#thank you Australia

[watmalik]

I CAN'T STAND HIM.

[zalesdreamland]

he really is so stunning like i don’t feel well

[jane-not-rizzoli]

RETURN TO PARADISE!!

[stromcuzewon]

CYBERPUNK 2023

[expelliarmus]

[lizardkingeliot]

every frame of sam's face when rolin mentioned raleigh ritchie in this interview is now my own personal happy place tbh

[nocofamilyau]

Has Dave met any other weird kids besides Leonard and Shawn? Maybe a singing princess or a beatboxer with a big afro (would his name still be Beardo?)

god, his class is full of weirdos...

there are kids who think they're fictional characters who AREN'T REAL...

then there's Binky, (nobody knows what his real name is, kids just call him that cuz he still uses a soother despite being 4 years old) who won't shut up with stupid sound effects...

other kids are loud and boisterous...

or just plain off-putting...

the only kids Dave believe are normal are all girls... he has no idea how to talk to girls (living in a literally all-male household doesn't help much)

...yea that's why he kinda just sticks with Shawn of all kids...

[tending-the-hearth]

Belle wearing glasses is actually something that is so important to me

[thedevillionaire]

Chosen

Much shorter than it has any right to be, given how long it's taken me to actually finish. Plot? Uh, no, not really. But anyhow... She's been away. He's been unwell.

---

He looks at her like she’s the most welcome hallucination he’s ever had.

Kia closes the door slowly behind her as she takes in this chaos of a makeshift apothecary, the loungeroom in an utter state of disarray and her beloved not faring much better, red-nosed and unshaven and dressed in a black silken pyjama and robe ensemble which, while inarguably stylish, was very definitely not his usual late afternoon wear.

And not at all what she had been expecting to come home to.

A miscellany of potions and concoctions and gods-know-what-elses lie scattered across the coffee table. A teacup, mostly empty. Two tissue boxes, one apparently even emptier than the teacup. Some sort of book...no, manual. Looks instructional. A wilderness of failed curatives.

Oh my god.

She walks further into the room. The air smells of menthol and embers.

“Babe, what are… Are you… What have you even been doing h…?”

You absolute beautiful total disaster.

“Trying not to… hh-HH …let thi…this-damn-cold…” Cerberus turns from her as his sentence dissolves, the syllables collapsing against one another in a desperate rush to give way to greater need and deep breath of purpose, and he raises a finger in urgent, undeniable pause. "Huh-TSSCH-uu!" Hurriedly claiming a series of tissues in a brief, expectant hiatus, he surrenders completely and sneezes again. "Hh-AATSCHH-uu! *snff-FF!*" A quiet groan in the aftermath. He excuses himself, adds another tissue to the set, blows his nose and immolates the lot. "Pardon me." He sighs. "Trying not to let this godsdamned cold win,” he manages, with an accompanying sharp sniffle. Neither heavy congestion nor the way his voice cracks slightly lessens any of the seething distaste in his tone.

“Oh, honey.” Kia brushes some errant hair back from his face. :Bless you.: She touches a tender kiss to his temple. “You’re getting your ass kicked.”

She offers him a soft smile to hopefully lessen a little bit of truth's sting. "C'mon, shift over," she says gently as she joins her beloved on the couch, nestling up beside him, resolutely ignoring every caution he tries to give her advising against doing so. Notably half-hearted as those cautions are.

Because while it’s true that he very much doesn’t want her to catch this, he’s also well aware it’s more than likely already too late for such concerns. The entire house is probably some sort of incubation epicentre. And, sincerity of expressed warnings aside, the entire sorry vista surely constitutes warning enough. He's fairly certain he couldn't look more biohazardous if he tried.

Cerberus sighs again, sniffling again immediately afterwards, and gives his bonded a look of resignation.

Further elaboration hardly seems necessary.

But also he doesn’t press the issue because in truth the last thing he wants is to send her away. He’s not even sure he has the energy to insist on it, anyway; he’d be infuriated about this entire ridiculous circumstance if he wasn’t so damn exhausted. So, small obligatory protests done, with another damp sniffle Cerberus shifts some disarrayed blanketry out of the way and wraps an arm around Kia’s waist, drawing her close.

Her soft perfume of violet, strawberry and vanilla is lost on him anywhere outside of memory right now, but her presence is more than enough and he closes his eyes for a moment, just appreciating the simple fact of her being here beside him at last; he's missed her immensely, constantly.

“You know, you could’ve just asked me to come back, if you wanted me here,” Kia muses as she nestles further into his heat, adding, “It wouldn't have been a big deal,” without accusation. She leans her head against his shoulder and looks up at him with gentle azure gaze, her unspoken thoughts of I’d always choose you. How do you still not know that? readable despite her not voicing them.

And he does, of course, know that – in fact, it’s the very reason he wouldn’t ask. Cerberus sniffles thickly, wiping his nose. “Ah, love. I'd hardly ask you to put yourself anywhere near this—" He gestures around the room in a general presentation of contempt for the whole situation. "—vortex of infectious absurdity,” he concludes, thick congestion lacing his words. He clears his throat but it doesn’t make any notable impact against the wreckery his voice has become. "And it's about your... *SNFF!* ...your autodoby."

Kia peers at him. “My…what?”

“Your au…” Cerberus, all too aware that several critical consonants are unequivocally not working for him, rolls his eyes at himself. Honestly. Taking another fresh succession of tissues from a very rapidly depleting supply, he blows his nose forcefully but completely ineffectively.

He excuses himself once more and tries again; it goes equally badly.

Kia, baffled, raises her hands in a friendly but very clear nope sorry babe no idea expression, accompanied by a gentle little laugh that she just can’t help.

A long-suffering and immensely frustrated look comes her way, followed by a resigned, defeated sigh as her beloved entirely gives up. “Free will.”

For a moment, this makes even less sense to Kia. “Why would…” she begins, but cuts herself off in triumphant realisation. “Oh, autonomy!” She laughs. "Oh, sweetheart."

“That’s what I s… hh-hh! I...” And even this is hijacked, and the Demon king capitulates entirely, doubling over desperate into crooked elbow, “Huh-TSCHH-uu! Ah-HEHTSCHuu!” 

He takes some moments of bleary recovery, Kia's heartrate spiking alongside the :Gods, forgive me: Cerberus Mindsends her.

"Oh, bless you, babe." Kia doesn't try to fight the thrill that flashes through her and she wraps herself around her bonded to kiss him again; a kiss deeper, more needful, than is probably wise. But wisdom isn't what she's craving right now.

“You know what? You’re going to stop talking and let me make my own choices.” She brushes a stray lock of hair from his eyes, touches the softest of lingering kisses to his forehead and meets his gaze. :Talking really isn't working out for you anyway.: "And besides—" Another kiss, deeper again, and she presses her arousal against his, salacious, wanton.

:—you know we both want the same thing.:

---

[would-you-survive-in-australia]

but mod

would YOU survive in australia?

- an australian

Doing my best.

[human-encounters-diary]

Day 10

The Vitrichl has made the decision to have routine patrols guard the most vital parts of the ship. It is not entirely surprising that I was assigned to guard Sector 3 with the human.

The human was - surprisingly - quiet. It caused slight concern within me, as the human was never as silent as during this cycle. She kept rubbing the protective skin over her visual organ, as if something was irritating her.

After a silence that lasted too long, she finally opened her mouth, minimizing my concerns slightly. Firstly, she let out air harder than necessary, possibly a signal of distaste. Then, she asked: "Wanna play a game?", while raising the corners of her mouth slightly. "We are not allowed. We are in a high emergency situation and need to be on guard at all times."

"It‘ll be really quick, I promise!", she continued. As I did not want to anger the human, I decided on compromising: "I accept. I suppose one game will not lead to the immediate demise of the ship and its entire crew. As long as it is quick."

She bared her teeth at me for a moment, before scurrying over hastily.

"Alright, so, the rules are really simple", she said, taking what seemed to be a writing tool of sorts out of a non-visible crease in her clothing. She started drawing a simple register on the floor, and it resembled this:

"Where I come from, we call this game 'Tic Tac Toe' ", Quinn continued. "So basically, each one of us gets a shape: I get a cross and you get a circle. The goal of the game is to get a row full of your sign. It can be horizontally, vertically or diagonally, but it cannot be broken by another shape, because then it won‘t count. The game stops when one of us wins or when all the squares are full without a winner."

"That is quite simple", I agreed. "Alright, you start.", she decided, handing me the writing tool.

I placed a circle perfectly in the middle of the board. Quinn sucked in air sharply while clenching her teeth, but otherwise did not seem visibly upset. She drew a cross in the down right corner. I drew a circle in the up right corner. She drew a cross below my original circle. I drew a circle in the down left corner.

"Boom. Congratulations, you won.", she informed me, and she seemed to be…happy. Her tone was light and her stance casual, her legs folded across each other in a seemingly painfully twisted way. Why would she be happy that I, her opponent, had beat her at her own game?

She took the writing tool, judging by density and appearance a piece of charcoal (a widespread substance, which is quite easy to find in most galaxies), and drew a line through my three circles. I was rather confused by this gesture. Was she denying my win? Was it simply to show that I had won this particular game? Was it a truce agreement? These questions stayed unanswered.

We both raised and Quinn seemingly tried to wipe away the drawings with her foot, but her efforts did not pay off. Eventually, she capitulated and we retook our positions. As we continued to patrol for the next few hours, no further conversations occurred, as the task at hand was of utmost importance. Although I did notice, that while the human did not speak anymore, her body seemed to be speaking for her. She was almost constantly shifting on her feet, walking a few steps before stopping again, and her hands seemed to have a mind of its own, touching everything near them, for example her fingers, nearby equipment and her clothing. What could be the reason behind this behaviour? Was she, perhaps, suffering from an illness? Was she bored again? 

I realized I would have to ask her to receive answers, but I decided to do that at an…more appropriate time.

Soon, the exchange team for the next shift arrived, and the human and I parted ways.

[theprodigypenguin]

Is Sabo British or is he Australian, like let's be honest here, the British Sabo jokes are funny but he's as psychotic as you'd expect an Australian who lives in a country with every known dangerous animal in the world as his next door neighbor.

[kaddyssammlung]

[iattachtooeasilytocartoons]

btw i was going through the wilbur soot tag to see others responses to…that. but its also a really good block list

[aaivii]

Reasons why we need another Oscar Piastri front row/ podium/ win/ pole position:

1. It will increase his points in the Driver's Championship table.

2. It will overall increase the chances of McLaren challenging for Constructors.

3. It will build his overall confidence, not that he needs any.

4. WE WANT MORE OF THAT UNIMPRESSED IDGAF ENERGY!! SORRY BUT HAVE YOU SEEN HOW ANNOYED AND UNIMPRESSED HE IS WHENEVER HE GETS A TOP POSITION!!! LIKE!!! AAAHHHHH!!

[moodmoodthecrabking]

jonathan brisby and lucy stockworth bushwalking moodboard requested by @tnoy-keraxis