#so all off Denmark are devasted

[misshoneyimhome]

Better In Time I Frederik Andersen

[Prologue]

Summary: You and Frederik have a deep connection that dates back to your early childhood, having been best friends since you were just three years old. However, on Freddie's 18th birthday, a personal conversation sparks a shift in your relationship, taking it to a level that goes beyond just friendship.

Tropes & warnings: Frederik Andersen x reader, friendship, best friend!Freddie, talk about losing your virginity

Word count: 2.3K

➼｡ﾟ

October 2007

It was just another ordinary Tuesday evening when you found yourself at the Andersens' house for Frederik’s 18th birthday family dinner. The warm, inviting scent of home-cooked food filled the air as you walked into the familiar home with your dad - a place that felt almost like a second home, as you’d spent countless hours there over the years, growing up alongside Frederik Andersen.

_

Your connected stories began long before you were born, when your dads, childhood friends, played for the local Herning Blue Fox hockey team, where they shared dreams of hockey stardom and a bond forged on the ice and in the locker rooms, their friendship only growing stronger over time.

However, when your dad was just 20 years old, his life took a turn, when he got an amazing chance to pursue a hockey career overseas in Ontario, Canada. Playing for the London Knights, his career took off, and for a while, everything seemed so perfect. But fate had other plans, and a serious knee injury abruptly ended his dreams, just before any chances for the bigger leagues, making him reconsider his future. And instead of returning home to Denmark, he decided to settle down in London Ontario, married your mum, and a few years later, you and your twin brother, Tom, were born.

Yet, misfortunes never come alone, and tragedy struck your family when you were just three years old - your mother sadly died in a car accident, leaving a huge void in your lives. And in the wake of this devastating loss, your father decided to return to his roots, seeking comfort and support in his hometown. So, your now smaller family moved into a house just a few doors down from the Andersens, bringing a sense of familiarity and reassurance during a difficult time.

And Ernst and Charlotte Andersen were a real blessing during this period. Ernst, with his connections and steadfast support, helped your father get a job at the local sports club, bringing some stability to his professional life. Meanwhile Charlotte, with her caring nature and endless compassion, stepped in to offer love and support. She often helped out with you and Tom when your father had to work late, providing a comforting presence and a helping hand. In short, their kindness was beyond measure.

This was probably why you and Frederik had become so close over the years. Despite the three-year age gap, you spent nearly every day together, and your bond was hard to put into words. It might have been due to your shared love for hockey, a passion you both inherited from your fathers and indulged in at the rink. You would spend hours there with your dad and his friends, like Ernst, bonding over the sport. Meanwhile, Tom, who had a deeper passion for football, attended a sports boarding school on the other side of the country, leaving you alone with your dad for the rest of the school year.

_

Still, you didn’t mind at all. Frederik was your closest friend, and sitting next to him during the meal that night felt completely natural. You cherished these moments, especially now as Frederik was about to step into adulthood and start his promising hockey career as a highly skilled goaltender. And as his best friend, you were beyond proud of him and excited about what the future held for him.

As the meal finally came to an end, Frederik turned to you with a cheeky grin on his fair, red-haired face. “Finished?” he asked. You nodded with a smile. His younger siblings, Sebastian and Amalie, had already headed to their rooms, and the youngest Andersen, Valdemar, was snuggled up in his mum’s lap. “Wanna get out of here?” he suggested, noticing that the adults were still engrossed in a serious conversation, leaving you and Frederik eager for a bit of private time.

"Absolutely," you replied swiftly, giving Charlotte a warm smile and heartfelt thanks for the lovely meal. 

Charlotte had always been like a second mother to you, a role she took on since you never had one of your own. She was the most nurturing person you’d ever known, treating you as if you were her own daughter both before and after Amalie was born. Her kindness and warmth had simply always been a steady source of comfort and stability in your life.

So, with dishes in hand, you and Frederik laughed and joked as you made your way to the kitchen. The rhythmic clinking of plates and cutlery was a backdrop to your easy conversation, a soundtrack to the familiar and comforting routine you both enjoyed. And once the dishes were set in the machine, you headed to his room down the hall.

Frederik’s room was nothing but a testament to his passion for hockey and his journey so far. Posters of hockey legends and heroes covered the walls, each image reflecting the spirit of the sport he adored. Framed photos of his father and mementos from his hockey career were displayed on the shelves, alongside game tickets from around the world that he’d attended with his dad, and sometimes with the whole family. Hockey jerseys, sticks, and various pieces of memorabilia filled the room, creating a shrine to the sport that had shaped Frederik’s life. And these familiar sights only made you smile as you settled onto his one-and-a-half-person bed.

Although you never played hockey yourself, you were a passionate fan. You loved watching Frederik play and spent countless hours at the rink with his teammates and friends. You even volunteered to help with younger teams and eagerly went to any ice-skating events that came up. 

“So, any birthday wishes?” you asked Frederik with a warm smile as he settled into a lounge stool in front of you.

“Not really,” he chuckled. “Honestly, I just wish for success in my hockey career,” he said modestly. That was very typical of Frederik. He wasn’t one to talk much or share his deep thoughts in public. He always stayed humble, even though his talent as a goalie was clear to everyone. And success seemed almost inevitable for him, one way or another.

"Well, we all know that's going to happen," you said with a playful grin. "Come on, there must be something else?"

Frederik didn’t answer straight away. Instead, there was a pause as he seemed to wrestle with his thoughts; something personal and perhaps even a bit awkward was clearly on his mind. It was unusual for him to hesitate like this. He had always been open with you, sharing his deepest thoughts and insecurities, and your close bond was something neither of you had with anyone else. But this time, he seemed reluctant to speak, and you respected his choice to share or not. Even though you were curious, you wouldn’t pressure him into revealing something he wasn’t comfortable with.

"Well... there is something," Frederik finally said, fidgeting with his fingers and scratching the back of his neck. "Or rather, not something, but something I’d like to do," he admitted softly, glancing down with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Freddie, you can tell me," you said gently, trying to catch his eye and reassuring him that he was in a safe space with just the two of you.

"It's a bit embarrassing," he admitted, finally looking at you and offering a shy, blushing smile.

You could tell he really wanted to share his thoughts, and your curiosity grew with each passing moment. "I’m your best friend, Freddie; nothing’s too embarrassing," you reassured him softly, which prompted him to let out a deep sigh as he gathered his thoughts.

"Well, you see... the thing is..." he struggled to find the right words. "I’ve never... you know... done 'it'," he almost blurted out, his freckled cheeks turning a deep crimson as his gaze fixed on the wooden floor of his room.

The room fell into silence as the meaning of his words sank in.

"Oh," was all you could say at first, your mind processing his revelation. "Wait... what?" you added, slightly bewildered by what Frederik had just shared. "You’ve never done it?" Your voice carried genuine surprise.

"Shhh..." Frederik quickly hushed you. "I don’t want Seb to find out too."

"Sorry..." you whispered back, keeping your voice low and calm. "I’m just so surprised," you added, meeting Frederik’s gaze as his blush slowly faded and his fair skin returned to its normal colour.

"Why’s that?" he asked, his expression a mix of slight offence and confusion.

But you simply mustered a warm smile for him. "Well, have you met yourself?" you chuckled lightly. "Freddie, you’re one of the most amazing guys I know. You’re kind and wonderful," you said sincerely, looking earnestly at your best friend. "Besides, you have so many friends, both guys and girls, so I just assumed that you’ve..." you trailed off, earning a small smile from him.

Your words touched him, and he knew you meant every one of them.

"Well, I guess I’ve just never been with someone I felt strongly enough about to take that step," he explained, the slight tension between you gradually easing, along with your body language.

"What about Maya?" you asked, referring to the girl Frederik had dated from the ice figure skating team.

It was something of a 'tradition' among the hockey boys to date girls from their own age group, and Frederik had connected with Maya, a tall, fit beauty with big brown eyes and light brown hair. Quite different from your appearance. You were shorter, with light hair and summer freckles, and you had more curves—breasts, hips, and thighs. Not that you were unhappy with how you looked; it was just that you were different from the other girls often seen around Frederik and his hockey friends.

"We never actually did it... I mean, we did 'stuff'—and it was nice, but we never went all the way," he explained, and you nodded in understanding.

"Why not?" you asked, curiosity clear in your voice.

Frederik shrugged. "I guess I just wasn’t ready... and I didn’t feel comfortable going all the way with her…” There was a pause, and you gave him a simple nod before he continued. “What about you?” he asked in return.

But no, you hadn’t done it either. You hadn’t even had a boyfriend or anything close to one. Although you had many friends, including boys, none had ever shown an interest in you in that way. Some of Frederik’s friends had made a move or two, but it was mostly in jest. Besides, Frederik had always made it clear that you were off-limits in that regard.

So you shook your head gently. “No,” you said softly.

“Fair enough,” Frederik replied with a friendly smile. “I mean, you shouldn’t do it if you’re not ready, or just because everyone else is.”

And of course, you knew that. You’d never felt pressured to explore those aspects of yourself, even though many of your closest girlfriends had started to do so with their first loves. But with that said, you had begun to explore on your own, inspired by what they’d shared in your close-knit girl group. 

You had started slowly, with gentle touches on your breasts, softly massaging them and lightly pinching your nipples a few times. Then you’d moved your fingertips down your torso, gently rubbing what you had come to understand as the clitoris—a small, sensitive area that brought you pleasure, even though it felt a bit odd at first. And so, with patience and practice, you learned to enjoy the soft circular movements, which elicited soft moans. Gradually, you began exploring further, starting with a finger at your entrance, learning how to gently please yourself. 

Yet, the idea of having someone else do it for you was still somewhat new and intriguing.

"I know… but the thing is..." you almost whispered, your mind wrestling with whether or not to share your thoughts. "I think I’m actually ready…" you admitted, once again meeting Frederik’s gaze, which prompted a small ‘oh’ from him.

"Really?" he asked, sounding a bit more surprised than he meant to. You nodded in response.

"Yeah... I don’t know why exactly... I guess I’m just really curious about it," you said, keeping your voice low and steady as you looked to Frederik for his reaction. You hoped he wouldn’t judge your sudden revelation, and as always he didn’t. 

His expression remained gentle and composed, though he seemed slightly conflicted about whether to continue the conversation or end it before it veered into suggestions that could impact your friendship. But in the end, he decided to move forward.

"So…" he began, trying again to find the right words. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

You shook your head. No, you hadn’t thought of anyone in particular for this. It had simply been an intriguing idea that had crossed your mind recently.

For some reason, Frederik felt a wave of relief wash over him. Although he knew he had no claim over you, the thought of another guy touching you felt slightly odd for him. And then, a thought struck. 

He had an idea but wasn’t sure if it was too bold for both of you to share such an intimate experience. “What if…” Frederik began tentatively, breaking the silence that had settled between you. “What if you and I, you know, did it?” The words hung in the air, and he seemed genuinely surprised by his own boldness.

You were momentarily taken aback. The idea wasn’t entirely new to you—it had crossed your mind once or twice—but you had never expected Frederik to bring it up. Yet, his suggestion made your heart race, and it also brought a small, intrigued smile to your face.

After a brief pause, you gently nibbled on your lower lip and looked at him thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t be awkward, would it?” you asked hesitantly, the vulnerability in your voice evident.

Frederik let out a soft sigh, a blend of relief and contemplation in his eyes. "How about we just call it... one friend helping another?" he suggested playfully, trying to lighten the mood and ease the tension. And his suggestion made you chuckle softly, and you found yourself nodding in agreement.

"Agreed," you replied softly. 

[scotianostra]

On February 6th 1665, Queen Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs, was born.

Anne had seventeen children during her life but not one survived to succeed her.

She spent her early years in France living with her aunt and grandmother. Although Anne’s father was a Catholic, on the instruction of Charles II Anne and her sister Mary were raised as Protestants.

In 1683, Anne married Prince George of Denmark. It was to be a happy marriage, although marred by Anne’s frequent miscarriages, still births and the death of children in infancy. She had many ailments during her life, one of which I can connect with, gout! A very painful form of arthritis, treatable nowadays but I know the pain and it is no surprise to hear she was carried around the court in a sedan chair, one source says

“she grew exceeding gross and corpulent. There was something of majesty in her look, but mixed with a gloominess of soul”

As I said earlier she there were seven times she miscarried and five children were stillborn, the only child to make it beyond being classed as an infant still died at 11, which must have been devastating for the couple.

Of the others, Mary died at just 17 months of smallpox, Anne Sophia was just 9 months when she passed away. William lived the longest and it must have been so hard on Anne, he was taken ill at his 11th birthday party when he complained of feeling tired, it was thought he was just tired from his exertions during the party where he had been dancing, later that night he had a sore throat and chills, followed by a severe headache and a high fever the next day. It wasn't till three days later a physician examined him and he was "bled", this was an ancient ritual and the young prince endured the withdrawal of blood from him in what was meant to cure or prevent illness and disease. His condition worsened and a second doctor visited on the morning of the 28th, that evening a third physician, the Queen's own, John Ratcliffe attended the boy. The three agree on a diagnosis, Scarlet fever, Smallpox were talked about, remedies of "cordial powders and cordial juleps" were administered and William was bled once more, to which Ratcliffe strongly objected to saying "you have destroyed him and you may finish him". Ratcliffe prescribed blistering substances, a painful method of draining away the black bile. Again it did not help his condition and he spent that night "in great sighings and dejections of spirits ... towards morning, he complained very much of his blisters."

Anne, who had spent an entire day and night by her son's bedside, now became so distressed that she fainted. However, by midday on 29th July he seemed to rally he was breathing more easily and his headache had diminished, leading to hopes that he would recover. The improvement was fleeting, and that evening, he was "taken with a convulsing sort of breathing, a defect in swallowing and a total deprivation of all sense". Prince William died close to 1 a.m. on 30th July 1700, with his parents beside him. In the end, the physicians decided the cause of death was "a malignant fever". An autopsy revealed severe swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck and an abnormal amount of fluid in the ventricles of his brain: "four and a half ounces of a limpid humour were taken out." A modern diagnosis is that he died of acute bacterial pharyngitis, with associated pneumonia. Had he lived, though, it is almost certain the prince would have succumbed to complications of his hydrocephalus.

Not to be put off the Queen gave birth to Mary on the 14th October 1690, the poor child was two months premature, and lived for only about two hours. George followed two years later, he lived a few minutes, just long enough to be baptised. A sad tale of trying to give her husband an heir.

Anne died on August 1st 1714 after a series of strokes, without that heir prompting parliament to pass the Act of Settlement to ensure a Protestant succession. Anne was therefore succeeded by the German Protestant prince George, Elector of Hanover.

The Stuart line of Kings and Queens was at an end, although many supporters of the Stuarts refused to recognise the Hanoverian succession giving rise to the Jacobite uprisings of the 18th century

[sparklecinnamonbunny]

And if you're still doing asks, please entertain me with some you haven't gotten yet, for which you have some really good answers. Two for Sunday and two for Envy. Can be the same or different. Dealer's choice :3

*Puss in boots voice* For you baby, I could be. Hitting 23 and 39 for Sunday, and 3 and 26 for Envy. These answers get pretty long, so you can find them under the break!

23. Would they prefer reading books or listening to an audiobook? Besides, would they rather read for someone or have someone read for them? Sunday unironically owns and listens to Nathan Explosion Reads Shakespeare. She was disappointed to hear there was a whole session Pickles forgot to record. She usually has her headphones on and an audiobook playing when she files the week's incident reports at American Voice Showdown. That said, her guilty pleasure 'adult romance' novels? Print only.

If she had to share a book with someone, she'd prefer to be the one reading. In the AU where she has Charlene, her child with Skwisgaar, she goes all out for bedtime stories, character voices and all. It sets a quality standard for the CEO, who expects the same out of any babysitters, be they once-in-a-century financial geniuses or *cough* the pride of Denmark.

39. If they could go back in time, how would they reassure their child-self about the future? Sunday's childhood cycled between 'incredible opportunities' and 'devastating horror', so this answer's simple. She'd tell her child-self that she's not crazy, she really is cursed, but that doesn't make her a bad person. She'd reassure herself that it gets better, that she gets away from her family and does wonderful things that they can't take from her.

Yes, it is okay that she likes girls and boys. She'll meet incredible people in every walk of life if she lets herself. And if the church is wrong about her being bad, then they can be wrong about anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3. What is something they really like about themselves and what is something you really like about them? Envy prides herself on being levelheaded. She has no problems de-escalating angry patrons and doesn't find it hard to take control of a room. She likes that she can keep her cool even when things take a turn for the worst.

Something I've liked writing for Envy is her warm and nurturing nature. She may be blunt, and she might feel at home in anarchy, but she's a caretaker at heart. Her garden flourishes under her love (and occasional Dead Kennedys singalongs). She treats her employees with a decency and kindness that's unheard of in the hospitality industry. Even the drunks that pass out in (or near) her bar get water and a safe ride home. She's safety for young queers and a haven for kinksters.

26. What would be their ideal romance? Did they find a perfect match already, is it still a work in progress, or have they experienced something out of their expectations? It's not that Envy's unlucky in love; to the contrary, she's had some long, loving relationships. It's that it's hard to pin her down. She's oblivious to flirting unless a lady's laying it on thick. When she gets into a relationship, she finds it hard to make compromises on how much she works, leaving her girlfriends lonely. She works her ass off to run her businesses and keep Club Hedonism's events running.

Her ideal partner would be someone who's just as busy as she is, or someone who wouldn't mind spending time working together. She calls her romantic life a 'work in progress' and frequently claims she'll settle down once whatever project she's doing is finished, but... it hasn't happened yet.

[cleverclove]

thanks for posting about hamlet ur the only way i actually understand that blasted book for my english class 🫵🗿🫶

OH HOLY SHIT YOU’RE WELCOME…it’s super fun once you get into it :> but uh here’s an actual rundown if you need it :] (except it’s told in incomprehensible modern day language)

King of Denmark? Dead. He’s king of DEADMARK now hehe

His ghost comes back and haunts the fuck out of Hamlet’s homies

Hamlet’s homies, seeing as said ghost looks exactly like the dead king, decide to tell their emo homie, Hamlet

Hamlet has recently returned from a weeks-long voyage from college back home to Denmark to mourn his dad (F to pay respects)

This bitch is EMO AS HELL (i mean his dad DID just pass so….)

(Btw Denmark is at risk of war with Norway but oddly enough it’s not as big a plot point as you might think???)

Except OOPS! Apparently his mom married his uncle. Wtf mom???

Said uncle is kind of a dick and Hamlet basically sticks his middle finger up at him the whole entire play

Hamlet’s homies, led by his college fuckbuddy, Horatio, come over to tell him about this ghost

King of Deadmark tells him that that motherfucking (literally) uncle of his is behind it

Hamlet swears revenge but debates whether to believe this ghost or not (bc duh, it’s a ghost. Not exactly the most trustworthy source.)

Oh he also has this ex, Ophelia

She’s a cinnamon roll (and the only one in the play)

He’s mad bc she broke off their relationship (bc her father tells her she’s not his type…..royalty back then was only allowed to marry other royalty -_-)

So there’s this whole subplot about their breakup going about as well as you’d expect a Shakespearean tragedy to go

(Or: Hamlet commits borderline domestic abuse)

Yeah he’s kind of a shitty boyfriend (ex now)

Blah blah blah blah shenanigans happen

Hamlet intends to kill Claudius the Dickhead Uncle, who he believes is behind a tapestry in mom’s room

So after a fight with his mom he stabs the tapestry with a man behind it

Except OOPS it’s his ex’s dad

Anyway at this point Dickhead Uncle is like “okay you’re done” because damn this is a PR NIGHTMARE

So he sends Hamlet off to hang out in England for a bit

(And by hang I mean get hung. As in executed <3)

Along the way he gets kidnapped by pirates (?????)

Idk either

He sees the letter condemning him to death

He crosses his name out and puts his FRIENDS who he’s traveling with to death instead

Yeah he’s kind of a shitty friend too

Back to Denmark! Ophelia, obviously unable to live without a man (this IS Shakespeare after all), goes insane at the loss of her dad and bf

She ends up swimming with the fishes (bc she drowns herself. Pure innocent cinnamon roll too good for this world fr.)

Hamlet returns and FUCK.

His ex (who he’s still in love with) killed herself because of him D:

Her brother, obviously pretty distraught at losing his sister AND dad within the span of a few days because of Hamlet, is pretty pissed off at him understandably

He challenges Hamlet to a “friendly *wink* duel”

Clown on clown violence because the poisoned sword Laertes the brother uses hits both of them

Hamlet poisons the king after his mom accidentally drinks the poisoned wine that Claudius planned to give HAMLET to kill him

So yeah. Three people are dead now, and Hamlet isn’t gonna live much longer.

His fuckbuddy from earlier, Horatio, is absolutely DEVASTATED dude

Being the loyal bff he is, he tries to kill himself too to join Hamlet in death

(Kinda gay if you ask me but whatever)

Hamlet dies in Horatio’s arms

(Again, pretty gay but what do I know :P)

Horatio lives and vows to tells Hamlet’s story as the Norwegians storm the castle and take over Denmark.

[yaniidme]

hello, hello! so with the thought of the new chapter of infinite i wanted to go through and refresh all my intros with better formatting etc. here is yanin since she just had some changes that needed to be done anyways. not much has changed just a more structured and cohesive set up and a pretty graphic. you can find her profile, kprofile, pinterest and connections pages linked and bellow a more detailed and ?? information on her and her life.

 —— welcome to infinite entertainment! it's YANIN 'YANI' KOTIYUVA, who is the MAIN RAPPER of FLORA.i’ve heard whispers that the 25 year old is pretty ENDEARING but lowkey CAUTIOUS. also, doesn’t/don’t she/they remind you of NICHA YONTARARAK?

pre-debut

she was born to high school sweethearts sunan kotiyuva and maxine li in the village of biei japan september 27th, 1998,  her father at the time began as an french professor at university of tokyo and her mother was working as a bank teller.

her mother died in a robbery gone wrong right around the time she started working again after yanin's  birth, and sunan, devastated by his wife’s passing decided after a long time of court proceedings, it was time to move forward raising his daughter, and far away from the village their trauma had begun in. 

her father had been loving and doting her whole life, he encouraged her to do everything she wanted ( within reason ), taught her to be tough as nails and not afraid to get down and dirty while still teaching her empathy and compassion.

teaming up with his love for the outdoors he packed one and a half year old yumi up and began his journey traveling the world and teaching a myriad of languages. his goal was to see every country at least once (even if it was the airport or through on the bus or some sort of transportation) before he died, a goal he’d originally set with her mother that they’d begin when yumi started uni.

they started furthest west, the us, in erie and blouder, coloardo. he got a short term job teaching korean at university of colorado boulder. this is where yumi began the first portions of her life, she started talking learning english, korean and japanese simultaneously.

then it was on to paraiso and daisuke began teaching english at santa maria la antigua catholic school.

next was são caetano do sul , brazil where he taught english and spanish at university of sao paulo

it was here in sao paulo where yumi took quite the tumble down the side of a hill while hiking with her father. she’d gotten up with what they thought were only wounded pride and cuts and bruises even though she knocked into a few rocks on the way down. but after awhile the ringing in her ears never stopped and daisuke was concerned at his daughter’s complaints of the dimming of sound in her left ear. after a trip to the hospital it was notated that her woozy stance, v*mitting and headaches weren’t just from being shaken up from the fall but the result of a nasty concussion.

ct scans revealed that the fall resulted in damage to her inner ear which led to/would lead to sensorineural hearing loss. and sure enough she lost about 80% of her hearing in that ear after suffering from a wide range of hearing related issues (i.e. soft sounds suddenly becoming to quiet or loud/normally moderate sounds too loud)

after brazil he made his way to le cannet, france where he taught korean at skema. it was here she was fitted for her first hearing aid.

he went on to ship them across the pond to helsingor, denmark and taught english at the university of coppenhagen, then to nuremberg, germany where he taught spanish at university of munik. he took a small break for a few months and they settled in mariehamn, aland islands, finnland for some daddy/daughter time and then off they were off to ipoh, malaysia for a stint at universati malaya.

it was in malaysia where yanin actually fell in love with kpop as a whole. it was a friend of hers that was a big fan of a second gen group that dragged her to a concert. she, like many fans, fell for the atmosphere and the fast paced life style that the career asks for. off and on she’d google around for auditions just to humor herself, but for awhile she didn’t see herself as a non-korean, and hardly ‘feminine’ at best being in a group at all. but, that same friend dragged her to an audition to which she was picked up at vibe productions (2011).

it was at vibe  that she got most of her training, (see canon’s for how it affected her as an idol), even after years of practicing dances at home to counter the minor issue with her balance she still fell behind the other trainees in the dance department. vibe often told her she made up for it with her visuals and her voice but, even then as they pumped out girl group after girl group and soloist after soloist they still hadn’t picked yumi, and she trained for 2.5 years with them only to not debut she was frustrated but determined to be an idol even with her disability as her dad taught her if she wanted something the only option was to go all the way.

but following too many missed promises to debut AND being pulled from a line up with a close trainee friend, yanin terminated her contract with vibe, set on joining her father back on his journey around the world. it was during this time was stopped by a new star entertainment scout while out at coffee with some friends in japan.

yanin assumed that she’d spend time in the basement all over again at new star, but within a month or so was granted a spot in the debut line up for flora, while apprehensive at first given the groups concept idea, she decided (after a…heart to heart with their now leader) to stick through it even with the short 8-month training period with the other two members.

at debut

she was asked to switch her name to something with a little more ‘star power’ thus the pseudonym ‘yani noi’ and the mononym ‘yani’ was born. it was as if kotiyuva yanin, a boyish scruff muffin from that little japanese village was no more, and the ‘cute maknae of flora’ yani noi was now in her place.

she suffered a good bit of damage from the greater public at debut. a double edged sword some felt she was much too young and cute for a group of older girls, others thought she hardly fit the bill as an idol. she lacked media training and seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the girls. an often gripe about her is that she raps because she can hardly sing and dance, and they believed another new star trainee was booted for her to take their spot simply because she was prettier.

backlash with the false rumor only came down with a harder judgment when the official positions came out and yanin, the only foreign member, held the visual spot.

during career 

as the public got to know her she was given the “nation’s girlfriend” title in 2017 as they had grown to love her boyish charms ( think ryujin of itzy ) , attached themselves to her whimsical hippie vibe and played the cute maknae role well. while she won them over with that, they still had an issue with her having the visual position, and that is often a sense of contention within the think pieces on their group.

it wasn’t until flora that yanin began to come into her femininity. like a sibling watching her sisters grow up, yanin’s aesthetic seemed to first change into a blend of her “boyish” style and the style of her older members, before she fell into a beat of her own. this change in her is often sighted amongst fans.

silver’s absence in 2018 was very hard on her,  but in a weird way pushed her to work harder, there was a stark difference in how she performed and carried herself during the fancy era, versus before ( think shuhua in nxde ). fans think it’s her fave bc of it, but in reality she hates it (think nayeon and i’m gonna be a star).  after feeling  that absence and loss during the era before, and being forced to do a concept to which they had to pretend to be a big happy family while promoting while a member was missing, she felt completely empty because of it. since then she hasn’t truly recovered but the power and improvement she put into her performances to make up for how empty she felt, showed through during performances and onward.

known for her incline in skill but decline in stage presence post-queendom era. she often is ridiculed for performing with a straight face unless she’s essentially feeling the performance or having a really good day. there are a lot of think pieces online about what happened to her during that time.

there was an ‘incident’ following silvers return where yumi suffered her first ever break down. this resulted in her crudely chopping her hair off in her dorm room sparking a new, though unhealthy, coping mechanism. the company was not happy but she went on to promote in a nice short cut or extensions.

infinite tour

during the infinite tour not much changed, at least that’s what yanin thought.

she released two ‘solo’ projects, one a collab with bravehearts jinnie and the other her own solo song.

she chopped all her hair off again on vacation in hawaii with her members, and has since dyed it a dark color for the first time since fancy era. now it’s about shoulder length and cut in a wolf cut shag with choppy layers.

she’s fallen…in love? kind of she’s not sure

overall she feels as though returning to korea has become a cleansing experience for her and is trying to move forward differently in this next chapter of her career and life.

canons/personality tidbits & quirks

dad pretty much raised her like a boy but in a loving ,genderless way 

seems like the cute maknae but is actually super wise and a bit on the serious side but she loves a good laugh

literally showed up to the flora dorm her first day like this shag cut and all.

during her time in flora she fell in love with a member's brother who ended up passing, their relationship never really got off the ground but everyone seemingly knew they were destined for each other. his loss, and the absence of her leader during that time changed her drastically and effected her in many ways not only in her career but her regular every day life.

because of this she developed a relationship with her hair to express her moods. if things changed or she began to feel emotions to strongly, she often cut, bleached or dyed it herself much to the company and stylists dismay. following fancy era she was often blonde or light colored, using the bright and pastel hair as a way to become someone else while “yanin” suffered in her hurt.

pretty quiet and introverted but not to the extent that she’s closed off

she’s a libra (sun), pisces (moon) and taurus (rising)

very whimsical and go with the flow

loves to get down and dirty

the type to go lay out in the rain or be found hiding in a corner outside reading a book

‘dad’ of the dorm she fixes things and does a lot of the heavy lifting and often teased the other members saying bc they’re too old in reality she just likes tinkering

she also will be the first to hop out to change a tire, change the oil , help a hurt animal on the side of the road etc.

her guilty pleasure is cozy games on switch

likes sculpting and clay work bc they’re messy

tries to at least hike, rock climb, kayak, or surf in every country they visit

globally acclaimed tomboy and is loved by most of not all sapphic fans of the industry (very moonbyul, ryujin, chaeyoung etc)

sweet and whimsical, very cottage core in mindset with a boho y2k grunge edge. she’d root for the under dog, is down for vigilante justice and is loyal as fuck. but doesn’t like a lot of friends. she’s quiet and loves literature, language and travel, pretty on the serious side but loves to laugh. her child really comes through sometimes and she tends to like “childish” things (plushies, pastels, cozy games, etc). everything has a place even if her room is messy. and she’s feminine with an outdoorsy tomboy underneath (bc raised by dad)

find her with a book curled in a corner if she doesn’t want to be bothered

has a slight temper will scrap for flora

calico cat energy. ( iykyk )

moving around like she did made it really hard for her to make connections so she didn’t bother. her first friend was the kpop friend in japan that she went to the global audition with. and even when she became a trainee she only had one friend even in her long couple of years. it because of the short period of time it took her a good bit to warm up to flora.

the girls of flora pretty much got yumi to where she is today in terms of her femininity and fashion. for awhile she tried to be hyper feminine, growing her dark hair out etc etc, but after cutting it for a comeback she found herself desperately looking for a medium. cue her early 2000s grunge hippie/hobo aesthetic now.

knows asl, ksl, and jsl and often teaches fans on live as well for the fun of it.

has a brown poodle named klaus and a  white rat named mortimer and and black one named wednesday

had kaiso custom paint her long board that she brought on tour with her

quiet girl, but an adrenaline junkie

true crime enthusiast

would love to climb a famous mountain with her dad

her dad sends her a magnet, sticker or post card from whatever country he’s in and she always collects one thing ( often antiques ) from the countries they visited on tour

can be v reckless when comfortable

she likes idle skin ship so like absent minded touching while doing something else

iq of 164

has an online masters degree from colombia university double majoring in history and literature and art & archeology, got her bachelors at su in linguistics

former serial blonde rip her scalp she’s finally gone back

extensive plushie collection but gomez was the only one who made the trip back on tour

her dad is still traveling and he ships her something from every country he visits

super green, clean energy hug the earth girly, the only reason she isnt vegetarian is kbbq

queen of blurry selfies/photos and her instagram is chaotically aesthetic

loves her a mint vape and a redbull/energy drink (she gets “caught” with said vape every month by fans)

has matching, hand made friendship bracletes with her best friend, braveheart’s jinnie

has an unstable crush on kakashi hatake from naruto

she’s known to be a blunt idol and as stated before seems to lack media training. she often doesn’t care about ugly faces, her back to the camera, or not talking back when feeling wronged or disrespected in setting even if there’s cameras. now that she’s older she’s reigned that in more for the sake of the group and tends to be more dark, quiet and poised about her responses.

conspiracy theory queen and even makes up her own about the company, currently been riding the horse that they styling is on purpose to force her to present cuter/‘more feminine’ it’s dumb she knows but still

some times still gets messed up with her korean, and often when speaking struggles through the different words in the languages she knows, mixing them around, well known phrase, “i’m not sure what it is in ‘said language’” and continues to list it in various other languages.

"official" socials:

instagram: @yani_chan98

bubble: nanikashi98

youtube: yanin9898

unofficial socials

tik tok: suk98

instagram: kakashi69

twitter (mostly to stalk dahlias): @suk298402

overall yanin is a hippie with an edgy flair to her. she’s all peace and love, do what you want, be who you want to be, but sometimes chaos is a little more fun. her intelligence is a pro and a con she uses it to rationalize life so she has no need for emotion. everything has a reason, a deeper meaning behind it so no need to feel it just …be. it is her strength yet it’s crippling and with the addition of her inability to make connections, she uses it instead of tapping into her emotions. her hair is her mood ring, and until she can completely become her own it’ll constantly change, just like everything else…and she thinks she likes it that way.

updates post tour

yanin has been entertaining alternate pronouns (she/they)

she actually hates the idea of the reality show and would prefer to go back private following a year long world tour.

she’s working to finish her phd, she’ll be graduating this december and boy is she glad to be done. she’s hoping to maybe do some free tutoring in languages online or regular tutoring to fill in the void of being finished with school.

connections/wanted plots

because of the type of muse yanin is i think she’d flourish with more brainstormed, unique connection ideas or filling a spot for someone else! so if you have any wanted connections or wanted to brain storm some ideas i’d love that! pls just give this a like because i’m in love with her.

muse overviews and analysis

ʚɞ. character study #1 - 'tester of fate' ʚɞ. character study #2 - 'the stage' ʚɞ. the muse as zodiac signs ʚɞ. favorite stage outfits: twice / viviz ʚɞ. general task #1 ʚɞ. character study #3 - 'the idol': photoset 1 / 2 / 3 / analysis & viral moments ʚɞ. through the eras - ʚɞ. muse tag

*i'll add the links to her profiles once they're updated with her new info/new graphics!

[rehomesolutions]

Crazy Stories From Charleston's Past in South Carolina

Charleston is a city with a rich history, and there are many interesting stories from its past. Some of these are famous tales that everyone knows about, but some are lesser-known facts that few people know about. These stories showcase what makes Charleston such an incredible place.

A pirate who terrorized Charleston’s waters is buried in the churchyard of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church.

Five miles south of Charleston, you'll find the churchyard of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. It's a peaceful place, with a wooden gazebo overlooking the harbor and mangroves growing along its edges. But there's one grave that stands out from all others: that of Captain Edward Teach (AKA "Blackbeard").

Teach terrorized Charleston in 1718 by leading two ships into their waters, capturing several merchant ships before escaping through the harbor entrance after a battle with colonial forces led by Governor Charles Eden and Colonel William Rhett Jr. To commemorate this event and honor its heroes, Charles Towne Cemetery was established in 1750 on land purchased from local planters Isaac Motte and John Wragg; it was later renamed Magnolia Cemetery when it was moved northward into town sometime after the 1820s due to expansion demands from growing population numbers throughout South Carolina during this time period."

Slave rebellion scared Charlestonians.

The most famous slave rebellion in Charleston's history is the one led by Denmark Vesey, who was a free man of color. It was planned to take place on Bastille Day, July 14, 1822. The plan involved mass murder and arson that would have destroyed much of Charleston--but luckily for us all it was foiled by the betrayal of a slave named Tom who told his owner about it!

A tidal wave rolled over Charleston in June 1886.

In June 1886, a tidal wave rolled over Charleston.

The cause was a storm that hit the coast of South Carolina on June 22 and 23, 1886. It brought with it heavy rain and winds up to 90 miles per hour--and an unusual phenomenon: the city experienced two high tides during one day.

The effect on Charleston was devastating; thousands of buildings were destroyed by flooding and many more were damaged by wind or fire after being struck by lightning bolts from the storm's fierce winds. Around 25 people lost their lives during this natural disaster as well.*

How did they discover what caused this tidal wave? A scientific team set out to investigate what happened after receiving reports from witnesses who claimed they had seen waves several feet high coming ashore at nightfall when no storms were forecasted for days ahead (so there was no way any other cause could have been responsible). They found evidence showing how large amounts of water had flowed back into Charleston Harbor due "to some obstruction which prevented its escape through its normal channels."

No one knows who paid for the construction of the Washington Monument in Marion Square.

The Washington Monument is a monument to George Washington, the first president of the United States. It's located in Marion Square, which is located in downtown Charleston.

It was built in 1856 and designed by Robert Mills. No one knows who paid for it, though some speculate that it was paid for by the people of Charleston as a thank-you to General Washington for his service during The Revolutionary War when he helped them win their freedom from England.

Mold Removal Company in Charleston, West Virginia

Mold removal services near me in Charleston, SpC Mold is one of the most toxic substances that anyone can breathe. If you have mold in your home, then you might think it’s normal to need mold removal services near me in Charleston, but mold is actually anything but natural or acceptable.

R&E Home Solutions is a trusted name in home repair services, providing a wide range of services to homeowners and contractors.

A fire that started on a small island off Charleston brought the city to a standstill for several days in the mid-1800s.

In the mid-1800s, a fire started on Sullivan's Island and spread to other islands in Charleston Harbor. The fire caused great damage to the city and was finally extinguished after several days.

The cause of this massive blaze? Lightning!

Pirates used false lights to trick ships into running aground near Sullivan’s Island.

In the 17th century, pirates used false lights to trick ships into running aground. The ships were then looted and their crew's taken, prisoner.

Sullivan's Island was one of the most popular places for this practice because it had a shallow sandbar that allowed easy access from land, but could still be hidden from view by tall trees on either side of it.

Charleston has many interesting stories from its past

The city has many interesting stories from its past. Some of them are about pirates, slave rebellions, and tidal waves. Others show how the city has changed over time. These stories are not just for tourists; they can help you understand Charleston better as well!

In 1676, pirates attacked Charles Towne (the name Charleston was given when it became a British colony). They destroyed houses and ships belonging to settlers who were trying to make their lives here in this new land called South Carolina. It wasn't until 1718 that another attack occurred--this time by Spanish soldiers from St Augustine Florida who wanted revenge against England because King George had defeated them at sea earlier that year during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714).

Charleston is a place with a rich history, and these stories are just a few examples of the many adventures that have taken place in this city. If you're looking for more information about these events or others from Charleston's past, be sure to check out our website!

R&E Home Solutions

778 Folly Rd d, Charleston, SC 29412

(843) 886-1658

[bloopdydooooo]

WHAT IS THE PLOT OF HAMLET?

(i am cool with a long answer btw)

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ASK OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!

(this is going under a readmore i know myself)

i tried to keep out as much of my editorialising and interpretation as possible but its really impossible to recount the plot of hamlet without putting your own spin on hamlet. waht you need to know is that im insane about this play and also hamlet and horatio are in love.

i would feel worse about how long this got if you hadn't welcomed it. if you don't want to read it all i put tl;drs for each act

these would usually be my closing remarks but uh. they go here cause of the readmore: this is the plot of hamlet with as little commentary as i could manage without going. if that's all you're interested in, here you are! if you want to know any of my thoughts on various subjects i didn't elaborate on, feel free to dm me/send me another ask/whatever you want. i am always happy to talk about hamlet. seriously, its concerning.

so we open in elsinor, denmark. there are about twenty guards in this scene but the only character name you really need to remember is horatio. horatio is a scholar whose been called out by the night watch because he doesn't believe in the ghost that's been showing itself to the night watch. he sees this ghost and concludes that its the late king hamlet, who died two months ago. he decides to go tell his friend (*cough* boyfriend *cough*) hamlet about the ghost after deciding with the rest of the night watch that its probably some kind of spirit from hell. (1.1)

cut to hamlet, he's absolutely miserable. his father just died and now his mother, gertrude, is marrying his uncle, claudius. his mental health is in the gutter already, but he's considerably more composed than he will be for the rest of the play. claudius tells hamlet not to return to school and instead stay in the palace and he ends up agreeing, though he isn't pleased. horatio comes to tell him about the ghost and we can see that hamlet is already losing it a little (HAMLET: My father - Methinks I see my father! HORATIO: Where, my lord? HAMLET: In my mind's eye. (1.2.191-93)). he agrees to go with the night watch and see the ghost. also hamlet and horatio are gay and in love this will be a recurring theme in the play. (1.2)

new characters! we have laertes and his more famous sister, ophelia. you know her from the paintings and also more likely the song. laertes is leaving for france but before he goes he gives ophelia love advice, which consists of "hamlet doesn't love you don't even think about it". hamlet and ophelia have been exchanging romantic and sexual letters, which she's finally decided to tell her family about. he leaves and their awful father, polonius arrives. he gives her basically the same advice. also i hate him so much i was very relieved when he died. (1.3)

hamlet is on the night watch and he's a rich little princeboy, so he's freezing his ass off. but that's okay, he's going to see his dad! his dad who he misses so terribly. look, he's just a scared, lonely, grieving child who misses his father. and maybe that makes me a little insane. the ghost shows up and beckons hamlet away from the night watch. hamlet follows, despite everyone's warnings. (1.4)

the ghost tells hamlet that he's his father, and that he was killed by polonius, the uncle. polonius dripped poison into his ear one day when he was taking a nap and then called it an accident. hamlet accepts this as fact instantly, despite also being told by the ghost that he's literally from hell. it would be funny if it wasn't devastating. hamlet vows to get vengeance for his father, and dedicates his whole life to revenge in the monologue of all time. (HAMLET: Yea, from the table of my memory I shall wipe away all trivial, fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, that youth and observation copied there, and thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain, unmixed with baser matter. (1.5.105-11) HAMLET: O cursèd spite that ever I was born to set it right! (1.5.210-11)). he makes the night watch swear to tell no one what they saw, and goes about his day. this is the last time in this play that we will know the ghost is actually real (and, in my opinion, that's because it's the last time he is real) (1.5)

ACT 1 TL;DR hamlet sees the ghost of his father and learns how he was killed by his uncle, vows to get revenge

act 2 opens with polonius spying on his son, because he's the worst man to ever do it. this horrible man's horrible actions are interrupted by ophelia, who's concerned for hamlet's health. he barged into her room, acting truly and absolutely insane, and i think he was. sometimes, he isnt, he's just faking it. most of the time thought? that guy lost his mind. ophelia says she's worried he might be mad because she rejected his advances. here kicks off her tragedy, when she is used as bait to try and determine whether or not her rejection is actually the root of his insanity. (2.1)

we're now introduced to hamlet's friends, rosencrantz and guildenstern, who are spying on him for claudius to see whats actually wrong with him. gertrude calls hamlet a "poor wretch" (2.2.183) and i couldn't agree more. hamlet and horatio spend some time being in love, and a group of actors show up. hamlet convinces them to put on a show that will mimick what claudius did to his brother, to see if he's guilty. (HAMLET: The play's the thing wherein we'll catch the conscience of a king (2.2.633-34)) he has the coolest monologue of all time, the hecuba monologue, which i used as an audition piece one time but will elect to not recite right now. im not that awful. (2.2)

ACT 2 TL;DR the royal family think hamlet is insane because he was rejected and he proves to be a huge theater kid

the "to be or not to be" (3.1.64) scene i know everyone has been waiting for. the royal family (claudius, gertrude, and polonius thrown in there for clarety) set up a trap for hamlet, watching as he interacts with ophelia to see if her rejection is really what sent him mad. it's clearly not, and we get the whole "get thee to a nunnery" (3.1.131) bit in which he does some really interesting things with prose/verse (i'm actually not sure what is and isn't famous from this play its all famous to me) (3.1)

hamlet gets all his actors in line for the show, flirts with horatio for a little bit, then goes to go sit on ophelia's lap. the plays go well, and that is to say the play goes poorly. the players reconstruct hamlet sr's death in front of polonius, who leaves in a rage, putting a stop to the performance. hamlet is exstatic, though, because this is the proof he needed that what the ghost said was true. he gets horatio in on it to confirm that it really happened the way he hoped before being called to go speak to his mother before bed. (3.2)

THE PRAYING SCENE!!!!!! insane over this one. hamlet stumbles across polonius in the middle of a prayer and goes to kill him, only to decide to wait for a better time because were he to be killed in prayer he would go to heaven. (HAMLET: A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his only son, this same villain send to heaven. (3.3.81-83)) when hamlet has left, polonius reveals that he hasn't been able to pray due to his guilty conscience. (POLONIUS: My words fly up, my thoughts stay below; words without toughts never to heaven go (3.3.102-03)) (3.3)

getrude intends to speak with her son, but, scared of how unpredictable he's become, has polonius hide in the room so he can protect her if worst comes to worst. when hamlet enters he's untstable and angry, gertrude calls out for help. upon realising there's someone else in the room, hamlet kills him. (HAMLET: How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead. (3.3.29)) he then, completely unphased, enumerates the differences between his father and uncle for gertrude. he tells her about his plan to "fake" insanity to throw off claudius while he works on getting his revenge. during this, hamlet sees the ghost of his father again, listed as the same character in the text. hamlet is the only one who can see him though, unlike with the ghost from act 1. he then drag's polonius' corpse away, insulting him all the while. as he should. (3.3)

ACT 3 TL;DR hamlet gets his confirmation that his uncle is guilty but chooses not to kill him when given the opportunity, worried he'd go to heaven. he kills polonius, speaks with his mother, and sees his dead father again before heading off to hide the body.

gertrude warns claudius that hamlet killed polonius (4.1)

rosencrantz and guildenstern try and get hamlet to tell them where he hid polonius' body. he's a little shithead about it. (4.2)

claudius tries to get hamlet to tell him where he put the body. he's still a shithead but he does tell him eventually. claudius then reveals his plan to have him shipped off to english and speaks unto the audience later one of the most batshit monologues you will ever hear /pos (KING: And England, if my love thou dost hold'st at aught [...], thou mayst not coldly set our soveriegn process, which imports at full, by letters congruing to that effect, the present death of Hamlet. Do it, England, for like the hectic in my blood he rages, and thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done, howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin. (4.3.66-77)) (4.3)

fortinbras, the norweigan prince, arrives to speak with claudius at the same time as hamlet is leaving for england. hamlet interpells the polish captain then ruminates on war and death a little bit before not changing his mind at all about any of it (HAMLET: O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth! (4.4.68-69)) (4.4)

we learn the fate of ophelia. this play really is as much her tragedy as it is hamlet's, and she makes me want to burst into tears whenever i think of her. ophelia........ </3 ophelia has gone mad in a different way to hamlet, after her father's death. she's impossible to properly speak to or reason with, singing nursery rhymes and handing out flowers. she's completely gone, there's nothing really left of the woman we met earlier. laertes chooses then to return, demanding to know what happened to his father, polonius. ophelia returns, devastating her brother with the state of her mind. its just. look she makes me really sad. (me when the tragedy is tragedying) (4.5)

horatio recieves a letter from hamlet, telling him that he's heading back to denmark after having made his way onto a pirate ship. it's the gayest scene in the play. (HORATIO: I do not know from what part of the world I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet. (4.6.4-6) HAMLET (letter): He that thou knowest thine, Hamlet (4.6.30-31)) (4.6)

claudius and laertes recieve similar letters and decide they will kill hamlet when he returns to denmark. laertes will challenge him to a duel only to attack him with a poisoned, sharpened blade, and if he asks for anything to drink or - god forbid - wins, claudius has a poisoned chalice ready for him to drink. right as they conclude their plan, gertrude comes in and announces ophelia's death. she's drowned herself. (4.7)

ACT 4 TL;DR hamlet is banished from denmark, sent to his death in england, and then returns like a very sad boomerang. ophelia loses her mind and then her life, drowning herself out of grief.

you can't have the tragedy of hamlet, prince of denmark without the gravediggers. they bring comedy and lightheartedness to the saddest play ever to exist on the planet earth. one gravedigger is digging ophelia's grave and prattling on to another. hamlet and horatio approach him and the prince condemns his lightheartedness in the face of his grim work. he recognizes one of the people the gravedigger has uncovered, a jester he'd known as a child (HAMLET: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio (5.1.190-91)). A funeral procession arrives, carrying ophelia's body. when hamlet realises who's funeral it is, he's overcome with grief and goes to fight laertes for daring to mourn his own sister. he has issues. and i hate him (hamlet apologist). horatio escorts hamlet away wfter breaking up a fight between him and laertes. (5.1)

hamlet tells horatio that he sent rosencrantz and guildenstern to their deaths. upon finding a letter from claudius that said that upon his arrival in england, hamlet was to be excecuted, he changed it to say rosencrantz and guildenstern, literally shooting the messengers. but also, killing his friends. horatio is upset but hamlet shows no remorse. its a great moment. laertes' challenge which we, the audience, know to be rigged, is announced to hamlet who accepts the challenge despite horatio voicing his concerns for what's going to happen. hamlet and laertes fight and hamlet is cut by the poisoned blade, but at some point in the fighting they exchange blades and hamlet cuts laertes back, sealing both of their fates. gertrude drinks the poisoned chalice and dies, warning hamlet of what claudius had tried to do before she dies. hamlet kills his uncle and is officially forgiven by laertes before he dies. hamlet dies with horatio (inhisarmsinhisarmsinhisarmsinhisarms-) (HORATIO: Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flight of angels sing thee to thy rest (5.2.396-97)) after announcing that he wants fortinbras to carry on the danish monarchy, with all the royal family dead. hamlet is given a soldier's funeral. i am not too proud to say that i cried. (5.2)

ACT 5 TL;DR hamlet returns to denmark, is fucked up about ophelia's death, and then dies himself. its so fucking sad.

WHOLE PLAY TL;DR hamlet grieves the loss of his father so much that he goes insane and in his quest to get revenge on his uncle who killed his father, ends up causing the deaths of seven unintended people around him. the tragedy really tragedied with this one.

[randomvarious]

Today's mix:

Club Gorgeous.dk, Volume 5 by CK Feltman 2001 Trance / Progressive Trance

Folks, we are wading so deep into the early 2000s with this mix here, that when people were trying to figure out what to name stuff back then, they were doing that en vogue thing of adding internet domains to the end of them in order to make them sound infinitely cooler. For example, a venue in Copenhagen called Club Gorgeous sounds fine, but Club Gorgeous.dk? Now, that's cool as hell! 😎

Anyway, it's not around anymore, but apparently Club Gorgeous was quite a happening place for partying. I can't find any actual history on it, but it played host to some of trance's most well known DJs in the early aughts, including Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules, and Johan Gielen, all of whom have sets recorded from the venue that you can find online.

And in the year 2000, Club Gorgeous also happened to launch its very own mix series too, called Academy of Trance, with Gielen kicking off the whole thing himself, followed by some lesser-known guys mixing the other six remaining volumes through 2002.

And one of these lesser-known guys was CK Feltman, someone whose pretty empty Discogs profile might suggest that all he ever really did in his music career was just this one-off mix, but he's actually an eclectic, longtime veteran DJ from Denmark, who, according to a Google-translated page from his booking agency that I was able to find, was once given a Danish DJ award for being the country's most festive person 😂.

And while Feltman bills himself as a hip hop, house, and techno DJ, here, with the only commercially released mix that he appears to have ever made, he did a pretty damn nice trance set in this fifth  installment of the Club Gorgeous.dk series from 2001. Feltman doesn't appear to have reached for any real obscurities in this, and he won't bowl you over with a totally transcendent set either, but for a guy whose thing doesn't really ever appear to have actually been trance in the first place, this is definitely better than a whole lot of other trance mixes that I've sat through. Some of his transitions may feel a bit sharp, but none of them are too awkward or ham-fisted, and both the selection and sequencing are pretty good, especially with the big and devastating back-half one-two punch of Push's "Legacy" and the "Wippenberg remix" of Ian Van Dahl's "Castles in the Sky," both of which are, just, simply, gorgeous pieces of high-powered and feelgood trance 🥰.

The only really regrettable thing about this whole mix is that I was only able to find it on YouTube, and let's just say that the audio quality isn't overly great. I don't know if that's how it sounds on the CD itself too, but I would hope not, because that'd be pretty shoddy work! I mean, it's not something that should totally dissuade you from putting this set on altogether, but it's still something that's definitely noticeable 😕.

Either way, though, if you want a well-put-together dose of some trance jams that'll transport you back to *only the good parts* of 2001, then this super ephemeral set from one of Denmark's longest lasting and most versatile DJs should, a bit unexpectedly, manage to do the trick for you. It's not phenomenal by any means, but it's still definitely a steady and quality mix.

And how can you not adore this rudimentary y2k-era 3D computer graphic cover art too, by the way?!

Listen to the full mix here.

Highlights:

Electrochemie LK - "When I Rock (Santos remix)" Safri Duo - "Samb-Adagio (Riva remix)" Tiësto - "Urban Train (original mix)" The Space Brothers - "Everywhere I Go (original vocal mix)" Da Hool - "Meet Her at the Loveparade (Fergie remix)" Marc et Claude - "Tremble (CJ Stone Remix)" Schiller - "Das Glockenspiel (Humate remix)" Push - "Legacy (club mix)" Ian van Dahl - "Castles in the Sky (Wippenberg remix)" Breeder - "The Chain (Babealicious mix)" Mauro Picotto - "Verdi (Megamind mix)"

[doomedandstoned]

Belgium’s WITCH PISS Serve Up Grinding New Stoner Metal Epic

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Artwork by Jo Riou

"One thing we can be sure of is that we'll all die. Everyone will. It makes sense not to be afraid of this, but to come to terms with it."

With this bit of narration, WITCH PISS belt out "Old Hound Religion," a swampy southern-tinged rock stomper from their eponymous extended play debut.

Witch Piss is a five-piece stoner metal crew hailing from Mechelen, Belgium, with members of Marche Funèbre and Drawn Into Descent.

"How to Travel Lighter" is the gnarly little number that follows, which Doomed & Stoned is debuting today. Vocals are husky, with a gravely edge, and hold their own well amidst instruments that hold nothing back in terms of chugging, downtuned devastation. The song's incessant groove reminds me of a band from my neck of the woods, Tigers on Opium, and I would be happy to see the two bands collab one day.

Singer Peter Egberghs shares some background:

"How to Travel Lighter" is one of those songs that doesn’t muck about. We wrote a first version and then rewrote the whole structure, cutting some of the repetitions. Less is more in this case. We sent it over to Chiaran Verheyden, who engineered the studio session, and he suggested adding a slow crushing ending riff to top the whole song off. Slow riffs? Sure, we can do that! So that’s how the music came about, in a nutshell.

Lyric wise, it’s a bit of a personal song for me. It might not be that obvious because they are cryptic, but it’s actually about my mother who passed away. She was dying when we were touring with Marche Funèbre in Europe. I got a call with some bad news and drove back from Denmark to Belgium only to find her in a coma.

That sounds heavy and depressing, but it’s actually a positive song because it shines light on how you can lighten that burden for yourself. I dealt with this in my own way, which involved therapy, but through that whole process my mental luggage started to weigh less and less, so that’s how to travel lighter. Throughout the lyrics you’ll find references to her. But I like to keep some of that open to interpretation.

The tracks that follow give us an idea of the band's full range of expression, including the desert rumblings of "Me and My Camaro" and "Hoofprints," which takes a turn for the dismal with its doomy touches.

In "The Hunter And The Game," Peter Egberghs's pipes rival Clutch's Neil Fallon and Orange Goblin's Ben Ward. Dennis Lefebvre's drumming is deep and full, as is the basswork by Glenn Van Bael. Dual guitar force from Andoni Lombide Carreton and Stijn Georges Moens lends each song frenetic energy and gravitas.

"Children of the Fire" slows things back down for the closer. It's a slow burner with splashing, emphatic beats, dark, mysterious atmosphere, and an imposing guitar presence. Don't miss the final minutes, with its rousing chorus: "Your time is nigh" -- taking us full-circle to the sentiment with which the EP began.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this band progresses as the year plods along. In the meanwhile, you can expect 'Witch Piss' (2023) to embrace the light of day on April 7th via Saturni Records. And if you're in Belgium, don't miss the release party, taking place May 6th with Gnome and Opium Heathen at De Club in Mechelen (pre-sale here).

Give ear...

WATCH & LISTEN: Witch Piss - "How To Travel Lighter"

SOME BUZZ

Witch Piss is a band that started at the bar. A group of friends were drinking beers and were listening to some groovy stoner music. They decided to pick up their instruments and start playing some tunes. Peter, Stijn and Andoni were in the first try out line up. Back then that meant three guitarists. Peter was combining guitar and vocals but they decided three was overkill and Peter wanted to concentrate on the vocals. The band was soon joined by Glenn on bass and Dennis on Drums.

Musically they wanted to sound somewhere in between Black Sabbath and High On Fire. They haven’t strayed from that path. After the lockdowns the band premiered live in the same bar where the band was conceived.

In the live shows that followed they shared the stage with Vandal X, Your Highness, RRRags, Whorses etc. This all happened without having released one second of music. That is about to change. Witch Piss hit the studio in December 2022 and recorded everything live. The whole process was in the hands of Chiaran Verheyden, known for his excellent work as engineer and producer of Psychonaut and Hippotraktor.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[foryouingratitude]

My heart is broken 💔🇩🇰

[septembriseur]

I want to come back to this article, which I reblogged a post from (after seeing it reblogged by loads of people on my dash). I recommend reading the article if you haven’t done so. Its central argument revolves around the idea that “modern liberal democracy presents itself as non-ideological beyond ideology,” and that ideology itself is always presented in literature/media as unacceptably violent— villainous. (I would argue that, in fact, any sort of cultural “accretion,” in the sense that culture is perceived as "on top of” and obscuring universalized western ideology,  is tolerated only insofar as it is not really taken specifically or seriously. That’s why even characters who are presented as deeply religious (think of Matt Murdock or Rogue One’s Baze and Chirrut) are portrayed as religious in a way that is broad, universal, flexible, and vague. 

One issue that the article doesn’t really delve into is that supposedly “ideologue” villains are actually profoundly anideological, except insofar as their ideology is, like, anti- modern liberal democracy’s lack of ideology. A really interesting example of this is in Iron Man: Tony Stark gets held hostage by a group of extremists whose extreme belief is... well... even the MCU wiki seems unable to provide any detail on this beyond “destroying world peace.” The film employs a weird move where it obviously relies on the Afghan setting of the villainous Ten Rings to suggest associations with radical Islamism, yet also provides evidence that the Ten Rings are not Islamists. On the one hand, it provides a sort of generic Western specter of radical Islamists— brown men speaking foreign languages and living in Afghan caves— and on the other hand it coyly removes all potential religious, political, or cultural motivation for their actions. These guys aren’t impoverished tribesmen who’ve been subject to tumultuous centuries of imperial warfare, and they’re not religious extremists living out masculine power fantasies. They’re just a group of dudes who kind of look vaguely Middle Eastern and kind of sound vaguely Middle Eastern (since Arabic and Persian are the languages we hear the most). 

Of course, there’s a real-world explanation for this: Marvel wants to be able to tap into that specter of radical Islamism without offending Muslim consumers. But the textual effect is to create a picture of the world in which terrorism in Afghanistan is evacuated of all meaning. Don’t get me wrong: terrorism in Afghanistan is unbelievably destructive and to a large extent nihilistic, in that it benefits no one and spreads only despair and suffering. But at the same time, it arises out of a historical, political, economic, and religious-cultural context, and if you refuse to understand this context, then you will fail to understand why people make the choice to become terrorists (or how to stop them).

That’s the real problem here: the creation of a world in which the only rational choice is modern liberal democracy, and all other choices are nonsensical. 

Marvel is a great site at which to explore this, simply because there’s so much of it. (You could also easily look at Star Wars, as MacQuarrie does in that article— why does the First Order want power? New extended universe writers have fleshed this out more in their web of liminally canonical texts, but on screen the answer seems to be, in the words of the also-manifestly-guilty-of-this-and-guilty-in-other-ways Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible: “the world is a mess, and I just need to rule it.”) 

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a wildly characteristic example of this. It has the thankless task of trying to engage with the effects of the canonically almost effect-free (cf Spider-man: Far From Home) blip, and pieces together a weirdly nonsensical storyline in which the blip enable border-free mass migration, which was revoked when the other half of the world’s population reappeared. The plot revolves around a group of super soldier refugees/displaced persons who want to stop borders from being reimposed on the world. Sam Wilson refers to the refugees as “people who have been welcomed into countries that previously kept them out with barb wire,” and indeed it's hard to imagine any version of this narrative in which the “migration” we’re talking about is the migration of Global South nationals to the Global North. There’s a really plausible specter here: the Global North does source its manual and domestic labor from the Global South while, whenever possible, keeping Global South nationals out with barbed wire. It does make sense that the Global North would import laborers and then attempt to deport them when their presence was no longer convenient. That is, in fact, literally what has happened/is happening in the UK to foreign healthcare workers during the pandemic.

However, as in Iron Man, Marvel wants to mobilize a specter while also evacuating it of all meaning. None of the displaced people we see in TFATWS bear any resemblance to real-world displaced persons. In spite of their United Colors of Benetton racial diversity, they display no marks of culture, religion, nationality, or indeed poverty. They even have British and American accents. They are completely neutral in every way.

This matters for several reasons. First of all, it allows the viewer to differentiate between the migrants on-screen— Western-looking, English-speaking, non-religious— with migrants off-screen: [perceived to be] too religious, non-English-speaking, culturally and racially “other.” Secondly (again as with Iron Man), it removes all context from the act of migration. Why did these people become migrants? Uh... because of the blip, I guess? Beyond some vague references to suffering, it’s never addressed. This allows the viewer to completely detach the question of migrants/displacement from any of its structural context. Why do people migrate in the real world? Because their countries have been completely devastated by warfare, often proxy warfare carried out by imperial states. Because climate change has completely devastated the regions where they live, with or without triggering devastating warfare. Because they belong to ethnic, political, and/or religious groups that are being systematically destroyed by state governments. Because colonialism and neoliberal capitalism have completely devastated the economies of the regions where they live. This is why the stakes of migration are high. 

If, as the show suggests, people just migrate for various personal reasons that really aren’t that important, then the stakes are not high, and we don’t have to feel bad about the behavior of our governments. This is a huge problem at a time when Denmark is shipping Syrian asylum-seekers back to Syria because it’s apparently fine now, Joe Biden is failing to make good on campaign promises about increasing refugee quotas, the UK is housing asylum seekers in situations that violate human rights law, migrant drownings in the Mediterranean Sea have become a regular feature, and the United States has systematically resisted fulfilling its promises to Iraqis and Afghans who risked their lives working for US forces in exchange for visas.

But, like, above and beyond the specific political issue of migration: what is the Flag Smasher ideology? “One world, one people.” I accept that there might be some viewers (mostly those with no knowledge or experience of immigration) who oppose this on principle, but it seems pretty obviously... good. So the bad part is... that they’re fighting for it? (According to people in my notes, this is Bad.) It’s possible to read this as another example of what the MacQuarrie article discusses: personal violence good, ideological violence bad. However, once again we have an example of an ideology that is not ideological, an ideology that is a specter cleaned out of any possible substance. The nonsensical choice here (the one beside which modern liberal democratic norms are obvious) is the choice to commit violence when there is no urgency that justifies this— none of the urgency that, in fact, exists in the real world, and explains why people regularly sacrifice their lives in desperate attempts to escape their homes. 

This is a really good example of how capitalism— a force with no real agency or subject, no evil committee planning its deeds— ends up enacting a project that systematically enforces its ideology. Attempts to render narratives apolitical are themselves profoundly political, even when justified in terms of appeal to the consumer. This is one of the most dangerous aspects of media, IMHO. 

[scotianostra]

On February 6th 1665, Queen Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs, was born.

Anne had seventeen children during her life but not one survived to succeed her.

She spent her early years in France living with her aunt and grandmother. Although Anne’s father was a Catholic, on the instruction of Charles II Anne and her sister Mary were raised as Protestants. 

In 1683, Anne married Prince George of Denmark. It was to be a happy marriage, although marred by Anne’s frequent miscarriages, still births and the death of children in infancy.  She had many ailments during her life, one of which I can connect with, gout! A very painful form of arthritis, treatable nowadays but I know the pain and it is no surprise to hear she was carried around the court  in a sedan chair, one source says  

“she grew exceeding gross and corpulent. There was something of majesty in her look, but mixed with a gloominess of soul”

As I said earlier  she there were seven times she miscarried and five children were stillborn, the only child to make it beyond being classed as an infant still died at 11, which must have been devastating for the couple.

Of the others, Mary died at just 17 months of smallpox, Anne Sophia was just 9 months when she passed away. William lived the longest and it must have been so hard on Anne, he was taken ill at his 11th birthday party when he complained of feeling tired, it was thought he was just tired from his exertions during the party where he had been dancing, later that night he had a sore throat and chills, followed by a severe headache and a high fever the next day. It wasn't till three days later a physician examined him and he was "bled", this was an ancient ritual and the young prince endured the withdrawal of blood from him in what was meant to cure or prevent illness and disease. His condition worsened and a second doctor visited on the morning of the 28th, that evening a third physician, the Queen's own, John Ratcliffe attended the boy. The three agree on a diagnosis, Scarlet fever, Smallpox were talked about, remedies of "cordial powders and cordial juleps" were administered and William was bled once more, to which Ratcliffe strongly objected to saying "you have destroyed him and you may finish him". Ratcliffe prescribed blistering substances, a painful method of draining away the black bile. Again it did not help his condition and he spent that night "in great sighings and dejections of spirits ... towards morning, he complained very much of his blisters."

Anne, who had spent an entire day and night by her son's bedside, now became so distressed that she fainted. However, by midday on 29th July he seemed to rally he was breathing more easily and his headache had diminished, leading to hopes that he would recover. The improvement was fleeting, and that evening, he was "taken with a convulsing sort of breathing, a defect in swallowing and a total deprivation of all sense".Prince William died close to 1 a.m. on 30th July 1700, with his parents beside him. In the end, the physicians decided the cause of death was "a malignant fever". An autopsy revealed severe swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck and an abnormal amount of fluid in the ventricles of his brain: "four and a half ounces of a limpid humour were taken out." A modern diagnosis is that he died of acute bacterial pharyngitis, with associated pneumonia. Had he lived, though, it is almost certain the prince would have succumbed to complications of his hydrocephalus.

Not to be put off the Queen gave birth to Mary on the 14th October 1690, the poor child was two months premature, and lived for only about two hours. George followed two years later, he lived a few minutes, just long enough to be baptised. A sad tale of trying to give her husband an heir.

Anne died on August 1st 1714 after a series of strokes, without that heir prompting parliament to pass the Act of Settlement to ensure a Protestant succession. Anne was therefore succeeded by the German Protestant prince George, Elector of Hanover.

The Stuart line of Kings and Queens was at an end, although many supporters of the Stuarts refused to recognise the Hanoverian succession giving rise to the Jacobite uprisings of the 18th century

[script-nef]

So why won’t you realise it '^' | Gojou Satoru

Category: fluff

1.9k words; Movie date [2/6]

Spoilers of Howl’s Moving Castle!! Beware!!

← Previous chapter | Masterlist

“Eh, Shouko! What do you mean you can’t make it?”

“I mean, another person is about to come in and they need me to heal them. By the time I’m done the movie will be finished.” Shouko’s voice over the phone is laced with annoyance and sadness coupled with lethargy. You don’t know how she pulls off such a unique combination of emotions but she somehow accomplishes it every time. “And I was looking forward to it…”

This would have been the first time you had a break with her since the trip to France. And while she enjoyed it a lot, the same couldn’t be said for the two males. Which was weird since Gojou is infatuated with sweets and Ken-chan agreed to come. So it was kind of weird when there was a tense atmosphere between them. You know your brother and Gojou are nearly polar opposites, but their animosity wasn’t usually that strong. 

They brushed it off as nothing when you asked if something was wrong, which was sort of dubious since you could kind of see the black cloud looming over the both of them, but you let it go. If it was something important, they would be able to handle it themselves or report it to you. You couldn’t sense any cursed spirits nearby so you guessed that they were just in a bad mood for some reason.

Still, you had a wonderful time and found some new snacks that everyone enjoyed. So a day well spent, all in all. 

And Ken-chan told you to tell him if Gojou ever offers overseas trips or anything similar, so he must have enjoyed it. Maybe you can ask Gojou to take all of you to Denmark one day.

“Ah… my dear Howl. Life and curses separate us again.” Her voice is full of sadness now, no doubt mourning over her chance of watching her favourite character on a huge screen with surround sound disappearing. 

“It’s okay! I’ll bring you the figurine and we can watch it again here in about… uh…”

“Ten years?” She sounds like she’s about to drop dead.

“Uh… yes… But maybe five years? Hopefully? You know, I shouldn’t watch it without you. I’ll come back to school.” 

“No, no. Watch the movie. At least you’ll get to see it. Ah, they’re coming now so I have to go.”

“Ah, okay. Bye, Shouko! Stay positive!”

A non-committal sigh accompanies a small “Bye” before the call clicks off. A frown takes over your face at the lost opportunity for her. She was looking forward to this for a long time and you leapt at the chance for another girls’ day out. Being able to watch a childhood favourite is an added bonus. But now you’re standing in the movie theatre, the ticket desk just across the room and an extra on your hand. 

It’s a shame because it cost quite a lot. Shouko is definitely going to mope about this when you get back and maybe start smoking again. She always has a pack on her even if she said she quit, and smokes one if she’s stressed or angry. You should call someone and make sure somebody takes it away from her.

You should probably hold onto the ticket and give it back. Or maybe that would make it worse for her, serving as a reminder of this day. Conflict rages inside your head. There’s a high possibility of either decision breaking her heart. Again. A buzz from your phone saves you the trouble of deciding.

Shouko: I sent someone as my replacement. 

A tap on the shoulder makes you turn as you type in a reply and you come face to face with a black jacket. Gojou’s head pops down.

“Hey there. I think you called for a replacement!” He seems to be in a ridiculously good mood, even more so than usual. Maybe his students successfully finished another mission. Which is great. It also means more paperwork for you. Which is not so great.

“How did you com—ah. Teleportation.”

“Ding ding ding! Correct!” He's been using the skill more frequently lately, popping in and out of places like one of those Whac-A-Mole games. . It gives you heart attacks all the time and you’re sure he gets a kick out of it. You saw how his smiles widen when you flinch or react. Thankfully it’s when you’re alone so other people never see you jump what feels like a metre into the air.

“Do you want popcorn?” He breaks you out of your thoughts. “I think they have the new caramel flavour. Apparently it’s way too sweet.” So perfect for Gojou. Even though he’s asking if you want it, there’s a spring in his step which definitely means he’s getting some. Probably the biggest option they have.

And you’re proven right because he comes back with two huge buckets which look impossible to finish. When you try to object, he cuts off with “I’ve eaten three buckets before. Alone.” With the smile he’s giving you, it really doesn’t sound like he’s joking. You try to take one to lighten the load but he says it’s alright. 

He signals the way to the theatre rooms with his head, walking beside you as you find your way.

“So what’s the movie?” Your head snaps to him in confusion.

“You don’t know?” A shake and a shrug. “It’s Howl’s Moving Castle. This was Shouko’s idea since she loves it and this year is Studio Ghibli’s 40 year anniversary. The cinema is having an exclusive showing of their movies this month. Only one session per movie, for some reason. Surely they would make more money if they played it over multiple days, but. I dunno. Executives make weird decisions.” A light scoff from him to tell he knows exactly what that’s like. His hatred for the higher-ups runs deep. You don’t push it.

“So she wanted to come but got held back at the last minute?”

“Yeah. Ah, here are our seats.”

You’re placed in the very middle of the room and you both make yourselves comfortable. Shouko went all out for this movie, upgrading the seats and making it a recliner. Your poor back, abused after sitting in chairs and hunched over computers for so long, practically melts into the plush cushion. It’s so comfortable that you might fall asleep in it if it isn’t Howl that’s about to start. 

Feet dangling in the air, you look over to Gojou to see him on his phone. It looks like he’s in a chatroom and you catch the words ‘Shouko’ and ‘favour’ before looking away. You didn’t mean to peek, but it’s not like you can consciously not read something. It was in your line of sight and you averted your eyes as soon as you realised what you were reading. Your brother brought you up better than to pry into other people’s businesses, even if it’s really, really tempting.

“Phones need to be placed on silent, you know.” The ads are coming on the screen. He smiles at you, slipping it into his pocket.

“Just talking to Shouko. She says she hasn’t even started properly.”

Disappointment fills you. Gojou is a good friend to watch this with but you hoped Shouko would somehow miraculously finish in time. She would be devastated.

“I’ll have to make this up to her when we get back. Give her the figurine and keep her hap—ah! I forgot! Gojou, I was supposed to ask someone to take her ciga—” He cuts you off with a light pat on your hand.  

“Don’t worry, I did it already. All of them are safe out of her reach and I gave her packets of hot chocolate instead. When we get back, she’ll have drunk at least half of them and be in a good mood.” What a Gojou-like replacement. He smiles like a child wanting pats on the head for a job well done. You just barely catch yourself from moving. 

Gojou gets a rep for being aloof and neglectful, but he does take care of the people he holds dear to him. His friends, members of the school, his students. You hope you’re included in the list. 

Actually, the more you think about it, the more you realise he’s different from initial perceptions. You learn more and more about him as time goes on, in the most delightful sense. He’s somewhat like an onion, new characteristics being revealed every time a layer is peeled. A snicker escapes at the thought of Gojou dressed up like an onion, just waddling around. He shoots you a questioning head tilt which you wave off.

In the years that you’ve known him, he made himself into a trustworthy friend. One full of laughs and ridiculousness. Maybe it’s his childishness that puts you at ease, but he’s incredibly comfortable and easy to relax around. Thoughts trail and the words fly out of your mouth before you even think.

“You know, I think you would make a wonderful boyfriend.”

He freezes completely, like somebody’s zapped him in place. You stare at him, wondering what’s wrong, but the lights dim and by the time he gathers coherence, your concentration is on the opening sequence.

“Ah, that was so good! Ugh, I love Howl. Isn’t he so cool?” You skip out of the room, remembering to take the figurines provided at the exit, with Gojou trailing behind you. “You know how she asks him to wait for her in the past? The first thing he says to her in the movie is ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’ He searched for her the entire time! This is modern poetry. This.” 

“Do you think Howl would be a good boyfriend?” The question stops you. It’s different than usual for some reason, the voice asking the question and the intensity of it. He’s still his aloof self, all smiles and grins, but there’s something you can’t quite place that’s wrong. It’s unnerving, but you diligently answer his question.

“Um, I mean, yeah? Look at how cute he is with Sophie. See?” The figurine is a frozen shot of Howl and Sophie dancing in the rain with an umbrella that’s not being useful at all. They’re both incredibly detailed, so much so that you can see their clothes and skin drenching wet. Wow, this is actually a phenomenal job. Shouko will be so happy. It makes your heart lighter knowing that at least something might light up her day. 

“Why is he cool?” Gojou seems to be invested in Howl. It confuses you since he just watched the movie with you and he saw how awesome Howl is. 

“Hm, well for one he can do magic.” He opens his mouth but you shush him with a finger to his lips. “Yeah, I know, what we have is kind of like magic too. But theirs is just… different. He just makes it seem kind of elegant. And he overcame his fear just for Sophie. Remember the scene with Sulliman and in the cluttered bedroom? He still found the strength to protect her even though he was so scared before. It’s admirable. I guess I like strong guys.”

“Hmm~” His tone is contemplative. “You know I’m stronger than him, right?”

A question mark forms over your head. He’s being really weird today. “Yeah? You’re the strongest in the universe, silly. What’s up with you?” Gojou just chuckles and ruffles your head.

“Nothing, nothing. Just making sure you know.” He slings his arm around your shoulder, the intensity gone and the light spring in his step back. “Who else do you think is strong?”

Next chapter →

[rein-ette]

If it hasn't been asked already, do you have any headcanons about France and England's relationship? 👀

Ah, and now we end where I always seem to end. These two cannot get rid of each other, and I cannot get rid of them.

*cracks knuckles* ok idk what you want to hear so I’m just gonna ramble here goes

So before I got my soul stolen by engport, fruk had been, like. Everything. Then I went through a crisis period where I was like 😱 how do I choose 😱 and now I’m like, ok, but why do I have to choose? I think Port and France fill very different roles in Arthur’s life, both of which are essential. Not only that, thinking about engport has helped me better understand Francis and Arthur’s dynamic, so I’ll be comparing a little throughout these hcs.

For me, fruk is a very — latent? — relationship. It’s ironic, bc engport are the ones who actually call themselves best friends and fruk prefer to be known as enemies/occasional lovers, but if you saw them on the street, you’d think France and England were close friends and England and Portugal, are, well, clearly gay for each other. They’re far more openly affectionate, whereas even for those who know them like Spain or Prussia, it can sometimes be hard to believe France and England are dating, let alone head over heels in love.

But they are. It’s just that they’ve been by each other’s side for so long, had those feelings for so long, that they’ve become a part of the background hum, a basic part of their lives. So usually the feelings Arthur or Francis actively feel for each other are mild, everyday things: annoyance, impatience, curiosity, worry. Especially in public/around other nations, they're not touchy or affectionate at all.

But if you know where and how to look, you'll see the signs. A napkin with scribbled math equations, something they argued over at a cafe. A cufflink here, a watch there, all gifts from each other from the hundreds of birthdays they've spent together. Arthur's number listed as an emergency contact on some inane government form. Francis' handwriting on the margins of Arthur's meeting minutes: remember to discuss this with Denmark, the address for a restaurant they're meeting at that night. Francis rereading various titles of english literature, trying to understand him better. Arthur paying for Francis' clothes with his own card without thinking about it. Their lives are intimately, mundanely intertwined in a way that's remarkably rare among nations.

This is actually a rather recent development in their relationship. In my hc Francis and England only started seriously seeing each other right before World War II, and began an "official" (or what passes for official) relationship right after. Then they broke it off for a while again when de Gaulle became president, then got back together shortly after he left office and have more or less gone pretty steady ever since. So that's like, what, a couple decades? A drop in the ocean for a nation. But this easy familiarity they've found doesn't feel new, to them or to anyone else, because in reality they've been building it up for centuries, albeit in unconventional ways. It's almost like through killing, conning, and tearing each other apart, they've lost their fear of each other. Nations have with their own kind a wariness, a constant stumbling block in the back of their mind reminding them no matter how deep their feelings, their interests can never truly align -- and this results in small awkwardnesses like pointedly locked office cabinets and walking away to take phone calls. But such things don't apply to Francis and Arthur. Part of it is the luxury of being allies now, but most of it is the fact that they've seen every side of each other, told every possible lie. Even if Francis did find some shit in Arthur's office, political secrets or otherwise -- what of it? They've planned enough conspiracies with and against each other that short of "I'm plotting a second invasion of Paris with Germany," there's really nothing they can't just scream at each other a little about and then brush off.

Basically what I'm saying is I like my fruk super domestic. But I also like my fruk highkey dramatic. One of the periods in their relationship I think about a lot is right before the American and French Revolutions (Louis XIV era), when I hc that they were in a nearly-entirely-committed, almost-honeymoon-like relationship. This comes from one fic i read that I can no longer find or remember, but where Arthur stays at Versailles for a couple years as the official English Ambassador and they begin a *clandestine* romance that's only half clandestine. This is a time when they were well and truly in love and not afraid to say it -- it was a time when they almost believed they could work out, fairy-tale style. But then the American revolution begins and Arthur is devastated, furious, accusing, betrayed -- they have an explosive fight and their relationship slides right back to hundred years war level hatred for the next century, culminating with Napoleon. The only difference from before is that now Arthur's anger is tinged with a desperate grief ("how could you do this again when you know i love you") and Francis' resentment now has a hint of despair ("I knew we couldn't last, the world is proving me right and i hate it.")

Their relationship slowly, glacially recovers after europe boots Napoleon. In fact, besides a couple proxy wars and shouting matches, the Napoleonic Wars was England and France's last major conflict to date. This coincides with the gradual worsening of Gabriel and Arthur's relationship in the 1900s. At this point Arthur wasn't actually trying to replace Gabriel, and in fact was still deep in denial about his feelings for Francis, but it certainly seemed to Gabriel as if he was being pushed out of Arthur's life and that Did Not Help Anything Whatsoever. Francis, for his part, was incredibly hesitant to push in part because of his lingering fear that they just weren't meant to be, and in part because he actually felt guilty that he was worsening Arthur's relationship with Gabriel, the loss of whom he knew would kill Arthur inside.

I realize I'm going on again so I'll end by saying that now, Francis and Arthur still sometimes have their dramatic moments of "oh shit I'm in love with him, the fuck?" even though the set-piece battles are over. When Francis delivers a particularly elegant speech, for example, or actually puts that mind and sharp tongue of his to work in a pitched negotiation. When Arthur surprises Francis with a weekend getaway, complete with a boat, flowers, and lots of cute blushing and blustering. Or when one of them is seriously ill, overworked, or hurt; when something just snaps one day and all their nightmares catch up to them -- the cold fear and sleepless worry are all reminders of how deep their feelings run, even if they don't constantly make themselves known.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

We promised this vaccine waiver 20 years ago

The world’s 125 poorest countries (2.5b people) have received zero covid vaccine doses to date. The 85 poorest countries project vaccination in 2023/24. This is vaccine apartheid.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/21/wait-your-turn/#vaccine-apartheid

It’s not that poor countries can’t make their own vaccines. The Global South has a lot of vaccine production capacity. The problem is Big Pharma, which refuses to transfer the patents and know-how to repurpose those facilities for mRNA production.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IhL-aGt5dEOVegy4eksgs4T6vDl6L6NbY_YJdvDonBI/edit#gid=0

South Africa and India have petitioned the WTO for a vaccine waiver. We should all want this: first, because it is monstrous to doom millions to die in order to preserve the regulatory privileges of a handful of hugely profitable, heavily subsidized pharma companies.

But second, even if you don’t care about being monstrous, a waiver is needed to ensure all our survival: the longer and wider the virus circulates, the more mutations we’ll get, with the mounting risk of a more virulent, more lethal, more vaccine-resistant strain.

The pharma industry has an army of high-paid lobbyists (including Howard Dean), and volunteer simps (like Bill Gates) who are pushing the story that a waiver is unfair and counterproductive, a betrayal of the fundamental patent bargain.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/15/how-to-rob-a-bank/#roll-the-dice

They say that the pharma companies committed their capital to vaccine research because we, the people of the world, had promised them exclusive rights to those discoveries (notwithstanding that we also paid for the vast majority of that R&D).

If we alter the deal now, how can pharma trust us next time?

Of all the lies told by the pharma industry about the pandemic, this is the most insidious. Because that’s not how the global patent system works at all.

Gen Xers and their elders will remember the summer of 1999 and the Battle of Seattle, where anti-globalization activists fought for weeks to block the signing of the WTO agreement and its chapter on IP, the TRIPS agreement.

The WTO agreement fundamentally changed the way global patents worked.

Prior to the WTO, it was common for poor countries to completely ignore the patents issued by rich countries (unless the World Bank or a former colonial power coerced them into recognizing these claims).

That’s because countries that are net importers of finished goods have no reason to honor their suppliers’ claims — doing so merely burdens their own struggling manufacturers by forcing them to pay rent to rich foreigners.

This creates drag on local development, ensuring that importer countries stay importers, never becoming self-sufficient.

Ignoring other countries’ exclusive rights regimes — copyright, patent, trademark, etc — is a tried-and-true method to gain self-sufficiency.

That’s why the Framers of the US Constitution decided that America would ignore foreign patents and copyrights, a policy that persisted for over a century, only ending once the US became a net exporter of ideas and inventions, and thus stood to gain more than it lost.

Not just the US, of course. Many European nations spent a century or two a-pirating while their developed their capacity. The Dutch, for example, abolished patents during much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

It doesn’t make sense for a poor country to pay a rich country for rent on ideas. At least, it doesn’t make sense from the perspective of the poor countries.

It’s easy to see what rich countries get out of the deal.

That’s where the WTO (and specifically TRIPS) came in.

TRIPS proposed a bargain to poor countries: if you pay rent on rich countries’ ideas (by recognizing their patents, trademarks and copyrights), we’ll engineer the system so that you become the favored manufacturing contractors for rich countries.

This creates jobs in the short term, and, long term, it builds capacity, by teaching people how to build and operate complex systems.

It’s a form of “technology transfer” that replaces the old adversarial system of rent-collectors and tenant states with global cooperation.

This was a dubious proposition, but the WTO threw in a sweetener: a provision for emergengy waivers. These meant that if there was ever a situation where honoring foreign patents would result in domestic mass-death, those offshore obligations would be immediately suspended.

Think about that for a second. The pharma industry wants you to think that a vaccine waiver reneges on the bargain the world made with it.

But that was never the bargain.

The bargain the Global South struck was, “We will pay rent on rich countries’ ideas. In exchange, we’ll get capacity-building help. In case of emergency, all bets are off: not only will we get access to ideas for free, the WTO will use its might to force tech transfer.”

That’s the bargain pharma signed up for. The claim that a waiver reneges on the deal is truly Orwellian, a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose proposition where poor countries pay rent on ideas and get NOTHING in return — save death and the option to pay yet more rent.

“The TRIPS Intellectual Property Waiver Proposal: Creating the Right Incentives in Patent Law and Politics to end the COVID-19 Pandemic” is a preprint of an LSE Legal Studies Working Paper by a group of Anglo-Irish legal and poli sci scholars.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3851737

First published yesterday, it delves into a detailed account of this dynamic, and opens with a devastating argument:

If the pharma companies are right and poor countries truly don’t have the capacity to build vaccine factories, then the WTO is a failure.

The whole point was to build capacity.

If it’s not there, then all the rents the poor world paid all century were a lethally squandered opportunity — they should have followed in the footsteps of America and the Netherlands and ignored the rent demanded by wealthy lands.

The authors describe how pharma gamed the system in the WTO decades. For example, companies devote enormous energy to patenting small variations on their processes and products, allowing them to extend the life of their patents long beyond the 20 years they’re promised.

This produces some genuinely hideous outcomes. In Patrick Radden Keefe’s EMPIRE OF PAIN, the author documents how the Sackler family contemplated seeking regulatory approval to prescribe Oxycontin to children in order to extend the life of their patents.

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/patrick-radden-keefe-empire-of-pain-interview/amp

It’s hard to imagine how we’ll survive the pandemic crisis without a waiver. COVAX, the “voluntary” system that lets billionaires, corporations and rich countries offer vaccine doses to poor countries as charity, is a total disaster.

COVAX has only raised pledges of 20% of the needed doses — and it isn’t delivering on those pledges.

The system isn’t just failing by accident — the pharma companies are actively sabotaging it.

C-TAP, the WTO’s own scheme for pooling vaccine production know-how, has failed, largely because companies like Pfizer and Biontech have forced NDAs on their contractors that prevent them from participating in the program.

https://contracts.justia.com/companies/maravai-lifesciences-holdings-inc-11469/contract/137780/

The pharma companies have refused to license for mRNA vaccines for production in both in the rich world (Canada, Israel and Denmark) and the poor world (Bangladesh).

The deals pharma struck with the global south don’t just bump the world’s poorest to the back of the line — they also charge the poorest people the highest prices for vaccines. Astrazeneca is charging South Africa twice the going rate in the EU.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/22/south-africa-paying-more-than-double-eu-price-for-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine

This price-gouging is papered over with misleading claims of charity — for example, Moderna says it won’t extract profit from Brazilians Fiocruz until the pandemic ends — but the agreement allows Moderna to declare the pandemic over in July.

https://www.ft.com/content/c474f9e1-8807-4e57-9c79-6f4af145b68671O

Pharma’s claims of acting in the public interest are pure fantasy.

Pfizer says it makes a 20% profit by selling vaccines it makes for $3/dose at $19.50/dose (“the pandemic price”) — and promises that this price will go up to $175/dose for boosters.

https://s21.q4cdn.com/317678438/files/doc_financials/2020/q4/PFE-USQ_Transcript_2021-02-02.pdf

The very idea of pharma patents is surprisingly new. France instituted pharma patents in 1960; Ireland, 1964; Germany, 1968; Japan, 1976. Pharma demanded these patents to produce the “incentive” to invest, but the bulk of basic pharma R&D is still publicly funded.

Take the Astrazeneca vaccine, developed at Oxford. Between 97.1 and 99% of the funding for that research came from public sources, not Astrazeneca’s profits.

https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.08.21255103

The WTO agreement promised the Global South that in a global pandemic, the same might that was used to coerce them into passing laws enforcing rich countries’ patents would be brought to bear on rich countries to force them to help make medicine where it’s needed.

The pharma shills who claim that waiving the patents on mRNA vaccines actually have a point: pharma companies have gamed the patent system so that much of the know-how is never disclosed in patent filings, and the filings themselves are sealed for 18 months.

In the face of this sabotage, the WTO could order rich member states to uphold their obligations by forcing their companies to transfer patents AND trade secrets to poor countries — just as the US forced pharma companies to pool their research on pennicillin during WWII.

That would be the fair thing to do. The right thing to do. The rational thing to do — if we want to ensure the continuation of our civilization and even our species in the face of new mutant strains.

The WTO claimed that poor countries that honored the TRIPS would become tech exporters, building their own domestic capacity. Twenty years later, they’re still importers — and on track to stay that way forever (or until we’re all killed by covid).

The US has no standing to complain about a TRIPS waver. A country that built its fortune and capacity by refusing to pay rent to rich nations for their ideas deserves the same treatment once it becomes rich itself.

[sophieebridgerton]

thoughts on semi 1 having finally watched all of it:

albania: i DO NOT get how this didn't qualify! maybe the staging was a bit ... generic? compared to the music video but even that feels like a stretch

latvia: whoever put them in at number 2 should be punished i mean it. this is one that could've done with a proper led backing? i'm in shock this didn't get through its just fun. and do we not, as a continent, still love men with saxophones? i could go on

lithuania: god i LOVE HER, im so glad this one qualified i was worried about it. its a song i think id enjoy even more at 2am after a bottle and a half of wine (this is a good thing)

switzerland: no words. i would find nice things to say if it nqd but as it stands... fuck off. its like frans from 2016 but with the most horrendous vibes.

slovenia: funky jazzy little boys! obsessed with the song with the staging... juries across the world should be shivering in their boots about what i am going to do when the split results are revealed.

ukraine: i actually like it on stage a lot more than i did just listening to it, rap's not always my kind of music but i like this a lot. i've always adored the chorus and i love the folkiness of it :)

bulgaria: it's alright! it's nice but i get why it didn't qualify. for me this was a very strong semifinal, and if it hadn't been i think this would've had a better chance. points for pyro and guitar solo

netherlands: this was the first i watched live! it's pleasant and i love the staging of it – a bit city lights esque? – would've been a shock if it didn't qualify. it has that sort of vague country/western sound i really like (and that the netherlands generally does really well)

moldova: one of those songs i couldn't fit in my top 10 but i'm not upset at all it qualified. joyful, an actual representation of their country, makes me want to take a train from chisinau to bucharest... what's not to love?

portugal: love her so much wow. when do portugal not bring beautiful songs, for one? i don't think any country does it better. i was a little worried it would get lost as they sometimes do but i'm excited to see it again in the final!

croatia: MIA. you may have put together from my other posts that i am devastated she didn't get through. i knew it was a low chance but i love this one so much, it gives me ivy by taylor swift vibes in particular? one of the songs that will make it on to my non-eurovision playlists. i love you mia i'm so sorry my queen 😔😔

denmark: like bulgaria for me, i think it was a strong semifinal and this just wasn't quite the top for me, although i don't dislike it. i don't know if it was intended or if it was just the broken sun but the backdrop looks like vinyl records and i love that

austria: i liked the music video a lot! if i'd just seen this for the first time... i understand how it did not qualify.

iceland: its very first aid kit, which i really like. it didn't capture me before the show but the performance is lovely and i'm happy it qualified. (just noticed the flag on sigga's hand, as well, i respect that a lot)

greece: she ATE. lapped them all. my favourite qualifier of the semi. i don't have any words for this because all i can say is watch the performance then watch it again. askhgvdfjl

norway: i have to admit i'm not the biggest fan of this, in terms of i guess 'novelty' songs i much preferred latvia, and i don't tend to love extra effects on the screen (though that is very specific personal nitpicking). i'm not unhappy its in the final, i understand why and the song is alright i just wouldn't pick it personally!

armenia: i liked armenia a lot when i first heard it but i think i might have listened to it too much asgdjfh. i wish we could hear a finger click when she snapped her fingers.