alex. Nice to meet you.'' He grinned, waiting for you to shake hands, but when you reached out, he instead put his arms around you, pulling you into a bear hug. You took a second to react, and when you came back to your senses, you hugged him back, but not with the same intensity, as you feared you would come off as a crazy fan. Your cheeks were so hot, you could feel it.

When he pulled away, he winked at you, and when he turned around, he grinned at Marco. He got seated back in between Marco and Jordan, looking at the former. ''Fik hende til at rødme'' He said something to Marco, not that you could understand it, and he started laughing while Marco was scoffing, almost jokingly. ( Made her blush)

Shaila showed you how a normal day looks like in the trailer, explaining theoretically and visually how she worked on the boys hair. She showed you reference photos and other sketches of how she was imagining Ivar`s hair this season.

'' I want to start today with something simple. Can you do Dutch braids?'' She asked. You nodded promptly.

'' Good. Please start with a central braid, and then two smaller Dutch braids on each side of his hair.'' She showed you, using her fingers, where she imagined each section to start and end.

With clammy hands, ( you quickly wiped them on your jeans, trying to be discreet) you picked your rat tail comb, and started sectioning the central part for the braid. While doing so, Alex was watching your every movement, making it even more difficult for you to calm down.

Once you had each section parted and clipped out of the way, you slowly started working on the biggest braid. The first few strands of the braid were beginning to create the shape of the it, and you were getting into your element. Before you even realized it, you had the first braid finished, and began working on the side ones.

The other actors were chatting with each other, occasionally Shaila piping in, or Peter saying a very corny joke. You loved Alexs laugh. It was so genuine and filled with happiness. You could only imagine what it must feel like to hear it every day. You sighed.Oh great, nows not the time to daydream about being his gilfriend.

Alex glanced back at you after he heard you sigh, lifting one eyebrow at you. Making eye contact through the mirror, you refrained a smile appearing on your face, and immediately looked away from him. You heard him chuckle quietly, and then engaged back in a conversation with the other guys.

You notified Shaila, hoping she will satisfied with your work. Alex looked at you, giving you a thumbs up and an encouraging smile.

'' Hmm.. You could`ve added a bit more gel here. See these tiny fly aways? And tease the hair at the roots just slightly here on top, for a bit of volume. We want to make sure it appears they have lots of hair. '' She continued analyzing each braid carefully, humming to herself.

''But overall, this is really good. You did great. For your first day. '' She patted you on the shoulder.

Alex winked at you, causing you to turn away from him to hide your blush. Damn he really is flirty you thought.

When all the guys were finished, they all ran out of the trailer to check the set, run lines and gods know what else actors do.

You were left with Shaila, while Peter left the trailer to smoke a cig. The woman pulled a head mannequin out of a cabinet, and began showing you typical braids they do on extras, teaching you and giving you tips here and there where she felt like it.

Hours later, you were starting to get hungry. It had been hours of you just standing in the trailer. Shaila insisted on showing you every single little tool in there, explain to you how a real work day unfolds, since she didnt consider this particular day to be one at its full intensity, which quite frankly scared you, because this was already too much, but if this wasnt the hardest, then what was to come?

Around lunch time, the two adults led you towards the lunch tents. It was like at a festival, with big tents, dozen of wodden benches, and so many people, it was crazy. Shaila showed you where to go to get your food from, and then she left back towards the trailer stating she had some work to finish up for tomorrow.

You felt so intimidated by the number of these people, and you hoped you could see the girls somewhere, so you could go to them.

Once you grabbed your lunch, which was mostly mashed potatoes, some tomato salad and some grilled cheese, you desperately tried spotting some known faces around here, for a second time.

It seemed impossible in this sea of people, so you now decided to walk towards the exit, hoping to find an empty table, but as you were passing between tables, you heard someone yell out your name.

You turned your head and tried to find the person who shouted, and almost instantly you spotted Alex, waving his hands highly in the air, as if attempting to make himself noticeable for you. You stood there motionless, unsure if he was actually the one to shout at you, but when you saw him make a hand gesture that signaled for you to come over, you took slow, self-conscious steps towards him.

He seemed eager to have you approach, and once you reached his table, he put his hand on your back, guiding you to sit down next to him.

Now that you were finally settled, you looked around the table, and you almost screamed. You saw Marco and Jordan, but also recognized Alexander Ludwig, who plays Bjorn. and then you also observed a beautiful blonde girl, sitting next to him, whom you knew to be Georgia Hirst.

You were sat down next to Alex, who himself was sat between yourself and Marco, and then on the opposite side, you had Georgia sitting right face to face with you, next to Jordan and then finally Alexander.

'' Alex, who have you brought here?'' Asked Alexander, with a teasing tone and nudging Jordan to join in on his teasing.

'' Oh. She`s the new hairstylist in my trailer.'' He put his left hand on your right shoulder, squeezing it softly.

You laughed softly. '' Uhm actually… I`m on… probation. We will find out who stays here permanently at the end of the week.'' You chuckled nervously.

'' Well, I Know you will. Cuz you were so good with your hands.'' Alex said, seemingly not aware of how that sounded. Once the other guys started laughing and hooting at what he said, he blushed and tried to correct himself. ''I- meant shes fast. She worked really fast. Thats what I me- Oh Shut it'' He reached across the table to whack Alexander on the arm from all the teasing he was doing.

You looked at your food, starting to feast on it and ignoring the comments flying around you.

'' And what is your name?'' You made eye contact with Georgia, who seemed to be the sweetest and the most normal person from this table.

'' Yn.'' You replied shortly, and then started eating some tomatoes, hoping no one would talk to you anymore, because you were hungry and wanted to be left alone.

''So…? Tell us!'' Alex insisted, looking at you and waiting for something from you.

Confused, you frowned your eyebrows at him, shrugging '' Tell you..what?''

'' Well about you. How you got here, how long have you been doing hair, have you watched the show?''

And so you answered all their questions. Well, more than 90% of them were fired by Alex, but occasionally one of the other guys would also ask you something as well. Georgia listened intently to what you had to say, but then calmed Alex and the other boys down when she noticed you were starting to get overwhelemd.

'' That`s enough. Let her eat.'' And with that, the boys listened like good children, and left you tending to your food.

Right before you all left, he saw you standing up ready to leave, so he asked you to give him your instagram.

You were quite embarrassed to have him look at your profile, knowing the photos you`ve taken were not nearly half as good as his, but then you also thought, he asked for it, so he should suffer the consequences.

You were back at the trailer, and for the next hours, you were told to recreate some hairstyle Shaila showed you on a picture, until it was finally time to go home.

You were completely exhausted. And you were scared for tomorrow. You went to the parking lot, found Kevin and jumped into the car, finding relief in being able to sit down and give your legs a bit of relief. The other girls approached the car one by one, and when you were all in, you all started sharing your today`s experience.

'' I met Harald Finehair GUYS. UGH he was so fine.'' Amalia said, exaggerating and making you all gag and giggle.

'' Ew stop it. He`s way too old for you. But I met Georgia Hirst and Ida. They were super nice.'' Phoebe added.

When you told them about who you met, they all seemed a bit.. Jealous? They gave you a fake smile, and then quickly changed the subject.

Once you reached your room, you sighed in relief, finally you were alone. You took a shower, dried up and then you pulled your phone out, noticing all the unread messages from your frineds. After you answered them all, you went on Instagram out of habit.

You went to see you had some notifications. iris2002 liked your post 3h carina0_donnell liked your post 4h alexhoeghandersen liked your post 6h alexhoeghandersen liked your post 6h alexhoeghandersen started following you 6h

WAIT WHAT??!?!!? HE FOLLOWED ME BACK?! SHIT I mean, it was expected. After all, he did just ask for your Instagram didn`t he?

You checked your dms, seeing as you had some unread messages on there as well, but the one that popped before everyone else, was from the same person who had followed you back a few hours ago.

You shakily opened the chat, not knowing what to expect.

Heej. What are you doing? Hiii. I just got back to the hotel. im so exhausted

I know how you feel you hungry? do you maybe uh wanna grab some food? I know a few good places around Dublin :))

You blinked rapidly, your heartbeat rising. Was that for real? You kept clicking on his name, checking to see if he is the Real Alex. You left him on read for a few minutes, while you were contemplating on whether or not you should go.

With sweaty hands, you unlocked your phone again, and decided to give him an answer sure... let's do it. I'm starving

great. which hotel are you staying at? Conrad Dublin

gotcha. I'll be there in half an hour

`Half an hour? shit. I need to get ready.

You got out of your freshly put on pijamas, and rummaged through your luggage for some decent clothing. You opted for another oversized t-shirt, with a Jurassic Park logo on it, and your trusted shorts, who fit on your bum perfectly. Messing with your hair a bit, you ruffled it, and then you decided you`d just tie it in a bun. You grabbed your trusted perfume, and sprayed it once on each side of your neck.

You grabbed your fanny pack, strapping it over one shoulder and put your phone inside it, grabbing also some cash and your keycard.

The moment you stepped into the elevator, you felt your heart once again start galloping inside you. How could this happen, and on the first day?

Once you stepped into the lobby, you were aiming for the exit, until you saw a familiar guy sitting on one of the couches, on his phone. You studied him a bit. He looked so effortlessly beautiful. He was wearing a black hoodie, along with some jeans, paired with sneakers. He had his hair in a manbun, but that only made him look even hotter.

He was scrolling on his phone, with his back rested on the couch, one arm on it, and legs spread out in front of the coffee table.

It didnt take him too long after youve reached the lobby to take notice of you. When he finally did, he quickly put his phone back in his back pocket and stood up, taking long and fast strides to reach you.

'' Hey.'' He approached you and pulled you in a hug, kissing you on your temple once he let go of you.

'' Hello…'' You said timidly, not knowing what to say next.

Alex seemed to be such an expert in keeping up a conversation going, that he never allowed any sort of awkward silence fill the air. He grabbed your forearm, pulling you softly towards the exit. '' So.. What are you in the mood for?'' He broke the peaceful silence once you stepped outside. '' Mmm… Honestly? I dont know. I dont want anything fancy, but not junky either. Maybe pasta?'' You laughed awkwardly. He smiled and giggled.

'' Then pasta it is.'' He led the way, and started asking about your personal life back at home the whole way to the restaurant.

Once you`ve reached it, you read the name Sano Pizza. Looks good from the outside.

'' It`s one of my favorite restaurants. They have some amazing Pizza. And the spaghetti should also be up at the same level.'' He praised the place. You smiled and followed him inside.

He led you between many tables, and then finally in a more private and calm section, he found an empty booth for the two of you. When you finally sat down, you noticed the QR code being placed on both corners of the table, making you scoff.

Alex looked at you curiously. '' What`s the matter?''

'' This. I cant scan the fucking menu. And its so frustrating to me cuz then I have to search it up on the internet, and it takes so long. Like, give me the goddamn paper menu and we`ll be good.'' You complained, sighing in annoyance.

Alex seemed to not take your attitude too seriously, as he chuckled at you and pulled his phone out, scanning the code in less than a second and handing you his phone.

'' Here. Take a look and then let me know what youd like to eat.'' You flushed at his actions.Yeah, it was a small gesture, almost insignificant. But still, it made my heart flutter.` You went over the menu on his phone, and when you were finally ready with your order, you handed his phone back. He took it gently, cupping your hand slightly when you passed it to him.

''Alright.. What will it be then?'' '' Penne Quattro Formaggi. Aaand a lemonade.'' You nodded to yourself, thinking that`ll be good enough.

'' No dessert?'' He asked nicely. '' Nah. Im good. I probably wont even finis the pasta.'' You laughed. '' Why?'' He joined in your laugh.

You shrugged. '' I always eat half of it, then I get full and I have to sit and let my stomach digest the food. I don`t know why. The food is too dense.'' ''Dense?'' He asked, amused. ''Yeah…dense.''

He chuckled and when he saw a waiter, he waved for him to go over there. He ordered the food, and then he turned back to you, propping his chin on the palm of his hand, admiring you.

'' Uhh.. '' You chuckled nervously. '' So…'' '' What do you think? You liked your first day?'' '' Well.. It was.. Intense. A lot of new info at once, but Ill get used to it. That is..if.. Ill stay..'' You trailed off, almost with a hint of sadness, thinking of the possibility of not staying permanently.

Alex placed his warm hand over yours, rubbing your kunckles with his thumb, reassuringly. '' Youll stay. Ive seen you work. You did a great job.'' You waved a dismissive hand at him. '' No Im serious! Hey. Ive seen others work. And so far, no one has been as skilled with their hands as you.''

'' Oh… I dont know. Well see.'' ''- And even they happen to Not choose you, which, theyd have to be nuts not to, Ill talk to them personally. I`ll go straight to Michael and ask him personally we are buddies, me and him, and-''

You shook your head and giggled at him. '' Its okay. If I dont get the job, then maybe they choose someone else for a reason. Maybe Im not made for this environment. And thats okay. I`ll accept it.'' You interrupted him, assuring him you were willing to take a blow, if needed be.

Time seemed to pass so fast with him. He made you feel so at ease. He had this natural charisma about him. You were laughing the whole time, not being able to stop, he was that funny. At one point, the food showed up, and you both calmed down and dove right in.

The young actor definitely knew where to take you. The food was exquisite. You enjoyed every little bite, savoring the flavors, and filling your stomach with enough food to keep you running till the following day at lunch.

Another hour had passed, and it was already 8 pm. It was already pretty dark outisde, and you wanted to walk a bit. You kept glancing out the window, noticing faint silhouettes and buildings in the distance.

Alex followed your gaze, then turned back to you. '' What is it?'' He asked concerned.

'' Oh nothing. I just really wanted to take a stroll, to walk some dark alleys and enjoy the Dublin vibes at night.'' You admitted dreamily.

'' Well, let`s do it.'' Alex said, standing up. '' Wait a second ok?'' He grabbed his phone and went up front, talking to the waiter who served you. When he came back, he helped you up, and then locked arms with you, putting his in his pocket.

'' Wait. We have to pay first.'' You pulled him back. He shook his head, smiling.

'' Already did. We can go.'' He continued pulling you towards the exit, while you were frowning, looking back and forth between Alex and the waiter, that was at his computer thingy.

''But-when?'' You were now outside, and you couldn`t help but let the chilly weather embrace your body.

'' When I left the table. I payed on my phone.'' He explained simply.

'' Ok. How much was my part?'' You said while you were zipping your fanny pack in search for cash, but Alex took your hand away, zipping your fanny pack back up, and shaking his head.

'' It`s on me.'' '' No!'' ''Yes. It was my idea to invite you. Where did you say you wanted to go?'' He changed the subject fast when he noticed you were trying to pay him back.

You huffed, and pointed a finger down a darker alley, which seemingly looked to be empty. He nodded his head at the alley, as if asking for a confirmation that was the one you pointed at, and when you nodded, he pulled his arm that was locked with yours out, and instead draping it over your shoulders, pulling you as close to him as posssible.

You guys started walking in a comfortable silence, the only sounds available coming from behind you from the main street, from which faint voices could be heard.

'' So… Why did you want to walk this way? Was there something in particular you wanted to see?'' He asked chuckling, squeezing your shoulder.

'' No… I just…enjoy walking down dark and empty streets. It`s so… I don't know. Peaceful I guess.'' You answered, while looking around you and taking notice of the buildings.

'' You do this often?'' He furrowed his brows. '' You walk at night, alone?''

'' Well… Yeah I do that a lot back home. Sometimes I even go out to listen to some music, or glance at the sky and observe constellations.''

'' Look, I know you are an adult and you decide what you want to do, but maybe you shouldn`t do that here.'' He stated, with a low and serious tone.

'' And why is that?'' You questioned, quizically.

'' Well because…'' He licked his lips in a stressful manner. '' I dont know what its like back there in you country, but here in Dublin, the streets get dangerous at night. That is why we always go out together clubbing or something. But none of us go out alone. It`s not… The safest.'' He took a breath of air. ''Especially not for someone like..you.'' He said lowly afraid you might misunderstand his words.

You choked out a laugh, and turned your head to the side to look at him. '' Someone like… Me? What do you even mean by that?'' You laughed, and locked eyes with him, challengingly.

'' Well… Haha.. Dont take it as an insult. I meant a girl like you. You are pretty, lets not be modest. Any guy would glance at you when you would be walking anywhere, but at night, there are people out there who might not have the best intentions and would try to harm you.'' Alex gave you a worried, showing complete honesty.

You didn`t even respond, but simply blushed and shook your head. But just then, ahead of you, you both noticed a small group of people coming in your direction. You could only see their shadowy silhouettes, but that was enough for Alex to move you both to one side of the street, opposite of the group, ensuring he was standing between you and them.

Tho it was a small gesture, you flushed, thinking how much of a nice and genuine guy he was. He paid for your dinner, he was being so kind and funny, you honestly didnt know if he wasnt faking this all just to sleep with you.

You kept walking, turning random streets, until it was pretty late at night, and you both agreed to head back, since the next morning was starting very early for you. He insisted on walking you back to the hotel, tho you reassured him youd be fine by yourself. He didnt give you time to argue, pulling you towards the hotel.

So now when you were finally in your hotel room, having taken your second shower of the day, you got in bed, ready to sleep. Right before you were about to close your eyes, your phone screen`s illuminated, letting you know you had a notification. Sleepily, you opened your phone and saw a message from Alex sent on instagram.

I had lots of fun. hope you did too good night see you tomorrow :))

You didn`t even open the app, but just smiled at the message and went to sleep, with a grin on your face.

The following day, same way, you got ready, met the girls down at the lobby and then you all left for the set. You stepped into the trailer, in a much more confident way than yesterday. You chirped a morning to Shaila and Peter, and then you got to setting up your tools. Shaila greeted you also, explaining that today was more serious, and that she will work on Alexs hair, and youll help her out, so you could see exactly what you`ll have to do in the future.

Not long after your arrival, the three Ragnarssons stepped into the trailer, first Jordan and then Marco and lastly Alex. The first two greeted you, while heading towards their seats, but when Alex stepped into the trailer, he immediately locked eyes with you, giving you a charming smile. He came to you and hugged you, kissing your right cheek when he pulled away.

You stood there motionless, trying to hide your blush. Alex grinned at you, and then snapped something at Marco in Danish when he kept teasing him.

Peter got to work on Jordan, and in the meantime, Shaila and yourself got to work on Alex. The middle aged woman explained as she went along, how she was envisioning his hair, showed you what products and in which order to use, and overall, you felt like you were back in beauty school, when all you had to do was sit next to the teacher and watch her work on the mannequin.

Only in this case, you actually got to help, holding hair sections, handing Shaila tools or products and such. It was a very nice experience. You felt really important, knowing you were helping in building a character`s visual side.

Alex was being his funny, extroverted self. He was joking around with Shaila and you as well, occasionally him softly grabbing your arm and rubbing it at certain times. One hour and a half later, you were done with him. He had intricate twists on his head, giving him a true Viking air. They looked really hot on him.

He got out of the chair, admired his hair closely in the mirror and then thanked you both.

'' Ah you women are amazing. My hair looks fabulous.'' He complimented, joking towards the end with a girly voice and posing funnily. You laughed at his antics.

Alex had to leave for the makeup and costume trailer, so with a respectful ( but exaggerated bow) he kissed you on the cheek once more, leaving you with the other guys who looked at you funny and started teasing you as well.

The day went by slightly faster, since you had so much more work to do. You were entrusted with doing hair for some extras, which was nice. You got compliments here and there, filling you with confidence.

The end of the day was approaching, and you couldn`t wait to get back to the hotel, so you could sit down and relax.

You were heading towards the parking lot, but felt someone running behind you. You felt strong hands encircling your waist, lifting you from the ground slightly. You yelled in surprise, but calmed down when you saw it was Alex, laughing acutely at you.

''What are you doing?'' He asked casually, falling into a walking rhythm with you.

'' Going home. You?''

'' Oh. Well same. Hey, you didn`t answer my message yesterday. Why is that huh?'' He interrogated you, poking your sides, causing you to squirm from how ticklish you were.

'' Oh-Al-St-o-p. I uhm.'' You struggled to say, since he kept poking and tickling you. '' Well. I was very tired. But I did read it. I just didn`t have the energy to text back. Sorry.'' You responded apologetically.

'' `S okay. Just wanted to make sure you were fine. Anyway, wanna go out tonight as well? Or you could come over to my place. I can tell Marco to leave the place so we can-''

'' Alex, what exactly are your intention?'' You interrupted him, getting straight to the point. '' I dont know what youre trying to do, but Ill tell you what I wont do, and that is having a fling. Or sleeping around.''

Alex frowned, confusion all over his face. '' Wait… WHAT?! N-.'' He sighed, frustrated. '' THat`s what you think I was trying to do?'' He chuckled bitterly. '' Wow… Thanks for thinking so low of me.'' He snapped, taking bigger and faster steps in front of you, getting ahead of you.

Realizing what you`ve done, with widened eyes you jogged towards him, grabbing his arm to stop him in his tracks. He turned around, with his jaw clenched and hurt yet angry eyes.

'' Im sorry. I didnt know what to think of it. You were so nice and amazing, it truly felt surreal, as if it was all an act.'' You explained, getting emotional. '' I`ve had… bad experiences with guys acting all nice and cute and then being complete dicks once they got what they wanted. And I was only trying to avoid getting hurt.'' Your eyes were getting watery from all the explaining, and at that, Alex softened his gaze.

'' I didn`t want to assume anything. But to me it seemed impossible that a guy like YOU, would ever be interested in someone like me. And I am terribly sorry for insulting you. '' You said sincerely, letting a tear drop fall onto your cheek.

Alex let his forehead rest on yours, getting really close to you. Raising both his palms, he cupped your face, using his thumb to wipe the cheek off your face. Kissing your forehead, he then nuzzle his nose against yours, as if silently asking you to stop apoligizing.

'' Youve got nothing to apologize for. Its not your fault you were surrounded by idiots. But please, just give me a chance.'' He begged.

You nodded slowly, announcing you wanted to forget the previous embarrassing moment.

Alex pulled slightly away, to be able to look at you, smirking. '' Did the other jerks give you such a loving and sweet kiss?''

Frowning, you looked at him with a tilted head. '' What kis-'' You were interrupted by his soft lips shutting you up. You closed your eyes, enjoying the moment. He left his lips lingering on yours for a few more seconds, but not daring to try to take it any further.

When he felt like it was enough, he pulled away, leaving you both out of breath. You smiled, looking at him and giggling. He joined in on your giggling, pulling you in a comforting side hug. You stayed hugging each other`s sides a few more minutes, until you saw the girls approaching, and other people coming into the parking lot. You pulled away, with difficulty, since Alex was trying to hold you there.

Finally freeing yourself, you waved at him goodbye, giving him a grin.

The next days went better and better. Each passing hour, it felt as if you were learning and constantly perfecting your skills, giving you more confidence. You were eventually allowed to do half of Alexs hair, Shaila still insisting shed have to go over your parts as well to perfect them.( perfectionist much).

Alex and you were being close every morning, him giving you a hug and a kiss on the cheek, but not taking it further in front of the others.

Time flew by so fast, that you stepped into Friday and realized, today you were going to find out who was going to stick around. Shaila texted you 5 to come a bit earlier in her trailer, where she was going to announce the winner.

'' Right. So, I want to preface by saying you are all talented. That is why you got here in the first place, which was already a big step. With that being said-'' She grabbed some papers, looking through them.

'' I want to thank you girls for having you here. You helped us a lot, as much as you also learned a bit of how the magic happens in these chairs.'' She used her free hand to slap the back of one of the chairs.

'' Alright. This was tough. But the final answer is…''

''Yn. Congratulations.'' She said in a neutral tone, clearly trying to hide her excitement.

You squealed in happiness, hugging Shaila and then each girl in return. You could tell they were looking at you bitterly, but you couldn`t do anything about that.

'' No hard feelings?'' You asked them.

They smiled sadly, hugging you one last time, before they were all escorted out. You barely had any time to let this new information sink in, when the young actors were already making their way inside. You locked eyes with Alex, grinning from ear to ear, nodding your head, silently telling him that you won.

He immediately understood your message, sprinting towards you and picking you up, spinning you softly. He laughed in happiness, and then with a newfound boldness, he attacked your lips. You gasped, taken completely by surprise, but nonetheless enjoying it.

The guys whistled, and when Alex pulled away, Marco patted him aggressively on the back, as a congratulation.

Shaila fully entrusted you this day to work on Alex alone, and when the three actors left the trailer, Alex rushing to plant another kiss on your lips, the woman pulled some brand new black t-shirts out of a cabinet, with the History Channel logo on them, handing you the clothes.

'' Welcome to the Vikings team, dear. We will need you around here.'' She greeted you officially, hugging you.

[silent-sanctum]

Entries from the Sidelines - Jotaro x Reader

Synopsis: A series of journal entries from a random student that is simping over you, not knowing that you were no longer free to date thanks to one menacing delinquent.

November 14, 1988

You won’t understand it at first but there are 2 things that are currently taking over my life right now.

The first one is weird and that’s me being able to see… ghosts? Demons? Spirits? I don’t know but I see them sometimes on a few people and they can do stuff. And then there’s my ghost.

Yeah. Yeah, I have my own personal ghost and I’m not sure if me having one is wackier or others having one is. Though gotta say my ghost is pretty lame and useless compared to the rest. It’s just some sort of magical keychain that doesn’t do anything but transform into ordinary stationary.

But enough of that, there’s still the second thing.

I have a crush. Like a massive crush on this girl who’s my classmate and former groupmate that one time.

Her name’s Y/N L/N and she’s one of the most talked about students around school and for multiple reasons.

Where do I begin about her? She’s really pretty and majority of the guys thinks so too. She does well in her studies. She’s friendly and welcoming. And I’ve heard she can sing too! I wish I could hear what she sounded like.

There must be something she had done for those 50 days of absence last year for her to improve this much compared to when I first saw her.

Talk about her absence was the gossip of the school, together with that scary delinquent who also was absent for 50 days. Many speculated they sort of cut classes together but I believe those were just rumors jealous girls made up so they wouldn’t think of that student as anything but single.

Though honestly seeing a guy and girl absent for the same number of days does seem suspicious, so I don’t blame them.

I should start connecting with her sometime soon, get that social points you know? And maybe by February or March, I’ll be able to confess my feelings to her.

Wish me luck!

December 14, 1988

Oh my god I actually managed to talk to her for the first time since our group project.

I intended to start as soon as possible and so I waited for the perfect time to approach her, and by appropriate time, I meant sometime around our snack or lunch break, or if I’m lucky, I’d be able to finish club activities and meet with her after classes.

So let me tell you how our conversation went.

After I mustered enough courage, I sought her out on one eventful snack break. Evaluating my performance, I did a pretty crappy job.

I stuttered a lot, my cheeks were fuming like crazy, and I couldn’t hold eye contact for more than 5 seconds. Fortunately for me, she was super understanding of my incapability to speak straight and that just made me even fall harder for her.

For that past hour, she picked up all of what I wanted to say through my broken sentences and even I was looking like a complete and utter fool, she wasn’t fazed by it at all and she even smiled at my goofiness. SMILED. Can you believe that?!

What a win, am I right? Well, here’s a bigger win: She can see my ghost thingy!

She called it a “Stand”? For some reason? But she was surprised that I had one, I asked why, and holy crap, she had one too! It was way cooler than mine- indestructible fabrics that she can shoot out or shield her body with.

A double win for me that day!

So, after that break, I was determined to maintain this friendly rapport we had so I urged myself to tell her If it was alright if we kept meeting up like this, and she said it was fine! I am making progress with her in no time. When she wasn’t too busy, we would meet up often on snack breaks and the seldom after-hours period.

Though I gotta say, after every meet-up we had, I always felt like someone was glaring at me from the shadows, but at the same time, it could just be my usual anxiety trying to distract me.

I offered to meet her up during lunch time, since I’ve heard it was a recommended time for people to bond, but she kept refusing the offer and said she was meeting with someone else during that time.

Honestly?... Made me a bit insecure because it could imply that she was meeting with another man, but I forced those thoughts out the drain and came with the rational thought that it was probably with a group of female students. She was a social butterfly after all.

By the time I’m writing this, I have attained “friend” status with her and I consider that win for me, since it was better than staying in the level of “groupmate” or “acquaintance”.

I’m seeing hope for this! Perhaps I’ll achieve that “boy” before the “friend” by March!

January 14, 1989

Valentine’s day is on the next month and the status of “close friend” seems to be in my favor.

I say that but I noticed how every other guy in school approached her even if it was for a minute or 2. I have a hunch they were thinking the same thing too. She was as accommodating as she was with me when we first met that day, but I swear I could see the slight discomfort in her body language when engaging with them.

That discomfort wasn’t present whenever she was with me.

Ha! Good thing I started early! Serves them right for picking on me for being a nerd.

I kept up with our regular meet-ups and I’d say progress with her is going better than expected! She began sharing random trivia facts about herself and I said mine in return and she smiles more too! Yes, all according to plan.

But something came up when I stepped into school for the first time this year.

I had to be extra early for a school project and so by being early, I get to see most of the students arrive to school, including her.

Here’s the thing.

Remember when I said every guy approached her at least once to try and get into her good side? I meant that literally and they were all either the good-looking ones or the troublemakers who always picked on me. However, there was the one student who didn’t bother trying to get close to her.

That very tall, tough-looking delinquent with the ripped hat and golden chain who looks like he could snap anyone’s back anytime with no problem.

He was pretty much the delinquent of delinquents because every other bad student with an attitude who ever crossed his path physically cowered and turned away as if they didn’t want to be in a fight with him.

And because of his infamous nature, of course every female student would congregate around his presence, squabbling for his attention like seagulls.

All except for her.

And it felt like a heavy weight doubled with another weight were lifted off my chest knowing the school’s darling and infamous bad boy weren’t interested in each other.

But going back to that early period before classes bit, she arrived minutes after I did and the second she stepped into the building, all the guys began quietly murmuring to themselves about her, how they’re totally gonna receive sweets on Valentine’s from her. To which I rolled my eyes at.

Then after another few minutes passed, the loud noise of girls from a distance was an enough of a tell that that delinquent arrived as well.

She was standing by the lockers that time, fixing her stuff as he walked by with his flock of fangirls behind him.

And then this happened- A single strip of her Stand’s fabric shot out from her side, and then at the same time, a muscular purple arm manifested out of the delinquent’s back to reach forward and gently grasp the fabric that wrapped itself around the hand.  

The heck? That guy’s got a Stand too?! A cool one at that?! And it’s holding her Stand??!

It was brief but it was strange. What’s stranger is that when that happened, she was smiling with pink on her cheeks the same time that guy tipped his hat over his face. And then they went on their merry way as usual.

Had to up my ante after that happened. Gotta say… she hasn’t noticed my growing insecurities and she’s still pretty close to me.

Like my parents said, as long as I believe in my goals, it’s bound to happen!

February 14, 1989

The day arrived! And even if I admittedly think I did pretty poor job in establishing a bond with her, the events of what had happened turned out quite great actually!

So let me tell you.

When snack break happened, all the girls began their move and started giving out chocolates. Some of my classmates got one, others who are kind of in my level didn’t get any (to which I call foul), the bullies got at least one too though I think they threatened a girl to get it, the male faculty got some appreciative chocolates…

And then there’s the egregious number of candies being given to that delinquent. I’m talking about a full circle of girls either placing their chocolates on his desk or in his locker that came with sticky notes of love.

Just to double check, I kept an eye on both his desk and locker if she did the same as they did. Creepy I know but… at least I’m not actively stalking anyone. Just on watch-out.

And good news! When she began distributing a piece of chocolate to the boys she acquainted with around school, she didn’t leave one at any of his belongings.

When she found me that time, let me tell you she gave me… a small pouch of chocolates! A POUCH! Instead of a piece or two! She had this beaming smile on her face and I, of course, was a proud flustered mess when that happened!

And oh, to see the look of disbelief on those bullies and pretty boys. Man, that felt really good!

I think she’s into me!

It’s pretty much a guarantee that she’ll accept my confessions next month based on what just happened.

 A bright future awaits for me!

February 14, 1989

That clingy bitch!

Who does she think she is showing off like that to Jojo?!

Here I thought I gave the best homemade chocolates in school. Every boy had found them delicious and had said it was the best because it is! I made them myself and I packed them in a neat red box with white crumpled paper fillings, topped with a silk white ribbon.

I had full confidence he’d be bringing that home for sure while he threw away the rest. So, I waited to see what happened at the end of classes. And this absurd shit happened!

Jojo was standing by the gate, cigarette in his mouth like the hottie he was. BUT IN HIS HAND WASN’T MY RED BOX!

Instead, in his possession was a navy-blue bento-sized box with an assortment of sweets inside, wrapped around with a silky rose-gold ribbon. AND THEN, she rushed out of the building towards Jojo and they walked out of school grounds. TOGETHER. AGAIN.  

SERIOUSLY. I’m surprised they aren’t dating yet though I’m pretty sure he’s gonna turn her down because he’s always like that with the multiple others before her.

Good thing that little eyeglass nerd that’s simping over her wasn’t there to see that bullshit. Don’t think he’s gonna handle the sight like me.

I’ll get him next time. Watch out Y/N!

March 14, 1989

I’m sad.

I feel like curling into a ball and wallow in my own embarrassment and sadness from what just happened.

So, if you weren’t aware… today was White Day a.k.a. the day where the guys give the gifts this time. Obviously, my gift was this letter I wrote for her and a rose I bought nearby, all meant to be an aid for my confession towards her.

All the guys I mentioned before had their own little penchants and gifts ready for her, and I watched her receive them with the same friendly smile she’d give to anyone. And I had to steel myself to remember that she didn’t feel comfortable with those guys months ago and she was accepting them out of politeness.

While they were busy with that, I waited for the right to confess.

I read that the best time to confess was when she was alone so when I thought of that, I figured it was around dismissal where most of the students already went home.

Alas, cue to the end of classes period where the sun was about to set and the crowd was minimized to a handful of students. I was sweating bullets when I waited for her by the entrance. I had the letter and rose in hand ready to be given.

When I heard her giggles, I gave one last pep talk to myself and faced her.

I tell you, the moment I saw her, my chest collapsed in on itself. She was still the same pretty girl I’ve bonded with for the past months, but in her arms was a huge brown teddy bear holding a bouquet of roses.

She saw me. And I began coughing nervously. I thought to myself who??? I didn’t see anyone give her anything that big during class hours.

As usual, she smiled at the sight of me standing there like an out-of-place weed and asked why I was still at school. Oh god, I fumbled so bad with my words, nothing was coming out like how I practiced back at home.

I kept saying how much I admired her and everything and so far, she was flattered by my mess of a status, and before I had the chance to confess-

The delinquent stepped behind her, hands in pocket, smoking as he glared straight at me. LIKE FULL ON DEATH GLARE AT MY DIRECTION.

I nearly peed my pants that time.

She wasn’t at all surprised at his presence, in fact she recognized him standing behind her and she promptly apologized for his intimidating aura.

And oh boy, the next bit fully ripped my sensitive heart to smithereens.

She told me a secret since we were “close friends” to which I now find a curse more than a blessing.

She told me that the very same delinquent that looked like he didn’t give a crap about romance and was giving me the look of death… was her boyfriend who gave her his White Day present to her.

Yes. You read that right. BOYFRIEND. The school’s darling and the infamous delinquent being a couple.

FOR HOW LONG????

THEY DIDN’T EVEN SEEM LIKE THEY WERE DATING TO BEGIN WITH???

But then I remembered the whole “their-Stands-were-holding-each-other-as-they-passed-by” scene I witnessed months ago, and those times where she couldn’t hang out with me every lunch time. Because she’s with him during that period. And those bits made sense now given the context.

She still asked me why I was there because she was genuinely concerned. My stutters worsened more, face was burning with embarrassment, and my hands holding the gifts I had for her behind my back turned clammy.

I tried to navigate myself around the whole dilemma of appeasing her concerns while choosing the right words under the pressure of the delinquent’s solid gaze that was still piercing into my soul. Eventually, I hesitantly gave her the rose without the letter.

And even after my whole mess, she still smiled and accepted it.

After saying out goodbyes, they were on their way and I thought I could relax and be free to burst into bashful tears, but I physically tensed when that guy’s Stand fully manifested in its entirety.

Holy crap the thing’s so jacked it was scary. It had one arm around Y/N’s waist while the purple behemoth looked at me with an icy glare much like its user.  

Hence, here we are- me basking in the darkness of my room while my heart’s still recoiling from the reality of being utterly broken due to Y/N L/N’s sheer kindness and relationship status.

Ah great, I can’t see much now because my tears are clouding my vision.

Time to breakdown. Bye.

March 14, 1989

Wonder why that kid’s so flustered today. We’ve communicated with no problems the past days I knew him. Maybe it was because today was White Day and he’s shy? Most likely.

Though, I think a major contributor to his messy speech was Jotaro just being his slightly possessive self standing behind me, even though I told him countless time that the poor kid just needed a friend.

But I understood where he was coming from- he’s my secret boyfriend and he had to watch other boys give me gifts like I was still single. The teddy bear and roses were really sweet of him though. I still engrained the sight of his blushing cheeks and averted gaze in my mind when Star gave me the gifts on his behalf.

He took me out to a park as one last surprise gift. We saw the stars for a moment and then I stayed over at his place, to which he proceeded to rail me into oblivion, and now I’m here writing an entry into my diary while he continues to cutely snooze beside me.

Poor kid though. He must have been scared shitless yesterday. I think I’m gonna smooth things out with him when classes start again.

For now, I’m going to join Jotaro in his arms again and fall into dreamland with him.

 Until next time!

[the-bjd-community-confess]

I stopped buying from Newcl0ver last year after I saw first hand how greedy they have become. (I use plural pronouns because I refuse to believe Chr1stina is one person.) I had an order in on this bust stand that was per my recollection 3-4 months production time on the product page when I first purchased it. They delete the product pages after preorders so I don't remember. Anyhow, it took way longer than that, I asked them about the order multiple times since I saw people on IG get theirs, and they just kept saying "soon, soon". At 8 months I said I want to cancel. They said that it's ok, but they can only refund me 75% of the price because they will make a loss since they cannot cancel the order to the store and have to resell my order at loss. I agreed if only to be out of it, because I thought it's fair that we share the loss.

Well, a few months later I saw *my* bust stand listed in their "in stock -30% off" category, with my exact order options, and they were asking MORE than I paid during my initial order. I was still able to access my order notes through my profile and check. So I guess that's why they remove the original listings before people get their goods, huh? -30% off? Compared to what? Not the price I paid. I felt like they just scammed me out of 25% of my payment using the pity card and then cashed in some extra on someone else, too.

Their Taobao fees have skyrocketed. A couple years ago, it used to be the price in CNY x 0,19, but now it's already price in CNY x 0,22. One CNY is 0,14 USD so for every dollar you spend in their store, 36 cents go directly into their pocket for just receiving your box and sending it forward. And it's true that the fee includes free standard international shipping to most countries, but still, it's quite a big fee to pay for sending them a ready list of Taobao links and having your stuff drop-shipped to you. The difference in past and current service fees is even more gross considering they used to send monthly 10-15 usd off or 5% off coupons with their newsletters, but no longer do. When I asked them last year why the fees have risen and discounts stopped, they said it's due to the bad exchange rate of CNY to USD. I googled it and while it's true that the rate momentarily fluctuated in 2021-2022, for the past 6 months the exchange rate of CNY-USD has been at the same level as in 2020, so their excuse seems lacking.

I have had several missing items from each of my six large Taobao orders, but I was patient with reminding them about the items because I thought my orders are painfully big (100+ items). But, if you get paid the price you named for your service, is it really on the customer to feel like a burden when you eff up? It was often the expensive items that I had to chase after, too. Like, once when I ordered 30 bags of beads ranging from 1 to 20 dollars, it was the freshwater pearls that cost 20 dollars that were missing. She did always refund me or send the missing items, but it took me a lot of time to check and report, and I had to pay extra customs fees for the after-deliveries.

I used to be a loyal fan of Newcl0ver but I've removed all the messages in my socials where I nudged people towards ordering from them to avoid M00nlightbjdh0use's scammy high agent fees. Now I place Newcl0ver at the same low level as M00n. I'm gonna have to find myself a new doll dealer, since the two big USA dealers don't match my criteria, either. I have heard good things of Magus' agent services, but have yet to try them. Christina is not an official agent of most the artists they claim to represent, anyway, so it's the same to straight out go to someone who is open about not being an official dealer and prices accordingly.

~Anonymous

[sandersgrey]

"Kit's silence treatment to Ty isn't healthy because it's stewed in shame" uh YEAH. Nearly ALL of Kit's relationships are.

He's JUST starting to figure out a healthier dynamic with his family in Devon, and they havent done anything to upset him yet, so he hasn't had any reason to try and figure out healthy forgiveness.

The only real, meaningful relationship Kit is shown to have before the Institute was his dad, who we never see him saying no to.

You think Johnny Rook was out there showing Kit how to establish and enforce boundaries in a healthy way? Fuck no.

Kit was, as far as we're aware of, not only obedient to Johnny's wants but also willing to go out and put himself at risk by pickpocketing as as ten years old. He's not even outwardly angry when he realizes his own father didn't unconditionally love him.

Kit is consistently shown to be people pleasing when it comes to people he's attached to.

He jokes but plays Ty's Watson nearly as soon as he realizes that's what Ty wants from him; he assumes he has to repay Jessa for the love they show him before Jem assures him he doesn't; this all stems from Kit's core belief that love is earned.

And yeah, he thinks he hasn't earned Ty's. There is some deep shame in there, born from internalized homophobia, but also from Kit showing vulnerabilty for the first time in his life and getting... nothing. The realization that he means absolutely nothing to Ty.*

Of course he doesn't want to be reminded of that. The sheer humiliation would've killed a lesser teenager.

That's the same kid who saw a werewolf transform in front of him as a child and had a breakdown so public his dad pulled him out of school and kept him at home for at least five years, and he still has werewolf friends.

He dated someone who he was 50% sure was a werewolf, and only broke up w her bc it was too awkward... to not know if she was or not. He never hints that her being a werewolf would be a problem itself. It's just the awkwardness of asking.

He jokes that his dad isn't in heaven, but that's as far as his anger there goes. When he finds out that Johnny lied to him his entire life, Kit is upset. He's not mad.

This is the same kid who grew up being told shadowhunters snatch children, who had a knife held to his throat in his first close interaction with one, and still was able to become best friends and eventually fall in love with the exact same shadowhunter.

Kit can't do confrontations. He assumes that whenever a relationship goes wrong, it's because of something that makes him unlovable. That's obviously untrue and unhealthy.

But Kit doesn't hold grudges. He might avoid a more intimate relationship if things are awkward, but he's clearly willing to be close to people who he would be somewhat justified in believing have hurt him in the past.

The fact that he doesn't want to see Ty is stewed in shame.

The fact that he's so willing to enforce that boundary that he'll tell his friend's ghost that he won't talk to her anymore if she keeps trying to bring that up? That he's not rude, or mean, but honest about his unwillingness to be around Ty when Ty himself shows up?

Honestly, I'm kinda proud of him. That couldn't have been easy.

* Btw, this isn't Ty's fault. Ty was trying to bring back his sister from the dead and was not prepared for Kit to just straight up tell him he loves him. He needed 3-5 business days to process that, but, of course, both of their trauma responses clashed. That's what trauma responses often do.

[houkagokappa]

Comfort shows

I was tagged by @theurbanfuturesoftherecentpast to share 10 of my comfort shows and then tag 10 people to do the same. Thank you so much for the tag, I always love these!!!!

Comfort shows are hard though!! I don't really have them. I don't own a tv and I don't keep up with subscriptions to watch things online whenever I get in the mood for something specific. I've also not been watching much outside of a few seasonals lately. Instead I have a lot of comfort manga, mostly based on what or who I'm into at the time.

I'll try to honor the tag and come up with my top 10 comfort shows regardless!

Doukyuusei. This was an actual comfort show for me, although it's a movie, but a very short movie. I watched it as soon as it came out because it shared a lot of staff with Penguindrum and the gifs I saw from it were cute. I fell in love instantly and rewatched it right away. A few months later I went to Japan for an exchange, and during a trip to Tokyo my Airbnb warned me that they had limited wifi, so I downloaded Doukyuusei in advance and watched it literally every single night for 10 days straight as my main entertainment. I also kept watching it once I got back home whenever I was feeling down and needed something to cheer me up, or I simply needed something to play in the background as a distraction. I love how simple the story is, you really don't need anything more complex than this, as long as you do it right (considering what made it to the movie, the manga series goes further and it's amazing as well). Truly a comfort show for me, although it's been years since I've watched it now.

Kyosougiga (2013) episode 1. This is also not an entire show, but a single episode. Don't get me wrong, I love the entire series, it's just that the first episode is so insanely good I can never get past it, instead I get stuck replaying it until I'm a puddle of tears and no longer capable of watching anything. This is also a show that ties in with my exchange, because I went to Kyoto where Kyosougiga *doesn't* take place, and I watched it once I came back to Finland, and everything started falling apart for me. Kyousougiga gave me something to latch onto when I didn't have anything else. It's a touching story, beautifully directed with gorgeous animation. I love the mix of history and fantasy, the buildup in the first episode is amazing, and the music is to die for. It's the family themes that really get me, but overall I love it as anime at its best.

Mawaru Penguindrum. Now this is an entire series, although whenever I watch something for comfort I tend to rewatch my favourite episodes. For Penguindrum that's episode 1, which rivals Kyousougiga's first episode as the best ever made, episode 9, where we meet Sanetoshi and find out about Himari's past with Triple H, and episode 15, about Yuri's past. Yeah... Penguindrum is simply an amazing show, and watching something amazing brings me comfort.

Monogatari series. I love Monogatari because I can jump in wherever and have a good time. I think that's key for a comfort show, you don't have to strain yourself, you can simply put it on and enjoy yourself, or process your emotions through whatever happens on screen. I've loved Monogatari for years, but what makes it earn a spot on this list is how it helped me process something awful I went through a couple of years ago. I was simply supposed to rewatch it for fun, and to refresh my memory on it, but instead it had me work through the difficult situation I was in, and all the feelings I had related to it through the characters and their stories. I also gained some hope for the future, which I hadn't gotten from anything else at that time. Wow, my life's been pretty shitty this past half-decade.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE IT TO NUMBER 5 BEFORE I REMEMBERED SARAZANMAI. Speaking of a shitty life, I don't think you understand to what degree I ran away from my responsibilities and the general expectations I felt I was under, and found safety and meaning for my life from Sarazanmai back in 2018-2019. I was NOT doing well, but following Sarazanmai from its initial announcement to when it aired gave me a reason to keep going, and a purpose for my existence as I kept track of and shared news with other fans. I love the little community that got built around it, even if it could be frustrating at times (Enta discourse etc.), but most of all I saw people come together and connect with each other thanks to this silly little series. The series itself is amazing, and could be a comfort in itself, but for the most part it was a needed distraction for me, and something that showed me that there's some good in this world :)

The tag thingy said 10, but I can't top Sarazanmai so this will do. I'm tagging @akroglam @cookiecthulhu @ihearasound @natsunes @nezoomi @qkawo @dreamyghostie @softsorrows @itskyatto and @exdeath-chan

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

VF Lance HCs

It's been a little bit since my last HC list, but I want to write down what I've got on my second favorite blorbo, also because I can't remember if I did one for him already

This got long, so for dash purposes the hcs are under the cut <3

He's an orphan > basically taking from i believe both the comics and V3D, Lance lived on a colony planet. One day a space pirate raid happened and killed everyone in the small village he lived in except for Lance, he did try to get home when he saw it happen but fire errupted and blocked him from getting back. It kinda turned out to be a good thing because any pirates on the ground completely missed him, almost like the fire had protected him

He was in the adoption system until joining the military > Since he was technically an Earth citizen, he was taken back to Earth to be put in the system, he bounced around homes a lot because of the trouble he'd cause or straight up because people thought he was too broken to be a good kid to care for. Eventually, at 16, the GA offered him a place and a way to get revenge for the raid, so he didn't even hesitate on taking up the offer

He's anti-military > Lance isn't stupid, he was in the system for a long time and because he bounced so often he learned to read people well. He knew the GA was taking advantage of him and his grief but he didn't care as long as he got what he wanted. Unrelated to him though he publicly hates the military because of how unnecessary it is most of the time and because the GG itself is a shit organization

He's part alien > Coming from a colony planet, it's no surprise more than just humans were there to settle. Lance doesn't know what species he's a part of but he knows it was far back enough that the family members he knew about didn't look like anything but human. Though he does have his suspisions even though he never says it out loud because his ear shape looks oh so familiar to one of the alien races he is in contact with a lot

He has a sixth sense > Now Lance doesn't really have tangible evidence of it but it's a hell of a coincidence for his gut to tell him something is wrong and be right about it every single time. Even the force (as cadets) didn't believe it at first until it kept happening, he has debated on opening a psychic stall to get easy cash.

He dyed his hair ginger > In my redesign of him I did give him ginger hair but I've decided to change that. Feeling like he had no control in his life during the 5 years working with Wade, he impulsively dyed his hair ginger. Hunk and Pidge laughed at him but it was pay back for laughing at Pidge's new haircut that made him look even shorter than before

He's a wine mom to the cadets > It's no secret he's tired of the cadets pulling stupid stunts, especially the kind of stunts HE did when he was only a few years older than them. Those kids drive him to alcoholism but goddamn does he worry about and love them a lot. He didn't want to bring the cadets into the fight so early but the only consolation he gets is that there's seasoned superiors to help them out compared to his own team being alone and forced to figure it out themselves

He's an alcoholic and nicotine dependent > Lance would rather not talk about when he started smoking, but he got started drink the same way every other teen who grew up to become an alcoholic did, underage drinking at parties. Eventually, he got so tired of the shit the academy would do to him that he drank and smoke as a release, which started him on his addition for both. Now being back on Arus, he still does both but he's been trying to quit smoking at least, mainly because of Pidge and Allura and now including the cadets. He and Keith still drink a lot together though so that isn't going away soon

He flirts for fun > Lance had originally flirted to hopefully start a relationship with someone or just to get lucky tbh, but eventually he got tired of it. Now he just flirts because he likes the reactions but he never intends to make anything seriously go down. The only people he ever actively flirts with are his team (sans cadets obvs) because they know he doesn't mean it and they even flirt back for the hell of it sometimes

He plays piano > this man SUCKS at every other instrument other than piano, he doesn't know what it is that makes him terrible at it but after he learned piano he's made sure not to get too rusty every once in a while. Sometimes he and Pidge do duets on the grand piano that the castle has in one of its rooms, it's one of their ways of bonding since Pidge is the only other person who knows how to play

Lance has a passion for teaching > He absolutely loves to teach, while working in the garrison as a flight instructor it was one of the few things he actualy enjoyed, the paperwork much less. He discovered this when first training Allura to be a pilot and member of the lion force, his nack for noticing the small things helped guide her to being the force of unruly ocean she is today. This is also the reason he's the cadets main mentor, he knows what to get done and even if the paperwork is boring the cirriculum is fitted to work with him as well

He has a slight pyrokinetic power > This only manifested after the pilots had died in their lions during their comet episode in dotu. The lions themselves had revived each of their pilots and with that, they all became forever tied to each other. A side affect of this is access to some mystical abilities, for Lance he accidentally sets things on fire, legitimately he doesn't know how to control it. Plus if he gets worked up about something, the immediate area around him has its temperature spike. He also has more access to the lions magical abilities but that's kinda unrelated as everyone else has that too.

I have a ton more that I both can and can't remember but I'll stop it at this, i'll probably make another and link this one to it

[burningexeter]

TOP SECRET GOVERNMENT FUNDED COLLECTION, LOCATED IN LOWER MANHATTAN

What you're about to see and read is something that has been kept completely unknown by not just the general public but also several organizations in the U.S. Government as well with this being kept under lock and key by its owner and collected by the people who've helped fund this.

Actually let's cut the bullshit, what this is is a grittier, ultra-hidden, more surreal but also strangely more airier take and combination on and of Warehouse 13 and the SCP Foundation.

Hidden through an alleyway in lower Manhattan, New York, the secret entrance to it is through both a giant elevator straight out of a storage unit or an emergency exit with flights of stairs that you'd almost find in any abandoned warehouses or buildings of sorts. Whichever the way, they take you down to an underground place that's best described as a weird combination of sewer tunnels and a warehouse with sliding doors at the end to the real deal.

When one of the doors is open, here's what you find —

An entire, no VAST collection in a VAST underground warehouse filled left and right with all of these numerous different objects and items that have been collected and stored away from the public and from all of these equally numerous different events. All of them are highly organized in their own distinct sections with their histories written down alongside with them in one way or another.

But before we get to what's in this warehouse, who is the owner of this place that aforementioned keeps it under lock and key — at first, it was simply just one owner however now that's officially changed to TWO owners. Mikasa Ackerman and her wife Historia Reiss.

A former Eldian soldier and the former Eldian Queen, Mikasa's reasoning for doing this is kept completely 100% ambigious but how did Historia get dragged into this?

She followed Mikasa one night to where she was going, she discovered and quietly followed her into the entire warehouse..... only to be "discovered" by Mikasa who already knew she was there and had been following her from the immediate getco. The result was an entire chase that ended with Mikasa sinking her teeth into Historia's left ass cheek.

But what is in this warehouse:

• A 5 1/2" barrel Colt Single Action Army Artillery revolver (A Fistful Of Dollars) with silver rattlesnake inlays on the grips (For A Few Dollars More) and a Colt 1851 Navy revolver with cartridge conversion and the same silver rattlesnake inlays on the grips as well (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly).

• A Colt Model 1873 Single Action Army Revolver, a Smith & Wesson Model 3 "Schofield" Revolver, an FN Model 1903 Pistol, a Spencer Model 1865 Carbine, and a Remington Rolling Block Rifle (Red Dead Redemption).

• A Borchardt C-93, Colt 1851 Navy, Colt New Army & Navy, Colt Single Action Army, FN Model 1900, LeMat Revolver, Mauser C96, Smith & Wesson Schofield Model 3, Volcanic Repeater, Carcano M91/38, Elephant Rifle, Henry 1860, Krag-Jørgensen Rifle, Spencer Model 1860 Carbine, Browning Auto-5, 12 Gauge Double Barreled Shotgun, Sawed Off Shotgun, Winchester Model 1887, Winchester Model 1897 and bow and arrows (Red Dead Redemption 2).

• A large-bore 4-shot double-action revolver forged from a combination of Irish church bells, cold iron from crucifixes and blessed silver. Its wooden grips, estimated to be nearly 2000 years old, are engraved with a logo of a raised fist holding a dagger. Weighing in at about 10 pounds unloaded and chambered for custom 22mm cartridges, it has enough muzzle energy and recoil to break a normal man's arm (Mike Mignola's Hellboy Comic Series).

• An ornate golden ring with a large red stone in an unusual setting, not found in any Earth jeweler's catalog (Flash Gordon).

And believe it or not, that's just five. There's plenty of more where that came from. If you wanna do a retroactive shared universe than this is how you do it, my friends.

[univvrse]

the coven (chapter 4)

tw: graphic depictions of violence, character death

previous parts can be found on my masterlist

reader x bakugou x shinsou x kaminari x kirishima

Coven- a formation of at least three or more vampires He told you they were dangerous- why didn't you believe him?

on my ao3 if you'd prefer

1.4k words

A 58 year old man named Haruto Manaka was at home, about to go for his morning run. His doctor had suggested it to him after his heart attack last Christmas. A Christmas he had spent alone. Haruto Manaka lived a lonely life, not many friends apart from the ones he saw at work. His parents had died two years ago, 6 months from each other; and his ex-wife, well let’s just say she wasn’t his biggest fan.

He had dark eyes, with deep purple circles under them taking up a good half of his cheeks. He hadn’t been able to sleep lately, he had been afraid though he was not yet sure what of. He had pin straight black hair that flowed just below his ears. Manaka had been quite the looker back in his day, he still was now though no ladies he had met recently seemed to think so.

Anyway, the man was about to go on his morning run, clad in his black cotton shorts that stopped just below his knee and grey t-shirt. He didn’t bother taking his phone, he was sure no one would need him in the hour or so he would be missing from his home.

As he jogged across the familiar streets of the neighbourhood he had lived in for half of his life, he felt the presence of somebody following him. It was still incredibly early- most people probably weren’t awake. He kept an old Casio, digital watch on his wrist that read 5:29 AM.

It was still dark outside and so he didn’t see the brief flashes of 2 people overtaking him, running impossibly fast only a few metres from his face. At least he didn’t see them until they stopped, 5 metres in front of him. Manaka frowned- he had never seen these people before, and more importantly, what were they doing in the forest at 5:30 AM. They were both blonde, attractive but with piercing eyes that shot through the darkness and shot through his soul, an undeclared order to run.

He swallowed back a wave of anxiety, "this is a safe area." he thought to himself; a desperate attempt to soothe his nerves.

The runner stopped suddenly, looking around to find any sort of route that would divert him from these eerie strangers. He opened his mouth to ask them to move, but closed it immediately when he felt bile crawl up his throat.

The streets were dark. Had the moon not been near full, it would have been almost pitch black outside. A cold shiver ran down his spine and through his nervous system as he realised they were just far enough from any houses that no one would hear him scream.

The two boys disappeared from his Manaka's line of vision. He almost breathed a sigh of relief. The man put it down to his mind playing tricks on him. Perhaps his medication had sent him delusional. He would arrange a visit with his doctor about it tomorrow, for now he would turn back. He'd simply have to run slightly further tomorrow to make up for the lost few hundred meters.

Turning around to jog the way home, Manaka stopped dead in his tracks. He was now face to face with the young men he swore he'd been hallucinating. "Don't be crazy." he thought sternly, "You just need more sleep." But the boys' eyes didn't move from his neck, no matter how many times he blinked.

They disappeared again, however this time the unfortunate runner didn't even have time to sigh before they appeared at his side. The slightly taller one grabbed Manaka roughly, dragging him by his shoulder before he opened his mouth. The moon glinted against his disgustingly sharp before he drove his head into his victims neck, sinking his needle-point fangs into the carotid artery there.

Pain ripped through Manaka's body as he felt his neck being ravished with no remorse. His own blood soaked his clothes, drowning his shirt in the warm redness. It was spraying from his neck like the most magnificent fountain you have ever laid eyes on. He could feel his body being drained of blood and the pain was searing. Manaka let out a guttural cry, feeling the blood drench his face as his attacker pulled back to lick his lips.

He seemed to have had his fill as the last thing Manaka saw was the sadistic smirk playing across the man's lips before his body gave up on fighting and he fell to the ground, limp and useless, but still bleeding, rapidly expelling all blood from his body. His head had hit a rock as he fell and he could feel it begin to drown his thick, dark hair in blood. He was sure he was nothing but a puddle of dark red liquid at this point. The crimson streamed down his face, blinding him and and filling his throat with its coppery taste. He gurgled, choking.

He fought off the invasion, gagging and coughing with all his might, but the blood had found itself in his airways and he began to slowly drown as he bled out there on the road he'd run down so many times. Why couldn't he have just gotten a gym subscription like everyone else who was trying to keep fit? He gagged one last time before gurgling out an unearthly noise. A sort of mixture between an anguished cry and a dying croak. Then he was dead.

“Katsuki, I thought the next one we saw was mine to kill”, Denki complained. “And he would’ve been yours if you hadn’t been so slow”, Katsuki replied, crushing the skull of the dark haired man with his shoe until he had no clear face, making the body unrecognisable.

The vampires had been thirsty, likely exaggerated by hanging out with a human for most of the day. All four of them had been hunting in a forest, not so far from the one they had met you in a day before, about an hour in a car but only around a 10 minute run for them all. They picked up unlucky civilians who had just happened to be going out so early in small teams of two.

They had about 9 victims all together, two each apart from Katsuki who had now beaten Denki to his second kill and now had three murders under his belt that morning.

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

Meanwhile you woke up suddenly. It was dark outside, your duvet wrapped around your comfortingly, hang on. You were in your bedroom? What? Crazed thoughts flickered through your mind; had you dreamt it all? Was your subconscious mind playing tricks on you?

You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes, trying to think clearly about the mystical world you had been in seemingly moments ago. No. That wasn’t possible, you would be the first one to admit you had a few screws loose but, this was something you couldn’t make up. Besides, you were still in the clothes you had remembered putting on 24 hours ago before you found yourself hanging out with the undead.

You could feel your phone in your pocket, uncomfortably pressed between your leg and mattress. Grabbing it without a second thought you checked the time, 2:30 AM. Way to early to be waking up, yet you had still slept a very long time, your throat was dry, and you were in desperate need of a shower. You pulled yourself out of bed and drowsily shuffled towards your shower.

You sat around for a few hours in your living room, mostly full of boxes you had meant to unpack the day before, before you had gotten side-tracked. Other than that, your living room had an old sofa- left there by your apartment’s previous owners and a television that you had brought with you from your childhood bedroom that sat on boxes a few inches in front of your face.

You lazily flicked through channels, not interested in actually watching anything just distracting yourself by pressing buttons and fidgeting with the remote control. As the sun began to rise you heard a knock at the door. You raced to the door, hoping it would be one of the immortals you had spent all morning thinking about.

Through the semi-transparent glass of your door, you could see the shape of spiky red hair through the glass at the window. Your jaw fell as you opened the door. It wasn’t a dream!

Noticing your surprise, Eijiro looked you in the eyes, a small falling upon his lips and said; “What you didn’t think that we would just drop you of here and forget about you. Did you?"

[winderlylandchime]

I came on your blog to send you a few updates about my brother because the man is a gift that keeps on giving and then I saw that you tagged one of the posts about wanting an update about my brother. Gotta love it when the planets align that way haha. I apologize for how long this is but it has been an interesting week in my brothers life so I tried my best to keep it short and failed as you can see lol.

First of all I had to break the news to him about Randy retiring from acting to become a therapist. And it went just as how you’d imagine it to go if you imagine a grown man with a tendency to be childish and dramatic reacting to it. So many things happened so I gotta tell you the highlights: We were on facetime and I told him, he screamed (an actual AHHHH while holding a hand to his chest) and then went ‘of fucking course! The second I join the fucking party, he decides to fucking retire. And I’m supposed to NOT take it personal?!’. And while he was going on about it he was also doing something but i didn’t see what and all I saw was him grabbing scissors in a really stupid way (they were pointed towards him) so I went ‘ummmm’ and he goes ‘what? Oh come on, not even I am that fucking dramatic. I’m making myself a *said so that the last letter made a pop type of sound* crop top.’ And then he enthusiastically showed me the shirt that had A LOT of writing on it and he cut it so that only the first word is on it which is “HOLE”…. He is very proud of it btw, plans to wear it to his PT next week.. i swear he lives his life like a reality show mixed with a sitcom.

Anyway, he can’t believe Randy is actually going to be a therapist. Like at all. And then he goes ‘that’s so fucking weird though. Blondie a therapist. There’s no way people won’t recognize him..*long pause* do you think Gale also has a normal job now? Imagine he’s like a professor or some shit since he is nowhere to be found (me: how do you know that?)….i may have googled him..seriously is he even alive still?’ (ngl now i keep wondering if Gale also said fuck it and got a normal job) and then what followed was him gasping and then looking up at the ceiling and going ‘dear god.. i know i talk a lot of shit about you but if you could PLEASE make some gay dude go viral with a tweet or a dumb tiktok video about how Blondie is his therapist, that would be so fucking dope. Thanks bye’ and now I can’t stop thinking about the possibility of some gen z kid making a tiktok about it..

The good thing about this week is that he is finally covid free so i was talking to a non-feverish person which tbh not much difference, the bad thing is the dude somehow managed to get laryngitis so he’s losing his voice at a speed of light and while he was going on and on about Randy, he kept losing his voice more and more..which obviously made things for me, his little sister, a lot more fun. He was completely raspy yesterday and today he kinda still has a voice but not really. And no, none of this has prevented him from not talking about Randy retiring. It’s been over 24 hours.. Mom was annoyed with him because he will lose his voice talking about a middle aged white gay man, so he is balancing it by also talking about Gale aka a middle aged white straight man.

He also got really angry because he discovered that QAF online doesn’t have the right soundtrack (he already knew that but forgot). He was so upset about that that he was going on about it for at least 5 minutes while sounding like a dying goat. He then tried to bribe me to send him my dvds..So now his mission for 2024 is to somehow/somewhere find the dvds. Mom is hoping he doesn’t succeed because she knows full well what would happen aka he will force her to watch it. However our uncle is betraying her by helping him because the 69 year old gay dude likes drama. Mom thinks the fact that she lives 20 minutes away will stop my brother from making her watch it.. She clearly underestimates him.

And then probably my second favorite part because I got to witness it all through texts and voice memos and facetimes is that while he had covid, he had a lot of free time so one day he said fuck it and started going through everything qaf related online. So here’s a bit of a rundown of his 20 years late opinions: He is (still) angry at Hal, he’s angry at one of the writers (i forgot his name but it’s the writer who talked shit about Randy publicly), he has mixed feelings about Dan and Ron just because he’s not very fond of old men but he is also sure as fuck that they had issues with Randy, he found out that Michelle has a child with Bryan Singer and now he doesn’t like her because “i have morals.” He again remembered Gale was Pentecostal and that threw him in for a spiral at 3 am and what followed was a feverish rant about cults (which made no sense but that’s okay). He found old interviews where Randy was not so fond of qaf and that made him have some feelings but it ended up with him announcing a “war” against writers. And then he circled back to his anger at Hal because he decided that he was clearly jealous of Gale/Randy’s attention. He has range ngl. This is also where he decided Gale is a missing person because ‘seriously how the fuck can nobody post anything about him? Make him go to some charity event or some shit, I miss my man.’

Then on the day that I told him Randy is retiring which was like 2(?) days ago, he called me because he listened to the Poly episode of Randy’s podcast again (this lead to me later telling him since he didn’t see the new ep since this was the only one he had saved) anyway he called me to ask ME about if I* think he could be polyamorous (having siblings that youre close with is such a weird fucking thing). Then he decided I was not the right person to ask so he called our aunt who actually is polyamorous while he was on facetime with me and I got to witness the beauty that made me and my neighbor laugh way too hard (i wish you could hear/see him but just imagine a toddler covered in chocolate trying to make a point with an attitude how he totally didn’t eat the chocolate) because our aunt hit him with ‘i mean…stranger things have happened but also (his name), you broke up with your ex girlfriend because she wouldn’t share her purse with you’ He argued it with this and I quote ‘okay FIRST of all how DARE you bring that up, you know I’m still sensitive about that, 2nd the purse matched my outfit so it was rude she didn’t share. 3rd, I shared my two purses with her whenever she asked because sharing is caring, see that proves my point, 4th the purse was in a box for donations so once again: RUDE on her behalf and 5th and probably most important part: she cheated on me with her cousin’s girlfriend 2 days before so I think the least I deserved was to be allowed to borrow a fucking purse.’ Reader, I need you to understand that this happened like 10 years ago when he was like 25. Till this day he is more upset about the purse part than the cheating part. He was upset about that for a week until she texted him she thinks she’s gay and then he went ‘oh..i mean you couldve just fucking said so..btw did you throw that purse away?’ Our whole family still makes fun of that (in a nice way) bc he really didnt care about anything except the purse but also because he hit on a girl at bar once and she told him she’s gay and he pulled up instagram and showed her our accs and went ‘i got a sister or an ex, whose number would you prefer’ so he’s definitely still upset over the purse. Btw the jury is still out on him being able to share a whole human.

And also today which is why I’m sending you this now, I woke up to these next texts: ‘what if i change my therapist and I go to Randy? How fucked up would that be?’ ‘Imagine I end up in his office and just start talking to him about qaf’ ‘wait hold up, imagine if I didn’t know it’s him! And i show up in my Justin shirt and go on this long speech about this show and Brian and Blondie…at what point do you think he’d stop me?’ ‘Okay so I texted (his therapists name) and after he was done being mad at me for asking him dumb questions under the impression of emergency late at night, his only words were ‘in my humble professional opinion, (his name), it would be BEYOND fucked up’ but I think he’s exaggerating, what do you think?’ ‘So what kind of therapist do you think he’ll be? Like one on one ‘you got depression, heres pills’ type or couples or what?’ ‘Also do you think he’ll be a cool chill therapist or will he be one of those that look like they escaped their Mormon family and have a stick up their ass?’ ‘Do you think my man is also doing some random work now? Like mechanic or something?’ ‘My man as in my man Gale btw’ ‘no but fr imagine you go to therapy and the dude who you watched fuck on tv is your therapist… at what point do you tell him that you know what his booty looks like?’ ‘His choice in clients are limited.. either kids with no social media or like the fucking Amish’ So I would say he is handing the Randy retirement/therapist news about the same as all of us… or worse.. I actually can’t decide.

Dear sweet anon! I put out into the universe that I wanted updates from you and your brother and the universe delivered.

First of all, we are all devastated about Randy retiring from acting/public life. But also, as a therapist, I do support this journey for him. I do think it will be hard but he will have supervisors along the way to help him navigate the fact that there is footage out there of his butt on a Showtime show. Either that or he can only see clients who are toxic levels of heterosexual.

Speaking of your brother's idea to covertly become his patient, may I direct you to this anon I received? Here THE FANDOM KNOWS YOUR BROTHER AND PREDICTED HE WOULD WANT TO INFILTRATE RANDY'S THERAPY PRACTICE.

The soundtrack online is a travesty and is also homophobic. Would your uncle help me find the DVDs too? I have S2 but not the rest. (I don't even have a DVD or Blu Ray player but I also bought the entire David Tennant Doctor Who collection on Blu Ray (well minus 14 I guess) so at this point I'm just collecting stuff. (I do have a link to a google drive with all the episodes but you or your brother would have to reach out to me by DM here or on discord (thataj.) because I can't post it publicly (it's not actually mine lol).

I think it is very polyamorous to break up with someone for not sharing. Also, I am now curious about his collection of purses. Isn't sharing the name of the game in polyamory?

I think all of his opinions about everyone are so valid. We do get one (1) proof of life from Gale on social media per calendar year. Usually on someone else's account. I know there was a post of him in 2023 so we need to look out for 2024. I do NOT know what he is doing to earn a living these days. It is very likely he has a job that is not in entertainment or at least not on stage or on screen. Maybe entertainment adjacent?

Thank you so much for this update. I love that this continues to cause drama and discussion in your family. I love that your brother's therapist is fully involved. And I love that you continue to share your family with us.

[liarian]

Hope

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 8 Part 9

Tanako picked up the brochure, horrified by the garish colors, the Comic Sans typography and the oversaturation of the layout. After years as a graphic designer, she had never seen anything as horrible as that hellspawn that seemed to be advertising some kind of parapsychology service. Tanako had seen all kinds of charlatans since the day Katsuya had turned out to be not quite normal. None screamed scam as much as "Spirits and such."

Her first reaction was to throw the paper in the trash and forget that the infectious thing had ever crossed her life. With a resigned sigh, she reread the information on the brochure. The address was not too far from there and Tanako had already tried every place that could be considered respectable. It didn't hurt to try if any of what it said there was true. Katsuya needed help and Tanako was desperate to get it for him any way she could.

Tanako didn't know what to expect from a place that advertised with that kind of publicity but what she found was a completely nondescript office building like the thousand identical ones that could be found in the city. She could hardly believe that she had passed by it dozens of times without noticing the sign on the facade.

Tanako took out the pamphlet and checked the apartment and the door before ringing the intercom. The door was open when she reached the second floor. The inside of the office didn't look much different from the dozen or so offices she'd had to wait to be told if they could help her son. The furniture looked cheap but was well-kept, light-colored. Two black chairs made the waiting room in front of the reception desk. Tanako stood.

"One moment, please." For a moment she had thought no one was there when the words caught her attention.

The voice belonged to a boy sitting in front of the desk in the back. He seemed to be concentrating on typing something on his computer. At some point, there had to have been more people but Tanako didn't see anyone else.

"This is a horrible brochure" Tanako said as she saw the piece of paper still in her hands. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I think so too." The boy stood up walking over to her. "My assistant thinks it draws more attention this way."

The boy was the opposite of what Tanako might have expected looking at the design of the pamphlet. He couldn't have been more than twenty-six or twenty-seven, with completely straight black hair covering his forehead and an almost expressionless grimace.

"Tea?" he asked leading her to the sofas by his desk and putting the water in the electric kettle on the table to boil. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask your name."

"Tanako Serizawa" she said accepting the offer and sitting down on one of the sofas.

"Shigeo Kageyama, nice to meet you." The boy drew a small grimace that was intended to be a smile. "How can I help you, Mrs. Serizawa?"

Tanako fiddled nervously with her hands not quite knowing what to say. No matter how many times she had explained Katsuya's problem, it was never simple. She left herself a moment to think, picking up the cup and letting the warmth help her calm her nerves.

"It's because of my son," she said at last after taking a sip. "He needs help and maybe you can do something."

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

Tanako walked up to the door of Katsuya's room and listened as she tried to guess her son's movements on the other side. She was barely able to make out the sound of footsteps and the creaking of the chair. It had been days since Tanako had barely seen bits of the hunched figure residing in there. At times, she had the impression of living with a ghost.

Tanako had been unable to stand still for a moment all morning. She didn't know how many times she had rearranged the shelves of the dining room cabinet. Kageyama had told her he would stop by around four o'clock and it was already five minutes past.

Nerves were going to get the better of her. Tanako still remembered the last time a professional had come to see Katsuya and it wasn't an experience she wanted to repeat.

At least Kageyama had been honest about what to expect. Katsuya wasn't cursed and there was no magic concoction that was going to spontaneously cure him. The only one who could get him out of his room was Katsuya himself.

Tanako was startled when she heard the doorbell.

Kageyama looked too normal. Nothing would have made her think that that boy could really be anything extraordinary. Maybe that boy was nothing more than a scam but something about the way Kageyama had spoken to her the day before made her hopeful.

For the first time in a long time, Tanako had had the impression that someone understood her.

"Is he in the room down the hall?" Kageyama asked as soon as he entered.

Takako nodded her head.

"Today is a bad day." She led him to the room where Katsuya had been confined for over three months now. "I'm not sure he's going to want to talk."

"I can at least try." Kageyama shrugged. "And I can always come back another day."

"Just be careful."

Tanako was never going to be able to forget that her son was dangerous. She watched the boy one last time before knocking on the door. She just hoped she wasn't making a mistake.

[hidingoutbackstage]

Okay aside from my hatred for how it treated Eveline, the DLC also just, wasn't great? And didn't matter? Spoilers below the cut

Okay so getting big thing out of the way: The DLC takes place before the 8 epilogue of Rose at Ethan's grave. Meaning that everything we see doesn’t matter. Rose was never going to lose her powers, she was always going to escape the mold mind palace (btw I’m gonna call it “mold mind palace” this whole time) and it just felt cheap to have the ENTIRE epilogue shown at the end. Like just show her on the bus, we know this scene. I kept waiting throughout the scene to see if they would show us anything new or different, but they didn't. That ending was pointless.

K was also such a nothing character. I speculated that it could be John, since the two characters' faces are similar, but it wasn't. Rose calls him K. John's HWS name is Lobo. If it were Dion she was meeting, that nickname might make sense (K9. There's actually a file in 8 that refers to Canine with that shortened nickname so it would've been possible) but Dion obviously doesn't look like this guy. Not to mention the reveal that he was never there doesn't do anything for us. We knew nothing about this guy, had no attachment to him, so Miranda tricking Rose the entire time means nothing to us. If it had been an actual former HWS member, or, hell, CHRIS then we might have felt something.

Also just the insinuations that 1) Chris is STILL leading HWS 16 years later 2) they're inviting more people to be part of HWS 3) HWS hasn't been shut down yet despite them having been a rogue team when we saw them operating in 8 and they went straight to BSAA HQ, meaning they probably would've received some consequences for going rogue and 4) they've asked Rose, a 16-year-old, to join their team, are all absurd

The DLC is also just really lazy. They recycle ideas, like Miranda using illusions to trick someone into seeing a person that wasn't even there, they recycle models, like seriously Evie looks exactly how she did in RE7, and her model there wasn't great and was still super clunky here and she wasn't proportioned like a child, and they reuse her tantrum animations from 7, they recycle locations just making things more messy or adding the new bloody mold goop to indicate this is the mind palace and not irl. They're lazy with Miranda's motivation too, like there's no reason for her to need Rose as a vessel for Eva anymore. If Eva's consciousness was truly in the mold like Miranda believed, then great! You're in the mold now, Miranda! Go find her! Why are you wasting time with Rose?

The "Michael" mystery was stupid. There was no real reason for him to not reveal himself to Rose right away. It wouldn't "complicate" anything, in fact she'd be more likely to trust you. He kept telling her to turn back, meaning if she had listened, they never would have gotten to speak, which is kind of what Ethan wanted. He wanted her out of the mind palace, safe, even if it meant he never saw her again. She probably could've taken solace in speaking to her dad, even if it wasn't face to face. Also the wording of "Not an enemy" was sooo dumb. Say you're a friend! Say you're family! "Not an enemy" makes her even less likely to trust you, because you aren't being anything reassuring to her right now

The game also tries way too hard to tug on the heart strings, and it doesn't work. I'm gonna bring up Evie here a bit although I'll do my best not to. I do not feel bad for Rose. As a long time fan and player of most games in this series, I can name more characters who have been through worse shit than Rose has than I can count on my fingers. Actually I will, this is my post, fuck it, feel free to skip the list

Sherry was orphaned at 12 and was infected with a virus that nearly killed her, then was held captive in a strange man's house for eleven years, that's 5 years of her adult life still in captivity, before gaining a false semblance of freedom by being forced to become an agent, on one of her missions was kidnapped and tortured for 6 months, and oh yeah her body stopped aging at 20

Manuela was infected with a disease that should have killed her, lost her mother at 5 years old, nearly died several times during DC, became an orphan at 16, and was locked up after being rescued because she still had powers and was still infected. Despite controlling her powers, she was not given any freedom, because the government was cautious (KEEP THIS IN MIND FOR LATER)

Claire, Chris, and Leon are all orphans, Leon definitely when he was a child, Chris and Claire it's up to speculation. The three of them went through the horrors of the early games as young adults, Claire only being 19.

Jill was kidnapped, brainwashed, and forced to become a murderous slave for a genocidal maniac who she sacrificed her life to try to kill

Ashley was kidnapped multiple times, infected, and had her body taken control of by another person against her will

Natalia was an orphan (WHO WATCHED HER PARENTS DIE BTW) who was isolated from her peers, kidnapped, tormented for months by Alex, experienced hallucinations, had an adult woman try to take control of her body, and despite having seemed safe, apparently is still suffering ptsd or worse from what Alex did to her. She was adopted by a normal family and treated like a normal child, but she was still safely monitored and there's no indication she had a normal social life (KEEP THIS IN MIND FOR LATER)

Lisa Trevor was kidnapped at age 14, became an orphan when her parents were killed and she was infected with a virus, and went mad as she was continually tortured and experimented on until her death at 35 years old

Alexia and Alfred Ashford were given a life of comfort, but were still an experimental vanity project that their father enacted because he was in love with one of his ancestors, which they learned of at only 12 years old. Alexia willingly infected herself at age 12, Alfred was forced large political power at that age, and went insane without his sister there to support him, and when Alexia woke up from cryo sleep, the first thing she saw was her brother's dead body

Eveline was created to be a bioweapon. She was never given a choice as to if she had these powers. She was younger than her ten-year-old physical appearance, because she was aged up artificially, she was tortured, abused, forced to kill people with powers she couldn't control, and denied any source of comfort despite having the wants and needs of a child, and she was murdered by a man who called her a little bitch as she cried and lamented why the world seemed to hate her.

Now. What struggles does Rose have? Why, her dad is dead and kids at school call her a freak, of course! Now Isn't that sad? Don't you feel terrible for her and can't wait for her to pick off Eveline, who was taunting her, like a bitter child would?

Also yes you read that right, kids at school. Rosemary Winters, who shows physical proof in public that she is an actively infected person who cannot control her abilities, is allowed to attend public school and receive childish bullying. Un-fucking-realistic. Such bullshit.

Like I said, they lay on the pathos thick. There is an entire section, with no real gameplay, as you walk around the house from the beginning of 8 as you get to hear Ethan's voice and Rose's commentary on things her dad said because wahhh isn't it sad that Ethan died? They tell you how Rose feels through dialogue instead of allowing the character to feel for the obviously forced pathos. The letter was also written way too on the nose to try and tug at some heart strings. The ending where Rose talks to Ethan (while still HILARIOUSLY obstructing his face) goes on for too long and not a single line isn't something sad/sweet/sappy to try and get in the audience's feelings. (Also Rose bringing a physical object of Ethan's ring out of a MOLD MIND PALACE makes no sense but w/e)

Okay but is the gameplay at least good? Nah not that either. You get two weapons, a handgun and a shotgun, the occasional pipe bomb, and Rose's freezing powers. Now I know that this is a DLC and of course there doesn't have to be a lot of content, but this was pathetic. There are only two real puzzles either. The playthrough I watched was 3 hours long. The only part I thought was really scary was running from the Mia mannequins, but gameplay-wise they're like super easy to defeat.

The story jumps forward 16 years for no real reason. We don't get any insight into this new world Rose is living in, 16 years from the current furthest point in the timeline, we meet no new characters except for K who we can't really assume told us anything real since he was an illusion. This story was unnecessary, a mess, none of the gameplay was spectacular, and it went out of its way to torture and villainize a character who had already suffered in life, not even giving her peace in death. Really shitty DLC, really bad time.