#this one's 7 years old and was bought entirely bc it was the best to play da:i on back then lol

[tphobos]

they updated the kissing in bg3!!!

[percyjaczon]

i’ve only watched up till ep 4 of pjotv (🏴‍☠️ ofc) and i’m mostly finding it pretty bad, but i do think there’s some genuinely interesting tidbits in there. one of them was the line from annabeth about how she had to fight for thalia’s love — i thought that thalia making annabeth earn her love is a pretty interesting characterization choice for thalia. yes, it is a drastic change from tlo and ‘the demigod diaries’, where it was clear that thalia is soft for annabeth right away and tries her best to do right by her from the moment they meet, but when you keep in mind some of the context from the book + show, i think that the change they made does line up with thalia’s character.

ok so first of all, annabeth’s recounting of her relationship w/ luke and thalia is meant to parallel her upbringing with her father and stepmother, the loving doting father figure and the harsher mother figure (which was . . . smth, but that’s a whole other issue). smth that i realized later on was that this kind of alludes to thalia’s own upbringing as well. thalia has been taking care of herself pretty much her entire life, and even when she was on the run, she had to fight to survive by herself for years before she met luke. though it deviates from her book characterization, it makes sense that this would be the only lifestyle she’s ever known, and that she would expect others to behave similarly. luke could prove he could handle himself, but a 7 y/o child is dependent on others, smth that thalia couldn’t fathom, hence leading to her making annabeth ‘fight’ to earn her love.

to add on to my prev point about thalia’s upbringing, i kept on thinking about how in the show, they stress that demigods have to earn their olympian parent’s love. this is shown the most through annabeth’s relationship with athena, where she constantly has to be at her best to maintain athena’s favor and one little thing can cause it to be lost forever. while the line about thalia making annabeth earn her love was meant to reinforce why annabeth believes love is conditional, i also think that it could be a nod to how thalia bought into this mentality of conditional love as a result of her own relationship with her olympian parent. in the books, while she does feel bitter and resentful towards her father at times, thalia does believe in zeus and wants a connection with him. in ‘the demigod diaries’, thalia and luke only end up taking annabeth in bc of the chain of events that came from thalia chasing after what she thought was a sign from her dad! with the show’s insistence that (most) olympian love is conditional, it makes sense that thalia had to fight to gain zeus’s "love", and i think it makes sense then that mentality would transfer over to a relationship where she has to assume a parental role of sorts. i think it’s an interesting contrast to luke, who rejects everything about his olympian father and gives love unconditionally when he assumes a parental role. since luke (+ percy at this point in time) are irreverent of the olympians and actively question the way they treat their kids (ntm how both do know unconditional love from their mortal mother, regardless of their respective difficult home lives), of course they reject how the olympians show their “love” and give their own love freely regardless. but thalia and annabeth were seeking for a connection with their immortal parent, and have thus internalized this mentality that love is conditional.

also idk if the writers are keeping hoo canon in mind while they were constructing the tv versions of these characters, but the first thing that immediately came to mind when i heard this line was that thalia’s mentality had to have smth to do with the loss of jason. when thalia meets annabeth, she is only 12 years old, and jason would’ve probably ‘died’ 4 years ago. jason was most likely the first person that thalia had loved unconditionally, and its pretty obv that his disappearance shakes her up a lot, given that it’s the final catalyst to her running away from home and his memory is so painful that she never even told her best friends abt him. i think she did feel partly responsible for jason’s ‘death’ bc she didn’t keep her eyes on him and i think she did carry that guilt even 4 years after the fact. which is why i think it’s entirely plausible that thalia would not be so keen on opening up and getting attached to another young child.

ok last point on this but i also think the implications of this line would make the ttc emotional climax hit so much harder (assuming they ever get that far lol). luke, who was maybe the first person who had loved annabeth so easily and readily, manipulates and harms annabeth with no (observable) qualms. and thalia, who had been so hard on a 7 y/o annabeth, is so aghast by his treatment of her that she finally accepts her best friend is no longer the person she remembers and ends up kicking him off a cliff, and annabeth has to watch all this go down. isn’t that just heartwrenching?

[falloutgirlboy]

Uhm hello saw your tags about always buying CDs/physical media and I feel an instant kinship. I mostly get CDs but I always check vinyls and every now and then for movies. I don't seriously "collect" but I check any bargain bin/used/discount rack I see. I've got around 250 CDs right now, I haven't counted in a while. I'd love for you to talk about your collection!

YES I WOULD LOVE NOTHING MORE!!! (my tag for my collection is red mail day hehe) this might get long also so there may be a cut

my biggest collection is my music stuff! i started with cds bc they're cheap and easy but i started collecting vinyl as well about 4 or 5 years ago, i also try and collect dvds of my favourite movies/shows when i can because my favourite film got taken off netflix and it scarred me LMAO

pictures under the cut !!!!

i have about 150 cds a bunch of which i yoinked from my parents, it's a lot of britpop and 80s-90s indie/punk which is basically what my music taste amounts to outside of the emo shit

my beutiful floor to ceiling cd rack that also has all my dvds and games

i have an entire shelf of fall out boy albums LMAO they are the only band that im a real discography completionist for to the point i have a spreadsheet for all their physical releases, i FINALLY have all their deluxe editions and eps so i am gonna start on the singles when i. become employed

my shows and movies (and a fleetwood mac greatest hits album). why do i have 10 copies of baby driver on dvd. Don't even worry about it

just under half of my albums laid out which. goddamn when did i get this many

some of my favourite vinyls !!!

my fall out boy singles i love 7" records so much they are literally just small

this was one of my first records ever i love this album So much everyone go and listen to transangelic exodus right now

razzmatazz and violent things! these r both relatively hard to find my razzmatazz pressing is limited to 500 copies :^)

this is technically a mispress! all the black & gold marble vinyls that came from the eu store have a splatter pattern instead of the marble (which is OK bc i like it better LMAO)

AND FINALLY MY PRIDE AND JOY MY IOH PICTURE DISC i spent so long looking for this i would not shut up about not being able to get it and then one day my friend ever so kindly bought it for me. best day of my life when it came in. packaging is a little messed up bc it is old however i love her dearly

apologies for the ramble but u did ask me to talk about my autism collection so i cannot be held accountable LMAO

[aajjks]

he’s so baby girl coded. okeeey LET’S GET THESE LOVEBIRDS TOGETHER ALREADY!! 😩

BC!JK

honey bunny 🥰

home sweet home!! now gts 💤

the moment you walked inside your apartment, you’re immediately screaming from excitement. you actually kissed jungkook’s cheek.

you KISSED him and for the first time, you didn’t feel like you betrayed eunwoo.

a month right? it’s been a single month since the two of you have split and one of the main obstacles you had trouble overcoming was having interest in someone that wasn’t eunwoo.

kissing, looking, or even flirting felt like you were cheating on your old partner but ever since you’ve healed and look past what you and eunwoo used to be, the idea of kissing someone or being with someone doesn’t feel as strange as it once did.

and what makes it even better is that you shared that moment with the person you want to pursue a relationship with, jeon jungkook.

you can tell your kiss made him really happy and although he couldn’t see you, you were smiling the entire walk back to your car and now that you’re finally home, you can fangirl about it.

you’re so excited that you begin dialing your best friend, danielle’s, number and when she picks up, she’s curious as to why you’re calling her so late at night until she remembers the date.

“so, how did it go?”

“IT WENT SO WELL!!! guess what? I KISSED JUNGKOOK’S CHEEK!! and i didn’t feel weird about it. i…i liked it, actually”

“that’s good, y/n! was his parents being weird?”

“yeah. his mom was being a total bitch but his dad really likes me”

“ew”

“well i’m not interested in his dad, danny. i’m interested in him and we’re having brunch at his house”

“brunch? at his house? aww, how cute. did you suggest that or did he?”

“i did. danny, did you know that i’m the first girl he’s even taken out on a date? and-and guess what? HE GAVE ME A TIFFANY AND CO. NECKLACE!!”

“wait, wait slow down, what? tiffany and co.?! for what?”

“i don’t know, he just does that. he bought me a pet cat before and—,”

“he bought you a cat and now a damn tiffany necklace? jesus, y/n. he’s already treating you like a princess and you guys aren’t even dating”

“i know right! he really does spoil me a lot and i don’t even know why”

“no wonder why his mother hates you. you’ve got him wrapped around your little finger”

and it’s true, he’s basically a locket at this point.

you and danielle converse on the phone for two hours before you shut down for the night and dream of getting a belly button piercing.

Hash browns, eggs benedict and waffles. CHECK.

He doesn’t know what you really prefer to eat and he doesn’t eat breakfast at all but… it’s with you so he might try to, you didn’t live with him long enough to let him observe your eating habits.

So he cooked every American breakfast he could. He might’ve just looked up for some guidance on the internet but that is beyond the point, and yes he drove early in the morning with a quick trip to the 24/7 grocery outlet store to make sure he had everything.

Bam and Sage are sleeping, so he’s almost done with the cooking, you may like some sausage but he’s gonna fry it when you get here.

When are you getting here? Jungkook can’t wait and he didn’t put too much effort into his fashion for early in the morning.

Just grey sweatpants and a white shirt, and right now it’s protected by the apron he’s wearing tightly around his waist.

He had a shower so he can’t really afford to sweat, he can’t for you to get here, and maybe God heard him because he hears someone putting the house keys in bad he hears his gate unlock, he smiles knowingly because it’s you.

Only you have the keys to his house. And he really resisted the urge to text you about when you were going to be here, it’s almost 10 & you have finally blessed him with your presence.

“Hey yn!” HES waving at you stupidly with a spatula in his hands, and you’re starting to give the 26 year old breathing problems because you just LOOK SO GOOD-

Who looks this good at 10 am in the morning, yea you do..

“YNNN IM SO- I mean I’m so glad you made it, please sit here, I’m going to bring the food, hope you didn’t have anything because chef jungkook here is at your service with American style Breakfast.”

Today he’s going to ask you a very important question and he hopes that this time, you’ll say yes.

[runfast-runfar]

Snippets of the last few days :)

2/3/22

✨ this week has been a weird one tbh. I decided it would be best to take a break from a friendship that has gotten pretty rocky and toxic even, and while I know some space and time is what is needed, I still feel bad about it. This is a friend who I love dearly, and it’s a situation that isn’t entirely one persons fault or the other, it’s just we both want different things out of the same friendship. I wanted a closer friendship, one with less small superficial talk and she has a lot of her own stuff going on and is, for a lack of better words, very emotionally unavailable (I say that entirely platonically) and so it always felt like she wasn’t giving enough effort and for her that I was asking for too much. Maybe the friendship won’t ever resume, idk, but I do know if we kept on this path, the friendship would be completely destroyed. But this way, I feel like maybe down the line it could be salvaged. It still hurts to even partially end something that was once really strong and meaningful. But I am hopeful she’ll grow, and I’ll continue to grow.

✨ so with that going on, I tried to fill myself with distractions. Bought a few new clothes (the purple striped long sleeve cropped shirt being one of them!)

✨ had my first day back at my old job!! I’m still at the coffee shop I’ve been at the past year, but I’m only working a few days there each week, and then I’m at my old job every Thursday night! I LOVE the bosses there and most of the coworkers. It’s a little cliquey but I honestly don’t really care much bc I’m just there one day a week and I’m there to chill with the bosses lol

Also, if I feel like it’s not worth dealing with the coworkers I’m not a huge fan of, I’ll just leave lol The coffee job is my primary job anyways and I get paid more there so worst case scenario I’d just replace my Thursday at the pokè place with a 3rd shift at the coffee shop haha! But for the time being, I’m happy I’m there again :)

✨ yesterday I went on a recovery run! 3 easy miles. And then today I went out to run but was not feeling it at all. Plus I worked yesterday, then I work today and then tomorrow ALL day (9:30am-7:30pm) and so I’m giving myself today off and possibly tomorrow just a yoga day. And then resuming running on Monday. Not sure if I’ll run tomorrow yet… we shall see :)

✨ thea made friends with the squirrel (we’ve named Buddy) who’s been coming to the bird feeder everyday the past few months. Since Thea’s been back home she hadn’t met him yet. So this morning when she saw a squirrel on the window she was going CRAZY lol! Surprisingly Buddy was unfazed and after a bit thea was too and they just gazed at each other occasionally haha

✨ I made a bomb ass lunch before I have to head to work! Rice with sriracha and hummus, and then chicken less orange mandarin chicken! So good!!

✨ throughout the morning I finished up 2 out of 3 of my readings for the weekend already which feels really good! :)

✨ now I’m just laying in bed sipping on my tea watching Veronica Mars (again lmao) before I have to head to work in an hour.

I hope you’re all doing well, and I send you guys all of my love ♥️

[kyber-crystal]

Set Up

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Words: ~3.3k

Summary: In which the Avengers are relentless in their attempts to get you and Steve together. If this means going great lengths such as sending you off on a mission-disguised romantic getaway to make you realize your feelings for one another, they’ll seize the chance at the very moment it’s presented to them.

Warnings: None. Just tooth-rotting fluff bc I’ve really been needing it ahaha

A/N: Set in an AU 2017 timeline in which they reunite a year after the whole Accords situation so that everyone’s happy :)

"Rogers. Parasite. Stop watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine and get up, you need to get to the meeting room ASAP," Tony stated.

"Says the one who leeches off my granola bar supply," you grumbled as you shot him a death glare. "You've been doing this to me since I was a toddler. A helpless, two-year old against a 16 year-old demon always hungry for everyone's food but his own."

"Still holding the Full House cereal incident against me? Geez, woman, do you ever release your grudges against anyone," he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Now come on, let's go."

Exchanging a confused look with Steve, you stood up and followed Tony down the hallway to the meeting room, where Fury was with the rest of the team, waiting.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Y/N," Fury nodded curtly. "I presume you know what's going on?"

"No, sir."

"I need you two to track down a group of mercenaries in downtown Tokyo. You'll be flown out commercially so you can maintain a low profile. The whole process should take no longer than ten days," he explained as Natasha handed him the printed out flight details. "Further information will be given to you upon arrival."

"If it's just the two of us, then why is everyone here?" you pointed out.

"Barton and Maximoff will be checking in with you regularly; and if backup is necessary, I will fly one of them out to meet you. If you don't have any more questions, this meeting is now dismissed. You'll be departing late tonight so if I were you, I'd get to packing right about now."

...

Soon enough you were all packed and ready to go. Because you were too lazy to reach back into your suitcase and grab a sweatshirt, you took Steve's Dodgers hoodie and slipped it on, along with a pair of your favorite sweatpants.

"See you in ten days, okay?" Natasha pulled you in for a tight hug. "Make sure to keep Rogers company, it's a long flight. This is also the perfect opportunity to grow closer...literally."

"Oh shut up, Nat," you scoffed. "We're not...you know."

"Sure you aren't."

"Tony, why don't you get some good rest for once," you turned to your brother, "alright?"

"As long as you admit you're in love with Capsicle," he whispered into your ear.

"I can't admit what's not true."

"Yeah yeah, I can't understand bullshit."

"Tony."

"Y/N," he mocked. "Anyway. Have a safe trip, don't die, yada yada yada."

"Yeah yeah, got it."

A few more rounds of goodbyes later, you and Steve were in the elevator with your luggage, heading down to where Phil was waiting to drive you to the airport.

Your flight was scheduled to take off at 1:45 in the morning, and it was close to 11 p.m when you arrived.

"Your tickets, please," the lady asked as you were about to board the plane. You took them out from your purse and handed them over to her. "Thank you."

"How long's the flight again?"

"Uh...about 14 hours. Pretty long," you replied, as you walked down the aisles, looking at the overhead letters for your seat. "24A, 24B...there we go. Wait, have you been to Japan before?"

"No, I haven't."

"You're gonna love it. They have the best, I tell you, best ramen, and curry, hands down. When Nat, Wanda, and I went on our girls' vacation last spring we wouldn't stop eating for two days straight. I know we're tracking down cold-blooded killers and all, but, it won't hurt to let loose a little, you know?"

"Yeah, definitely," Steve couldn't help but smile at how happy you looked while speaking. "You gotta be our tour guide. I'm trusting you'll lead us to the best ramen hotspots?"

"Oh yeah, I will."

After putting your things into the overhead bins, you settled into your seats. The armrest between you could be lifted convert the seats into a double bed, you quickly found out.

Shortly after taking off you felt yourself grow rather tired. Noticing your sleepiness, Steve raised the armrest and pressed the button to make the seats recline backwards, your head immediately falling against his broad chest. He smiled again, brushing stray hairs away from your forehead before pulling the blanket over your bodies and falling asleep as well.

Little did either one of you know, you were being sent off to Japan for a completely different reason that had absolutely nothing to deal with tracking down mercenaries.

...

The smell of food wakes you up several hours later. You stretched your arms up and ran a hand through your hair as you sat up, adjusting your neck pillow.

"Hey uh, how long were we out for?" you asked, voice still thick with sleep. Steve was already awake, in the middle of watching a movie on his TV.

"4 hours. You knocked out for 5. It's time for lunch...or dinner?"

You tapped your screen a few times to pull up the map of your flight's route. "Right now it's 7:30 p.m. in Tokyo. We're arriving at 4:45 in the morning, so I'd say dinner."

"You sleep okay?"

"Hm? Yeah," you yawned, rubbing your eyes and adjusting the sleeves of Steve's hoodie. "You make a good pillow."

"No problem," he chuckled. You then turned to the flight attendant, who handed you your meals.

"Fancy," you nodded in approval as you passed Steve's tray over to him. "First class sure has its perks...oh yes, miso soup."

You binged your way through several episodes of Pretty Little Liars, I Love Lucy, and Star Wars: A New Hope together. Afterwards, you purchased Wi-Fi so you could update the team on your status.

CHATROOM - AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

Natasha: Morning, lovebirds. You guys in the air already?

You: Yeah, we're eating dinner right now. What time is it back home?

Tony: 6:45 a.m. Pulled an all-nighter binge-watching The Office.

Bucky: Totally worth losing an entire night's worth of good sleep.

Y/N: But I still don't get why we couldn't take the Quinjet?

Steve: ^

Rhodey: Do we tell them now, or wait until they land in Haneda?

Wanda: I'd say now.

Pietro: NO NO NO MAKE IT A SURPRISE

Steve: ...What's going on?

Tony: There's no mission.

Y/N: Wait, what? Then what are we going to Tokyo for?

Tony: I purchased a romantic ten-day vacation package so that you two will hopefully realize your feelings for each other along the way. Thank me later.

Y/N: SCREW YOU

Tony: Enjoy eating all the ramen you want!

Natasha: We're so good at matchmaking.

Thor: May I suggest a virtual high-five?

Peter: VIRTUAL HIGH-FIVE :))

Thor: :))

Y/N has left the chat.

Steve has left the chat.

Tony: They're gonna thank me when they see the penthouse I bought.

Tony has left the chat.

"Well, guess we're going on vacation. At least there's more opportunities to eating good food," Steve shrugged.

"Yup." You felt your heartbeat pick up speed at the thought of being alone with him, for ten days, in a country that was considered both futuristic and romantic at the same time. "Plenty of time to eat ramen and sushi."

Deep down, he was glad that there wasn't any mission. And so were you.

You took an hour-long catnap before waking up again and playing a few rounds of Uno with him, then stayed up for the rest of the flight. You both knew you'd regret doing so because of the 13-hour time difference between NYC and Tokyo, but you were too excited to care at that moment.

You were dazed and still slightly tired when you disembarked the aircraft, so you didn't have any energy to question how you and Steve ended up with your fingers intertwined. Besides, you liked the way it felt.

At close to 5 in the morning, Haneda International was relatively quiet and not too busy, so immigration didn't take long. You didn't have to worry about being bombarded by fans, aside from the occasional foreign fan recognizing you two and asking for a quick autograph or picture.

Since you wanted to explore the airport a bit before taking the train downtown, you looked around at the various shops.

Being a former spy alongside Natasha before joining the Avengers, you were fluent in multiple languages, including Japanese, Russian, French, Spanish, and German. And despite having developed the habit of always preparing for what was to come, you were completely shocked hearing a perfect Japanese sentence roll out of Steve's mouth as he spoke to the cashier.

You practically swooned at how smooth his voice sounded.

"Kore wa ikuradesu ka?" He gestured to one of the kokeshi dolls on display dressed in a sapphire colored kimono with cherry blossom embroidery. (How much is this?)

"3500 yen," the lady replied, "Hatsubai-chū, 3000. Kōnyū shimasu ka?" (On sale, 3000. Would you like to buy it?)

"Hai, kōnyū shimasu." (Yes, I'd like to buy it.)

"Kanojo no tame ni?" (For her?)

"Hai." (Yes.)

She nodded, and Steve handed over several folded bills from his wallet after she finished bagging the item.

"Arigato, gokigen'yō," he thanked her. (Thank you, have a nice day)

"Anata modesu," she smiled warmly. (You too)

"Holy crap, you didn't tell me you were fluent in Japanese, Rogers," you gaped as you walked out of the store together. "When did you have the time to learn it?"

"Back during the Pearl Harbor bombing, Buck and I were sent off with the 107th to Hawaii. Figured it'd be useful if we learned a few phrases."

"Few?" you raised an eyebrow at him. "What you just did back there, that was not just a few phrases! That was fluency!"

"What can I say, I pick up on language quickly," he grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. He then handed you the bag with the doll inside. "Here, for you."

"You didn't have to—"

"Consider it my thank-you in advance for taking me to a good eatery," Steve explained.

After grabbing a quick breakfast of coffee and pastries, you took the elevator down to the train station.

You let out a sigh as you sat down, the cool air inside the train loosening the tension in your shoulders a bit. A short fifteen minutes later and you were back in one of your favorite cities in the world.

Steve took a picture of you as you were distracted from looking all around at the skyscrapers and people milling around, face lit up by all the bright and colorful signs, sending it to the chat.

Steve: Just arrived downtown. Got out of the airport half an hour ago.

Tony: Honeymooning Avengers, how cute

Sam: That's hot.

Steve: What time is it over there?

Wanda: We just finished eating lunch. You?

Steve: 7. Going to check into the penthouse. Talk to you guys later.

Wanda: Alright.

Sam: Have fun, lovebirdssssss

Steve has left the chat.

"So," he breathed out as he slipped his hand back into yours and you exited the station, "you ready to go check out where we're staying?"

"Yeah, definitely. You wanna take the subway again, or a taxi?"

"Subway. Actually..taxi. You sound nice when you speak in a foreign language."

"That's the only reason why you want to take a taxi?"

"Yeah, obviously," you scoffed. "I mean, why else?"

"Alright, if you insist," the super-soldier laughed.

A few minutes later, you'd called a taxi over and climbed into the backseat, strapping your seatbelts on.

"Ohayögozaimasu," (Good morning) the man greeted. "Ogenkidesuka?" (How are you) "Īdesu, anata wa?" Steve replied. (Good, and you?)

"Watashi mo jōzudesu. Doko ni ikitai?" (I am good, too. Where would you like to go?)

You looked at your phone, reading out the address of Tony's penthouse to the driver.

A few minutes passed in silence before he spoke up again. "Watashia wa anata-tachi o shitte imasu. Anata wa abenjãzudesu," the driver smiled, glancing at you two from the rearview mirror. (I know you two. You're the Avengers)

"Watashitachidesu," he returned his friendly grin. (We are!)

"Tōkyō ni kuru kikkake wa nanidesu ka?" (What made you come to Tokyo?)

"Chōdo kyūka no tame." (Just for vacation.)

"Nokori no taizai o o tanoshimi kudasai," he said as you were getting out of the car after paying. "Sayonara."

"Sayonara," you and Steve responded before closing the car door behind you.

"Wow," your jaw dropped as you took the elevator up, arriving at the top floor. "Tony actually bought...this...place?"

"Apparently," Steve shrugged, "we could come back and forth between here and the compound as often as we wanted."

The penthouse had a nice, dark aesthetic feel to it, with giant panoramic views of the entirety of Tokyo and modern furniture and spots of dimmed white lights in the ceiling to give off a relaxed vibe.

After unloading your things, you sat down at the giant couch together and decided to plan out the rest of your day.

"When CoCo Curry opens at 11, we can go eat there," you explained as you typed up the plan in a new note. "Tony also snagged us tickets to Tokyo Tower at 3 p.m, so we have a few hours to spare after lunch."

"We can explore the gardens,"  he suggested. "I know you love doing that. There's a botanical garden in Shinjuku we can go to."

"Oh, that one! I didn't have the chance to go last time, so that's perfect," you added 'Shinjuku Gardens' to your list.

Soon enough you had your entire day planned out, and were ready to head out once again.

CoCo Curry was a quaint, little restaurant that hit you with a wave of tantalizing scents as soon as you walked through the doors and sat down at the bar-style seating area where you could watch the chefs cook your food.

"Gonichiwa," you greeted the chef standing behind the counter.

"Gonichiwa," he smiled back. He asked for your orders, and since Steve wasn't sure what to get you had two orders of your favorite dish.

Besides another couple sitting a few seats away, the restaurant was empty so you got your food in under ten minutes. The steaming hot plates of curry rice were set in front of you, and you felt your mouth water as you inhaled the rich aroma.

"This is so good," Steve spoke in between bites. "I'm literally in love."

"Told you I knew my stuff."

You eventually finished eating, and after getting into a small argument with Steve over who would pay (He ended up winning). "It's payback for ordering me good eats," he explained.

"You said that when you bought me the kokeshi doll," you pointed out.

"Still."

This time you decided to go by foot instead of taking the taxi, as the gardens were only a half-hour or so walk from where you were.

"Right in the middle of cherry blossom season," you sighed as the sweet smell of cherries drifted through the air. "Perfect timing."

You walked around the entire place, stopping every so often to admire the various colorful plants or look up at the pastel pink cherry blossom trees, gravel crunching underfoot with each step you took.

The mid-April breeze lightly fanned your hair around your shoulders. Birds chirped out a delightful melody, flying around the cornflower-blue sky. It wasn't too hot or too cold, and that was one of the many things you loved about visiting Asia during the springtime; the weather was bearable, compared to New York City's below-freezing temperatures in winter. You vividly remembered visiting the botanical gardens in upstate New York on a school trip once, and from then on you'd grown attached.

In the centre of the garden was a large lake with flowering lily pads and on the other side of the bank stood a quaint little temple, with a wooden bridge across the middle so visitors could cross over and look at the koi below.

"It's beautiful here," Steve commented as you made your way down the sidewalk, "I wish they had places like this back home."

"Yeah it is, isn't it," you breathed out, unable to tear your eyes away from the lovely sights. "I could do this all day."

"Hey, that's my line," he joked. You chuckled quietly, slipping your hand into his. He laced your fingers together in response, and you felt the butterflies flutter around in your stomach again the longer he held on, and those butterflies turned into hummingbirds as you looked up to meet his piercing gaze.

You're not sure how long you stay like that, gazing into each others' eyes, but it's only when a little girl stops and asks to take a picture that you pull away.

"Captain America and Agent Y/N!" Judging by her looks, she seemed like she came from the US as well. "Can I get a picture with you guys?"

"Of course, sweetie," you smiled. You brushed off the weird feeling you got when your skin made contact with Steve's, and gestured for her to come closer.

Steve scooped the girl up into his arms as she held your hand, and the mother snapped a few quick pictures before he let her back down.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed before skipping away.

At 2:20 you decided to leave and head out to the Tokyo Tower early so you would be avoiding any possible long lines. You were up at the observation deck within twenty minutes.

"This is just....wow," you breathed out, in awe of the breathtaking view you got as you stared out the panoramic windows, the reflective walls casting thin rays of light onto your faces.

If you thought the view from your penthouse was nice, this was a hundred times better. You had almost nothing preventing you from being able to see the entire city in all directions. The sun was hanging high in the sky, the skyscrapers piercing the horizon like pins and needles.

Steve couldn't help but let his gaze linger on you, the way your face brightened up at the sight of Tokyo's stunning view, the way you laughed and smiled more than you ever did back home. It was a rare sight, and he wished he could see you in this state more often. Oh, the things he'd do to keep hearing your musical laugh and million-dollar smile.

...

The next day was jam-packed with activities. You took a two hour train ride down south to Osaka, exploring the cup noodles museum, shopping downtown in Dotonbori, and stuffing yourself with delicious pastries along the way. Before you headed back, you decided to stock up on groceries at the local market. 

You fell asleep almost as soon as your head hit the pillow that night, waking up to somehow finding yourself in Steve’s arms. You both woke up at the same time, confused as to how you had gotten yourselves into this position, but were too embarrassed and tired to ask. 

This time, you decided to stay within Tokyo, immersing yourselves in going to as many districts as you could and doing as much as possible. 

After a long day exploring the city, you were rather exhausted. With a cup of freshly brewed matcha in hand, you stayed quiet for a while as you soaked in the scenery, watching the city come alive late at night.

When Steve woke up from his nap a few hours later, he found you standing by the window. Smiling to himself, he got up, approaching you and wrapping his arms around your waist from behind, resting his chin atop your head.

"Hi," you greeted, setting your mug down on the coffee table besides you.

"Hey," he murmured into your ear. You closed your eyes and hummed quietly in response, letting your bodies rock back and forth to the rhythm of your steady heartbeats together.

"Watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu," (I love you.)

A small smile tugged at the corners of your lips. "Watashi mo anata o aishitemasu, Cap." (I love you too, Cap.)

You stepped away so you could turn around to face him, and he pulled you back towards him and pressed his lips to yours.

He couldn't help but smile into the kiss, pulling you closer against him.

[eternallovers65]

I was watching ikon tv on YouTube again and that made me look at a bunch of old clips from kpop, and I just want to say FUCK THE BIG 3 SO MUCH OR ANY OTHER COMPANY THAT TREATS IDOLS LIKE SHIT

JYPE

Blatantly favoritism over Twice and Stray Kids, which leads to overworking them, and zero to nonexistent comebacks to got7 and day6 (idk about itzy bc I'm not a fan). For example in 2018, Twice had 6 comebacks (japanese/singles included) and in both 2017/19 they had 5 (japanese/singles included) Stray Kids on the year they debuted, 2018, had 4 and in 2019 they had 5 (japanese/singles included).

This situation got so bad that during a vlive Jeongyeon cried because of how overworked she was. She, Mina and Jisung had to take a break from promotion, I know that those breaks were in different eras but I think that there's a link on why only members of the most overworked groups needed a break.

Also Got7 has like zero promotion, when they had the world tour ahgases were the ones to promote then, because jype didn't bought ads. The boys songs were refused so many times, Mark's schedule were canceled so he couldn't meet his family. They refused to give a solo career to Yugyeom and Mark, when they failed to protect the boys from the sasaengs which lead them moving out so many times and on why Jackson got injured.

Edit: I am more than glad to say that today, 10th of January, all members of Got7 are leaving Jype. #Got7forever💚 I love you boys, thank you for 7 years of happiness, and I'll proudly continue to support all of you

How they forced that visual and hairstyle on Jeongyeon, even tho she didn't wanted it, she said during a vlive that she wanted to grow her hair but the company used to cut shorter everytime. They are extremely strict with the weight and the food, a few artists like Sunmi already said that. Somi has told some stories about how they had to sneak food and hide eating in the bathroom, and when Momo was forced to lose 7kg in seven days only to appear in a showcase.

The famous situation flag situation with Tzuyu. She was 16 when that happened, she introduced herself as Taiwanese and held the Taiwan flag as well. Which lead to many to many chinese users saying she was a pro-independence activist, she was barred from the Chinese television and suspended of all her activities in China. 2 months later, on the day of the election in Taiwan, Jype posted a video of her reading an apology saying that there's only one China and she is extremely proud to be Chinese. She was 16 at the time, and you can see during the video that she is so scared, sad and clearly hesitating on saying what she's reading, the whole video just has this weird, forced vibes. The 3 presidential candidates said that video was too cruel for a 16 year old girl and that she didn't need to apologize.

YG

I will never forgive yg for disbanding 2ne1, for not helping G-Dragon when he was accused of plagiarism and started suffering from depression but had to continue with the promotion. Same thing with Top that was diagnosed with social anxiety and depression, and suffered a overdose because of the marijuana scandal but yg had also nothing to say.

For releasing Hanbin in a DAY because of false accusations, while it took them WEEKS to release s***gri and only after he released a statement saying that he was leaving bigbang. And for not telling the public or for not defending Jennie during that time everyone were saying she was lazy when in fact she had an ankle injury, but still continued the promotions.

SM

Whether we like to admit or not, SM is probably the best company in the kpop history if we're talking about success, they have a formula that works over and over again, it's a pattern, we can especially see it in Suju, Shinee, Exo and Nct. But omg they have zero compassion for their idols.

Starting from the training, we all know the training for the debut is really difficult, but a lot of people say that between all the companies SM is the worst one, they are extremely strictly and controlling , especially the managers who abuse the power. They have this curated-ness that is quite toxic, and leads to an incredibly perfectionistic and controlling management system. Kai used to practice 8 hours a day so that everything was perfect, like surely work it out bc Kai is one of the best dancers in the industry, but still that's a lot of hours you're basically overworking yourself (I think)

As a result, many idols have even more outstandingly brutal beauty standards than there already are in the kpop industry generally. especially intense weight-loss standards, Taeyeon already said this, during the first 5 years of GG she was constantly battling with eating disorders. Baekhyun has this diet where, instead of eating the food he only chews and then spits out, Sehun in 2017 (I think) had this stage on the Exo tour and he said that he spend an entire month on diet, so he could do that stage. Taemin said on a few episodes of Mtopia that he was on a diet, but you can clearly see that he was extremely thin. Also they have a part in their contracts about plastic surgery, you can see that almost every SM artist has done it a double eyelid surgery.

The blatantly favoritism over Korean idols and the mistreats that happens with idols that aren't Korean (especially with they're chinese), as we saw many times already with examples like Tao, Kris, Luhan, Lay, Winwin, Ten and Lucas before they joined WayV. Or favoritism with certain members of groups, like Taeyong in Nct, of course that favoritism is a part of their formula but still pretty fucked up.

They have such a questionable promotion, like I already read once about. They said that SM promotes the new groups so they can form a better fan base and that way no longer will need the promotion, but still this is extremely bad. Like with BoA, Tvxq or Suju who are still relevant but we barely hear news about them because SM doesn't promote then, and I can already see this with Exo especially in their latest comeback.

They manage mental health horrifically. Like with Taeyeon in 2014/15 when a member (bc SM treated Jessica as garbage) of her group had to leave, which lead to the midia saying it was her fault alongside with the hate she received at that time because of her relationship with Baekhyun, that lead to her depression and eating disorders. Same thing happened with Baek, although he didn't receive the same amount of hate, he still had to suffer with his relationship being in the spotlight while 3 members of his group left, because AGAIN SM treated them as fucking garbage.

For stop carrying about f(x), as a result lead to a witch hunt on Victoria saying that it was her fault for that happening, for Sulli who was suffering from a mental illness but never received a break nor the protection from the media that used to say that she was a bad example. For Jonghyun who was also suffering from depression but never got any help or a break.

And our latest examples Irene and Chanyeol. I don't approve Irene's actions, but the fact that the media is so ruthless with her it's ridiculous and even more ridiculous of SM to not defend their idol, especially when there's so many other celebrities that are WAY worse than her. And for Chanyeol, who was accused of cheating on his girlfriend 10 times, but SM had nothing to say or to defend his image. It took the fans for that to happen, the fans were the ones to find out that was a fake and cover up scandal so the news about the government crisis were not to be seen.

They are so bad at dealing with idol apologies, like why did Taeyong in 2016 had to apologize for something he didn’t do, but they never had anyone apologize for their racist or the cultural appropriation that the idols have done many times already in a lot of mvs????

That's why I hate the kpop industry and the media so fucking much, bc they're ruthless and assholes who are putting so much pressure on the idols, who in the end of the day are humans and are deserving of things like love, privacy and a break to take care of themselves. I truly adore kpop and the dramas, but I'd stop watching and listening with all of my heart if it means that they would stop treating humans beings as fucking trash! They deserve so much more!

Thank you for coming to my ted talk!

[prosopopeya]

New Year’s Meme

this survey has been a tradition among my friend group for YEARS, but i haven’t filled it out since 2015 apparently. i’m not entirely sure why except 2016 was the year a lot of stuff changed for me, namely in that i finally got out of school in some form and started a new job, but i also had a few health problems that kept plaguing me (thyroid medicine being off, vitamin d) and my anxiety was all over the place. so here we go i’m doing it again and feel free to do it too if you want!!

1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before? tried on wedding dresses. taught virtually. dealt (poorly) with drunk teenagers. performed in a pep rally. wore face masks all the time. i’m going to lump in living with someone. jon moved in october 2019, but i don’t think i did this quiz last year so. taught ap.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year? i don’t really like resolutions. they put too much pressure on me and i am a fragile person when it comes to setting expectations and living up to them. i did want to try to read more this year, and i maintained that until the pandemic, and then just kind of gave up requiring myself to do anything but live.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? i don’t think so. a coworker did.

4. Did anyone close to you die? jon’s cousin committed suicide in march or april. the circumstances were pretty upsetting. um. andy died in february, very suddenly. andy was my high school boyfriend for four years with whom i had a very... he scarred me in a lot of ways when it comes to sex and consent. it’s taken me a long time to unpack all of that. and i struggle with how much any of that was his fault or just bc he was a stupid kid too. our mutual friends had nothing but nice things to say about him on fb. anyway. he would guilt me into saying he’d kill himself if we broke up, and jon’s cousin killed himself over his girlfriend. so that was a complex part of the year.

5. What countries did you visit? none. literally the week before the quarantine, we went to asheville to visit jon’s cousin.

6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? maybe a different job? or at least some peace at doing mine.

7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? march 13 we cancelled classes and had a technology training day; the 15th we had another one, and then we were virtual the rest of the term. it was such a sudden shift and while i so loved working from home tbh, it was such a relief after a supremely shitty january/february work-wise, i still had a lot of keyed-up, stressful days centered around transitioning to being the senior upper school spanish teacher. i hate it!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? writing 50k in the month of november. i have literally never done that before and actively reject nano as being typically unhealthy for how my mind works, so it was nice to do it entirely by accident.

9. What was your biggest failure? mishandling the drunken teenagers on that field trip in january.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? i sit crosslegged in my virtual teaching chair and i did it so much that my ankle hurt for the entire summer.

11. What was the best thing you bought? we put a deposit on our elopement in ireland. jon’s wedding ring. (i didn’t buy my wedding dress.)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? my best friend at work who keeps me sane and is represented by benny in my au, which other than the fact that he is not my sidepiece, is perfect he is crucial to my survival at work and i love him so much. (also he is gay and the french teacher so the benny parallels just keep coming). everyone who tore down a statue in virginia (and other places, but especially monument avenue). everyone putting their lives on the line during this pandemic.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? guess! but aside from all the obvious, i found out a friend of mine at work voted for trump. my work bff and i had been trying for years to sway his politics, but that had us both deciding to give up on him.

14. Where did most of your money go?  food, ALCOHOL. god., our savings account. i did a pretty excellent job saving this year, though a good deal of that is because jon moved in and makes more money than me, and also we split all the bills.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? my wedding dress but strangely only when i went to try it on after it came in bc after the purchase i was so sure i’d made every mistake possible. my wedding band. wellbutrin changing my whole life. and, last but certainly not least, the gay angel and the bi(lingual) hunter. i wouldn’t have survived nov-dec in school without that distraction. the election.

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2020? the entirety of taylor swift’s oeuvre this year, maybe specifically “this is me trying”

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:  i. Happier or sadder? happier, i suppose, perhaps contrary to what should be the case, but wellbutrin is a hell of a drug. ii. Older or wiser? wiser. ii. Richer or poorer? richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? reading. cleaning. exercising.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? stressing. chaperoning.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? so, an update; last year was the first year i didn’t go to my mom’s for christmas. i was supposed to see her for thanksgiving last year, but she basically told us not to come bc she wasn’t feeling up to it (cool!), and we went to jon’s for christmas and my mom’s for new year’s. 

this year, obviously we couldn’t go to my mom’s. instead, we rented a little cabin by the lake. it was perfect; it was really really nice inside, the beds were SO SOFT, the pillows were the best things i have ever laid my head on, like i took off the pillowcases to try to find the brand. we had a little tiny christmas tree with tiny ornaments from walmart that we decorated. the 23rd, we went and picked up our wedding bands. we slept two nights in the (cold) back bedroom so i could wake up and look out at the lake. it snowed for christmas. :)

we opened presents on christmas eve, per jon’s family’s tradition. on christmas eve, we also went to his family farm and sat outside and hung out a little. every year his family does like a secret santa sort of thing and i got my first present in that exchange, which is notable bc jon and i are not yet officially married. i got a remote control car -- jon’s idea bc i couldn’t think of anything, and he was so delighted to hear that i loved playing with rc cars when we went to the beach as a kid.

christmas morning we facetimed my parents and opened some presents together. then jon and i marathoned mandalorian (after spending the previous few days watching several die hard movies), and then we watched wonder woman 1984 which was a bad movie.

21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? ok LAST year for new year’s, we were in a hotel room, so that was nice, bc it meant minimal stress with my parents. i had always wanted to go to this restaurant near us that has a special new year’s menu, so we did that. the night before or after i think we went to cheesecake factory, which was also amazing.

this year currently i’m tumbling and he’s playing pokemon, and in a bit we’ll try to time it so we finish schitt’s creek in time for the new year.

22. Did you fall in love in 2020? i re-fell in love with supernatural so that was nice.

23. How many one-night stands? 0. i submit we should randomly change question 23 each year to something more relevant to any of our life experiences.

24. What was your favorite TV program? what did i even watch this year. schitt’s creek. mandalorian. i mean obviously we know supernatural. the circle. are you the one (the queer season). pose. unsolved mysteries. we’re here! perry mason. watchmen. oh maybe that mcdonald’s monopoly fraud documentary. avenue 5. i’ll be gone in the dark. of those i think my favorite maybe is... pose or we’re here.

OKAY UM. on my 2014 version of this there were a bunch of questions about tv shows that i’m putting back in if only for the memories:

25. Which TV shows did you start watching in 2020? the haunting of bly manor, which we still need to finish. derry girls.

26. Which TV shows did you let go of in 2020? HERE’S WHY I WANTED TO RESURRECT THESE. here was my answer in 2015: “supernatural. goodbye, my sweet prince.” CAN YOU EVEN FUCKING BELIEVE

27. Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn’t in 2020? Why? so far, queen’s gambit and that one on hulu with catherine the great. EVENTUALLY. 28. Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2020? fleabag. queen’s gambit. 29. Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2020 unless things significantly improve? idk i drop things pretty regularly if they don’t entertain me 30. Which TV show impressed you least in 2020? GUYS HERE’S MY ORIGINAL 2015 ANSWER: “supernatural. :(”

anyway back to the rest of the quiz:

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? every person who refuses to listen to facts and information.

26. What was the best book you read? killers of the flower moon: the osage murders and the birth of the fbi, or the his dark materials series.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? well i knew about tswift so i’m not going to count her albums. i will count this song that jon played for me once in the car that got stuck in my head for two weeks straight and led me down into a great related-songs spotify playlist: through the roof ‘n underground.

28. What did you want and get? a wedding dress and a very specific kind of wedding band. a gay angel. a christmas getaway. animal crossing.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? idk i don’t know how many films i saw this year. maybe mucho mucho amor: the legend of walter mercado

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? i was 32. we went to an escape room with a BUNCH of people -- work bff, my old work bff and his wife (old bc he quit and we’ve fallen out of touch :(), the cool new physics teacher and his fiancee, and the aforementioned trump voter and his wife, before we knew... we went out for brunch/lunch after. it was pretty great!

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? not having to chaperone that school trip in january. dean being bi in english as well as spanish. cas just ilke, appearing in 15x20. not having to physically go back to work this fall.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020? no! real! pants!

34. What kept you sane? jon. supernatural (in a way?). animal crossing for a while. wellbutrin! i haven’t really been able to detail this yet, but finally i did something about tumblr and my therapist making me think about adhd. my doctor gave me wellbutrin (bc i lack any official diagnosis and was on anxiety meds anyway, and he was like let’s try this!) and it’s fucking. it’s a fucking godsend. surprisingly enough, my students. trying to provide them a safe space has been a calming thing for me.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? jensen ackles’ silence. misha collins again, i guess.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? the summer was so fucking intense. i guess though it was me trying to exert my influence in a responsible way with my students without trying to try to make them feel uncomfortable but then one kid was a vocally upset trump supporter after the election and i had to try to defuse that situation.

37. Who did you miss? my old work bff. several old friends that i’ve fallen out of touch with bc i have no object permanence.

38. Who was the best new person you met? people i met through the spn resurgence!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020: if you manifest it in an au, it will come. no really though. maybe that expectations are only as important as i make them out to be.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: usually i have a hard time coming up with anything for this and i default to looking at my most played songs of the year. my most played song of the year received each and every one of its plays within the month of november and you can guess why. anyway see if this works

I had all and then most of you Some and now none of you Take me back to the night we met I don't know what I'm supposed to do Haunted by the ghost of you Take me back to the night we met - the night we met, lord huron

[fictional-worlds-are-exquisite]

i am very much enjoying my vague void! it's currently blasting hozier at full volume and that's almost louder than my internal screaming (don't worry, everything is fine, i just saw a spider)

i've never once in my life have followed a recipe correctly. all of my measurements are completely random and whatever happens happens. it is no longer in my hands. whatever eldritch entities exist take the wheel. and i absolutely refuse to spell anything in english without autocorrect because y'all have way too many double letters and random vowel placement

thank you! sadly, i won't have a break right now, because we just had christmas vacations, but the start of the new semester is always pretty chill. and you're absolutely right, i should take up necromancy! the snow and the cold will add to my mysterious vibes. i just need to get a big black cape with a hood to complete the aesthetic

i definitely picture everything above 5'6 feet as the same height. 5'7 and 6'2? the exact same thing. no difference here

how is morepork a real bird name. it's just... more pork? but the bird is magnificent. i completely approve of your first order as bird queen, not that you need approval from mere peasants like me, but it's a great order. ohhh salps look really cool, and it does look a lot like it! when you said boob implant i thought of mermaids and them using salps as boob implants but then i realised wait wouldn't jellyfish be better for that? because of their shape? ignoring their little leggies they're quite boob shaped, no? and then i realised that i was thinking about mermaids and alive boob implants... if i had to think it, you have to read it. i'm sorry

i was sold before but now i'm even more sure that i want to hire you. and I'll make sure to have lactose free cheese for the backflips (unless you want the lactose version? i'm not judging). will the biting of ankles cost extra?

that sounds like a brilliant set-up for a horror movie where they kill off all the children one by one. it's absolutely horrifying. if something like that would've happened to me i would've most likely just passed out. whatever happens afterwards is not my problem. and now i really don't want to know what the hell your leg was caught on because that seems like knowledge that would get me killed

ah so you're a fellow dirt eater? according to my mom my favourite thing to do outside when i was a little kid used to be eating sand. just shovelling handfuls of it into my mouth and crying when my mom made me spit it out. which i refuse to believe. if there are no photos it didn't happen

you warm climate people are starting to make me think that i'm better adjusted to the cold than i thought i am! it's either that or our buildings are better heated. i definitely don't know if anyone else calls hot water bottled hotties but i like it so from now on i'm using it

that's so cute! i was clearly a way more selfish child because when i found any amount of money i just kept it and bought candy as soon as i could. i clearly couldn't save money then and i can't now. we have stores like that (or i'm assuming that they're like that solely based on how they sell lollies) and they used to be my favourite thing because you could get so many lollies for such a small price!! and my mom even used to let me order for myself sometimes so i always felt like a very big girl jsjshsbsjk

also the fact that i can't send pictures on anon is a crime (yes i know why and it's good that that's not possible because can you imagine anons being able to send pictures? oh no is all i have to say about it) but anyways. because i have this one super cursed photo that reminded me of you and now i can't share it :((

duuuuude, sick void bro. sounds like a vibing void. I feel like I haven’t seen a spider in awhile. Other than daddy long legs. But they’re chill. They mind their own business. 

I nearly always follow recipes exactly. My mum is like oh cook this for about 7 minutes? Yeah sure. I’ll take a wild guess. I’m like they say exactly 7 minutes so I’ll set a timer for 7 minutes and start a stopwatch so if it does seem to need more than 7 I can keep an eye on the extra time and be aware of exactly how long it takes me for next time. Other people are like oh let's see I have [lists 5-10 things in their fridge], hmm...oh I know what I could make with that! I’m like I have beans in my freezer because one recipe required them and no other recipes I know how to make do so what am I supposed to do with these now,,, this is stressful,,, basically I barely know how to cook and recipes are the only things saving me in that area. That is entirely fair. Except for the fuck duck, and murder is not the word you want surely, situations, it’s pretty helpful.

Ohhh I see. At least the start is chill! For a little! Before your entire situation spirals out of hand and you’re behind in every class and it’s taken you a whole day to read 10 pages and you’re exhausted and it’s only week 2. Just me? ok. fair. anyway. I want a cloak so bad. One of my uni friends tempted me to class because she said she was wearing a cloak so my depressed ass honest to god dragged myself out of bed and to said class just to see it. It was worth it. They’re incredible. Everyone should own a big cloak for the aesthetic.

I’m glad it isn’t just me hahaha. I can visualise my own height in feet but everything else is just the same size that is a vague amount taller than me, mentally.

It’s also known as the ruru. But the name morepork amuses me. It’s named after the call it makes haha. It does sound like it’s asking for more pork if you know to listen for that. thank u for ur approval, it means a lot, turns out becoming bird queen didn’t ACTUALLY get rid of my anxiety disorder weirdly enough so validation is great! lmaooo. What if the jellyfish stung them tho? At least salps wouldn’t do you dirty like that. The mermaids would just look like there are hundreds of bugs crawling around in their boobs, flesh shifting as they float around. Which is a vibe. If you’re into that. Jellyfish WOULD make a more solid, single, implant, some of them are definitely boob shaped. But that’s kinda boring no one’s gonna be traumatised by that. Salps on the other hand...yeah, that sight will DEFINITELY traumatise someone.

To be PERFECTLY honest I haven’t done a backflip in years but for lactose-free cheese? Dude. I’ll be going back to training. Gonna be the best backflip you’ve ever seen. As long as it’s not Tasty cheese I am content, but lactose free IS better. The biting of ankles will not cost extra, it is a pleasure to be allowed to do that.

Oh it absolutely would be. It’d be very funny if it reached the wider world bc people would probably be like ok but who would send kids into the bush like that,, it’s an odd concept. meanwhile everyone who grew up in nz is gonna be like y’all, you’re not gonna fuckin BELIEVE what i experienced growing up, it’s real dude. On one hand, I feel like murdering kids in a movie is questionable, on the other hand, It exists, so maybe people would be down for it. I feel like it’d be a good concept even if it wasn’t murdery tho. Like psychological horror? I’m not sure if I’m using that category correctly I don’t watch much horror. A kid following the rope but then being shifted into a different horror dimension but they never take the blindfold off because their teachers said not to and they’d probably have to let go of the rope to do it...I feel like this could work super well as a short film. The viewers see everything. The child just knows something is off and no one is coming when they call for help. I am so down for this. I also do not want to know what my leg was caught on. Some things I am better off not knowing.

yes! I am a fellow dirt eater! We had a sandpit at home (that’s a little bold. It was a large plastic shell that my parents filled with sand. technically a sandpit. but not fancy sdflsdkfsdf) but I don’t think I ever tried to eat it. Then again, I possibly did and just don’t remember because there’s no photo evidence of that one. I’d have to ask my parents sdfhsjdfs, I would however fully believe them if they said yes. it’s very characteristic of me. I don’t doubt it for a second. muuuum that’s my emotional support sand don’t make me spit it out smh the disrespect these days.

Oh I’m absolutely terrible even by most people’s standards around here when it comes to cold and hot temperatures. I remember sitting in the sun in my school shirt and school jersey in summer on a blazing day like it’s a bit chilly, isn’t it? Meanwhile my friends were in the shade absolutely dying from the heat. Likewise in winter I’d be shivering, teeth chattering, dying with my long sleeve thermal, my school shirt, my school jersey, my school jacket, my longs, warm socks and sneakers and gloves and school scarf while ppl would be walking around in a shirt and shorts like it’s a bit warm this winter huh? my body didn’t learn how to thermoregulate and it shows. But yeah NZ does also have a reputation for shittily insulated buildings and such. It shows. skhdfsfs if it’s not common use maybe don’t say can i have a hotty to someone without context but otherwise go ahead lmao. it’s a fun shortened version.

I was typically a very good saver, to the point where my extended family started gifting me gift cards and vouchers for Christmas and my birthday because if they just gave me money I’d put it in my bank account to save towards uni once I hit like, 12 years old. Which I think was a smart move. But apparently, I’m supposed to buy myself ‘something nice’ with it. I think I’m still an okay saver but I’m not as strict anymore. I’m aware of how much I can spare and I’m not just like you can never get anything for yourself ever, so I do get lil things for myself sometimes. oooo yay! At least you know what I mean. But yes. They were the gold mine for lollies. Absolutely terrific stores. My mum would be like hey lindsey how about you order? And I’d be like mother, I am 7 years old and I have an undiagnosed anxiety disorder everyone assumes is child shyness why would you think I would want to do that. Instead I will whisper my choices to you. After therapy tho I felt pretty rad for picking my own lollies by myself. I was like 13 at that point but sdfkjhsdf listen I got there in the end.

sdfkjsdfkjhsdf I like that a cursed photo reminded you of me. That’s all I need to hear. Tumblr said no anon dick pics but they also said no anon cursed photos either,,, very sad. for the latter part. the first part thank god. If I could turn on photos on anon I absolutely would just to see this but I don’t think I can :(

[hidden-highlands]

Hope you're ready for these Xenoblade asks!! You don't have to answer them all if it's too many. 6, 7, 9, 14, 18, 21, 24, 25, 36, 41!

omg angel thank u for all the questions!! <3

gonna chuck these under a readmore for length

6: Favorite location?

SATORL MARSH AT NIGHT UGH IT IS JUST SO DANG PRETTY ;;u;;

also Agniratha, the sheer gravity and atmosphere of that place was so.... unsettling, but in the best way

7: Least favorite location?

generally? most of the locations on Mechonis; after how diverse each new location on Bionis was, it felt like a bit of a letdown for each new area to have similar aesthetics and enemies. i cannot for the life of me differentiate between Galahad Fortress or Mechonis Field or Central Factory.

specifically? the Ether Mines. i played through that entire stretch of the game in, like, a 6-hour sitting, and kind of burnt myself out a lil towards the end.

9: Favorite part of the story?

gotta be Mechonis Core! even though i expected ~something~ to happen i was in NO WAY prepared for what was to come. the way that it completely flipped everything you thought you knew about the world and the story of the game on its head and just kept delivering sucker punch after sucker punch .... i had to pause the game to scream into a pillow afterwards. 

14: Favorite party member to play as?

Reyn because i like to stare at his muscles

i don’t have an outright favourite i don’t think, but i tend to cycle between Melia, Shulk, and Seven! i like Melia for reasons i’ve mostly listed below, Seven for the damage output of haste + speed shift + sword drones, and Shulk bc he is the main character and also My Son :’)

18: Favorite Arts to use?

i’m a huge fan of all of Melia’s elementals! i love how they add another layer of strategy to the gameplay, and it’s so satisfying taking down otherwise overlevelled / powerful enemies with her DoT attacks :’)

21: Favorite battle quote?

BORN IN A WORLD OF STRIFE!

AGAINST THE ODDS!

WE CHOOSE TO FIGHT!

BLOSSOM DANCE!

bonus points for the way it subtly relates to the overarching theme of the game :’’)

24: Favorite ship? ;)

SHULK / FIORA TO THE DAY I DIE THEY ARE PRECIOUS TOGETHER AND I WILL PROTECT THEM WITH MY LIFE

25: Favorite Heart-to-Heart?

i haven’t unlocked them all yet but oh my GOD the one between Shulk and Seven on the Fallen Arm ????? absolutely MELTED my HEART ??????? i instantly replayed it in the Event Theatre like three times just for the lines “none of it matters as long as i get to be with you. you’ll always be my [redacted]” i am going to CRY i love them so much ;;u;;

36: Least favorite game mechanic?

oh definitely the timed quests, while i love that they reflect the way that the game’s world is changed by the events of the story, i stressed myself tf out trying to complete as many of them as quick as possible bc i didn’t want to look up when they expired and risk spoiling myself but i also didn’t want to lock myself out of them. i definitely burnt myself out a little bit on Bionis’ Leg because of it, and i think i missed a few late-game ones because by that point i was just so tired of timed quests and just wanted to get on with the story lmfao

41: How did you come to know Xenoblade Chronicles?

oooh thank you for asking this one, i think it’s quite a cool story!! i’d just started watching Chuggaaconroy’s LPs back in 2014 when he started his playthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles, and i watched maybe the first episode or two before i realised that, fuck, maybe this was a game i really needed to play through myself. dumb bitch highschool me forgot about the tiny lil detail that i didn’t own a fucking Wii -- but then the 3DS port was announced! so i was like okay, i’ll get the 3DS version. except it was specifically for the New 3DS, and i only had an original -- so i figured i would wait a bit, save up some money, and grab a New 3DS when i went to upgrade my old one. except, so few (new) games were announced for the New 3DS that i couldn’t really justify dropping the ~$300 on an upgrade, and by the time i had the money the Switch was a thing, so i bought one of those instead. second-hand copies of Xenoblade used to be on sale at my local game store aaaall the time, and i cannot count how many times i would stare longingly at that $38 price tag and have to talk myself out of buying it in hopes of ‘”one day”’ having the appropriate system to play it on.

AND THEN. THE DEFINITIVE EDITION WAS ANNOUNCED. the hunch that 16-year-old Cat had was 100% correct; i am so so glad that i listened to it because playing through the game for the first time blind was a really special experience :’)

i have spent, no lie, 6 whole fucking years in anticipation of one day getting to play this game, and it was worth every dang second of the wait.

[homosociallyyours]

@ha-larry-us and @livqueer tagged me to do this! Here we go :) 

1. what is the colour of your hairbrush? light amber wood color

2. a food you never eat? beets, tho i keep trying

3. are you typically too warm or too cold? neither, usually my body regulates temp well. but being sick that’s a little different and i never know if i’ll be shivering or having a hot flash

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago? going back and forth between instagram and tumblr

5. what is your favourite candy bar? uhh maybe a snickers or a 100 grand bar

6. have you ever been to a professional sports event? i went to the Oakland A’s gay day a few years ago with co-workers. It was really fun!! but i could never attend a serious sports event to cheer for a winning team. 

7. what is the last thing you said out loud? "come on, ding dong, you can do it” --said to my dog who was hesitating jumping down off the chair where she’d sat while i washed my dishes

8. what is your favourite ice cream? McConnell’s salted caramel and chocolate flake. or anything that’s a mascarpone or goat cheese base. yum. 

9. what was the last thing you had to drink? decaf yorkshire with milk

10. do you like your wallet? YES! i have a scarf that has a secret pocket in it! it holds cards and other small essentials and it’s very sneaky. 

11. what was the last thing you ate? granola with milk

12. did you buy any new clothes last weekend? nah bruh i haven’t bought new clothes in ages!

13. the last sporting event you watched? i watched the last season of GLOW when it came out. that’s as close as i get. 

14. what is your favourite flavour of popcorn? chicago mix babyyyy! cheddar and caramel together at last. 

15. who is the last person you sent a text message to? my housemate, it was the landlord’s contact info​

16. ever go camping? YES, and i miss it!! i used to camp regularly and really love my pseudo-glamping life: cooler full of good food, a double high air mattress, and a tent that allows you to stand up in the center (to change clothes). i haven’t gone since coming to california, which is a total bummer. 

17. do you take vitamins? yes, vit. D and fish oil daily, ideally i would have a good multi, PS, and maybe a couple other things, but i can’t afford them all right now. my minimum is a D though, since yr body really does NOT get it from sun exposure. i know it sounds silly but vitamins are basically the concrete you pour in a hole to stabilize a beam (yr food). they’re very good and they help a lot! 

18. do you go to church every sunday? NO, thank goodness! i even stopped having to go with my family when i visit them. 

19. do you have a tan? no, and i rarely do. SPF all the way. 

20. do you prefer Chinese food or pizza? pizza please

21. do you drink your soda with a straw? only fountain sodas with ice

22. what colour socks do you usually wear? bright/mixed colors

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit? occasionally, but i’m pretty careful and definitely don’t do it in residential areas. 

24. what terrifies you? zombies (seriously) and loss/lack of control of myself

25. look to your left, what do you see? the side of the couch and the blank wall. 

26. what chore do you hate? doing the dishes

27. what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? the crocodile hunter

28. what’s your favourite soda? cherry coke or dublin dr. pepper (the cane sugar kind made in texas) orrrr cheerwine

29. do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? i drive thru everywhere except in-n-out, where it often takes less time to walk in. 

30. who’s the last person you talked to? my housemate and i had a little conversation, but i messaged with my bff earlier and that was a real conversation. 

31. favourite cut of beef? umm i really like cooking a ny strip, but i don’t necessarily have a favorite

32. last song you listened to? "fancy” as sung by bobbie gentry bc instagram didn’t have the reba version. WHICH IS UNACCEPTABLE, just so you know. 

33. last book you read? my friends, i have a confession. i haven’t read an actual book in ages. i used to read A LOT and then when i got sick it was like my brain said NO THANK YOU and i just stopped. i still read loads, it’s just mostly fic or articles. that being said, i just finished i must admit i thought i’d like to make you mine by @disgruntledkittenface and it was EXCELLENT. 

34. favourite day of the week? Thursdays. like for as long as i can remember. it was hamburger day when i was a kid, and now it’s thursday hersday. and of course it was must see tv night all thru my adolescence. 

35. can you say the alphabet backwards? i mean i probably could but why would i want to?

36. how do you like your coffee? with whole milk (and if i’m doing it myself, a little cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of sugar)

37. favourite pair of shoes? my dog face flats (they’re bob’s for dogs, you can maybe google them) even tho they are really worn out now

38. at what time do you normally go to bed? between 4-7am. i am a cryptid, please do not look at me

39. at what time do you normally get up? between 2-5pm, again i beg you to look away and judge me not

40. what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? sunsets!! (SAME!!)

41. how many blankets are on your bed? 4 right now. 2 super soft, 1 electric, and 1 duvet/comforter. 

42. describe your kitchen plates? the classic 70s/80s unbreakable plates, some with the gold flowers around the rim and some with the tiny olive green ones. truly i think i have only seen a plate like this break once in my entire life. i bought these at a store in nyc (i definitely overpaid BUT it was still like $20 for 6 or 8 plates that will never break)

43. do you have a favourite alcoholic beverage? a properly made sidecar is HEAVEN, ok? so good!! but you gotta use good brandy and fresh lemons and i would get one if i could go back to my fave nyc bar and have pietro (a very good bartender) make me one. but really the thing that i will always want and have difficulty turning down is champagne/sparkling wine in the style of champagne. 

44. do you play cards? yes! i used to play all the time with my ex. don’t so much any more but i still love it when i get to! 

45. what colour is your car? dark orange

46. can you change a tire? YES!! @ha-larry-us when the quarantine is done I will show you!! it really isn’t too hard unless your bolts are on super tight. 

47. what is your favourite state/province? California, i think. though part of me wants to name a southern state because I was born there and the mountains feel like home. 

48. favourite job you’ve ever had? the one i currently have but am physically unable to work at right now-- cheesemonger at a worker owned grocery store

49. how did you get your biggest scar? i was borrowing stage makeup from a friend in another dorm before our choir performance. the door was usually propped open, and so when i left the building i sorta jogged down the steps and pushed really hard on the door with my momentum. it was NOT propped open, and I put my right arm through the glass (and knocked out two more panes with my knee and foot). the RA was training to be an EMT and helped me get cleaned up. I didn’t get stitches, but the scar is very long (maybe 3 inches). the best part of the story is that i went to make sure the choir director knew i wasn’t performing but would sit in the audience, and her response was “we don’t have time to give you sympathy.” she was having a rough year but DAMN that was an ice cold response to an injured 18 year old.

50. what did you do today that made someone else happy? hmm probably just chatting with my bff. that makes both of us happy, always. 

IDK WHO TO TAG!!! who is the sort of person to answer 50 random questions?? @alienfuckeronmain maybe? how about @slowdownsugar? hmm maybe @crinkle-eyed-boo and uhh @pompomoffinland. And you, friend!! YOU who is sitting there really wishing you were tagged, I am definitely tagging you!!

[tsingadark]

Weekly Fic Rec

this is for the two people who said they like my fic recs! ❤

Yoonkook

a different kind of danger by sundaytimes E | 3.3k | AU | bunny hybrid Jungkook moves in with Yoongi. They’re just housemates until Jungkook comes home and he’s in heat.

which to bury: us or the hatchet? by notyoongs E | 18k | Canon | Jungkook and Yoongi don’t get along (or do they?) and Yoongi has had enough of Jungkook looking for an argument every time. 

Lost Stars by memeingfully_slytherin G | 22.3k | AU | Asexual Jungkook’s journey to self-acceptance and on his way he meets Yoongi. This was very touching for me personally but I recommend reading this if you’re asexual or not bc it’s very well written! 

furniture by bellamees M | 11.2k | Canon | Yoongi’s bought an apartment but he’s not sleeping so well on his own. Slowly, the apartment goes from an apartment to home for both of them. listen, if you love yoonkook you know how good bellamees’ fics are, so go read this!

the kids aren't alright by notyoongs E | 10.5k | AU | modern college hogwarts au and yoonkook are in love. yes, you’ve read correctly. if that doesn’t make you want to read this, idk what will.

just pull me down hard (and drown me in love) by herstoire E | 16.6k | Canon | where do I even start, this is too good to put into words?? Yoongi spends most of their free day in the studio instead of spending it with Jungkook, but Jungkook is understanding, he just worries about Yoongi. Established relationship yoonkook in a canon setting and it’s (in my opinion) very realistic. Also, I love the way their relationship dynamic is portrayed. I just love everything about this, okay!

All Of You by dreamingdaegu M | 5k | Canon | Jungkook thinks he’s a somewhat bad boyfriend because he doesn’t compliment Yoongi enough so he tries to do just that.

strawberries & cigarettes by notyoongs E | 129.3k | AU | “bad boy” Yoongi and “baby boy” Jungkook find each other and appearances are often misleading. soft, soft, soft, such a good read! kinda want to read this again now.

light the morning by ggoosu E | 52.3k | Canon | Alpha Jungkook has liked Omega Yoongi for what feels like forever. I don’t wanna give anything away but well, it’s a happy ending. This is such a sweet fic!

sucker by notyoongs E | 21.3k | AU | vampire!Yoongi finds injured werewolf!Jungkook and decides to help him. He doesn’t expect Jungkook to become a part of his life. vampire/werewolf is the best.

Namkook

24/7 (Minutes in) Heaven by bananamilks T | 3.4k | AU | Jungkook goes to a party and plays spin the bottle. Namjoon is also playing.

why stop now by candoura M | 4k | AU | venom namkook au with Jungkook as the symbiote and Namjoon as the host. It’s very sweet in some ways, as weird as that sounds (not in a bad way!). 

if we burn it down and it takes all night by pearl_o M | 3.6k | AU | Inspired by BST. Namkook get invited to a party by Taejin.

Camp Half-blood AU by GinForInk AU | Jungkook and Namjoon meet at Camp Half-blood. The author said in their notes that it probably won’t make much sense if you haven’t read Percy Jackson but I haven’t and the fic was still amazing, so.

come take it (if you want a piece of me) by babyblue (wormkun) E | 42.4k | AU | Jungkook makes a tinder account and thinks someone is catfishing by using Kim Namjoon’s picture, a rapper Jungkook’s been a fan of for a few years. They match.

Take my hands now by Aguacates E | 52.7k | AU | Probably the best fic i’ve ever read in my entire life. Single dad Jungkook meets Namjoon, a friend of his friend Jimin, who’s also single dad. I loved the friendship between Jikook, and Namkook in this was everything. I could probably write like 20 pages about why I love this fic, it’s that good.

How much to give and how much to take by Aguacates E | 66.6k | AU | Arranged marriage. Jungkook and Namjoon try to adjust living together and being married. It’s not easy. (same person who wrote the fic above this one, so you know it’s amazing.)

Every Kind of Way by Oh_Hey_Tae T | 10.9k | AU | Jungkook likes Namjoon, Namjoon has a hard time getting it. Good old (un)requited pining with a happy ending.

Jikook

the universe has moved for us by jonghyunslisterine E | 30k | AU | Omega!Jimin is pregnant when his meets his neighbour Alpha!Jungkook. They slowly get closer to each other.

sugar, we're going down swinging by aborescent T | 10.3k | AU | Sherlock AU in which Jungkook moves in with Jimin. Their first encounter involves Jimin dissecting a penis.

Jinkook

wonderful tonight by jeontly (jinyoung) M | 12.8k | Canon | Epilogue to forever yours, which you should probably read first. After BTS’ disbandment, Jungkook and Seokjin slowly find to each other. Not to spoil anything but I think it’s obvious the epilogue is the happy end ;)

Namgi

thirty thousand feet and falling by linzeigh E | 16.6k | AU | Alpha!Namjoon and Omega!Yoongi meet on a flight to Hawaii and they’re immediately intoxicated by each other’s scents. You can probably guess where this is going.

strangers on a train by sequoiasem G | 55.2k | AU | If you only read one fic on this list, let it be this one. I’ve fallen in love with this author’s writing and this fic is honestly one of the best namgi fics I’ve read so far. Yoongi gets a new job and has to commute to work. He accidentally “steals” Namjoon’s regular seat and that is what slowly brings them together. 

The Rest Comes After by naxariis T | 17k | AU | Yoongi and Namjoon’s partner both cheat on them with the others partner and that’s the beginning of Namgi’s relationship. 

kissin' in the rain by sequoiasem G | 4.3k | Canon | Namjoon argues that kissing in the rain is romantic. Yoongi argues it isn’t. Namjoon wants to prove him wrong. 

what rhymes with pug me by sequoiasem T | 62k | Canon | Yoongi buys Namjoon a sweater in their trainee days. It accompanies them through the years and becomes more than just a simple sweater.

careful, you're extremely hot by sequoiasem G | 7.4k | AU | Hoseok writes a message from Yoongi to Namjoon on Namjoon’s coffee. Yoongi continues leaving Namjoon messages. omg, my description doesn’t do this justice, but it’s funny and cute af, so pls read this.

Yoonjin

every atom in between by 55cancrie M | 90.1k | AU | omg where to start describing this?? It has all of BTS and Seokjin and Yoongi as alien hunters. The worldbuilding.. I positively died, it was so good. Basically, Seokjin keeps stealing Yoongi’s aliens and Yoongi is pissed off.

[cerealbath]

I made a list of my top ten moments of my year 

10. I spent a lot of time at the beginning of summer sitting outside of my best friend’s starbucks. My (then) girlfriend would sit with me and we’d both do work and my best friend would come out and he would give us free drinks and kiss the tops of our heads and the sunset would always just be so beautiful. It was so warm. I felt so loved. 

9. I went to London and got to meet up with two of my English internet friends who I’ve been close with for years. They gave me a tour of London and the best moment was when we were all three eating a proper english breakfast. I just felt so lucky to finally see them and hang out.

8. This is silly as hell but my (then) girlfriend and I were at a Jon Bellion concert in an outdoor venue and there was a couple next to us and the man left to go get a soft pretzel. He came back with one pretzel and no dip for him and his girlfriend. Then, my girlfriend left and came back with TWO pretzels AND dip. I was so excited when she came back, i was like overwhelmed with love. Very good moment.

7. I went to the Stardust Diner in NYC with one of my best friends and her boyfriend’s family. Not only did her boyfriend’s family like me enough to pay to extend my train ticket earlier that day, but they bought everyone dinner and the music was incredible, as was the food. I was just having such a wonderful time, I’ll remember that night forever.

6. I had just completed my first event with my new company and I was all dressed up and sipping wine with new friends. I felt really adult and accepted, as well as accomplished and fancy. I remember looking out of the event windows at Boston, from MIT’s campus and I definitely had that Wow I’ve Made It feeling.

5. I graduated college. That was a thing that happened. I’d definitely say the moment I was in Total Wine with my best friends getting ready for my going-away party and I got the Canvas notification that I passed my final class. The second I knew I really did it, that was just incredible. (I never walked across the stage- but I did get my diploma later from my parents)

4. I went to Czechia with my best friend who was born and raised there and finally got to meet her family. The best moment was sitting around the table in her grandparent’s apartment eating soup and watching her little nephew run around. I finally got to see her home + family and I loved it.

3. I moved to Boston. I showed up here alone at the airport with a giant suitcase and my backpack. I moved into a room with no furniture in a house with strangers I found on the internet. I sat on my bedroom floor and it was like 100 degrees in my house and I was so tired from spending all day in O’hare. And I just started sobbing. I was so tired from my two weeks in Europe, and packing up my entire apartment, and finding a place to live, and graduating college, and planning a whole going away party. I was so tired and I only had a mattress in a box that had arrived earlier. I felt like I was in an alien land. I was scared to even leave my room! I basically got dressed and left the house and the second I left my house, I stepped into blinding sunlight. And the birds were chirping, and the breeze was blowing. (It was the first time I’d seen my city in daylight). And I just had this rush of hope and joy. I felt like everything would be okay, better than okay- incredible. That moment was something I desperately needed.

2. I was at my old student job back in TN when my now boss called me and offered me my current job. I immediately accepted and I just felt like fuck yeah!!!! fuck yeah!!! I did it, I was just about to graduate college and I got a job in my field at one of the best universities in the world straight out of the gate! I immediately called my mom and the joy in her voice made me feel so happy. That moment was so ??? unreal. I couldn’t believe it had happened.

1.  Meeting Rhett and Link. Or maybe being on the front row of the stage and watching them walk out for the first time. I was so happy, everything seemed surreal. The entire Boston BC show just made my year. I was so lonely before it, stressed from work and being new in a city. but being there with all these people with a similar interest and the atmosphere of excitement and love. I shook Rhett’s hand and it felt like I’d won the fucking lottery. Everything about that night was beautiful and I think about it often and it makes my heart swell. 

[orangeblossomstudies]

Quarantine tag, tagged by @jungcinema​ my best boo. Thanks :) 

Are you staying home from work/school?

I did starting in March and ending last week. I actually graduated virtually too so that's something. Now I’ m working remotely, though we don’t know how long that will last as I work with the university and they might cut OPS jobs. Here’s to hoping I can keep it!

2. If you’re staying home, who’s there with you? 

I’ve always lived at home throughout college, so its just my sister (also in college) and my moms.

3. Do you have pets to keep you company? 

I have two cats, one adult and one geriatric. I also had a dog who unfortunately died a few weeks ago from old age (she was 20!). I’ve recently gotten a toy poodle named Freddie Mercury to fill that hole in my life though!

4. Who do you miss the most? 

Probably my best friend Paige. We already din’ t get to see each other a lot as she works full time and I have school so now that we don’t even get to hang out at all it’s a real bummer.

5. When was the last time you left your home?

Two days ago? I think. I went on a drive with my puppy so he could start to get use to it and not associate cars with the vet!

6. What was the last thing you bought? 

An original Nintendo DS stylus bc I can’t find mine. They are so hard to get your hands on nowadays (it was 6 bucks!)

7. Is quarantine driving you insane or are you finally relaxed? 

Neither. It’s just regular to me? I don’t know, I’m not more relaxed than usual, but I’m also not going insane. Other than school I never really did anything anyway so this isn’t that different for me.

8. Are you a homebody? 

100% 

9. What movies have you watched recently? 

Haha @jungcinema would know that I am the worst at watching movies. So the answer would be zero >.<

10. An event you were looking forward to that got cancelled? 

Well I applied to grad school and was going to apply to a dream position that would allow me to get the two years of experience in managing archives I would have needed and pay for schooling but now the position isn’t going to be open as the person who had it before is going to hold onto it for as long as possible so the university doesn’t cut it entirely. And now I’m stuck with a minimum wage job and no way of affording grad school so :) not panicking or anything :)

11. What’s the worst thing you’ve had to cancel?

lol I had no plans because I don’t really do much so nothing really?

12. What’s the best thing you’ve had to cancel? 

^^^^

13. Do you have any new hobbies? 

I’ve been doing virtual volunteer work with my state archives and the Smithsonian to transcribe materials for digitization so that's fun. Currently working on Freedmen contracts from 1800s Florida plantations. Very interesting.

14. What are you out of? 

Money lmaoooo

15. What music are you listening to? 

IC3PEAK, Big Baby Tape, LIZER, FACE (all Russian artists) but that’s only todays vibe I’ve been listening to EVERYTHING as always 

16. What shows are you watching? 

None~

17. What are you reading? 

I’m currently reading The Stranger by Albert Campus and I also have The Plague by him waiting for me next!

18. What are you doing for self care? 

Reading and sleeping and just trying to keep a semi-normal schedule (still working at 10am and such)

19. Are you exercising? 

I go on walks every so often which sometimes include jogging but recently haven’t had the motivation or the energy as there’s a lot at home to do.

20. How’s your toilet paper supply?

Its good but we have toilet paper that is sooooo thin because the last time we tried to buy that was all there was so it sucks lol

21. Have you made any changes to your hair during quarantine? 

No haha I’m to scared to mess with this beautiful mane. Will leave that to my hairdresser when I see her next (hopefully soon as its down to my butt now)

[pangzi]

Okay how about this I’m always lookin for cpop groups to stan so why don’t you tell me about ur faves

you have no idea what you have unleashed!! but i will gladly take the offer and rant about my ult group TANGRAM i was gonna do ONER too but this post got too long and tangram was more important i tried to introduce the members but the descriptions just became random thoughts and tiny rants lmao sorry i love them a lot, i also added all songs i think and their reality shows pls love them they deserve it :( 

members: (basic member info here)

Qiu Zhixie (Frankie), oldest of the group, absolute vocal king and isn’t shy about it, parent of the group, loves his 5 children but is also done with them, language king!! his english is really good, says he also speaks spanish and japanese but there isn’t as much proof lmao, was in codename contra with yu bin, basically the perfect husband everyone wants to marry him, has tumblr???? says he doesn’t use it but we don’t believe him!! (i literally have a video of him telling me ‘tuMBLR? we doN’t uSe THat HEre!!’), songwriter!!!!!!!!!!!!!, old man and knows it but the members still wont let him forget, they bully him a lot bc they love him so much, has this one burberry shirt he wears all the time?? we lowkey want to burn it??

Lin Chaoze (Richard bc the chinese 理查德 li cha de sounds like his name), TINY GOD!!, lies about his height just like ji li but we still love him, looks tiny but is actually pretty tall wtf, dance KING!!, God of Dance Zhang Yixing even praised him!!, on ip he constantly helped people, is the reason why both tangram;s and all the teams he was ever on in ip’s choreos were that good and in sync, leader and parent of the group, also absolutely done with his children but would die for them, maotong is his favourite child and spoils him a lot, very insecure about his singing but has a beautiful voice, looks like a complete baby but on stage he… fuck god he’s so sexy on stage!, that’s why we sad off stage = chaoze, on stage = richard, really strict teacher, literally sees every little mistake it’s wild, most popular member!, really sassy and dramatic we love that!

Bei Honglin (Air) yes his english name is Air, yes he is still my ult i know he’s that powerful, aNOTHER VOCAL KING!! has a high singing voice but his speaking voice is really low?? seksi, completely underappreciated i swear to god he has like 5 fans???, the sWEETEST boy alive, cares so much about his fans he bought us ice cream in chengdu bc it was so hot sOBS, also went to make cheesecake to give it to people on his birthday event, and he and his mom bought my friend coffee when she went to see him on the airport at 5am and she was the only one there it was wild, together with zhixie he forms ΒΔΒΞ and they make food unboxing videos and theyre so funny jgklgjd, absolute sWEETEST MOST POWERFUL smile, i s2g i stanned chaoze without a doubt until bhl smiled at me ONCE and boom he was my ult wtf??, also nose crafted by the gods!! this man is perfect i swear, also i call him Jesus Oppa for reasons he would kill me if i posted said reasons, he also reads all his dms, comments and mentions on weibo and instagram!!,OH also auditioned for rap of china twice, first time he got told he doesn’t ‘look’ like a rapper?? is it bc he looks too pretty? bc he looks like an entire boyfriend??, n e way watch this stage, OH HE ALSO WRITES LYRICS FOR THEIR SONGS!!!!, super super super grateful for everything bc he knows he’s the least popular (he thought nobody was going to show up to his birthday event), crybaby (chaoze is too tbh), highkey in love with chaoze literally looks at him with heart eyes all the time, also loves his mom so much it’s so cute, i can talk about him for years so i’ll stop here pls love honglin

Li Ruotian (Kai), d e m o n, everyone’s bias wrecker, i heard he didn’t prepare anything when he auditioned so he just read a poem and got into the company???, pretty boy reading a poem exactly what banana ent needed!, he’s really really dumb and so funny wtf, his soft rap in Stay with you is the reason i am alive, lots of people end up stanning tgm just bc of this man’s face??, therefore he deserves the title visual of the group, really annoying but everyone loves him anyway, also actor!!, he’s gonna be on a period drama i think??, extra dangerous bc he has d-… dimples

Jiang Jingzuo (S???? according to this is banana lmao, we’ve decided it stands for sexy), another dance god!, also nice voice, we were all surprised he got some of ldh’s lines but god he deserves them, sweetest cheekies uwu baby, tries to looks like a cool dude but is baby, is done with everyone but also joins in their antics???, promised a love shot dance cover but i still haven’t seen it jingzuo where is it???????, also martial arts, don’t piss him off!!, made the entire room dirty during his ip intro video with his broom it was hilarious, niCE ARMS, also have i mentioned his cheeks????????, really really hot, will come for you when you least expect it 

Gao Maotong, god where do i start with this one??, baby of the group, an absolute meSS!!, super smart got like crazy high grades on his gaokao even tho he didn’t go to school since ip but just locked himself up at home to study for three months?? (that’s why a lot of recent stages are without him), guess that’s why his head is so big…, got into a super good university, so like he’s crazy smart but says he leaves his brain at home when he goes to work, so i can say he only has 1 braincell, he once licked a rock and took a frying pan everywhere???, dumbest funniest boy alive everyone loves him a lot, lies about his height too bc he’s so freaking tall??, aka his name suits him tall maotong, wants to stop growing poor baby give some of your toll to chaoze he needs it, gamer nerd, god there’s this one part where qzx bit him bc he wouldn’t stop gaming to plan their germany trip with him even though qzx was going back to taiwan soon gfkdljdf, OH uh yes he’s a rapper! and a really good dancer!!, basically every fan has adopted him, although there’s one person in his gc who says she’s his daughter lmaooo, really cute teethsies he’s really insecure about :(

Predebut they were Trainee18, there were also You Zhangjing and Lin Yanjun, they debuted with nine percent and are solo now, pls check them out bhl and qzx wrote this song for yzj and it’s amazing. Lu Dinghao left the group, i cannot explain why without ranting for 7 years + he doesn’t deserve that attention.

Songs:

Rock The Show (predebut with Trainee18), absolute BOP (lyrics, MV)

Radiant - single, debut song, basically a love song for the fans, cried when i first heard it, always makes my heart beat faster (lyrics - performance - home made MV lmao)

Focus - single, big fat bop, horrible super flashy mv (lyrics - MV - performance - dance practice (my fave tgm video))

Stay with You - single, absolutely gorgeous, might be their best song, lots of drama with the mv it was super sad i won’t add the mv, this song alwyas makes me happy tho(lyrics - performance)

Deja You - single, written for their company’s concert, the beginning is hilarious but it’s a good song (lyrics - performance)

The Painting from a Dream- super soft weird song, great to fall asleep to?? (lyrics)

Rush Forward - OST, really happy song?, didnt like it at first but now i do (lyrics)

Lyrics of love - for a charity event (lyrics - mv)

The Me Then, The Me Now - with you zhangjing, lin yanjun and my wife qiang dongyue, for their company concert (lyrics)

Lin Chaoze - Break it (lyrics - mv - performance)

Bei Honglin - Chasing Dreams OST (lyrics - mv)

Reality Shows:

Korea Trip - trip to korea after elimination IP (no chaoze)(PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

Sawadikap Banana - predebut Tangram on vacation in thailand (PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

Guten Guten Banana - TANGRAM trip to Hamburg for an event + You Zhangjing and Lin Yanjun for several episodes(PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

This is Banana - preparation for the company concert so with other banana artists(PLAYLIST ENG SUBS)

Other subbed videos: TangramSUBS, BananaTeamSubs 1 / 2, 

[thelazyeye]

oh okay, internet famous Losers, like they're all youtubers and insta famous kids doing really different stuff around the nation, what do each of them do? who connects with who and how?

Ooff I love this idea. I used to be moderately into youtube people. Mamrie Hart anyone? She cracks me the fuck UP. Anyway this got super long so its under the cut. I hope you enjoy anon! Thanks for sending something it!!

Okay. Here we go. 

Richie 

is a youtube personality. Duh. He started out vlogging and his Voices and somehow his channel picked up. He writes comedy bits, does personal blogging, and tests his voices. 

When he was starting out he had a bit where he was a weatherman that had multiple personalities (Voices) and it got insanely popular. He received some backlash due to the offensiveness of the bit and has since retired it, but references it from time to time to credit his fame. 

Now he focuses a lot on his comedy routines and improv acting with other members of the community. He does challenges from time to time as collabs as well

People are super invested in his personal life (bc people seriously get like that with youtube people) and started speculating about his sexuality. It took him a few years to address all the rumors that he wasn’t straight and how he was probably dating this youtuber or that youtuber. 

Eddie 

is an LGBT Activist that has a youtube channel as well (think Laci Green but LGBT and not sex ed, though he does do sex ed work)

He got his start when he was in college. He became the president of the LGBT club. He wanted to reach a large number of students and he figured the best way to do that would be youtube

The entire club helped him out. Every week he would have another club member on the channel to talk about their sexuality and experiences

It didn’t get big at the school but he got lowkey noticed by the HRC after about 6 or 7 videos. He was contacted by a social media manager on the team to commend him on his work

From then on out he started to work harder on his videos, including more in depth information and he included links to more resources

Eventually, his videos started to rack up views from young LGBT kids thanking him for his channel

He started to collab with famous LGBT youtubers (troye sivan, hannah hart) and that’s when he really blew up 

Bill 

actually got his start on Vine. He mastered the art of the 6 second story and when the platform went down he migrated to youtube, snapchat, and twitter. He’s got profiles on almost every social media platform and he’s written a couple of webseries, as well. 

His first webseries (pre-vine) focused on comedy. He and some college friends got together and wrote the script/acted it out. It wasn’t very big but the following for it had a cultish feel. 

It blew up after he became famous on vine

After that, he started writing more webseries and partnering with other youtube actors

He wrote and completed two successful comedy webseries before he got bored of it. He decided to make the jump to horror work 

Think Marble Hornets

He ended up getting a scholarship to a film school and has been working on becoming a movie director ever since

His youtube work is on a hiatus but he still posts blogs and updates of his life. He’s active on Snapchat and Twitter the most. He still does dumb, funny shit from time to time and tweets out very random jokes

Stan 

is an adventure youtuber. He travels all over the world, seeking thrills and exploring nature. His videos usually have some kind of educational component but they’re always entertaining. Stan has explored the Savanah and Rain Forrests, he’s sky dived and scuba dived. He’s done a lot

He has a side channel for his love of birds because how can I not throw this in here?

When Anti semites started showing back up in the world Stan started to dedicate more of his channel, and his other platforms, to Judaism. He’s uses his popularity and fame to educate people and create awareness around the issues Jews face

As a result, he blogged his Birthright to Israel. It was a weeks worth of videos, some candids that he just uploaded on the whim, and some he took the time to edit. They were adventurous, educational, and full of his personal journey

Stan has also faced a lot of backlash for his involvement with the jewish community. He voices this in his videos. To combat the threats against him, he recruits other members of the youtube community to collab with and talk about issues. He makes it fun. He’s cooked Jewish foods, celebrated Jewish holidays, and had fun discussions with other personalities. 

Bev 

is a famous fashion designer and makeup artist. She got her start on Instagram, posting her designs and outfits that she created. Sh started young. Like 15 years old. As she grew up and went to school, her fashion instagram grew. People got to see her skills improve and they watched as she turned into a teenager designing clothes in her bedroom to a design student to a professional

She gives fashion tips to people and her favorite hobby is making posts that help girls and boys create fun, new, and exciting clothes out of what they already have in their closet

She firmly believes that you don’t need to have money and status to dress well. She wants fashion to be accessible. 

She started a youtube channel out of request from her followers. She got a lot of comments about her makeup and she started to do makeup tutorials there (Think Sailor J)

People really started to see how funny she was, then. She would always throw little bullshit videos onto her story but this was the first time she posted video content that didn’t disappear after 24h

Her youtube is not nearly as active as her instagram. That’s where you can find all of her content

She is also a vocal activist against child abuse on her insta. She frequently donates to various organizations and she does it very publicly. She runs clothing drives for those in need and has even hosted makeover days for young girls whose families can’t afford good clothes/makeup. 

She has recently expanded her fashion designs to male clothing, promoting Non Binary, Trans, and other identities in her lines. She says “Clothing has no gender” and pushes that despite advice to lay low on the issue. 

Mike

is a super unlikely case of internet fame. His instagram is composed almost entirely of his farm animals. He really didn’t think he was going to get famous from it. He just loves his farm so fucking much

The first half of his internet fame just consisted of pictures and videos of his animals. Namely, his dog Mr. Chips and his cow, Barely. They were best friends and Mike posted pictures of them napping together, playing together, and helping him run the farm

Once he started to gain an unreasonable about of followers he would pepper in posts that were educational. He talked about the importance of farmers, the work that he does, and how he maintains his animals. He worked to debunk a lot of myths about farming and really promote the work that he does. 

He still posts a lot of videos of him with his animals being all cute, but he uses his activism to reach large numbers of people at a single time. 

He also promotes healthy eating on his instagram. He talks about balanced diets and how to moderate sweets intake. 

Eventually he talks about working out (because Mike Hanlon is ripped sorry I don’t make the rules) and helps build an all around healthy lifestyle for his following. He kind of accidentally becomes a life coach of sorts. Motivation, healthy living, and cute animals. 

He has no idea how it happened but he doesn’t regret a single minute of it

Ben

is a singer! This sweet old mother fucker started out on youtube when he was 16. He bought a Ukulele and started writing love songs for the girl he was pining after

We all know that one mother fucker who owed a Ukulele in high school

His voice was like velvet, though. He wasn’t popular enough for anyone to really see it so he didn’t get teased in high school for it. His first couple videos got only a handful of views

What kick started his fame is a cover video. When he decided he wanted to do an acoustic cover of Lady Gaga’s Love Game

He did it on Ukulele

It ended up being such a fun and unique cover of such a popular song that he got noticed. Like. The video fucking blew up. He ended up getting over 5 thousand views overnight and the number just kept growing

Ben ran with it. He covered other popular songs (I Kissed a Girl, Viva La Vida, So What, etc) 

He blew up so hard and fast that people started to notice his original works

He got noticed by a label and signed the summer after he graduated high school

His first album was a love album because it’s Ben come on

He doesn’t have much of a social media presence after his youtube channel. He has the mandatory instagram and twitter that all famous people seem to have but they’re fairly inactive

Collabs

Richie and Bill

Richie and Bill were the first to collab with each other. Richie acted in Bill’s first webseries and it built a friendship that lasts a lifetime. 

The two of them do stupid youtube challenges with each other whenever they’re in the same city

Bill used to guest on Richie’s channels and play improv games to help both of them work on their comedy. They always turn out ridiculously funny and normally involve some level of alcohol

When Bill lost his younger brother in a car accident (sorry georgie dies in like every single universe) Richie flew out to see Bill and spend time with him. The two of them filmed a vlog together where they talked about the loss and then they both donated to anti drunk driving campaigns and urged their followers to do the same and never drive drunk

Richie and Eddie

They met for the first time at vidcon when they were first starting out. Richie was already pretty big but Eddie was working on his following. They hit it off immediately and they filmed a video for Eddie’s channel that focused on Eddie debunking stereotypes surrounding the LGBT community. Richie added a tasteful comedic flair that brought in views and he taught Eddie that things don’t always need to be serious 100% of the time

They kept in loose contact after that, always meeting up at vidcon and filming a ridiculous video for Eddie’s channel

2 years later, Richie reached out to Eddie and asked him to film a video for Richie’s channel

He wouldn’t tell Eddie what it was until they were in front of the camera, but Eddie readily agreed. He loved working with Richie. He thought he was fun and witty

When they got in front of the camera Richie revealed that he was bisexual and that Eddie’s videos helped him learn about bisexuality and come to terms with it

They spent the video talking about Richie’s journey to self acceptance, why he decided to come out, and Eddie’s knowledge surrounding sexual identity development. The video ended up being 15 minutes long and had the highest comment numbers Richie had ever seen. Not every comment was positive, but he took the experience in stride and started doing little bits of advocacy here and there for his and other channels 

Richie and Eddie end up dating, but not for a long, long time after that video when they’re both living in LA and well established in their youtube careers. 

Bev and Mike

An unlikely combo for an unlikely youtube star! Bev and Mike do a collab that focuses on self esteem and loving yourself!

Mike gives health tips and Bev gives fashion advice, but both of them talk about the importance of self worth and how external image means nothing if you don’t love yourself first. They both talk about their own journeys. 

The collab starts because Bev finds out about Mike through insta and she ends up contacting him about wool. They partner up business wise and Mike helps provide wool for her fashion line while Bev promotes his farm work. 

They don’t do many intentional collabs after they one, but they do show up on each others stories and in pictures together very frequently. The two become best friends

Ben and Bev

They don’t collab. But they do get married. 

They meet through the fame and bustle of L.A. Ben’s music career makes him end up at the same Gala as Bev, where they’re introduced to each other. They hit it off immediately, connecting with their childhoods and such. 

They date for 3 years before Ben proposes via Flash Mob and song written just for Bev

Bev loves the song so much she insists Ben release it. It becomes a Billboard hit

Eddie and Stan

Stan finds himself in NYC where Eddie lives and he reaches out to do an educational collab on LGBT politics in the Jewish community. 

He takes Eddie rock climbing and the two film the video with go pros. 

Eddie is terrified at first and it makes for a funny introduction but he eventually gets his bearings and the two of them scale a cliff together, talking about issues and getting to know each other. 

Stan and Richie

Eddie introduces them after the Coming Out Video. 

They collab as frequently as they can

They do ridiculous shit and Stan films Richie’s commentary. Its hilarious

They have a natural chemistry and they feed off of each other. Stan didn’t know he was a funny guy until he met Richie. Then it just kind of came out of the woodwork. Richie really highlighted Stan’s eccentric sense of humor. 

Everyone

Richie and Bev are childhood best friends

Eventually, they all end up meeting. They don’t really film videos with each other. Sometimes there’s a vlog that includes more than two of them but very rarely are they all in the same video at the same time. 

It happened intentionally once. It was chaos. Everyone was drunk. The video had to be edited so severely that it was only 1 minute and 30 seconds

They do however show up in snapchats, insta stories, and pictures as a group. By the time they’re all 30 they’re very, very good friends